Aug 25, 2005 01:19
Okay, so let's see...
Black belt test went horribly, which I expected so it wasn't particularly upsetting. I only got my first degree six months ago, the last three months of which I haven't had a teacher or a partner to work with. So getting second degree now would have been... disappointing. Still, it would have been nice to have done a little bit better than I did- this is the first time any of my teacher's peers have seen me and I'm afraid I let him down and perhaps embarrassed him a bit by giving such a poor performance. Ah well. There's another test in November and if I train I can do much better for that one, no doubt.
The worst part though is that when I was folding up my uniform to put it in my bag, I managed to leave the belt itself behind. That I'm upset about. I went back to the gym when I had a chance to (two days after) and they don't have it, and neither does the hotel. It has my name and my teachers name written on it (in Kanji) so I'm hoping that someone picked it up and it'll get back to him somehow. The embroidery on it was a gift from my teacher and I'm such an idiot for forgetting it.
In other news, Fukuchan didn't get the restaurant- he and the owner couldn't come to an agreement about the rent price. That's rather a relief for me, cause I'd really like to see how things go between us without the added pressure of starting a restaurant. So we'll see. My dad still doesn't know about us because, of course, Fuku's not Jewish and I'm 29 and still hide things like this from him. Honestly, unless we're getting married, he doesn't want to know and my mom certainly doesn't want me to tell him.
My horoscope for this week:
I live six miles from one of the world's most notorious penitentiaries, San Quentin. Both Charlie Manson and Sirhan Sirhan have spent time there, and a recent riot injured 42 inmates. Though I've never had a major itch to visit the place, I felt differently after hearing about a gift store within the prison walls. I corralled a friend and the two of us made an impulsive field trip there. As we grazed amidst the prisoners' handiwork, including birdhouses fashioned out of cigar boxes, paintings of clowns on velvet, and banjos made from bedpans, I had a psychic epiphany. I realized that my situation was similar to your imminent future: You, too, will find weird little treasures while just visiting a place where other people are trapped.
If this ratty hostel we're staying in tonight (in Kyoto) is what he's talking about, I'll be very curious to see what I find here. It's cheap and it has free internet, so I can't complain too much. But it turns out this is a bit much roughing it for my parents so we'll be looking for someplace less dormitory-like tomorrow.