First Friday in Japan!

Oh mannn, Friday's will be forever reserved for intense partying/drinking XD This has just set the standard. I'll blog lots more about it tmrw when I'm less exhausted >< First of all though, here is my fourth vlog, which does has a video or two from tonight ^^;;



Half of us. (I can't wait to get the group pics from people!)

Tara and I ^^

Haha, people commented before I got to blog about it ><

Anywayyy, the first half of yesterday I covered in my vlog, BUT the last half is the most entertaining and you guys haven't even heard about it yet! So around..6 or so, I got really bored after moving around furniture and making my vlog, so I went up to Ian's room on the 7th floor to see what we were doing for dinner. Patrick was there and Ian had found a place that we could possibly go clubbing/drinking, so for an hour or so, we worked on gathering people and getting more info on it so we could go. Around 7, we went to grab some food at the supermarket to eat before we left, and at 8:30, everyone met in the lobby to leave. The group was...myself, Ian, Patrick, AJ, Ryan, Tara, Myra and Mindy. We got on the train to Koiwa, which is a few stops in the direction of Chiba, got off there and ended up getting separated. AJ, Mindy and I went to go find the place ourselves (though apparently the other people waited for us since they realized we were missing, lol), and actually found it first. We went up and everyone else weren't there (and the place was empty <.<) so we waited downstairs for them to get there. After waiting 10 minutes, we were just about to send out the search party (aka AJ) to find them, but they walked around the corner. We had a few drinks (well, I had one, lol), danced (Amongst ourselves), played darts (I sucked uber bad at first but then got better...I think i mostly sucked because I was tipsy for the first time...ever, wtf was in that drink! lol) and just hung out for a while. But the scene was kinda boring, so we ended up going to another bar that was close to the station.

Some of us had gotten free drink coupons by the station for this bar, so it was a good choice. :D We get there and there's far more people than the last, though it's not packed in any way. Order drinks, get em, and then the dancing starts. They took requests too so we got some pretty awesome music to dance to. As we're dancing, these two businessmen looking guys in the corner start taking videos and pictures of us and we're like...'well...oooook.' Ian tells me that they're taking pictures of me cuz apparently they're SO INTO ME, but turns out...they wanted Ian. LOL. He got his crotch groped several times by both guys and was bought many beers...so it was safe to assume that they weren't targeting me (or anyone of the female sex XD). But, as Ian said, they could just be into anything. :P After having a great time dancing and drinking, we decided to head back around midnight, headed to the station and got on the train. Inside the train, drunk AJ decides to start up a conversation with a poor, unsuspecting, old Japanese man (who was probably also drunk) and makes a bit of a scene (though it was a hilarious one).

At Kameido station, we end up getting split up again, as half the people decided that they were gonna take the wrong exit, despite us telling them not to. So Myra, Patrick, Ian and I get back to the mansion, refresh ourselves, then meet up again in the lobby to maybe go grab some food somewhere. We also run into Carlos and David, who were getting back from Shinjuku and they decide to join the four of us. After wandering just down the street, we happen upon this bar/dining place and decide to go in. They buy more beers. HAHAHA. Myra and I decide to order the fillet tonkatsu and I help her finish her beer. XD But then this barkeep lady starts bringing us stuff we didn't order, like even after saying they were out of sashimi, she brings us some, then some tomatoes, then some melon. And we're like, WOW, what great hospitality! But then we get the bill. 12000YEN. WTF. So we start itemizing how much stuff cost, (not including the melon, tomatoes or edamame since she just randomly gave those to us) and our bill is only supposed to be 6000yen. But the lady says that since we came in after midnight, we have to pay a 'sitting fee' of 1000yen per person, which is total BS because it says that NOWHERE and it was never mentioned when we came in. (and we asked her repeatedly if it was okay to order/buy stuff even though no one was there when we came in). I don't get why they would leave their doors open and allow customers in if they're going to charge them some hidden fee...unless they're deliberate scammers. Anywho, we just end up paying the bill, (albeit, not happily) and go back to the mansion around the corner. We tried to argue with her about it for a while but since none of us are that fluent, she pretty much took advantage of the fact that we were drunk (well, not all of us) foreigners. That isn't Japanese hospitality right there <.<

That pretty much topped off the night so we all called it a day around 2am. XD I came back to my room and went online until 3 and just woke up at 11. It's almost 12:30 and time for me to go to SUJU! :D

Stole these from Myra XD

Mindy, Tara and I ^^

The two 'gay Chinese businessmen'

Vlog 3!

Had orientation this morning at 9 at another place in Akihabara, so we all met up around 8 to go there like we did yesterday. After finding it, the people at the EAP Tokyo Study Center gave us pointers for living abroad and anecdotes about other eap students from 9-noon. Afterwards we had a little luncheon with everyone in EAP with pizza hut and subway for lunch. LOL. A few of us decided to go to Akiba to buy some stuff (I personally needed the Kanji Sonomama Rakujiten game for my DS), so we went to this HUGE electronics department store by the train station. Then we headed back to Kameido, checked out some more stores in the area (bought a few things that were needed like a laundry bag and a new coin purse for me because was wallet couldn't take all the change), and then called it a day around 3. Yeah, by 3, we're all exhausted, sweaty and ready to go chill in our AC rooms. XD I think a number of us are getting dinner at 7 and meeting in the lobby so that should be fun :D

EDIT: It's now 10:30, and what a fun night! We went out at 7 for dinner at an udon place down the street with amazing (and cheap!) food. I got a niku (meat) udon (M size) with a piece of chicken katsu for 410yen! Afterwards we headed back to the mansion to pick up more people, then decided to go to karaoke. After finally finding the place down the street and choosing between a couple places, we did karaoke for an hour. All of the songs were gaudy, loud, older American songs that all of us could sing like 'Baby one more time' and 'Don't stop believin'. It was kinda hilarious...we couldn't ever finish a song. Somewhere near the end we'd all just kinda drift out until everyone stopped singing. And the funniest thing was when Tom and Lukas tried to sing in Japanese accents to American songs. LOL. I tried to take video of it, but the audio was sooo loud it like killed my camera. After an hour of karaoke, we headed back, stopped at Mister Donut on the way and then called it a night. We all have class at 9am sooo...yeah <.<


Kpop section in Tower Records! :D








Dinner and Dessert! (Cost about $6 total! :D) The donut had strawberry cream in the inside! ><

Second Vlog and rest of day 2!

So after my last entry, I went to Alice's room and we decided to go to Don Quixote. Tried to get Ian to come with us but he wasn't in, so the two of us went and bought a few necessities. After that we went to the 100yen store and bought more stuff we needed (like a little fan to use in this scorching heat ><). Then we both went back to our rooms for a while and met up with a bunch of people for dinner around 7:30. We ended up splitting up with half of us going to Chinese food (including me) and half going out for Japanese food. In our little group it was--myself, Eric, Patrick, Ian and Ryan. Apparently we chose the best place to go since the other place charged everyone else a table fee...pretty much where they charge you a flat rate per person just for taking up room in their restaurant. The Chinese restaurant was HUGE and I just ended up ordering more gyoza because it was super cheap and I wasn't that hungry anyway. Afterwards we met back up into a 10 person group, then split up again to head back to the mansion and go to the grocery store. Tomorrow we have orientation at another place in Akiba, so I'll get to hang out and talk to more people then (we have a luncheon right after with free food :D)

Long Day Ahead!

Taking my placment test from 9am-2pm, then I'm sure we'll go explore the city and have fun most of the rest of the day. :D Hopefully I'll have another vlog up tonight! I took a video of the area from my balcony (since it was light out) and me eating breakfast (which was UMAI!) soo...yeahh, already got some material there :P

EDIT: Finished my placement test and went on an adventure in Akihabara! So our program is located off the Akihabara station on the JR Sobu line, about a 30-40minute commute from Kameido. Everyone met up in the lobby of the mansion at 8 to go there, walked to the station, bought tickets, and got on the train. It was super packed so we did the whole 'sardines' thing. Got off at Akihabara and walked for about 15 minutes to find the place. After we found it, we got separated into different testing rooms and started taking the test. It was in many different parts...the first was basic grammar, then listening (basic, int and adv...you just tried to do as much as possible), kanji (basic, int and adv--same), then intermediate grammar and advanced grammar. Some people were let out before intermediate grammar because they graded all the parts right after we took them, so people who didn't do great on basic were let out early. Then after you finished the test, you had an oral interview...pretty much just a conversation with one of the teachers. I think that went okay. :D Apparently I did really well on the listening portion (even on intermediate) so the teacher asked me about that and I told her I watch jdramas and anime which helps with that. But with kanji, I rarely use it so my score on that won't be good <.< I think we'll find out tomorrow where we placed so that should be interesting. We have orientation from 9-noon so we have to go to another place in Akihabara for that. On friday, we start ILP at the building we went to today.

After I finished the oral interview part, I decided to wait around for my friends to finish so we could get lunch together. Since none of us have phones yet, it's hard to meet up with anyone later. I also got to talk to a lot of people from other schools who are going to other schools besides Keio so that was fun. A few of us tried waiting for people for a while, but they were taking a long time so we finally gave up (after waiting over an hour). A group of about 8 of us went and grabbed lunch at a soba/udon place down the road (cheap! and good!) and then started exploring Akihabara. We came across quite a few anime stores, maid cafes and electronics stores and pretty much covered the main parts of it. Also stopped for gyoza at the same place I went to last night (well, same chain...not same restaurant) cuz it was hot out and the guys wanted beer. LOL. After that we decided to head back to Kameido, took the train and stopped at Book off right after we got off. After that, headed back to the mansion and I'm chilling here now. I'll probably head out soon and go to Don Quixote or Tsutaya (or both). I'm not sure what other people are doing or if they are out, but I might go knock on my friends doors to see if they're in and want to do anything for dinner. :D

The costume/lingerie/sex store we went into :P

Haruma Miuraaaa <3

In my mansion room!

It's awesome! I'll post video/pics later after dinner. Our placement test is at 9am tomorrow morning until TWO...ICK.



Anywho, a recap of what happened after I got off the plane. I headed over to immigration and got processed (they didn't even look at the return flight, stupid pain in the butt situation turned into a big deal for no reason <.<), got my bags, then got on the bus to go to terminal 1 to meet up with the EAP students. I met Alice (Yay!) and we exchanged money, then went with her friend, Atsu (totally cool guy who has the same bday as me! :D) to Kameido Mansion (he drove us <3). It made life so much easier not having to carry over 70lbs of luggage around on a train and bus >< Sure, we got lost a couple times BUT we did find our way eventually! After getting our keys and info packets, we met up again (Alice, Atsu and I) to get dinner. On our way to explore the area to see what there was to eat, we ran into a huge group of EAP students who were coming back from dinner and the store. Alice and I bought some shampoo, body wash and drinks and then went to dinner at a ramen place (after looking at tons of other places...there's so much to do around here! I'll try to take a video tmrw...so many restaurants, shops, etc! :D) Amazing ramen and gyoza for my first meal in Japan! I look forward to many more ^^ After that, we went to drop off the stuff at our rooms, went to Atsu's car because I forgot my wallet/shirt tie in it, went to Lawsons to buy breakfast and then decided to call it a night. Then I recorded my little tour intro thing and put together the video above ^^ I'll put up a few more photos soon ^^

Blogging from Airport…

No chance to use the internet so I’ll upload this as soon as I do have internet connection (that’s free). So we finally made it to the airport after a hectic morning including an argument between me and my parents about going to Korea (apparently they are stuck in the dark ages and think Korea is super ‘dangerous and unsafe’ <.<), my friends visiting, and awkward conversations in the car (as expected). I woke up around 7:30am to get stuff done including the rest of my packing, cleaning and getting ready, which I finished around 9 (when I expected us to leave). I needed to print out the emails from the Dream Concert coordinator person who is in charge of all the people going from Japan, but the internet wasn’t working. Super frustrating. I ended up explaining it to my parents and they were like ‘WTF, you aren’t going to Korea!’ kinda crap…but I’m still going to go if I want to. If I pay for it, they don’t have control over it. It is sorta expensive, so I understand their concern over it, but they seemed to be more bothered by the fact that Korean customs to get in the country are like super strict or something like that, and since I don’t speak Korean that it will be difficult to get around. I’m sure the other people going through the travel group won’t necessarily be fluent in Korean either so I don’t think that’s a problem. Most things will probably be directed in Japanese since it’s specifically aimed at visitors from Japan anyway. But they just don’t seem to get it.

Anyway, because of the stupid visa issues and having to show that I’m leaving the country in 90 days, rather than use the Korea ticket, my dad used the ticket I have already to book a return flight to America (even though once I get to Japan, I’ll change it again <.<). I guess it was an open-ended ticket that we can change the date of any time (and numerous times). Wish he had told me that earlier! So they think the only reason I was going to Korea was to get my visa stuff worked out, but hell, I think if all my mom’s favorite bands were playing at one place and she had to fly to another country for it, she probably would too. I don’t think she should be so hypocritical.

Besides that, my friends visited me this morning before I left around 8:30 and stayed til about 10:20 when I finally left. I got a muffin :D and letters that I haven’t read yet. Once we got to the airport (after weird discussions about how my dad wants to get me drunk when he goes to Osaka to see how I’ll act <.<, Korea…again, and my mom’s experiences abroad), we checked in and my parents and brother left. Went through screening with my carry-ons (after thinking I lost my passport…it was just in my other bag <.< I hastily put things away and never remember where they were ><). Oh! And my bags weren’t too heavy. The smaller one was only 20-something lbs even tho it seemed WAY heavier. The duffle bag one, the lady didn’t even weigh! She just tagged it. :D (good thing too, because when I weighed it at home, it weighed 50.4lbs. lol) That’s at least 70lbs of luggage I’ll be carrying with me today. GREATTTT.

Hmm…besides that, nothing else is new. I hate that I had to end my stay in America with drama crap with my parents and they had to lecture me the entire way to the airport. I wasn’t even going to tell them about my trip to Korea until afterwards because I’m fully capable of executing it myself without their permission or help. Oh yeah, my phone plan is getting cancelled today, so don’t bother calling me! I wouldn’t be able to pick up my phone anyway on the other side of the world, but now it’ll say it’s disconnected. Man, I should had charged my computer before I came…I’m afraid it’ll run outta battery on the plane. Or maybe I could charge it right now if I could find an outlet. We don’t board for another 50 mins anyway. (We were supposed to board at 12:55…but now it’s 1:10…guess they’re a little slow today).

PT2:
I’m hungry! And still waiting. We have another ten minutes. I went through the Tokyo guidebook a bit more (thanks Tomoya!) and organized some files…oh, and figured out how to turn off the sound on my camera so people won’t be able to hear my camera-whore-ness. I want to take a pic of me in the airport but oh well, I’ll take one on the plane. The one my mom took in the airport was lame <.< My face looks uber fat. BUT in the beginning it was set to video, so there’s a really hilarious short video I’ll upload soon. I can’t wait to use my camera more!

It’s so weird to think about not being back in America for at least 9 months. Typically when I get on a plane to Japan, I’m back within weeks, or if I get on a plane to Norcal, I’m back within a couple months. Not sure if I’m fully mentally prepared (or aware) that I am leaving for way longer than normal, but I’ll get used to it once the awesome starts.

On a side note…I hope my ipod doesn’t run outta battery during the flight. Man, I’d be bummed. And my laptop only has about 65% of battery so hopefully it’ll last as long as I want it to. I haven’t been on such a long flight in 3 years, so I kinda forgot what it’s like. I hope my legs don’t cramp up! ><

On the Airplane…
So we’re probably about….6 hours into our flight? I’m not really sure because I went to sleep. Haha. It’s totally bright out but most people are sleeping just because it had been like 4 hours since the flight started and after a meal, people get sleepy. Lunch was awesome, it was like a beef noodle dish with salad, meatballs, a sugar baguette thing, and a roll. I ate it rather ridiculously fast because I was starving and it was GOOD. Before I ate, I watched 17 Again (pretty good), then most of Dragonball Evolution (lame). There are really no other movies I want to watch unfortunately :/ After those two were over, I studied for a little bit but started falling asleep sooo….I went to sleep for probably an hour or…so? Oh, I just set my clock on my computer to Japan time…so there it’s 11:39am…about ~5 hours from when we should be getting there. I still need to fill out my forms for customs and then study some more but right now I’m just listening to music and chilling until dinner (really lunch in Japan).

I'll be at the airport within 12 hours! :D

What a crazy thought. I guess since I've prepared and applied for this for so long, it's pretty insane that my flight leaves TOMORROW (well, actually in 13 hours). So surreal! I spend today like pretty much any other day in summer, just hanging out with Mariko and Kelsey...though we did hit up Comic-con and Ocean Beach which was epic and full of delicious BBC men. <.< I got home pretty late (like 30 mins ago <.<) and tried to finish packing. >< But I'm still missing my beige beanie! I don't know where it wentttt...I'm thinking maybe I left it at Kelsey's but she hasn't mentioned it so I don't think I did...? It's gotta be somewhere around here <.<

In other news, I got a new camera! :D Though I was out of town most of the day, I called my mom to see if she could pick up the camera I wanted from Target (which she promised she'd get me before I left anyhow, since mine is old and decrepit). I tried it out and took a few pics and I think it'll REALLY help to document my trip :D (It's 12.1 megapixels, 4x zoom, and 2.7inch screen :D) She got me a memory card too that holds FOUR HUNDRED PICTURES :D I know that probably doesn't sound like a lot to you skilled photographer friends of mine, but my old camera only held 90-110 sooo...BIG difference.

Other than that, I'm just hoping that I'll be able to get through immigration alright with the paperwork I do have from the Dream Concert application. I hear that we don't really even need to show return flight information but we'll see. The EAP people seemed to make a big deal about getting a 'paperless ticket' to show as proof that you were leaving the country within 90 days. And it SUCKS how little they will help you out after THEY leave you stranded without a student visa. And by 'they', I mean EAP. <.< I expected them to at least try to make it somewhat easier on us who unfortunately couldn't get ours on time, but nope, they make it 10 times more difficult. I'll have to print out those emails tomorrow morning and hopefully everything will go smoothly. I'm also SUPER happy because my EAP friend that I am traveling with has a friend in Japan who will be able to pick us up from the airport! Hurray! Now I just need to make sure I can meet up with her at the EAP spot so we can get that ride...but we don't have any way to contact each other. ><

Well, the longest day EVER tomorrow, so hopefully it goes alright! I'll probably blog again before I get on the plane. (or at least write a blog to post once I get there if there's no internet ^^)

Going-away Party

So yesterday was my going away party, organized by my two besties which was held at a park and Diamond Plaza in Rowland Heights. I got the opportunity to see some people I hadn't seen since the end of high school, and hang out with people I got to see often and it was definitely an interesting mix of people. Anime expo friends...high school friends...drama friends...yeahhh, strange mix. Typically, I wouldn't even think of mixing them in with each other (and kinda for good reason XD). (Same goes for college friends too though...I don't often try to mix my socal and norcal friends.)

Though it wasn't exactly the least awkward party I've been to (I'm sure some of the party-goers felt awkward around the other people they didn't know), it was a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to see a lot of people I hoped to see before I left. Some people couldn't make it, which is sad, but hopefully we won't lose touch when I go abroad. I know my friends put in a lot of time, money and effort to arrange this party for me and I really appreciate it. (It's just weird for me to not be the one in charge. XD) They probably don't feel like it lived up to their expectations, but I think it went well enough for everyone to have a good time. (which is all that really matters, right? :D)

Some pics!

PACKING!

Exciting! I was looking forward to this post for a long time! :D

I decided to get started on packing early just because I had nothing else to do and my room was becoming a quarantined area because of the mess all my clothes had made <.< Here are some inventory pics of my epic battle! (clickable thumbnails! :D)


My 9 black dresses XD


Other Dresses


Vests


Wintery Shirts


Leggings (god, i have A LOT ><)


Cover-over tops


Camisoles and Tanktops


Sleeveless Shirts


Thus far filled an entire half of a suitcase...not bad!


VKish tops


Sleeved Shirts


Pants


Shorts (denim pair not pictured)


Skirts


Yukata and Obi


Belts (elastic one not pictured...not sure where it is <.<)


Jackets/Outerwear

Also packed some shoes and my flat posters...i gotta sort through my rolled posters to figure out which ones to bring in tubes <.< I still have an entire half of my duffle rolly bag to fill! Awesomeee :D (but there are some clothes I have to wash and then pack...or clothes that i set aside to wear the next couple days >< and then I found a few more random clothing items in my closet (like my Cal shirt) that I want to bring)

Another Visa update!

Oh shame on you, EAP, for giving me the wrong information the first time around. Our coordinator emails me again today and explains that she gave me 'misleading information' and that, in fact, I DO need a return ticket within 90 days of my arrival, and she 'suggests' (pretty much tells me I HAVE to do it or I won't be let in the country) that I go on a 'weekend trip' to Korea or China. WOW. Do they think we're rich or something?

Luckily, I was planning on going to Korea anyway and this is a fine excuse for me to go to the Korean Dream Concert in October. I didn't think I would go until next year, but hey, why not. If I HAVE to book a flight outside of Japan, might as well just go to the concert right?! Not to mention, all my favorite kpop groups are going to be there (Dbsk, Suju, Big Bang, Shinee, 2PM, taegoon, hyori, wheesung, snsd, wonder girls, etc) sooo sure, why not :D I applied for tickets already (started the transaction pretty much) and put in my address at ILP for the confirmation thing to be sent to so then I can pay. It's about $750 total...but before you flip your lid, that includes two night hotel stay, flight from Narita to Seoul, a tour within Seoul on the days the concert isn't held AND the concert ticket. I'm not expecting really good seats (since I think members of fanclubs get those) buuut just being in the presence of all that greatness will be good enough for me.

Annoying thing is, that since they won't have me pay until the payment receipt and info gets to me in Japan, I can't use that flight as confirmation that I will be leaving the country within 90 days of my entry. Hopefully they'll let me use the transaction receipt which shows the flight times (but not dates, which I can verify through any Dream concert poster) so I can explain to the inspection people that I am in the process of getting my flight ticket worked out. <.< I sent an email to my coordinator (again) trying to get her opinion on it. I don't know how they expect us to suddenly be able to get a fast exit ticket from Japan after giving us a 5 day warning anyway. <.<

Visa Update

Well, it looks like we won't be getting our visas before we leave. (at least us Keio-ers) Apparently it takes 2-3 months for the certificate of eligibility to be approved through the Japanese government so they weren't able to have it done on time. So now we're just going on temporary tourist status to get in and then getting our visas during the first couple months of our stay (whenever they're ready). At least they'll be helping us out with it since they're the ones who didn't get them done and I don't have to worry about getting it done before I leave in FIVE DAYS. OMGGGG.

Hmm...what else. So tonight I had a family dinner at my dad's restaurant with me, my mom, brother, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was fairly...quiet, like we didn't really know what to talk about and mostly ended up talking about my uncle fixing our houses' water leak. Kinda awkward. My grandpa probably would had talked to me more if he was seated closer because he loves Japan. My grandparents and uncle/aunt also gave me some 'going-away money' which was much appreciated. ($100 from my grandparents and $50 from my aunt/uncle) It's kinda like an advanced christmas or birthday gift since I won't be around then to get any presents. :P After dinner, my aunt suggested that i come over and babysit, so I did for a couple hours and got $25 (which I'll probably spend a majority of tomorrow). Got home around 11:30pm...so a pretty long day.

Tomorrow, Mariko, Kelsey and I might head out to LA to go to Little Tokyo and karaoke, eat, shop etc, but we're still not totally sure. We'd have to be back by 6-ish since they have class at 7. But if we can get started early enough, that won't be a problem. Thursday I'm working for Mrs. Anderson around noon til probably 6 (we'll go out to eat together :D), then babysitting for the last time (in a year!). Friday is my big 'going away' party soo that should be fun! And Saturday I don't have any set plans yet, but most likely I'll be using it to pack and perhaps having dinner with my mom and her friend who in town (with the other family members too). Sunday is Comic-con and then, WOAH, I leave on Monday. That was sudden <.<

Pics from today...got bored and took pics with my brother :P He makes some pretty epic facial expressions XD

Single Digits!

I'm down to nine more days in America! Unbelievable! No word on our COE yet...I need to get my visa! ><

Other than that, I'm up at Berkeley for the weekend visiting friends which has been awesome so far. ^^ Yesterday I got here around 5:30pm and had dinner with Mina, Miren, Sherry and Roy at Mandarin House which was delicious. (so much food I had to take some home! ><) Then we headed back to Miren and Sherry's apartment and just hung out for a bit, Mina went home, Andy came over and we played tetris for...a while. haha. Then Sherry, Andy and I went and got some boba (YES, FINALLY!), came back, went online and that's about it.

Today was crazy! Woke up around 10am, had to make a call to my insurance company, stopped by my old workplace to pick up my last check (and visited my co-workers :D), went to the post office, went to the bank and finally deposited all my money I've been holding on to, met up with Christin and had lunch at Lotus House, went shopping, went to xlab and made monies, went to buffalo exchange to try to sell my clothes and ended up buying more (<.<), met up with Jackie and had dinner at Gypsys, got boba, went shopping, bought tickets to harry potter, got ice cream, went shopping, waited in line for the movie, saw movie and nowww I am back here :D VERY LONG DAY but very fulfilling! I got some clothes on sale for amazing prices...a pair of shoes ($5), sunglasses ($3), shorts ($6), plaid bubble dress/shirt ($9), and a toothbrush ($1) LOL. I also had to buy super glue to fix my nail for $2 <.< But after all this shopping, I don't think I can handle going into union square tomorrow, as it will be far too difficult to NOT buy something. So I might just go straight to Jtown...which will be less tempting because I'm going to Japan in NINE DAYS. :D

Reflecting Pt 1

Cuz I'm sure there will be a couple more posts like this before I leave <.<

This post will most likely end up becoming pretty personal...so for those of who don't know me exceptionally well, I guess this will be helpful as an insight to my past, what makes me tick, and probably some innermost thoughts I wouldn't mention otherwise. Take this as a disclaimer...if you don't want to read a post filled with girly-emotions, then feel free to click away. :P

Anywho, back to the topic...which I haven't even started talking about. I guess to start off with, the reason for this post is pretty much because I've been bored the last few days and had time to reflect on the last two years or so of my past through pictures and blogs I wrote. It served as a reminder of what my life was like towards the end of high school and immediately after (during my semester off) and made me realize how different a person I am now from what I was. I'm not really sure what triggered the change...living conditions, college experiences, newfound friends, or what. All in all though, I'm not sure if who I am now and how I act is completely true to who I potentially could be. Ideally, I'd love to come back from Japan a changed person, someone who has finally found peace with themselves, those around them and the direction they're going in life. Do I know that's going to happen? HELL NO. In a perfect world, I'd like it to, but most likely I'll come back as confused as ever.

But that's not the point of this post...of course. I find it difficult to get straight to the point sometimes when I'm blogging. Anyhow, I have this strange sense that I haven't settled past demons...and if I move on to Japan without settling them, that they will somehow come back to haunt me. I doubt this would make sense to anyone, even those who know about the situation, but pretty much, it regards a boy. A certain boy who pretty much dumped me without us even being together, left me in my time of need, and was, in general, an asshole (to put it nicely). Two years ago, I was too naive, too nice, and too forgiving to even tell him off for all the crap me put me through and just let him pretty much walk all over me without a second thought. I was needy for attention and love and if he gave it to me, that's all I put into consideration. My mindset then still shames me to this day. It shames me that I didn't prevent the situation, end things as they should had, and given him a piece of my mind. But this happened two years ago...there's no turning back. There's no way for me to even bring it up to him now, we haven't talked in a year and a half. Yet, even the fact that it's still in my mind bothers me...since I doubt he ever even thinks of it or reflects on his actions. I guess as the victim (yes, I will say that I was in this situation), it just continues to bother me that I didn't stand up for myself like I would had two years later. And now that I want to stand up for my two years in the past self, there's nothing I can do about it but move on. (Which honestly I've been trying to do for the last two years <.<)

In a bit lesser of matters, I went browsing through my iphoto to get rid of some old pictures, mostly ones taken during random photosets I did that now didn't appeal to me. It's not like my tastes in pictures has changed, but I guess I have higher standards of what to keep and what to toss these days. I don't want to waste my time and space on something that isn't profitable. (that sounds weird. XD) I was also looking back on pictures that I had taken about two years ago and how I REALLY think my looks have changed since then. I think I photograph in a completely different way. And it makes me kind of sad because...I think I photographed well back then :/ Which means now is kinda...mehhh. I think it's cuz I got fat? I have no idea. Or I just matured in two years...either way, it bums me out that my peak of 'good looks' was two years ago...not sure where my looks will go from here ><

Other than that, there are other issues and items to address at a later time, when I have more time to sort out my thoughts and really get a handle of where I am at with them. Fun stuff. :D

Blog Update

Oh man...I'm stupid. Ok, so I had my comments on here set to 'users only' which I guess means other people who have blogs...? I just changed it to the kind of, 'general public' option, so anyone can comment. My apologies to those who might have wanted to comment before and couldn't. >< At least I know some of you read this...but now you can leave comments which is even better! :D

Also, added an 'Upcoming Events' gadget to the side of my page. ^^ Basically just highlights the fun/interesting activities I'll be involved with for the next two months...so you know what to expect :D

3 weeks and counting!

So close to Japan! :D

Minor Updates: I found a travel partner! Alice and I are going to go from the airport to the ILP mansion together so hopefully with her superior kanji skills and my navigation skills, we won't have any problems. I feel a lot better about traveling there without any prior experience doing so with someone else who is just as clueless. haha. :D

The COE still hasn't gotten here. <.<

oh, and I got a jury duty summons, tried to get out of it by saying I had no transportation and then they denied it because apparently there is 'public transportation' but the nearest bus station is about two miles from my house because I live in the MOUNTAINS. <.< Gee, real smart, court system. So now I have to repeal it again. Not to mention, the date is the day I'm going to Norcal. <.<

Random side note: I FINALLY bought myself an awesome plaid shirt today :D