Well, today's practice graduation ceremony went off without a hitch....and I spent the rest of the morning helping to decorate for the real deal tomorrow. (They shipped in TONS of real flowers! It's amazingly pretty!) Even though the teacher's room is full right now, everyone seems quiet and subdued. I feel a little better knowing it's not just me who's sad to see the 3rd years go.
So this is it. Tomorrow is the big day. I'm ready. Well, I'm ALMOST ready. I still have about half the grad cards to finish (though I DID finish writing all the names in Kanji on the envelopes.....STRESSFUL because I can't write kanji worth shit and it was all in PEN!) and I have to charge my camera. And make sure my suit is pressed and ready for tomorrow. And figure out something to do with my hair. LOL. It sounds like I'm not ready at all, BUT I meant that I'm mentally ready. As I walked to get my bentou from the conbini today, I thought about how these kids are probably sad enough without my freaking out. So I've resolved instead to put on my best proud sensei smile and witness the culmination of their achievements thus far. They're probably a mixture of sad and excited, actually. I don't remember having any feelings one way or the other about going to HS....probably because my HS was BEHIND my middle school and we didn't graduate really and all my friends were going to the same place. If anything maybe I was worried about being the youngest in the school again, but not very likely. I've never been afraid of being bullied by other kids. Mostly because I was usually bigger than they were and wasn't afraid to fight back. (Though I am a gentle giant, lol.) School doesn't scare me....it's real life that scares me. XD
Mkay that last part was a total tangent. But it's a good lead in to what I've been doing this afternoon. I.e. nothing related to school or life or anything I should be doing. And that is.....TRANSLATING Ohno's new song. I keep checking the awesome Arashi lyrics pages I normally go to, but they're a little slow with it (lol it's only been like a couple days) and I'm impatient so I did my own. I didn't try and make it poetic or anything, just the meaning. Mkay, anyone who cares...
Cloudy, With Clear Skies Later On
DAN DAN DAN!* Take those days just passing before your eyes
DAN DAN DAN! And change them into the "now" you imagine!
Dragging my tired body I took the same road home again today
I still believe the words someone told me that day but...
"It shouldn't be this way," please fill my heart that fled
With the colors of hope from that day once more!
Stamp your feet!
DAN DAN DAN! Take those days just passing before your eyes
DAN DAN DAN! And change them into the "now" you imagine!
Yes, if you take just one step forward the scenery will change
LAN LAN LAN! Happiness is surely within my grasp!
All kinds of people ask me all kinds of things but...
What's right and what's wrong seems like a personal matter.
Ring out that sound of unwavering hope
For my heart that had become accustomed to just giving up!
Clap your hands!
PAN PAN PAN! These days are still filled with regrets
PAN PAN PAN! But overcome them in your own clumsy way!
Yes, tomorrow another wind will blow that's different from today's
LAN LAN LAN! Surely all things are within my grasp!
History goes on repeating, somewhere out there, right on time*!
Face the tomorrow that's unfolding! DAN DAN DANG!
Clap your hands!
PAN PAN PAN! These days are still filled with regrets
PAN PAN PAN! But overcome them in your own clumsy way!
Yes, tomorrow another wind will blow that's different from today's
Stamp your feet!
DAN DAN DAN! Take those days just passing before your eyes
DAN DAN DAN! And change them into the "now" you imagine!
Yes, if you take just one step forward the scenery will change!
LAN LAN LAN! Happiness is surely within my grasp!
History goes on repeating, somewhere out there, right on time!
Face the tomorrow that's unfolding! DAN DAN DANG!
**Notes:
(1) I kept the onomatopoeia the same....because yeah....they're just sounds. From what I can tell "dan dan dan" = stomp stomp stomp, but sounds like "bang, bang, bang" so you could substitute it if you wanted. "Lan-lan-lan" is again just a sound placeholder, but in Japanese it has the connotation of being/getting fired up. Don't ask me why, lol. Ohno's being an optimist in this song, give him a break. XD "Pan-pan-pan!" is similarly the sound of clapping your hands together in Japanese. But "clap, clap, clap" isn't nearly as pleasing to the ear. So yeah I left those all the same.
(2) The original lyrics to this part....are in fact, "Ride on time" like...officially. But that's retarded in context and is most likely just confused English. How can you ride on time? I mean I guess you COULD but this isn't SF, people! Plus when I listened to it the first couple of times, that's what I thought he was saying. Therefore, CHANGED! Lol.
I'm actully shocked at how little of that I had to look up to translate. I swear I'm not that great at Japanese....or like... I got okay at it without realizing. Luckily there's always kanji waiting to come along and knock over my painstakingly assembled jenga tower for no reason, so I can't get too cocky. Maybe later I'll make it so the words actually fit in English....but that usually requies changing the meaning at least a little or else it sounds hokey. Hmmm, ten minutes til work's over. Then back to those cards @_@