practice

For the last 15 minutes or so, there have been fireworks going off at the beach. At first, I thought the town was being bombed, but then I realized that was a stupid thought, because Kumano is too insignificant to be a target for anything. I looked out of my bedroom doors, but didn't see anything, and it's hard to tell where sounds originate here, since everything echoes off the mountains.

Then I went out my front door, I saw that the noise was coming from random fireworks. We stood out and watched them for a while, and then the lady next to Catherine came out, and when I asked if there was a festival or something, she said it was just practice. Practice for what? I guess the big summer spectacular, but that's not until August. Weird.

We finally had our scheduling meeting for this semester. I'm only partially busy, but it looks like a decent school-to-office ratio this time around. And I only have one elementary school visit and it's to Ido, the only big school without horrible, horrible children (now that the 6th graders have graduated).

It was stupid, however, that I start class on Monday, but the meeting was at 4pm today. Thanks for giving us planning time, Sato-sensei. At least my first class is at Isato, where I plan all the lessons, so I planned them out before lunch. Still. A pain.

Also a pain was the fact that we only work until 4:30, but the meeting didn't end until 4:50. I expect to be able to get off work 20 minutes early sometime soon. I know that's kind of dickish, but after being around the office a-holes for three-and-a-half weeks, I don't care. If they were nice, I'd let it slide.

Anyway, seeing my schedule for the next 3 months all laid out in front of me made me very happy, because that's all I have left. After those classes are out of the way, I am going home, and I am thrilled.

My parents are thrilled too. I think Mama mentions in every email how many months it is until I go home. It's pretty sweet. Also pretty sweet is that my parents have been planning on paying my rent while I'm in school. I wasn't expecting that. Thanks, Mama and Daddy!

After spending several days looking at apartments, I have moved on to looking for furniture. So yesterday, I spent most of my time at the office on the Ikea website. I'm so happy that I'll finally be able to buy something from there. The one item I want the most is the Malm bed; I've been wanting that for years, and soon, it will be mine.

I can already tell that I'm going to have a hard time picking out color schemes. I'm liking green a lot lately, and also dark purple. Blue is a longtime favorite. And dark brown is very nice too, especially combined with blue or pink. Argh.

In addition to checking out furnishings, I also did some cell phone and plan research. I want to stick with T-Mobile, because they haven't done me wrong yet. They have these "myFaves" plans that give you unlimited minutes to call up to 5 numbers. I already know what 3 of those would be: parents, Ali, and Michelle. The other two are up for grabs. And text and internet plans are a lot cheaper than I'd anticipated ($4.99/month and $5.99/month, respectively). I also looked at Blackberry plans, since I'm considering getting one of those. Whichever way I decide, I'll be spending between $50 and $60 a month, which is exactly what I pay now. Not bad.

Did I mention there were hot guys at Mosburger the other day? Because there were. HOT. And tall. And they were in suits. God I hope they live/work here, if only so I can see them around town. Too bad one of them was wearing these god-awful blindingly orange Crocs. Crocs make me want to amputate the feet of the people wearing them, that's how much I hate them. What hideous shoes.

jusco

I just ate a huge plate of fried chicken and now I feel a little ill. It was delicious, but kind of greasy. I really didn't intend on eating the whole thing, just half, but I couldn't stop myself. I wasn't even that hungry.

Said chicken was purchased at Jusco this morning. I got up about 11:30 and went to the store a little before noon and got lots more food than I planned on getting, but it's all stuff I will definitely eat. I was especially pleased to see that they still have the Special K with the strawberries. I was afraid it was going to be one of those damn seasonal products.

Yesterday, I got up early and did three loads of laundry. Exciting, I know, but it needed to be done.

And last night, I went out to Shinbashi with some of the girls and had dinner and got pleasantly buzzed. But then, this table of Japanese guys next to us started talking to us and buying drinks, and I was like, ugh. I hate drunk, middle-aged Japanese men. Drunk, young Japanese men, no problem. But the older guys, no thanks. I don't care if you know a little English. Whatever. After a little while of that ridiculousness, Catherine and I gave the girls money for our share and left. Thank god we live within walking distance.

After I got home, I called my parents. I haven't talked to them on the phone in at least two weeks, so Mom was a little desperate to hear from me, I think. We ended up talking for over two hours. Thanks for being so cheap, Skype!

I told my parents that I'm 95% sure about Virginia, and they were thrilled, because that's where they wanted me to go. So now they're planning on taking a trip up to Charlottesville sometime soon to look at apartments, after I pick a few out, of course. I told them that I want a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, closet space, and preferably hardwood floors. I also want to live alone, because I've come to realize that the only people I can live with and not go insane are Ali and Michelle. I do want two bedrooms, but that second one is just for guests.

I think I might watch Mulan today. I rented it from iTunes a few weeks ago, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. And I might watch Independence Day again. I should clean, but I don't feel like it. Sorry, apartment!

b-i-n-g-o

It amazes me how much I love the kids at Ido Kindergarten, especially compared to my feelings toward the other group of kindergarteners. The Ido kids were so good today and it makes me sad to think that we will only see them one more time before the year ends.

Why is my boss still here? He's supposed to be gone! Blurgh. If he was just sitting at his desk, it would be fine, but he's never just sitting there. He's always on the phone, talking in his ridiculously loud voice, and he's right behind me and the sound weighs on me like a load of loud, obnoxious bricks. I hope he transfers in April. I hope so hard.

I thought I would explain the name of this blog, since I haven't before. It's a reference to Dinosaur Comics (these comics, actually), which is perhaps my favorite thing on the whole of the Internet. Seriously. I see a lot of myself in both T-Rex and Utahraptor, which is slightly disturbing, but also exhilarating, in that I am comparing myself to a dinosaur. Anyway, chocochops are, in the words of T-Rex, "moulded chocolate pork chops with a real pork chop bone." The combination of two of my favorite things, chocolate and pork, was too good to pass up as a blog title.

After work, as far as I know, we will be gymming, and after showers, going to karaoke somewhere. Karaoke is one of the best things Japan has ever produced (sushi and Rirakkuma being the other two), and it is much more fun to go in a small group, maybe 3-5 people. With big groups, you don't get to sing as much, and you usually have to listen to people try to sing Japanese songs, which totally takes the fun out of karaoke for me, as I have a very limited repetoire of J-songs, and nobody ever sings one I know. (Wow, look at that run-on sentence!)

I am super excited that today is Friday, because that means tomorrow is Saturday. Excellent.

The U.S.'s current economic downturn is doing wonders for my money transfers. Today the dollar was down to 105yen. It was 107 earlier this week.

I ordered flowers to be delivered today for Mom's birthday. I hope she gets them. I've never ordered flowers online before, but it was from a reputable company (or one that wasn't complained about on Consumerist). I got an email that they were shipping out, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I also felt bad that I'd ordered something for Mom, but Daddy wasn't getting anything, so I bought him season one of Boston Legal. He did do all of my financial aid stuff, so I figure that makes a nice thank-you gift.