NEWS OF AWESOMENESS
It's not often recently that I feel miserable or sad. Mostly I'm smiling. Often I laugh. I fall asleep with a smile, and though I get out of bed under protest, I still do it with as much happiness as I can muster in the morning. I can only remember one day this semester when I walked either between classes or to my car feeling crappy, and now I can't even remember why I felt bad in the first place that day. I don't even remember when it was. The only reason I remember feeling bad is because it was very uncharacteristic of my personality lately.
Why have things been so awesome? I blame the precious, beautiful, and sweet Yoko. We've officially been boyfriend/girlfriend since December 17th. She's an exchange student from Kansai International University (Kansai Gaidai) and is currently studying at University of Florida. I met her when I helped Eyal bring some Japanese girls to Miami from Gainesville to enjoy Thanksgiving weekend in someplace a little more lively. She didn't actually ride in my car. I didn't get a great chance to get to know her over the weekend, but for some reason I wanted to ask her to dance when we went to see my parents' band play that weekend. I didn't, but I wanted to.
We spent a lot of time talking on MSN after that weekend and growing closer while discussing common interests. This somehow grew to a discussion on our views on relationships, which matched very well. We never directly said that we liked each other online. We just said we wanted to get to know each other more and hoped for chances to spend time together. We decided that I'd come visit her in Gainesville for three days on my way home to Miami when winter break started. While I was there, I confessed that I had grown to like her. She didn't reciprocate immediately (I got a "thank you") and I was a little uneasy, worried that my feelings would intimidate her and she didn't feel the same way. She did, however, want to return to Miami with me although she promised a friend beforehand to return to South Florida with her. I thought maybe she was just being polite, but I noticed over the next couple of days that she genuinely desired to return with me and was struggling in her mind trying to figure out ways she could rearrange the things holding her back from going, which she did and she got to come with me. We had a great time in Miami and became official on the 17th.
We knew from the beginning that long-distance would be an unavoidable part of the first stages of our relationship. For this semester, I'm at FSU and she's at UF. We figured each month we'd try to see each other at least twice a month. However, since winter break we've seen each other every weekend! I've driven to Gainesville a couple times and she's taken the bus here twice and caught a ride home. We have plans to meet this weekend for her birthday and next weekend for Valentine's Day (celebrating in more of a Japanese meaning, though). We're even working on plans for the weekend after that, and she'll be here all week of her spring break. I'm going to try and get a JET location in Osaka because that will be close to Nara, where she's from and where she'll return. Those months between May and August I'm sure will be our toughest. We both expressed from the beginning though that, with strong enough feelings, long-distance relationships are not a problem for us.
She's so cute with a great personality. She has her own, independent sense of humor. She makes her own jokes instead of just laughing at mine, has similar taste in Internet flash humor, and isn't afraid to tell me when my jokes are lame. Actually, that happens a lot. We can watch movies together and spend time just talking about everything and nothing. Our plans for the future are going in the same direction, which is very important to me. I never like to feel held back from my dreams because of a relationship. It makes me feel resentful. Above all, Yoko makes me feel comfortable. Around her, I can be myself. We've never fought. I don't think we've ever argued. She's an amazing cook and likes to make me happy, and even though I know I could be a better boyfriend, she always says I'm good to her. My parents think she's adorable, my friends like her a lot better than any other girl I've brought around, and I can hang out with her and my friends at the same time. She's an incredible girl and I'm lucky to have her.
Now that you're all gagging on cheese, I'm going to head out and go to my next class. Later!
Why have things been so awesome? I blame the precious, beautiful, and sweet Yoko. We've officially been boyfriend/girlfriend since December 17th. She's an exchange student from Kansai International University (Kansai Gaidai) and is currently studying at University of Florida. I met her when I helped Eyal bring some Japanese girls to Miami from Gainesville to enjoy Thanksgiving weekend in someplace a little more lively. She didn't actually ride in my car. I didn't get a great chance to get to know her over the weekend, but for some reason I wanted to ask her to dance when we went to see my parents' band play that weekend. I didn't, but I wanted to.
We spent a lot of time talking on MSN after that weekend and growing closer while discussing common interests. This somehow grew to a discussion on our views on relationships, which matched very well. We never directly said that we liked each other online. We just said we wanted to get to know each other more and hoped for chances to spend time together. We decided that I'd come visit her in Gainesville for three days on my way home to Miami when winter break started. While I was there, I confessed that I had grown to like her. She didn't reciprocate immediately (I got a "thank you") and I was a little uneasy, worried that my feelings would intimidate her and she didn't feel the same way. She did, however, want to return to Miami with me although she promised a friend beforehand to return to South Florida with her. I thought maybe she was just being polite, but I noticed over the next couple of days that she genuinely desired to return with me and was struggling in her mind trying to figure out ways she could rearrange the things holding her back from going, which she did and she got to come with me. We had a great time in Miami and became official on the 17th.
We knew from the beginning that long-distance would be an unavoidable part of the first stages of our relationship. For this semester, I'm at FSU and she's at UF. We figured each month we'd try to see each other at least twice a month. However, since winter break we've seen each other every weekend! I've driven to Gainesville a couple times and she's taken the bus here twice and caught a ride home. We have plans to meet this weekend for her birthday and next weekend for Valentine's Day (celebrating in more of a Japanese meaning, though). We're even working on plans for the weekend after that, and she'll be here all week of her spring break. I'm going to try and get a JET location in Osaka because that will be close to Nara, where she's from and where she'll return. Those months between May and August I'm sure will be our toughest. We both expressed from the beginning though that, with strong enough feelings, long-distance relationships are not a problem for us.
She's so cute with a great personality. She has her own, independent sense of humor. She makes her own jokes instead of just laughing at mine, has similar taste in Internet flash humor, and isn't afraid to tell me when my jokes are lame. Actually, that happens a lot. We can watch movies together and spend time just talking about everything and nothing. Our plans for the future are going in the same direction, which is very important to me. I never like to feel held back from my dreams because of a relationship. It makes me feel resentful. Above all, Yoko makes me feel comfortable. Around her, I can be myself. We've never fought. I don't think we've ever argued. She's an amazing cook and likes to make me happy, and even though I know I could be a better boyfriend, she always says I'm good to her. My parents think she's adorable, my friends like her a lot better than any other girl I've brought around, and I can hang out with her and my friends at the same time. She's an incredible girl and I'm lucky to have her.
Now that you're all gagging on cheese, I'm going to head out and go to my next class. Later!