Oh hot damn, this is my Jam.
Sorry about the ridiculous two month hiatus between entries. After that last push I got lazy. And busy. And by lazy and busy, I mean drawing. But also just plain lazy.
My notes also got super vague, so they were hard to decipher, adding to my lazy. Pretty much, it seems that if I’m not on a shinkansen, I have no motivation for writing.
Apparently I need to shinkansen more (It’ a verb now. According to me. ‘Let’s Shinkansen!)
Sunday, July 12
It was a pretty uneventful trip home from Tokyo. Nothing really happened other than not having enough bag space and having to use a department store bag for a bunch of stuff. Host parents dropped me off in Machida, a whole stop away, where I then made about five thousand train transfers in order to get to the Shin Yokohama Station to take the shinkansen back home. I got a Yokohama China Town Eki-Ben that consisted of Fried rice and Shumai. It was really good, but currently the number one suspect in my later upset stomach fiasco.
I caught up on mt T.V. when I got back since the summer season started. Some new dramas out for summer are Futatsu no Spica and Buzzer Beater. The first about ASTRONAUTS! And ghosts with lion’s heads haunting little girls, and the latter about Basketball.
SPACE BASKETBALL.
Okay, I'm lying, that's Basquatch. Buzzer Beater is by the Slam Dunk guy, Inoue. It's good.
So, one of the single hardest things living abroad is everyday, mundane ‘facts’ of life you don’t even think about. Things like avalibility of laundry detergent (it’s hard to tell what’s okay for colors, what isn’t starchy, what doen’t smell stupid) and….
PADS.
This is something you wouldn’t think would be a problem. According to my logic, you should be able to find something just about anywhere. It’s also not rocket surgery. There’s usually pictures or whatever, except for the fact that in Japan, for my feminine humility, they’re REALLY VAGUE.
THANKS JAPAN. Your needless over-concern for my feelings has caused me more pain than otherwise.
I can’t tell the difference between panty liners, pads and depends. They all look the same and you can’t tell from the package.
When I get my surpise in the middle of the night resulting in my running to the 24 hour Lawsons, I sit there for like 15 minutes trying to puzzle out the different pink and powder blue packages. I pick up one that says ‘heavy’ (I think?) and it feels too thin, just like a panty liner. The ‘normals’ are even more like a panty liner. The ‘overnight ones’ seems like a safe bet, wings are good, right? I think I can make out wings on the package sorta. In a blurry tiny mosaic sorta way. So I get it.
Saved! Now I can sleep with comfort.
OH, ACTUALLY NEVER MIND.
LIES AND DECEIT.
IT’S A FUCKIN’ DEPEND.
AUGH! I spent my last six dollars on an old people diaper??! WHY? It’s so uncomfortable but I don’t have any more money so I have to deal with it. It’s too big and really uncomfortable. AUGH! This is one of the single hardest normal items to find in Japan, Not only are they hidden, but there just aren’t that many. Like, Do girls not really get their periods here? I could see that, they’re all so freakin’ skinny they might not get them reguraly. Do they just use the really tiny panty-liner ones? Like 500 of them a day? Are they light here? I don’t even want to be thinking about this. This is seriously something I don’t want to ever have to ponder over. I really really want chocolate but all I have in my house in Miso soup and Crystal light. THAT IS SO DEPRESSING.
I’m wearing a glorified diaper while alternately sipping instant tube miso and Crystal light.
That is my life.
Tuesday, July 14
SHUMAI BENTO HAS ATTACKED. MAN DOWN. EVACUATE PREMISIS.
UuuuuUUUUUUughh
I don’t remember what I did yesterday it was so bad, but today I ended up dying every five minutes and pretty much living in the staff 4th floor bathroom (no one ever goes there) so after one look at my face, Matsuda took me to the infirmary where I got medicine and she sent me home.
CURSE YOU DELICIOUS SHUMAI!
In my delusional state, I started wondering some stuff since there’s about 3 construction sites on the way to school.
“Daichu Investigates” - The series.
Question: What’s with Japan and construction? Why is there always some sort of destruction happening at any given moment wherever I’m walking? I decided to look into this further.
Apparently when Japan’s economy is down, Japan can’t think of anything to do, so they tear up perfectly good lookin’ roads and then make them all over again, like an obsessive compulsive temper tantrum.
It’s like, they can’t think of anything more constructive to do than CONSTRUCT!!!!
Monk would be proud.
I do have to give it to them. Japan is an impeccably well maintenance country.
In other news, I’m glad to know children can receive organ transplants now in Japan. Before they just had to wait it out until they were 20 and hope their liver or whatever would wait patiently until then, but now they can actually have a nice full life.
….Not that anyone donates their organs here (goes against their idea of dead people) BUT THERE’S A CHANCE!
Today in T.V.: Oh Snap, Bloody Monday (Russian biological terrorists in an organization run by children and unraveled by a high school hacking prodigy) is a drama too?
The teacher isn’t nearly as pretty as she should be. D:
Quote of the day: ‘English IS an easy language (unfortunately, it's "easy" in the way that means "promiscuous"’
It’s like a lingual free for all. Izzat a cool word? Yes? Cool! NOW IT’S OURS.
…..Why is Gackt on my T.V. with Blue contacts and fake school-boy glasses while flirting with models? XD
Thursday, July 16
What is with Korean manwha/dramas and models? I swear Korea can’t have a comic without there being something about modeling in there. What’s UP with that?
Also, their Dramas more often than not have troubled models as characters. WHY?
Models are not THAT interesting.
Also, what the hell is with Gintama lately? Does it have a plot? I’ve watched it for the past three months patiently BUT THERE’S NO OVERALL PLOT. I mean, I get that it’s one of those rare, REALLY well drawn gag series, but it could have had a plot. And a good one. I swear when it started they toyed with a plot. All the characters seem really developed. It would be REALLY easy to have a good plot going.
Maybe it did and it just ended already? Is the anime way off from the manga?
And lastly, why do all Pokemon movies start with them letting their pokemon out in turn with some lame catch phrase backed by some up-beat rocky jingle? Can we start with them like...I dunno, putting the beat down on some random trainers? That happens way more often when I play pokemon. Rather then letting them out to play in a park with Brock the Rock making poke'sausages in his frilly pink apron on the grill. Bug Catcher Bill and Picnicker Carey are on my hit list.
Saturday, July 18
Apparently babies will stop crying if you slurp soba really loudly at them.
I think they just want soba too.
People often ask me why I’m so against Japanese Pizza. It’s hard to explain, but think of some incredibly horrible seaweed encrusted tentacle monster, then add corn and weenie dogs covered in mayonnaise for good measure.
If that doesn't work, Here:
THIS IS NOT PIZZA AUUUUUUGH
Sunday, July 19
It’s currently Naruto and One Piece’s 10th birthdays, Gundam's 30th, and DBZ’s 15th.
ALL IN ONE YEAR.
Scary stuff yo.
Yu-Gi-Oh’s 10th is next January. FYI.
Today for dinner I followed Rai to an older Chinese grad student’s house for yakiniku BBQ. Rai and Ko are both leaving in early August, so this was kind of like a Going away party. Except Ko didn’t come, so it was just us two.
Yakiniku~
Yum.
Now, this is Chinese style Yakiniku, meaning I have no idea what most of the meat was. I don’t even know where they managed to find these things in Japan, since it was mostly a bunch of stuff they don’t sell at the store, like various organs and feet and stuff.
It was pretty good though. Put enough ponzu on anything and it’s yuzu-tastically delicious.
There was another Chinese guy there too and we all had fun talking. Or at least …I had fun talking when it wasn’t in Chinese.
Okay strike that. About 75% of the conversation was in Chinese.
That’s okay.
I’ll just sit here eating what appears to be the inner ear of a yak....Oh look, I think I found a sneazle.
Due to my brightness when they were speaking Japanese and my immediate silence and glazed over dead fish expression when they spoke in Chinese, talk about me having alternate personalities was brought up.
That's always a good sign for the direction of a conversation.
Oh yeah.
Rai at one point mentioned that I was mostly ‘bright’ Diana, but sometimes I would get super ‘aura-ified’ and like…tsudere troubled fallen-genius-type soccer captain (oddly specific). Also that sometimes I seemed super smart, other times like I was five, and sometimes I have the tastes of a Meiji era old man (My love of Goma ice cream?)
Wait so….Why are we counting my alternate personalities?
Oh, yeah because I switch my brain off when they speak in Chinese and I get a glazed over expression on my face.
Maybe I’d be a happier camper and seem less bipolar if we spoke in a language we all understand. Like Japanese. I don’t see why they don't’ do that. It’s like it doesn't even cross their minds that it would bother someone or is impolite. This happens every time.
Speaking of my face, I apparently look SPANISH! From Spain….again. Everyone thinks that.
This came about because the one guy I still don’t know the name of (Not Rai’s grad school Sempai, Sou-san (Which gets confusing because there’s a Sou-kun in the ESS club I talk to a lot) but the other random guy) was wondering where I was from since we were never introduced and he’d only heard me speak in Japanese. Then Sou-san brought up that if he didn’t already know I was American he wouldn’t have been able to tell at all. They then tried to convince me my heritage must be Spanish.
It’s kinda fun. Look at me, smashing stereotypes with my super dark hair and short stature.
Oh oh, tonight there were AWESOME THUNDERSTORMS.
Made of pure awesome.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, Seattle doesn’t really have those kinds of low and high-pressure systems crashing down on each other ever. Yeah, It’s always raining, but there are like, no real storms.
The rain itself is usually weak too.
So today was awesome. Rai was scared (I promised lighting wouldn't hit her, but no one ever believes me when I say that while laughing maniacally. Weird. Besides, I think having a cute Rai-Frankenstein Zombie would be cute. ) but I sat on the balcony watching. I got a little soggy since the rain was hard and….sideways.
Yay~
Monday July 20
MORING NARUTO?
That’s not what I want for breakfast. As if we don’t already have three Naruto episodes already during the week (One new, the other two reruns strewn randomly in my weekly T.V. prime-time block) so….Why do we have Naruto in the morning now too? Also reruns. AND IN A TOTALLY RANDOM SPOT? Like, before Shippuden, but somewhere around episode 80 or something. WHY???? The other reruns are around 30.
ON NOES, Naruto double header? WHUT?
BTWz, on Gundam’s 30th anniversary love show, it was announced that Gackt, as well as a bunch of idols including some Morning Musume girls and Akiina are GIANT GUNDAM NERDS.
Gack even gave a special Gundam love-love speech.
Thanks Gackt.
Thanks.
Tuesday July 21
Oh hey, Elephants eat Konnyaku. Thought you might want to know.
Some dude was totally whizzing in the bushes next to or school just as classes were getting out.
……We all had a bad walk home….. DX
The bus was playing a new jingle as an add for Blueberry Ai or something. It was SO bad that a bunch of people were snickering.
To get Japanese business people to snicker on a crowded bus at eight in the morning is a pretty awesome feat.
Wednesday July 22
Because Nagano’s going to Evergreen, we had a going away Nomikai for him in Sannomiya.
It was super awesome. I realy liked the izakaya we were in.
ALSO THERE WAS CAKE.
It just so happened to be one of the boy’s birthdays so the girls that planned the nomikai, Hanakura-san, and another girl, snuck cake in the back while he wasn’t looking and they brought it out with our last drinks.
It was a lot of fun and the food was great. It was hard to keep up with the conversation, but it didn’t matter too much. There was cake.
I like the kids in my seminar a lot. They’re all really friendly and pretty good about not leaving me too far behind.
Japanese drinks are made to weak for me to get too tipsy unless I drink more than my liquid holding capacity.
In other words, I can’t possibly drink enough to get me tipsy, I’d explode first. It tasted super yummy ^^
I went home with Yukiko. There was talk of some people staying out later, but I was like…Uh no. I has another one of those early Thursday classes.
It’d be nice to do things things on a day that isn’t Wednesday.
Ko fails at homework. She came to my apartment at some unreasonable time or another after I got back somewhere between my shower and me flopping down on my futon to borrow my printout for homework she needed to that was due like…last week or something and Thursday was the absolute last day she’d ever see that teacher ever again. Oops. Crisis averted I hope.
Thursday July 23
I tried making that Fettucini Alfreado again.
Fail.
Not sure what happened, but it was made of fail. D:
Friday July 24
Oh snap, tomorrow is the tenjin matsuri. Tenjin is one of the three super famous Festivals in Japan, along with the Gion Matsuri and Sendai’s Tanabata (I think? Not sure about that last one there)
I should really go to that (I’ve been to Gion and Tanabata (although not the Sendai one). Hmmm.
The major problem is that I’m tight on cash, plus I didn’t plan for it. No one I know is going, and I don’t even know where in Osaka it is. I might not this year. I like festivals but they’re kinda really lame to go to by yourself, and none of my friends are being adequately persuaded -_-;;;;;
So, a bunch of my Japanese friends get confused when I ask them (on facebook or skype or whatever)
“How are things?” or “how are you today?”
There’s some sort of disconnect with that sentence.
100% of the time, they ask back: “What do you mean?”
….
Well, I dunno, should it mean something? I mean, it’s just a vague common greeting. I don’t mean anything by it other than ‘what’s going on with you?” I really just want to know if you’re alive, and possibly the state of your mood right now. That’s it. This is why I’m bad at keeping in touch with people. They get all weird on me and I don’t want to talk to them. Were they doing something suspicious? Did I catch them in the middle of disposing of a dead body?
Anywho, I'll try not to use that sentence so much.
My notes also got super vague, so they were hard to decipher, adding to my lazy. Pretty much, it seems that if I’m not on a shinkansen, I have no motivation for writing.
Apparently I need to shinkansen more (It’ a verb now. According to me. ‘Let’s Shinkansen!)
Sunday, July 12
It was a pretty uneventful trip home from Tokyo. Nothing really happened other than not having enough bag space and having to use a department store bag for a bunch of stuff. Host parents dropped me off in Machida, a whole stop away, where I then made about five thousand train transfers in order to get to the Shin Yokohama Station to take the shinkansen back home. I got a Yokohama China Town Eki-Ben that consisted of Fried rice and Shumai. It was really good, but currently the number one suspect in my later upset stomach fiasco.
I caught up on mt T.V. when I got back since the summer season started. Some new dramas out for summer are Futatsu no Spica and Buzzer Beater. The first about ASTRONAUTS! And ghosts with lion’s heads haunting little girls, and the latter about Basketball.
SPACE BASKETBALL.
Okay, I'm lying, that's Basquatch. Buzzer Beater is by the Slam Dunk guy, Inoue. It's good.
So, one of the single hardest things living abroad is everyday, mundane ‘facts’ of life you don’t even think about. Things like avalibility of laundry detergent (it’s hard to tell what’s okay for colors, what isn’t starchy, what doen’t smell stupid) and….
PADS.
This is something you wouldn’t think would be a problem. According to my logic, you should be able to find something just about anywhere. It’s also not rocket surgery. There’s usually pictures or whatever, except for the fact that in Japan, for my feminine humility, they’re REALLY VAGUE.
THANKS JAPAN. Your needless over-concern for my feelings has caused me more pain than otherwise.
I can’t tell the difference between panty liners, pads and depends. They all look the same and you can’t tell from the package.
When I get my surpise in the middle of the night resulting in my running to the 24 hour Lawsons, I sit there for like 15 minutes trying to puzzle out the different pink and powder blue packages. I pick up one that says ‘heavy’ (I think?) and it feels too thin, just like a panty liner. The ‘normals’ are even more like a panty liner. The ‘overnight ones’ seems like a safe bet, wings are good, right? I think I can make out wings on the package sorta. In a blurry tiny mosaic sorta way. So I get it.
Saved! Now I can sleep with comfort.
OH, ACTUALLY NEVER MIND.
LIES AND DECEIT.
IT’S A FUCKIN’ DEPEND.
AUGH! I spent my last six dollars on an old people diaper??! WHY? It’s so uncomfortable but I don’t have any more money so I have to deal with it. It’s too big and really uncomfortable. AUGH! This is one of the single hardest normal items to find in Japan, Not only are they hidden, but there just aren’t that many. Like, Do girls not really get their periods here? I could see that, they’re all so freakin’ skinny they might not get them reguraly. Do they just use the really tiny panty-liner ones? Like 500 of them a day? Are they light here? I don’t even want to be thinking about this. This is seriously something I don’t want to ever have to ponder over. I really really want chocolate but all I have in my house in Miso soup and Crystal light. THAT IS SO DEPRESSING.
I’m wearing a glorified diaper while alternately sipping instant tube miso and Crystal light.
That is my life.
Tuesday, July 14
SHUMAI BENTO HAS ATTACKED. MAN DOWN. EVACUATE PREMISIS.
UuuuuUUUUUUughh
I don’t remember what I did yesterday it was so bad, but today I ended up dying every five minutes and pretty much living in the staff 4th floor bathroom (no one ever goes there) so after one look at my face, Matsuda took me to the infirmary where I got medicine and she sent me home.
CURSE YOU DELICIOUS SHUMAI!
In my delusional state, I started wondering some stuff since there’s about 3 construction sites on the way to school.
“Daichu Investigates” - The series.
Question: What’s with Japan and construction? Why is there always some sort of destruction happening at any given moment wherever I’m walking? I decided to look into this further.
Apparently when Japan’s economy is down, Japan can’t think of anything to do, so they tear up perfectly good lookin’ roads and then make them all over again, like an obsessive compulsive temper tantrum.
It’s like, they can’t think of anything more constructive to do than CONSTRUCT!!!!
Monk would be proud.
I do have to give it to them. Japan is an impeccably well maintenance country.
In other news, I’m glad to know children can receive organ transplants now in Japan. Before they just had to wait it out until they were 20 and hope their liver or whatever would wait patiently until then, but now they can actually have a nice full life.
….Not that anyone donates their organs here (goes against their idea of dead people) BUT THERE’S A CHANCE!
Today in T.V.: Oh Snap, Bloody Monday (Russian biological terrorists in an organization run by children and unraveled by a high school hacking prodigy) is a drama too?
The teacher isn’t nearly as pretty as she should be. D:
Quote of the day: ‘English IS an easy language (unfortunately, it's "easy" in the way that means "promiscuous"’
It’s like a lingual free for all. Izzat a cool word? Yes? Cool! NOW IT’S OURS.
…..Why is Gackt on my T.V. with Blue contacts and fake school-boy glasses while flirting with models? XD
Thursday, July 16
What is with Korean manwha/dramas and models? I swear Korea can’t have a comic without there being something about modeling in there. What’s UP with that?
Also, their Dramas more often than not have troubled models as characters. WHY?
Models are not THAT interesting.
Also, what the hell is with Gintama lately? Does it have a plot? I’ve watched it for the past three months patiently BUT THERE’S NO OVERALL PLOT. I mean, I get that it’s one of those rare, REALLY well drawn gag series, but it could have had a plot. And a good one. I swear when it started they toyed with a plot. All the characters seem really developed. It would be REALLY easy to have a good plot going.
Maybe it did and it just ended already? Is the anime way off from the manga?
And lastly, why do all Pokemon movies start with them letting their pokemon out in turn with some lame catch phrase backed by some up-beat rocky jingle? Can we start with them like...I dunno, putting the beat down on some random trainers? That happens way more often when I play pokemon. Rather then letting them out to play in a park with Brock the Rock making poke'sausages in his frilly pink apron on the grill. Bug Catcher Bill and Picnicker Carey are on my hit list.
Saturday, July 18
Apparently babies will stop crying if you slurp soba really loudly at them.
I think they just want soba too.
People often ask me why I’m so against Japanese Pizza. It’s hard to explain, but think of some incredibly horrible seaweed encrusted tentacle monster, then add corn and weenie dogs covered in mayonnaise for good measure.
If that doesn't work, Here:
THIS IS NOT PIZZA AUUUUUUGH
Sunday, July 19
It’s currently Naruto and One Piece’s 10th birthdays, Gundam's 30th, and DBZ’s 15th.
ALL IN ONE YEAR.
Scary stuff yo.
Yu-Gi-Oh’s 10th is next January. FYI.
Today for dinner I followed Rai to an older Chinese grad student’s house for yakiniku BBQ. Rai and Ko are both leaving in early August, so this was kind of like a Going away party. Except Ko didn’t come, so it was just us two.
Yakiniku~
Yum.
Now, this is Chinese style Yakiniku, meaning I have no idea what most of the meat was. I don’t even know where they managed to find these things in Japan, since it was mostly a bunch of stuff they don’t sell at the store, like various organs and feet and stuff.
It was pretty good though. Put enough ponzu on anything and it’s yuzu-tastically delicious.
There was another Chinese guy there too and we all had fun talking. Or at least …I had fun talking when it wasn’t in Chinese.
Okay strike that. About 75% of the conversation was in Chinese.
That’s okay.
I’ll just sit here eating what appears to be the inner ear of a yak....Oh look, I think I found a sneazle.
Due to my brightness when they were speaking Japanese and my immediate silence and glazed over dead fish expression when they spoke in Chinese, talk about me having alternate personalities was brought up.
That's always a good sign for the direction of a conversation.
Oh yeah.
Rai at one point mentioned that I was mostly ‘bright’ Diana, but sometimes I would get super ‘aura-ified’ and like…tsudere troubled fallen-genius-type soccer captain (oddly specific). Also that sometimes I seemed super smart, other times like I was five, and sometimes I have the tastes of a Meiji era old man (My love of Goma ice cream?)
Wait so….Why are we counting my alternate personalities?
Oh, yeah because I switch my brain off when they speak in Chinese and I get a glazed over expression on my face.
Maybe I’d be a happier camper and seem less bipolar if we spoke in a language we all understand. Like Japanese. I don’t see why they don't’ do that. It’s like it doesn't even cross their minds that it would bother someone or is impolite. This happens every time.
Speaking of my face, I apparently look SPANISH! From Spain….again. Everyone thinks that.
This came about because the one guy I still don’t know the name of (Not Rai’s grad school Sempai, Sou-san (Which gets confusing because there’s a Sou-kun in the ESS club I talk to a lot) but the other random guy) was wondering where I was from since we were never introduced and he’d only heard me speak in Japanese. Then Sou-san brought up that if he didn’t already know I was American he wouldn’t have been able to tell at all. They then tried to convince me my heritage must be Spanish.
It’s kinda fun. Look at me, smashing stereotypes with my super dark hair and short stature.
Oh oh, tonight there were AWESOME THUNDERSTORMS.
Made of pure awesome.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, Seattle doesn’t really have those kinds of low and high-pressure systems crashing down on each other ever. Yeah, It’s always raining, but there are like, no real storms.
The rain itself is usually weak too.
So today was awesome. Rai was scared (I promised lighting wouldn't hit her, but no one ever believes me when I say that while laughing maniacally. Weird. Besides, I think having a cute Rai-Frankenstein Zombie would be cute. ) but I sat on the balcony watching. I got a little soggy since the rain was hard and….sideways.
Yay~
Monday July 20
MORING NARUTO?
That’s not what I want for breakfast. As if we don’t already have three Naruto episodes already during the week (One new, the other two reruns strewn randomly in my weekly T.V. prime-time block) so….Why do we have Naruto in the morning now too? Also reruns. AND IN A TOTALLY RANDOM SPOT? Like, before Shippuden, but somewhere around episode 80 or something. WHY???? The other reruns are around 30.
ON NOES, Naruto double header? WHUT?
BTWz, on Gundam’s 30th anniversary love show, it was announced that Gackt, as well as a bunch of idols including some Morning Musume girls and Akiina are GIANT GUNDAM NERDS.
Gack even gave a special Gundam love-love speech.
Thanks Gackt.
Thanks.
Tuesday July 21
Oh hey, Elephants eat Konnyaku. Thought you might want to know.
Some dude was totally whizzing in the bushes next to or school just as classes were getting out.
……We all had a bad walk home….. DX
The bus was playing a new jingle as an add for Blueberry Ai or something. It was SO bad that a bunch of people were snickering.
To get Japanese business people to snicker on a crowded bus at eight in the morning is a pretty awesome feat.
Wednesday July 22
Because Nagano’s going to Evergreen, we had a going away Nomikai for him in Sannomiya.
It was super awesome. I realy liked the izakaya we were in.
ALSO THERE WAS CAKE.
It just so happened to be one of the boy’s birthdays so the girls that planned the nomikai, Hanakura-san, and another girl, snuck cake in the back while he wasn’t looking and they brought it out with our last drinks.
It was a lot of fun and the food was great. It was hard to keep up with the conversation, but it didn’t matter too much. There was cake.
I like the kids in my seminar a lot. They’re all really friendly and pretty good about not leaving me too far behind.
Japanese drinks are made to weak for me to get too tipsy unless I drink more than my liquid holding capacity.
In other words, I can’t possibly drink enough to get me tipsy, I’d explode first. It tasted super yummy ^^
I went home with Yukiko. There was talk of some people staying out later, but I was like…Uh no. I has another one of those early Thursday classes.
It’d be nice to do things things on a day that isn’t Wednesday.
Ko fails at homework. She came to my apartment at some unreasonable time or another after I got back somewhere between my shower and me flopping down on my futon to borrow my printout for homework she needed to that was due like…last week or something and Thursday was the absolute last day she’d ever see that teacher ever again. Oops. Crisis averted I hope.
Thursday July 23
I tried making that Fettucini Alfreado again.
Fail.
Not sure what happened, but it was made of fail. D:
Friday July 24
Oh snap, tomorrow is the tenjin matsuri. Tenjin is one of the three super famous Festivals in Japan, along with the Gion Matsuri and Sendai’s Tanabata (I think? Not sure about that last one there)
I should really go to that (I’ve been to Gion and Tanabata (although not the Sendai one). Hmmm.
The major problem is that I’m tight on cash, plus I didn’t plan for it. No one I know is going, and I don’t even know where in Osaka it is. I might not this year. I like festivals but they’re kinda really lame to go to by yourself, and none of my friends are being adequately persuaded -_-;;;;;
So, a bunch of my Japanese friends get confused when I ask them (on facebook or skype or whatever)
“How are things?” or “how are you today?”
There’s some sort of disconnect with that sentence.
100% of the time, they ask back: “What do you mean?”
….
Well, I dunno, should it mean something? I mean, it’s just a vague common greeting. I don’t mean anything by it other than ‘what’s going on with you?” I really just want to know if you’re alive, and possibly the state of your mood right now. That’s it. This is why I’m bad at keeping in touch with people. They get all weird on me and I don’t want to talk to them. Were they doing something suspicious? Did I catch them in the middle of disposing of a dead body?
Anywho, I'll try not to use that sentence so much.