Long entry but please read anyways. Unless you don't love me. What? You don't? Well screw you!
The latter half of my weekend rather blew. But it always does. I went to Book Off and found some rather good things though. I found the Marmalade Boy artbook that I've been wanting for a while. They used to have a couple copies of it at Anime Hurricane for something like $30. I got it for 300 yen...less than $3. And then I got this fscking amazing Hiten Muma artbook for just 700 (it was originally something like 3400). I can just imagine:
Mokona Apapa: Hi, these are some of my drawings, I hope you like them.
Me: Like them? LIKE THEM?!? I should KILL myself for not being able to draw like you.
Buying both a Marmalade Boy artbook and a CLAMP artbook...they must think I'm the biggest pussy they've ever seen. But I'm not!
I didn't much feel like going home, so I stayed out and about. In the middle of the night I went to Denny's--the last bastion of civilization--and did some thinking and some writing and some eating. And then some other stuff, and I didn't get home until after 4. Went promptly to sleep though.
On Sunday I stayed in bed sulking and listening to music until after 4 (p.m.). Finally I dragged myself to a vertical position and went to take a shower. Then I worked on cleaning my room, something that was very needed. I came to the issue of my kitchen sink...something I'd been avoiding for 3 or 4 weeks. I stared at it a bit, but decided it was futile and I went out for a walk down to Okazaki castle as I often do on Sundays. It's good excercise (forgive me but my English is failing me like I have alzheimers or something and I'm probably misspelling several words like excercise and alzheirmers) because it's about 5 km away. The weather was very pleasant and sky was really pretty. It was the kinda really nice day that makes me depressed. I got to the castle, and I saw a really nice looking Shinto priest sweeping a walkway, and I thought of striking up a conversation with him, but I didn't because I don't know the proper way to address a Shinto priest. So I sat under a big tree in the castle garden and watched carp and a really big (and mean looking) swan swim around until the sun set.
Something that's been bothering me about myself a lot lately is the fact that I'm not really talented at anything. That is, I have so many interests that there's not one thing, or even a few things that I'm really passionate about and have developed a lot of talent in, to the point that it impresses others. The only two things that I've been consistantly passionate about all my life have been science (in general) and my romantic interests. But science is too broad a topic to be useful by itself. Sure I can be pragmatic, and pick something like computer engineering that I'll study in school and get good enough at it to make a decent living. And it's something I like, and can handle, but I'm not particularly passionate about it. And then as for my romantic interests, while they do influence my character, they add extra emotional baggage that I'm not quite sure I need. I suppose for a while I've also been passionate about Japan, but that doesn't really represent any sort of talent. I mean things like music, and art, and writing, or even programming or math or physics, or even lesser things like video games. Things that I've always cared a lot about, but never had much talent in, nor the passion to really pursue talent in them. I just have too many interests to be passionate about them all, or to even know which ones I'm really passionate about.
Well anyways, Saturday night I was telling all this to someone, and that person suggested that maybe what I'm passionate about is diversity--simply having the broadest range of interests that I can possibly muster. This could be true...but I don't know how good it is. I mean, it probably makes me an interesting and multi-faceted person, but is that really practical? It hasn't done me any good so far that's for sure, because if it did I probably wouldn't be so lovelorn. But at any rate, what she said made a lot of sense, and while I'm normally have a good deal of self-insight I don't know how I wasn't able to think of that before while someone else was able to almost immediately, so thank you person, thank you muchly.
Realizing how much thanks I owed to said person was what I thought about while watching the carp. I went down to the riverfront and watched some guys practice Aikidou. Martial arts...there's another one of those things I've cared about for a long time, but never really got good at. I've always thought that the mind is far more important on the body, but until we have the technology that allows us to throw away the body (a la Lain) it'll continue to make pesky demands on the mind that keep it from operating to its maximum potential (I guess that's a give and take though). Still, I can't wait to go back to martial arts. I'll probably have no trouble finding martial arts at a place University of Hawaii. I should look into that. I want to study both Kenjutsu and Kyuudou. I think I could handle that.
On the way home I went by a pet store that had a Japanese-speaking parrot, and a prairie dog for sale, and I thought that was neat. For a while I'd been thinking of getting a small pet, as I miss having a furry companion. But it would've been extra financial trouble to keep a pet fed and happy, and I have enough to worry about with making sure I'm comfortably fed. (Speaking of which, now that I think about it I meant to go to the bank today...but I forgot and now it's too late. Oh well, I can hold out until tomorrow.) I got home and tackled my sink, and made a pretty good amount of progress. It's not done yet, but almost. It was having trouble draining so I had to do some plumbing and clean this blockage of organic waste in one of the pipes, and it was one of the foulest smells I've ever encountered. Then I did some studying. I actually have to study now because our new textbook is entirely in Japanese, making it actually challenging...requiring me to learn Japanese grammar in Japanese. And the kanji seldom have furigana over them. But that makes it more fun and educational. If I can do this, surely I could learn some Chinese and Korean if I got some good textbooks. All I know of Korean is "anyo" (Hi) and "henjo kissu" (Kiss me). I know a bit more of Chinese, but not much. But knowing Japanese should make both of them a lot easier to learn.
I still haven't gotten my Gackt ticket. I was gonna ask Maki today if he'd let me use his credit card in exchange for cash, but he was talking about financial woes today so I decided it would be best not to ask a financial favor (although it woulda resulted in him having a good amount of cash, which might be good). It doesn't matter anyways since I forgot to go to the bank. I'll go tomorrow during lunch break, and then try asking him tomorrow afternoon.
Mokona Apapa: Hi, these are some of my drawings, I hope you like them.
Me: Like them? LIKE THEM?!? I should KILL myself for not being able to draw like you.
Buying both a Marmalade Boy artbook and a CLAMP artbook...they must think I'm the biggest pussy they've ever seen. But I'm not!
I didn't much feel like going home, so I stayed out and about. In the middle of the night I went to Denny's--the last bastion of civilization--and did some thinking and some writing and some eating. And then some other stuff, and I didn't get home until after 4. Went promptly to sleep though.
On Sunday I stayed in bed sulking and listening to music until after 4 (p.m.). Finally I dragged myself to a vertical position and went to take a shower. Then I worked on cleaning my room, something that was very needed. I came to the issue of my kitchen sink...something I'd been avoiding for 3 or 4 weeks. I stared at it a bit, but decided it was futile and I went out for a walk down to Okazaki castle as I often do on Sundays. It's good excercise (forgive me but my English is failing me like I have alzheimers or something and I'm probably misspelling several words like excercise and alzheirmers) because it's about 5 km away. The weather was very pleasant and sky was really pretty. It was the kinda really nice day that makes me depressed. I got to the castle, and I saw a really nice looking Shinto priest sweeping a walkway, and I thought of striking up a conversation with him, but I didn't because I don't know the proper way to address a Shinto priest. So I sat under a big tree in the castle garden and watched carp and a really big (and mean looking) swan swim around until the sun set.
Something that's been bothering me about myself a lot lately is the fact that I'm not really talented at anything. That is, I have so many interests that there's not one thing, or even a few things that I'm really passionate about and have developed a lot of talent in, to the point that it impresses others. The only two things that I've been consistantly passionate about all my life have been science (in general) and my romantic interests. But science is too broad a topic to be useful by itself. Sure I can be pragmatic, and pick something like computer engineering that I'll study in school and get good enough at it to make a decent living. And it's something I like, and can handle, but I'm not particularly passionate about it. And then as for my romantic interests, while they do influence my character, they add extra emotional baggage that I'm not quite sure I need. I suppose for a while I've also been passionate about Japan, but that doesn't really represent any sort of talent. I mean things like music, and art, and writing, or even programming or math or physics, or even lesser things like video games. Things that I've always cared a lot about, but never had much talent in, nor the passion to really pursue talent in them. I just have too many interests to be passionate about them all, or to even know which ones I'm really passionate about.
Well anyways, Saturday night I was telling all this to someone, and that person suggested that maybe what I'm passionate about is diversity--simply having the broadest range of interests that I can possibly muster. This could be true...but I don't know how good it is. I mean, it probably makes me an interesting and multi-faceted person, but is that really practical? It hasn't done me any good so far that's for sure, because if it did I probably wouldn't be so lovelorn. But at any rate, what she said made a lot of sense, and while I'm normally have a good deal of self-insight I don't know how I wasn't able to think of that before while someone else was able to almost immediately, so thank you person, thank you muchly.
Realizing how much thanks I owed to said person was what I thought about while watching the carp. I went down to the riverfront and watched some guys practice Aikidou. Martial arts...there's another one of those things I've cared about for a long time, but never really got good at. I've always thought that the mind is far more important on the body, but until we have the technology that allows us to throw away the body (a la Lain) it'll continue to make pesky demands on the mind that keep it from operating to its maximum potential (I guess that's a give and take though). Still, I can't wait to go back to martial arts. I'll probably have no trouble finding martial arts at a place University of Hawaii. I should look into that. I want to study both Kenjutsu and Kyuudou. I think I could handle that.
On the way home I went by a pet store that had a Japanese-speaking parrot, and a prairie dog for sale, and I thought that was neat. For a while I'd been thinking of getting a small pet, as I miss having a furry companion. But it would've been extra financial trouble to keep a pet fed and happy, and I have enough to worry about with making sure I'm comfortably fed. (Speaking of which, now that I think about it I meant to go to the bank today...but I forgot and now it's too late. Oh well, I can hold out until tomorrow.) I got home and tackled my sink, and made a pretty good amount of progress. It's not done yet, but almost. It was having trouble draining so I had to do some plumbing and clean this blockage of organic waste in one of the pipes, and it was one of the foulest smells I've ever encountered. Then I did some studying. I actually have to study now because our new textbook is entirely in Japanese, making it actually challenging...requiring me to learn Japanese grammar in Japanese. And the kanji seldom have furigana over them. But that makes it more fun and educational. If I can do this, surely I could learn some Chinese and Korean if I got some good textbooks. All I know of Korean is "anyo" (Hi) and "henjo kissu" (Kiss me). I know a bit more of Chinese, but not much. But knowing Japanese should make both of them a lot easier to learn.
I still haven't gotten my Gackt ticket. I was gonna ask Maki today if he'd let me use his credit card in exchange for cash, but he was talking about financial woes today so I decided it would be best not to ask a financial favor (although it woulda resulted in him having a good amount of cash, which might be good). It doesn't matter anyways since I forgot to go to the bank. I'll go tomorrow during lunch break, and then try asking him tomorrow afternoon.