ｖ（ｏ＾－＾ｏ） ヤホ～

AHOOOOOOY world!

Well, my super fantastic idea of resetting my router and all that seems to have gone bust on me, so this entire entry is being copy/pasted back in blog land from the hard drive of my compie comp. However, there is a much unexpected perk to doing it like this and that is that my sheet is absolutely blank and encourages me to fill it with all sorts of things. Being that I haven’t really had time to myself to sit down, ponder, digest, and let my mind just process before my pretty blue screen in a long while, I have lots to say and it’s likely not many will notice what I’m trying to express. Oh well. XD

To begin, my weekend started off fantastically. Actually, my week got progressively better from the long hell that was Monday. Monday was just super hard for me because I was so tired and so weary of school. Tuesday was lots better because I got to chill with D-Bang, whom I love for her gracious smiles and sunny persona. Wednesday was LAUNDRY! Yes! I finally have my Otou-san’s schedule down pat, so I do laundry on the days when he’s not around. Doing it like this might seem a bit extreme to you, but he’s a very schedule-oriented, shy Japanese man and having to take a shower while my delicates are in the dryer is apparently very embarrassing for him. Thursday was… Thursday? *laughs* I remember making plans to chill in the gym and watch people practice with Geri, but she suddenly canceled on me so I picked up my G-Event ticket and hiked it on home with D-Bang. I met her friend Rachel [I think it’s like the 50th time we’ve been introduced], who’s super sweet and got an awesome hair cut/dye job the day before. It was really funny because D-Bang couldn’t stop staring at her and going, “Wow, you look so pretty!”

As for meals, I’ve developed a penchant for bananas. This predilection for them has likely arisen from the fact that I miss my brother, a lot. While he was around I bounced between loving every moment with him to wanting to smack him upside the head for being a raucous ass. Now that he’s gone and I only get to hear from him via e-mail, I miss him. Distance really does make the heart grow fonder. However, I ate like a bunch of bananas everyday this week so I’m kind of BA NA NA’ed out. It’s much like how I’m tabehoudai-ed out, but still, my craving for banana delicious and unlimited amounts of yummy meat does come often.

I’ve recently discovered that now that I don’t have G-Splash practice, I’m hungrier than ever. It’s like for that full month and a half of workout hell that I went through, I was starving but didn’t know it, and now that I’m in recovery mode, my body is desperately fighting me to eat more and more. Last night I ate kaiten sushi with Greg and Ben, and I out ate both of them and had a beer to top off my meal. I felt like a salary man. *grins* It’s was a lovely role reversal. Greg had a tabehoudai later on to go to, which explains why he ate so little, but Ben just wasn’t all that hungry I think.

Boo! I’m jumping ahead of myself! OOOOOKAY~ Back to FRIDAY

Friday was sunny and beautiful. I decided to dress super American-like and rock out with a backpack and sneakers with ankle socks. *stage whispers* it’s the sneakers that give us snarky Americans away! After school, I spent a good hour at the school computer lab answering e-mails and fiddling with Facebook. Once I was done with that, I moseyed off to UENO! I walked all over Ueno and then some. Saw tons of homeless people and saw them in a massive crowd waiting for handouts, I think. I got bored of Ueno pretty quickly though because I’d walked through it quite briskly before with Arukoukai [which I am officially no longer a part of]. So, I decided I’d walk to ASAKUSA. I stopped by a 99cent store on the way there and bought some food [and more bananas!] because the “lunch” I ate in the 15-minute break between 1st and 2nd period earlier wasn’t keeping me juiced enough. My lunch was partaken of in a park near Asakusa loaded with little kids screaming and playing. Cutest thing I saw was this little boy calling to a group of little girls, getting ignored by said girls, and then him trying to throw a Frisbee above the metal fence separating the two and failing. It was picture perfect.

Asakusa was packed with tourists and was exactly as I remembered it from 3-4years ago. I even went to the shop where I bought my favorite fish-papered bookmarks from last time and got some wall decorations and more bookmarks. I blew 8,000 yen at that place, but I have no regrets because that’s the store I’m returning to for gifts for my family and friends. Everything there is so Japanese, but it has so much universal appeal that it doesn’t really matter. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE that store. I’m going to drag Mia and Greg to it soon, hopefully. Depends on when those two busy bees aren’t so busy.

I also found my MOST FAVORITE DESSERT EVER!!! I thought I could only ever find it in Kyoto, but I found it again in Asakusa and it was triply delicious. Black sesame seed ice cream!!!! My mom used to make this sweetened soup thing for us from time to time, and it was essentially brown sugar dissolved in water with black sesame seed paste in rice flour balls. I miss it. The reason why I’m craving it so bad is probably because I’m growing increasingly nostalgic of home.
After I walked all over Asakusa, I found like 5 different fugu restaurants which made me wonder why we went through all the trouble of eating it in Osaka. *shrugs* Still, super good times. After Asakusa, I walked back to Ueno, and then I walked all along Okachimachi which is a massive hodgepodge of shops selling everything! Again, it was exactly as I remembered it from years ago. Only this time around, I was alone and not as wide-eyed about everything Japanese. >_>
I got kind of bored of Okachimachi and decided to walk to Ikebukuro. I made it to Myogadani.
So, I kind of walk the width of Tokyo in a day, which just goes to show that it can be done.

Yesterday was BEN KING day! *smiles* Ben is this nice guy I’ve had Japanese with for a couple of years now. In 2nd year Japanese, we were in a group together and made a movie. The name of our group? BeATKuMi. It was an amalgamation of all of our names in Japanese, kind of. Ben, Amanda, Teresa, Christine [Kurisutein], and Mia. Well, he’s here in Japan and we met up with him yesterday in Shibuya, we being me and Mia. Christine’s also in Japan but I haven’t heard anything from her yet.

We were supposed to meet at 9.30 but my alarm didn’t go off, so I didn’t get there until like 9.50 and Ben was just waiting there with a super worried look on his face. Mia was also late, so we were just chatting about until she came. Once we were all grouped up with hoofed it over to the Starbucks in Tsutaya near the crazy Shibuya Crossing and got some coffee while we talked a bit more. Yesterday was mainly talking, chilling, and shopping. Ben got a really nice jacket from Zara’s and a shirt with not just ONE but TWO collars from a store in either Parco or OIOI. I think it’s OIOI but I’m not sure. We walked around a bit more after that and eventually headed out to Roppongi. Greg met up with us there. We did Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. Then, we went to Shinjuku and got some kaiten sushi. We spent quite a lot of time in Don Quixote and Greg was eyeing some adult goods with me. I don’t know why, but boys need girls to look at naughty stuff with them or else they’re just seen as pervies. *nods solemnly*

I got home pretty early and hopped into the shower. I still crashed kind of late though at about 1.30 am or so because I have the latter half of HYD’s 2nd season downloaded and I wanted to watch it. We were going to watch a movie a Roppongi Hills yesterday, but nobody wanted to pay lots for a movie and nobody wanted to watch the same movie. I eventually want to watch HYD Final though, so I’ll either do it alone or drag someone with me to do it.

Oh yeah! I got an obi and koshi-himo for my yukata! Now I’m all ready to matsuri it! The Tanabata festival is coming up soon, so I’m going to get all dressed up and do it up!

So far, Sunday has been super relaxed. I was going to meet up with Kay so that she could trim/cut my hair, but that plan is bust. We’re going to do it later because Miyako, who we met in Kyoto at the baKpaK hostel, is here in Tokyo! She’s this really awesome person with an amazing mixed accent that blends Japanese, French, and English all together. It’s fascinating. I’ve already done my reading homework for tomorrow and I should read the book that’s due to have been finished last Thursday. Yeah… it’s been a long couple of weeks.

It’s weird, but now that I have tons of free time back, I’m getting compounded left and right with assignments. There’s just no breathing room. I literally have no idea where my time goes sometimes. It just flies out of my hands and I’m left standing, scratching my head and going, “Huh?”

Well, it’s actually the 3month 3day mark, so here’s my newly updated opinion of JAPAN:

Would I ever willingly live here? No. But, if I loved someone here and had a purpose like working or eking out a life here, then yes. Japanese people I feel care too much about societal appearances and keeping them up. I’m such a bum and really lax about things like that, that people who constantly fix their hair or check their reflection in the mirror irk the heck out of me. Most of the Japanese people I’ve met seem genuinely nice and are open to new experiences, but they, are like me in that I too, have a very deep fear of failure. So, if there’s a chance that they’ll be embarrassed or won’t look 100% cool in society’s perception of them, they flip out and run the other way. I run when it’s almost guaranteed I’ll look like a tool. *smiles*

Anyhoo, I’m digressing again. I’m rather terrible at that. I feel like I’ve done everything there is to be done as a “tourist” in Japan. I’m all “tourist” out. I’ve done mostly everything that there is to be done to see “Japan” as a place of recreation and culture as perpetuated by the government as being authentic and recognized. Essentially, I’m over the well done point; I’m just rather burnt and crispy. I don’t know what I’m looking for in Japan anymore. It’s not the shrines, temples, ceremonies. It’s not in the hordes of people crowding the department stores, the lonely side streets of shady Tokyo, and the sweat-drenched peoples all up on each other in dark clubs. I guess, at this point in time, I’m not looking for anything. I just want to hang out with the friends I’ve made here. I want to eat and play with them. I want to go shopping for gifts for my family, get them things that will make their faces split with joy.

So, I’m kind of done with living in Japan and am gradually going into, “Oh, I’m going to leave soon” mood. I have things I want to buy before I go and that’s about it. Memories? Those would be nice too. Just wish they were packaged and kept well under pressure. *winks*
For my host family, well, it’s been an experience. They’re nice people. They’re good people. But, we’ve been dancing around each other for 3 months now and nothing has changed. There’s a limit to how considerate I can be and how I can expect them to be for me.

GOOD POINTS:
- Okaa-san is an amazing cook
- Meimi is a riot when I do get the chance to speak with her
- My room is a little haven and I have A/C in it

BAD POINTS:
- They weren’t ready for me and I wasn’t ready for them
- Otou-san works too much and when he isn’t overworked, the effects of his work still make him less than whole
- Okaa-san has little going for her beyond her family, which is good for some people, but I feel like she had aspired to be more
- Meimi is rebelling, very subtly so, but still… It’s not always fun to be around teenagers as they transition into adults, seeing their selfish helplessness is quite astonishing and makes me want to drop to my knees and apologize to my parents for the hell I put them through

Yeah… so that’s it. I kind of need to take a nap before I start on a sakubun that’s not due until Thursday and a book that’s actually quite interesting.

I hope that everybody reading this is taking good care of themselves and making sure that they’re okay. I feel like people are forgetting how important it is to run out in the rain sometimes or grab an ice cream with a friend.

Love,
T

UPDATE

Well, I still have time before this is posted up, so I’m just going to give a quick run down of my meals with the Matsumoto’s today. Once you read them, I’m sure you’ll realize that life, right now, is pretty sweet for me, meal-wise.

Breakfast: Coffee, egg and mushroom mix, a slice of raisin bread, salad, and a slice of watermelon
Lunch: Water and ramen with chashu.
Dinner: Roast beef with potatoes and carrots, rice, squash, daikon/hotate salad, miso soup, and water.

All the efforts G-Splash made to carve me into a new person are being buffed away by most delicious meals. I can’t say I mind when the means are so wonderfully yummy. Nothing I’ve eaten since Harupa has been, “Oh geez, why did I eat that?! GROSS!” Well, almost nothing, there was that unadon in Kyoto that bordered on disgusting and actually made Kay ill. >_<”
My nap was pretty useless. I didn’t actually sleep too well, but I did sleep. That’s all that really matters in the end isn’t it?

Because I think I can get away it… XD I’ll probably digest for a bit and then do down’s and up’s for a little while. Otou-san should be heading to bed until 8pm or so, and Meimi is heading into the shower now, so that gives me an hour to do everything without driving him nuts. ^^”

Oh yeah, if you can, watch “Last Friends” the Japanese Drama. It’s super good! It deals with lots of current issues that are rather rare I suppose, like domestic violence, infidelity, the consequences of child molestation, and gender confusion. I love it.

GO WATCH!