weekend interlude
so, the last two weeks i have been busy up to my eyeballs. the intensive Japanese class is actually, well, intensive, and what we're reading takes me about six hours a night to get through. Eight that one night. It's been absolutely and totally overwhelming having guests in the house and needing to get through so much work. I haven't been able to set myself up into a rhythm because, well, when you've got visitors you're just a little bit on their rhythms, not your own, no matter how easygoing they are.
my friend who was visiting with business ended up having to extend her trip because the sites she was visiting needed more attention - so instead of the weekend before classes she was there all week. Great house guest -- easy going, we both wandered around half naked after showers, and since she had work to do too she didn't mind at all that i needed to do a million hours of homework. We did manage to have a hilariously fab time the Sat evening playing Fiasco, which is like my favorite game ever for sheer absurdity. We laughed so much the dog started barking at every eruption of laughter. And she was an awesome provider - since she didn't have to pay for hotel the entire time she brought home all the food or took me out to dinner, so I've been eating richer food and getting to try a variety of places in the last couple of weeks than I have in almost the two years that I'd been living in Los Feliz. She even tried to take the dog for a walk a couple of times, but apparently the dog and i are so codependant right now that dog wouldn't go more than a block with someone else. I'm truly grateful for friends like her that just ... don't sweat the small stuff, roll with everything, truly have a good time pretty much wherever they are and whatever we do.
And then my mom came to visit and the same rules still applied - too much homework, really easy going houseguest, but divided attention. Thank gods she wanted a restful vacation because she pretty much hung out in my house and read for five days straight with small interruptions to make or go out to dinner. We did go to Barnsdall Art park on the 4th of July, but since everything was closed there for the holiday it was mostly walking around the park (which, hey, nothing wrong with that!). And the last night she was there we did go to this restaurant I've wanted to try for years because they have such a great looking building/eating area/etc but was too expensive to justify. The meat was sublime - she got fillet minion and I had a rack of lamb and again, oh my gods, rich food horray!
But, truth be told, I'm kind of on the ragged edge - I'm having to take the bus to and from school (which is fine, actually, gives me time to study) but it means that I have to leave my house at 7:30 am, so I'm getting up at 6 to have time to choke down a cup of coffee and take the dog for her walk. Getting used to rising every day at 6 am means going to be at 10 if I want to get 8 hours (which I need), and I've been falling asleep somewhere between 11 pm - 1 am because I need a little while to calm the brain. I am not meant to run like this, not when I'm having to use the brain to churn out japanese every day.
This weekend is the last push before I can figure all this stuff out on my own - I'm in Sacto for my nephew's wedding today. It should be great fun - sort of a mish-mash of renfair / punk / scottish stuff with some death metal bands thrown in. Hopefully I'll have pictures of everything soon.
so yeah, um, still here, sorta trying to read though one week i didn't actually check the internet at all, but yeah, this is not going to be the restful summer before japan this is going to be the OH MY GODS SCREAMING RIDE THAT JERKS TO A NEW HEIGHT WHEN I GET THERE summer instead ;)
also posted to dreamwidth | you can reply here or there | um, but don't worry, i'm still an lj girl
my friend who was visiting with business ended up having to extend her trip because the sites she was visiting needed more attention - so instead of the weekend before classes she was there all week. Great house guest -- easy going, we both wandered around half naked after showers, and since she had work to do too she didn't mind at all that i needed to do a million hours of homework. We did manage to have a hilariously fab time the Sat evening playing Fiasco, which is like my favorite game ever for sheer absurdity. We laughed so much the dog started barking at every eruption of laughter. And she was an awesome provider - since she didn't have to pay for hotel the entire time she brought home all the food or took me out to dinner, so I've been eating richer food and getting to try a variety of places in the last couple of weeks than I have in almost the two years that I'd been living in Los Feliz. She even tried to take the dog for a walk a couple of times, but apparently the dog and i are so codependant right now that dog wouldn't go more than a block with someone else. I'm truly grateful for friends like her that just ... don't sweat the small stuff, roll with everything, truly have a good time pretty much wherever they are and whatever we do.
And then my mom came to visit and the same rules still applied - too much homework, really easy going houseguest, but divided attention. Thank gods she wanted a restful vacation because she pretty much hung out in my house and read for five days straight with small interruptions to make or go out to dinner. We did go to Barnsdall Art park on the 4th of July, but since everything was closed there for the holiday it was mostly walking around the park (which, hey, nothing wrong with that!). And the last night she was there we did go to this restaurant I've wanted to try for years because they have such a great looking building/eating area/etc but was too expensive to justify. The meat was sublime - she got fillet minion and I had a rack of lamb and again, oh my gods, rich food horray!
But, truth be told, I'm kind of on the ragged edge - I'm having to take the bus to and from school (which is fine, actually, gives me time to study) but it means that I have to leave my house at 7:30 am, so I'm getting up at 6 to have time to choke down a cup of coffee and take the dog for her walk. Getting used to rising every day at 6 am means going to be at 10 if I want to get 8 hours (which I need), and I've been falling asleep somewhere between 11 pm - 1 am because I need a little while to calm the brain. I am not meant to run like this, not when I'm having to use the brain to churn out japanese every day.
This weekend is the last push before I can figure all this stuff out on my own - I'm in Sacto for my nephew's wedding today. It should be great fun - sort of a mish-mash of renfair / punk / scottish stuff with some death metal bands thrown in. Hopefully I'll have pictures of everything soon.
so yeah, um, still here, sorta trying to read though one week i didn't actually check the internet at all, but yeah, this is not going to be the restful summer before japan this is going to be the OH MY GODS SCREAMING RIDE THAT JERKS TO A NEW HEIGHT WHEN I GET THERE summer instead ;)
also posted to dreamwidth | you can reply here or there | um, but don't worry, i'm still an lj girl