What I'm currently researchinggggg

The italian mafia!
I've been browsing some websites for my research for my project in American Studies class, and I've really been stuck on the FBI website... It was so fascinating that I started clicking on irrelevant stuff, like "careers in the FBI"...
If I ever become fluent in Spanish or Japanese, I could work for the FBI as a contract linguist! You interpret stuff and do other things, among assisting with interrogations. How intense! Lol.
I also checked out the background check information page... so extensive. I noticed that their drug use policy isn't so bad though. In two and a half years, if I never smoke again, I could be eligible to work for 'em. :P

So late to class!
I am sooo late.
Guhh. And tired.
I stayed up almost all night doing this project for art.
Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy as hell working on projects, papers, and presentations. The three worst p's. Can't wait to get things done!
Wish me luck, guys.
D: D: D:

5 minute daily blogging starts now.

Today, I had a lesson with a student.
We met in Yokohama. He was cool, and young! Only 23. Hooray. I'm glad it's not only old creepers on the FindAStudent.net site. I'm so surprised how many people have contacted me. It's unbelievable. In a week my profile already has like 170 views or something, and 6 students have contacted me. I guess it helps to be a blonde american when you want people to choose you to teach them native English. All I have to do is talk, too. And get there. For like 3000 yen an hour. It's such an excellent gig.

MAN I AM SO TIRED RIGHT NOW. But I'm going to stick to this goal. I am going to be more perserverent in my goals. I am going to blog every day for five minutes. I will.
I can't spell that word. I am so out of it.

I am going to Fuji-ku tomorrow. I mean today. In like two hours. I am going to sleep for an hour. I hope I wake up.
I wonder what I will wear.
I wonder why it is so hard to form sentences in English. It's like my brain is going back and forth between two vocabularies. Just kidding. I am so not fluent in Japanese yet.
でもぺらぺらになりたい！lol.

My adventure while running today.

I love running. I just stumbled upon a beautiful park and a zoo hidden in a giant forest on top of a hill like a 6 minute walk from my house. All of these crazy animals I had never even seen before. They were so beautiful! And from the top of the hill, I could see the setting sun, with all of these glorious colors of pink and gold and orange, with little wisps of clouds trailing off...
Beyond that setting sun, on the way down the hill, I could see a machine demolishing apartment complexes. I don't know why I thought it was so beautiful, but it was fascinating to see an entire building get knocked down. Also awesome to watch the guys control the machines as if they were an extension of their arms and hands. The eerie appearance of the destroyed houses lined up in a solid row of rubble was fascinating to behold.
On the way back, I noticed that I had never seen the construction before, because there were these huge white pillars blocking all view of the construction and guards standing in front of it. Now I know what it was! There were huge white extended screens everywhere near the construction, blocking any possibility of seeing it, even from a nearby apartment window. How interesting! And considerate. But it is a little weird that it's so well hidden, and that I had never noticed.
I finally ran back and stopped to buy some salmon from a vendor a block from my house. I have never been to the vendor before, and I always want to buy salmon now but I never know where to buy it. She let me try the salmon. It is the best salmon I have ever eaten. I am eating it right now.
I love my life.

My crazy amazing life. (I PERFORMED AT MITA SAI!!!!)

I SANG AT MITA SAI YESTERDAY!
I SANG AT MITA SAI YESTERDAY!!!
!!!!!!!
I had the best day ever.
OUR BASSIST WAS LATE THOUGH.I couldn't even understand how he was late. Now I understand why everyone would laugh when I said he was in our group. Damn Kimu-san. Everyone yesterday last night after the live was like 'omg he's ALWAYS late! That's just how he is.'
I was so stressed out.
Cause so many of my friends showed up, and I didn't want to keep them waiting forever, like I was never going to perform. But finally Kimu-san showed up, I threated like a thousand times that I was going to fight him (jokingly, kind of) and then we FINALLY GOT ON STAGE. And owned it.
I'm soooooo happy I performed with my rock group.
Folk Freedom is the best! Everyone is really nice, awesome, and fun! And there's so many hot boys in my circle. I could see some of them staring me in the eyes during my performance, and I got soooo much awesome feedback. It was really great to hear. It seems like everyone really enjoyed our set.
I am so happy I had the opportunity to do this! I've been wanting to sing for so long.
And I felt like a celebrity. SO many people I knew came.

Sang five Franz Ferdinand songs, rocked the stage, sweated all over the place, and had a blast dancing like a crazy person and singing the crap out of those songs. I HAD SO MUCH FUN. I also got to talk to the crowd in between songs half in English and half in Japanese, which was super fun because I actually KNEW WHAT TO SAY!
I sweated so much.
And threw my hat off like ten times.
And danced and flirted with my friends in the audience.
And like 5 guys came that I have a crush on who I invited.
So complicated yet awesome.
So many people came to see me! I can't thank you all enough.
And I kept running into people after the performance I knew or had seen me perform. And of course I ran into a bunch of friends one after the other. It was awesome. I felt like a star.
After, I checked out Mita Sai some with Ken, because he came all the way to Mita Sai to see me perform (!!!), ate an okay chocolate covered banana with corn flakes, sprinkles, chocolate cookies, and marshmellows on it (WHY WAS IT JUST OKAY??? It should have been the BEST!), and saw the rest of Folk Freedom's live, which included stuff like Radiohead, the Beatles, the Birthday, the Stooges, and more. My friends are awesome. All of the girls in our circle are so talented especially! I missed the end of the Radiohead set though, because I told Ken I would hang out with him for a bit, so we did and I wanted to make the last song, but I missed it :(
But I went back on my own, and then everyone was like COME LET'S DRINK!!!! Of course, you know, after the event. I was like "Should I hang out with Ken, or go?" But I wasn't really feeling that crazy into him today, and I have so many options, and I REALLY wanted to hang out with my circle and drink with them because they are FREAKING AWESOME and hilarious and I'm so happy I joined :P
So Ken was like "Go drink with your circle!" and I was like Okay!!! So I did.
And I brought Kalau and Bryce with me randomly, which was actually a good idea because they had a lot of fun with the people in our circle, and they both play instruments (guitar and drums) so they've been telling me they want to join anyway.

Then we all went drinking from 4:30 until 12 (omggggg).
Ate so much delicious food, bonded so much with my circle, and had a blast.
We had a nomi-kai, which is a drinking meeting, and then we had a nijikai, which is like a SECOND DRINKING EVENT. Everyone went to the second drinking event too. It was so much much much much fun. The second one was only 1000 yen too, for some reason. How excellent. First one was a bit expensive though D: But it was so worth it and it included DELICIOUS DINNER.
Plus, I sit with the sempai table. I don't know why, but I do. I guess I am a sempai since I am a third year. But I don't feel like one since I am a third year and I am always confused on what's going on. But eventually I figure things out. ^_^

Afterwards, I came with this awesome freshman who I forgot the name of on the Mita Sen. He speaks like, perfect English. He's weird, but I like him. He's entertaining and always very nice. Afterwards, Taylor and Grace called me and I came and hung out with them and they were super drunk and so was I.
We all drank some more and went to karaoke at 2 am with Taylor Martin , Kalau Almony, Grace Yang, and Bryce Saito. (haha, this is taken and expanded from a facebook status update.)
I was SOO tired thoguh and I was like, falling asleep at karaoke. It was hilarious. The mikes in the place were awful too since it was the place we never go to.

I was SO drunk and tired afterwards, and it was really cold. Kalau was leading me back, and we got lost because we were looking for Bryce, who like weirdly ran off drunk. He's weirdly emo. It was confusing. We wandered around drunkenly down a bunch of stairs to places that we couldn't exit, which was freaky and it was SO COLD. But eventually we found our way back to the dorm.

I also fixed a huge misunderstanding with Grace. Grace and I never ever ever hang out, and I never hear from her, so I assume that she was just always not wanting to hang out with me. When in reality, she thought I was like, "too busy for her" or something, so she said she was trying to let me have my own life and not be to demanding of me since we go to the same school and we were friends before so she wanted me to make my own friends and not be too confining. Which I totally understand now, but I totally didn't see it! It was very confusing. We've not been communicating about anything or it especially, so that's really the problem. I just thought she like, hated me or something. But we made up and we figured things out and I'm super happy we did because that negative energy was totally eating me up a little inside. Like kind of fucking with my relationship with Grace and Kiyo and Taylor cause they always look like they're together and they don't invite me to shit.
But it's generally just because she didn't want to bother me.
IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

SO, at this very point in life, everything is pretty good. I started tutoring in English through this online website, and I have only had one lesson so far, which I will have to write about. I ended up getting paid 5000 yen to meet with this doctor for like 40 minutes, which is JUST INSANE. He even paid for my dessert too at this cafe. Weird. A bunch of other people have contacted me too, so hopefully I can be their teacher too!!! I want more money. I felt so rich after that lesson ^^

I have to help my sister with her college essays though today because she and my mom have really been bugging me about it, and I'm going to have work hard today though, because I have a bunch of projects to work on, and I don't want to be working on my Izumi Shikibu project on my birthday especially. CAN'T WAIT FOR MY BIRTHDAY BY THE WAY!!! It's next Tuesday!!!!

My life is awesome. At this very point.
YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!

I feel like writing about today, a random day in Japan. It just felt a little weird, like at some parts I was starring in my own twisted Japanese version of Twilight.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the projects I have at the moment. Even right now, I really feel like writing this note, but I know I should be working on other things. But I really just want to write! D: I also want to write about this weekend, but I guess I'll have to put that off for later tonight or tomorrow. Haha. Luckily I have class at 2:45 tomorrow, so I shouldn't have too much trouble getting everything done tonight that I need to do.

Woke up around 9, should have gotten ready by 9:45, which is when I should have left to go to class (aka a meeting with my independent study advisor), but instead I was a little late due to miscellaneous circumstances like not finding certain notebooks and changing my clothes a couple times (I need to stop doing that!)

I was late to my meeting with my advisor, but I didn't really care, because I've decided stress takes a really shitty toll on my body and I don't want to have more of it by stressing out about being late all the time. When I'm late, feeling shitty about it really isn't going to help.

So I just breathed easily, and imagined my eyes were a video camera as I walked up stairs, elevators, down the street past vendors, businessmen, security guards, mothers with children, and other students. Sometimes I do that here, since I can't film people on the street and my individual interactions with everything I see every day. I wish I could. I kind of want to bring a video camera with me and pretend it's off, but just have it running the entire trip to school, and kind of fast forward through my day in a short video to show a typical trip to school. I feel like it would be really cool. But maybe kind of illegal. I have no idea.

Anyway, I talked about my individual project on Cosplay with my advisor, which went well because I had prepared a lot of information and research that I had done online yesterday, haha. I've been really bad about getting things done lately. I just don't want to work, and I have an intense amount of projects to think about (A research paper and presentation on the Mafia's influence in America(American Studies), A research paper and presentation on Izumi Shikibu's works (Japanese Lit), an art project where we make a book with photos and other art we've created, my cosplay project, a culture, cultural identity, and cultural awareness group project on Bilingualism, and a paper due tomorrow for Japanese Psychology.

My sensei definitely liked the online cosplay magazine I discovered, which you can take a look at here if you make an account super easily (for all you cosplay kids like me) http://www.cosmodeonline.com/

If you guys have an information about cosplay/cosplayers or if you know any cosplayers in the United States or Japan, please let me know! I need as many sources as I can get for interviews/survey/information.

After my meeting, I met this guy, Takeshi, for lunch. We met at one of the Halloween parties I went to two weeks ago with a lot of other awesome Keio kids :P We danced together for some time when everyone went clubbing after the party. He's super nice, and a great dancer! I wasn't sure though if it was going to be like, a lunch date, or like just friendly, so I was a little relieved when he suggested we eat in the cafeteria (aka cheaper and less pressure). We ended up sitting next to mutual friends randomly, but we didn't really talk to them much, we just talked the whole time about random things together, which was nice :) And my friend Tony showed up randomly and we all walked to my Japanese Literature class together.

On the way to class, we ran into the professor, who was actually running a little late considering we were going to get there straight when the bell was going to ring. We all chatted and I mentioned my woes about my stolen bicycle. We all went in, and sat down... and then I realized.

I forgot my computer in the cafeteria! X_x

Why do I keep losing everything? Do I have no brain? I guess I was just concentrating too hard on getting to class on time and talking to both Takeshi and Tony... Uber distracted.

I ran out of the classroom, mentioning to the professor somehow not awkwardly that I had forgotten my computer and he completely understood.

I got back to the cafeteria and went immediately to the table at which we had been sitting. Searched everywhere, including under people's stuff that had moved there since we left, and it was nowhere to be found! I freaked out. How embarrassing. And just scary as shit. There are so many things I could never replace if my computer was lost. And it would be SO expensive to replace X_X

I went to one of the cafeteria check-out ladies, not knowing who to ask for help. She luckily wasn't a bad person to ask, as she went into the cafeteria's office to ask for lost-and-found stuff for me, but there was nothing in the cafeteria lost and found. She was highly apologetic but honestly I was super freaked out. How could have someone stolen my computer in that sort of time, in the middle of a school cafeteria, and nobody noticed it, or even saw my computer?

She gave me a number for some kind of lost and found line on campus, but I was like ugh, my phone is dying, and I have no idea how to find this... I went back to the area I left my computer, and just kind of stood there in disbelief, searching again... and then the Japanese people there felt sorry for me, so one girl was like I'll take you to the lost and found! How nice.

She took me there and THERE WAS MY COMPUTER!!! D: Amazing. I was so happy.

I had neglected to bring my bag with me though, and they wanted proof that I was a student, so I had to go back to the classroom (Again!), run in and disrupt everything, grab my id, and run back to get my computer. All of the girls cheered. At least that was nice.

I feel so stupid sometimes...

The rest of class passed by boringly, I fell asleep in the class I had left like three times, which was like, the height of rude. And then I tried to unplug my computer from the floor plug, and then it wouldn't unplug, and I was like WHATTT and Tony tried to help me, and then another Japanese student came over and they were like, all gathered around trying to pull it out... Finally the teacher came over and he was like what are you guys doing? Turn it to the left! And it just popped right out.

I had a tough time today.

Made it through the rest of classes okay.

I was leaving to go home, a little later than the rest of everyone who gets out of fourth period because I went to the bathroom, then took my time responding to some texts, and then I put my ipod in, and decided to just play cool while walking past the guys who always hang out by the smoking area and the atms and the library (literally a gauntlet of stares, almost every day) and I was too busy rocking out mentally that halfway down the cobblestone hill I didn't even notice Yohei trying to get my attention. Finally he ran up and tapped my shoulder or something and I was like OH! hahaha.

Of course I had to run into him today too.
That's what made today feel like Twilight.
I feel conflicted. I don't think I am interested. I think it was a bit of a drunk mistake to hook up with him, and I don't want to feel obligated to continue things, just because they happened. But he started out totally friendly, and I don't ever want to be a bitch, so then I just kept talking to him and enjoying and whatever. Even when he reached over to twirl a piece of my hair carelessly I brushed it off.

But I just don't know. He said all he was doing was returning books, so I said I might as well come with him because it was nice and I didn't mind. I had time.

But after we left the library, he walked me to the station, and he was totally trying to put his arm around me and stuff, and I was like ehh. Not feeling it.

I don't think I want to do that.

I let him kiss me, though. Which I really shouldn't have. But I felt guilty.

I need to stop sending mixed messages. But he's so nice, I just don't think I want anything romantic with him... But I want to be friends with him. And I don't want him to hate me or something.

I don't know! D:

I must say though, I'm flattered by all of it despite the awkward situations I've been placed in. That's the problem. I can't help it.



I ran into a freakishly large amount of people on campus and walking home off campus and whatnot too, today. It was just strangely coincedental, all of the instances. Like running into Eiichiro in the station right when we were switching trains. And Tony again on the way home. I offered to cook him dinner because he has no money right now (like 1000 yen for the next week). So he came by and he took some rice I had made and we boiled some curry together. Lol. Exciting times.

Now i've been trying to do homework/research/writing, which has failed, and practice songs for the upcoming practice my rock circle has on Saturday. I am going to memorize all the words to all of these songs! I swear! D:




I hope I can continue to be a nice person. I don't want to turn into a bitch out of neccesity, or out of self-conceit/vanity.

I went on a trip this weekend! I went with my friend Yusuke (aka An-chan! ^^)(actually he's my RA, but we've become good friends), another awesome girl from my dorm, Elizabeth, who speaks phenomenal Japanese, and two of Yusuke's friends (they are Japanese)!

I SPOKE SO MUCH JAPANESE THIS WEEKEND MY HEAD EXPLODED.
Also, some highlights:
Wine tasting!
Saw beautiful こうよう！(fall leaves changing color like no other)
Saw Mount Fuji and took hella pictures!
Yamanote Sen ゲーム!
Dirty Japanese lessons!
沢山飲んだ！
イケメン！
Climbed a mountain path in Senshoukyo and saw the best scenery and こうよう ever.
(Onsen) おんせんはいった。
Tons of traffic, but 面白い話した。

LASTLY,
MET AN AWESOME GUY.
(ie: one of Yusuke's friends.)

:) :) :) :) :)

I feel like a nervous teenager with raging hormones. Haven't felt like this in a while.

I was trying to describe it to my friend, and I came up with this.

It's like,
being close to someone
not even touching them
but feeling a really intense energy.

And when you do touch,
it's fucking incredible.

Yeah.
Haha.
Heheheh.
Woo!

I'm super excited for the future.

Found out some shitty things today though. I'll have to pay 10,500 yen for the softbank bill (which is 100 dollars opposed to 1000) but it's annoying that they won't give me a full refund for something I didn't even do.

And my bike was either stolen/impounded. I'm going to the police tomorrow. It was too late by the time I got back to deal with it.

Why am I always losing my shit? D:
But I'm still not feeling too shitty because of my fluttering heart. <3

My rice cooker ^^

I just have a little update for you guys. Too much to write about so I will write about one thing :)

MY RICE COOKER IS AMAZING!
And it plays a little tune when it turns on and off!
I thought it wasn't on, but it just magically cooked the rice to the perfect level!!
I can't believe it was free! I wanted to buy one for the longest time, but then my friend randomly didn't want his and gave his rice cooker to me.
Thanks Ettiene :)
The best part is the Mary Had A Little Lamb tune that plays when it turns on.
It's so happy to feed me.

So magical.

(It plays a little song when it finishes cooking my rice too, but I don't know what it is. But it's cute.)

I want to write a song about my rice cooker.

By the way, there is a Japanese band called Sex Machineguns that I absolutely love. Yusuke gave me so much good Japanese music a couple days ago! I cannot thank him enough. He is the best RA/fellow band member ever!

The song I love by them is called みかんのうた. Literally, orange's song (mikan is a little different than an orange maybe but it's all the same to me).

It's crazy super hardcore screamy headbanging metal singing about the glory of mikan, and when it is good to eat them, and how it comes from some province in Japan, etc etc.

This is the kind of shit I love listening to.

Possible Book Titles

How To Get Into a Prestigious Japanese College as a Foreigner
Getting a Life in Japan
Rocking Out in Japan
Getting Drunk in Japan
A Student Guide to The Best Clubs in Tokyo That Won't Burn a Hole in Your Wallet
Taking Advantage of Businessmen: A Historical Account of Getting Free Drinks
Getting Laid in Japan: The step-by-step guide to fulfilling your Gaijin destiny

I think I could write any of these books.
Easily.
ahahahaa.


Trying to decide if I'm gonna drop a class today. Consensus is: probably not. I think I will be too lazy otherwise.
Here's my schedule thus-so-far.
Monday: 1-2:30 (at mita)
Tuesday: 9-12 (at hiyoshi)
Wednesday: 10:45-4:45 with a lunch break from 12-1
Thursday: 2:45-7:40

I really am considering dropping my monday class, but I just found out that it counts for psychology credit so I guess I shouldn't do it. I guess if I don't want to go to school cause I want to take a vacation to Kyoto I can just have my friends sign the class list schedule or something on Mondays.

I'm just feeling so lazy since I really just wanna take a break and do nothing like I feel half of my other friends are doing. Most of my friends have class three to two days a week. It would be SO nice to have monday and friday off. A four day weekend every week?! However, I feel like they are taking bullshit classes because this year doesn't even count for them anyway D: how random and lame.
I guess at least it's good that I know two of my psychology classes will count for me.

Class list:

Monday:

Human Resource Management From A Psychological Perspective (super easy and we never have homework and I think I could probably sleep in the class, heard it's a super easy A) Also we learn a lot of tips about getting hired which I feel is hella important since I was having so much damn trouble with it last year.
***Taking it for a Letter Grade, counts for Psychology Credit***

Tuesday:

Japanese Class from 9-12. I hate going to class early, but at least it's at Hiyoshi and I won't be wasting the day because I will have the rest of the day to do whatever I like!! :) I'll have to go to bed early the night before though but usually that won't be so bad on a Monday night. I also like eating lunch at Hiyoshi campus cause the students are nice. Homework sucks and the quizzes are hard. But I want to learn more Japanese since I'm here. I don't think I'll take Japanese next quarter though. ***taking pass no pass***

Wednesday:

Independent Study 10:45-12 (bleh on the time!!! cause it's at Mita)
I am studying a really interesting topic but I already feel kind of unmotivated. Maybe I want to do it next quarter. I love my mentor though.

Japanese Lit: Pretty cool, pretty easy, just doing a project and we never have homework. I need to find a topic for my project though! I love literature. Need to take a Literature class too.

American Studies: Awesome class, maybe two/three readings per class after the class, but it's not that bad and i don't think the teacher would care if we didn't do it, and a summary each week on the readings. It's a very interesting chill class. Fulfilling the American Studies GE with this one.

Thursday:

Japanese Psychology in Contemporary Japan 2:45-4:15
Don't really like the class and I don't know if it'll count but it should probably count for Culture and Thought as a GE so I think I can make it work.

Culture, Cultural Identity, and Cultural Adjustment: 4:30-6
Cool class, applies to Psychology suprisingly, fun class and interesting material! I think we have to do a group project and that's it. Should be fun and not too bad.

Art Class: I want to do it but I don't really need it. I've been considering auditing, or taking the class pass no pass, or I don't know what, but the field trip we went on was really fun, and I feel like I need a class like this to keep me inspired and keep me going. Also it ends in December and we don't have much shit to do, it's mostly individual work and it's super relaxed, so... i think I will be okay! plus a couple of the thursday classes don't even happen because the teacher is busy or we have field trips. Should be an easy A unless I forget to do something. But I think the teacher is coaxable hahaha. Goes late on Thursdays but I probably could skip if I have something going on. The more I think about it, the more I think I will want to do the work since it is interesting.

There is my class list! And my appraisal based on my laziness schedule. Maybe I think I will be okay. I just don't want to be too stressed out. I want to have a life here too.

Directionless? Or too many directions?

I've really been thinking about what I am doing with my life and what I am doing in school. I think I need to go somewhere to clear my mind and think about what I want to do in the future. I have this image of me going to a peaceful park and lying there to daydream for hours about my future life and maybe coming upon a decision or at least a list of ideas from that sort of productive daydreaming.

I am losing direction.
I still want to be a psychology major because I find the classes intellectually stimulating and very interesting to learn about and apply to my own life and the lives of others. But I am wondering if a music minor is still an excellent choice. It probably is since it's not too hard to get done. What about global studies too? I have no idea.

Deciding classes for school is stressful.
I got an email today (FINALLY) from the psychology department telling me exactly what classes would apply to my major here. I have 4-5 classes left to do, and two of them I cannot do while abroad cause they're UCSB located only classes. So 2-3 I need to do while abroad.

I found out that of the three classes I submitted for psychology major credit (plus independent study), two count for psychology major credit (two is better than none I guess) but the one I totally thought would count for psychology major credit totally doesn't at all. What a suprise! I enjoy the class though, and I think it will count for culture and thought ge credit, so I will continue taking it.

It's hard to think about what classes will fulfill ges, and what classes will fulfill what major stuff, and what classes will be too hard, and am I taking too much, and yadda yadda yadda.

I have a lot of general education classes to fulfill here, but I think I will be getting those out of the way easily. I'm not entirely sure yet though. UCSB hasn't given me any definite answers on those. Studying abroad feels like kind of a gamble with education, you know? You could waste SO much time and units. I guess it's life experience though. But you know, they really should make it easier if they want students to have an easier time transitioning. It's hard enough with EVERYTHING else about acclimating and having a normal life and joining clubs plus GOING TO SCHOOL AND TAKING CLASSES. And probably getting a job too so I can afford things more than just eating really cheaply everyday. I want to look good. And actually maybe even make some damn money.
College is stressful, ne?

I feel less and less connected to the institution of college/high school education everyday. It seems as if knowledge and personal growth is meaningless to prove your worth, it is merely the classes you have taken and the grades you have gotten and the asses you have kissed of faculty and staff which will determine the way employers view your potential worth and hire-ability for their company. I don't even want to work in a company, I think. I want to be one or many of these many things:
A) a therapist (practically self-employed, just need to get through college and grad school with a master's degree and relatively good grades, however to get into a great grad school like Columbia or UChicago (IKITAIIIII!!!!) I must do really well in college and get some good recommendations)
B) a singer/musician (no degree necessary but I want one for the knowledge and in case things fall through. I should also be taking musical classes and doing at least the minor to expand my horizons and learn more)
C) owning a company (business would be useful but I think I could just get an MBA in the future if I decide to go on that track, graduating with a psychology degree will be semi-useful, maybe global studies would be helpful as well to increase my foreign expansion potential if necessary)
D) a writer (no degree necessary but I think I should get one for the knowledge and the expertise)
E) a professor/teacher (a master's degree or Ph.D I think is necessary to fulfill this, and a good educational standing. But I don't have to be perfect)
F) a dreams or social psychology researcher ((a master's degree or Ph.D I think is necessary to fulfill this, and a good educational standing. But I don't have to be perfect. I should also work on getting lab credits and independent research, and perhaps writing some extensive lab reports in the field if so)

For half of those occupations, college is essential. But it appears that I will have no typical company-working job, for that matter. I will either be working for a school, or be self-employed, or be working as a performing/creative entity of a company, which is much different than office work.

At least I aspire to never be doomed to that fate. But what if I end up there?

I consider everything life experience. I just don't want to be wasting it right now, and I want to be making the right decisions, especially since I am so young and my life could go in so many ways right now.

At first I thought I would try to get out of college as soon as possible so I could figure out what to do with my life after and just get out, but now I am starting to realize that I don't necessarily need to do that. I think it's because I didn't really like UCSB and I didn't like the academic reputation and I didn't want to spend four years of my life there wasting my time or anything. Now that I am here in Japan things are different. I can take my time and consider things.

Also, my mother recently said that she would like me to take as much time as I want in college, as long as I accomplish the things I need to do, like getting an extra degree such as global studies or music. I thought that would be just wasting time, but maybe this isn't a bad idea. Maybe I should take my time really getting my degree jampacked with job opportunities. Or maybe I shouldn't. I hear more and more that the major/majors tacked on a college degree mean less and less, unless it's in a highly technical and specific field, such as engineering or computer science or the like. Which I am not a part of. It's more of a set path for them, but it's damn hard for us humanities kids to figure out what the hell we are going to do after college. I guess I should be happy to be able to make these decisions. They're just so weighty and time-consuming.

My mother also seemed to think a psychology degree would get me nowhere. I've heard this from many a person. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. I think it's just what you choose to do with it, but I have a sinking feeling it will get me in to many fields, but not very far since there are so goddamn many of us psychology kids out there. But I really do enjoy the major. I just need things to set me apart.

To add to the job list: I could also work as some foreign diplomat or something too, if I get more global studies experience and continue studying Japanese and brush up on my Spanish. I really enjoy learning languages. And that sounds like an exciting but tough job.

It is becoming more apparent to me everyday that getting a job is not only based on your credentials, but the way you present yourself (which I am getting much better at), your conviction to the job, and your CONNECTIONS. I need to make more connections. I am trying :)

Networking is SO important.
Being here in Japan is helping me to realize this.

You will get a shit entry level job in a place you do not like if you do not have connections. You will not get into the college you love without connections (unless you are the most qualified candidate in the world). You will probably never meet your future husband without connections. You will never become a musician or singer without connections. (trying to make those here now!)

So many apparently closed doors or doors you never even could dream of can open from these networking connections. So many of these opportunities would be lost to you without proper connections.

Man.
It's crazy.
I need to keep a list of everyone I meet, and how they might be useful to me in the future. Being at Keio University (a school based on prestige, social connections, and whatnot) and being here in Japan has been teaching me this. Obviously, friends are extremely important, and perhaps their value, more than just as friends and as social support/fun/whatever, will come into play later in my life/future endeavors. I'm sure this list will be extraordinarily useful to me in the future. If not, at least I had the right idea. Or maybe I can help another friend succeed using my connections. You never know.

I am thinking so hard right now it hurts. I just got back from clubbing and I need to sleep since I have a field trip at 1 pm today and I need to leave my house by 12 noon to get to Nippori.

Can't wait though, it should be awesome. Should be taking hella pictures and going to some artist's gallery. Galleries are so amazing, especially when they're really intellectually stimulating.

I just want to LEARN!!! I think this is my problem in college. I have too many interests. I want to take classes in every subject! D:

Regardless, I just hope I will be awake and not requiring the use of coffee as an extreme stimulant just for an art class field trip...

Wrote some lyrics like ten minutes ago

I'm going to write lyrics more often. You'd think if I was a singer I'd be writing lyrics everyday. So I'm gonna prepare by having a shit ton of lyrics to show people if it's necessary. Even if they're bad, I'm sure some of them won't suck. It's just like if you spend an entire day taking photos of everything, chances are that some of the photos will turn out well. I guess writing is just like taking photos of what's inside your head and converting them into words.

---------------

Sitting in my room eating greasy pizza with the lights out
thinking about what I did yesterday with this knockout
brought him back, cooked him eggs and made him pancakes
I’m much too nice, I’m much too nice to make your heart break

ohhh…
I’m your type of girl
Who wants to be someone
But I don’t understand
exactly how I’m supposed to do that

I’m your type of girl
Who wants to have it all
But I don’t understand
why it seems just out of reach

I guess I really just need to be a bitch (musical note: crazy punk rock guitar)
And tie you to the bed
and make you buy me clothes
and yell at people on the phone
who really piss me off
and tell that girl who talks shit
to shove it up her ass
and I’ll win at everything
no one will fuck with me


Whenever we’d go out, I always wondered if you really liked me
Sure you did, but I always let you have the last say
You tied me up and left me hanging day after day
I felt so bad, I cried and cried until my heart was made out of clay

Shape it if you want
I don’t really mind
Touch it if you want
I’m okay with whatever you are
Break it if you want
I’ll mend the cracks and tears later
I'll be okay
I'll be okay
I'll be okay

ohhh…
I’m your type of girl
Who wants to be someone
But I don’t understand
exactly how I’m supposed to do that

I’m your type of girl
Who wants to have it all
But I don’t understand
why it seems just out of reach

I guess I really just need to be a bitch

And tie you to the bed
and make you buy me clothes
and yell at people on the phone
who really piss me off
and tell that girl who talks shit
to shove it up her ass
and I’ll win at everything
no one will fuck with me

no one will fuck with me

The second week of Keio University, now!

Keio started! I love my classes (mostly) and I have class four days a week. Monday to Thursday, that is. Pretty nice, huh? I might even drop my Monday class, so I can have a four day weekend (:D :D :D). Wouldn't that be amazing?
Generally my classes seem really interesting and informative, and they don't have so much homework, so I don't think I will have too much trouble with school. The hardest part is getting there! I have a 9 am class on Tuesdays for Japanese, so it's been a little difficult already getting there on time. But hopefully I will perserve in the future!

I've been sick for the last week now as well, suffering and coughing and sniffling through the days... for a couple days my throat was really sore too and I was afraid it was strep and I was going to go to a doctor, but it went away, luckily. It went away after I took some throat medicine a japanese pharmacist recommended to me, so maybe it worked. I'm happy I have some medication that works, at least!

I'm going to join a music circle, and I've been a bit stressed trying to contact them and see if I can join. Luckily the two I've gotten a hold of so far have agreed to meet with me, and I met with one group (Folk Freedom) for lunch one day. I had the most awkward experience trying to find them though, more about that in my next post perhaps. I want to make pancakes right now since I'm sick and on my period and I want to just have something delicious and chocolatey right now so I'll make this post quick :)
But yeah, Folk Freedom is a rock band that performs a lot of covers of American and European rock music and also some original stuff. It's for Keio students, and I could sing in it cause they seemed interested and excited in having me as a singer, and they were really nice and cool and ONLY spoke japanese of course, but I'm going to go meet with them on Sunday and come to a practice and "see what their atmosphere is like". Yay! I'm excited. I just hope my cold goes away by then so if they want me to sing I can sound good!!! So I'm going to take it easy so this cold goes away completeeeeely.

Also, the other group, that I can't pronounce the name of, is a rock band also and they produce original music and jam and stuff. How exciting. I'm going to have lunch with one of the members on Friday and she's going to tell me about the group and how I can join and the practices and everything. That should be exciting too. I guess my dream of being a singer here, at least at the non-professional level, looks like it will be realized!! *crosses fingers* Wish me luck!

As for Sony Music, I got my application done after much stress and re-recording myself and getting my friend to take photos of me and printing them at the conbini, etc etc etc. So much work! But it was so worth it! I feel great that I did it. I send it in on Friday the 24th of September, so hopefully I hear from them soon! If not, I can try elsewhere, or keep asking people and letting people know of my dreams!

Telling people I love singing and want to be a singer is actually really helping. Mentioning it gets the idea out there and sometimes I can make random networking connections that I wouldn't have known about had I not very openly mentioned it. My friend that I made when I went to Akihabara to get a new phone (she's also learning Japanese, she speaks Chinese and so did the salesman, she got us discounts on our phones, she's super nice, etc) took me and another one of her friends to Tokyo Tower this Sunday, which was an AMAZING and perfect day. Her other friend, Jing, was also really nice and fun and we all had an amazing time together. Apparently she worked at a record company here in Japan, and she knows people who want new female singers. She could put a good word in for me at the higher levels! This is really how you do it, I think, at my level. How exciting, ne?

Also, the more I talk about my desire to become a singer, the more people mention opportunities. A japanese girl I met today said she applied to a company to be a singer, and she could facebook me the company and how to apply! She said she thought I could have a really good chance as a pretty American girl *blush*. Also, my friend Laurel texted me today saying she met a girl at Sophia University who is a singer from Sony Music, and she's going to talk to her for me to see what she had to do to become one and if she can help me out! How wonderful!

I'm so glad my friends are looking out for me and my goals. Every day, I realize more that I really just want to be a creative soul and doing what I want to do and creating things and singing/making music and laughing and spending time with friends and writing and doodling and having fun and living a wonderful life. Being here has made me realize I could never work a corporate job. Maybe for like a little while, if I was completely out of money and I couldn't survive another way. I just feel like it's not my purpose in life to be a mindless drone slaving for some goal I don't even care about. I feel very driven to find a field of work that I love and I am passionate about and I feel has a greater overwhelming purpose in humanity for the betterment of society or individual's lives and my own life. I have a mind and I love using it! :)

じしんだった！

Just felt my first Tokyo earthquake(じしん）! A little scary, but it was nothing terrible or destructive. I was sitting on my bed looking at my notebooks and checking what classrooms my classes for the first day of school were, and I felt my entire bed shaking and rocking.. then I noticed the stuff on my desk was moving back and forth rhythmically. It wasn't rough, it was pretty gentle, but it was a little alarming because it had the potential to get more intense. Luckily it didn't and then it was just kind of a cool sensation until it stopped. I tried to make a split second decision to go to the safest place in my room, and since I've heard that standing in a doorway or solid frame is pretty safe, I opened my balcony sliding door and stood in the frame. I'm not entirely sure what the safest place was, but it wasn't the most dangerous. My desk is pretty flimsy so I feel like any earthquake rubble might have the potential to break it. Let's hope there's not another one after that though! :) I wonder what magnitude it was! And what the center was.. My friend texted me right after it (maybe 30 seconds after) and I looked online and people were already twittering about it... Oh, the online world.


I just found a nice website about it already, and took a look. 4.9 magnitude! That seems kind of big. But I think the destructive ones are more like 6 or 7, and they multiply in damage as they get bigger in sesmic scale. I don't know. I'm not a geologist.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010brbk.php
Good night Tokyo! It's my first day of school at Keio University tomorrow! Wish me luck. I've got Human Resource Management from a Psychological Perspective, Language Beyond Grammar, and Intermediate Aural Comprehension (maybe, if the japanese teacher approves my japanese level for the class). またね！

I have just realized...

I have like, a week free to do whatever I want. I wish I had realized this sooner.

I am in Japan, and I am just dicking around Shin-Kawasaki. I want to go travel! Man! D: I wish I had realized this so much sooner.
I have a commitment on Thursday for the baseball game, and I'm doing cooking stuff in Roppongi tomorrow at 6 with Midori and Pim, but besides that... I'm freeeee.

I need to do some things though.
I need to figure out if I need to pay my national health insurance.
Deposit my money in my Japanese bank account so I can pay for rent.
I need to record myself singing "Ordinary People" well and put it on a CD, perfect my application, and print it out. And get those pictures from Jeff.
I need to figure out how to get refunded for my hospital bills.
I should probably go to a chiropractor for my back.
I need to figure out what my class schedule is EXACTLY.
I need to email my psych advisor and college of letters and sciences advisor to make sure I will be okay for ge and psych requirements.

Besides these things (which is a list of arduous requirements! D:) I am free. But I can get these things done around traveling, right?

I just made a list of things I want to do around Tokyo and Yokohama now that I realized this, and my list is as follows:

Tokyo-
-Tokyo Disneyland (and Disney Sea?)
-Mount Fuji
-Ueno Park- with Ueno Zoo and Museum
-Mount Fuji??
-Butler Cafe
-Sanrio Puroland
-Tokyo Tower
Yokohama- city in general
-Ramen Museum
-Chinatown
-food theme park in Chinatown

I wish I could have gone to Kyoto to see Azusa though!!!!D: D: D: I wish I had known that I wouldn't have class or this academic requirement stuff to do... It was a little unclear. Plus I didn't think about the fact that I won't have friday class. It's almost a little stressful to realize how much free time I have. I would have wasted it all!

-Melissa

I am getting lazy. Please forgive me. :D

Enjoy this video. I have made a couple of them. I will post them in subsequent posts.
This is about a REALLY, REALLY shitty day I had. It was so intensely bad that it didn't even feel real, it felt like I was starring in the shitty part of some epic drama.


In other news, I am uploading pictures as well and cleaning my room! I have a couple days before school starts so I'm figuring out what to do with myself! I want to go to see Yokohama tomorrow or Wednesday, so hopefully I do that :)

I went on a date too, with a cute, hot, fun Japanese guy today! He's really cool. His name is Jun :D And his English skills are good, but not good enough that we never speak Japanese. This is a super plus. So our conversations are like 50/50, so I learn. I met him on Friday while clubbing with my friends. He was a really good dancer and really fun and charming, so I gave him my number later even though my phone was dead.

I wondered if he would call me, or if I even gave him the right number (I fuck numbers up late at night, when I've had a bit to drink) But he called me and asked me out on Saturday :) He wanted me to come clubbing last night, but I kept debating about it and finally I decided I didn't want to go meet a guy I had just recently met in Shinjuku late at night. That just didn't seem safe to me, especially with all the attention I've been getting lately. In Shin-Kawasaki/Hiyoshi area lately, I've had a couple guys pull over and try to pick me up, or ask me continually if I need a ride, or exit the train with me and try to get me to come get a drink with them. It's weird. I mean, I guess I should expect it if I'm a good-looking, American girl, but still... It makes me feel uneasy. And unsafe. I didn't feel that way when I was living right in Tokyo. Enough hot Japanese girls to distract the creepers, I guess. Or maybe it's the fact that my walk home is long enough and rather dark/unpopulated. Sugamo was pretty populated all over the walk home besides the last 100 yards or so.

Back to my story. So I finally decided it wasn't a good idea, even though clubbing sounded fun and all, so I kind of blew him off, but told him I wanted to meet up today during the day if he wanted to do that.

Taylor and I went shopping for groceries and clothes and such today, which was all right. I was glad she was well enough to come out with me since she's been sick for about a week and I was worried she was getting worse. I was feeling a little anxious though about vague things running through my head, like the fact we couldn't find a good, cheap grocery store(god, Japan, why is EVERYTHING so expensive here, except for stuff at the 100 yen stores?), and the Sony music application (which I feel like I should be doing at every moment), and whether Jun would want to take me out later or not since I blew him off.

I ended up buying the neccessary groceries and two pairs of cute striped boyshorts at Uniqlo for about 900 yen. I'm wearing a pair right now and they're quite comfy. I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

But later Jun and I made plans to have dinner in Shibuya. Yay.
I met him at the infamous Hachiko exit and he was even cuter than I remembered. His hair was styled so nice. He dresses exaaaaactly how I like. Eeee. Nice body too. I love slender, muscular men. Always. He was wearing this black shirt with that stylized cross design too, that just made him look like one of the splash pages of a sexy man out of a well drawn manga.

When I got there, I gave him a big hug and we wandered around together, talking and trying to decide where to eat (both of us were like,"I like everything to eat! You pick!") We're both hella indecisive, I guess. Or too agreeable. :P Finally, he took me to some place that I didn't really know the name of, but it was yummy and we got a lot of small dishes and split them. おいしかった！！！レストランの鳥肉は一番大好き。He spent hella money though! We got like two drinks, too D: I offered to split the check but he was like NO!!!!! ahaha. He's a cute one. He said he has some friends that work behind the scenes at some of the clubs in Shibuya, like Atom, which is AWESOME. He said he usually gets free drinks whenever he goes out, which is exciting. Maybe he'll be able to hook me and my friends up whenever we go clubbing :P

We talked about a lot of things, of course, and I liked what I heard :) Not going to repeat everything here cause that would take forever, but he's my kind of guy. He also went to university in the United States, which was kind of cool. He worked in Japan, and then he went to Pierce College in Los Angeles and then came back and got a a job in Japan. He's older than me though, 26, not sure how I feel about that, but we were on the same level in conversation and such so that I didn't feel a disconnect. I kind of want to try dating guys who are a little older than me anyway. I'm curious. I'm all for the good experience.

We talked earlier about the fact that he had to get up early to go to work in the morning (he works at a hospital), so we left to go to the station, and we were like talking about second dates and stuff, so that was pretty cool :) We both take JR, but separate lines, so as I went to leave for my line, we kind of said goodbye and didn't know what to do... it was cute and awkward. Finally he kissed me on the cheek and I kissed him on the cheek and we said goodbye lol. It didn't feel right to like, full on kiss in the JR station. There were so many people around. And it was a good date, but I think when we were both sober we were more reserved :P
It was cute though.

I hope to see him again! :D

That was my day. Hope you enjoyed reading about it :)

Lawson 100

I keep meaning to post here with meaningful inspiration stuff but it hasn't been happening. I guess my excuse for not updating with writing prose-y stuff or even updates about my day is that I've been making videos! Which I will upload, after completing three important things tonight: recording myself singing, making an artist profile for my application to sony music, and bleaching my hair. These are all things I have been PUTTING off! So I just need to do them because they are all important to me.

I've been feeling a little under the weather, a little sniffly, a little etc. I just want to sleep and sleep and sleep. I've been passing up some friend stuff too just to sleep. I would say I'm worn out, but from what? I guess I have a cold or something. My friend Taylor's kind of sick right now too :/ I hope I don't get as sick as her, though!

Anyway, to the meat of this post.

I went into the Lawson 100 next to my dorm after getting back to my dorm today to grab a water. I got my water and some orange juice and went to the counter. At the counter, there was a gorgeous japanese boy with very cute hair and a nice frame, one that looks like someone who you could hug and he wouldn't fall over :P (some of them do). He was wearing a face mask too. I think you have to for the job or during rain or something, but he was nevertheless. So HOT.
And I tried to make exact change for the drinks, like 210 yen exactly, so I was digging in my wallet for a little while saying I was looking for my change :P
I almost was about to give up but I found the change and I smiled and gave it to him and he looked me straight in the eyes (none of the hot ones do that, at least that close!) and he was like how cute, perfect! And gave a big smile with his gorgeous eyes that I could tell he was smiling hella big under that mask. And I was like *swoooooooooooooooooooon*

I am in love with the Lawson 100 checkout man. He's my boyfriend now. He just doesn't know yet.

Randommm

Took the final for JWU today, feel like I did okay. I studied like, until 4 am, so I knew my shit. Wasn't even tired cause I drank some coffee. It was good. But now I'm tired and I need to finish this goddamn homework. Seriously? Assigning homework after a final and requiring you to go to class for two more days after? What kind of sick perverse circus side show are these japanese slave driving teachers running? I can't handle it anymore. I don't want to do shukuuudaiiii.... it makes me want to die.
Movin' out on wednesday, so I packed two of my big suitcases tonight as full as possible so I can ship them to my dorm tomorrow so they will be there waiting for me on wednesday hopefully :)

Will update soon with part 2 of a Test of Independence!

Blah. I was pretty depressed for the last couple days (minus some fun points here and there) about losing my cell phone and all of that money... haven't really felt like writing. I just am stressing so bad about having a new phone! It's so retarded but at the same time it's so real.
Hope to post soon (hopefully tomorrow!) I've been pretty busy with school and being tired and everything too. D:
-Melissa

A test of independence

So, I've had a rough couple days. For the last month, Japan has had its ups and downs so far (most of those usually ups or at least mehs). But on Friday, a stream of bad occurrences started that I have had to deal with all weekend. Some of it has been my error, other things have been out of my control, and other times it has just been dealing with being almost completely independent in a foreign country. Let me tell you about my current misfortune.

It all started Friday day, after class got out. Class was fine and we learned a lot, but I was anxious to get out of there just because I am getting tired of this damn japanese class.
I wanted to head to Shinjuku for my doctor's appointment, because it was at 3 oclock in Aoyama-Itchome and that was supposedly only like 10 minutes by subway from Shinjuku. I planned to do some shopping and hang around Shinjuku until about 2:15 and then head over.
My friend Laurel asked if she could come with me shopping so I was was like, okay sure cool, more fun.

We get there and Laurel wants to go to a bank, and exchange money. It takes so long that we don't even get any time to go shopping. I feel really hungry though so I need to take a pit stop at starbucks, and when I try to get up to leave for the doctor's Laurel's like "wait!! let me finish my food!" ughh. She's fun to hang out with, but I really needed to get going. I ended up making it to Aoyama-Itchome on schedule, but then I couldn't find the hospital because there were two buildings... and the first on my path wasn't the right one.

So I got into the hospital a bit late, which is superrrr taboo in Japan, but apparently it was fine, because there was absolutely no hiccup in the hospital's schedule for me. The hospital was incredibly efficient and nice and whatever, and the staff were all friendly, and the only time I really spent waiting there was because I didn't hear my number being called for my prescription, and they kept calling higher and higher numbers, and I was just like maybe mine is an exception... finally I went up and they were like, oh, we called your number like, a half hour ago... fail. Japanese is hard, man.

I'll describe the hospital more in detail later, but I just had a bad experience with the doctor because the purpose of my visit was overlooked. I wanted to be referred to physical therapy for my shoulder, because ever since my collarbone was broken, my shoulder has really hurt and always feels weirdly stuck... now my arm and my hand go numb every time I wear a backpack or purse on my right side. It sucks.

The doctor, who was Japanese (I had a translator who was very skilled) did not seem to think I needed physical therapy, even though I told him it had helped in the united states, and instead prescribed me 4 different medications, 2 of which seemed completely irrelevant to my case. Sigh.

I don't want to take pain killers.
I want the problem solved. Or at least treated.
I don't really want to take more pills. They always have had weird side effects for me. I have to go to a gynecologist too because of related side effects due to my old acne medication. I hate all of my fucking medical problems and issues. I just feel broken and old and terrible and lame and helpless. I want to be well.

I left the hospital, feeling rather weird and depressed. Glared at every guy who checked me out with a death stare. Got home in an extreme angry tither as my depression bounced off the walls in my head and multiplied tenfold. When I got home, I cried and threw stuff and then took a shower and cried some more. Woo.

A strange thing happened in the shower, though. All of these extremely angry depressive thoughts were running through my head, overwhelming me, until I was just standing there as a sobbing naked wreak. As I let these thoughts just run through over and over again, they started to branch out and sound more composed and more lyrical. This was strange.

Suddenly, I felt like singing my thoughts was the only way to get these terrible thoughts out of my head.
It felt so freaking amazing and therapeutic.
I felt like nothing I could do at that moment was any more important at making myself feel well again.

I jumped out of the shower, wrote down some of the thoughts I was thinking on some paper, kept singing, got all of my anger and frustration out, and felt much better. I actually came up with some really good stuff, and it made me feel so much more human.

I love singing. I need to do it more often. I really want to do it here! I'm going to try and make a demo tape so I can apply to this jazz club I know of as a singer. I dream of making it big, but who knows. I just hope I can get more involved. That's why I plan to join an 音楽 (music) circle at Keio.

I turned my frustration and rage at this constant feeling of feeling that my broken body is beyond repair into a song. And recorded it later. Haha. Maybe I'll post it here.

Anyway, I felt better after that, enough to feel up to going out... my friends and I had been planning all week to go to this famous nightclub called Ageha. I decided I was going to forget about what happened that day and be strong and deal with my problems on my own. I was going to be independent and secure.

We drank a bit before leaving, so I was already pretty good by the time we got on the bus to Ageha (it's a bit out of Tokyo, so they have a bus, otherwise no one would go). We got to the club, and everyone was all psyched... and then my friend Tony couldn't get in. He's 19. So am I. I was worried, but before we got there my friend had already thought about it and was like hey, whatever, take my id, we're both white.
Tony argues with the people, but they aren't having it. Even though his birthday is in four days. What douchebags. He even used his Chinese ID. We were worried then, that they were really scrutinizing these ids (most clubs either don't card or don't look closely at american ids). I was planning to go in anyway, but then Kathleen took her id back because she was afraid they'd realize it was hers, which was total bullshit since we were with a group of like 12 people... honestly? That was completely paranoid.

So I was SUPER pissed, and Tony and I went back, with this other group of foreign kids and their japanese friend, who happened to forget her id, so she couldn't get in, even though she was like 25 or something. Tony and I became friends with them on the bus, and decided to go to a club together in Shibuya, since that was where the bus was headed and it was definitely already after the time that the subway/trains closed. I was pretty drunk, since we had been drinking, and I definitely was having a good time. We were going to go to this club called Club Asia, which I hope to go to sometime (cause it looks cool), but we decided to go to this club that looked really cool with free drinks all night with the cover fee of 25 bucks. I got in free somehow, because I just kind of drunk wandered into the club past the bouncers while my friends were paying for their entrance. I'm still not sure how it happened.

The club was great, we had a lot of fun and they were playing loud american music, which was fun. It was almost exclusively Japanese people too, which was cool. They had some cute dancers up on stage and stuff. I wasn't going to drink anymore, because I certainly didn't need to, but somehow I ended getting a drink from Tony. The night is pretty fuzzy, but we danced with a lot of cute Asian people and learned some cool dance moves, and then I saw this guy that was soooo cute I just had to dance with him. So I somehow seduced him and we started dancing and whatever and he and i got ANOTHER drink (what the HELL, Melissa!) and then we were dancing more and making out and having fun and whatever. I'm pretty sure I blacked out at this point, because the next thing I remember is Tony pulling me out of the club and me puking all over the sidewalk (first time in my life X_X) and me going "where is my purse?" and Tony also being hella drunk and being like "I have no idea!!!" And he said we needed to leave for some reason and we both wanted to puke and go home and just die so he was just like we'll come back tomorrow or something so we took the train back and Tony threw up on the train and it was SO GROSS. I felt like shit and I could barely stand, and somehow we got back to Sugamo and I didn't have anything... no key, no wallet, no phone... Tony paid for the weekly mansion people to open up my room so I could sleep, and I passed out drunk as hell in my room...

To be continued in the next post!

NHK and Pubbing: a fantastic day.

Tonight was awesome, mostly…
I feel like I'm still riding out the high from all of the excitement.
I was planning all day not to go to class tomorrow, but I got back around 10, so I was able to finish my very little hw (FINALLY) and decide that class is probably something I should attend if I can make it and actually feel sane.

I wanted to take a personal day, but I guess I can do that another time maybe. I think I need to save my absence though to see a doctor, I’m having some major recurring medical issues that I might want to go to two different doctors for. I don’t know if I should for my collarbone making my arm go numb, but this is a pretty shitty problem that I need to have taken care of before my body starts deteriorating further.

But anyway, today was awesome. We went to NHK, which is like this amazing tv station in Japan, and we did the tour… I don’t have time to talk all about it, but it was really fun! I got to record a short anime voiceover with other friends on the tour, see how they broadcast news (almost got to read and be on the tv example program but another guy in the tour beat me in a game of jan ken pon), see many different stuffed creatures, see a 3D movie that was really trippy and kind of hurt my eyes a little after, and see tv shows going on live from above. How cool! I had a lot of fun too because it was so kid-friendly, and it was really interactive. I felt like I was having as much fun as the little kids on tours around us. Some of the JWU students took some of us EAP kids on this trip, which I really was looking forward to. I want to maybe do commercials here, so I just need a hookup at NHK and maybe I’ll get the opportunity to make some money and do something really random and fun! D:
I really enjoyed hanging out with one of the girls I met today from JWU, Momoko! (Her name means Peach Child in Japanese). She was so nice and fun to hang out with! And I really enjoyed talking to her. I spoke so much Japanese today! And so fast! I feel amazing. Obviously I’m not great but I’m getting better everyday! Mainichi takusan naraimasu!!

Class wasn’t too bad either since I went to bed early last night and was totally awake the whole time. I am LEARNING from that example I have set for myself and going to bed EARLY so I can be alive in class tomorrow. It really made a difference in my enjoyment of Japanese today.

After NHK, some people went home, and the rest of us convened in an English pub in Shibuya! It was really fun. We went right at the beginning of happy hour, so drinks were much cheaper. I drankkkk a lot and it wasn’t even expensive. I started out with REALLY cheap drinks, but at the end I was getting pretty drunk and ordered myself a white tarantula, which was apparently one of the strongest drinks in this bar. You can imagine how I felt after :P

Loved the atmosphere, had fun with my eap friends and my new friends, and I met quite a few international people just by waiting in line for drinks or randomly talking to them with my friends. I actually took a dare from a couple of my friends and was about to get these guys from Holland to buy me a drink, but then everyone else wanted to go watch fireworks, so they took me with them. I didn’t want to stay with those guys anyway lol, I just wanted the drink and to win that bet! Hahaha. Everyone else was like “I don’t know how to get someone to buy me a drink!” I was like “Guys… it’s not that hard.” I haven’t even been to bars in America besides like… 18+ clubs, and I guess the only experience I have with that was getting guys to buy me drinks on my 19th birthday when we went to that club in SF, but I mean, seducing or even just whittling your way into a man’s alcohol cabinet/secret stash at a party in sb is the same sort of deal. MAN I am sounding pretty ridiculous right now. BUT it’s totally true. And it’s a skill any true lady needs. At least a lady who wants to have a good time and save cash. :D

After we went to the fireworks in Harajuku, which were beautiful and sparkly and awesome…. BUT, it was SOOOOO crowded and hot, and literally everyone needed to pee (takusan osake o nomimashita, neeeee), so we left after a bit to find a bathroom, chat a bit, exchange numbers, and then say goodbye to the JWU students! They were SOOOO nice. I really enjoyed this group of them.

Anyway, now I’m back and I am GOING TO BED so I can be awake in class tomorrow! I love you all!
P.S. I bought an amazing 990 yen skirt that is white and BEAUTIFUL! It has buttons and it’s silky and straight and medium length and I look sooo gooooodd in it. It looks really classy too. I needed one. Yay for Zara’s sale racks! My friend Taylor wasn’t joking when she said they were cheap!

Chopsticks

So, chopsticks. In Japan. Are different.
They are exactly the same utensil, but... there's so much associated with them.

In America, I was always proud of the fact that I could use chopsticks. I learned when I was young, probably from my dad (cuz he goes to Japan sometimes), so I never had an issue using them. Sometimes things would slip out of my grip, but honestly, I wasn't a 日本人 (nihonjin=japanese person) so it wasn't an issue.

The first date Max took me on, we got Japanese food at this little place in Santa Barbara. And I assumed everyone could use chopsticks, so I got him a pair... He totally failed. In a cute way, but he totally failed. :D All of his food fell apart. :P I thought everyone could use chopsticks, at least well enough to eat, but that's certainly not the case, so I felt even better for having this amazing ability. (sorry Max! You're awesome in every other way.)

Sometimes I would even eat ice cream with chopsticks, just because it was fun. Americans seem to think that's crazy. I enjoyed the challenge. After a while, it was really easy. Almost easier than a spoon. And better mini serving sizes. I was so Asian-minded. So Japanese inside! My friends called me an egg sometimes, especially when I decided I was going to spend my study abroad time in Japan becoming more Asian. (An egg is yellow inside, white outside).
If you know how much I loved all things Asian, it makes sense.

Now I came to Japan thinking I could use chopsticks. Rightfully so. I had heard that there were some funny little rules surrounding chopsticks, like sticking them into food straight up and down together was like stirring the dead bones of ancestors or something. Some crazy nihonjin shit. I didn't subscribe.

(A short side note: I feel like here, I have a choice of subscribing to Nihonjin mentality or being an outsider. Not that it's this overbearing mentality of obedience and subservience and extreme patience and frequently excusing oneself , but sometimes it is. And sometimes I don't agree with it. And it's uncomfortable. But other times I figure I might as well try being on time, being respectful, trying to be quiet as possible in cafes and on the train... Sometimes it feels right. And totally more efficient, reasonable, and sensible than America. Sometimes I find myself wondering why we don't subscribe to such a mentality with certain aspects of American life. Other times I feel totally oppressed. And a little lonely.)

ANYWAY.

I thought I could use chopsticks. The way I use them might be a little different than the how the wrappers of chinese and japanese resturarant wood chopsticks say to use them, but it worked for me. As long as I could eat, I would be fine, right?

Not so.

In the cafeteria, one of the first days I was eating lunch with some friends from EAP, some of the more Japanese girls noticed how I was holding my chopsticks and immediately brought attention to it.

"Don't you know how to use chopsticks?"
"Yes..."

"Well, you're not supposed to cross them ever when you eat... It's considered impolite or insulting. We don't care, of course, lol, but you might want to fix your hand position just so japanese people don't get offended... but it's cool if you don't, you're white anyway so they'll just think you're a cute gaijin who can't use chopsticks..."

I was blown away. I thought I could use chopsticks, though! And I definitely didn't think these social rules about chopsticks would ever be important. How strange.

I started thinking I was inadequate. And not Japanese enough. I didn't want Japanese people thinking I was some lame dumb gaijin.
So I asked for help.

This sparked a long conversation about social "rules" associated with chopsticks, like the aforementioned dead grandmother ashes/bones/whatever position. (Btw, don't stick your chopsticks into rice completely upright, that is to signify that your bowl is an offering of food for a dead spirit... who would know? Here's some more tips in case you want to become an extremely anal yet polite japanese person. http://www.justhungry.com/your-guide-better-chopstick-etiquette-mostly-japanese)

We spent a good twenty minutes correcting my hand position, but the way I held chopsticks was just so different that it was very hard for me to correct it. The fingers just didn't... go.

It's the same way for me with a pencil... ever since elementary school I have held my pencil differently than everyone else. It's always worked for me. I guess I just like being a inner rebel and doing common knowledge shit differently than everyone else unknowingly. I'm sorry, Japan! I guess I'm just too American.

Regardless of my complete failure to be a polite gaijin that day, I made a resolution that while I was in Japan, I would learn how to use chopsticks the right way. Maybe I wouldn't adhere to this dead grandmother crap (actually I probably will for fear of SCARY SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS, ooohhhh haha), but I would at least learn how to hold them right.

Every day, I have conciously made an effort to hold chopsticks the right way. It felt awkward at first and I felt like I lacked muscles in my fingers in the way they were oriented, but I knew I was making progress.

Is that what Japanese people do? Suffer through everything until they are gods at EVERYTHING in Japan and make fun of foreigners for suffering while learning their customs? (ie kanji, chopsticks, waiting for very long periods on crowded trains while being silent and avoiding people's gazes, etc)

I don't know. I'm starting to think it might be true, the longer I stay here.

But I can say that whenever I learn more Japanese, or kanji, or a custom, or how to USE CHOPSTICKS THE RIGHT WAY DAMMIT!!!, I get this wonderful feeling of high class satisfaction. I am doing something my rude, brusque, gigantic American brothers and sisters would never be able to even feasibly handle. At least, I think this is my inner nihonjin talking. She's in there. Repressed and confused. And really, really pretty.

(Don't worry, I am a rude, brusque, gigantic American myself. It happens. I sometimes feel like I should tiptoe here.)

Anyway, so now I can say that I can hold chopsticks the right way, three weeks into this rigorous psychological chopstick food torture.

This is true because it was confirmed by nihonjin that weren't even close friends of mine yet. I was hanging out with my nihonjin friend Akane and her friends after we went to see fireworks at the Hanabi Takai on Saturday night. (It was quite fun, by the way... I always heart nihon no hanabi over america no hanabi... they're just so much better and bigger and more beautiful...) Anyway, after getting sufficiently wasted with all of my new nihonjin friends and my one amazing old nihonjin tomodachi, we went to get some food and drink some more... I ordered ramen.
Without even thinking about it (you know, I was drunk), I lifted my chopsticks and ate my ramen...

The right way.

Rainbows sparkled in the sky. The lights flickered in the room. A sexy Japanese man took off his shirt, threw it on the floor, and offered me his hand.
You know it happened.

My new friend Hiro, who happens to also be a student at Keio, turned to me and said "You use your chopsticks very nicely!" I looked down at my hand, perfectly curved around the chopsticks, gripping the noodles in my ramen tightly with ease. The sticks did not cross. Once. Ever.

I smiled. And my inner nihonjin did too.

Tired..

I am tired of my japanese class. It sucks. It's boring and I feel like up until today, we haven't really learned as much as we should have by now. The teaching style is not okay for me, and the textbook we have that they said we should study is horrendous. There are only japanese examples for problems, no explanations, and no grammar. If the grammar and vocab explanations were in english, that would be one thing, but no explanation for what we are supposed to be learning exists. And the teachers explain everything in a really roundabout way, rarely write things down, and expect us to retain everything they say as an explanation in japanese. This is just stupid. I complained so much yesterday that my teacher finally let me see her textbook.... which is the textbook we really neeeded. It explains all of the grammar cases and verb forms and verb phrases in english and provides a written explanation of the dialogues. Um... Why didn't we get that?
I borrowed her textbook to study for the test we had today, which was still hard, but I can't imagine taking the test today without looking at her text. Everyone seems worn out and frustrated. I know I am.
Our senseis in school do nothing to keep us motivated. In fact, they discourage me. I feel like they are not actually teaching us, they just are doing nothing to torture us. The only thing I feel like I am learning is RANDOM-ASS particles, and Kanji. At least we're learning Kanji. But still. That's kanji I'm teaching myself for class on MY OWN TIME. Fuck this school. I can't wait to be out of there. Nihon Joshi Daigaku wa totemo baka na daigaku desu ne. Blah.

I know this is an intensive class... but really? Do they have to make it so after we wake up early (which makes us have to go to bed rather early for most college students), we go to class for a long time, then do homework for hours and not even have the time, will, or energy to go out and have fun/explore Tokyo? That's what most of us really are here for. I'm just trying to get through this month at this point... I kind of wish I could have just come maybe two weeks early, done some study on my own, and gone to Keio... Keio just seems like it will be so much more up my alley, what with the social life, circles (I want to join a music circle or club! Maybe two, depending on the time commitment needed), fun classes that only happen once a week, less homework, more free time...
I just want to be able to chill out and not be constantly worrying about homework or memorizing, or blowing it off and then getting screwed. I need time to sleep, work out, and be my normal self. I'm not getting enough sleep. It is frustrating. Oh well.... I'm going to make it through. Once I get through this, I will be so much stronger, I hope. I just need to get more sleep, not worry about school but still get my shit done, and get those damn 12 units. I need an A. Oh me. Always trying for the A. I know everyone else here is like that too, so it's hard to avoid the mentality.

By the way, since Saturday I've been on my period, and I'm feeling swollen and fat today... and my shoulder and my collarbone have been acting up. I hate it. My parents kept discouraging me from going to the chiropractor/physical therapist, but honestly, I really need to be going. I have scoliosis and my back sucks and my shoulder is never going to heal if I don't get some outside help. Today when I went shopping with some of my friends in ikebukuro after class (finally a break!), my shoulder and collarbone felt really sore... I never feel like I can get comfortable on that side of my body. I was wearing a very light purse on my right side (the once-broken side) and my entire arm kept turning numb... I don't think this is normal. I really need help. And at least a massage, for the moment. It's very uncomfortable. Sigh. I just want to feel better. And normal. I don't want to be a completely broken 50 year old lady, let alone a completely broken 19 year old... :/

Sometimes I forget that I am only nineteen. I feel like I have lived so much already. I feel like I've lived around 28 or 30 years of my life right now. It's weird.

Wish me luck, guys. I'm not feeling so good, but I'm going to try and pull through, get my shoulder feeling more normal somehow, and pass this class. And I'm going to have a damn good time while I'm at it, hopefully. Maybe a better attitude will keep me more motivated.

Ciao from the other side of the world,

Melissa

P.S.

At least, maybe, this whole Japan trip is giving me really good mental tactics for coping with things on my own. I'm definitely becoming more dependent, what with making decisions about food, when I sleep, who I hang out with (well, that one is already a decision I'm used to making), if doing something is a good or a bad idea, whether a certain amount of fun is too much fun based on how much homework/tests I have... etc. I don't like making the last decision, either. It's tough. I'm learning how to keep myself happy too. Or at least trying. I haven't perfected it yet. We'll see how good I am at this at the end of the year.

Hey, so I have been really bad about updating already. Sigh.
But I will be better in the future. This is just a temporary lag, due to all the craziness, excitement, and lack of sleep due to tons of class, many activities and outings with friends, and the like. I have been either extremely excited and awake or DEAD tired. I got to class today and I literally could not even keep my eyes open. I just my head down on the desk and went to sleep. It was so hard to even stay awake! It was insane. And super rude, since my japanese teacher was like uhhhh.... DON'T SLEEP IN CLASS! :( and I tried so hard not to...
Finally I got a coffee. It was this BOSS brand milk latte from the vending machine upstairs. Can't get over the fact that BOSS is a coffee brand here. It's awesome. I had it a couple days ago and it was delicious, but it made me all jittery and heart-poundy, but I figured it would keep me awake. I walked back to the classroom, feeling haggard, gross, and exhausted, since I had literally woken up 10 minutes before I left for school and just threw my life together before running out the door. It was fun. Sigh. It definitely worked its magic, so I was fine, but it was strange how sleepy I was earlier. I'm just exhausted from the workload of japanese class already, and wanting to do fun things at night, and EXPLORE japan since I'm fucking IN JAPAN. Haha. It's mostly great, but I definitely have had a couple really bad days here. I don't have enough time to elaborate, but here's a facebook update status of mine from a couple days ago...

FUCKKKKKKKK
I have HUGE insect bites that are tiny little bites all joined together. I have to debug my entire room and I'm afraid to sleep in my bed. I have too much homework and class SUCKED today. And somebody fell/jumped in front of the train at my station and died. I didn't see it but hearing everything was enough. FUCK. I was right there. AND THEN GRACE'S TOILET EXPLODED. WHY IS TODAY THE FUCKING APOCALYPSE????


So, yeah... It's not been all sunshine and rainbows. I was afraid to sleep in my bed that night due to the fear of being eaten alive by more unknowable bugs, so I cleaned and vaccumed and went through all of my stuff until about 1:30 am (I have class at 9 and I have to get up at 7:30 am to leave) and slept on top of my blankets, and wore long pjs and a long sleeved shirt to bed. And socks. I felt like an anal clean freak, but honestly I feel like I needed to do it. Cleaning vigorously is not a normal thing for me until I get unidentifiable bug bites that hurt and swell to huge proportions and are comprised of thousands of tiny little bumps.... It really freaked me out.

Now I finally got the front desk to change all of my bedding... Yes. It's hard to deal with them since they understand and speak absolutely no English, so I feel like I have to prepare a speech every time I need to talk to them. I felt so amazing when I was able to sleep in my bed without fear. I love beds. I love doing my homework on my bed. And chilling on it. And sleeping. And having friend over to watch tv on it. It's just... completely neccessary. Duh.

So tonight, I plan to go out with a couple of my girl friends from the EAP program who are living in the Weekly Mansion.. Planning to go out and drink and get food and then do karaoke! I am psyched. :) I can't wait to sing my heart out. I want to be a pop star in Japan. And famous. Seriously. I'm going to audition. Just you wait. I've been talking about it with Taylor. It's nice, we both want to be famous and audition for TV commercials and other stuff... We can motivate each other :)
Later! The Tokyo nightlife awaits!

<3
Melissa

An email I sent to my mom... It covered what I wanted to say here, mostly :P

Class starts tomorrow! We had orientation and a welcome ceremony today, which was fun. Well the welcome ceremony was, lol. I was really suprised and happy that there are cultural programs planned for us every Thursday afternoon. We don't have to go to them, but we could sign up for them today. The JWU students are putting them on for us and either doing cultural activities in the University or taking us on excursions. We could choose between the in-university programs, like making paper fans, or the out of university programs, which are things like going to a temple and meditating, going on a cool thrift store district excursion, going to the Meiji shrine, going to the NHK japanese television channel's filming station and interactive center, and going to the Japanese Diet building and learning about Japanese parliament. I obviously signed up for all of the out of university programs since they sound so fun! :) So I'll be going to one every Thursday night.
We met a lot of really nice japanese students, who were extremely eager to talk to us... we kind of spoke in a mix of japanese and english so it was a stretch on both ends but it was really useful. Japanese people generally really love me. Haha. It's like I can't make a mistake because I am a cute blond blond girl who can kind of speak japanese.. suddenly I seem like a "real pro". It's weird. Another girl in the program said I was lucky because asian people who come to Japan who can kind of speak japanese at our level get weird looks if they mess up, but if a white person opens their mouth and speaks japanese, it's unexpected and exciting. Therefore everyone is immediately more interested in me (hopefully mostly in a friendly way, haha).
I also got national health insurance today with a group of other students and we explored ikebukuro for a couple hours after.. it's really an exciting place, with lots of music shops, and it's only one stop from Sugamo station. How convenient!
I'm going to take a shower and go to bed soon since class starts at nine tomorrow... woo. I've been going to bed early though, since I get really tired if I stay up past 12. How convenient! I guess this is a good thing for me!
I've been wanting to tack the word "ne" on every single sentence I've spoken in english today.. It's like the equivalent of "right?" or "of course" in japanese, depending on the context. Like "Totemo muzukashii neeee" would be like "It's really really difficult, huh?" My japanese is already getting better just from speaking it! And I'm getting better at Kanji just from needing to identify certain things here like soymilk :P
Well I'm gonna go take a shower! Sayonara suckers!

Japan rocks.

So today was like the third day of the ILP program, technically… and I’ve been in Japan for like… 6 days now. Woo! It feels like every day I change a little bit in my views of Japan, my views of myself as a foreigner in Japan, and my interests in accomplishing certain goals and desires for my stay here. I still want to be a singer, lol. I’ve heard that if I join a music circle/club at Keio, it can be really good because there can be like, famous people in the circle and it could be like joining a band technically… or there’d at least be people who are all interested in being in a band and performing! I want to sing sooo bad. I’m actually already getting instrument withdrawal.. when I walked through Ikebukuro near the train station with my dad before he finally let me be at the ILP program, I saw tons of cute little music shops… I just want to take a little trip and go to go play the guitars there or the pianos there! I think that would be soooo fun  I really want to buy a cheap guitar or keyboard or SOMETHING because I am going to go crazyyyy without some way to express my musical thoughts. And I don’t want to bother anyone by singing too loud… plus I can’t do it much in public without getting stares (that goes for anywhere in the world).
So I need some music in my life as soon as I can get it :) Hopefully when I start getting the JASSO little purchases like that will seem negligible :P
So let me tell you about today (and last night). My dad (finally) left, we had dinner because he insisted on it so we went to this cute little Japanese place (almost duh) in Sugamo (the district of Tokyo in which everyone in EAP is currently staying). In Shinjuku, which is one of the more crowded, busy places, it is not uncommon to see tourists occasionally, so people would kind of look at me as an American girl sometimes, but it wasn’t out of curiosity, just out of slight unfamiliarity with routine, if anything. People were happy if I spoke Japanese though, but they didn’t act like it was a big deal. Sugamo is still very lively and still very much part of Tokyo, but it’s nowhere as crowded or famous as Shinjuku, Roppongi, or Harajuku. There is a larger old population there, but it’s so cuteeee :) so I walk through the streets there and heads turn immediately. Eyes widen. Lengthy stares are far from uncommon. I’ve had people come up to me and say I’m totemoooo beautiful. And EVERYONE there is really happy and excited that I can speak Japanese. It’s very nice. It’s more homey. And still amazingly part of Tokyo, with Karaoke and Pachinko Parlors and takusan little stores all along the street with a little cheaper prices. I <3 Sugamo. But anyway, I was in this restaurant with my dad and I started asking the waitress for the menu and waters and talking with her, and this really old guy behind my dad got so excited and stood up and came over to us. He proceeded to tell us that I was extremely beautiful, and that I could not be my dad’s daughter because I couldn’t have been that young. Hahaa. It’s interesting that the reactions people have to me as a foreigner are completely different than the reactions they have to other EAP students who are asian… They get frustrated with the Asians who can’t speak Japanese, hahaa. With me as a blue-eyed blond haired girl, suddenly I am unfamiliar, sexy, and mysterious. Let’s see if I can hold up the mystique :P
Anyway, I made friends when my group for testing yesterday was going to head back from the test center at JWU. We had a lot of fun shopping for stuff together and we found a really cheap grocery store (88 cents for strong alcoholic lemon drinks? Yes!!) I can’t get over the fact that I can buy alcohol. It feels so awesome and so illegal. Well, it is not legal, but no one will dare card me, as I am a foreigner and I look of age. So hell yes. I feel empowered.
We also drank together last night and channel-flipped with Japanese tv, rating all of the girls and guys we saw. It was quite fun. I feel like some of them have the potential to become really close friends… we’ll see how things go though!
And this morning, we went to ICU to visit the Tokyo Center and have an orientation about being here in Japan. We learned a bunch of tips that I wish I had known like three days ago, like what passes to get for the subway and where to get alien registration cards… etc. I could have used that a couple days ago when my dad was trying to take me everywhere in the world to get me established. It was nice, but at the same time, he is the most stressful person in the world to be with most of the time, unless he’s had some to drink. So I tried to keep him a little less than sober, which wasn’t hard because all I had to do was suggest that he get some beer and off he’d go to a vending machine or get some with dinner. How weird. He loves spending money on himself but he stresses everyone out about money and spending. He’s quite the unfair man.

So back to what I was saying, after orientation I went with my friend Grace and the people she was hanging with to go shopping on our way back from ICU. It took us a good hour and a half to get to ICU in the morning (I’m so glad I’m not going there), so we stopped about halfway on the Chuo line at some place that I forget the name of hahah. There was cool shopping there and I totally wanted to spend a lot of money buying cute things and keychains… etc. I also wanted to buy presents! But I guess it’s too early? Saw nano lego kits (small mini thin legos, like japan) and mameshiba phone charms (I want one), and Shokku Boobs (Oh lizzzie, you would want a pair so badly).
We also got dinner and had a lot of fun. I had an amazing soup, salad, and four little piece of foccicia beard. It was excellent. And cheap! 4 dollars total. I’ve been eating out with a budget conscience.
Now I want to upload this to my blog, but I can’t because the internet is down in the whole building! Neeeeeeeee. :( totemo warui desu yo. Watashi no tomodachi to skype ni shitai! :( I’ll upload it tomorrow! I just went on a run with my friend Midori too, which was fun because we got to explore the main street all the way down Sugamo (which is really long, neeee) but now my feet hurt because my shoes are new and gave me blisters. Ouch! Time for shower! Matane mina-san (see you later everyone!)