Ashitaga jitenshao kaimasu
Or, in other words, "Tomorrow, I buy a bicycle."
This has been a pretty fantastic week. Thursday, I went to Momovelo and got a bicycle the way that bicycles were meant to be gotten. The bicycle I'm getting is called a B.U.B., A Berkeley Universal Bicycle. It's a well built bike which is specifically designed to wander around Berkeley with, with twenty one speeds and a leather seat. The thing about B.U.B.s is that they're pretty much fully customizable, and before you can buy one Kai Matsuda, the guy who owns the shop, interviews you about your tastes in clothing, music, your history, your "mode," (i.e. how you live in your city,) etc. etc. etc. and then puts it all in some kind of brilliant computer, and your bike comes out the other end. My bike will be ready tomorrow and, apparantly, looks fantastic, according to both Kai and, as I found out, my Japanese professor, Katagiri-Sensei, who is a friend of his.
Which brings us neatly to the second part of my week, which is that I started Japanese this morning, with brilliant prospects. It was just an introductory meeting, but it was great to meet my professors (some of them for the second time) and see everyone who's going to be in my classes, including a couple of good friends that I havn't seen in ages who just sort of happened by chance to be taking the same classes I am. It's amazing to be back on campus, to get back into that groove. Just the chance to focus all my energy on one thing is intensely invigorating.
I'm also going to pick up a gym membership, possibly from one of my friends, and start going ASAP. I'm looking forward to a fruitful summer spent pedalling around Berkeley, babbling in Japanese, and complicated athletic workouts.
If there's been a downside to the week, it was that I've been having a couple of scheduling issues with work. My schedule has changed now that I'm in school and, although I noted this to my boss when I started working, I've been scheduled for a couple of shifts that I'm going to have to switch or drop because they interfere with school. Fortunately, Reel has shown itself really flexible and forgiving about schedule stuff, so I don't anticipate much of a problem.
Anyway, as promised, I'm updating my journal again. I know I've been lax, and it's going to take a while to get the message out, but we'll see how this whole thing turns out.
I am, as soon as I've got something worth posting, going to start putting pieces of "The Shadow Prince" here on my Livejournal. Look for it.
This has been a pretty fantastic week. Thursday, I went to Momovelo and got a bicycle the way that bicycles were meant to be gotten. The bicycle I'm getting is called a B.U.B., A Berkeley Universal Bicycle. It's a well built bike which is specifically designed to wander around Berkeley with, with twenty one speeds and a leather seat. The thing about B.U.B.s is that they're pretty much fully customizable, and before you can buy one Kai Matsuda, the guy who owns the shop, interviews you about your tastes in clothing, music, your history, your "mode," (i.e. how you live in your city,) etc. etc. etc. and then puts it all in some kind of brilliant computer, and your bike comes out the other end. My bike will be ready tomorrow and, apparantly, looks fantastic, according to both Kai and, as I found out, my Japanese professor, Katagiri-Sensei, who is a friend of his.
Which brings us neatly to the second part of my week, which is that I started Japanese this morning, with brilliant prospects. It was just an introductory meeting, but it was great to meet my professors (some of them for the second time) and see everyone who's going to be in my classes, including a couple of good friends that I havn't seen in ages who just sort of happened by chance to be taking the same classes I am. It's amazing to be back on campus, to get back into that groove. Just the chance to focus all my energy on one thing is intensely invigorating.
I'm also going to pick up a gym membership, possibly from one of my friends, and start going ASAP. I'm looking forward to a fruitful summer spent pedalling around Berkeley, babbling in Japanese, and complicated athletic workouts.
If there's been a downside to the week, it was that I've been having a couple of scheduling issues with work. My schedule has changed now that I'm in school and, although I noted this to my boss when I started working, I've been scheduled for a couple of shifts that I'm going to have to switch or drop because they interfere with school. Fortunately, Reel has shown itself really flexible and forgiving about schedule stuff, so I don't anticipate much of a problem.
Anyway, as promised, I'm updating my journal again. I know I've been lax, and it's going to take a while to get the message out, but we'll see how this whole thing turns out.
I am, as soon as I've got something worth posting, going to start putting pieces of "The Shadow Prince" here on my Livejournal. Look for it.