I'm flashing back to the movie "Money Pit" with this apartment this week. Oh, not for me. For my landlord! I woke up this morning to guys on the roof. For the uninitiated, my apartment is in the attic of the building. I think they had a nail gun. I'd assume they were roofing, but I haven't gone outside today so I don't know if that's true. I'm pretty sure they put new windows in the 2nd floor as well. Somebody painted something somewhere, I think. And, there was a nice maintenance man who came to mess with the gas pipes. Had to relight the pilot lights in the stove twice. Bonus points: He thinks he's tinkered his way into fixing whatever went wrong with the radiator that caused it to turn on full heat in the middle of the day last week. And, he also replaced the mechanism in the toilet that caused it to run.

Tomorrow I take the placement test and I've not managed to study for more than five minutes continuious. I can't stand to look at the books. The not quite knowing my fate has been getting to me. I'm listless in a way someone technically still on vacation doesn't deserve to be. I want out of school. Badly.

I've taken down a lot of the posters. The arrangement was nice, but stale. I've not touched Hotaru's wall in the bedroom, though. I'm not sure if I should. I don't think she'd mind much, but... My skills for making people angry are fantastical.

It is!

This past week I've been blonder than blond. I've managed to get locked out of my apartment, get lost twice while playing navigator to both Akane and Naruto, get into a fight with a roaming gang of mall teenagers, and sleep through the last day of the con. Whatever I was before, it is clear I have become a fucking ditz. About the second or third time I got lost in a city smaller than some amusement parks in which I'd lived for a little under two years I was ready to beat my head against the wall. Literally.

But enough of that bullshit. There was a lot of wonderful this past week. Any time spent with Naruto is good times, regardless of my own level of obliviousness. And, once Akane arrived on Wednesday it was like a constant comedy gig. I could just sit back and watch. And, hey. The con itself wasn't bad either. The guess the opening theme game show and the panel by the guy who made his own animatronic techno animal suit were delightful. But, I think we did end up walking out of most of the others. There were a couple with lines to long to get into, as well... Shockingly, this wasn't true of the cosplay. There were five or six rows at least of empty space at the back of the room during the cosplay. The cosplay itself was pretty underwhelming. It was about the level I'd have expected of AI a decade ago. There weren't even that many actual skits! Oh, well. People watching was prime all con. A few dozen catgirls and catboys got together and tossed around a giant ball of string on the veranda one day.

My 20 or so photos can be seen here. I just couldn't be bothered most of the con to chase people down. Perhaps going to bed around dawn each night had something to do with that...

And now, there is currently painting, construction, landscaping, and paving going on in, on, or within 100 yards of the building I'm in now. The floor is shaking every few minutes. This is... special.

Got up to Iowa today and moved back into the apartment. It is just as funky and hot/humid as I remember. The power wasn't working when we first got here. Learned there's another circuit breaker around the back side of the house. That was a fun hour or so. Had a genuinly informative meeting with the fiancial aid people. How rare! And, learned that cable/internet really is standard on all of our landlord's properties, now. The internet portion is crap, but the cable seems decent. Not sure if I should seriously look into high speed or not at the moment.

I've been rearanging things all afternoon. Hotaru... is a cave-dweller and had every window covered as completly and cheaply as possible. Those pillow cases and blankets are now down. It was weird how little she'd changed since I'd left. Almost nothing, I think. I think I've moved more crap around since I've been here this afternoon than in the entire time she was here before leaving for Japan. I've got quite a list for tomorrow, too. Things are looking up! The only kink in my plan is the bedroom air conditioner which does not seem to be working. It isn't too hot at the moment, so I can survive, but I may be spending more time in cafes and university buildings than anticpated before school begins. Is the library back open yet?

Also, there are spiders everywhere. Everywhere. I keep finding cobwebs with my face and fingers and toes. That's just not fun.

I'll tell ya one thing... It is nice to be back with my PS2. I've started a new game of FF12 and am determined to hit every side quest and random hunt in the game this time around.

I'm that kinda tired where your knees hurt. No real reason, though. All I've done today is wander a bit with Akane, get my hair spruced up at the salon, and sorted clothes to pack for settling back into my apartment tomorrow. I suppose the sorting of clothes was a little intense. I took everything out of the closet in my old room at my parents' house and sorted it aggressively. Big Brothers Big Sisters will have a massive donation next week. I really do have a hatred of t-shirts, now.

I'm up at 6AM tomorrow to head up to Iowa. I'm going to try to make it to the financial aid and like offices tomorrow before they close... Assuming they're open. I get to play the enrollment/credit transfer/placement test/tuition/financial aid game tomorrow and all the following week. As usually happens with the UoI, I'm only vaguely sure of what I'm supposed to be doing and who I'm supposed to be talking to.

While sorting my clothes today I also found some bitchin' fabric that I'd forgotten I had. A little afraid to use it for something, though. I feel like it has been so long I'd just fuck it up. Well, we'll see.

Is it just me or does every pre-Olympic special about China seem to be a montage of 3rd world despair and human rights violations?

All of my time in Japan feels like a long weekend vacation, now.

I just heard a rumble of thunder in the distance. There are bright red dots of fury all over the weather map. I've not felt this sort of peace in a long time. It is strange how not having thunderstorms gets to you.

I've spent my day doing little but getting videos for Lee. Almost nothing else, really. In another day I'll have them done and burned. I hope she likes.

My parents seem to think that because I've been gone for a little under a year that I should have forgotten everything about this place. But, I've always had a strange memory for places. I don't remember why I was some places or who I met some places, but the places don't seem to fade... Sadly. I've already had nightmares about I-House filled with all the negativity that each wall and table and stairs held for me. In the dream it was full of even more unfriendly faces than actually lived there. Ugh. I hope I live a life in Iowa City. I'd like to erase all of last year that occured in, on, or near campus - including in that dorm - from my list of easily recalled memories.

Tomorrow I'll start studying kanji again...

Today finds me as yesterday: alone in my parents' house, house sitting and pet sitting. Sadly, while the cats have stayed the same annoying, aloofly entertaining creatures, the family dog is depressed. At least, he seems depressed. He's all pouty and not eating because his true masters are away. I've never been a fan of this dog as he stinks more than the average ugly mutt, but the constant doe eyes and untouched food bowl are starting to make me pity the thing.

Saw Akane for a bit yesterday. Hope I can see her again tomorrow. But, I feel like the biggest jackass making her come all the way down here when gas prices are so bad and she's so busy.

Torrents aren't the only file moving piece of software I finally have full access to. Now that I have real internet again, I have the opportunity to update the old domain that I share with Akane, but nothing to update it with. I think I've managed to diversify everything I do online. Blog is here. Email is gmail. Networking is Facebook along with photos. And, I've cut back almost everything else I used to do. I'm not sure if I should try to revive that domain or do like I'm thinking of and just invest a hella lotta time into my old mp3 rotation blog. I could spiff it up and make it a lot more interesting now that I've got a bit more practical and workable experience with the nihongo. We'll see, I guess.

The little sunburn I got on the little cruise is peeling a little, now. But, my bigger cosmetic concern seems to be my hair. I've taken full advantage of my parents' DVR option on their shiny new cable box and between the people I've seen while shopping, on the cruise, and on TV, I'm beginning to doubt my current blondness. I've seen a lot of bad fake blond and convincing fake blond and am not sure on which end of the spectrum I belong. I'm realizing all over again why I never did something like this with my hair while I was still in the states. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be smart just to go a fashionable and easily manageable dark brown before heading back to Iowa.

Oh, hey. Roll call. Who all is officially coming for AI and staying up in the little attic with me? Akane's coming and her sister is interested but may bow out to celebrate a friend's birthday. Tammy's for sure right? Was Alex coming this year? And, I know Naruto's coming early (Yay! My love!) but I can't remember what week Sari's supposed to visit Iowa City. I wonder how this will all turn out.

A little more than a week off the plane from Japan and I'm already sick of living out of a suitcase. And, of American lack of fashion. (No more t-shirts and flip flops!! Please?) But, this cable and high speed internet package my parents changed to is a wonderful thing. Having CNN again is so refreshing! Now I can obsess over the 24 hour news cycle without having to wait for troublesome internet video preloading. Today is the first day I've really been able to sit down and watch TV, though, since I've been back. The first two days my mother took me on an insane shopping spree that ended with me owning, no joke, half a dozen pairs of new shoes, two pairs of jeans (that fit!), an array of new shirts, and a dress or two on top of it all - not to mention a new cellphone (LG Shine in red) and two new external hard drives (two 250GB WD Passports). I'm a guilty, guilty, satisfied consumer.

By dawn on Saturday morning my entire immediate family and I were back at the airport and headed to New Orleans to board a cruise ship to Mexico. My mother, with the best of intentions, decided the best way to reacclimate me to the US and catch up with me after a year, was to travel some more. Um... No. Don't get me wrong I made the best of it and had a fantastic time poolside and lounging on the beach and stuffing my fat American face at the buffet, but a little genuine resting would have done just as well. Photo highlights below the cut.

( Carnival Cruise~ )


Facebook hasn't been sending out notifications since yesterday, it seems. Well, for my account. It makes things confusing.

Alright, alright. Back to chores.

I am back in the states.

Would anyone be willing to upload to somewhere like MegaUpload for me the songs: Katy Perry - Ur So Gay and Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl. I know someone must have this wrongness/hilarity on their computer right now! Mandy wants me to make a cellphone ringer for her out of the last line of "Ur So Gay". I'll be so thankful when I can use filesharing programs again...

( I apologise to all of you in English-speaking countries right now who have had to hear these songs thousands of times. Videos under the cut. )

Remember that day? It was such a beautiful day. It feels like a lifetime ago. I wish it was tomorrow.

So, entry of doom last week helped me realized I needed to gain some perspective. Since then I've been doing what I usually do when I need a little perspective: Diveing into a story. Obviously burned out on the Asian cinema and love-dovey bull shit, this past week I've marathoned the CW show "Supernatural". I honestly knew nothing about it until about two weeks ago. I'd heard the name mostly from, of all places, the drop_the_u com that I haunt because it is just a funny place. A lot of Brit and Aussie fans were posting asking questions about pop culture and lore in the states circa the late 80's and early 90's. Usually it would come out in the comments that the details were needed to spruce up a fic about the "Winchesters". After the name popped up about the 3rd time, google solved the mystery for me. Wasn't until I found tvshare and a series of posts with a full set of links to the series so far that I gave it a go.

( Read more... )

On a completely unrelated note, lately the not having a job is getting to me again. I want a job again so bad I can taste it. It tastes like onigiri. WTF. I don't know. Perhaps it has something to do with our Friday teacher giving us the most depressing outlook on our JLPT prospects possible. As a result, I'm sitting here just sort of looking at my homework page and willing it to finish itself.

Time for a shower. Then more demon hunting bros.

I'd say my soul is dead, but I don't believe in such things. Guess who just downgraded to "worthless sack of proteins"? Oh, me. For spring quarter my pathetic ass earned a 65% - officially the lowest course score I've ever received in my life. I think that's a "C-" somehow on the fishy scale they use at this piece of shit school, though. Doubt that makes any difference. I spend most of my days avoiding humanity and drying to get up the will to do things like eat an finish homework. Our teachers have decided to up the level of difficulty meaning I haven't earned a genuine passing score on any quiz or essay in weeks, to my memory. I hate every moment here. Most of class is serves no purpose and teaches me nothing. Because of the busy work and spirit-killing quizzes and essay-tests actual studying doesn't happen. Thanks to my personality I have very few friends. A few weeks ago I was called into a 3 hour conference with the head of the department in which I was told my teachers hate having me in their classes. Literally. I got complaints like "You close your books too loudly." And, "all your classmates find you disruptive and wish you weren't there." Anytime I cried, the man laughed at me. I feel like a trapped animal. Letting Maria assign me to this school was the worst mistake of my academic career. Every night I dream of a place where I might have value. I'm afraid that in all of this that the Trio has somewhat given up on me. I seldom see Hotaru, and when I do it seems like being around me is a chore. I haven't talked to Luna in months and assume she doesn't give a shit. And, when Akane came I was so panicked over finals, I wonder if I didn't just piss her off.

I hate this. I hate this place. I hate myself. I'm not in Japan anymore, I'm back in purgatory. I have no joy in my life. None. Nothing I look foreward to. Not a damn thing. It takes me at least 20 minutes to talk myself out of bed in the morning; to convince myself that it is worth it at all. I'm just waiting for it to end. I want this all to end. I don't know how I can avoid taking 3rd year over again. There's no way after being at this low level a school I can do well on an Iowa placement test. That's it. The end.

Retroactive hiatus. Obviously.

I'm not gone from the interweb, I just can't fit in time for Live Journal. At least, the time needed to really read or write or respond to anything. Email, Skype, Facebook... Please don't hesitate to find me, world!! I love you! I'll keep uploading pictures to Facebook as well, so...Yes.

Please pardon my lack of general communication skills. My brain has been abused lately.

Hm~ Before Retroactive Hiatus resumes: What have I been up to? Went to Osaka. Saw Monkey Majik and TVXQ in concert. (Bringing the total list of concerts I've seen here to: Tackey & Tsubasa, Amuro Namie, Monkey Majik, and TVXQ as well as an outdoor rock festival in Osaka.) Have/bought tickets to WaT ($25!!) and Hirai Ken. Trying to figure out how to see Arashi. Also, took the placement test and tested into the same class in rank but with a new class number in the 300's. I'm still in way over my head in class, and I'm even more afraid of speaking than I was before, but my understanding is improving greatly. And, the sense of cabin fever we all developed in the dorm of doom has thankfully since faded.

I've also watched a shit ton of dramas and anime lately. Highlights: Terra e.../Toward the Terra is my new love. When I watched it I got the feeling an Anne McCaffrey novel had become an anime. Would love to cosplay it, but I'm just too fat. Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture is amazing and I'm now searching the for the little microbe keychains around town. I'm thinking of redecorating the IC apartment to look like Mononoke. I'm glad I saw Beck after having been to a Japanese live house and met a bunch of the local band kids because it made so much more sense in context. After finally watching the end of Hanayome wa Yakudoshi I feel like I was duped into viewing a propaganda drama. After all the hype I somehow expected more angst from Nana the anime, but I still went out the next day and bought the most recent couple of manga to see what happened next. The discovery that the reading level required to read manga is attainable by an idiot just finishing up her second year's worth of language study was a beautiful one. I'm in the middle of Bambino now, but I've also been keeping up with Gundam 00 and watched the premire of Zettai Kareshi on the fuzzy TV downstairs last Tuesday.

And... That's it, actually. My life lately is rather plain. Pleasant, but plain. It is a pity that my life this will all end soon. Just a few months and its back to Iowa for me! Somehow that thought has me lately day dreaming about being a flight attendant and I don't know why. I guess I'm special.

Reenter Hiatus...now!

LJ Content Strike on March 21

I'm up for this.

Interview with Anton Nosik Wow. Somebody REALLY doesn't understand what paying customers are for.

Guess where I went~





To all of you at work... I'm not sorry.

And penis. PENIS.

So... I wore out the shutter button on the digital camera that was given to me as a gift a little over a year ago... and the repair estimate just came in for it. Total it would be $150. I've been re-researching cameras and... Is it really justifiable to repair? I think I'm going to just have to buy a new camera and maybe have this over-loved one re-evaluated in the States where technology is less of a rare thing. Maybe.

I feel like a supreme ass right now. I was almost up to 10,000 pictures on the thing, though. I guess it did life a full and busy life, that shutter button.

I'm schedule to recieve another delay notice a status update on my laptop from the HP repair center on Friday.

I R KEITORIN. DESTROYA OF TECHNOLOGEEEEE.

I've taken a break from regular dramas to indulge in something a little more... Fun. Orange Days did me in. I reached my limit for stupid love stories. So I wantched~

GARO
Supernatural knights, lots of leather and long flowy coats... A damsel that pulls of damsel pretty well. Amazing special effects. Just right fight sequences. Enough characters, dashing and attractive men, and pretty outfits to really immerse you in this fantasy world but not so much that you finish feeling unfullfilled or overwhelmed. Found out afterwards the lead guy was in a PoT musical as one of the guys on one of the other teams. Didn't notice then how amazing he was. By episode 6 I was absorbed in this crazy thing and screaming with glee at the screen everytime the hero did something. Ah~ It reminds me of those Saturday syndicated scifi and fantasy shows I love in the states. You know... Always filmed in Canada somewhere and never on a regular time slot. Under the radar, but still somehow mainstream. This is that. Watch it. You'll love it. I wish I could afford the jewelery for the show.


Sorta PV of the version of the closing theme sung by the actors. Can't believe the silver night was a teenager when he filmed this!

Ayakashi

Ever since I was shown clips from Mononoke I'd been meaning to watch this and that. I have yet to finish, and yet within one episode I was floored. Kabuki play anime! And, now I know why that Hajime Chitose song got so popular and had a PV when she's... Not quite that kind of singer.



Three cheers for Rhymester!

A TV station contacted our school and asked if they could borrow some foreigners for a variety show. Apparently they're going to make foreigners play ping pong with slippers as promo for the Japanese broadcast of the giant table tennis tournament occuring in China next week. I... totally forgot and so half the house is going, not including me, because I didn't wake up early enough to shower today. Buh.

I'm only a little jealous of those going because... I have no desire to be a foreign monkey on a TV variety show, but it would have been amazing to see how one of those is filmed in person. I mean, I know what it looks like, but still. If they ask again, I'm definitly along for the ride.

In other news, I forgot to mention ages ago, but I have tickets to a TVXQ/DBSK concert. And, Tim, giddy with the announcement of Ken Hirai's tour, asked me to tag along with him when he hits up Nagoya. So, that's on the schedule, now, as well. I still kinda want to see Arashi if they go on a summer tour early enough in the summer that I can go and possibly Monkey Majik, Koda Kumi, and/or Otsuka Ai.

In other, other news... I didn't make it to the post office today, either. Almost two weeks of not making it to the post office. Seriously, though. Why are there two posts offices in the area and both of them are over a mile walk from here? Whose idea was that? Huh? I feel like I need to gather provisions and assemble a party just to quest there to send anything. Geez.

I do appreciate this long break we have. I really do. But, really. This waking up at sunset and going to bed at sunrise stuff really ought to stop. I have Valentine's mini packages to send to two people that will be probably a month late. Why? Well, I haven't been concious during hours the post office is open for the past week. (The fact that its a 30 minute walk and I don't really understand the Japanese that the post office employees use doesn't help.)

I spent the "night" with Mai and Megan learning and sharing and googling all sorts of things. Highlights: World Cosplay Summit is held in Nagoya. Buh? Ikebukuro's Otome Road. Ikebukuro Pet-Cute-Cats store. Lucky Star really is funny. All the lovelies on my friendslist who went to Ohayocon rocked hardcore. Odaiba is now on my list. Inuyama is kinky. American cosplay is better.

....and other such things.

Maybe... Sleep now. Dawn approaches. THE SUN MUST NOT TOUCH MY VAMPIRE SKIN!

EDIT: I just realized everyone I know went to Katsucon. Holy shit.

So yesterday I went to another live. That should be capitol. I went to a Live. Not a concert, but one of those cover-charge-and-a-drink holes in the wall... or rather converted building basements where the stage isn't so much a stage as the entire end of the room and the total amount of standing room is not much larger in space than a hefty dorm room. Sick of being locked up inside avoiding harsh wind and mild cold, I dolled myself up - complete with teased pigtails tied with pink bows and a top as shiny as the layers of necklaces I piled on it. The first band was did a nice couple of covers of YUKI/Judy and Mary songs and an original song or two. During her amazingly true to the original rendition of Fugainaiya I rocked out which earned me a comment from the lead singer herself in Japanese along the lines of "Hey everybody! This pigtail girl here's feeling it! Groove like her!". She also approached me after their set and thanked me for being one of the only members of the audience to really dance and visually appreciate their music. She literally jumped back a foot when I replied in Japanese.

I had a Cassis Orange and some Whiskey and Coke and by the middle of the second band, I was thoroughly feeling the liqueur. That's was a-ok, though. Tim loaned me his shoulder so I didn't get trampled. The crowd warmed up to the second act and started to dance and move. The third band, friends of Megan and Tim's, were the highlight of the night. The first song began an instant mosh pit the likes if which I had never seen in Japan. The lead singer and bassist each body surfed the crowd. They presented a "free gift" of condoms thrown at the audience halfway through the set. It beat the shit out of the first time I saw them perform. Though, I'm told this was their last performance as a group. The bassist and leader wants to go a different direction and is starting a new band... maybe.

The last group was pseudo rap... One of those band/rap giant ensembles that Japan loves. Anyway, they were pretty damn good. Bought their CD and DVD combo. Will have to post their "PV" and CD rip when I get a computer again. After the performance we milled around waiting for the band. Ended up taking a somewhat drunken walk to a local McDonald's for a McWrap and fries. We were offered to come with the band and some groupies to karaoke until dawn when the trains started up again. I decided to head home with Tim. Gracious as he is, I think he's a bit peeved at me now. Still, it was an amazing night. I woke up today feeling like I'd been beaten up. Oh yeah. Hurt so good. I wish I could go to lives every weekend. I wish.

Meanwhile, in the world of broken technology...( Read more... )

In other news, lately I can't help but see myself as the creepy fat girl. I don't like feeling creepy. But, how does one shake a feeling of oneself being creepy?