prayz da lawd

I AM DONE! SO HAPPY!

I'd be a lot happier if I didn't have so much fucking stuff left in my apartment, but oh well. That doesn't dampen my spirits much.

I've got one suitcase packed (aside from the pockets on the front), and I put my purses in a big box and 10 pairs of shoes in another. Plus I did 2 loads of laundry, paid my bills, and took my biggest box to the post office. So productive!

I don't think I really have a whole lot of stuff left to pack, it's just strewn about everywhere, so it looks like there's more. I hope that's the case, at least. I'm so glad I have 3 whole entire days to pack and clean.

It bears repeating: I AM DONE! SO HAPPY!

counting down the hours

Today I had my last class as an ALT. I never have to teach English again. I am tremendously happy about this.

We went to Kinomoto kindergarten and they were actually pretty good. They've been a lot better behaved the last few weeks, so I guess the new teacher is getting them in line. Excellent. I wish she worked there last year.

I still have tons of packing to do, but the weekend is coming up, so I will have plenty of time to stuff my shit into boxes and suitcases. At least I hope so. And tomorrow, Kuramoto-sensei is coming to pick up my piano, so that will give me extra room to spread stuff out.

I had thought about watching Atonement at the hotel on Tuesday, but Michelle said that it's the saddest movie she's ever seen and had to pause it to catch her breath after sobbing so hard, so I think I'll just watch Harold and Kumar again.

In other news, apparently Mattel owns the drawings that those awful Bratz dolls are based on, so there's a possibility that Bratz may one day soon cease to exist. But the CEO of the company that makes Bratz made a comment that I found interesting:

"Under no circumstance will Mattel be able to assert ownership of the Bratz franchise — which will always belong to MGA[.]"

I know what he's trying to say, but it almost sounds like he would burn the place to the ground if the future rulings didn't go his way, just to prevent Mattel from taking over. It made me laugh.

ugh

Packing fucking sucks.

omg it's hot

It is miserably hot today. I feel so gross. I walked here this morning, and then 10 minutes after I got in, I had to go back to my apartment with one of the office guys so we could remove the couch and table that I no longer want. Of course, I had to rush around and clean up before he could come in, and then we had to lift the stuff, so by the time I got back to the office (and walk up the stairs again), I was in a right state. At least the AC is on. But it's not working fast enough.

I also need to get rid of my piano. A new JET is looking at buying one, but he can only pay about half of what I'd like to get for it. So I'm going to call up my old supervisor who helped me get the piano and see if I can't sell it back to the guy I bought it from for more.

It seems like I have so much left to do here before I leave. I really need to pack my shit up, as I'd like to have my big bags packed by Saturday, so Kuroneko can take them to the airport. So I will be doing that tonight. Yes. I don't care how tired I will be.

Last night we went out to Sakai for my last yakiniku dinner. It was delicious. Then we went to karaoke for longer than I anticipated, and of course, I found some new songs that I'm good at singing, but I'm leaving the land of karaoke, so they are no longer of use to me. I know they have karaoke in America, but it's different.

Mama got my Comcast installation set up, so I definitely have to be at the apartment by August 6. I'm getting their Triple Play option, with cable, internet, and digital phone service all in one. I hope it works out.

I think I might go on a Facebook crawl today, see if anybody is doing anything interesting.

Would anybody be willing to see Batman with me while I'm home? This is a pressing issue. I feel like I should go ahead and buy my tickets.

air cooooooooooon

The weather today is cloudy, but pleasant, in that it's not hot as the devil's balls. In fact, when the breeze picks up, it's bordering on cool. A nice change from typical June weather.

So why, I wonder, has the air conditioner been on ALL DAY? It's not even hot outside! This is especially curious given how, on the hellishly hot days we've had of late, it hasn't been turned on until late afternoon, or only for an hour or two. It's been on since 10 o'clock! And it's still on!

I really don't understand this place.

noah's ark

Via the JET wankfest that is Big Daikon, I have found perhaps the worst site on the internet. How I didn't find it on Encyclopedia Dramatica, I'll never know, since that's where I usually find these things.

Anyway, this internet abomination is FurrsFurChrist.com. I refuse to link to it, but feel free to Ctrl+C & +V. It's a forum for Christian furries, complete with bad poetry and ridiculous "theological" discussions.

Here's a quote, so you can see what kind of shit these "people" talk about without sullying your browser history:

"So my hatchday is coming up next month, & since I'm both in college and saving up for a fursuit, is it wrong to ask mostly for money as a gift? My first instinct is to pray about it, of course, but....I dunno. What do you think?"
I'm assuming "hatchday" is like a birthday for dragons. My favorite part is definitely "My first instinct is to pray about it, of course." LOLZ IT'S A FURSUIT FFS.

Anyway, I hate furries more than terrorists, and I've been especially intolerant of Christians of late, so the combination of the two just proves that there is no God. At least not a just one. Though maybe there is a God, and he has put these miserable creatures on this earth for my amusement. Either way, I think they are an abomination.

Aside from wasting my time at work on such sites, I've been playing the taiko game a lot. I've gotten quite a few on the demon level, which is quite an accomplishment, as that shit is hard.

I've also been watching Hairspray almost every day, which is fine with me. Any day with a little Corny Collins is a good one. But it has made me dream about civil rights. Not that I'm complaining, it's just a strange thing to dream about.

I found out that I'm leaving on July 23. Less than a month, yay! Unfortunately, I'm flying on United AND I'm connecting in San Francisco. Ugh. I hope that doesn't fuck me over.

The new girl finally contacted me and was very nice and gracious, so I'm feeling a lot more charitable. I hope she's nice, for Catherine's sake.

Now, every time I see the word "sake", I think of the drink. Thanks for that, Japan!

wah

There is a tiny baby somewhere in the neighborhood, perhaps even in my apartment building, that cries all the time. Just cries and cries. I find it very annoying, and usually turn on a movie (which is usually Hairspray), and try to drown it out. God help me when/if I have a tiny crying baby of my own.

Today was my last day at Kinomoto JH, and quite frankly, I am happy I never have to see some (most) of those kids again. The three classes I had today were so bratty. I really wish Japanese teachers could kick the disruptive kids out of class. Of course, that would mean kicking a third of the class out, but whatever. They would not be missed.

I am so, so sleepy, but it's very early, and I would feel lame going to bed now. But I don't know that I can stand being awake for too much longer. Maybe I will just go to bed and rest up for my busy day of sitting on my ass at the office tomorrow. Perhaps?

superfluous

Today, I am chillin' at the office. It's not bad. I wish the A/C was on, and I'm confused as to why it's not, since it was on last week, but whatever.

The best part about today is that I am not currently in a boring meeting with some of the worst English teachers in Kumano, plus Drew and Catherine. I told my boss I didn't want to go when asked about it last week, and he was cool with it. I think the expression on my face was enough to convince him. I would have been super pissed if I did have to go, because my presence would be completely superfluous. I don't teach with any of the teachers in this meeting, and I would just be sitting there, "listening".

I've been reading this "definitive explanation" of the last scene of the series finale of The Sopranos almost all day. It's like the length of a freaking book. Definitely "definitive". The funny thing is, I don't even watch that show. But it's interesting, so whatever.

Yay for gays in California! Now try not to contribute to the divorce rate.

I still haven't heard from the second new ALT in Kumano. I sent her another email today, so I hope she will at least reply. If you happen to google me and find this, new Kumano ALT, please reply so I know you're getting the emails and aren't just blowing me off. Thank you.

My body has been kind of achy. I got this pain in my right hip yesterday that I cannot explain. I wasn't particularly active or sedentary. I was right in the middle on the activity scale. But when I got up from my chair at school yesterday to go home, my hip hurt like a bitch. It felt slightly better this morning (as in it didn't hurt to walk like it did yesterday), but still. It lingers. I guess I'm getting old.

Ali is coming to see me in Charlottesville! Yay!!

an eternal flaaaaaaaaaaame

I forgot to post about the wedding party. It went quite well, not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Our karaoke serenade of the bride and groom wasn't awful. And then the groom did this song and the bride was crying the whole time, it was so sweet.

After that, we went for real karaoke with Lauren for two hours. It was awesome. The karaoke place had excellent muscat sours. A+ Would drink again.

On Saturday, I rented the Bourne Ultimatum, National Treasure, High School Musical 2, and Sakuran. I've watched all but Sakuran, and I've watched HSM2 like 5 times. Fuck, I love Zac Efron. If only I were 14, then I could have posters of him everywhere without feeling like a creep.

I'm watching Beauty and the Beast now, which I haven't seen in years and years, and it's way funnier this time. I guess I didn't realize that the Prince/Beast guy was just 20 (as he's supposed to be cursed until his 21st birthday), so it puts things in a completely different perspective. He's just this young jerk who stomps around his house and doesn't eat with utensils and only has household items to talk to. It also makes me feel bad for him, since he was just a little punk kid when he got cursed. What spoiled 16-year-old wouldn't kick some old lady to the curb?

On another note, I wish I could tell my appliances what to do and have them do it instead of just sit there.

I finally applied for my loans today, and it made me ill. $60,000. Holy fuck.

wedding bells

Next Friday is the wedding party for one of the girls at the office, and I found out yesterday, that me and Catherine and Mizuko are going to have to provide some entertainment. At first, it was just going to be us singing a karaoke song (I think "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles was the winner), but then they were like, "Oh, Kara, why don't you play a song (or two) on the piano?!" So now, in addition to singing, I have to play "You Raise Me Up" and a Chopin nocturne. Great. Thanks for the heads up!

I wonder what I'm supposed to wear to this thing. Hmm.

I heard a loud "Konnichi wa! Gomen kudasai" outside (not at my door, though), so that means the Witnesses are out today. I'll be sure not to open my door. Crazy bastards.

This new taiko game is great. There's a game section where you have to play against these characters and beat levels and stuff. The end is really hard! You have to beat this weird god creature, and he blocks the screen, so you can't see what you're supposed to hit! But I beat it on the easy course, and now I'm playing through again on the hard course.

My eyes have been really itchy lately. I guess I need to find my Claritin. Argh.

springy

I just cleaned everything off my floor in my bedroom. Yay! I even vacuumed. I should probably go to the post office tomorrow and try to mail some stuff and also buy a lot more boxes. I have at least two more boxes worth of sweaters and other colder-weather stuff. This shipping stuff home business is going to cost a lot of money, alas.

Mom went to Linens-N-Things this weekend and bought my dishes! I'm very excited. I have the poppy and the white, how festive!



Haha, I have finally added pictures! Surprise! Maybe I'll add more in the future.

successor

Today I found out who my successor will be, or at least who one of the two new people is. She posted on the Mie forum and ta-da! I'm not technically supposed to find out until tomorrow, but oh well. The internet ruins everything. Now I have this 15+ page thing to fill out about Kumano and being an ALT and blah blah blah. I've done most of it already, and it will give me something to do tomorrow. Good times.

We haven't yet heard about the other new person. I hope it's a hot guy for Catherine's sake. We were pulling for a hot guy and a lesbian, but I don't think the new girl swings that way.

One more day until my lady troubles are over! Yay!

I've been so bored lately. Maybe this is a sign that I should clean my apartment. I could be wrong. My boredom has also resulted in my blogs being boring. Apologies all around.

I'm trying to decide if I should get on the UVa Law forum. Part of me wants to, so that I can at least internet know people before I go. I will look into this more tomorrow at work, since I will be there all day, and that welcome letter stuff won't take all day.

say aha

Today has been a day spent vegging on the couch. I had intended on doing some serious cleaning, but cramps nixed that idea. I did get up long enough to sort some of my clothes into "trash" and "Goodwill" piles, but that's about it. Alas.

I've been playing the new taiko game, and it's super cute. I love dressing up the little drum. I think my favorite outfit is the ebi-fry. He has a fried shrimp suit with a little fried shrimp hat! It's adorable.

I downloaded this album Santogold from the artist of the same name, and it's pretty interesting. She reminds me of Tegan and Sara, M.I.A., Gwen Stefani, Le Tigre, and Nelly Furtado, which is an odd assortment, I know. It's hard to describe, but I like it. I also really like the new Ashlee Simpson album. Fuck the haters.

I made a new Gmail for myself, mainly for online shopping purposes. I know that Gmail has like 6GB of storage now, but my main account was feeling a little cluttered, so I made another and moved lots of stuff into that one. It made me feel productive.

Ugh, I don't feel like going to work tomorrow. Why can't it be Memorial Day here, too? But I think I only have 17-ish more days of school left. I still have more work days, but a lot of that will be at the office, which will thankfully be air-conditioned after June 1, so I won't mind so much.

I am so ready to go home.

sexy dream, aborted

Let me tell you about my sexy dream I had last night. Well, almost had. *sigh*

It was like I was watching this action/spy movie, but also kind of in it. I was in this big room with a bunch of people, like a church social hall or something. And there was this priest there. A hot priest. He looked like a taller, less bulky Daniel Craig. YES. And he had tattoos, which normally isn't my thing, but it was super hot. And I kind of think that maybe he wasn't a real priest, just like a spy pretending to be one, but whatever. He was still wearing the outfit, which is all that matters.

Anyway, everybody got up to leave, but I kind of stuck around, because The Bourne Ultimatum was coming on, and I wanted to see it, because it's a great movie. But hot priest dude sees me still in there and gets a sexy look on his face. !!! The game is afoot! But I'm trying to play coy, and I don't want people to notice that me and the hot priest are missing, so I run into the bathroom to sort myself out. While in there, I think, "I kind of have to pee", but then I fucking woke up, because I really did have to pee! DAMN IT. Me and that hot priest were totally going to have sexy times, but my stupid bladder ruined it, like it does EVERY TIME.

I had another dream when I went back to sleep, but it wasn't a continuation, so it was useless.

FOILED AGAIN.

In other news, I went to Shingu with Cat today for a delicious curry lunch. It was so good. I love that place.

I also bought the new taiko game for DS. I was so excited to get home and play it. I am so pleased with my DS purchase. It was a worthy investment. Now I just have to get that little card that lets me download all those games for free. Hehe.

kakigoooooooori

There are some days when I really like my students. Today, fortunately, was one of those days. I went to Kinomoto JH and FINALLY had classes with the 3rd years, who are probably my favorite kids in all of Kumano. They're good in class, and the girls all talk to me outside of class and whenever I see them in town. I love them. And I wore my silver shoes today, so they were all "KAWAIIIIIIII". Nice.

Another awesome happening at Kinomoto: I was talking to the nurse about the office, and she and one of my JTEs were saying out the "atmosphere is bad" there, and then basically blamed it all on that crazy bitch Miyahara. A-FUCKING-MEN. She was like, "Miyahara is what foreigners imagine all Japanese to be", and by this she means humorless drones. Which Miyahara totally is. YES.

I went back to the office after lunch and paid my rent. Fun. Then I finally asked my supervisor about leaving early, and he was totally cool with it! HOORAY! I told him either July 22 or 23 are fine with me. So now, I only have 2 months until I am out of Japan! I am so happy. I mean, I'll miss Japan, but I'm so ready to be home. But after hearing how Michelle is being routed through fucking Toronto, maybe I should specify that I would prefer my transfers occur in the US.

After work, the Kumano girls went out for the first kakigori of the season. For those without mad Nihongo skillz, kakigori is flavored shaved ice, AKA the best part about hot weather. There's a little stand on shopping street that makes the best kakigori in town (sorry, Rozen), and they have great flavors and the lady always puts tons of syrup on. Today, I had hibiscus, and I don't really know what that's supposed to taste like, but the product was delicious. I can't wait to have more.

Tomorrow, we are going on a little field trip with Kinomoto KG. I hope they are on their best behavior, because we'll be with them for about 4 hours. We're walking to Hana no Iwaya, this shrine by the beach, which will take about 30 minutes. And then we'll see that and then have lunch and play on the beach for a while. Sounds like it could be pretty fun. Too bad it will probably be hot as balls again. I will load up on the sunscreen. Perhaps I will wear a hat. My Jesus hat would work nicely.

atashika

Today was nice. Productive in that I got out of the house, but the only cleaning that got done was a load of laundry. Oh well.

Lauren called me when I was still in bed, wanting to know if I wanted to come over for pancakes. I grumbled a "no" and went back to sleep for a while. I eventually got up, showered, and chilled for a while, and then she texted me about going to the beach. Not for swimming, just for hanging out. So we did.

It had been nice and sunny up until that point, but as soon as we left to go to Atashika, it started clouding up. But we still went and sat on the beach and watched the waves for a while. We left after it got too chilly to stay.

We got back into town and tried to go to a yakiniku restaurant, but it wasn't open yet, so we went to Tsutaya. While we were there, this guy from Lauren's church came over and was talking to us, but he was practically whispering, so that was difficult. Plus, he was talking about being a Christian, a topic I couldn't give two shits about. Ugh. That unfortunate conversation lasted way too long.

After that adventure, we went across the street to Jusco and got ice cream and sat around waiting for a yakiniku place to open up. One finally did (yes, we were waiting on multiple yakiniku restaurants), and we had our delicious meat dinner. So good.

To close out the evening, we went back to Lauren's and watched The Usual Suspects, which she had rented from iTunes, since it was the 99cent movie this week. I'd never seen it before. It was pretty good. I do love Gabriel Byrne.

Now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what my teacher wants me to do for tomorrow's lesson. The 1nens are doing "What's this?" and she said something about me bringing something to share with the class? I don't know. I don't really have anything that I want to take to school and show those kids. Maybe I'll take my DS. Or my camera. Or my iPod. There's an idea.

swing city

I was mildly productive today. I did two loads of laundry and packed up two more boxes of cold-weather clothes to send home. I've also gotten quite a lot accomplished in my little city in Sim City, so that's good too.

My future landlord emailed me the lease agreement for my new apartment. It seems fairly straightforward and reasonable. I read through it today, but I'm going to read through it again tomorrow before I sign it and send it back to her.

I think there are some angry cats in the neighborhood, because I heard the most awful sound a few hours ago, and it could only be some kind of angry animal. I assume cats, but I guess it could be tanukis. Or monkeys. I hope not monkeys.

I finished watching season two of Bones, so now I have to watch the third season and I'll be all caught up. Yay! Man, do I love David Boreanaz. Damn.

Last night, the Kumano girls went out to Shingu for curry and some light shopping. I finally had their sag cheese, and it was so good. I think it's my favorite. It looked different from the sag panir I've had before, but it tasted great, so I don't care. I will miss that place so much, but I did some research, and there are a few Indian places in Charlottesville. As long as they have nan (and allow for my low spicy tolerance), then I'm cool.

We also went to Uniqlo, and I didn't mean to buy anything, but I did. I got two pretty awesome t-shirts. One has this weird picture that kind of freaks me out, but I like it. Maybe I'll take a picture of it later and post it. The other is from some Rumiko Takahashi manga, which itself isn't that awesome, but the picture is of a tiger wearing a cape and wrestling shorts fighting a girl, featuring the caption "Tiger Fight". It was too much for me to resist.

I don't know what tomorrow has in store. I don't see myself getting up in time to go to the post office and send my boxes off. Maybe I'll clean. My apartment could certainly use it.

show me the way to go home

Oh man, I'm sleepy. So sleepy. And I really tried to go to bed early. I did. And I let myself sleep in a little bit, all to no avail. Maybe if the stupid rain hadn't woken me up several times last night, I wouldn't be so tired. Stupid rain. Stupid off-shore typhoons.

I haven't posted in a while, clearly. Apologies all around. Here's a brief-ish description of my time away.

April 26-29

I decided to take an extended Golden Week trip, since the real GW sucked this year (the holidays didn't align properly, alas). Michelle and I spent the first days of our trip in Fukuoka, as we usually do. It was super fun, possibly more fun than other times. We sold some of our manga and I got three pairs of new glasses at Zoff, including the sunglasses that I've been wanting for almost a year. They are badass. We also finally ate at the Indian restaurant next to Ichiran, and it was delicious. Sag panir with cheese nan is the way to go, most def.

April 30-May5

Our trip took a turn for the worse when we went to Korea. Maybe it was because we'd had so much fun in Fukuoka in the days before, maybe it was because we stayed in Seoul instead of going to other cities, I don't know. But the general consensus was that Korea sucks ass.

The countryside is less-than-impressive, for one thing. Here, I'm surrounded by beautiful, lush green mountains, but there, the mountains and everything else just looked gray. Bleak. Not a great first impression. This is probably the result of pollution, a lot of which I'm sure comes from China, but whatever.

Seoul was also dirty and grimy. Not how I like my cities, or at least the shopping areas, to look.

The food looked gross. There, I said it. We looked at it, and it looked nasty, so we didn't eat it. And I don't even feel bad about it.

Lastly, the residents of Seoul were some of the most infuriating people I've ever had the displeasure of coming into contact with.

My biggest complaint is that they are line-cutters, which might not sound like a big deal, but it's one of my pet peeves, and fucking everybody was doing it, which to me indicates a system-wide lack of respect for others. Needless to say, lots of elbows were thrown on this trip.

Aside from the gratuitous line-cutting, I found them rude and pushy and they somehow managed to disrupt our paths everywhere we went.

Also, lots of public transport smelled like salami, which I fear has forever ruined that deli meat for Michelle.

Oh the plus side, we did get to see Ironman (twice!), which I don't think has been released in Japan yet. And the tickets were only 8000 won (about $8 US), whereas they are usually 1800 yen here ($18 US). And the people laughed at appropriate times during the movie, which Japanese people never do, because they are either humorless or retarded.

In general, people were normal-sized, which was refreshing, and they didn't walk around like the living dead, as the J-folks are also prone to doing.

And they had Krispy Kreme!!

I'm sure there are other good things about the country, but honestly, we didn't really see it. And I'm never going back, so oh well.

May 5-6

We went back to Fukuoka for a day and a half after getting back from Korea, and thank god we did. We definitely needed that time to "fix" our trip. I have never been so glad to get back to Japan.

Unfortunately, this was the last trip I'll be taking anywhere and the last time I'll see Michelle for a while. But I have to save money for shipping stuff home and for future expenses. Argh.

One of those expenses is my new apartment. My parents are going to pay my rent, which came as a big surprise to me, but I want to help if I can. Mom and Dad went to Charlottesville while we were in Korea and found an apartment for me. It just happens to be in my favorite building. Yay! More about that later.

So that explains a lot of the time. After getting back to Japan, I went back to work, and that's what I've been doing for the last week. Super fun, I know. I'm trying to keep my head in the game, as it were, for the next few months, but it's hard. Now that I have something else lined up, I'm ready to go home and do that. But not yet. Alas.

tsukareta

Oh man, I am so tired. Being in this office drains my life force. As does working with kindergarteners.

We went to Kinomoto KG today for an hour and a half, and let me tell you, that is too long to try to teach English to little kids. They weren't awful like last year's bunch, but they were a little on the rowdy side. One kid clearly needs to be medicated. Another one is a fat, ugly hitter, so he's already on our shit list. But Ryouta (from the good class 2 years ago)'s little sister is in that class, and she looks just like him (so cute! with chubby cheeks!), so I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

Catherine and I are going to the gym today. Last time, I actually got up to a jog on the treadmill! I always fast walk, usually on an incline. But I think walking to work every day has helped with my endurance, since I didn't start gasping for breath immediately. Perhaps I will jog again today!

Only 30 more minutes.

school, finally

Today was my first day of school in almost a month. I felt a little rusty, to be quite honest, but it was a good day overall. I went to Isato, which, all things considered, is probably my favorite school. The kids are nice and not terrible at English, and now there are finally a decent number of students in each class--8 1st years, 9 2nd years, and 8 3rd years!

I cleaned for about 6 straight hours yesterday, and I kind of feel like I didn't make a dent. That's not really true, I did, but my apartment is still messy. I did lots of dishes and I scrubbed the weird blue stuff out of the shower and sink (I think it's something in the water), but I didn't touch my bedroom. That's probably why it doesn't seem like I accomplished anything.

After my hours and hours of cleaning, I watched Clueless. What a great movie, really. Paul Rudd has always been so cute. And then I watched Step Up, which is also wonderful. Channing Tatum can't really act, but damn. I don't care. He doesn't ruin the whole movie with his presence like some people. *coughhaydenchristensencough*

Are the people downstairs having an argument? I can't really tell. Somebody's yelling, though. Maybe it's the TV. I would yell if I was watching the shit that passes for Japanese TV too.

That's all I can think to write at the moment. I'm tired. And I really need to go to bed earlier tonight, since we're teaching kindergarten tomorrow. Yay! I'm so excited to see the new kids.