Dancin' in the Moonlight

Regarding the earthquake in Japan

nest — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 00:41:09 GMT

Should have put this up in my LJ sooner, but I wanted to let people know that I'm okay. I'm with my mom now, and I've gotten in touch with all the friends I have contact info for. My heart goes out to everyone who's further north from here.

make a wish

nest — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:48:45 GMT

Claire's birthday was the day before mine, so we had a shared birthday thing with our friend Holly, which was fantastic. I went home that weekend, which was followed by a 5-day-long birthday thing filled with fondue, organic cupcakes, TEA cafe and Ocarina of Time. It was magical. I'm glad I got to hang out with Kat for some of it, too, even though it was too bad our dinner plans didn't pan out.

I'm on spring break now, which means I'll be leaving for Dallas for a few days tomorrow. Am hoping to get a chance to go to the Korean bathhouse that's there, but we'll see how that works out. I'll have to spend a bunch of time studying for my midterms and getting my application stuff ready. I plan on doing a lot of relaxing too, though.

But speaking of application stuff...I'm already tearing my hair out over some of it. Even though the classes I took during my year abroad are listed on my transcript, the programs I'm applying for still want to see the official transcript from Ritsumeikan because it has my actual grades instead of using the S/U system, as my school tends to do for classes taken abroad. Unfortunately, Rits is telling me it's impossible to get that to me unless I send someone in my stead. I asked them what the procedure was days ago, but I still haven't gotten a response. Guess I'll call them late tonight if I haven't heard from them until then.

Been meaning to babble about RP stuff, but I'll probably get to that later this week.

might be just beginning

nest — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:47:56 GMT

Since I'm graduating soon, I've been kicking around my options and trying to figure stuff out.

I thought I'd made up my mind to apply for the FALCON program at Cornell University, which is basically Japanese language boot camp, in which particpants have about 50 hours of exposure to the language a week. You're pretty much guaranteed to be fluent by the end of it, and I feel like it would do me a lot of good to have the language hammered into me like that if I'm serious about becoming proficient in it.

I started making preparations to send in the application, which is due March 1st, by asking for letters of recommendations this week. When I talked to one of my Japanese language professors, though, she told me she didn't think FALCON would be a good fit for me because she thinks there's too much emphasis on speaking, and not enough on reading/writing. To demonstrate her point, she showed me the textbooks FALCON uses, and it was all written entirely in romanji. Yikes!! For someone like me, who wants to be able to pass the JLPT, this is rather problematic.

So now I'm sitting here going, "hurf durf" 'cause I don't know what to do. She recommended looking at universities in Japan if I want a good, well-rounded curriculum, but so far I can't find anything that offers more than 20 hours a week. That's more hours than I had at Ritsumeikan (about 14, iirc), and I'd be in Japan, which should offer plenty of opportunties to use what I've studied, but it still pales in comparison to 50.

There are also application deadlines to consider, though I think I've convinced myself that if I decide to go to Japan instead, I'll be looking at starting in April, rather than September or October. I suppose I could work and save money in the meantime, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

(What's sad is that it's actually cheaper for me to continue my Japanese studies in Japan.)

Maybe it's weird for me to want to continue my language studies like this, but I think that's what would make me happiest at this point. I know that, whatever I do career-wise, I'd like for to tie into Asia somehow, and so this seems like the best course of action for now. At the very least, being proficient in the language will make me a more attractive graduate student candidate if/when I do decide to go that route.

There's also independent study, but, quite frankly, I don't think I'm motivated enough to force myself to do 10 hours of study a week, much less 20-50. I wish I knew what else to do, though...

over and over

nest — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:54:44 GMT

Hoo, another semester begins. Can't say I'm looking forward to going back, but I had a very nice break in which I got snowed in for a few days, went to Dallas, and even got to visit burningvigor and lacidiana for several days. Thanks for having me over, Court! And thank you, Erin, for being kind enough to drive me around LA, and then letting me stay at your place that last night. ♥

After I got back from my visit, I mostly lounged around and acted lazy. Got a bunch of Tales of Vesperia playing done. I'm still at the final stages of the game, but I suspect I'll be done soon. Then I can work on finishing P4, and then I can start on Kingdom Hearts, lololol.

All in all, I had a fantastic break, really, so I can't complain about going back. Here's hoping this semester won't be as difficult as last year's, hahah. I just have one semester left, so that's good. On the other hand, I just have one semester left, so sometimes it's hard to feel motivated about class. But I've been really good about getting all As the past couple of semesters, so part of me wants to keep that up.

I need to start my application for the FALCON program really soon, wow.

why am I not working on my research paper or studying, omggggg

nest — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:20:48 GMT

BECAUSE I'M PROCRASTINATING.

character: Monkey D. Luffy (17) [rubbermancan]
series: One Piece
muse strength: ■ ■ □ □ □ I LOVE LUFFY. ;_; He's so much fun to play, but recently I think the gap between where he was taken from and the manga's current arc has been really gnawing at me.
cast strength: ■ ■ ■ □ □ Even though our OP cast isn't what it used to be, I love the muns we have, and I'm super-excited we just got our Usopp back last round.
plotting capabilities: ■ ■ □ □ □ I'm not sure if it's because of the place I took him from, or the fact he's been around so long, or the fact he doesn't have someone like Nami to steer him in the right direction, but it's been really hard to find long-term plots for Luffy to do. He's been around so long, and yet...he doesn't really have a whole lot to show for it, which is kind of depressing.
likelihood of drop: ■ ■ ■ ■ □ I think by this point I've more or less decided it would be for the best, but am too sad/busy to make the final arrangements. Siigh. :/

character: Claude C. Kenni (19) [full_score]
series: Star Ocean: The Second Story
muse strength: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ I can probably count on one hand the times I've had problems writing Claude, and it's usually linked to whether I'm swamped IRL or not. In some ways he's easy to write, and in other ways he can be extremely difficult, which has been interesting for me. Either way, I think I'm probably overdue for a nice canon review. Nothing winter break and a PSP can't fix, though.
cast strength: ■ ■ ■ □ □ I feel so lucky to have so many awesome SO characters to play with, and am especially tickled with having his father around.
plotting capabilities: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Between the stuff that's been going on with his Auldrantian pals, his own canonmates, and his father, I don't think I'll be running out of stuff for Claude to do anytime soon. It also helps that he's usually very motivated and friendly.
likelihood of drop: □ □ □ □ □ I can't imagine dropping Claude anytime soon.

character: Apollo Justice (23) [mister_fine]
series: Ace Attorney
muse strength: ■ ■ ■ □ □ Apollo is tons of fun to write. I love writing his inner dialgue and having him kind of flail when put in extreme/awkward situations.
cast strength: ■ ■ ■ ■ □ I LOVE OUR ACE ATTORNEY CAST, seriously everyone is so amazing. ~~needs moar ladies, though.~~
plotting capabilities: ■ ■ ■ ■ □ There's really a lot of things for Apollo to do -- maybe almost too many, since I feel like I haven't been very successful with tapping into many of them.
likelihood of drop: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ...which is why I think I might have to let him go. I haven't been playing him to his full potential, and at this point it's downright embarrassing for me. It's really hard to make myself do it, though. ;_;

character: Spock (25) [dual_worlds]
series: Star Trek
muse strength: ■ ■ ■ ■ □ It's kind of exhausting writing him, but things feel like they're going a lot smoother compared to the stress of first starting out with him.
cast strength: ■ ■ ■ □ □ Even though our cast isn't very big, I'm in love with who we have so far.
plotting capabilities: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ There's so much for him to investigate right now, I imagine he'll be busy with that for awhile.
likelihood of drop: ■ □ □ □ □ Not impossible, but unless I write him into a corner like I did with Obi-Wan, it's not likely.

not in any games

character: Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear (18) [of_lanvaldear]
series: Tales of the Abyss
muse strength: ■ ■ ■ ■ □ Every time I play this game I get this huge urge to RP her somewhere, it's ridiculous
cast strength: ■ ■ ■ □ □ At Damned and FOC? Pretty awesome, for the most part, though I've never actually threaded with any of them (with Natalia) except with Court's Guy. BUT IF I DID, it'd be with them.
plotting capabilities: ■ ■ ■ □ □ I could see Natalia keeping really busy between helping others out and exploring around. I think it'd be fun playing her.
likelihood of drop: N/A - LOL, I won't be apping her anywhere for a long time. There was a time when I came close to doing it, but...well, I don't think I have the energy to play her to her full potential right now, and I have a character who's pretty close to several Abyss characters as it is. More than anything, I'd love for someone to app her so I could play with them. *_*

character: Chie Satonaka (17) [steak_out]
series: Persona 4
muse strength: ■ ■ □ □ □ To be honest, I've never tried playing with her for real yet, but I had enough of a muse to put together a journal and assemble all these userpics, so I...have no idea. I might give it a try in FoC somewhere once I finish the game.
cast strength: N/A I HAVE NO IDEA, I'm too scared to go near any P4 threads for fear of spoilers. orz
plotting capabilities: N/A
likelihood of drop: N/A - don't have any plans to app her anywhere, partly 'cause I think it'd be a shame if I made it impossible for me to see her and Claude geeking out over steak together. They'd get along famously. Plus they're kind of similar in some ways, at least imo, so there's that issue, too. ...someone should app her at Damned, though, fff.

the voice you're hearing in the hall

nest — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:51:03 GMT

omg what, I never post anymore. Mostly 'cause I feel like there's nothing new to report besides "baww, why did I sign up for four upper-division history courses this semester, this blowwws". I just finished writing one of my two papers due on Thursday, but I think I'm gonna call it a night and make a mad dash to finish my second paper tomorrow. 8D;;;

Normally I don't put off papers to the last minute like this, but we weren't even scheduled to finish the books we're supposed to write about until today, and I honestly have too much to read to finish this stuff much further in advance. /)_(\

So while I wait for myself to get a little sleepier, I'll fill out this meme that I was tagged for by the lovely burningvigor.

FIRST: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.
SECOND: Tag eight sexy people. Don't refuse to do that like a pansy.

Who sleeps in bed next to you?: Nobody, though sometimes when I visit my parents my little kitty Beckman will snuggle in bed next to me a little bit before I go to sleep. It's sort of a new thing for him, and he doesn't seem to do that with anyone else in the family. My mom thinks it's because I was the one who took care of him when he was a kitten.

What did you last eat?: A Hostess cupcake. ;; Before that, some three cheese tortellini and tomato soup with edamame dumped into it.

What kind of books do you read?: While burningvigor reads stuff for her lit class, I read things for my history classes, LOLLLL. This semester I've already read things like The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town (1922-1945), Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War, Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld, and Robert Grave's World War I memoir Goodbye to All That. We've read some of the Tale of Genji and The Gossamer Years as well, and I'm about to write a paper over the novel Silence, which is about a priest who goes to Japan during the Tokugawa period and eventually winds up in some deep crap, to put it mildly. Some of the books are kind of boring, but I've definitely learned a ton of stuff. The North Korea and Yakuza books were especially eye-opening. I had no idea that over 90,000 Koreans were "repatriated" from Japan to North Korea between the end of the 1950s until the 1980s. It was done under the guise of humanitarianism, but in reality the "returnees" were more or less pawns used by Japan and North Korea during the Cold War to serve their own ends, and a lot of them were never heard from again. KIND OF CREEPY. I actually had a nightmare about it the other night. ;;;;

If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?: Japan, I'd say. I have a lot of friends there I really miss. I'd actually like to go to Europe someday (lol kind of stealing burningvigor's answer, I guess, though it's true), but, um, if I were to spend the time and money doing that, I'd be tempted to go to Japan again instead, HAHAH.

What's really creepy?: Umm, idk. Though lately I keeping thinking it's creepy how governments do a lot of under-the-table deals and tend to use common people as tools to justify their own political ends, and no one has absolutely no idea until decades after the fact. ;;; ...yes, I realize this is because of the classes I'm taking this semester.

Name one odd item within five feet of you: I don't really have much in my room, tbh. I guess the oddest thing would either be the misshapen paper cranes I made last year that are sitting on my desk, or this pillow on my bed that has a sock monkey's face stitched onto the front.

What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?: Not really involved in fandoms very much these days, though I'm still into Star Ocean and am trying to get caught up with One Piece. I've also been way into Persona 4 since a friend lent it to me, but I only really get to play it in short bursts when I manage to find the time. AND THEN THERE'S STAR TREK. 8D

What did you really want to do today that you didn't?: Play Persona 4, maybe? Also, I'd originally intended to have my first paper done by last night, but I was just too tired for it. So I guess you could say I was hoping to have most of my second paper done by tonight, but that obviously isn't going to happen. I say this while filling out a meme, sigh.

What are you most excited for?: Every year right after Christmas my mom and I take a special trip together to Dallas, stay at a nice hotel and take advantage of crazy after-Christmas sales. It's only for a day or two, but I have a lot of fond memories from our last two trips, and I'm looking forward to doing it again this year.

What websites do you always visit when you go online?: Gmail, Livejournal, YouTube, icanhascheezburger.com. 8D;;

What was the last thing you bought?: Some tasty, tasty gelato. x3;;

If you could have any pet, what would it be?: Any pet? Gosh, I always overthink these sorts of questions, so I really don't know. I've always thought ferrets were super-adorable, though. But lately I kind of like the idea of having a really big dog around the house, too.

Your past life: Tell me about it.: I was a blade of glass in the wind. u_u

What do you want right this minute, off the top of your head?: ...For my papers to be finished.

Where is the place you like to return to in order to calm down/relax/etc.?: My parents' house. At first it was kind of disorienting because I never knew where anything was after I got home from Japan even though everyone else in my family had more than gotten used to it from having lived there for awhile already. But now I really love it because it's very quiet and peaceful, and the view from our backyard is very nice to look at. (I saw five deer out there a few weeks ago. *_*) Sometimes I like to sit by the fireplace outside and do my reading there. We also have a pool, so the sound of the water coupled with the wind chimes makes me a little drowsy, too, lol.

What's one thing that terrifies you that nobody else gets?: BUGS. I don't even get it myself, man. I used to play with centipedes and spiders all the time when I was 4 or 5, and yet somewhere along the way I grew up with a crazy fear of all insects. Even butterflies and moths squick me out. A grasshopper got into my apartment toward the beginning of the semester and it took me two days to muster up the courage to catch it and let it outside. ('Cause as much as I hate bugs, I really can't stand the idea of killing them, no matter how much Kat makes fun of me for it, fff)

What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?: I really miss you, dude. *_* (Actually, this applies to a lot of people, but, hahah.)

Are there any bits of childhood that you miss?: I miss setting fireworks off with my cousins every 4th of July, though I remember feeling sad whenever my older cousins chose a few toys to destroy. Catching fireflies (or lightning bugs, as we called them back then) is something else I kind of miss (though I guess I'd freak out and scream if I tried it today, FFF). We don't really have fireflies in OK, sadly, but when I saw them in Japan over the summer I got so nostalgic it almost hurt. ;;;

Say something to the person who tagged you.: COURT, you are super-adorable and awesome, so don't you ever forget it, okay? You also have amazing demon powers because you are able to balance real life and mod stuff flawlessly, wtf. ALSO, you're a badass RP partner and friend. *_* I'd like to come visit you and Erin someday!

Aaannd tagging aqua_karen, dreamcager, famira, geminion, melting, raining_chairs, starlite_gone, and windy_lea. SORRY IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN TAGGED LOL.

buuuu

nest — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:30:15 GMT

SO this week has already been kind of eventful. I got a thing in the mail saying I owe the Japanese governemnt, like, 740 dollars for their pension system. Which, uh, is a huge mistake since I'm just a student here. ;;; When I tried calling the office that sent it out, they just kept stubbornly insisting that their records show I owe them all this money. I was, like, freaking out and on the verge of crying, but the school says that, legally, I'm not supposed to send any money to the pension system, and that the whole thing is a mistake. Technically, they can't do anything to me if I don't pay it, but I'd rather not have this hanging over my head if I can avoid it...

I guess we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm waiting for the clinic with an X-ray machine to open so I can have my foot looked at. I think I must have done something weird to it while climbing Daimonji last week. It's all swollen and keeps hurting if I walk on an uneven surface or stairs, or if I sit down after being up awhile. The campus health center said there wasn't anything they could do for me since I waited a week before going in, which is why I have to go to this other place. Hopefully I'll find out what it is and they can do something to help keep it from getting worse.

no swimming today

nest — Sun, 24 May 2009 01:20:54 GMT

SCHOOL'S CLOSED DUE TO SWINE FLU.

No. Really. I literally have nowhere to be until, like, Friday. People here really seem freaked out about this flu business. Health inspectors boarded my plane and scanned everyone on board. They even quarantined a group of people!! Thankfully, I passed the test and got a yellow certificate proving I didn't have it, lol. I had to show it to the health inspector in Osaka in order to get through customs.

Anyway, the head of the program is coming to meet with me personally to go over orientation materials and stuff, but...yyyeahh. My mom is kinda upset, although my dad's just like, "lolololol vacation!!" I'm kinda worried, though, 'cause this might mean they'll have us work doubly hard to make up for lost time, and then I won't have time to do weekend excursions or to play or anything like that.

Guess I should probably play this week while I can. 8|;;

Speaking of which, I've been having a fabulous time with burningvigor the past couple of days. She showed me a ton of SO stuff for me to buy, (I'm gonna have so much crap to carry back now T_T;;) and then we ate delicious ramen and a tasty chocolate parfait. We also secured ourselves some awesome bus maps, and all was good.

OH AND THEN SHE GAVE ME AN ADORABLE APOLLO CELL PHONE STRAP FIGURE THING. ♥ ♥ And then I went to the capsule toy machine she got it from and wound up getting a Klavier to go along with it, heehee! x3

I couldn't really sleep so well last night, even though I stayed up heinously late. I might take it easy today since I've been sort of going non-stop the past four days, but we'll see.

Hope everyone's doing well!

STOP! It's meme time.

nest — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:02:43 GMT

Ganked this from somewhere I don't remember, orz.

Here's what you give me:
1) one of my characters (Monkey D. Luffy, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Claude C. Kenni, Apollo Justice @ damned)
2) another character played by you or me or anyone else

Here's what I'll give you:
1) a letter of some sort written to that character

You can choose a love letter, an advice with how to deal with another person, a venting letter about another character, whatever. If you want something written about a third character you will have to name that individual.

Because memes are the best way to procrastinate homework, yayyy!

eyes on the prize

nest — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:25:57 GMT

Yayy I turned in my paper for Chinese Foreign Policy today! No more assignments for that class until our final, at least!

Stuff I need to do:

~~+ Attend training meeting for stuff at 6.~~ It got canceled. \o/

~~+ Meet up with windy_lea for her survey thingy today.~~

~~+ Type up about 500 characters' worth of my Japanese rough draft that's due tomorrow. (And then do the other half tomorrow 'cause I have no class.)~~

+ Memorize lines from both Japanese scripts by Sunday.

+ Read "Tokyo Notes" for theater class.

~~+ Work on setting up my Apollo profile~~ and info.

+ Sign up for Magna Cum Laude

ALSO, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT FOR MY JAPANESE PROJECT LOL. I can either do something about religion, plays, or pop culture. Leaning towards pop culture, but what's something I can talk about without looking like a huuuuge dork? :( I, uh, sorta need to make up my mind by tonight. HALP?

I will not hold my horses

nest — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:12:54 GMT

Aaaaa, today was such an awesome day!!

Two of my classes were canceled, so I only had to go to one today. We just had discussions about Japanese movies and TV shows and stuff, and how gender roles are portrayed. So it was interesting, and we even got out early 'cause our prof had to be somewhere lololol.

Also, I was kinda going >:( 'cause I'd left my pen at home. I was debating on going to the school bookstore to buy another, when I looked down and, lo and behold, a pen that was identical to the one I'd left. It was kinda beat up, but when tested it out, it worked just fine!

I also got all my paper work squared away for Ritsumeikan's summer program today! \o/ Now I just gotta book my flight and pay the school once I get more details.

AND FINALLY -- I went to my adviser appointment this morning to talk about my degree requirements, and, well...I'm not sure how it happened since I changed my major this semester and I was gone for a year, but SOMEHOW it's worked out to where, if I wanted to, I could actually graduate a semester early. *_*

I decided I'm not going to, 'cause it'd mean taking 18 hours, and there's really no reason for me to work it that way except for lulz n' giggles, which would really turn into baws n' crying 'cause fffff, 18 hours. But, holy crap! That just means I'll have my thesis to do in the spring, and then I can take whatever the hell I want while I'm at it. *_* I've always wanted to mess around with photography and Chinese -- and better yet, since they don't have a thing to do with my requirements, I can arrange for them to be pass/fail so it won't have any bearing on my GPA.

Plus my fall schedule is, like, perfect. Don't start any later than 1, and I don't finish any later than 4:30. AND I get Fridays off! sdfjksdfjldsf Eeeeee.

Okay, I'm done flailing now. CARRY ON! ♥

we all enjoy the madness

nest — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:58:45 GMT

So yesterday was my 21st birthday, and I celebrated it in style by eating a steak dinner at home with my family and a good friend of mine from high school. \o/ It was really tasty, and nice to be around friends and family. My parents gave me a gorgeous Russian basket-weave bracelet that looks sturdy enough for everyday wear. It was so sweet! ;A;

We also went to the Melting Pot on Friday as a pre-celebratory thing, which was super-fun, omg. I'd never been before, so I was sorta surprised it turned into an all-evening affair. But heeee, fondue! ♥ I rarely get to eat it, so I really enjoy it when I do.

Since I don't drink, I'm not really planning to hit up any bars or anything. There is a theater close by that allows people 21 and up to eat dinner while watching a show, though. Maybe I'll arrange for me and my other non-drinking 21 + friends (and, heck, my friends who drink, too, LOL) to watch a movie while eating dinner sometime soon. I hear it's supposed to be pretty nice!

And here's a meme I've been meaning to do.

Pick 10 people and give them the "you make my day" award. If you're picked, you are charged with picking 10 of your own

bondofflame
burningvigor
famira
menacingorchid
miltia
murasaki_kaze
otakara
velutfortuna
windy_lea
zalia

...and, like, everyone else on my flist, seriously. ;~; ilu guys!

want it all back

nest — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:24:11 GMT

Buh, it's been awhile since I've updated.

A big welcome to everyone I've recently friended! I guess it'd be nice to do a short "about me" post or something sometime, but I don't have time right now, hahah. xD I dunno how many people would read it anyway, fff.

BUT YES. School has been crazy-busy for me lately, which is partly why I haven't written so much. Recently, I had a group project for my Chinese Foreign Policy class that was worth 20 percent of our grade, and it, uh, pretty much crashed and burned. I don't really have the heart to go into details, but let's just say it stole the wind right out of my sails for a lot of things right now. x.x;;

On the plus side, it's made me try to be organized in all of the things I do have control over, like individual assignments and things like that. I was the only one to make an A on my sociology exam last week, which makes me super-happy. Now I just gotta see if I can bring a bit of that to my two midterms and my paper that I've got this week, aughhh.

I sorta feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I need to (like read those two plays for my theater class before the midterm is due on Monday...yikes) Just gotta slog through stuff until spring break. Almost there!! *_*

Anyway, I should probably go to class now, HAHAH. T_T;;

Awesome in a box

nest — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:48:07 GMT

HAHAH, so, I've been meaning to make a longer post with more depth for awhile, but um...I kept telling my mom school starts on the 20th, right? And she was like, "Well, that can't be right, that's a Tuesday," so I got it in my head that I started tomorrow. But then I was like, "O WAIT, MLK DAY," so I feel like I get an extra day off now. xD;;; Even though that's not really true.

Umm, SO2 comes out tomorrow (YES!!), but since it's been ordered off of Amazon, I won't really get it in the mail until later this week. Still...I'm really, really tempted to just get up in the morning and buy it, and then give the extra copy to someone else or something, idk. It doesn't help that my mom is like, "YEAH, YOU SHOULD DO THAT." *is horrible*

Also, I've only got one class on Fridays, and I'm seriously debating on dropping it so I'd have that day off. But ffff, I should be responsible about something.

Anyway, that's all. \o/

work pls

nest — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:10:26 GMT

Okay, seriously? This LJ notification fail is really, really annoying, and it's extremely hard for me to keep track of threads I've got going on with other people. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? D: Or how I can fix it?

Sorry for the spam. I'm super-frustrated with this, though, and was wondering if anyone had any input. x.x;

my lucky chance

nest — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:38:27 GMT

LOL, considering how much time I spend logged onto LJ, it's kind of bizarre how I hardly update it. >: I guess I'm more interested in checking my flist and leaving comments than, like, telling everyone what I'm up to, HAHAH.

I'm happy to say all the health stuff I babbled about last time turned out not to be serious. It was kind of worrisome since it took them a second CAT scan to figure out what the heck it was. Don't really feel like getting into details since it'd probably be TMI anyway. BUT YES. NOT CANCER. THAT IS GOOD. 8D

I guess another reason I haven't updated much is 'cause I've been in a dark place the past couple of months, what with getting adjusted to being back home, rl drama with friends, not being sure about my major, and things like that. Thankfully, I managed to buck it up and change my major to East Asian studies, and then I got advised today. Just need to sit down and clear up some credits that I got abroad and sign up for the rest of my classes, and I'll be set.

Although I'm bitter about some things right now, I'm starting to realize I have a lot to feel optimistic about, too. I'm hoping it'll be enough to carry me through the rest of the semester.

And now I should probably go wash some dishes before heading to class. 8D;; I always pick the worst times to write this kind of crap, pshh.

take it as we wish to be

nest — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:14:58 GMT

I'm really glad the weekend's here, even though I have a feeling I'll be spending most of it studying/doing work so I can have Monday free. 'Cause, uh, yeah, I'm totally gonna be buying First Departure when it comes out. *SO EXCITED*

But I have to miss class that day, so I might have work to do anyway. D:

A week ago I started having abdominal pain, and it wasn't getting any better, so I finally went to a walk-in clinic on Tuesday. They ran some blood work, and took some X-rays, but pretty much decided it wasn't anything serious (maybe from something I'd eaten) and gave me some medicine to clear my system. Pills actually work pretty good, although one of the side effects seems to include making you thirsty as hell all the time. But I can deal with that.

Anyway, I got a call from them this morning, saying they'd found something abnormal when they were looking through my X-rays, and I have to go in on Monday for a CT. D: I told my mom, and she decided to come into town so we could go together. I'm hoping it isn't anything serious. It's too bad I'll have to miss pretty much all my classes that day, though.

Totally got my Japanese exam back. 99 percent, whooo! \o/ I got a single point docked off for using a particle wrong, and I kind of face-palmed, but, LOL, did not expect that kind of score. Maybe I can bring a bit of that luck with me on the other Japanese exam next week, which is gonna be a lot harder.

I can't believe the semester's already halfway over, though. I'm dying for it to be winter break, hahah. 8D;;

sensation, feel the vibration

nest — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:10:31 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY burningvigor!

I know things have been hectic for you lately, but I hope you have an awesome day! :D

...And now to get ready for my botany exam. xD:;

cold crush lover is here

nest — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:14:48 GMT

It's Monday, and I'm already sick of school, baww. A bug randomly crawled up my music teacher's leg during class today, and she had to run out of the room to get it out of her pants. ;;

While I was doing homework, my mother called me halfway through tonight's episode of "Heroes" just so she could take a moment to vent about how ridiculous the story was getting.

Seeing that I'm barely finished with season 1, I obviously had no idea what was going on, and don't necessarily want details. But, tell me, flist...was it really that bad? xD;;

watching the people as they pass

nest — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:18:25 GMT

Hurghh, I forgot how annoying school could be. Ever since the new year started, I've been spending several hours almost everyday studying kanji. It's kind of a long story, but basically my Japanese grammar skills exceed anything this school offers, and yet since my kanji skills aren't where they should be, I might find myself having problems with my classes anyway.

That plus the fact I haven't gotten my schedule 100 percent ironed out, and I'm still stressing over what I'm going to wind up doing next semester, kind of explains my absence from the Internets. I'm gradually starting to weave it into my day, though. It's basically the only downtime I allow myself, except for maybe the 45 minutes I spend playing G.U. That and when I pause to watch the news, which I tend to leave running. I don't think that really counts, though. ;;

I think I need a longer Internet cable. 8D;; Then maybe I could pause to check my E-mail instead durh hurh hurh. :B

Also, happy birthday to melting!! I don't think she'll see this, though. ;;

that's the way it's gotta be

nest — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:11:23 GMT

I guess this is my obligatory "I'm home" post. Kind of late, but it's taken awhile for everything to sink in. That plus having grandparents coming to visit and generally being awesome with melting, I've been kind of busy too.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a safe trip. I really appreciate it. ♥

I finished a movie I made about my year in Japan, but I'm pretty shy about showing it to most people, hahah. It was more for myself than anything, and I feel like it's mostly a testament to how horribly sappy and dorky I really am. 8D;; But my family seemed to enjoy it (except my grandparents, who complained about it going too fast the whole time, lol :( ).

School starts in less than a week for me, so between now and then I'll be moving over into my apartment. I think I need to buy books, too. And get my parking permit. It's so weird to be doing all of this, I'm not even sure where to start. As lame as this might sound, I kept thinking of Kyoto as "back home" for the first week or so I was back. That coupled with the fact that I never really got a chance to get settled in our new house before leaving makes everything seem kind of foreign and surreal now that I'm in the States again.

Plus it's looking like I'll be moving away next semester. I've decided I want to change my major, and it's likely I'm going to have to change schools, if I do wind up pursuing what I think I'm gonna be studying. I just have to do research and try to figure out the best place for me. Considering I've been away for so long as it is, I can't say I'm entirely looking forward to leaving. But at the same time, I don't think I ought to stay here a full year. Not when OU probably doesn't offer what I want, at any rate.

On a lighter note, I finally saw WALL·E. SO GOOD. I really enjoyed it. Like every Pixar movie, it never failed to make me laugh AND wibble. I can't say I walked out of it going, "BEST PIXAR MOVIE EVAR" like most people have, but I think it's more because I have a hard time comparing them to each other, since I find a lot of them are different, yet equally enjoyable in their own way. Not to mention my huge love for Toy Story as a kid probably makes me feel nostalgic towards their older films. I do believe it was truly brilliant in a lot of ways, though, especially since it was able to tell such a moving story with little to no dialogue between the main characters. And that isn't even touching on the interesting visuals and motifs they had throughout the film itself.

Guess I should go see The Dark Knight soon.

Anyway, that's enough out of me. ;;

play that music louder

nest — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:58:49 GMT

If everything goes smoothly, I'll be up in the air in less than a few hours. *_* I don't know how it happened, but, somehow, I got everything packed. My luggage is so freaking heavy, though fjdkslfjlsdf *is shot*

WISH ME LUCK. And hopefully I'll see everyone soon! \o/

what have i done

nest — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:09:42 GMT

I hate packing. I've always hated packing. And now I'm looking at my half-packed room and I'm going, "OH SNAPS" 'cause right now I don't see how I'm gonna get all my stuff home. D8

fjdklsfjlskdfjkdlsf I can't believe I'm leaving Kyoto the day after tomorrow.

fly away

nest — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:43:58 GMT

Got my kanji test back a few days ago. Ummmm, it sucked. Badly. But I did make a good grade on my essay test, even though I had, like, NO idea what the hell I was going on about towards the end (which was the portion I got perfect marks on, wtf). I did pretty good on my grammar, too, but I'll have to wait until Monday to find out about my roleplay and listening tests. xD;;

I've been so exhausted lately, though. I think the stress from exams, my research project, and having to go home soon have been mounting. I got really angry at one of my dormmates for leaving her stuff in the shower and being like, "YEAH I'M GONNA USE IT IN A FEW MINUTES," while she was brushing her teeth. : / It's a pet peeve of mine under the best of circumstances, since there're, like...14 of us, and only two showers. So when someone tries calling dibs on one of them, I get a little annoyed. It's like...first come, first serve, you know? x.x;; But yeah, I got over it, but I think it's just an example of how uptight I've been these days.

Speaking of whacky dorm hijinks, the girls on my floor think it's an awesome idea to leave the door to the roof open, as well as all the window screens. They started doing this stuff back in March, when it was still freaking COLD outside. I have no idea why. My neighbor and I have complained about it several times, saying it lets critters in and generally isn't safe. The dorm mom hung a sign up, asking the girls not to leave the door open at night, but I always have to be the one who winds up closing it anyway, 'cause they never do. : /

Well, on Monday, I was leaving for school, and lo and behold - a freaking BIRD flapping around on my floor. I screamed (xD;;) and then told the dorm mom right away, and she was like, "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN DDD:" and I was like, "lol, the doors and windows on the third floor. :/" and she was like ,"sdjlfksdjflksdkjfsd". I wanted to stay and help, but I had to take my bus to school. I'm guessing she got things under control, 'cause when I came back, the bird was gone, all the window screens were shut, and this sign was pasted on the door:

and the dust begins to settle

nest — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:18:04 GMT

AHAHAH SO MY LAST GRAMMAR TEST WAS TODAY. OH YEAH OH YEAH OH YEAAAHHH.

Man, I was so stressed over that thing. It was covering a crapton of new grammar, plus keigo and humble forms, and, like...causitive/causitive-passive forms, plus all this new vocab and alfkjsldkjfdsljf. But, at this moment, I feel like it was probably one of the easier tests I took this semester. Which either means I studied for it well enough, OR, I totally bombed it and don't have the brains to realize it.

I guess we'll see which it was when I get it back next week. 8D;;

IN THE MEANTIME, I've still got a speech that needs to be written by tomorrow, and a listening test on Monday, but, lol, honestly, am I really going to study for that? 8| uh probably not (read: NO)

melting -- where've you been bb? I miss talking to you. D8

Okay, I guess I should run and catch my bus home. ;;