Destiny Forgotten

Help?

2008-02-26T15:29:21Z

Does anyone who is more lj savvy than me (which would be just about everyone) know if there is a way to get lj to send new posts to an e-mail address? I really want to keep up with what's going on with everyone, and it's just been impossible lately. Dial up at home sometimes won't even load lj, and I'll get in trouble if I spend much time on it at work... so I don't know what to do... *sniff* But if I could get it to send entries to my e-mail... then I could probably get away with checking it at work as long as my boss wasn't standing over my shoulder. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! I miss hearing about what everyone is up to!!

How's life outside of Missouri?

2008-01-24T16:50:47Z

Yeah, so, I know I've said this before, BUT... I'm really, really terrible at keeping up with journal-y things. (-_-)

Things have been kind of crazy for me, especially lately, and I really miss hearing from all of my friends! I wish I had more time to spend online. I'm hardly ever on at all anymore. *sniff* Luckily at work, we're not stuck with dial-up, so since I'm caught up on everything I need to do except for a couple of phone calls and I'm the only one here this morning, I'm going to take a few minutes for this. (^_^)

Let's see... new things in my life... bleh. Missouri is so terribly exciting. Work is going well. I'm now helping out as an administrative assistant in the mornings in addition to my ACT teaching in the afternoons, which is quite nice for me (at least paycheck-wise... maybe not free-time-wise). We're also getting lots of new ACT students, which is good. Toward the end of last year, it had really dropped off, and I was only getting a few hours a week. It's definitely the opposite now; I'm working from 10am-7pm today.

As far as other things in life go, they're not quite as positive. My family is having some major issues right now, which I'm not going to go into detail about right now. If you want to hear about it, it'd probably be good for me to share it with someone... just not here and now. I really hope I start making enough money to get my own place soon. I love my family, but they're causing me lots of stress right now.

Another thing that's both positive and negative at the same time, I got a new kitten! She's adorable and very sweet. She had been abandoned in an empty apartment next door to where my friend Jenelle lives, and I didn't want her to get sent to the pound by the landlady and put to sleep, so I brought her home. Unfortunately, both my dad and my cat of 7 years are quite unhappy about a second cat running around the house. My older cat, Gabby, has always had a hard time adjusting to new things. It took her almost a month when my parents moved into their new house for her to get used to the house and to quit hiding underneath things. I'm hoping if I give her some time, she'll adjust to the new kitten, too. Right now though, there is a lot of growling and hissing when they run into each other. (>.<) Needless to say, the new kitten is keeping me quite busy when I'm at home. I have to keep a close eye on her so that she and Gabby don't fight, so I don't have much time to sit down and do anything for more than a few minutes at a time while I'm at home. I really wish they'd get used to each other! If anyone has any advice, I'd be glad to hear it!

Anyway, I love you all and I miss talking to you, and I'm sorry I'm so very, very bad at keeping up with things online!

yuugurenotenshi @ 2007-10-08T21:31:00

2007-10-09T02:34:49Z

Internet at home has been giving me lots of problems, so here is a very brief rundown of what is up with me:

*Finally got a job as an ACT teacher at Huntington Learning Center (Hooray!)
*Car is having major break problems, but will probably fixed today
*Internet at home doesn't work at ALL on my Dad's computer, and while he is trying to fix it, our passowords keep getting changed and other things go wrong, and I spend lots of time not being able to get online

I'll expand on the important stuff next time I'm not borrowing a friend's computer to check e-mail and important things.

Sometimes things just don't work out the way we want them to

2007-09-25T14:53:10Z

I'm kind of discouraged about things right now. It's really strange to not be going back to school, and since I'm stuck at home for now, I'm really starting to miss all of my friends. I've been trying to find a job for about 2 months, and nothing seems to be working out. Everything that I want to do with myself depends on me being able to go on to grad school, and without getting a job and saving as much money as I can, I just can't afford to go. Unfortunately, my fancy degree in Anthropology/Asian Studies doesn't really seem to be a whole lot of help to me with the job searching in Springfield, MO. (-_-)

This about sums up how I feel about things right now:

I know I'm smart and a quick learner and that I could be a successful employee for just about anyone that would hire me... I just don't seem to be able to convince anyone else of that since I don't have the amount of work experience everyone seems to be looking for. Anyone have any job-searching advice? I could use some.

I'm still alive!

2007-09-17T16:01:31Z

Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything. I've always been bad at keeping up with journal-y things. (>o<) Summer was busy with helping with lots of wedding stuff for my friend Shannon's wedding (I was her maid of honor), and then with trying to figure out what in the hell I want to do with myself now that I've graduated from Tulane. My family has also been going through some difficult times, and that's kept me distracted and unmotivated to fight dial up internet to do the things online that I want/should be doing. Currently I'm in the middle of trying to find a job with decent pay that I can keep for about a year before I can hopefully go off to grad school. I have an interview with AT&T this afternoon, which will hopefully be helpful. At this point, I really can't be all that picky about where I want to work. My Tulane Anthropology/Asian Studies degree really isn't all that helpful in Springfield, MO (^_^;;).

Anyway, I love and miss all my far away friends and I'm sorry I've neglected lj so terribly!!! I'll try to do better. Maybe later on this afternoon after my interview I'll have some more time to sit down and make a more detailed entry. <333333333333333333

Dial-up Internet is my mortal enemy

2007-05-31T00:21:20Z

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that I'm alive and safely back home in Missouri. I have all of my stuff from Tulane in addition to two or three boxes of stuff from Japan that I need to go through and try to find space for in my room... so I'll be busy with that for a while. As of right now I don't even have space to set up my own computer on my desk. (>.<)

My family is throwing me a graduation party, which is exciting and makes me happy. (^_^) It also means I get to help set things up and cook for it, which is also fine, but it means less time to go through my many, many boxes until after this next weekend.

Hmmm... in other important news, I'll be pretty busy helping my friend Shannon get things in order for her wedding this summer (I have my bridesmaid dress and it fits! Yay!!). Her wedding is July 7th. I also need to plan a time to get together with Chandra so we can look at grad school stuff, hopefully get some visits from out-of-town friends in the next month or so, and hopefully find a decent paying job in the near future. Anyone have any brillant ideas for what an Anthropology/Asian Studies degree from Tulane will help me do in rural MO? Probably not much...

That's pretty much it for now, not too terribly exciting. Once I get a job, I'll be able to save up some money for fun things and perhaps visiting awesome friends that live in more exciting places. (^_^)v

Time for Graduation!

2007-05-13T16:21:37Z

I'm FINALLY done with finals and my grades are posted and I managed to uphold my ridiculously high standards for myself, which makes me happy.

Now all that's left to do is graduation stuff:

May 17th: Phi Beta Kappa initiation ceremony

May 18th: Under the Oaks Ceremony for Newcomb graduates, Newcomb-Tulane Awards Ceremony, and Wave Goodbye party (with free food!)

May 19th: GRADUATION!

Although I'm really happy to be done with the semester, thinking about graduating leaves me a little bittersweet. I'm really glad I've accomplished so much, but at the same time I'm not really ready for more goodbyes. I already had so many goodbyes last semester to Japan and all of my friends there, and now it's New Orleans's turn. At least I'll probably be too busy over the next week with packing and hanging out with people and graduation events to think too much about it.

<33333 to everyone. I miss all of you and I'm sorry I'm so crappy about posting stuff!

AHHHHH!

2007-04-30T13:31:39Z

Things to do before the end of the semester:

Final Native Arts of North America Book Report - 4 pages, due 4/30 (done)
Writing Intensive Archaeology of Gender Paper - at least 20 pages, due 5/1 (maybe done)
Paper for Japanese History - 6 pages, due 5/1
Paper for Anthropology Proseminar - 10 pages, due 5/4
Paper for Dialectology - 7-12 pages, due 5/6
Archaeology of Gender Final Exam - 5/7
History of Japan Final Exam - 5/8
Native Arts of North America Final Exam - 5/12

Graduation! - 5/19

And then it's over...

So if I'm not around much between now and the 13th or so... this is why. (>.<)

Such a productive weekend...

2007-04-10T05:03:54Z

Yes... so I got sucked into playing about a MILLION hours of Final Fantasy X over the long weekend. I started playing it a couple of years ago and never got around to finish it because of other things, and after making Nissa finish KH2, she decided that I needed to finish FFX... which led to me probably playing more video games this weekend that I have in the entire past month... and I'm still not done! (^_^;) But that just gives me more distractions later this week, right??

The semester is nearing the end, which is exciting and scary all at once. I have a 20 page paper due on Thursday, which is at about 17ish pages now, and I haven't even LOOKED at what else is due this week. >.< I'm really excited for the semester to end... but at the same time, I'm really not ready to be done with being an undergraduate. Everything just seems to be over so quickly... first Japan... now my entire undergraduate experience. It sucks to have to say so many goodbyes in a year. Meh. I guess I'm kind of in a melancholy mood from having to read about the rape of Nanking for my Japanese history class. Not the happiest topic in the world...

ANYWAY... for anyone who reads this and still cares, I WILL post pictures and fun stuff about spring break in Florida (hopefully soon... I'm so bad at keeping up with this). I'm just too tired to try right now.

Yes... I'm a geek...

2007-04-04T16:48:34Z

But I has ROXAS shoes!!! *squee*

I don't have time for a long post, but this warranted sharing (and I wouldn't have gotten any work done ANYWAY if I didn't squee about them a bit). (^_^)

I <3 Payless and Airwalk.
They also have:

Axel
http://www.payless.com/Catalog/productdetail.aspx?ItemCode=56138&ProductColor=White&Width=Regular&TLC=Mens&SLC=MensAthletics&BLC=MensAthleticsSneakers

Demyx
http://www.payless.com/Catalog/productdetail.aspx?ItemCode=55631&ProductColor=Black&Width=Regular&TLC=Womens&SLC=WomensAthletics&BLC=WomensAthleticsSneakers

and Diz
http://www.payless.com/Catalog/productdetail.aspx?ItemCode=56155&ProductColor=Blue&Width=Regular&TLC=Boys&SLC=BoysCasual&BLC=BoysCasualsCasuals

That's all for now! If anyone is interested, I'll try to get some spring break pictures up over the long weekend.

All good things must end...

2007-03-26T04:05:03Z

Alas... But Spring Break was awesome!!!

Disney World was wonderful.
Tara-chan is amazing (as usual).
Busch Gardens was super cool.
I am exhausted, but quite happy (except for the whole going to class tomorrow thing.)

I have lots to share about the past week, but it will have to wait. I'll try to post some pictures and fun things when I get time this week!

yuugurenotenshi @ 2007-03-18T01:23:00

2007-03-18T06:27:33Z

Things have been hectic-ly busy lately, BUT tomorrow my friend Nissa and I are leaving on our Spring Break trip to Florida! I'm so excited!! I get to have fun at Disney World and see Tara!11 *happy dance* I will probably not have much access to computer-y stuff at all for the next week, so lj will be even more neglected than usual. Gomen!!

And now, it's off to bed for me. The shuttle taking us to the airport tomorrow leaves at 7am... which means I ought to get myself up and out of bed around 6ish. (>.

Silly little game

2007-02-04T23:27:43Z

This is one of those silly little chain-letter-type games... but this one actually amused me and made me giggle, so I thought I'd share in case anyone else wanted to waste about 3 minutes of their time. (^_^)v

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS -
DON'T CHEAT WHATEVER YOU DO
OR IT WON'T WORK AND
YOU WILL WISH YOU HADN`T.

TAKE 3 MINUTES
TRY THIS - IT WILL FREAK YOU OUT.

THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO ME SAID
HER WISH CAME TRUE 10 MINUTES AFTER SHE FORWARDED THE EMAIL

NO CHEATING!!!!

THIS GAME HAS A FUNNY / CREEPY OUTCOME.

DO NOT READ AHEAD, JUST DO IT.

IT TAKES ABOUT 3 MINUTES - WORTH A TRY

1st. Get PEN and PAPER

2nd. WHEN CHOOSING NAMES, MAKE SURE THEY ARE REAL PEOPLE THAT YOU ACTUALLY KNOW

3rd. GO WITH YOUR FIRST INSTINCTS !!!!! Very important for good results.

4th SCROLL DOWN

ONE LINE AT THE TIME
DON`T READ AHEAD
otherwise
YOU WILL RUIN THE FUN.

1. On a blank sheet of paper, WRITE NUMBERS 1 through 11 in a COLUMN on the LEFT.

2. Next to the NUMBERS 1 & 2,

WRITE DOWN ANY
2 NUMBERS YOU WANT.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE NUMBER?

3. Next to the NUMBERS 3 & 7,

WRITE DOWN THE NAMES OF TWO MEMBERS
OF THE OPPOSITE SEX.

CAUTION: DO NOT LOOK AHEAD or IT WILL NOT TURN OUT RIGHT

4. WRITE ANYONES NAME

(like FRIENDS or FAMILY...)
next to 4, 5, & 6.

DON`T CHEAT OR YOU`LL BE UPSET THAT YOU DID

5. WRITE down FOUR SONG TITLES in 8, 9, 10, & 11

6. Finally,

MAKE A WISH

ARE YOU READY?
HERE IS THE

KEY TO THE GAME

1. THE NUMBER of PEOPLE THAT LIKE YOU is found in

SPACE 2

2. THE PERSON IN SPACE

3 IS THE ONE YOU LOVE

3. THE PERSON YOU LIKE but your relationship CANNOT WORK is in

SPACE 7

4. YOU CARE MOST about the PERSON you put in

SPACE 4

5. THE PERSON YOU NAME IN NUMBER 5 IS THE ONE WHO

KNOWS YOU VERY WELL.

6. THE PERSON YOU NAMED IN 6 IS THE YOUR

LUCKY STAR

7. THE SONG IN 8 IS THE SONG THAT MATCHES WITH THE

PERSON IN NUMBER 3

8. THE TITLE IN 9 IS THE SONG FOR THE

PERSON IN 7

9. THE 10TH SPACE IS THE SONG THAT TELLS YOU MOST ABOUT

YOUR MIND

10. AND 11 IS THE SONG TELLING HOW YOU

FEEL ABOUT LIFE

11. NUMBER 1 IS YOUR

LUCKY NUMBER

repost this
WITHIN AN HOUR OF READING THIS.

IF YOU DO, YOUR WISH WILL COME TRUE.

IF YOU FAIL TO, IT WILL BECOME THE OPPOSIte

Bleh

2006-12-28T21:16:29Z

Why is everybody getting sick?? I finally got caught up reading everyone's livejournals and messages and stuff, even though it took me FOREVER. I made it safely back home after 3 horrible flights (don't wanna fly anymore for a long, long time)... but on the other hand, I got to see Hawaii and I did make it home with all my luggage and in one piece. My cold that I had the whole last week or two in Japan refuses to leave, and has instead gotten worse, although I'm sure I'm not nearly as close to dying as my poor Tara-chan. *snuggles for the Tara* Maybe I should have listened to the Japanese people and gone to the hospital with my cold before I left Japan. (^_~) Christmas was good, it's good to see family and friends again, and dial-up internet continues to suck majorly. If you wanna know more about anything in particular, let me know, and I'll post more. I'm not usually online so much when I'm at home because I get frustrated with the uber-slowness of my connection. Feel better everyone who's under the weather!!! At least there are more legal drugs here in America than there were in Japan. *clutches her sudafed* Much love to everyone!!!

My Xmas Stocking

2006-12-19T02:38:59Z

This looked like fun. ^_^

Xmas Stocking

leave a gift for yuugurenotenshi

get your stocking

Speaking Partner <3

2006-12-03T15:49:25Z

I set today aside forever ago for my speaking partners. We always eat lunch together on Tuesdays, but other than that, we really don't get to do a whole lot together because of our busy schedules. We sat down a few weeks ago to scour our schedules for a day that would work for all of us, and we found one!!

Originally, we talked about going to Osaka Castle, but Yuki did some research about places to go on the internet and decided it would be more fun to go to the big aquarium in Osaka. Harumi couldn't come because she had a fever today *sniff*, but Yuki, Tsukasa and I had sooooooo much fun!!

This was the first time I'd EVER been to an aquarium. I mean, when I was a kid, we always had an "aquarium" in our house with little tiny goldfish... and I always knew there were big exciting aquariums out there SOMEWHERE... but it was just never somewhere I had a chance to go. We went to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan which is HUUUUUUGE. It has 8 stories. I didn't realize how big it was while I was there because the way it is set up, it is all ramps that circle around the huge aquariums. It is split up into different sections for different parts of the world: Japan Forest, Aleutian Islands, Monterey Bay, Gulf of Panama, Ecuador Rain Forrest, Antarctica, Tasman Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Pacific Ocean, Seto Inland Sea, Kelp Forrest, Coast of Chile, Cook Straight, Japan Deeps, and Floating Jelly Fish. All of it was simply amazing. I think my speaking partners and I spent most of our time gaping, making surprised sounds, and going "oh....sugooooooooiii!"

It's late now, so here's the top ten things I learned while at the aquarium today (there shall be pictures, and perhaps more gushing in the future):

10. What I see as a beautiful, exotic fish, Japanese people see as dinner. I can't tell you how many times I heard "Ah! Oishisou!" (Ah! Looks delicious!) while at the aquarium today.
9. Most things in an aquarium won't hold still long enouigh for you to get a good picture...
8. HOWEVER, penguins are complete and total camera whores.
7. Dude there are fish that could EAT me! (Not that I didn't know this before... but being up close to one really drives that point home.)
6. Nemo is a lot smaller in person than he seemed in that movie.
5. Otters are one of the most adorable creatures ever.
4. Japanese crabs are DEFINITELY aliens from another planet plotting our demise.
3. Santa lives in Japan, not the North Pole, and on his vacation days, he goes swimming with the fishes in the Osaka Kaiyukan.
2. Japanese boys are not too cool to have staring contests with fish.
1. MY SPEAKING PARTNERS ARE THE AWESOMEST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PoT Doujinshi

2006-12-02T16:28:22Z

I promised some pictures of Pot doujinshi, so here they are! *totally did not spend her time taking pictures of doujinshi covers instead of studying for exams next week* (^o^;) ehehehe

E-Plus:

I MIGHT sell some of these to a good home... I dunno... it may hinge on how terribly in debt I am by the time I make it back into the U.S. and what kind of offers I get... =^.^=

And a little Cookie:

Front Cover

Back Cover

Front Cover

Back Cover

Front Cover

Back Cover

Cookie doujin seem to have lots and lots of text stories in them... I think that means I'm either buying the wrong doujinshi... or I need to work on my Japanese reading skills. ^^;;

Now that I've successfully avoided studying for a good hour or two uploading these... I think it's time to call it a night. =^.^=

Tee Hee

2006-12-01T16:29:14Z

Me in a doujinshi store is a bad, bad thing (I am slowly running out of room for new stuff on the shelf above my desk that holds my magazines and manga and doujinshi ^^;) ... BUT...

... guess what I found today?? ^_____^

E-Plus PoT doujinshi!!!! =^.^= I seem to remember SOMEONE mentioning them forever ago... hmm... wonder who that was. XD

Look at the pretty:

I have no clue which djs a certain someone might NEED... but I picked up a couple, so I'm sure we could work something out. XDDDD

I'd take more pictures to share, but 'tis late, and sleep is calling me.

What a Weekend

2006-11-12T15:33:55Z

Yeah, so it's been forever AGAIN since I've posted anything on my lj. Lots of stuff has been going on. Been busy worrying about my Tara, who had a family crisis and had to go back home from Kansai Gaidai to the US, and school stuffs. Luckily, things seem to be going better for Tara! I <3 her, so it makes me feel much better to know that. I'm afraid from here on out, the semester is only going to get busier school-wise... which sucks, because I've hit that point in the semester where I really don't wanna do anything anymore, PLUS, I'm in JAPAN, an I only have about a month left here, and I really just wanna be on vacation here and not do school stuff. ^^;; Oh well, I must "ganbatte" some more and make it through without screwing up my grades. This weekend was packed with stuff though! I got to go to Nara on Saturday to see "kouyou" and deer and Todaiji temple. Nara was beautiful, but it was rainy and cold all day. The deer in Nara are amazing. They're so used to people that you can pet them. Japanese deer are smaller than American deer, and the ones in Nara walk right up to you in hopes of getting food. They sell special crackers there, called "senbei" that the deer love. If you have the crackers, the deer kind of flock around you and won't leave you alone. They do this cute bowing type movement with their heads when they want food. It's really neat. I got to pet some of the deer and take some pictures. The Japanese believe that the deer are divine messengers, so they are protected and well-taken care of in Nara. One of the most amusing deer-related things that happened while I was there is the deer that decided to cross the cross-walk while we were waiting for the light to change. It paused to look at all of the people waiting for the light to change, and then it decided it didn't want to wait and proceeded to cross the road at a leisurely pace stopping traffic.

But I wanna cross the road NOW!

After making our way through the park with the deer, we went to Todaji temple. Todaji temple is a very famous temple in Nara and it houses a huge "daibutsu." The temple building is the largest wooden structure in the world. Because it is made entirely of wood, it has caught on fire twice, and it is now 1/3 the size that it was originally. There were small scale models in the temple of what it originally looked like. It was truly an amazing structure.

Me and Amanda with Todaji temple in the background.

After Todaji, we headed to this beautiful floating pavillion to see the changing leaves. It was really beautiful, and I have lots of pretty pictures, some of which are up on my photobucket account. (If anyone doesn't have the link and wants it, let me know.)

Today, I got up early to meet Amanda and Crystal and some of their friends at Hirakata Station to head to Osaka. (After I freaked out about phone cards. Never buy Sprint phone cards! They suck!! I got 9 min out of a 300 min phone card once all of the extra stuff was taken out because I'm calling from Japan. And this was after I spent most of my morning trying to get acces numbers for the damned card to begin with! Grrrr... Thank you sooooo much for the access numbers Chandra!!! I don't know what I'd do without you. ^_^ Ai shiteru!!) Today in Osaka they were having a big demo-show for the Nintendo Wii, and Amanda and Crystal talked me into going. I don't get to play very many games because I don't have the time to, and new game systems are always too expensive for me, but the Wii actually looks really awesome. I hadn't heard so much about it since I don't go out of my way to keep up with new stuff since it makes me sad if I can't afford it...but I learned a lot about it today, and it really does look like a lot of fun. It's so different from all of the systems before it. We had to wait in a huge line for about 30-45 min to even get into the big convention center where they were having all the demos, but we got a free bag out of it (and to see demos and try it out of course... but that I can't take home with me). ^_^

After that, we headed back to Shinsaibashi to do some shopping, which was fun, but we didn't have as much time as I would have liked because I needed to be back here to write a paper. We ate at Mos Burger, which was AMAZING! Best fast food burger I've ever had. I'm going to have to try to go back again before I leave. Sooooo yummy. I wish we had them in America. I also found some cute arm warmers, which besides being extremely popular and stylish in Japan right now, will let me wear some of my tank tops a little longer. ^_^ One of the brands was "Pure Vanilla" and this was the label:

This is really amusing... at least to me... maybe I've been listening to too much Gackt. ^^;;

(Ooooh!! In addition to the arm warmers, I also found some sweaters at the nearby fashion mall that fit me, but that has nothing to do with my weekend, that was randomly last week on my way home from class. ^_^) On the way back to the station to head home, Amanda and I decided to hit up Starbucks since it has been cold outside. They have seasonal lattes now! I got a Mint Chocolate Mocha latte, and it was really good. Just what I needed to fuel me to get back home and work on that paper.

And now... here I am staying up later than I meant to updating this loverly journal. =^.^= I think it's definitely bed-time now. Leave me some love!!! I stayed up extra late for you. ^_^

Oyasumi!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

2006-10-31T12:13:22Z

ひさしぶり！　It seems like it's been forever since I've updated...but I'm here now, exhausted but ready to share. ^_^ Happy Halloween!!! Today has been an awesome day. Even though Halloween isn't really celebrated here in Japan, because Kansai Gaidai has so many ryuugakusei, that they had a Halloween party! I didn't really have a costume, 'cause I didn't bring one with me and didn't have the time or money to invest in getting/making one here, so Tara-chan was nice enough to lend me some awesome goth clothes, and I did my own make up and hair, so I got to dress up. ^_^ Because the Japanese don't really celbrate Halloween, anyone who was dressed up pretty much got stared at all day by the Japanese students. I only had Japanese class this morning, so I dressed up before going to class. Fujii-sensei took a picture of those of us in the class that dressed up after class, which I thought was really cute. Then I got to meet my speaking partners for lunch, and they were all really impressed with my outfit and told me I looked cute. After lunch, they all wanted pictures with me, too. Then I got to go back to the CIE and take pictures of different people in their costumes and help my friend Crystal straighten her hair. A lot of the Japanese students would come up to groups of us and ask to take photos with us. It was a lot of fun. There were even some Japanese students who dressed up and really got into it. Tara did an amazing photo shoot with all of our friends that dressed up in gothic lolita clothes. (うらやましいよ！　I want cute picturs of me...*pout*) She's an awesome photographer, and even though I haven't seen very many of the pictures she took yet, I'm sure they're amazing. Hopefully once she gets them sorted and stuff, she'll get them up online and I can post a link here or something. I'll have to work on uploading my pictures from today too. They're nothing special, but I like pictures, and it shows some of what I got to do today. I had so much fun!!! There were other festivities at the CIE, including a trivia contest, free food, band demonstrations, and a costume contest. By the time everything was over, it was after 8pm and I was exhausted because I had been at school since 9:45am. Now it's time for some relaxation... I have my long day tomorrow (5 classes! Gah!!!!), and my classes start at 9 am. Boo. At least I should sleep well tonight. ^_^

Sakamoto-san

2006-10-22T14:26:21Z

For my spoken Japanese class a couple of weeks ago we had to meet with homestay host family members in order to practice our keigo skills. One of the people I met with was Mayumi Sakamoto. She invited me to her home, so this afternoon I hopped on the train to Neyagawa-shi and was met at the station by her homestay student, Alba, and her friends. We walked from the station to the Sakamoto residence. Once there, Sakamoto-san presented us with all kinds of yummy food for lunch. We had snack foods, like chips and crackers and chocolate to munch on. Then she brought out the most amazing yakitori I've ever eaten. It was soooo yummy. After that, we had okonomiyaki with buta and tako and then cheese fondue with bread, potatoes, and small sausages to dip in the cheese. おいしかった！　Then she had us all pick a kanji and had her son make examples of how the kanji should be written in 書道 (Japanese calligraphy, pronounced "shyodou"). We got to practice on big pieces of paper, and then we had to write it on much smaller pieces of paper to put in frames that she gave us. Mine says　ゆめ (dream):

For dinner, her homestay student, Alba who is from Spain, made paella. Even though I didn't like everything that went into it (like tako and kai), it was really delicious overall, and it was neat to try something new. We also got to eat maron (chestnuts) and fresh fruit with dinner, which was really nice since fruit here is expensive and I don't get to eat it all that often. After dinner we played some card games, and I learned a Spanish one and a Japanese one. There was one Japanese game that they taught us that Sakmoto-san and her husband and her daughter played with us. It was really fun, and I wish I knew what it was called so I could hunt it down. I'll have to ask Sakamoto-san. She e-mails me a lot to wish me luck on tests and tell me to be careful. ^_^ I had lots of fun, and I'm really glad that I got to go! Plus, I got to practice my Japanese... and actually my Spanish listening skills. ^^;; I've forgotten so much Spanish since high school... but I can still understand some of it! Yatta! Anyway, I think that's it from me for the evening. I'm happy, and I think I'll call it a night soon. お休み、みんな！

TGIF

2006-10-20T12:54:47Z

Yeah... so in high school, it could never be Friday soon enough... then once I went to college, I almost always had LITTLE bit of free time... so it never matterd so much... but now that I've experienced a week of Japanese language midterms here at Kansai Gaidai in Japan, I WORSHIP the fact that it is Friday!!!!!! To celebrate the survival of our last Japanese language exam of the week, my friend Tara and I (and her poor broken toe >_<) went to Umeda to shop for doujinshi to help us recover. ^_^ Over the semester I have gradually filled an entire section of the bookshelf above my desk with manga and doujinshi and stuff... and eventually I will have to figure out how it is all going to get home. But I can worry about that later. Tara and I ate an awesome dinner down in Hirakata-shi on the way back. It was a very traditional Japanese-looking restaurant, and we had to take our shoes off at the door. The food was amazing, and it wasn't too expensive. I think I may have a new favorite restaurant in Hirakata-shi... now I just need Tara to remind me of what the name of the restaurant was. ^^;;

Oh! To encourage Tara to get better (since she has been nice and played with me even though she feels crappy, and helped me through my lovely mid-term crisis, ick) I drew her a chibi of herself and she liked it! I got me some hugs out of that one, AND she put it up on her lj. I feel all sorts of special and junk. Tee hee. And my brain is totally shot after this week... so if I seem out of it, forgive me. I'm soooooooo not getting up early for ANYTHING tomorrow.

yuugurenotenshi @ 2006-10-17T05:06:00

2006-10-17T10:08:10Z

So... our midterms for Japanese here are INSANE... probably part of why I've been so stressed out this past week. We have an oral and a written exam in our spoken class, and then a written and a reading test in our reading and writing classes. And that's ONLY the tests in my Japanese language classes. Boo. Tomorow is my oral exam, and for it we have a role-playing situation that we have to do with the teacher for about 5 minutes... but a lot of it is going to be stuff we have to come up with on the spot. Fujii sensei is going to pretend to be Yamashita, a member of a host family we have the opportunity to visit. We have to walk into the classroom and pretend it is the Yamashita residence and introduce ourselves properly using keigo and grammar that we have learned in the past 4 chapters of the book. In addition to just having to use keigo and have a conversation, our situation includes the fact that our bus was late and we didn't bring a map, so we are showing up late to meet Yamashita, and we must explain that and apologize. THEN it's question and answer time, where sensei can ask us whatever she wants, and then we have to have about 3-5 questions prepared to ask her. Not looking forward to this... I'm gonna type out my convo here for practice, so if you wanna read it (or try to) go ahead. If you really care, feel free to ask questions and I'll play sensei and teach some Japanese. ^_^

＊Knock＊
ごめん下さい。
おじゃまします。お待たせいたしました。はじめまして。
私はクレメンセンメガーンともうします。
アメリカのルイジアナしゅうのチューレン大学からまいりました。
今関西外大で留学をしております。
どうぞうよろしくおねがいいたします。
おくれてすみませんでした！いつは、バスが十一時に来るはずでしたが、おくれてしまいました。
そして、地図を持ってまいらないで、家を出かけましたから、道にまよいました。
もしわけございません！地図を持って来ればよかったです。

After that introduction, we have to use a passive（うけみ）sentence:
電車で私はだれかに足をふまれました。

And we have to have questions ready to ask "Yamashita-san."
毎日何時にお起きになりますか。
どんな食べ物をよくめしあがりますか。
外国にいらっしゃったことがありますか。
どこに旅行なさいますか。
どんあ仕事をなさいますか。
よく着物をおめしになりますか。
毎日何時におやすみになりますか。

Fun, ne? Sooooo can't wait for tomorrow to be over... I swear that is going to be the longest 5 minutes of my life.

Yoshimoto Kazoku wa Totemo Shinsetsu da!!

2006-10-13T14:18:58Z

Tonight I got to visit the home of my home visit family here in Japan for the first time! すごく楽しかった！！　本当にうれしいい！！　　

After my classes this morning, I went down to Hirakata station and rode the train to Neyagawa where they live. Kumi, the daughter who is a Kansai Gaidai student, picked me up from the station in the family car and drove me back to their house. Because it was a Friday, I only got to meet her mother. Her fater was still at work, and her brother has his own apartment, so he only visits on the weekend. Kumi said that next time I come, I will have to come on the weekend so that I can meet them too. ^_^ They have two dogs, Rai and Sakura. They are miniature collies, and adorable. Rai is the boy, and he wasn't overly fond of me. He barked at me every time he saw me even though I tried to be friends with him. *pout* He was still adorable, though. Sakura was the girl, and she was cute and shy, but warmed up to me and let me pet her. Kumi and I walked the dogs while her okaasan finished dinner, and I got to hold Sakura's leash. Sakura got really exicted and walked really fast, while Rai kept pausing to turn around and glare at me. It was really amusing. I guess he thought he needed to keep an eye on the foreigner. XD I gave Kumi and her mother a book about the Ozarks with lots of pretty pictures from Missouri in it, and one of the santas that my grandfather carves. They were really impressed with them, and it made me happy. I also took photos of my family and friends to share with them, and they kept complimenting my family. They said that we were all good-looking and that my parents looked like very nice people. It was very flattering. They even told me that I am more beautiful in person than I am in my senior pictures... which is sooooo not true!!!! Yoshimoto-okaasan fixed coffee and brought us cookies to eat while we looked at pictures. Kumi then gave me a tour of their house. I think Japanese houses are amazing. They have much less furniture than American houses do. Kumi asked me what the biggest difference was between American and Japanese houses and I told her I thought it was the fact that Japanese houses don't have hardly any chairs. The Yoshimoto house had beautifully painted screens everywhere. There were gorgeous pictures of pine trees and plum trees and bamboo and other landscapes. There was also some beautifully carved wood that was more plum trees and bamboo and something else I can't remember. A lot of the rooms in a Japanese house seem quite empty compared to an American house, but it is beautiful in its simplicity. Later, Kumi and I helped each other with homework, and then we helped her okaasan fix dinner by peeling and cutting up potatoes and onions. Before they let me help, they put me in an apron, and then went on and on about how cute I was in it. (Metchya kawaii!) Kumi even made me stand while she took pictures!

For dinner we had rice, miso, some kind of fish covered in sesame seeds and fried, nikujaga (beef, potatoes, and onions stewed together), and some kind of pumpkin. Zenbu wa oishikatta desu yo!! Sakana mo! Amerika de sakana ga daikirai dakedo, Yoshimoto-okaasan no sakana ga suki datta! Ureshii!! I've been so impressed with Japanese food the entire time I've been here. Everything is always so fresh and delicious. I eat lots of things here that I'd never eat at home. After dinner we sat at the table and talked. It is still really difficult for me to carry on a whole conversation in Japanese. There are so many words I don't know!! >_< I still have a lot to learn, and even though that is sad, I am so excited that I have the opportunity to be in Japan!!! Yoshimoto-okaasan said that I was welcome to come take a bath at their house sometime. I told them that in the dorms, we only have showers and not Japanese-style bathtubs, and they were shocked. She told me I needed to come and use theirs. Yoshimoto-okaasan gave me a handkerchief and a little thing that you rest your chopsticks on. I had so much fun spending time with them, even if we didn't always understand each other perfectly. By the time I left their house, it was almost 9:30 pm and Kumi had picked me up from the station at around 2:00 in the afternoon. It was an absolutely amazing evening.

Testing....

2006-10-12T09:45:15Z

Yeah... so there's this little drop down box on this update journal page that I just noticed... it says "Insert..." and one of the options is image... so we're gonna see what that does.

I figured I'd attempt to share some Engrish to go along with this evening's theme. ^_^ Now to see how this works...