Floating Sakura

AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE.............STUFF!

2006-04-27T19:38:04Z

So a few things.

My mood is odd. I've had an interesting couple of days...okay, well, just yesterday was interesting.

So, Friday, I get a call from a place I applied to. They asked me if I would be interested in a Temp position, and if I could start Monday. I say, HELL YEAH.

Friday and Saturday I spend the day at the beach with my parents and grandparents. My mother and grandmother took me to Aventura mall to get some professional work clothes (suits and all that jazz) for my 'interview/pleaseworknow' situation.

Sunday was a day to relax.

So Monday I get up BF early, get ready and go there. I get there about 5 minutes to 8, wait outside of human resources for a bit, and then get it at around 8ish. They have me fill out paperwork. I finish in about a half hour, and then wait for another half hour before the lady finally checks it and gives it to the person I spoke to. Then I wait another hour before someone decides to speak with me. By now, Human resources is packed full of people going into orientation. I'm not one of them.

But they speak to me, tell me the deal, I have to take a drug test and then go to my worksite so I can get situated and whatnot. Weee.

So I do that.

Here's interesting bit 1. While I'm waiting in the lab for my turn to pee in a cup, there's a lady with her daughter outside. They're talking and they're super cute, reminding me a lot of me and my mom. The girl fussing over her hair and looks (she's got Coke bottle glasses-I mean DAMN) and the mother telling her how beautiful she is and they're chatting about anything. Then the girl goes in to take some blood and while she's in there chatting with the nurse, I get the gumption to say something to her mom.

I'm not really one to talk to strangers all the time. I mean I do. I start conversations and whatnot. And I know, I probably should've just kept my mouth shut, but I couldn't resist.

I smiled at the lady and told her, "She'll be all right."

And the lady BEAMED at me. I mean, she just fucking GLOWED. She looked ready to burst into tears. She whispered a "Thank you," and said, "She's about to go into surgery. Oh thank you so much. You know how God speaks through people..." And she gave me another thank you. I was shocked and moved and just... well, my heart was light.

I felt like I had found enlightenment or something.

When she and her daughter left, apparently a grandmother and an aunt were waiting for them too and all four of these women wandered away together, all chatting all so happy.

I did something RIGHT.

So, needless to say, I peed in a cup and then worked my way toward my worksite as happy as a damn clam on mj.

I wandered about pleased as can be, grabbed an OJ and got to my worksite. I reported to a lady name Bridgette, a tall beautiful black woman, and just had a ball with her. Apparently, I was supposed to work for two guys as their assistants, but one wasn't in and the other had nothing for me to do. Also, I didn't have the number to clock in yet and wouldn't get it until Tuesday so they really could give me nothing to do if there was something. So I just hooked up my computer and went home.

Now, my brother and I got dropped off. And my building was LITERALLY in front of the Metrorail so I took that and called my grandfather to pick me up. I was actually really excited to get on the metro because it reminded me of the trains back in Japan.

God, I miss Marugame.

Anyway, I talked to this nice older lady about pretty much anything for most of the way. When I got off on my exit, I waited from my grandfather and got in his VAN.

Okay, I haven't been in this van for probably the last 10 YEARS.

It was sooooooooooooooooooooo weird to be back in it.

I got dropped off, got my tax return check, GASPS IN JOY, and hung about the house, cleaning it up and setting up for DnD.

Interesting bit 2. Then maybe about 5 minutes before my grandmother arrives (I'd been calling her for HOURS, but no response), I get a phone call from the lady at Human Resources.

I got bad news and good news.

I take the bad news first.

See, the thing about a Temp job, is that once they don't need you... that's it. Nothing against you, it's just they don't need you anymore. And the two guys I was going to be working for were going to be out of town for the next 2 weeks or so. Soooooooooooooooooooooo yeah. No more temp job for me.

Good news: She asked me if I could come in Tuesday at 2pm for an interview for Executive Secretary position.

I SAY HELL YEAH.

So my grandmother arrives, and I tell her the whole story, sans the enlightenment part of wonder. My mother arrives shortly after and I repeat the story. By the end of the day, I've told everyone.

Anyway, interesting bit part 3.

Since I have my Tax check, I tell my grandmother if she could take me to the bank so I can get an account to deposit the sucker in. WOOOOT. The guy there is funny as hell.

And he looks like my cousin.

No fucking joke.

He looks like a taller, thinner Anthony and the guy was a heavyweight still.

And he was just AWESOME.

By the end of me signing up, I knew enough about him to call him a friend. Shit, I want to be invited when his 5'10" girlfriend and his 6'3" self get their butts married and I want to see the monstrosity (his words not mine) of a child they'll have when it's born.

I'm not really serious...yet. I mean, I still don't know him. But DAMN. He was funny and I made a friend in a heartbeat.

It was great. I can't wait to go back to the bank to talk to him. That's how much FUN I had.

And then it was DnD. Chris almost died, Anthony finally got to develop his tricorn, I had a fight with dad, and Matthew mindbended a guy into dust. It was fun.

Oh, and remind me....

I gotta tell everyone about Chris the nutty girl from Amtguard.

Don't ask, just remind me.

***

Well, I didn't get the executive secretary position either.

Apparently, it was closed.

I tried to call them to make sure I should go, but they never got a chance to let me know the situation because they only found out once I'd gotten there.

Yay.

But I had lunch with my brother and I went to see my cousins who also work there.

Within the hours I was hanging out with Mechi, my resume got handed to at least 10 people and passed on. They were all out there trying to help get a job, as a teacher or in UM.

LIKE COOL.

So the day was not a total waste.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm what else?

I meant to write about my DnD game, but now it seems silly to write about it. But I will say this though.

GOD THE PCs ARE WEIRD.

And that includes myself.

I really have to pay more attention to myself at times. And I really have to get the chaotic neutral personality type down. UG.

And um, Chris.

Chris is a girl I met when I went with Alain to Amtguard. I'll probably be joining for sure after this weekend. This weekend I'm going to JACON. Anyway, we met, we became friends.

And then she asked my brother out.

She's awesome. Everyone really likes her and my grandmother wants to meet her, which really should make everyone nervous. But still. Chris is really sweet and I really like her a lot.

Now the question is... does my brother?

So there. They're kind of dating. I don't know Alain's feelings on the matter, but then he doesn't tell me those kind of things.

I guess because I'm his big sister and I have no body parts.

I wish someone, other than me, would argue that point with him. Though Eric did look at him as if he was a FREAK for saying it.

Go me!

???

So turns out that third times the charm.

Heh.

Yes, I finally got a job. Whether or not it will last more than a day and half is debatable. But, right now I have it and it exists and I can earn some cash.

I'm going up to JACON this weekend. Don't know if I mentioned that already. Will be leaving after work on Friday, as really... I can't miss the second day of work.

If I last until Monday it's official.

Because then I'll have my ID. And taken my TB test.

Then it'll be official.

If anyone I know here is going to JACON, you'll be able to spot me as the weirdo with the PUCHUU hat, a sign on my back and squiggles on my face.

YAY FOR FUN.

!!!

...gone

2006-03-07T03:21:32Z

it's almost 4pm. i'll be leaving soon, to go to the airport.

i'll be going home.

the day here, reflects my mood. it's gray and rainy, as if New Zealand is just as sad as i am to see me go. the sky seems to cry for me, even though i keep trying to stop the tears going down my cheeks.

i've missed home. i've missed my family.

but i know, for a long time now after today, i'm going to miss the man i love.

you know, i never thought i'd fall in love. and i did. with the most wonderful man i've ever met. he makes me so happy!

today i asked him something important. i asked him, if he still mean what he'd said when we were still getting to know each other over the net. before we'd even met. he said to me that he would never find another woman like me, even if he looked forever. actually, what he said was a lot prettier than that, but that's the basic jist. i asked him, if he still felt that way. if he still felt that he would never find another girl like me. i asked him, if, even after all this time being with me, he still felt the same way about me.

he said yes.

i don't know if i'll ever find another man as good to me as he is.

but GODDAMN i'm going to miss him.

and i'm going to cry the entire trip.

tradition vs. dreams

2006-03-02T23:50:29Z

De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané
Luego a Cueto voy para Mayarí.

El cariño que te tengo
Yo no lo puedo negar
Se me sale la babita
Yo no lo puedo evitar.

Cuando Juanica y Chan Chan
En el mar cernían arena
Como sacudía el 'jibe'
A chan Chan le daba pena.

Limpia el camino de paja
Que yo me quiero sentar
En aquel tronco que veo
Y así no puedo llegar.

De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané
Luego a Cueto voy para Mayarí.

De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané
Luego a Cueto voy para Mayarí. -Chan Chan

I grew up with a lot of dreams, a lot of culture, a lot strength of character (I'd like to think), and a lot of tradition. The problem with tradition is, like everything, it must be taken in moderation. Tradition is something you can live by, but tradition doesn't change. That's why it's tradition. But the world changes around tradition. And one, I believe, must learn to have a healthy balance between tradition and change.

Tradition can be good. It reminds one of our culture, something that should make people proud. It sets a basic outline of life that may not make it easier, but at time helps one to understand the world. It gives us our morals, our funny stories, our parties, our religions, our history. It makes us never feel like we're completely alone in our beliefs and way of life.

Tradition is an integral part of culture.

But like all things, too much tradition is not healthy or good for a productive, intelligent and creative lifestyle. One too set in ones traditions can stifle freedom, creativity, intelligence. Tradition, within it's defintion and within it bounds, does not allow for intrepretation or deviation. If you are a Hispanic woman in a traditional family, and are following tradition yourself, you will never leave your house until you are married. You are taken care of by your family and then you are transfered to a husband so he may take care of you. And you will not move away from your family. You will stay close to them. This is tradition. Someone set in this tradition will not allow for any kind of deviation.

Go away for college? No. Find a place close to home.
Okay-move into a dorm? Why, when you can live here for free.
Study abroad? Find a program to study that will let you stay here.
Get a job that allows lots of travel? Find a job that'll let you stay close to home.
Move away for a better job opportunity/promotion? Get a different job, or stay like you are now. You're making good money right?
Work abroad? Hell no.

Tradition: You have to marry someone of your same culture. Preferably someone within the same town so you don't move. I don't care if you're in love. I know a couple of nice boys. I'll introduce you. No, you can't live alone. No, you can't live with a man who isn't your husband. You can't go out without a chaperone. He's black? No. He's white? No. He's anything that isn't just like us? No.

Period. Bottomline. No room for negotiation.

That's the kind of negative, over-strict, unbending nature that is within tradition. We see this, nowadays, mostly in our grandparents-and occassionally in our parents. And it's not just Hispanic culture. All culture has its traditions and the strictness of those traditions.

But one can find a healthy balance. It's just difficult to come by it without displeasing a generation still overly strict, and a generation much too free.

Tradition though, has one great enemy. It is a force that undermines even a healthy balance of tradition. What an intelligent free person will battle tradition with. And it is a mighty weapon.

Dreams.

The idea of 'following one's dreams' is a powerful thing. It overpowers almost everything else that it stands against, because everyone can relate to it. Everyone has dreams. Even those who claim not to have any, have had some in the past. The biggest problem with dreams is that at times they are too great-bordering on unbelievable. When a dream is unbelievable, it's power is weakened greatly. But if a dream is backed with effort, then its power is imposing. One can ignore a dreamer, who has big dreams and does nothing. But one cannot ignore the dreams of one who is tirelessly working toward accomplishing that goal.

Those who are trapped in tradition usually, when faced with this dreamer-the dreamer with potential and who is working toward his dream with untapped energy-end up resorting to denial. They will continue to say to themselves, it will not happen. Life gets in the way. Something will stop them. They'll give up eventually when they realize it's impossible. Then when they see the effort paying off, they try to lure one back with promises of minor change or postponement. Wait till you have more money. Get more experience first. Come back home and save money, and we'll help you get there. And when that doesn't work, they lash out with guilt, betrayal and anger. You don't love your family. How could you leave? Things are so good for you here. You don't love anyone. You're killing your family.

Those who can overcome all of this-are those who reach their dreams-accomplish them and are happy and satisfied. No regrets.

And when they come home, expecting the same kind of pride...

"I'm glad you got that dream out of your system. Now you can go back to the real world."

When faced with such a force, such contempt for ones accomplishments, as if it meant nothing, a spirit can become so completely crushed, that the person who once harbored such a strong soul can become only a shell of who they were.

That is the greatest danger.

One always thinks, once you accomplish your dream, you'll have no regrets, you'll be so proud of yourself, your family will be proud, they'll support you, they'll encourage you, and they'll admit that they were wrong to try to crush your spirit before. That now they'll help you with your dream, now that they've seen how strong you are, how much you've succeeded.

This is what the dreamer believes will happen when he comes home.

At times, it's true. With a well balanced family who have not let tradition consume their entire way of thinking.

But many times, dreamers are alone against a family set only in one way-and when they return home from their accomplishment... They are torn down and apart, as if their dream was only a method of rebellion rather than a true life goal.

It's disheartening. It's heartbreaking.

It is an endless battle between dreams and tradition. It's even harder when you are raised to be strong and to be your own thinker and dreamer, and are still confronted with disheartening and spirit-crushing situations. It's even harder, when they tell you go for it! And then tell you, good, now that it's over you can become who I wanted you to be.

That is the most devastating.

But a healthy balance of dreamer and tradition can exist. But it can only come after defeating, with incredible will and strength, all these opposing forces. You have to step outside yourself, outside your devastation, your hurt, your anger, your struggle and analyze. Is it better to do this now? How can I keep a balance for what is all that is me?

Because dreamers often forget, that their culture and tradition, no matter how stifling at times, is still part of themselves. You are your culture. You are your traditions. You are your dreams. You are your strength. You are your intelligence. You can step out of yourself and defiantly cry, "I will find a BALANCE."

That's part of growing up.

It's scary. It's hard. It hurts like hell. But it HAS to be done.

So when you are a parent, you can improve on what your parents and your grandparents did. And when your child is a parent, they will improve on what you and your parents did. And so on.

I am Cuban. That means a lot to a few, and very little to most. It means, cigars, music and musicians, beaches, Castro and communism to most people. But to others, this culture is rich. It's family get togethers, celebrations, dinners, music, song, and a lot of love. It's kisses and hugs, dancing and laughing, friends and parties. It's crowded living rooms watching a movie, it's playing dominos and cubilete. It's a relaxing, sweet life of food, drink, family and friends.

That's a part of me. It will always part of me.
I will always respect my elders, I do want to be near my family, I want to keep the traditions of the Cuban in me.

But I'm also a dreamer. I want to follow my dreams, even if it's hard and even it leads me away. I want to fall in love with whom I fall in love and not be restricted to an area and a culture. I want to marry who I choose. I want a Cuban wedding. I want to live near my family, but I also want to live in the wide-open spaces of my dreams. I want to write my books, I want to travel, I want to see the world and experience it as much as I can.

And what my family forgets in their frustration with me and my dreams-is that no matter where my dreams take me, no matter where I go, who I fall in love with, what I'm doing-they are always with me. They are always a part of me.

When I leave my home, I am not really leaving my home. My home is coming with me in my heart. I take it everywhere I go. No matter where I am-I am Cuban. I have my culture, I have my traditions, I have my beliefs, I have my family and I have my friends.

Never, wherever I am, am I ever without them.

En el tronco de un árbol una niña
Grabó su nombre henchida de placer
Y el árbol conmovido allá en su seno
A la niña una flor dejó caer.

Y soy el árbol conmovido y triste
Tu eres la niña que mi tronco hirió
Yo guardo siempre tu querido nombre
¿y tú, qué has hecho de mi pobre flor? -¿Y Tú, Qué Has Hecho?

my recent life

2006-02-23T22:07:45Z

the last two years have been an amazing flow of events. so much so that now, as i look back on it, i am shocked at all i have managed to do and how much i will miss the experiences i've had.

this time 2004 i was working as a substitute for miami dade county public schools, after graduating from the university (fiu) december of 2003. i was making plans for the biggest step in my life up to that point.

i was making plans to move out. to move to orlando.

within a couple of months i was packing up all my stuff for a move. it was may of 2004 when i began my life away from the house i had grown up in, and four hours away from my family. they weren't happy about it, let me tell you. but i viewed the experience as necessary. for the next year, i was working at universal studios florida, kodak and eventually, as a high school teacher at west orange high school.

this time 2005, i had landed a future job teaching japanese people in Japan how to speak english. the reason i'd gone looking was because i'd discovered there was a good chance i wasn't going to get rehired. sooooooo there you go. one of my dreams was coming true. while i was at the university i was taking japanese and our sensei was very adamant about us traveling to japan. since then i had wanted to go with the idea of teaching english in japan, and now i had my chance.

so in may 2005, when my lease was up, and the school year was over, i sold most of my stuff and moved the rest back home. stayed a week or so, and then flew across the us, across the pacific and to japan--to a place called marugame where i would teach english two towns over in a town called sakaide. this place was located in kagawa, famous for udon--a type of noodle soup--which was on the island of shikoku, just south of osaka.

i moved in with my roommate heather, and there i lived for the next 6 months. i had been planning to stay a year--but shit happens. while i was in japan, i got to travel to lots of places.
hiroshima
miyajima
matsuyama
kochi
osaka
kyoto
tokyo
himeji
but in all honesty, while i'll never forget the experience of those places, and though i want to go back so much because there's still so much i haven't seen... nothing will remain most in my memory than living in that town of marugame.
i remember the streets still so vividly. where the ministop and the post office are. the art museum, the back streets, the small restaurants, the kareoke bars. i miss it. i miss it so much. i want to go back to marugame one day, rent a bicycle and enjoy the delicious crisp autumn air. i want to see mount zetsuji off in the distance as i cross the bridge into utazu. perhaps when looking back, one doesn't see everything you used to complain about. one doesn't see all the trouble you had while you lived there. you just remember the good things about it. and that's always the best.

i've been away from home for almost two years. and as i look back at home, even though i hate miami--i don't like city life--i miss it. i only remember the good things. i remember going to the beach with my family, my backyard, going to my anime club, going to the mall with my grandmother and mother, playing dnd with my brothers, friends and my mom. there's so much i used to complain about that now i miss terribly. now i only remember the good times. i look back and remember living in orlando, and i don't remember the fights with mich or the hectic tension of conventions and paying bills. i remember lounging on the couch with our kittens watching smallville. i remember both of us eating easymac and laughing over something that happened at work. i remember hanging out during the hurricane, playing dnd. and i look back at marugame and i don't remember the lack of cash or the sucky job. i remember the great students, the wonderful air, the beauty, the peacefulness, the kareoke bars, the friends i made.

and most of all, now, i will remember new zealand. i will remember walking around devonport and auckland and takapuna. i will remember enjoying the beautiful days, the great times at the beach. i've had so much fun here and i know, even though i'm running out of time, i will make the most of my time left and enjoy it even more.

and when i'm home, i'll look back on new zealand, on japan, on orlando and cry. because it's over. because i miss it. because i lived it, enjoyed it, and loved it. and i will come back.

because my adventures, i believe, are only beginning.

kaorukagome @ 2006-01-25T23:35:00

2006-01-25T10:34:06Z

All right. Some updates first. A couple of days ago, Max took me to Auckland for a day on the town. It was Friday, day of the "Big Day Out" which is where a bunch of famous bands perform in this big party somewhere in Auckland. Unfortunately, it costs a lot of money so we didn't go. But, we did go walking about Auckland, all the way up to K-Road (which is the red-light district/small business/club are). There we visited some comic book shops, couldn't go to Illicit--the Hot Topic of NZ and Australia--because they were closed for BDO (i.e. they probably set up shop there so had nobody in the actual store) and found, you'll love this...

A CUBAN RESTAURANT.

I totally spazzed. Max and I ate there, we had a really good time. I even had some real Cuban coffee and everything! I want to go back with the entire family, so they can try out some Cuban food.

Other than that we've been pretty holed up in the house. The weather's been bad the last couple of days, and we haven't been able to go anywhere. But next on the list, is the two nearby mountain, hill-type things and Auckland Museum.

I've already decided what I'm going to do when Mich comes. There's a bus pass we can get to go to Rotorua and to the Bay of Islands and Waitomo Caverns and a bunch of other places here on the North Island. I figure we'll do that with Mich and once my money comes in, Max and I can travel about the South Island. I really want to go whale watching in Kaikoura. I don't know if if I spelled it right. I hope so.

Hopefully I'll get the 3000 yen owed to me by the hospital soon so I have some cash again, right now I'm flat broke and can't do anything. Though I would give anything for another buck or two so I can have an ice cream. But the dairy isn't open 24/7 and it's already 11:30 pm here. Ah, well.

Last night was pretty cool though, despite the weather. I met a few of Max's close friends and I drank a NZ beer and an entire bottle of wine. :blush: I was definitely tipsy on the way back home! But it was still fun! I wouldn't mind doing it again!

But for now, signing off.

Two in a row, I know. I'm nuts.

2006-01-16T01:48:49Z

The biggest problem facing my vacation right now, is the fact that I have to wait for my cash from NOVA, which won't arrive until the end of the month. At the very least, I also have to wait for the 5000 yen that Hiramatsu Hospital in Hiroshima owes me to arrive as well. But the plans are as follows:

1- Much beaching. Yay for the beach. Swim and splash and tan and much happiness. There's just one problem. No swimsuit. I mean, I can use the short and a shirt, but it doesn't have the same effect. Especially since I can't really put clothes over it. So I'm going to see if I get a swimsuit today. Or tomorrow. In Takapuna. Because I don't think Devonport has any clothing or swimsuit stores...

ANYWAY.

2- I want to go WHALE WATCHING. I don't know how much it'll cost, but I WANT TO GO!! I got to look up online where I can go that's fairly close.

3- I want to go swimming with dolphins (but not as much as whale watching).

4- I want to go to a hot spring, spa type resort in Rotorua!

5- I want to go backpacking!

6- I want to go to some national parks!!

But FIRST--I must continue searching Auckland. Going to Takapuna tomorrow for beaching. Want to spend a day or two in Aukland, shopping and who knows what. Max is going to teach me how to play Magic the Gathering (I've always wanted to learn and I've never really had a chance until now and I surprised Max with my desire--heh--keep him on his toes) today. I also want to check out the North Shore a little more, and Max is going to take me to a Fort/Mount Victoria that has caves and cannons!!

Mich may come in Feb for my birthday, and I figure we should go to Great Barrier Reef Island--because I think it would be fun for all of us. If there is anything in the above that said Mich would also like to do, speak now woman!!

Well, I'm off for the moment, got a not very funny movie (though it says comedy) to watch. I wonder if it'll get funnier. Hmmmm....

Ciao peoples.

Overdue, I know... but there you have it.

2006-01-16T01:46:29Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR DEVIANTART!!
I AM CURRENTLY IN NEW ZEALAND!!!

But before I go on about that, I need to give a nice long, somewhat painful, update. First things first. My last few weeks in Japan were very nice, if hectic. Three days after my last journal, my mother and grandmother showed up in Japan. I was so happy to have them, even though the first couple of days were trying on all our emotions. I won't go into detail, as it's a family matter, but let us just say that my poor Max got to see the best and the worst of my family. Which, in the end, is a good thing, because now he's prepared for whatever happens from now on. Heheheheh.

BUT!!

We still had lots of fun. We went to Tokyo via the Shinkansen and stayed for New Years. There were no fireworks, but an entire street was lit up with fairy (Christmas) lights. There was a choir and we wandered about for a place to stay in from the cold. It was nice. Mama and Agui were still sleepy from the trip I guess, because they conked out and Max and I had to poke them awake for New Years. We went to Akihabara and Shibuya for shopping! Mama and Agui got lots of souvenirs and Max and I followed them about in amazement of their stamina. That night I took them to have nabe and they loved it, and then Max and I went back to Akihabara to Club Sega so we could play the drum game and something that he wanted to play. He played House of the Dead 4. Anyway~ The next day, it was a mission to get all our bags out of the hotel and to the station so we wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. Got tickets for an overnight bus and dropped off our luggage at this odd out of the way place. It worked even if it was a pain in the ass. After that we headed toward Asakusa, and had a lot of fun shopping for souvenirs in this old strip of Edo style shops. And at the end was the Temple. We took pictures and Mama and Agui really liked the temple. That night, when we got back, we took the Overnight bus to Osaka.

Max and I didn't sleep much. And since it was still the third when Mama, Agui and I got up after arriving at the hostel, and we were officially cashless in the south side, small townish area of Osaka, that meant practically no one took credit cards and we couldn't take money out because banks and post offices were still closed. We found a restaurant that took credit cards and we ate there all day. The next day we went to Umeda, main town Osaka, did some wandering, rode a ferris wheel, ate at Outback. Next day we delivered Mama and Agui to the Airport and I cried. A lot. I miss them.

Anyhow, after that, it was packing and getting ready to come here. Bottomline? I had to dump a lot of my favorite clothing and still I had to pay a lot of money for excess baggage charges. Shit, we almost missed the plane because of the fuggin' hassle it was. I stayed up to one night until 4am going to a kareoke bar and hanging out with the people for Marugame one last time. Said good bye to Fiona and to Abe and to Tom and Scott... I will miss them too. But at least I have their emails.

And so...

HERE I AM.

The wanderer makes a stop in a new country, and though originally I was going to be here until June, I've decided it would be best for me to stay here only until Feb and then go home. I'm not going to get a job here, it would take too long. So... I'm considering this a vacation. Heheheheh. Already have tons of things I want to do. I got up late this morning because I hadn't slept in over 24 hours, so I missed my chance to go to the beach, but I WILL be going tomorrow.

YAY BEACH.

I WILL COME HOME IN FEB WITH A FUGGIN' TAN~!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

But lots of things I'm planning on doing, and it's so beautiful here. It's just incredible. I'm going to try to take pictures and put them up. I'll have to try to hook up my computer to the internet access here so I can upload the pictures from Japan that I hadn't finished uploading, but the pictures I take here can be uploaded on Max's comp. No worries. I'll let you know when I have more things planned out, but this is going to be FUN.

Oh and the whole CoN bit... hopefully I'll be seeing it tonight in AUCKLAND with Max! Wooooo~~ ::does a jig::

So yeah, I'll be going back to the States in late Feb, and getting a job as a teacher again and starting my MFA degree. Hopefully, Max will decide to come to the States for school so we can be together again after a 4 month separation (in June he may come). But who knows what the future will bring?

Max's family is super nice. Simon and Tob are awesome guys and I like Tob's girlfriend Sai as well. Max's Nana is bedridden, but she's coherent, if a bit hard of hearing, and she said some wonderful things to me yesterday. They've welcomed me into their home and all I can say is that I'm honored and that I can't believe how lucky I am.

But right now, I'm quite hungry and I'm going to drag Max out of the house to take me to Devonport for lunch. HEHEHEHEHEH.

Ciao, for now guys. But I'll be updating more regularly now. No worries.

Hugs and kisses to all!!

By the way, I will be going through my deviations and journals now. So be expecting stuffeses OKEEZ~?!

And so...

2005-12-09T02:35:54Z

I have both sad and happy news that take affect starting today.

My stay in Japan will officially end today Dec 9th at 5pm. I will resign from NOVA. I will have 30 days left of work (including paid holidays that I must use), so I will be out of Japan EXACTLY 6 months after being here (as I arrived June 9th 2005 and I will probably be on a plane out of Japan January 9th 2006).

Why has this happened? I will explain.

Apparently in NOVA sub-lease policy (apparently which I didn't read or didn't think about or completely forgot or in all honesty didn't care), no one who is not a NOVA teacher or resident cannot stay in the house for an extended period of time. Most of the times this is not a problem despite the rules. Scott (one of my coworkers) had his fiancee Quan living with him until they got their own place without a problem.

Unfortunately, I have been caught.

My boyfriend, Max, has been staying with me since October 25th. Yesterday I received a call that if he was not gone by the 12th, and the landlord reported seeing him again, then there will be an inspector here and I will be evicted if there is any sign of his presence.

After panicking for 15 minutes and crying--I finally sat myself down and said--Think of the solution, not the problem.

I came up with 3 options.

A)Talk to my landlord
B)Quit--which gives me a month to clear out--and go to NZ with Max like I was planning to anyway...but not for a vacation anymore
or
C)Find a new place ASAP

C--the most improbable--became impossible. I could not find a place with enough time, put down a downpayment without any money. And on top of that, in less than a month I would be gone from the place for 2 weeks, spending lots of money going to NZ on vacation??? There was just no way.

A--became impossible, because apparently he doesn't talk to me. He talks only to the person leasing the apartment. Which is NOVA. And that's that.

So B became the one and only option.

And, in all honesty, even though my Japan stay was cut short, I don't regret this decision at all. How many people can say that they've spent half a year in Japan and another half in New Zealand? I'm actually really excited. I would get to stay with the man I love, which is what's the most important for me, and I get to experience life in another country. I will probably be able to get a good, high paying job, as I've worked as a teacher and substitute and I have a BA in English Literature.

It'll be a hell of a good experience.

I'm sad I didn't get to see Hokkaido before I left. Or use the birthday travel discount Japan has. Or go to Izumo or see cherry blossoms. But I can do ALL of that and more on vacation. I can always come back!

And you know what?

I'm crazy.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Things never work out the way you plan. There was so much I had planned to do in the next couple of months. But you know what? Always taking what life gives you and running with it and enjoying it, is what I do best.

So here I go!!

Ciao for a fortnight

2005-10-24T14:46:47Z

It is currently 11:45pm in Japan. Of Tuesday the 24th of October. It will be the 25th in approximately 15 minutes.

I'm going to finish what I have to do online, which is:

-Post on my online RPs and wish them a happy 'sayonara' for the next 2 weeks.
-Clear out all my email, and pay for stuff I haven't paid for.
-Check out how to get to the Kyoto Garden Hotel again.
-Post in my journals.

Once this is complete--no matter what time it is, I shall attempt to go to sleep. I will probably have to take the last of the sleeping pills my grandmother gave me... If I haven't finished them all. I don't remember. I will set my alarm for 10am, in case, I do have the pills and they knock me out but good.

Tomorrow, I have a couple of things to do in the morning, and then I'm out. Gone. Vanished. For a while. If you want to contact me, probably only be able to do it by calling my cell phone (or house phone after the 28th and before the 1st, and after the 2nd) and that'll be it.

God, I sure as hell hope so.

If I am online for any time between right now and the seventh... it had better be for DAMN GOOD REASON.

Honestly, pray that you don't see me at all online.

And also pray for my family and friends in Florida. Another Hurricane has hit, and though I don't know much about it, I'm worried about them.

Mama hasn't called me and I haven't been able to call. Mich is up and pacing because of it. I hope they are all right. Please let them be all right. I hope everyone in Miami is all right. Including all my anime buddies.

I love you all. Be safe.

an echo-ey "Initial Deeeeeee..."

2005-10-19T14:17:01Z

Mood: Amused
Movie: Initial D
Music: Ain't it Funny

I just got back from the movies--I biked to the next town. Why? Because I can, I need the exercise anyway, and I would've gotten there faster than it took for the train to get here and drop me off at the station and then walk.

::deep breath::

The stuff I wanted to see? Unavailable or I had to wait too long.

Shinobi didn't come on till 5pm and I was there at 1:20 (what the hell was I going to do for 4 hours waiting around for the blasted movie?), Corpse Bride comes out next week, Brothers Grimm comes out sometime in November as does Potter and Mr. and Mrs. Smith doesn't come out till December. They had Stealth (ick), Cinderella Man wasn't until 4 (too long to wait), and I didn't want to see something I'd already seen.

So I said FUCK IT and sat my happy ass to watch the Initial D movie. THE MOVIE. i.e. Live action.

I think it's amazing how much easier it is to understand a foreign film when you know the whole story anyway! heheheheh. Thank god I'd seen the anime. If not... yeah...

It was actually really good. Nothing beats seeing a HachiRoku (AE86) on the big screen. It was just beautiful. It was like I was actually on the sidelines of those damn races for the first time, instead of on the other side of the screen. Definite benefit to seeing it in the theater and it being live action. They scrunched up the first 3 seasons (if you can call the '3rd stage' a season....) into the movie, which means characters got cut out and other characters merged into one entity. For example... Iketani ceased to exit. No Iketani. But there was still was someone who was running the Speed Stars...sort of... as much as Itsuki could anyway.

::WIDE GRIN::

For those who know Initial D, they are now looking at me very confused. Let me explain.

The VERY BEST thing about this movie is how they managed to take these anime characters and transform them into real life entities.

All the characters--minus Takumi--was DEAD ON. But really...how dead on can you be with a no personality twerp like Takumi...? Anyway!

Natsuki=Freakily dead on. It was just... wow. NAILED. (and yes, 'literally' too--those who know Natsuki and know the situation get the joke...I hope)

The guy who runs the gas station= DEAD ON. The biggest change with him is that he became Itsuki's father, which honestly I think makes more sense considering the friendship between him and Bunta and Itsuki and Takumi... but that's my opinion.

The 2 guys (the bald one with the bandana and the one with the dreads) from the Emperor team= like Natsuki, freakily dead on. The bald one even LOOKED like him. It was creepy.

What's-his-face from the Night Kids= had got a mustache. Okay, so maybe he's not so dead on. I find this version of him much more likable than the one from the anime. This guy was rooting for Takumi when he was racing Ryousuke... speaking of which...

Takahashi Ryousuke= DEAD FUGGIN' ON. I mean... DUDE. Sooooooo seeeeexy~~~ Got to love that Takahashi bastard. DAMN. I even got to see my beloved FC on screen. Aaaaaah~ Love me the Ryousuke. I must admit, I was doing what the girls in the anime were doing whenever he came on screen "Ryooooooooooouuuuuusuuuuuuuuuuukeeeeeeee eee!!!!"

Ahem.

Bunta= SO DEAD ON I WANT TO WORSHIP THE ACTOR FOREVER. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Initial D fandom? I HAVE SEEN FUJIWARA BUNTA--a real life Fujiwara Bunta. And he's in this film. HOLY SHITES. Could they have picked a better actor? PROBABLY NOT. My GOD ...it was just... WOW. I don't think it was an actor. I think it had to be the anime character transmuted into flesh and blood. He was just THAT GOOD. And of course, if he's got Bunta dead on, what does that mean?

The drunken, smoking, old fart of a racer stole the GOD DAMNED SHOW.

That he most certainly did.

And last, but creepily enough NOT least, Itsuki.

Itsuki= so damn dead on it scared the FUCK out of me. Dude... this guy even LOOKED like Itsuki. He TALKED like Itsuki. It was so scary I just... well, same thing with Bunta. The anime version had to have been transmuted into real life because there is just NO WAY. Just... no. Wow. Yikes.

So yeah...

The movie was good. I enjoyed it. Makes me REALLY want to see the 4th season now after rewatching everything before... if I had it here which I don't. Ah, well.

But you know what was the saddest thing about it all? There weren't that many Japanese people, but I assume they were all people who knew the manga and the anime at least somewhat for them to be interested in the movie. Right? Well, dude. I couldn't understand all the Japanese and *I* was laughing at the jokes. Bunta is fugging hysterical. So is Itsuki. So is Takumi, occasionally! I was LAUGHING at jokes that will not be translatable because I'm not really sure what the hell they said, but I got the jist and it was FUNNY. I mean, Bunta and his buddy, at a Snack Bar (umm....long explanation... will do that later...) eating crap with a bunch of girls? Was HYSTERICAL. And then Itsuki threatening his father with the receipt from the Snack Bar!? BRILLIANT!

And nothing. Nada. Not a single giggle from these people sitting beside me. I just... HUH?!?! Don't they have a sense of humor? I know they do! I've seen my students laugh! They have the capacity. But nothing. Not a blasted sound from anyone other than my occasional spastic giggling of amusement at Bunta's and Itsuki's antics.

I just...

I don't get it.

ANYWAY.

The movie was damn well brilliant. Well, okay--maybe not in the sense of the story, it's the same as the animation, which it's brilliance can be debated until the earth crashes into the sun--but the actor choice for the characters (minus Takumi), and the way it was presented was just great. I recommend to Initial D fans. Those who don't know the anime, all I can say is look it up and watch it in Japanese--the English version is perverted.

I'm going to hear screeching cars in my dreams. I just know it.

good karma bad karma

2005-10-16T16:59:40Z

Mood: wiewnwnoknfewhjfoweihsnfvoswnfwnf?!?!? daaaaaaaaa gaaaaaaaa!!

All right.

If anyone says there's so such thing as karma they need to have been put in my shoes over the last 2 days. Why? I shall explain. It will also explain my mood. Which in actuality is not how I feel this moment but I how I feel in general when reflecting on the events of this entire weekend.

Friday:

HEAVENSENT. Good karma is rampant. Spend the morning online, no biggie, do some things, don't finish others, eventually get ready for a nice hot lunch of steaming spicy curry. I thought I only had one letter in the mail. ::loves on her d-chan:: Thanks so much D!!! aka ahohesensei here on lj--I loveded the letter! On my way out I see this package sticking out. I take it, I see who it's from, I squeal with joy, and bolt to the curry place quickly so I can open the thing.

Ask the curry guys about my grin that day. It was HUGE.

It had me floating on a cloud the rest of the day. FLOATING. Dude, I can't even begin to describe how floating I was. I think I blushed five thousand times and all the fugging students noticed. It was a fantastic day. I didn't care that I had two kids classes. I didn't care about anything other than what had made me that fantastically happy.

In the letter:
-The Letter (3 1/2 pages long! Woot for me!!)
-Naughty Bits (Enough said)
-A stick-on tattoo (o.O boys are strange)
-A set of sticker pictures (yum)
-2 passport photos (very yum)
-2 large gorgeous photos (swoon)
-And an expensive gold, jade and paua shell necklace.... WHAT THE FUCK?!?!

Exactly what I thought.

I've only taken it off so far to shower. It's beautiful and this is the first time EVER in my ENTIRE LIFE that a guy has given me a present without any kind of reason behind it. Just because it gives him pleasure to give me a gift and see me deliriously happy.

Can you blame me for being on a cloud? I think NOT.

It also helps that Heather never came home that night. HEH. And I got to stay up late. On the phone. With them wonderful free minutes that my student gave someone else to call me with. Yeah. GREAT.

Saturday:

On the verge of Hellish. Just at the cusp. The salvation was Saturday night, but I'm not there yet. So, my day is looking peachy. I have an early break, which isn't the best situation in the world, but hey, whatever I'll deal. I was still in a good mood.

Noel managed to piss me the hell off. Just by being his usual snot-nosed nasty self. Might also be because I was PMSing and didn't know it. (I realized too late that was also why I was particularly bitchy at work today, but I knew my boss wouldn't take that as an excuse--but I felt bad. Abe's nice to me.) ANYWAY.

What ruined the day yesterday was the robbing of my Voice lesson. I love Voice. It's the biggest reason (other than getting out at 5:20), that I actually *LIKE* working on the weekends. Yes, there was no one in Voice. All right--that just meant I'd get a free lesson FOR A FUCKING CHANGE. Woot. How nice. For one, I?!?!, get the free lesson? Must be the sign of the apocalypse. Me? Nah. I'm just selfish. Everyone else gets free lessons all the time. I'VE NEVER GOTTEN A FUGGIN' ONE. And Alaynne, new chick, got two ON HER FIRST DAY. Nice. Of course, did I get my free lesson? HELL NO. Hahahaha!! No--a 'No show' (a student who didn't show up for another teacher--Scott namely) decided she really wanted a lesson even though she'd missed the last one, and they begged me to take her and give her fucking lesson. As if I could say no. Yeah. They'd just complain about me if I did. I'd be making the company lose money if I said NO. So I had to say yes. I'd just gotten out of a rambunctious Kid's class. I could've used the break offered by Voice. Or by the free lesson created by no one being in Voice. No. I went into a lesson. And SCOTT got the free period because she didn't show up to his class before as WELL as his fucking Voice. Usually, when one has an early break, it doesn't matter because Voice breaks up the longer half of the day. No so for this girly. OH NO. Let's ring her dry because she's too nice and will say yes to anything we ask. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I was royally pissed for the rest of the fucking day. I wanted to go to curry to ease my soul. I convince Alaynne, by inviting Kelsey and the Kelsey inviting Alaynne and Kelsey never saying yes to me to going and yeah... basically, I suggested it so I invited myself to Kelsey and Alaynne's curry dinner. The bad karma, thanks to curry, got spread around a bit. Poor Alaynne ended up taking the wrong train and going to Okayama instead of back home to Takamatsu and Kelsey had to pick her up because she had no more money. Kelsey and I, on the way back home, walking in the rain, a biker got hit by a car and Kelsey and I rushed to help as much as we can. We covered her up with our umbrellas, got her bike and her umbrella off the road, and waiting for the ambulance.

It wasn't until I got home, changed, and got on the phone that the day looked up. I took the phone up to my room and had a long talk and went to bed peaceful and blissful.

I'm sorry to all of those I said I would get online Saturday morning. I really am. I just really didn't have the energy to attempt to get online after all the shit that had happened that day.

Sunday: Equals Hellish.

Okay. So...after Saturday night, and despite all the nigh near hellish events of the day before, I got up feeling refreshed and nice. I put the comp downstairs, still no Heather (heaven~!), and left to work with a light step. Met some Italians at the train station. Talked to them for a bit. I was happy.

So much for that idea.

I got to work and had a wonderful schedule! I got the cute little Rie for a Man to Man Kid's class. I had my Seniors who are always bored. I had 2, count them 2!, Voice lessons (probably to make up for the fact that I got none Saturday). The world was a good place.

Then Scott called in sick.

There went Rie, and my two Voices. I had one Voice now, at the END of the damn day. A LATE break, with not only my Seniors now but a set of Scott's Juniors, who, might I add were quite irritating and I hope I never have them again. That and I got my monthly flow so PMSing about the nastiness of my day did not help. I just made poor Abe not know what to do with me, because actually cares and likes me and I felt really bad PMSing on him. GAH.

Needless to say that PISSED ME OFF for most of the day.

My break, when it came, was very nice. The food was so so, but the rest of it was good. I sat outside. The day was nice. I needed a mental break.

Dealt with my Seniors, had my Voice, and was OUT.

Had my curry. It was tasty.

Came home. Changed. Got online.

And did a HUGE STUPID. At least the huge stupid didn't turn out so bad, but DAMN. I can't believe I let that one sneak by and ....oh well. Shutting up about it now. It turned out for the best in the end, and that's perfect. No I'm not explaining this. It's none of your damn business unless you know about a certain personal thing.

Heather came home.

Fuck.

Oh well. That's it for the rant. Ciao peoples.

quick update

2005-10-14T04:05:57Z

Why? because it'll be brief.

Sending out a new round of letters on Monday or Tuesday. Working Tuesday, so I don't have to work Monday the 7th. Tried to find hotels on Ikaho for when my mother and my grandmother are here, but YEESH is it difficult. I've save two websites so far... Have to send them to Mama so she can say... all right book this one. It will be during peak season, no way around it. And hopefully, on days I won't be working (hence why it'll be peak season because NO ONE will be working and people can go on vacation and stuff). Who knows? Maybe it won't be possible after all. :sigh:

Found the Ryokan in Shodoshima. Website I went to didn't let me book it though. I'll have to rummage around it more later.

Starting in November on Fridays I'll have different hours. I'll work from 1:20 to 5:40, which means less money for me (i.e. no bonuses for working 5-9), but it'll give me a chance to be home earlier on a Friday night which means I can do other stuff.... Only problem is that I still have my blasted Kid class... which is the first class I have on Friday's currently. Ug. I don't really, honestly, mind the Kid classes. Not as my as before. But I have to watch the clock so much more because I can't hear the blasted bell... and sometimes the kids are hellions. I guess it's good practice.

For one day.

I saved money this month! Woooooo!! Despite buying SH3 and other things of the more expensive kind. I amaze myself sometimes... I have to pay my cell phone bill now, once I'm dressed and can head out for lunch and whatnot.

Ah... lunch.

I remember lunch. I remember food.... how I miss you...

A huge thank you to Mich for the stuffeses you sent. ::loves on her Mich::

I need to go shopping again. I forgot butter and a couple of other things... and Heather's already gone through all of the toilet rolls. I have to return my movies soon... rent something new. Wai! Next Wednesday I'm going to go early to the movies to try to catch a couple I haven't seen. I hope the Corpse Bride will be in English, but I'm not holding my breath.

Still haven't seen Shinobi or Initial D. Shinobi comes first though. Don't know how much longer that'll be in the theater.

11 days.

...yes, I know. My counting down is pathetic, but I can't help myself. Why not? :blushes: okay, yeah, I'm going to stop now.

Strange Updates

2005-09-26T03:10:16Z

ONE:

There is something strangely comforting about being surrounded my female Japanese doctors, in bright pink uniforms, giggling and jabbering on excitedly in Japanese while they give you a check up. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it is. It's relaxing... And that makes NO SENSE.

But it is.

TWO:

Finally saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Laughed my ASS OFF. That was the most amusing thing I'd seen in a long while. The Oompa Loompas made me laugh so hard my sides were splitting. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tomorrow I'll watch "Fantastic 4", Wednesday I'll try to watch "Shinobi". And the next week? "Initial D"! Dude, they have a LIVE ACTION Initial D out in the movies! I got to go see it, even if I don't understand what the hell is going on exactly. Good thing, I've seen the series!!

THREE:

I laughed even HARDER after CatCF when I got an email to my phone. Premise: Every KFC in all of Japan has a life-sized statue of Colonel Sanders outside of it. I took a picture with Colonel Sanders and sent it to my brother and a certain person in New Zealand. The response I got at the end of the movie was from the latter individual. I'll let your brains come up with what he could've possibly said in reply to make me laugh so hard I almost fell off my chair.

FOUR:

My excuses for not being online. Mainly, wanting to sleep in instead of get up early. Jogging at night and then relaxing to watch a movie. Coming back from work late and then just wanting to go to bed. Too lazy to drag the computer downstairs and upstairs too often. Talking on the phone to people for hours is more preferable to being online for hours. Online steals away time when I could be doing other things. Like having curry. Or talking on the phone to the guy I like or to my best friend. Or watching movies I haven't seen in ages...

and FIVE:

What's new with me? Didn't go to Ashizuri last week like I had planned. It's been postponed. I might go later...I just don't know when. I want to see the lovely cliffsides, and I want to go soon, but I don't know how plausible that is. I have to save money (of which I am currently spending too much of--what with buying a video game and going shopping and stuff. I'M NUTS) for when Max gets here at the end of October. He said not to worry about it so much, but I mean... Come on! He's going to come and I'm not going to have any money to go kareoking with him, get drunk with him, go out to dinner with him, ~~sneak off to a love hotel with him,~~ enjoy Kyoto with him, go to a Ryokan with him? Uh uh. I know we'll both be happy just being together but I want to give him a good experience here...

Other than just being with me.

Japan's a really nice country! Want him to enjoy the country and not just the strange Cuban living on the island of Shikoku...

AHEM.

This weekend has been fantastic. I can't really say why, but it has. Only one more month till the guy I like arrives in Japan and I'm going to Kyoto. The weather is changing. It has been SO NICE these last couple of days. Like heaven itself. You can't understand how fantastic this weather has been. I need to live in a temperate zone. This is just...blissful.

So yeah...other than that, not much else. This weekend has been...AMAZING. And I'm feeling quite naughty about it.

Heheheh. So yeah.

Got to mail out letters and have lunch now. Sooooo~ I'm off!

heheh

2005-09-10T11:23:10Z

Why? Because it makes me laugh maniacally.

You Are the Very Gay Velma!

She might not even realize it...
But Velma is all about Daphne ... not Fred!

What Gay Childhood Icon Are You?

ECSTATIC

2005-09-09T14:44:59Z

Extremely ecstatic and excited and just plain floating on a cloud swooning. Why?

I shall explain.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been more daring that normal for myself. I'm infatuated with a boy. First time in a long as time--perhaps first time ever with a real person. Infatuation became "Dude-you're twitter-pated", and since then it's become full blown "I'm crazy about this guy!"

And I curse a blue streak at realizing I've fallen. For the first time in my life and fallen damn and blast HARD.

AND--apparently--still falling.

Because within the last couple of weeks our relationship ZOOMED. And I do mean ZOOMED. We've been talking since April at least (maybe March?), and I called him for the first time a couple weeks back on the way back from Matsuyama. Major step for the both of us who'd only been talking via emails and on MSN. Now, we're talking on THE PHONE.

I know this doesn't seem like such a big deal in some respects. After all, internet is less expensive and more modern and whatnot, but DAMN. It makes a HELLUVA of a difference to hear a sexy voice and hear the sexy words than just reading the sexy words. This man has YET to disappoint me!

Anyhow, the relationship--however pitiful it maybe from just knowing each other on devART--ZOOMED. We've called each other a couple of times since then, for over an hour or so each time, (one was apparently over 3 hours ^^;;;) and spent plenty of money on phone cards and minutes alone.

And then there was talk about him coming to see me in Japan. Note. He lives in New Zealand. I shit you not. I live in Japan for the next year, after that back to the States. I know I'M NUTS. I was going to go visit him in New Zealand (I've always wanted to go anyway) in February. He said he's always wanted to see Japan.

But it was all talk. Wonderful talk.

Then it got more hopeful. He asked his family about it. They're all okay with that idea. Eh?! His father is going to give him frequent flier miles so he doesn't have to pay for his ticket. Double EH?! Okay--looking more hopeful. He asked for time off from his boss. WTF?!?

And then today--as I'm blissfully daydreaming of what it would be like to see him--as I am at work, bored and waiting for his email--

I get it.

And it's booked.

HIS FLIGHT IS BOOKED.

He has tickets.

HOLY SHMAHOOLIES AND CARAMEL CRACKERS WITH CHEESECAKE!!!

To say HOLY SHIT and OH MY GOD does not even BEGIN to describe how I feel right now. I just can't belive it. I'm waiting to wake up. Tomorrow I'll look at my phone and won't see the email and I know I dreamed the whole thing up. But OH MY GOD.

He's coming. HE'S ACTUALLY COMING. Coming to Japan to SEE ME. Because HE WANTS TO. Because he LIKES ME. He finds me beautiful and desirable and wonderful. I just...

OH. MY. GOD.

I can't say it enough. I can't believe it. I want to believe it. My dreams are finally coming true? I mean... they have been. I'M IN JAPAN for chrissakes. But those, like Japan and traveling and college and writing, those are done under my own power. Dreams that I must forge.

This is a dream I can't do by myself. It kind of needs someone there to be a part of it...... And he is. And he's coming.

I'll pick him up at Osaka, we'll take the train to Kyoto, we'll stay at the hotel, in the same room and share the same bed...

And when I get into work that Saturday--after 3 and a half days of him being here--I'LL HAVE THE STUPIDEST GRIN ON MY FACE.

Okay--so that's being too hopeful too. Maybe he'll get here and see me and there'll be no chemistry. He won't want me. Who knows? BUT GOD, I hope that's not the case. I hope that I can kiss him and my head will spin.

SHIT. My head's spinning just thinking about it.

I'm ecstatic. And I'm going to be so fucking blissfully happy at just the IDEA that he's coming to see me and actually has the tickets... that...

OH SHITES. I got to book the hotels tomorrow!!!

Matsuyama, Ashizuri, and Kyoto

2005-08-29T05:55:29Z

Before I get into the trips for the future and the last one I just did, quick update on recent events.

For one, my gallery is back up. Little chance anyone is going to steal my crap, so no worries there. For two, I'm going to be the only girl at Sakaide starting Thursday. Yay. Kineta is leaving. Which makes me very sad. Three--my probation has been extended until the end of September. Figures. Four, my family is okay in Miami despite the whack from Katrina. And five--there's actually a very good reason I haven't been online lately, of which I will not disclose. ::WIDE GRIN::

And another thing.

The Marugame matsuri was this past weekend. The fireworks were great, the dancing was great, the food was expensive (i didn't eat anything), and the dancing in the street yesterday KICKED MY ASS. It was soooooooooooooo cool!!

Ahem. There, that's done.

Now onto Matsuyama.

I went to Matsuyama on Wednesday. There is a hot spring place there called Dogo springs. There's no outdoor hotspring, just indoor ones, but they're quite nice. Apparently, this is the hotspring used as a model for Spirited Away's hot spring. It's one of the oldest in Japan.

Well, so I got up extra early and we--my buddy Jayne and I--headed out to the station. Got our tickets and went out there. Took about two hours. Not as nice of a trip as going to Kochi, but still pretty nice. Once there, she had a brief spaz attack as they actually had an Aunt Stella's cookie place. It's apparently a cookie place that is supposed to only exist in Pennsylvania. So we grabbed a couple of cookies and walked our butts to the tram to take it to the hot spring.

It stopped at a station about halfway and we had no idea what other tram to take. A Japanese woman who spoke English just walked up to us and offered help. Ah! So nice! So we managed to get on the right tram and got to the hot springs. Just before it though, is this cool clock that does a little show on the hour every hour. So we lingered to watch it. Right beside it is a hot spring just for feet and hands. ^___________________^ Well, after lingering a bit, we walked uphill to get to the hot springs and paid for a private room. We stripped, got into the yukatas they offered and headed downstairs for the little tour of the hot springs quarters (i.e. where the emperor used to stay and whatnot) and then onto the Tama no yu (Bath of the Spirits). It was a small place, just for the two of us. Apparently, I had ordered that one. So we lingered and had a good old time just vegging as our brains eventually melted from the heat. Another lady eventually came it, but we paid her no mind as we were wrapping up.

Out of curiosity, we headed toward the public baths--Kami no yu (Bath of the Gods)--and actually sat there for a while, naked, with a bunch of other ladies naked. Most of them old women. Tell you what, you figured you'd be self conscious, but by the end, you're actually feeling quite better about yourself! heheheheh.

Anyway, we went back up to our room, dried off, had green tea and dango. It's like a sweet rice paste. Very odd. But kind of tasty. Thanks to the dango I could drink my fuggin' green tea. Gosh, I hate that stuff. Ick. We got dressed again and decided to head out for lunch.

Got to a mall-like area and bought getta for our yukatas (they were on sale!), feeling pleased that we already spent more money. ><;; Jayne also bought herself a hat! We had udon for lunch and then stopped at the Ghibli store in that mall. THEY HAD CALCIFER PLUSHIES!! I almost died. Jayne had to drag me out of there. They had some nice howl figures, and they had some AWESOME pins. I'm buying Mich's christmas present there because they had SOOT BALLS. and well, there's just NO WAY, I'm passing that up!!

So yeah--got back to the clock. Watched the show again, stuck our feet in the mini hotspring. I took a picture of my feet. Woooo! I was wearing my COOL socks. Anyway, we caught the tram back and headed over to the main mall. We wandered for a while, looking for a massage place. Found a Haagen-Daaz place, couldn't resist. Bought more cool socks. And a real hematite and amethyst bracelet for me. Nice. Filled up my phone card. Took more money out. And found the massage place.

Poor Jayne went for the reflexology. Much pain. I had a nice lavender oil massage. Whole body. For a really good price too. Aaaah~ Anyway! Started heading out and found the photo booth area. We went nuts doing photos on these things. We had a kick with them! ^__________^ After that we headed out of the mall, and took the tram back to the station and headed back home.

On the way there I did something very very very brave.
Especially for me.

Left me giddy the rest of the night.
I'm blushing just thinking about it so I'm going to stop now.

After we got home, we went out for curry--MMMMM--and got free chai in the process! NICE. Then it was home. It was a good day, last Wednesday.

Ashizuri is where I'm planning on going next month for three days. Cliff-sides and a beautiful hotel. I should have some overtime on there, so my paycheck should be decent in September. Hopefully, by then I'll have a digital camera and I can take many many many pictures.

I will be going to Kyoto in October. Probably the last week of October. Originally it was only going to be for three days, but I want to try and stretch it to five. Let's see if I can do it! I want to see the fall leaves and go to Ginkakuji--the Silver Temple. I'm so excited about going there! I have to ask Scott--he just went there--which hotel he stayed at, so I can do the same.

October is going to be a very nice month.

My Day Trip at Kochi

2005-08-16T16:55:06Z

All right--so because of lack of money and internet addiction, I have barely gone out in Japan. Safer to stay home and mess around online than to go out and spend what little cash I had.

Bright side?

The 15th was payday!

So I decided to plurge. Waste around 20,000 yen and go about.

I went to a place briefly mentioned by a coworker. It's called Kochi. Probably spelled Kouchi really, but who knows? Anyway, since my bike has a flat tire I walk my happy ass at around 10:30am to the station. Buy my ticket, which costs 4,130 yen--i.e. like 42 bucks. I wait for my train, killing time by writing letters I will mail out tomorrow. I get on the very comfortable express train and begin my journey.

I think it's going to take an hour max.

It takes 2 hours.

Am I complaining?

HELL FUCK NO.

Why?

Well, before I get to the why, let me say something about the first 15-30 minutes of the trip. Not only did I see lovely towns, but really, there is something downright beautiful about the VIVID green of rice plants. They just glow. And on this hot summer day, sun beaming, blue gorgeous skies, and a COOL BREEZE (holy shit the day is perfect!!), they just glow. Glow, dude. GLOW. We made a stop at Zentsuji City. Some people got off. Some tourists maybe. I saw them taking a picture by a statue at the station. A lady saw me looking from inside the train and waved at me. She WAVED AT ME. I waved back. Then everyone on the damn platform was waving at me!

I don't give a damn what anyone says about Japan, ever. The one thing that can never be argued is that these people are the sweetest and most friendliest people in the WORLD. And the rest of the events of the day only echo this observation.

Now as to the why those two hours were the BEST two hours I ever spent on a train. Because to get to this particular town, which is quite literally on the OTHER SIDE of Shikoku from Marugame, I have to go through mountains. Lots of them. To say it's beautiful is to do it no justice.

It stole my breath away. I mean... I can't really find words to describe how beautiful this really was. I was glued to the window, staring out in awe every second of the trip. I now have to make a trip to Ooboke because damn it's right smack in the middle of those mountains. It's literally a town sitting on the mountains. Bridges connect to the bits and pieces, and at the base of the mountains is this huge river that people were WHITE WATER RAFTING ON! I was jumping from one side of the train to the other to make sure I got every view possible. I was so sad that I couldn't take a picture because the train was moving!!! It was just so amazing.... I started getting upset every time we went through a tunnel because I couldn't see outside anymore.

Even if Kochi hadn't been wonderful--I'd go back just for the trip through the mountains. Well, worth the amount I fuggin' paid.

Sooooo!

Finally, 2 hours of bliss, I near Kochi. Mountains vanish, I get plains again and real cities/towns. I heard that as you got near you were supposed to have a fantastic view of the ocean--I probably misheard--because I didn't see crap. So I arrived, somewhat disappointed. I remained so as I walked outside and saw...well, basically what looked a lot like any other city I'd been to in Japan so far. The local ones. But sitting right in front of the station was this tram... and well, I thought... FUCK IT.

So I got on the damn thing, having no idea where it was going. Even though it said the name in romanji so I could read it despite the blasted kanji, it meant diddly to me. I looked around as we rattled and screeched and decided, randomly, to stop in this one spot. Probably because I'd caught a glimpse of this nice little bridge and fountain and figured, well, hell. Let's start with the monuments and stuff.

All right. I wander through this little park thing, take pictures. It's really lovely design, just ...well really nice period. I'd love to do what a couple of people were doing and lingering. But I moved on through it with an enchanted step because it was just too nice not to be enchanted by it. As I came out of the little parkish thing--I saw this steel, modern artish building and thought--damn that's ugly. I wonder what it is. I took a picture of it, because why not? Then I decided, well, hell. Let me wander in. So I do, looking around like the curious tourist I am and see in great big letters...

"INFORMATION"

Well hot damn.

I'd just found the information center of the city.

WHAT LUCK!!!

So I go to the counter and the lady there eagerly helps me, displaying her amazingly good English and I, my craptacular Japanese. She pulls out maps and pamphlets and English/Japanese Japanese/English dictionaries and we get down to business!

Her name is Yumi and I dedicate this post to her. Without her, my day in Kochi would not have been as much fun.

We sat there for like an HOUR, planning out my day and the potential things I could do. I even thought about staying the night at a hotel and continuing to see the city on the morrow as well! Then, thought of going somewhere else to sight see... but it didn't work out. Still! She set me up with going to Kasturahama, a sightseeingish beach in Kochi. I took the bus to get there, this rickety thing that was really actually kind of cute. Everyone got off but me before we got to Katsurahama, so I attempted to talk to the driver to make sure I knew where I was going. We ended up chitchatting in a blend of broken English, broken Japanese and fluent Japanese (on his part only!) for a little while before getting to Katsurahama. He was super sweet!!!

Anyway, Katsurahama and a bunch of shops I bypassed for the moment and I headed straight for the goods stuff. The beach. Sand is mostly stone, beautiful rock formations in the water and and the cliff side. I put my feet in the nice cool water. I was soooooooooooooooooo happy. Being near the ocean again! I took LOADS of pictures. There was this ancient shrine on the cliff and a couple of monuments and two toris! Lots and lots of pictures. Oh yes. I eventually wandered back down to the shop areas and bought myself my first official souvenir in Japan. A straw hat. The triangle ones. With kanji painted on it.

I crazy gaijin wore the damn thing most of the day. Heh.

I barely made it to the bus back on time (I spent the day cutting it close), because I had the munchies and got myself tako (octopus) on a stick dripping in yakitori sauce and a lemon icee thing that didn't taste even remotely lemonish. Got on the bus, and enjoyed the ride back toward Harimaya-bashi (the name of the street or something). Got off a little weirded from where I got on and ended up walking back through the little park thing to get to the information place.

They had added stuff in the three hours I'd been gone.

I took pictures of that too.

Went back up to the Information building and reunited with my lovely compadre, Yumi. She'd found me an ATM. I was already running low on cash and wouldn't be able to afford the trip back if I didn't haul my ass to one quick. We chatted for longer than we were supposed to--and I ended up running out towards the ATM waving crazy goodbyes to Yumi.

I gave her my email address. I hope she sends me a message. I'd love to see her again the next time I go to Kochi.

Got to the ATM in the nick of time (that cutting it close bit again), and took out another 5000 yen. Woo. More money down the toilet. Anyway, I decided, even though it was already 6pm and my train left at 7:30pm, I'd try to get some grub and see one more site on the map. I had four highlighted.

Koya Temple.
Kochi Castle.
Jyosei Park.
Kochi Dai Shrine.
and Hirome Market.

The latter was where to get the grub. yay.

So I decided, all right, the castle, the park and the shrine are a little farther away and I don't have enough time. So let's do the Temple and then the food and then head back. Good reason to come back. Do the other stuff!!

So I headed down one of the main streets, Ohashi-dori, same street as Hirome Market and Koya Temple, and marched to the temple, looking around constantly so I'm not run over and so I can see the temple.

Almost pass it!

Thank god for accurate maps!!

I notice because I start to walk passed the street its on, looking for it, and see the giveaway architecture and these bunch of festival like decorations. So with a wide grin I head to the temple.

Let me clarify something before I go into my amazing experience at this temple.

It's Obon right now in Japan. It's about a week of celebration and family get togethers. They visit graves of those departed, leave sweets and flowers for them, pray for them at family altars, and pretty much thank their ancestors and their deceased loved ones for caring for them and wish them well. I've been talking to my students for the passed two weeks, trying to figure out what I could do for Obon.

They kept telling me there's not much I can do. They told me the above. None of that is something a Gaijin like me can do.

This is my mentality. I've accepted the fact that I can't do anything to celebrate Obon.

So I walk into this temple and I'm surrounded by lanterns. A group of old women are wandering about helping people with their lanters and pretty much selling them and making them and lighting them. I'm amazed.

And I begin to hope.

Please! OH PLEASE! Let this gaijin make one!!!

I go up to one lady and ask in my distorted childlike Japanese if I can make one. She says it costs 1000 yen. I willingly pay for it. The problem is...I don't have much cash left. I need to make sure I save that 5000 I just took out for my trip back home. And the original 10,000 I took out is dwindling quickly. So even though I wanted to make several lanterns... I did only one.

I wrote down the name of the person and my name in katakana for nice old lady doing the calligraphy.

Nicholas Acosta.

Even now, I'm starting to cry as I remember.

The paper was done, they gave it to me, they made it into a lantern and they lit it for me. I wanted to go into the actual temple, but the lady led me to another portion (I guess the newer portion), and showed me into the room where people were praying. She grabbed a young man to help her translate and she offered me to stay for the ceremony at 7.

I soooooo wanted to.

I told him I couldn't--that I live in Marugame and my train leaves at 7:30pm. For a moment, I almost thought they were going to offer for me to stay in their home so I didn't have to take the train back and could stay for the ceremony. They didn't...but it sure looked like they were considering it.

But I told them I would stay a while and pray. I told him who I did the lantern for.

Nicholas Acosta is my cousin. He died January 6th 2000. He was 12 years old.

I sat there, by myself for a while, and prayed. I cried.

Hell, I'm crying now writing about it.

Another old lady eventually appeared, with another young person, a woman this time, to help her translate. Turns out the woman is an English teacher for a private school and she just got married in June to the priest! The young man I had spoken to earlier! She helped me translate for a bit. The older woman wanted me to stay. She told me she was going to sing in the ceremony. I told her that I was so sorry I couldn't stay, that I wanted to but couldn't.

She gave me 2000 yen.

I honestly don't know what compelled her to give me the money. The younger woman said it was for 'my journey'. I couldn't refuse. To say I was moved and honored is to mock my own feelings.

I don't care what anyone ever says about Japan. The people make that land beautiful.

I spoke to the younger woman for a while still, after the older woman left. She told me some things about herself (the aforementioned) and about the temple. They had the biggest moving lanterns in Japan at that temple. I felt so bad that I couldn't stay longer.

Eventually I left. But not after being moved and honored so deeply that I felt like crying again at the wonder of it. I told her I would come see her again. I promised.

And I will.

I left and headed toward Hirome Market for dinner.

Hirome Market is like a giant food court. Only all the tables are made out of wood and even though it's technically in a building all the shops are designed as if they were outside in a festival street. I wandered about for a bit, watching my time, and ordered seafood yakisoba. For those who don't know what yakisoba is--it's damn tasty. Noodles, cabbage (ew), onions and seafood, fried on a skillet with soy sauce. DAMN TASTY. I ate fast and hurried out of there.

I headed back for the main intersection on Ohashi-dori and took the tram back to Harimaya-boshi. I got off and felt lost. I knew I had to take another tram to the station--and I didn't know how to do it.

I was cutting it close again.

The lady who got off the train with me, suddenly spoke English to me, asking me if I was headed toward the station. Setting aside my surprise, I said yes--she was heading there herself. She asked somebody next to us and found out we had to go to a different 'tram station' in the middle of the road. So we headed over there. She was tall, and kind of big all around and spoke English better than anybody else I met. She even understood my mutterings to myself.

I think she's half Japanese.

Anyway, we got on the tram, paid for it and finally got back to the station. I ran and got my ticket and then hurried to my platform. Another 4,130 yen gone.

Just in time.

Two more hours to get back to Marugame, and then the 20 minute walk back home at almost 10pm.

My day was great. I plan on going back soon and seeing Yumi and the lovely people at the temple again. I don't know when, maybe in September, when I have to go through Kochi to get to Ashizuri. But I will see them again.

It was a fantastic day trip. And that is the understatement of this century.

My only regret? On the ride back I couldn't see the beautiful countryside again. It was too dark.

Movies are good for my brain

2005-08-03T13:56:50Z

OKAY.

So I guess I've been stressed out lately. Couldn't tell you why for, though I'm sure there are some fantastic ideas with valid evidence to support them. My jaw has been acting up because of it. Been getting pains and whatnot and it's just been aching something fierce.

BUT!!

Today is one of my days off. Last day. Tomorrow back to work. So I decided, because it's ladies night at the theater, I'm going to treat myself to a double feature. Because there are 2 movies I wanted to see. The Island and the Fullmetal Alchemist movie.

Before I move on to the actual rants about the movies--which will include some spoilers--let me say something about the previews.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Cinderella Man and the Fantastic 4 come out in September. Madgascar comes out next week. But there are two really fuggin' AWESOME looking movies--that are all Japanese. This makes me sad. Because even if I tried to watch them in raw Japanese...sigh. So I hope that I can eventually get them with subtitles. I'd really like them. One looks really funny. It's about a group of nerds who seem to run a movie rental place and are all obsessed with s.f. (sci-fi for cheesy americans)--BUT! They actually get a hold of a real time machine and things go nuts. Looks like it would be a KICK. The other one is called "Shinobi--Heart Under Blade".

Dude... let's just say I was quivering in my seat from excitement. OMG. I think I may still go and see that one even though I probably still won't understand it.

Okay! Now onto the movies. I'll start with the Island because that one will have no spoilers. Really.

THE ISLAND:

...FUGGIN' FANTASTIC!! I guess it helped that I was expecting crap and a horrid ending and got something blissfully the opposite. The previews do pretty much give the whole movie away though and the plot was semi-predictable (but only thanks to those damn previews), but DAMN. There were some nice twists, awesome effects and action sequences, the plot is good, and you leave the theater feeling like all is right in the world!

Note: I saw this second because I was hoping it wouldn't disappoint and FMA had the slight chance of doing that. So there was stuff that happened between the watching of this film and the watching of the previous that I will bring up now since I'm going backward in time.

Okay so during the two hours between FMA and the Island, I tried to kill time without actually going INTO the mall. Because god help me, I was already spending enough money today (having bought my monthly pass as well...which FUCK!!! I FORGOT TO GET THE RECEIPT FOR!! ...i wonder if I can still get it?) ...but I still ended up spending cash. I ate, woo, but the Japanese have this ingenious little device installed in their theaters right by their concession stand. A Gift Shop. For movies. So I get out of FMA feeling like heaven has granted me and anime boon and I see all this FMA stuff...and I start to shiver. So temptation possesses me and I wander in and look at the pretty FMA things that I want. I bought something for the anime club back in the states (I will send it to Juan or Teri, please give me your address so I can send it to you!), I bought the soundtrack for the FMA movie, and I bought an Ed charm for my phone. BECAUSE HE'S HOT AND I COULDN'T RESIST LEAVE ME ALONE. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. So yeah. Money went poof. So I said--okay--let's kill more time. I went to the book shop, wandered around the manga I can't fully understand, got reprimanded by a nervous Japanese salesman who didn't know how to tell me I couldn't read the graphic novels without buying, and passed by the 'FOREIGN BOOKS'. I.e. They're all in English.

What scared me was that they had One Piece V.2 and Dragonball 1-2--MANGA--in ENGLISH. Sitting there. Staring at me. I just stared because my brain was at war. It's JAPAN. Why would the have their own MANGA IN ENGLISH!?!? And the other side of my brain is saying HOLY SHIT WHY CAN'T THEY HAVE MORE ENGLISH MANGA HERE SO I COULD READ IT?!?!? WHY DO THEY TEEEEEEEASE ME?!?!

So I quickly wandered away, looked at more manga, and then headed to leave when I saw a giant poster. I stared at it for a moment, recognizing Miyazaki's art, and saw a movie/art book for the new film "Howl's Moving Castle", which I won't get to see for a long long while... Unless I download it... which right now doesn't sound like a bad idea... hmmm...I think I will do that tonight. ANYWAY. I flip through it and WISH by god that I could see it with subtitles and then I notice a strange book. Looks like a novel. With the same title and different pictures...But with an English name on it. Diana Wynne Jones. I pick it up. I flip through. AND THEN IT HITS ME.

This is THE BOOK Miyazaki based his film on!!!

I TOTALLY SPAZ.

IT'S IN ENGLISH.

WRITTEN BY A BRIT.

I ask for the price, realize I don't have enough, hide it (like a Japanese person is going to by an English kid's book novel in the 2 seconds I'm gone...::rolls eyes:: but i still did... ^^;; ), go to the ATM, take out more cash (as if I HADN'T spent already over 100+ dollars), run back, and buy the damn book.

I still have an hour to kill before the Island starts.

So I start reading. The book is damn good. I want more of this writer's crap. God help me.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THIS MOVIE.

....I'm going to download it tonight for sure.

OKAY.

SO.

FMA.

Spoiler warning ahead. The reason being for sure is because I want to help myself work out what went on by going over it again in text. Remember--I saw it in raw Japanse. I only have a VAGUE synopsis what is going on. But I will also dictate my reactions as the story unfolded, which includes a lot of squealing, gasps, OhmyGODs, and ACKILOVETHEMALLIWANTTHEWHOLESERIESHOLYSHITES.

So there you have it. You have been warned.

Spoilers AHEAD:

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SERIOUSLY--IF YOU DON'T WANT IT STOP READING. I PROMISE I WON'T WRITE ANYMORE AFTER IT SO YOU CAN STOP READING MY JOURNAL NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW SEMI-WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FMA MOVIE AND THE END OF THE SERIES.
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Okay. Series ends with Ed stuck in our plane (with Honeheim) and Al back as a ten year old (as if the last 4 years hadn't happened), with his body and no memories of the last 4 years. Fast forward another 3 years. Honeheim is missing, WW2 is full swing, Ed is running the mechanics/fix it/etc practice he had going with his father, they live on top of or next to Glacier from our world's flower shop. He's working with the Alphonse in our world, who is older and has different color eyes. They go to a demonstartion of Al's (FoW--from our world for short) new rocket design, crash a the car because Ed's not paying attention telling a story about him and Al back in his world to this other Al. So yeah. They hitch a ride with gypsies. One--Noah--touches Ed and knows he's got fake arms. I think she has powers and can see into another person's dreams or some such. She saw some flashes of Ed's world when she touched him. They get there, Ed's chilling, these military guys go after Noah. Ed protects her, takes her home. Hughes FoW has a crush on Glacier. The local townspeople are not sure what to do about Ed bringing a gypsy home. Ed sees King Bradley FoW--thinking it's the one from his--chances him down and realizes, oh yeah, no homunculus here. Duh. Since Ed knocked out his driver, Ed takes him to where he was going, which was to this castle that said there was a dragon in it. No idea why KB FoW is there--he's a movie director. ::shrug:: Anyway--turns out the dragon is Envy (the end of FMA anyone?) They fight a little, but Envy can no longer change shape because he has no power here. He's stuck as a dragon. Military people (the ones that tried to capture Noah) with friends show up and capture Envy. They know who Ed is--Honeheim's son. Flash to Envy's situation... Apparently, there are people who know about the alternate world Ed's from and are trying to open the gateway to get there. They've made a magic circle with runes and whatnot, and are using Envy and Honeheim (poor bastard's been captured), to fuel it. They send some guys in armor there. Some armor of which, of course, looks like Al's armor. Finally go to Al and Winry etc. Izumi has died. Winry came to visit the grave. Wrath is there, miserable with messed up automail. She fixes him up. Rose and Armstrong are helping people in a town when those guys in armor show up. I think it's one of the towns they destroyed. All the people are dark like her, and they're in the desert. Anyway, guys in armor show up, start busting things up, they're 'empty'. Al appears, wearing Ed's old get up, and does a nice little trick which is putting a little bit of his soul into an inanimate object to possess it and make it move. Rose and Armstrong are a little weirded out at one point because it looks like Ed and Al fighting together again, since Al is wearing Ed's old get up and he's fighting alongside a suit of armor that looks like his old one. Flash back to our world. Ed's been following the assholes who took Envy. Breaks into a universityish looking place, and finds the room where they're doin these experiments. He sees the magic circle on the floor, retraces it, uses some of his blood (he cut his face on the way into the building) to activate it. Baddies show up. Guys Al was beating up on the otherside are starting to get sucked back into a similar fuschia glowing hole where they first came. Al spazzes, thinking to go through it to get to Ed, gets pulled back by Armstrong and Rose. He was gripping onto one of the arms. They start trying to kill Ed in our world, shooting at him, his fingers on his 'automail' (not quite the same anymore) getting blown off, and jumps into the armors (which are now dead guys in suits again). He sees one that looks like Al's old one, looks at it in surprise for a moment, until the eyes glow and Al's voice screeches out--"NIISAAAAN!!!" Enter bearhug of reunion here, kicking off of Al's helmet as Ed yells at him, and crazy escape from bullets. From what I gather, because of Al's little trick, his consciousness traveled inside the armor to this plane. In Al's world, he's unconscious muttering 'nii-san, nii-san'. Ed and Al talk for a bit before Al is pulled back to his plane and falls apart on Ed. Al cries when he comes to, Ed looks depressed as hell. Meanwhile, Al FoW is accidentally working on rockets now for the baddies without realizing. And he's dying of TB. Fun. Noah is sweet on Ed--he looks sweet on her too oddly enough (there's a scene when she goes into his room in her shift!)--Al FoW and Ed have a fight--Al FoW runs off. Ed ends up meeting with King Bradley again FoW, find out he's a director, and a lot of information is passed along, most of which I don't know. All I managed to gather was that people are becoming fascinated in s.f. and he shows Ed a bunch of stuff on parallel worlds. I guess he indicates that people believe in this stuff. Ed tries to brush it off, but KB FoW pushes and gives him more and more info. While he's gone, Noah get's caught and you find out Hughes--as well as the baddie military people--are working together and they're all Nazis. Ed comes back, goes out with Noah, everyone around him has gone Nazi and she goes of her own will. I don't know how they got her to do it, what the hell they bribed or threatened her with, but ::shrug:: Anyway--he goes back to the university looking place--and goes back to the room. The person in charge of all this is this weirdo German blond bitch obsessed with power. Anyway, back home Al and Wrath headed down to the underground city beneath Central and Al tries to form a circle that will attempt to connect the worlds. Gluttony--still absolutely insane with his 'sin'--had deformed and attacks. Wrath starts to fight him while Al watches in horror. Ed gets into the building, back to the room, finds Envy again, and realizes that Envy has Honeheim in his mouth, a tooth piercing Honeheim's torso. Honeheim says some farewell words to a horrified Ed, who watches as his father dies, his blood fills the room and ignites the circle. He tries to stop it, get's shot at and knocked down to where the rockets are located at the base. AT THE SAME TIME Wrath is handling Gluttony... sort of. Wrath ends up luring Gluttony and himself over Al's circle, Gluttony already have chewing and killing poor Wrath who is begging a horrified Al to use them to ignite the circle. He begs--saying he wants to finally go home--and be with his mother. Al does it and the GATE FUCKING OPENS. Al FoW's rockets are in full swing, filled with warriors in armor who are going to invade Ed and Al's home world. Al FoW sees Ed who fell, straps him into a plane and sets him off into the gate to go back. He gets shot in the back by a baddy who saw him help Ed. He dies, smiling. Ed goes through the gate first, leaving a screaming Noah behind, followed by the army of baddies. They all come into Al's world who is totally freaking out causing a huge earthquake all over Central. Sheska and Winry, who were in town after Al, fall into one of the quakes and end up happily in the underground city. Ed's plane crashes near them. Baddies infiltrate the skies and start invading Central. Alchemists are on the move, lead by Armstrong--when Roy makes an appearance (after apparently being in isolation a long while--oh and he only has one eye now)--and helps out, blowing shit up! Alchemists fighting above ground, Ed and Al meet for the first time in 7 years (though Al doesn't look it or remember 4 of them), Winry patches up Ed's automail. Al freaks out at the war around him, Ed helps him through it. Psycho bitch is flying around, Ed, Al and Roy all work together to get at the main ship of hers. Her--and all the people she brought with her--have symbioted with the black nasties from the gate. They fight briefly. Her and Ed fight, Al uses the suits of armor he possesses to finish her off. It's over, the other rockets are destroyed. Al and Roy are like woo! let's go home, but Ed separates them and pretty much says he's going to go back to our world. Al is screaming trying to stop him, but he still goes back on what's left of the rocket. AND I'M IN MY SEAT SCREAMING "I DID SO NOT WATCH THIS FUCKING MOVIE IN RAW JAPANESE TO NOT SEE THEM STAY TOGETHER!! WHAT THE FLYING FUCK!?!?!?!" ...well, not in so many words. There were Japanese people around me. But that's how I felt. He crashes the sonvabitch back into our world, a fucked up psycho bitch wanders out and gets shot by the good guys who have finally arrived (turns out Hughes was a spy for the good guys), Noah is cradling a dead Al FoW, who Ed realizes is dead and is horrified. Then Al's voice busts out of a suit of armor. Ed is freaked out for a moment--asks something that's probably along the lines of, did you transfer your soul again? but then AL CRAWLS OUT OF THE DAMN SUIT OF ARMOR!!! I SPAZ FOR JOY!!! Both of them together--say something like dude, your my brother, I'm with you, and they close the gate together. Basically end of movie here... Hughes FoW approaches Glacier finally, Ed and Al and Noah hitchhike onto another Gypsy car--this one driven by the Lust and Scar of this world who are together (SPAZZES AND DIES AGAIN FROM THE SQUEEING OF THE JOY)--and go off into the distance, muttering who knows what out this world and whatnot.

YAY END OF MOVIE.

I AM DAR JOY AND HAPPINESS.

The moment it is available for download IT IS MINE. So I may see it with subtitles and fill in the many holes. There's stuff I left out because damn... somethings have to be a surprise don't they. ::WIDE GRIN::

I am a fool

2005-07-25T15:12:11Z

A fool who has a major crush on a guy for the first time in a LONG ASS FUCKING TIME.

So much of a crush, mind you, that getting an email from him is a rush of pleasure and joy. Seeing him online and being able to talk to him, makes me smile and laugh in ways I hadn't thought I could with a guy. He's a good friend. A sweetheart. Completely and totally. I mean, I look over our conversations on MSN and I get teary-eyed.

No guy is this sweet and kind.

I respect him so much. He can write, he likes the same things I do, he draws beautifully...

And he thinks I'm beautiful. He thinks I'm understanding and kind.

I've told him I have a crush on him. Most guys who are my friends, would be gentle, but let me know they are not interested in me. All the guys I meet are interested in other girls. Never me.

The pessimistic side of me has a lot to say about this situation. It says I'm hoping too much and I'm going to suffer for it. It says, well, he hasn't met you yet! And yes, that's the clincher. I have never met him. I've only spoken to him online, only gotten to see pictures and talk to him over the worldwide web. So there's a little voice that says, once he meets me, this wonderful thing we have, that could one day be more--will vanish.

It gets worse.

He lives in another country. New Zealand to be precise. Oh no, it gets better.

I'm 23 years old.
He's 18.

In March/April 2005, which is around the time I met him, I was teaching 18 year olds. He was staying up late instead of being in bed despite having school the next morning, talking to me halfway across the world, just before I began teaching a class full of students his own age.

And despite all this. Despite the fact that I know I am a damn and blasted fool for wanting someone I've never met. For wanting him to want me...

I'm going to hope that when I visit him February or March of 2006, almost an entire year of knowing him just from online, that he will look at me, and want me. That his image of me as this gentle, loving, kind, wonderful, beautiful woman doesn't vanish with the first glance.

That instead of pretending to kiss him over an IM box, I could kiss him in real life, and feel desired.

I am a fool.

A fool for grasping at something so improbable and impossible and praying that these silly hopes, don't come crashing down.

And do you know what he tells me when I tell him that I am afraid, that I am hoping so much for something to spark between us in real life the way it has over this imaginary subworld?

He says he hopes it doesn't come crashing down on me...
But if it does, he will help me out, and dig my hopes back up.

How can I not want him? When everything he says brings a hopeful smile to my face, sweet tears of hope to my eyes, and catches my breath.

I'm going to wake up.

And he's not going to be this person. Or this person never really existed.

Because men like him don't exist anymore.

And if they do, some other woman or man already has them.

kaorukagome @ 2005-07-19T09:35:00

2005-07-19T00:44:08Z

On July 18th--half a world away in Orlando--my kitten, Wong Fei Hong, my Feifei, my lil squishy died.

I'm sooooo far away, and I can't hug Mich, who has been taking Fei to and from the hospital for the last month. I can't see my Feifei who stopped breathing just as Marshall was leaving for work. I haven't been with my kitten as he's been suffering from brain hemorraging...

I think now, a little, as I'm crying my eyes out, that if I had been in Orlando, at least I would have been able to spend the days watching him to make sure he was okay. Mich and Marsh had to go to work. I would have been on summer break--maybe already with a job at Olympia--which is where I was recommended to go. I would have been able to be with him.

I'm still crying. I'll probably be crying for a couple of days yet. Maybe I'll call in sick on Thursday.

I don't know.

I just want my kitten.

I never thought I would go home and not have my Feifei waiting for me...

long update

2005-07-14T14:24:07Z

This will be a long update. If you read my devART journal, most of it will be just repetitive. ::huggles and kisses:: But at least it's an update!

Currently I am working on images I've lost and have to do. Like the LaZhol that was almost finished for Becca that got deleted. Like the gift art I promised to give Max (a buddy in New Zealand.)

sooooo much I have to update the moment I get a chance. To call me this is EXACTLY what you have to dial.

011-81-90-5271-7937

there you go.

I've met a bunch of great people here in Japan. Already said good bye to one. Alex's farewell party (awesome gorgeous Brit lesbian who I want to keep forever) was a couple of weeks ago and very nice, and I had some great Japanese food, an entire bottle of sake, then went to a kareoke bar called Chakuman, had 2 Jack and Cokes and 2 shots of tequila. On a tab! I sang a bunch of songs, including my theme song, "Fatbottom girls" by Queen. It was sooooo much fun. The place is so small and it was packed with all the NOVA people from Marugame and the next three towns over, and a lot of the students too. The best was when the entire bar busted out into "Sweet Home Alabama", replacing the Alabama with Marugame. Dude.

It was a TRIP.

I've noticed that here people go on a lot of drinking binges. I'm proud to say I've only gotten drunk once, because of a stupid mistake by me, but other than that I've done quite well.

Too hot to sleep in my room. Will be sleeping downstairs tonight, and Heather and I, since we both have tomorrow off, we'll be doing some house cleaning and setting up computers a little more officially. Which is quite nice. I want to see if tomorrow I work on a lot of my projects for dA. Stories and images. So when I can get online from my laptop I can upload and overload all your inboxes. HEH.

I hope I start to drop pounds soon dammit.

I barely eat lately, I sweat constantly, and I have to walk or bike everywhere. Dammit weight, GET OFF ME. I have figured out the coffee machine. Wai. Heather and I are going to save up for a rice maker, because doing it in the pot is very annoying. Mainly because neither of us like doing the dishes.

I also can't wait to get internet for the main reason that I can damn well start rping again. I'm going through some serious withdrawal. Ug. I did finish coloring the O'Connors, but I haven't figured out a background yet. Any suggestions? I will continue working on my others too.

Oh, current plans for traveling in Japan so far are, either Okinawa or Kochi (being the name of a good beach here in Shikoku apparently) for a beach this summer, the World Expo so I can see the robots, Izumo in Shimane sometime in the fall, an onsen resort in the winter (great place in Gunma I did research on called Ikaho--must go!!), the snow festival in Hokkaido--ideally before the end of the year.

And after?

Well, I'll probably be desperately saving up for a trip to New Zealand. Because well, I'd like to visit Max. ::eyebrow wiggle::

Anyway things are getting weirder the longer I stay in Japan.

First off, last time I was online, I spent a good portion of it fufilling my need for anime, literature and film. I didn't spend a whole lot, but enough to bring relief to my poor tortured mind... for the moment. (The brightside about this is that now I can get all this stuff from home because I FINALLY HAVE MY OWN BLASTED INTERNET AT MY PLACE!!) Ahem.

Anyway, back to the story... The beginnings of problems happened as I left Funky Time (the internet cafe in Utazu I frequent). This was the second to last time I was there....

As I paid for my hours and walked my happy ass out... I noticed my bike was gone.

Vanished.

Extinct.

I searched. Maybe it had been moved? Nope. Gone. My bike had been stolen. I walked my butt back home, a whole kilometer trek. I called up one of the buddies back near my place to ask him what to do, and by the next morning, every gaijin in town knew my bike had been stolen. Wai.

I walked the next day everywhere I went. I couldn't report it, the bike wasn't registered and... apparently, something no one bothered to tell me, if your bike isn't locked that means that it's up for grabs. So... yeah.

So, tried to get a free one from a student... but it was so old... well, let's just say after pumping both tires 3 times, both were flat in seconds of riding, the brakes don't work and screech like an Irish banshee, and has got about an inch of rust all over it. So yeah... and just the pleasure of riding it for 3 and a half seconds was enough to make me go "fuck it" and dish out another 7500yen so I can get a new bike and get it registered. This time, someone tries to steal the sucker I'll have the cops on their asses!!!

Felt so nice to be riding a damn bike again.

Amazing how being a month in Japan with a bike (already a month today!! wow!!) would make me sooooo used to the damn thing. I can't imagine anymore getting along without it. I'm definitely taking my bike home with me.

Heh. If I can train Fei to stay in the front basket, I could take him places with me!! ...but I doubt it.

Sad news from Mich. Fei is up and down on health. I'm really worried about my kitten. I hope he gets better. Apparently, Yasumi-con is on full swing and I couldn't get the image I drew for them to them in time... well, duh. No net and no scanner. Sucks for me... But I'll still send it to the anime club once things are up and running finally. Supposedly I'm going to get internet next Thursday (PRAY!!), but I'm going to Okayama for Follow Up Training... and I'm not looking forward to that.

It's like being in a kindergarten class. Because most of the people who come don't have any training as teachers, they give us this rigid system that we have to follow by the book, and train us to do exactly as they do all the time. ...I taught high school for almost an entire school year. Yeah, not as much as most, yeah, not formal training... but don't treat me as if I don't know how to teach ESOL kids. My "Native English speakers" in my classes in Orlando know less English than my Japanese beginners. So don't give me this "follow our instructions and you'll be fine" crap. I taught English before. I know what the hell I'm doing. Moreso than anyone else in this building.

I just hope I have internet by next weekend. Or I will begin to go mad.

And speaking of mad, I'm having issues with NOVA. Issues that probably not be resolved, that it usually takes most people a couple of months to realize and I've figured out in a month. So, just to play it safe--because I've been warned that if I continue on my rebellious streak of actually trying to TEACH students, instead of just sell them English, and not do as the dictated, rigid, 'teaching method' they've provided for me... I will be fired--I'm going to look into other teaching positions here. I already know of 2 potential prospects. The hard part is being able to find an apartment here in Japan. Luckily, I know people, the right people apparently, so I may be in luck. But I sure hope it doesn't boil down to that. If I can keep my cool for the next two months, I'll try to get transferred into a different school that isn't so rigid in structure. And that all the people there like me at least a little. Seems in this school many of the people don't like me all that much. So I avoid them for the most part.

Though I must hound Scott once he's done banging his girlfriend (who just showed up to live with him), and has relieved his stress, for the anime he has. I want the blasted animes burned onto CDs! I want them all!!! I don't care if I irritate him. I will irritate him more to get the blasted anime...

Oh, which reminds me... most of my students get a kick out of the fact that I watch anime, read manga, know so much about it, and know about Japanese movies and TV shows. They ask ME about what I know about Japan!

>_<;;

We have a special class called Voice, which all we do is talk to them and get them to talk to each other and practice their English. Well, it has become standard that my students sit there and talk to me about anime, manga and movies when I walk in. That's it. Today, I spent an entire Voice lesson talking about Inuyasha, Detective Conan, Fushigi Yuugi, and Rurouni Kenshin.

This... has now become standard.

Oh, and to end this today... because I'm sure my bill here will be quite high...and on a very happy note...

Two of my students squealed in sheer happiness when I said the one sentence, "My favorite anime is Rurouni Kenshin."

One was so excited and happy and thrilled to death, that even though I've only had one class with her, she came by yesterday and gave me a little present. An envelope with the Kenshin-gumi on it that is the pinnacle of CUTE. Her name is Ai and I love her, and I want to take her home and keep her and pet her and love on her forever.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!

She wants to be a mangaka. I ADORE this lovely 19 year old!!

The other is an older lady who has been reading manga forever, and apparently wrote a novel herself once for a contest, (not a manga a novel) but they liked it so much they had a famous artist make it into a manga!! She won tons of money for it and it sold lots of copies in its day!! I was amazed! She said next time she would bring it for me so I could see it!

I'm soooooooooooooooo excited!!

I'll tell you what. Japan is a country of contradictions. There is very little crime in this small town, but if anything gets stolen it's your bike or your umbrella. The people here are super nice and friendly, and they can avoid you like the plague itself. I can't be too mad at the asshole drunk who stole my bike. Because I left it unlocked, so as far as he was concerned it was up for grabs.

Bet you tons of cash, if I had a sticker that said, "THIS IS A GAIJIN'S BIKE" on it, he wouldn't have touched the sucker! Locked or unlocked!!!

My new bike is red. I want a purple star sticker to put on it.

I call it... the Outlaw Star.

Now I want to see that anime.

Damn.

And One Piece... saw an episode today... aaaaaah!! I want!!! I also saw an episode of Naruto... and every time I see Tsubasa on, I scream and run not wanting to get hooked.

Damn anime.

and damn not having subtitles!!

kaorukagome @ 2005-06-15T23:58:00

2005-06-15T14:58:56Z

I'm going to attempt the big update. Warning: I'm typing on a Japanese keyboard at an internet cafe. So if my apostrophes are replaced by colons it's because the colon is in the apostrophe section and I don:t want to be constantly hitting shift 7 for the stupid apostrophe. oh and i may also skip caps. the shift button is small and its irritating to try to find.

okay.

the flight was fairly uneventful. long, but that:s it. I met Heather, my roomie, on the train--I was walking passed and I heard her say, "do you know where Marugame is?" to the poor korean dude next to her. made introductions, but didn't really talk to her until we were landed. no problems in the airport or customs or anything... just very hot. Not much AC in the airport from some unfathomable reason.

My place actually turned out to be a small house rather than an apartment. It:s acutally quite spacious and cozy, but really bloody hot in the bedrooms. apparently we:re in the rainy season now so ideally it:ll be a little cooler for a while. But the mugginess creates mites in the tatami so we had to get bug spray for it. Expensive but necessary. and we have to vacuum it every week because if not it gets moldy... we have to vacuum a lot it seems even though we have no carpet. the airconditioner, the curtains, the tatami... The person who was last there left a lot of stuff and apparently the garbage pick up is really bloody confusing so we have tons of trash already and nothing to do with it. Ug. I just hope someone gives us a hint soon. We:ve asked but no one seems to know.

We met quite a few of the people in the area--other nova teachers and whatnot. They:re all really nice people and we:ve been warned about the not so nice. Yane is great, I:m sad her british roomie Alex is leaving. I really like her. Simon and Brian are great, though we:ve been warned that Simon causes accidents (people who ride with him tend to get hurt). Anthony is a womanizer we:ve been told, Steve likes to hear himself talk, Noel is an asshole and Alexis is the coolest in the universe. I:ve really only talked to Brian, Simon, Alex and Yane. Met Anthony and Alexis once, met a girl named Danielle who seems really cool. I:m working in Sakaide, about 3 towns down, and Heather is working in Tadotsu, which is where the majority of all the people we know work.

Adventures so far:
Got bikes. My ass is black and blue, my legs ache and i:ve got tons of blisters from walking so much in a short amount of time. Already when to the bar, which is in BFE!! That's where I met most of everyone. I:m currently in Okayama for training, which feels more like a crash course rather than anything else... and my stress level is soaring. yay. Heather got shitfaced drunk in my presence the other day, her way of dealing with the homesickness. She cried her eyes out, puked and then passed out. Biking in the middle of the night in a small town, where you can smell the sea, see all the damn stars and be surrounded by tiny buildings that look both modern and ancient is VERY AWESOME. Apparently there:s no crime in my town. Or very little. Something along the lines of stolen bikes (or bikes parked in the wrong place), two people on a scooter or bike (dangerous offense that) and the worst--bad drivers hitting people on bikes with their cars. Wooo. Amazing how the ENTIRE police department can spend 3 hours with one gaijin they arrested for riding double on her scooter. Story Alex told. Woo. Here I was worried about a mugging, but when people come up to you, they don:t want to hit on your or steal your money.

They want to practice their 3 words of English with you.

Fucking BRILLIANT.

what else?
Oh. Our waterheater is a BITCH. We:re going to see if we put in for a new one, because dealing with that hunk of scrap metal is just SO not happening. Its a nova apartment, then they can damn well get us a new bloody waterheater for the fucking tub thank you very much.

I:m at training now in Okayama. I may have mentioned this already, but I:m here trying to multitask. The two guys we:re training with, Thomas and Timothy are very cool and our trainers are great. I like Gavin more than Genevieve--but that:s because Gavin explains things easier and Genevieve expects a good amount of perfection right away. ^^;

Had a fantastic adventure trying to find this same internet cafe i:m currently in yesterday. searched for hours to find the hovel, and couldn:t well do it. Had to eat because we:d skipped dinner altogether and walked into a restaurant that had no English menu and a very cute owner. We picked cheap stuff and prayed. it was REALLY good. I wonder if I:ll ever find the place again. I had a very tentative, hesitant japanese conversation with him. Boy, do I need practice!!

Oh!! and first day of training another adventure!! We got on the train to go to Okayama, right train, right car, no hassles, no problem. You:d THINK! But no! I:m wondering after a little while why the hell nothing looks familiar and i look in front of us and realize... where the hell is the rest of the train. Heather tells me it split off a little while ago. Eh? The ticket taker tells us, promptly two seconds later that we:re on the wrong train. Headed to Takumatsu,　which is in the complete opposite direction. From Marugame coming to Okayama is already 40+ minutes. And now we:re going even farther the wrong way?! Brightside is, when we got off, we called the office and it was no big deal, we didn:t have to pay for new tickets the people at the station were very nice. And we got to have a well needed nap on the way to Okayama. Downside (other than being late), we had to cram tons of info, and our stress levels were already through the roof for our first day of training.
Ick.

Tomorrow we have 4 lessons to do on our own, and I can only pray that I finally get the thing down straight. I feel bad for my students who have to deal with us newbies. I think I:ll be more comfortable when I:m in my own school, only because I wont: have someone hovering over my damn shoulder the whole time. God I:m tired...

And I still have to walk about 15minutes back to my hotel and try to get some sleep. I don:t know if we have to check out in the morning, but damn i hope not... I want sleep!!

and this is me signing off journal for the moment until I can get back online again... dar, i must have wracked up tons of freaking money... i have to pay much now. I just know it...

kaorukagome @ 2005-06-12T20:15:00

2005-06-12T11:16:40Z

I thought I would have enough time to post on the journal and give everyone an update, but I don't.

Here's what I can do in short notice.

After Heather and I get back from orientation tomorrow we will try to get the internet. I don't know how long it will take. I will try to come by the internet cafe, where I am currently at, as much as possible and keep tabs with everyone. It's a hell of a trek though.

But I will try.

I may need to come on my day off and then hit the local hotspring. woot.

I will post soon. I promise. Loves and kisses to all.

And to Japan I go

2005-06-03T00:07:54Z

I am suddenly attacked by mixed emotions. I'm happy to be home, I'm excited about leaving to Japan, I just cut my hair (short. OH GOD SHORT), I'm dead tired from moving myself and Mich out of our place yesterday and then having to drive the four hours to Miami, I haven't had any decent sleep in a couple of days, I'm coughing too much, and my dad just yelled at me for being on the internet and I'm just about ready to spaz--in a not so good way. Too much. Just too much.

Funny things happened yesterday in the moving. Quite a few funny things that I'd like to discuss in avid detail but I can't because of the glare I feel between my shoulders. I will discuss them later tonight... When everyone's asleep dammit.

But here's the important thing for the moment. I'll update this journal more later.

This is my address in Japan. Woo. So if you need to send me stuff or letters or whatnot, to here is where you send it. ^_^

Asae Shakuya Higashigawa
2-3-32 Jouseichou
Marugame-Shi
Kagawa-Ken
Japan 763-0032

There you go. I will update more later tonight. I swear! ::smooches to all and runs::

EDIT:
Well, my hair's gone. Or at least a good portion of it. So much of it was dead...I just really needed to chop it off. It's not SHORT short, but it sure isn't longish either. The actual cut I wanted apparently doesn't work for my hair and there's just no way I could do it...a little too late to figure this out...or to tell me. ^^; I could've at least been warned that way I could've looked for a different hairdo. Yeesh. But oh, well. What's done is done. It's not too bad, but of course, not what I wanted.

My hair never is.

About yesterday's move:
After I got out of work and had issues with bank and brother and car, we pretty much helped Mich move to Marshall's. One of Mich's coworkers, JR, has a truck so that sure as hell helped. In the trip that I joined in, my car, her car, Marshall's car, and the truck were all piled full of stuff. I was driving behind the truck in case something decided to fall off and kill someone. ;P

Well, something did fall off. Luckily it wasn't a surfboard to decapitate my head (real story--gave me shivers when Dad told it to me), or the lamp to spear me. It was the cushion of the butaca. Hard to find a word in English that translates. Um... Armchair I think is the one Michan found out...Yeah, that works. So I moved aside, pulled over, and started backing up to pick it up, while Mich and JR pulled over about half a mile ahead of me. Most cars avoided the damn cushion, but one car ran it over, making it fly forward.

Still backing up I said, "Well, at least it's closer!"

According to Rio, who was dying of laughter when I got back into the car after grabbing the cushion, I was absolutely hysterical in my retrieval of it. I waited till there were no cars, dashed out, grabbed, and ran back to car. I paused to look she says when I was in the middle of the road.

And even though I didn't really notice, she's right I'm sure. I'm a spaz.

Michi had an amusing take on it when she called me a moment after. She said, "All I saw was this little black dot go tacka, tacka, tacka, grab, tacka, tacka, tacka back to the car. I love the sound effect. Makes me giggle.

Other than the dancing HML voodoo doll and the the tag of the butaca waving obscenely at me, the rest of the drive was uneventful.

At Marshall's place we unloaded the cars one at a time and looked like a very very VERY small community of ants trudging back and forth. Heh. We ate, we returned, Marshall and Mich going a million miles an hour, and continued to pack well until 10pm.

Finally, I had to leave or just...die. And I still didn't get to take everything. When Mich comes down she's got to bring me one of my quilts, my monitor, keyboard, speakers, wires, mouse, etc, my mugs and my Visa for working in Japan. WOOT.

Even so, on the last leg of the journey, an hour before reaching Miami, I was on the verge of death. I kept falling asleep on the highway at 80 miles an hour. NOT GOOD.

At least I made it home alive, if technically a corpse.

Today, I unloaded the car, my shit's scattered everywhere. I went to the courthouse because of my subpeona only to be told the judge cancelled. Too bad so sad. The other guy was going to Costa Rica today and in a week I'm going to Japan. Oh, well. I got my hair cut off, caught up with familial gossip, saw Empire Strikes Back in my grandparent's HUGE tv--very nice, and got to fondle my dad's BMW.

Oh and my mom almost burned down the house. Funny story that. Mom's making the last bit of chicken before we go to my grandparent's for the movie. Apparently she forgot to turn off the stove. We were gone from 8:30 to 12:30+

We have an AWESOME STOVE. All we have to deal with is an entire house that smells like smoke and burnt chicken. Other than that... at least everything's in tact. No burning down of house thank goodness. Whew~~ I wonder what stunt I'll pull now. It's going to be my turn soon. My grandmother accidentally put Pinesol in the ropa vieja recently, something SHE HAS NEVER DONE IN HER LIFE. My grandmother's a good cook. She doesn't make those kind of mistakes. That one time she did. And my mom, same thing, only she left the stove on for over 4 hours with something that was done before she left.

I wonder what catastrophe I'll do?

I'm on the couch again tonight. Because those are more comfortable than the shitty bed in my lilest brother's room. It's hot out here, but I'll have to deal.

Oh, and being in Miami today reminded me of how much I hated it. One thing I loved about Orlando.

NO FUCKING MOSQUITOS.

I hope Marugame doesn't have mosquitos. I want to live in a mosquitoless area for the rest of my life. Miami is SO NOT IT.

And I hate the blasted mugginess. And the horrible, crazy drivers.

I so did NOT miss Miami drivers.

May they fall into ditches and die.

I was going to take webcam pictures of myself with the new hairdo, but since it's not really to my liking, I'm going to mess with it tomorrow and see what I do with it.

Besides, I'm too tired to try to figure out how the damn thing works right now.

Gah. Smoke + nose = crazy sneezing and irritation.

My mom said today that my pupils were dilated and that I had bags under my eyes.

I forsee no good sleep for me either this night. UG.

EDIT AGAIN:

Just got this. Figured you may want to know. ^_^

Wednesday June 08 2005

Northwest Airlines - Flight NW 998
Status: Confirmed

Depart: 9:30 AM
Miami International Airport
Miami Florida United States

Class: M-Economy/Coach

Mileage: 1154

Arrive: Detroit Wayne County Airport
12:32 PM Detroit Michigan United States
Terminal EM
Travel Time: 3:02
Stopovers: 0

Aircraft:
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE

Meal: Food for Purchase

Northwest Airlines - Flight NW 69
Status: Confirmed

Depart: Detroit Wayne County Airport
Detroit Michigan United States 3:55 PM
Terminal EM
Class: M-Economy/Coach

Mileage: 6591

Arrive: Kansai International Airport
Thursday June 09 2005 6:40 PM
Osaka Japan Travel Time: 13:45
Stopovers: 0

Aircraft: BOEING 747-400

Meal: Dinner

kaorukagome @ 2005-05-23T10:10:00

2005-05-23T15:16:48Z

Yes, it's been ages.
No, I won't give excuses.

I've just been a bum.

And I'm not going to bother giving a longwinded update on my life for the last several months, because my head would explode from the amount of information.

But I will give these brief updates:
My date of departure from Miami, FL is June 8th 2005. I will be leaving from Miami International Airport and be flying clear across the globe to Osaka. There I will make my connecting flight to wherever the hell it is I'm going. I don't know where exactly I'll be. I've got a couple weeks left before I figure that out. I will update the information when I receive it.
School is almost out, my seniors have a week and two days left, while the rest of the school is still stuck here. Honestly, I don't know how that works or why that works. I had to stay in school until the end of the flippin' year. YEESH. But they'll be gone soon and I'll have 4 free periods. HEH. I will hide and work little but play much. Idiot seniors that thought I was nice and that I would let them graduate by doing nothing will be spending their summer in school. HEH. I'm paying Magni's rent because he and Christy, despite having no utilities to pay, still manage to wrack up plenty of bills and have no money. Kelly still owes me $200. Mich owes me money now for the two books I bought her. Everyone owes me money. DAR.

I need to get off my ass and update OTW. The images are drawn and inked I just have to get on the comp and mess with them. I'm such a bum. I'm currently packing up the apartment and it looks even more empty than it normally does. It's eerie. I want to see today when I go to pay Magni's bill, if he has his suitcase still so I can have it. I want to start packing things away that I AM taking to Japan with me so it's not just lying there without a home while everything else gets put away.

I'm trying to write. Failing honestly. I suck. I'm trying to see if I can do something with these two stories of mine, but I haven't written anything decent other than RPing in months. It's depressing really since that's what I want to do with the rest of my life. I really need to just screw everyone else and fucking write. The only problem is that I feel wiped most of the time. I have no good ideas anymore. I seem to have nothing left to give. I want to write my books, but honestly I'd think I'd have to scrap everything I have and just start the fuck over because every time I read it I just... don't feel like it's something that people are going to pick up and go "OOOOOOOO!! This is something I want to read!!!"

You know, I think that's what I'll do today when I get home. I've got two (not counting the ones of old) short stories that may or may not go anywhere because I have no plot for them whatsoever. I still have a couple old ones just like it that will ALSO go nowhere and have never gone anywhere because they have no point. I hate having nothing. Great ideas, no fucking flipping plot. I have my books to write but ARG. You know, it's really frustrating to not have any ideas, to feel your brain melting away into nothingness. Maybe I should be a least a little productive and start transcribing my RP with Rio into my bloody fucking book already. That way at least I'll be doing something currently that has a fucking potential future.