If you read nothing else ... ...
EDIT: After typing for nearly an hour, my browser decided to refresh, and I lost this all! Arg!
"I'm just making this up as I go ..." -- Jones
...Not only is Harrison Ford THE all-american; he's a hell of a philosopher.
After being AWOL for a week and a half, I'd like to declare that the US Pavilion is officially open! Like all major theme parks, we wrestled on opening day with more problems than I am allowed to talk about on the internet, hee, but it's insanely popular! They really like us!
On press day alone, I was filmed by myself or with others more than 6 seperate times! So if you happen to see me on TV being a complete nutcase in non-matching shoes and looking like I got 5 hours of sleep in a week (yeah...10 to 12 hour workdays for a week will do that to ya ...), just shake your head and pretend I'm not crazy. Good luck. The first day, I was working the front queue by myself, and was lugubriously approached by one of the most famous comedians in all of Japan! They snuck up in their yellow shirts and flannel overalls in typical gag-show style, and went on to completely embarrass me and a few other guides in the most fun way possible! We got chewed out by our boss-lady for being filmed so many times without consent -- we're not "approved faces of the pavilion" -- but THEY filmed US, they WANTED us, and it was the best time!
Just a sidenote: I've decided that pink can be a cool color too, and that Japanese restaurants really need to have napkins.
Interestingly enough, Japanese people cannot wait in lines. I guess just because americans are used to ludicrous lines at theme parks. Without us barking orders constantly, they scatter like a splash of liquid nitrogen on a dusty chem class floor!
Barring a few glitches, our pavilion as a whole is incomprehensibly popular. I can't get tired of watching people squirm and laugh in the main show, and I was so excited the first time I could answer a question on our hawt shit GM fuel cell concept car, I was grinning like a fool the rest of the day! In a freakishly rare occurence, a cute little lady literally glomped me and cried "kandoo shimashita!" (I was moved!) It's so entertaining to speak in Japanese, they never expect it. Some people laugh, some just stare. I chatted with one man for a half-hour just because he liked the american-japanese accent.
Dr. Toyota, the richest man in Japan, and man most likely to succeed the Emperor, came to see our pavilion! I sat two rows behind him, and got to take a picture of the back of his head! His butt-print on our main show bench will probably be more famous than the rumors of the Moon Rock that is supposedly in our pavilion (Tsuki no ishi, which was shown at the Osaka 1970 Expo)! If they aren't asking about that, they love to quiz us about Daitouryo Bush (president) and watch us squirm!
Just in the span of typing this entry, I have gone from amazed, to sad, to nervous, to delighted. I have to leave in a few months, and I don't think I've done enough here yet. But yet I've already done more amazing things than I've thought possible. I've shouted greetings to people coming to the Expo, and before I realized it, found myself talking before ten thousand people! How humbling, especially in a language I'm just learning! I've met people from around the globe, I've met people from quaint little South Carolina ... I wish I could articulate the joy of simply meeting my first friend in a foreign world! How can I express how amazing it is to hop on a train and see a legendary temple that I've only read about since I was little! We have an incredible group of guides --I'd argue the best ever. There is not a person here who doesn't bring something unique and neccessary to this Expo, some amazing skill, smile, kindness, mannerism, alchohol tolerance ... we mesh and clash, but we come together flawlessly!
For those of you who know video games, I've been to Wonder Circus! It's just like in the damn game; their are Kaleidoscope rides and festivals and crazy uniforms, and a bunch of the friendliest, cutest japanese guides in the silliest uniforms! BTW, the world's largest Kaleidoscope has been built at the Expo, I can't wait to see it!
More importantly, I have met the US Commissioner General Lisa Gable, and she is an incredible lady. She joined us for a dinner of raw fish and salmon egg (very bonding), and she was quite personable. I would like it to be known that I talked to her about Naruto (her husband likes anime!), my career ambitions, and hiking in Hokkaido! Yes, I repeat, I talked with the US Commissioner General about anime.
(Slightly serious here folks, watch out!) I have been plowing through school without hesitating, and I've had to ignore any feelings of indecision or fear simply because animation and design is an impossibly hard field to break into. I've had to not worry about making money and keeping ends meeting, and ignore people's warnings that I'll be screwed if I fail. I'm just a "simple, small town girl" as they say, and being here reminds me of that. It's hackneyed to speak of dreams, but what else could possibly drive me so relentlessly? I have no connections, I have little time for anything but working. That's all I have right now, hard work. There is an ideal in Japan, a theme that keeps every corny children's anime and serious adult's series running, the idea of a simple person and an impossible dream. And now, this small town girl with no connections on a near-accidental trip to a crazy place has a chance to speak again with the US Commissioner General, who has graciously taken an interest in my career ambitions. She might even be able to put in a word for me at a graduate school in Southern California, and she knows graduates who work at the most famous animation studios in the world. I don't know what will happen after this program, but I can only hope for the best!! With a little luck, and a LOT of work~! ~_^
On a less sober cliff-hanger, I can now dance with fans AND swords!
Love you all!!!
"I'm just making this up as I go ..." -- Jones
...Not only is Harrison Ford THE all-american; he's a hell of a philosopher.
After being AWOL for a week and a half, I'd like to declare that the US Pavilion is officially open! Like all major theme parks, we wrestled on opening day with more problems than I am allowed to talk about on the internet, hee, but it's insanely popular! They really like us!
On press day alone, I was filmed by myself or with others more than 6 seperate times! So if you happen to see me on TV being a complete nutcase in non-matching shoes and looking like I got 5 hours of sleep in a week (yeah...10 to 12 hour workdays for a week will do that to ya ...), just shake your head and pretend I'm not crazy. Good luck. The first day, I was working the front queue by myself, and was lugubriously approached by one of the most famous comedians in all of Japan! They snuck up in their yellow shirts and flannel overalls in typical gag-show style, and went on to completely embarrass me and a few other guides in the most fun way possible! We got chewed out by our boss-lady for being filmed so many times without consent -- we're not "approved faces of the pavilion" -- but THEY filmed US, they WANTED us, and it was the best time!
Just a sidenote: I've decided that pink can be a cool color too, and that Japanese restaurants really need to have napkins.
Interestingly enough, Japanese people cannot wait in lines. I guess just because americans are used to ludicrous lines at theme parks. Without us barking orders constantly, they scatter like a splash of liquid nitrogen on a dusty chem class floor!
Barring a few glitches, our pavilion as a whole is incomprehensibly popular. I can't get tired of watching people squirm and laugh in the main show, and I was so excited the first time I could answer a question on our hawt shit GM fuel cell concept car, I was grinning like a fool the rest of the day! In a freakishly rare occurence, a cute little lady literally glomped me and cried "kandoo shimashita!" (I was moved!) It's so entertaining to speak in Japanese, they never expect it. Some people laugh, some just stare. I chatted with one man for a half-hour just because he liked the american-japanese accent.
Dr. Toyota, the richest man in Japan, and man most likely to succeed the Emperor, came to see our pavilion! I sat two rows behind him, and got to take a picture of the back of his head! His butt-print on our main show bench will probably be more famous than the rumors of the Moon Rock that is supposedly in our pavilion (Tsuki no ishi, which was shown at the Osaka 1970 Expo)! If they aren't asking about that, they love to quiz us about Daitouryo Bush (president) and watch us squirm!
Just in the span of typing this entry, I have gone from amazed, to sad, to nervous, to delighted. I have to leave in a few months, and I don't think I've done enough here yet. But yet I've already done more amazing things than I've thought possible. I've shouted greetings to people coming to the Expo, and before I realized it, found myself talking before ten thousand people! How humbling, especially in a language I'm just learning! I've met people from around the globe, I've met people from quaint little South Carolina ... I wish I could articulate the joy of simply meeting my first friend in a foreign world! How can I express how amazing it is to hop on a train and see a legendary temple that I've only read about since I was little! We have an incredible group of guides --I'd argue the best ever. There is not a person here who doesn't bring something unique and neccessary to this Expo, some amazing skill, smile, kindness, mannerism, alchohol tolerance ... we mesh and clash, but we come together flawlessly!
For those of you who know video games, I've been to Wonder Circus! It's just like in the damn game; their are Kaleidoscope rides and festivals and crazy uniforms, and a bunch of the friendliest, cutest japanese guides in the silliest uniforms! BTW, the world's largest Kaleidoscope has been built at the Expo, I can't wait to see it!
More importantly, I have met the US Commissioner General Lisa Gable, and she is an incredible lady. She joined us for a dinner of raw fish and salmon egg (very bonding), and she was quite personable. I would like it to be known that I talked to her about Naruto (her husband likes anime!), my career ambitions, and hiking in Hokkaido! Yes, I repeat, I talked with the US Commissioner General about anime.
(Slightly serious here folks, watch out!) I have been plowing through school without hesitating, and I've had to ignore any feelings of indecision or fear simply because animation and design is an impossibly hard field to break into. I've had to not worry about making money and keeping ends meeting, and ignore people's warnings that I'll be screwed if I fail. I'm just a "simple, small town girl" as they say, and being here reminds me of that. It's hackneyed to speak of dreams, but what else could possibly drive me so relentlessly? I have no connections, I have little time for anything but working. That's all I have right now, hard work. There is an ideal in Japan, a theme that keeps every corny children's anime and serious adult's series running, the idea of a simple person and an impossible dream. And now, this small town girl with no connections on a near-accidental trip to a crazy place has a chance to speak again with the US Commissioner General, who has graciously taken an interest in my career ambitions. She might even be able to put in a word for me at a graduate school in Southern California, and she knows graduates who work at the most famous animation studios in the world. I don't know what will happen after this program, but I can only hope for the best!! With a little luck, and a LOT of work~! ~_^
On a less sober cliff-hanger, I can now dance with fans AND swords!
Love you all!!!