抹茶ミルク -maccha milk-

my favorite places to get recipes

2009-08-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

From the internet, that is. These are places I have made recipes from and liked.
Allrecipes - my go-to giant recipe site. Not all that great for ethnic cooking, but great for your American standbys.
Joy of Baking - lots of really good (and good looking) desserts
Just Hungry - lots of good things, but I particularly like her Japanese home cooking/bento recipes
Orangette - I had stumbled across her blog before, but did not try anything until I read her book, and now I love her recipes.
Smitten Kitchen - Most of the recipes I've made from here are just OK, but certainly edible, and it's great for ideas.

summertime

2009-08-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

Lots happening, so much I don't really update anymore. I think I just get less introspective when I have less time to think. Summer has been great - not too much hot weather although we still have August to get through, I've gotten to see lots of fun people (even Sarah! :D), I had my birthday, got to go to Noah's Ark and New Glarus, just got my 3-month review back at work and passed with no complaints (yay), and in general life is good.

My parents are moving across town to a new house in September, and I'm going to help them. I figure I owe them for the 8 or 9 times they've moved me in the last 6 years, plus getting to spend time with my brother and playing video games together like the good old days is never EVER a bad time. I am completely looking forward to it. I just hope he plans to be off work for a while too :)

This weekend is going to be busy - Ty has a show tonight (I am staying home because as much as I am still not sick of their shows after attending 95% of them, I am more productive at home than at a bar, AND I spend less money [though I don't have to spend much as it is, haha] and get to bed sooner), we are going curb shopping because it's move-out weekend (hope I find some good shit), then home to visit my parents and go to our friend Emilie's wedding reception, then helping Theresa move into her new apartment and clean it so it's nice for her to live in. She is living by herself this time and it sounds like she's happy about it. I may cook dinner, or we may end up going out - probably going out since I don't know how much cooking I will feel like doing by the time moving and cleaning is over. And Bryan will be there! He is about to go back to Sudan already...

Summer's ending fast.
I have to enjoy it before all the snow comes.
But before winter comes fall, and soon my favorite season will be here!

springtime for Hitler and Germany

2009-04-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

Every time spring comes I think of that song because I love how ridiculous The Producers is. But it is FINALLY spring in Wisconsin! The farmer's market opened this morning and I got some plum-barb (plum & rhubarb) jam because I was curious. I have yet to try it, but it will doubtless have a unique flavor. It was also ridiculously nice out, close to 70 degrees, so I went outside and continued work on the gardens in the backyard. They probably have not been kept in a very long time...everything is really crowded and overgrown from being allowed to divide and spread year after year in the same exact spot. The most exciting thing about watching things pop up is that I get to see all the springtime plants! I moved to my current address last June, and by then everything was already overgrown like crazy, so I never noticed the plants that had already come and gone or were buried under the monstrosity of hostas, wild mint, and orange daylilies.

Some spring plants that I have found growing include snowdrops (they were blooming at the end of March ^^), some plants growing from bulbs that I THINK are tulips (we'll see! assuming they grow in the big pot I put them in, that is...), and as of yesterday, daffodils! I had always wanted some daffodils because I like them. They were growing, of all places, out of the mysterious pile of dirt and debris that appeared in the middle of one of the gardens after a wind storm knocked a giant branch down onto the garage next door and did quite a bit of damage. I think they'd been there before because they were rather choked in mint roots (mint spreads like CRAZY and is REALLY hard to dig through...), but I was very pleasantly surprised when I noticed something bright yellow growing out of the dead plants and garage debris and realized it was the very thing I had wished for. They are now planted right beside the front steps so I can look at them every time I come and go :) The lily-of-the-valley and sundrops that I thought were dead due to my poor transplanting skills are both coming back, too! Maybe I'm not so bad at this. I also planted poppy seeds today. Normally I'm not that great at raising plants from seed, but we'll see how it goes. The last time I planted flower seeds, they did fine until the maintenance guys at T's old apartment took a lawn mower to them :( My next project is to get some bricks and use them to edge the bed next to the driveway because there is no edging and there's really coarse grass growing all over, and it just looks awful. Free bricks, of course. The landlord isn't trying to fix our leaky basement or even partially reimburse us for all the money we spend trying to divert the water every time it floods, so I'm sure there's no way he'd help pay for something as frivolous as landscaping. I bet they'd have no problem charging more rent for the place because of it, though. Jerks.

Oh, yes - I have a new job that starts April 27th! I'm working back where I used to work as a student, but in a much different capacity. I am fairly sure that already knowing me played no small part in their decision to hire me, but I knew straight away they weren't going to just hand it to me, and I'd have to prove like anybody that I was the right person for the job. I KNOW I wouldn't have gotten my new job if I hadn't picked up the skills I did at this government agency. My current supervisor was happy for me, and had some really nice things to say when I told him I got a new job. I thanked him for giving me such a wide variety of projects and giving me some really good work and leadership experience. No way in HELL am I letting the crazy manager lady know all those nice things, though - she would take all the credit for it, I'm sure, just because she's a big jerk and because she interviewed me and jointly decided to hire me. I'm not even going to tell her I'm leaving unless she asks. After all, she's the main reason I wanted to leave, what with the way she treats her employees and how she makes her hiring decisions and deals with complaints. My last day at the government agency is next Wednesday, and I decided I'm only telling the people that I want to tell, and quietly making my exit for the rest of them. I have Thursday and Friday off, then I start the new job the following Monday. It'll be my first "real job"...I will actually get things like sick pay and vacation time and health insurance that I don't have to pay for out of pocket. Hooray!!! Also, my mom will not be bugging me about jobs anytime soon. :) She was SO happy when I told her yesterday, and that was on top of the good news that my dad was offered his job back two months or so after his company decided to let a bunch of people go and he took a severance offer. No more shaking in our boots - our family is now completely gainfully employed again :)

To celebrate...sushi dinner, now that I can afford it! And a KitchenAid mixer, because I love to cook and it is the most kickass kitchen appliance you could ever want. I'm having a lot of trouble deciding what features I want, but no matter what color (I would rather have red, black or blue instead of white) or features I get I will probably spend around $250-$300 unless I find a super good deal on one. I'm willing to wait until I find a good deal, too...but maybe I shouldn't worry so much. After all, I was planning to spend that much on a denshi jisho until I found a REALLY nice one for $100.

What with the new job, being able to afford the slightly more expensive things that I want, and T buying an HD flat screen TV last weekend, I feel like I'm moving up in the world. ^^

Speaking of cooking, I have been trying new recipes, as always. This ginger-carrot soup is REALLY good - even T liked it! I couldn't decide whether I wanted to go spicy or sweet, and ended up adding the cinnamon and nutmeg after I threw in some curry powder (because curried ginger carrot soup sounded appealing at the time). I would recommend EITHER curry powder OR cinnamon + nutmeg. :) I also had some white fish I put too much cayenne pepper on and T wouldn't eat, so I wanted to try making fish soup with the leftovers. As weird as it sounded to me, I was curious. I decided on this recipe for whitefish soup mostly because the lady that created the recipe is from Wisconsin (I figured this recipe would taste most like something I was used to), and as a fisherman's wife I figured she is probably good at cooking fish and making it taste good. I made a LOT of adjustments because I had no celery or bay leaves, only 1/3 lb of fish that was already cooked (I made ~1/6 of the recipe), and I diced frozen French fries because it was all I had for potatoes (hey, I was desperate to include some other vegetable besides onion and carrot...) and it STILL tasted good to me. I also took the suggestion and added cream (half-and-half actually) to make chowder. I can't wait to try it when it's made properly. Next on my list: jam thumbprint cookies. They always look and taste so nice with the fruity center, and apricot jam (one of my very favorite flavors of jam) tastes particularly good in them.

More updates when things finally start growing and I start working my new job :)

dreaming about coffee and bananas

2009-02-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

Another month has gone by! Quite scary if you really think about how time gets away from you. And now for some more random things that have been going on or that I have been thinking about.

1) I don't wear makeup very much at all but I want an excuse to wear this stuff. I love looking at all the bright colors, and will have to decide what would look best on me, and maybe plan next Halloween around it. XD

2) My parents finally met Ty's mom a couple of weekends ago when she was in my hometown for a seminar she was teaching. Unfortunately, she got a less than friendly welcome from my dog. Cooper thinks he owns the place, and is very protective of it, so he jumped all over her and tried to bite her a few times. It didn't help that she's afraid of dogs to begin with...sigh. She was perfectly happy to spend time with us anywhere but the house, and we'll have to put him away if she comes back. Had I known she was going to try to come in the house when she did, I definitely would have put him on a leash. Dinner was really nice! We went to a Mongolian-style barbecue much like the Flat Top Grill here, but it was a lot more casual (and less expensive). I want to know where they get yakisoba noodles in this neck of the woods.

3) Tristan and Reese got different jobs. I miss them, but I know they're doing great in their new places. Guess I'll just have to eat at the Great Dane sometime soon. I figured out exactly how much time I have left there (8 weeks + a few hours), and that's only if they can find enough work for me to do. There's usually something, though. Yay. I got recruited for a state job at the university, and there's one that opened up where I used to work! Surprise! I am definitely applying. I have super awesome references for that one, too.

4) We had an unconventionally romantic Valentine's Day :) We went out on a date earlier in the week and I got surprised with anemone flowers (MY FAVORITE ♥) when I came home from work, and then went out for pizza, and it was the most delicious I've had in a LONG time. I also finally got to try Schlitz beer...it's pretty smooth but bites you at the end with the aftertaste, like PBR (the best shitty beer there is). On Valentine's Day we went rollerskating at this rink with really retro lamps on the ceiling that looked cool, but otherwise was kind of run down and shitty (but that's part of the charm and nostalgia) and the driveway was practically impossible to find. On the way in, I was laughing at these two ladies that were sloooooooowly making their way around the rink, hanging onto the side for dear life, but when I put on my roller skates and began stumbling around I felt bad about it. Then I cautiously entered the rink, got more and more comfortable with going normal speed while keeping balance, and in about five minutes I was laughing at them again. There was also a creepy guy with a Hawaiian shirt that was in the middle skating backwards and dancing to every song all by himself and looking at all the ladies who went by...we're pretty sure he's a 'regular.' XD We went to the mall and bought a Classic controller for the Wii, then went home and bought Super Mario RPG from the Wii Shop Channel. I made some pasta dough for homemade bowtie noodles, and played while it rested. Man, fresh pasta is such a lot of work, but still pretty tasty. If I had a pasta roller I would definitely make it again. I made this sauce to go with it, and it was soooooo good. ^^ Then we played some more video games, and called it a night.

5) I am WAY too excited for it to get warm again so I can start growing plants, especially herbs for cooking. I also want to see if the sundrops will recover from my planting them too deep last year. Apparently they spread really quickly.

6) We hosted a potluck last weekend for Ty's tae kwon do club, and had some friends over for dinner last night. We had enough food from the potluck for a whole week of lunches. But only for me, because Ty doesn't like beans or chili. XD I made chicken cordon bleu and these potatoes and an apple-toasted walnut-blue cheese spinach salad for the dinner party and I loved every bite of it, except for when I forgot to take the toothpicks out of the chicken and chomped down on one. Also, Whole Foods has the most delicious (and cute) cakes, and they brought a flourless chocolate one for dessert. mmm ♥ I have been trying a LOT of new recipes lately. Next on my list is pumpkin muffins and toasted coconut shortbread cookies, once the chocolate mint ones I made are gone. I'm surprised I'm not gaining any more weight with how much I've been dealing with food these days and not exercising. Since we moved to a new work building, my access card to the old one that had an exercise room in it got taken away. The day after we moved, someone was bugging my supervisor for the card because it's technically his, so I had to give it back. :(

The last couple of days I have been thinking about the coffee smoothie Molly and I concocted one rainy day with a banana in it, and finally made one for breakfast today, but it wasn't quite as good. I need to have her over again so we can make the good ones.

things on my mind - that's what blogs are about, right?

2009-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hello there. Just a few things I wanted to share with the world:

1) I finally bought a copy of Let's Make Japanese Food. I decided after two more successful and awesome tasting recipes that I tried from it that I will finally return the library's copy and get my own because I want to keep it that badly. And for nine dollars, it's well worth it, considering the suggested price is thirty dollars or so.

2) I bought a giant bag-o-fabric-and-ribbons from a lady on Craigslist yesterday, and after I agreed to buy it, I was worried because I hadn't asked about fabric colors or anything. Buying fabric without seeing it first is not really a good thing to do - after all, it is made to be seen. It might be really low quality and uncomfortable to wear, or a type or color that you would never consider using, and for what I was paying I was worried about getting my money's worth. Fortunately I just happened to hit the jackpot with suitable decent quality materials for what I wanted to make, plus a bunch of other stuff that I don't have a use for but certainly could figure one out. The wildest color was a pumpkiny neon yellow-orange, but at least it's a solid color (and thankfully so are most of the rest of the fabric pieces). For buying without seeing it first, I did well.

3) I am excited to go home and see my parents and brother and dog this weekend. It's always comforting to go home.

4) After finishing packing up all the files at Ethics for the move, I am pleased that I don't have to work on the day that it is actually being moved. The government agency I work for was created by merging two smaller agencies a year ago, probably due to budget cuts. Everyone in it was split among three separate buildings until today, when they will all be moved together into a much larger fourth building, physically completing the merge. There appears to be a lot of drama between the three offices that I did not know about that I'm glad I'm not there for. I was just happy to be packing for people that actually know that I work for them, know my name and appreciate what I'm doing. I was not at a place like that on the first day of packing, and it frustrated me quite a bit. If I move over half a ton of your paper files 10-15 pounds at a time with one 30-minute break in eight hours for no more pay than I get sitting in front of a computer all day, and you can't even come over and say "thank you for helping me out," you are an ass. It will be interesting to see how the cultures of the three offices will clash. I'm just glad my supervisor (the guy who planned and facilitated the whole move) has his office as far away from these ungrateful out-of-touch bosses as possible. They originally FORGOT to assign him a cube when everyone else was picking theirs out and they plopped him right across the hall from his boss, who appreciates very little of the hard work the guy does for him. How do you forget someone that's doing all your shit work for you?! Fortunately my supervisor complained and got himself out of that mess.

5) I am typing this mostly because I need to see it in writing:
I ESTIMATE THAT I HAVE ROUGHLY SIX WEEKS LEFT AT MY JOB.

デンガクだいすき

2009-01-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Usually when I try to make Asian food, and Japanese food in particular, I can never seem to make it correctly if I have not already eaten it before because I don't know what it is supposed to taste like, but I make it anyway, and feel that my version somehow does not quite taste how it should.

And now for something that completely broke that trend: dengaku. I had borrowed this cookbook from the library and was looking through it for things that sounded good (I will most likely end up buying a copy because just about everything in it sounds tasty and easy enough to attempt), and came across eggplant dengaku = grilled eggplant with a caramelized sweet miso sauce baked on. Traditionally tofu is used instead of eggplant (see the picture - the one on the right is your most basic kind), and it's grilled on skewers. I had only had the dengaku sauce before, made by my dear host mother at home, and we had it on boiled tofu and vegetables. Normally dengaku is something you'd find at a street food stall or alongside yakitori. I had eggplant in the fridge and a hankering for miso so I decided to give the recipe a whirl, and I have rarely been so satisfied with a first try at a Japanese recipe. I also had some tofu that was getting old so I squeezed the water out, browned it with the eggplant, and while both were really really good, I liked the tofu better. It's a hell of a lot of soy at once, but at least it's good for you (minus the shit tons of salt).

Bonus: Ty loves it. I always feel great when I try a new recipe he's skeptical about and he ends up liking it. I feel even better when I like it too.

I also cooked a lot of things for the "Classy New Year party" we had at our house on Wednesday night: Salt and Pepper Cheese Puffs (very easy, very tasty and pretty fatty), Double Chocolate Pecan Brownies (I love exploring Maki's blog entries and this recipe of hers is AMAZING), hummus with sun-dried tomatoes (which are tasty but have the texture of shoe leather...I eventually let the blender chop them up instead of trying to cut them with a knife), fresh fruit, and I was going to attempt calamari but ran out of time and I'd had enough of cooking by then. Instead I washed all the dishes, changed into my dress and had fun the rest of the night, and woke up to a clean kitchen. Perhaps my favorite part of the preparation was going to Dig & Save, the last-chance store for items that didn't sell in this particular organization's thrift stores, where you pay for everything by the pound, for some supplies. We couldn't have a CLASSY party if people drank wine out of pint glasses and plastic cups, after all. We found some mostly ridiculous wine glasses (25th Anniversary ones and the like), two heavy glass bar-style shooter glasses, two brown and green Chinese tea cups that remind me of the kind Dianne had when I lived with her, and two Asian-styled black plates that exactly match Ty's rice bowl, in immaculate condition. (We were lucky that day! Many things at the Dig & Save are chipped, cracked, scratched, broken, dirty and/or ugly.) We paid less than $3 for everything :) The party itself ended up rather low-key, but raging parties are not all that classy. It was nice to be able to sit and chat with everyone for a while - there were few enough people so that you could spend a decent amount of time with each person. Most of those that said they would definitely show up did not, but the people who showed up in their place were just as awesome. We also had a few more crashers than planned, but with a whole house to share, it was comfy :) The least classy we got was listening to a couple of Wesley Willis songs because someone there had no idea who he was and we needed to give him one...haha.

And now I'm going to enjoy two MORE days off (for the last two weeks I have been off Wednesday and Thursday from work due to the office being closed for holidays) after working today. Other than how much money I'm not making, I really could get used to this schedule...

Christmas!

2008-12-28T12:58:00.001-08:00

Christmas just kind of sneaked up on me this year, to be honest. I organized a family gift exchange again this year, and I didn't buy gifts until a week before. They didn't get to my brother on time. Well, one did, but his 9 pound cast iron skillet didn't - it's supposed to get there tomorrow. I'm still working on presents! My dad came to get me on very short notice due to weather conditions, and I went back to my parents' house. I cooked and baked for three straight days with my mom - I love cooking, but it was REALLY tiring. My dad was being kind of immature about things on Christmas Eve and so we ended up opening presents the morning of the 25th at his request, and after that he got better. I got an external hard drive from the gift exchange (yay I can back up my stuff!), a pink, brown and white plaid cashmere scarf (from when my brother and sister-in-law honeymooned in Italy), two pairs of much needed pajama pants from my other brother, money from my parents (it's going toward new clothes), and a DVD of Base Ball Bear's music videos from Ty (with an unreleased song on the credits!!), plus a few more surprise presents he's bringing home for me today. He also said he found me raspberry ginger ale, which I have fond memories of drinking when I was a little girl, and which I have not been able to find in any grocery store (but he did when he went home)!

Best part: Nobody made me go to church. I did hear about how my parents don't like that none of their kids buy into being religious despite their best efforts. My dad doesn't understand, though...he thinks "all those liberals" are out to "destroy Christmas" by calling it "the holidays" instead. I asked him if that was more Fox News brainwashing. I think my dad feels like he can unload all his political baggage on me because of who I work for. Just because I work for government doesn't mean I'm interested in hearing you talk about your political beliefs, especially when you don't let me explain why I believe what I do (which is very different from what you believe). I want to tell him that I don't subscribe to religion because it kills people - people do horrible things to each other in the name of beings that probably do not exist and that we have no way of proving the existence of. Everyone thinks their belief system is the best, and especially in the case of Christians, many try to push it onto everyone they know. Religion does not instill morality or control in society. People are dumb, but nonetheless smart enough to know that the wrath of an invisible man in the sky will not be wrought upon them the second they violate rules people have made up for themselves - and those who do believe it are scared. Take a family I know: the daughter is by far the most religious, and also the most disagreeable, maladjusted, and angry. My older brothers have proven to me that you do not need religion to be morally sound, have healthy and meaningful relationships, and enjoy life.

I read the majority of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood over the break - a typically sort of depressing Japanese novel, but I couldn't put it down. Now I get to start on Mother Tongue! I've always liked Özdamar's writing since a professor translated part of one of her books from German and read it to us in his class. Her writing includes a lot of the mundane but cute and happy things - the happiness of living in the moment, even in foreign surroundings. I think another reason I like her writing is that she writes about the experience of being foreign and exploring and adapting to a place new to her (she's Turkish but permanently moved to Germany when she was young).

It definitely felt like Christmas outside, with a foot and a half of snow on the ground and arm aches from shoveling the driveway. Ours is long and narrow, so we really don't have anywhere to go with it except the sides, which I realized yesterday is not even a good idea because I came back from my parents' house and found some of the musical equipment sitting in 1/2" of water in a pretty unlikely place. Thankfully nothing was powered on and the important parts were not wet, so I just got them up off the floor, cleaned up the cold water and hung up the rug. That's the nice thing about electronics - if they aren't powered on when they get filled with water, most of the time they will be just fine if you let them COMPLETELY dry out before powering on again.

I have been fascinated with Perfume lately, and am really glad they'll be on Kouhaku Utagassen this year (along with Mr.Children and a surprisingly large number of artists I like)! I may actually download and watch it this time! I do wish they'd picked a different song to perform, though. I think that I will always like Electro World. What I like about them so much is that they went through a LOT of hard work to get famous (as opposed to being entirely manufactured), and happened to catch some really good luck just as they were seriously considering throwing in the towel. I also like that they're pop stars who do their own dances for everything, unlike so many others that should dance and don't. I can sort of understand if you don't dance for live performances because very few people can breathe hard and sing well at the same time, but come on! You don't even have to sing well (if at all) for a video and you can't be more entertaining than standing still and doing those horribly contrived hand movements? In short, I believe Perfume has a lot more genuine credibility and talent than most singing groups out there, and they're a lot more deserving of attention, which I am glad they got before they decided to give up. In any case, you have to be decently tough to dance like that in heels for an entire evening. I'm glad they got some fashion direction (90% of their earlier outfits and costumes were crazy in a bad way), and they have one hell of a guy writing their songs. Now if only they would get their hands into writing some of their music or lyrics...

I will leave you with some pictures from Thanksgiving and Christmas at my parents' house.

2008-12-21T16:45:00.000-08:00

It was 10 below zero when I woke up this morning --- at 9 AM.

I had a dream that Perfume was having a concert, and somehow I'd been chosen to fill in for A~chan because she broke her leg. I was fine until I realized I only knew how to dance to the first part of one of their songs, and then I got all nervous...and woke up.

あと少し

2008-12-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

There's just a little bit left, for a lot of things. Only a few more days left to study for the JLPT. It's round 2 for me since I failed last year, and since I've been studying off and on for the last 3 months I feel like I'm better prepared. I'm planning to really hit the kanji and vocabulary hard, since that tends to stay with me really well in the short term. Ty's the only one of us with a car (and he's not even taking the test...) and he's taking me and Collin and Alaina, and we may even make a stop at Mitsuwa before the test! Yay :)

I feel like time's running out at my job too, since they've kept saying they're running out of work for us to do, and I bet once there's no more work to do we get the boot. Worst case scenario (not official, only in my head) is that they just won't have us come back after Christmas. In any case, I'm dead sure we won't be staying to the end of March as originally told to us. Guess it's time to hit the old job ads again...and prospects are looking pretty grim. But that can't stop me from trying!

I got my new rain boots after a little bit of a circus with the bank, and they're wonderful. They're smelly like rubber, but that should go away with use. I'm going to use them in the snow too, and have decided to make fleece socks to line them instead of paying $30 for a pair made especially for the boots. I come home every night with the best intentions, but don't really feel like making them again until I'm running to the bus at 8 AM and can't feel my toes.

This week I've had a couple of REALLY nice days. On Monday everything just seemed great - food tasted better than usual, I felt like socializing with my coworkers (and did), I exercised in the fitness room, and got a lot of shit done after going home from work. It was amazing. Yesterday was really nice too, even though I woke up feeling shitty. My favorite part was study group for the JLPT and Aki's little surprise birthday gathering. He had been wanting to try Greenbush Bakery donuts for a long time, and we got a dozen and brought him to our house to share them, along with Dave. Merlot and donuts - a classy snack. I don't like cake donuts but holy shit were the ones from Greenbush good! They make every kind of delicious there. We also had mugwort tea, funny videos and tarot card readings. I think the tea just made everything better.

Winter has officially come again and dumped a few inches of snow everywhere. I have things I like about winter and things I don't like. I've decided I really like outerwear (nice coats, hats, scarves and mittens) and winter is when you get to wear them all the time. I like how most people look in coats and hats and stuff. They look more warm and friendly somehow (in most cases). I like glowing lights and there are plenty of them outside and lots of dark to see them in. They're really pretty with snow too. I like the way snow looks on most things (but I don't like that it's wet and cold). I like big floaty flakes of snow and the really tiny kind that looks like glitter falling from the sky. Cold seems to bring people closer together, literally, mostly in the form of huddles, but being closer to people can be nice. I can really appreciate hot food and hot tea. I do not, however, enjoy that rooms are a lot colder, and even with the heat on I have to wear a lot of clothes, and when you just can't get warm enough, you burrow into your bed and can't do anything but try to warm up. I get scared sliding around on the road in a car when roads are not plowed.

I started this entry on Thursday, and it is now Saturday morning. Time to go and do things. Time for breakfast, possibly a haircut, and going to the new tea house on State Street for some last-minute kanji study before the JLPT. Then time for an amazing gourmet meal that I didn't cook :D

you can have her, I don't want her, she's too fat for me (hey!)

2008-10-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Plenty of good things have been happening. Fall is a magical season. Forget about Christmas and all that.

First, I was able to get a new job and quit Cosi. I liked the majority of my coworkers and preparing food and having so much contact with the mostly nice public, but the company treats their employees like crap. No amount of free drink is going to make up for the number of times I have been kept late and not been given the few days off I requested, which I warned them about weeks in advance. I now work processing voter registration applications, and so far I have opened thousands of envelopes and looked up thousands of addresses so that we know which county/city clerk to send the applications to. Getting guaranteed full time hours, never having to stay late unless I want to (AND getting paid extra for overtime!), and generally doing less work for more money makes me happy. I don't feel as much rapport with the people there, but when you're sitting at a computer all day you don't have a whole lot of time to socialize, and you don't have to work together there as closely as you need to at a restaurant.

Second, I went last weeekend to Seattle for Zach and Jenny's wedding. I got up at 4:15 Thursday morning and was there by 11:30. Zach's house got a lot of the projects done that came up when I was there last year (rewiring all the electricity in the entire house, painting the bathroom and dining room, staining and installing the new front door), and it's looking a bit more homey. Oscar was happy to see everybody :) I also tried Gorditos for the first time, which is this Mexican restaurant that my mom cannot get enough of and tells everyone who will listen several times about how good it is. My burrito and the tacos were kind of bland, but the salsa was delicious. I helped make the programs for the wedding at his house too. We went shopping at Pike Place Market too. I sampled some treats and found this shop that sells bulk spices and loose tea, and they had the garam masala I so dearly wanted to try, and I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for it like I would back home. I kind of wanted to go to See's and buy some chocolate or at least get a sample, but I need that like I need a hole in my head.

I got my first ever pedicure last Friday. It kind of tickles, and wasn't as painful as I was expecting it to be. My feet are all pretty now, and they were really soft for the whole day after. Since nail polish is the last thing they put on and it's not usually dry by the time you leave, they give you paper sandals to wear so you don't mess it up. I thought that was funny. We then went out into the country for a bridal luncheon that Jenny's friend Alicia and her mother threw for her. They have a REALLY nice house and they're both really sweet. I loved everything there. Zach and Jenny picked a malt shop (Blue Moon Burgers) for their rehearsal dinner, and it was AWESOME. The food was delicious. It was a first for the restaurant, too - they closed 2 1/2 hours early just for us. I think they got a lot more business from us than they would have had otherwise...about 15 people showed up at the door while we were there.

The day of the wedding (Saturday) we spent all morning and most of the afternoon just getting ready. Kelly did everyone's hair, and I wore makeup for the first time in a couple of years. I still can't believe she was able to make my hair stay in spiral curls for more than half an hour! I felt very pretty. We went straight from the apartment to the Palace Ballroom and waited around for the bride and groom to get there to have pictures taken. As sisters of the groom, it was our duty to hand out programs to the guests. It was a fun job, especially with the event coordinator girl being cool and my brother and Jenny's brother there for ushers. I have a bit of a crush on one of Zach's friends because he's quite genial, good for intelligent conversation, and British, so he greets ladies with a kiss on the cheek. ^^ The ceremony itself was a lot more moving than I thought it might be...maybe because I know both people so well. The most emotional part for me is when the bride walks in and everyone stands up for her. My brother actually got kind of choked up during his vows. I don't think I've ever seen him cry. Come to think of it, I'd never seen him kiss Jenny at all until the ceremony. (Quite different from my boyfriend, who is very affectionate, even around my family.) Dinner was really awesome because the Palace Ballroom is chef Tom Douglas' event space, and he's a local celebrity of sorts that makes really good food. He did not make an appearance (I doubt he personally cooked the food or was even there) but it was really unique and delicious. It was also awesome because Zach sat me next to his British friend at the table and we talked through dinner. Jenny's mom baked a really awesome cake, too. :D My dad (the best man) gave a really cool speech at the wedding. The dancing was a hell of a lot of fun. I had NO idea Zach's friends were all such great dancers!! They were better than most of the girls and so much fun to watch. Jenny stabbed my foot with her shoe heel (she wore red shoes with her dress, which I think is a kickass idea) and my foot bled for a bit, but that didn't stop me XD I even taught the British guy and Jenny's father how to dance polka. Too bad British guy ended up talking to event planner girl all night and I didn't get to hang out with him after that. Hell, one of Zach's friends that was there by himself (but has a girlfriend) acted as a sort of "date" for Kelly's friend XD My date left me :( oh well. at least he said goodbye at 2 AM :)

All in all, this Seattle trip was a smashingly fun time. I felt very welcome, both with Zach and Jenny as well as all their friends that I'd only met a few times before. My dad even said that he was happy his son and daughter in law have such awesome friends. It's something that gets you feeling very thankful and lucky. I felt the same when Ty and I were able to enlist 15 friends to help us move into our house in June. You know you're surrounded by good people when you can get them to help you out with a shit job like that.

Other things
1) I found out how my herb pots keep ending up dumped over outside. I went out to my bike yesterday morning and found a squirrel tipping them off the back ledge. Sneaky little bugger.
2) Thickening curry with frozen yellow squash was definitely a good idea. It adds a lot of color without being spicy, lends a potato-y texture and flavor, makes it sweeter, and it's a lot healthier than coconut milk.
3) Garam masala was that last little missing piece to make curry that tastes complete.
4) It was raining hard yesterday on the way home, and I rode my bike. I got to the park and about 80 ducks were sitting all over the path and in the puddles in the grass. Hearing them all quacking and watching them lazily waddle out of the way made me smile. I like ducks.

Also, hooray for getting Hunter wellies for $35!! I wanted red ones, but couldn't justify paying $120 for them. Then tonight I go online and find a website with one certain color in my size on sale for a ridiculous $29.99. I really wanted red, but for the quality and the price, I decided I could settle for light blue. It certainly isn't the worst color I could have ended up with, and it's a bright color, something raingear should be to offset the dreary day, and light blue is neutral enough to work with too :)

I love fall.

いっつも、最後の最後、救われる。

2008-09-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

It may be that I tend to work much harder for something when it gets down to the very last moment where I could still make it work out fine, or that I have this strange knack for being saved right before I fall into a serious problem (it's happened three times in the last year).

Whatever it might be, I have a new job!!

Mind you it's a temporary job, but six months is a decent length for a temporary job, especially when you're working for the state, get paid 25% more than where you're currently working, are guaranteed full time hours at the SAME time every day every week (no more working weekends for me!), and aren't hassled/disciplined for feeling too sick to come to work every once in a great while. Bonus: I get to feel like I'm helping out with the election! Whee! I'll be entering and updating information in their voter registration database. I had a feeling I did all right with the interview, especially when they made sure they had my work references before I left and the guy told me I did a good job (I swear he said that to me as I was leaving, but I can't remember for certain). They said they'd call me whether they chose me or not. The lady who interviewed me called and left a message on my phone today, but just told me to call her back about the job. My mom does exactly that when she has good news for me - she waits for me to hear it in person. ^^

Now I don't have to worry about making it to Courtney's wedding. phew.

All I have to do is negotiate new hours with my current job, or if they don't like that idea, I'll quit. bam. I get very little notice with just about everything I do there, so I don't think they can really expect a lot of notice out of me. On the plus side, next week was the week I took five days off for my brother's wedding anyway, so it's rather like two weeks' notice with just a few days they need to find someone else to work, because I can work through Sunday.

I think I'll just quit, actually. 40 hours is enough to work in one week. Originally I planned to renegotiate hours because the new job was only going to be 8-10 weeks long, but now that it's 6 months I really don't see the point, especially when I'm so adamant about having weekends off (which is really the only time I could work, or evenings, but they have a ton of people for that already).

In other news, I went home to visit my parents this past weekend, and saw my brother and sister, picked up a lot of my things (and found out my sister stole a bunch more things I bought in Japan and lied to me about it), and brought my dress for my brother's wedding home for my mom to alter. Dave's birthday is on Saturday, and we will be going apple picking this weekend, which I am VERY excited for. I love eating apples, have loved picking apples since I was a little kid, and introducing people to it last year was really fun too. :D My brother is getting married in a week and a half, and now I have a new job to tell people all about while I'm there and I won't sound like I'm still the bum I was a year ago. I have to figure out how I want my hair done (and now I don't have to worry about how much I'll spend on it because I have a decent job). I'm thinking curls, but since my hair is in so many layers now I don't know how well that will work. And, down or up? Up is more formal, but I think down just looks better on me. I also had the JLPT study group today, and got a bit of insight into Ross' character that doesn't really come through when we're talking in Japanese. I can see how Fred would think it's annoying, but I'll learn to deal with it instead of just getting frustrated.

Knowing I don't have to search for jobs for a while any more will make me so much happier than I've been...

Kanon Wakeshima

2008-09-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

I only found out about her just a few days ago, and from the looks of her I was expecting something barely passable for music. Then I found out she plays cello and sings at the same time (the first I've ever heard of someone doing such a thing professionally), and not only that, she's a rather impressive artist.

It makes me feel rather talentless when people have such aptitude in the fine arts, because with art you either have natural talent or you do not. It isn't (or at least far less) a skill that can be learned, like cooking or a foreign language. In order to create a really nice piece of art or music, you need the ability to tap into your imagination and be creative. To a certain extent I guess it can be learned, such as techniques for drawing and such, just like anyone can pick up a guitar, strum the strings a certain way, and call it music, but going from there to writing your own songs takes practice and that special creative sense.

Mine used to be decently in tune, but ever since I stopped drawing and writing it's been taking me longer and longer to access when I sit down and try to revive it. It only really works when I'm lonely. go figure.

lentil soup

2008-09-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

I work at a restaurant that serves lentil soup, and never seriously considered trying it until I worked the closing shift one night and was given a large amount of it to take home. I had been working all day and was kind of hungry, and planned to eat about half of it when I got home and save the rest for later, but it was SO good that I ate it all.

Some months have gone by and I tried to recreate the soup as best I could, without much success. I didn't panic, though, until they changed the supplier for the soups and the delicious, thick lentil soup full of veggies was replaced with a thin, yellow, yucky, brothy soup with just a few lentils and vegetables. It is reminiscent of vomit. I can no longer, in good faith, recommend the lentil soup to anyone because it's terrible.

Being that it was cold and rainy yesterday (perfect soup weather), I decided to try a new recipe for lentil soup and fix a few things along the way, and the result was, to my surprise, exactly what I had loved in the soup from work. I happily ate a large bowl of it for lunch, tasted it again a couple of hours later to make sure it really was as good as I thought (and ended up eating a bit more of it!), and even the next day it still looked and tasted wonderful. I am very pleased with myself. So pleased, in fact, that I'm going to post the recipe.
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LENTIL SOUP così style
(adapted from this recipe)

2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp dried thyme leaves (optional)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 ½ cups carrots, diced
½ each red and green bell pepper, finely diced (optional)
6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1/3 cup tomato paste (about 1 6 oz can)
1 ½ cups lentils, rinsed in cold water
1 tbsp cumin
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for more heat)
Dash of black pepper (optional)
Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil, garlic, and thyme until garlic is fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add carrots, onion and bell peppers, and sauté for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add petite diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth, then lentils and cumin, and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat down to low and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring every once in a while. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve with a squeeze of lemon, if desired. Serves 8.

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I was also looking for a recipe to use up the zucchini that was about to go bad in my fridge, when I found some intriguing recipes for zucchini crisp. Apparently it tastes very similar to apples when you cook it the same way as in apple crisp and apple pie. I used this recipe, cut it in half, and only had 3 cups of zucchini so I added a cup of blueberries to make 4 cups of fruit. I also used equal parts cloves and ginger instead of nutmeg because I had no nutmeg in the house. It's still baking right now and is making the house smell delicious. I'm interested to find out just how much like apple it tastes...

dress shopping

2008-09-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

I went shopping yesterday for a dress for my brother's wedding. In specific, I went to the store I talked about last time, to get an idea of exactly what size would fit me and how true the colors of the fabric were to the colors online because a lot of clothing sites digitally recolor one picture of the item of clothing you're shopping for instead of taking a real picture of each color (convenient in some ways, but for a thing like this, I don't want any color surprises).

Out of all the ones I tried on at the store, I only liked one (which is still amazing given that they were all from the sale rack and they didn't have much in my size to begin with) and it was the right size and color! That NEVER happens. I still wanted to see what else was on their website, though, to make sure I couldn't find a different one for cheaper that was still pretty.

I wasn't planning on being able to order the exact style of dress I ended up liking, though :)
Sure, it's navy blue instead of copper, but I think navy does better for me anyway - it looks better with my hair (the copper kind of washed it out and made it have a dull, ugly color), and I can wear silver jewelry with it (which is all I have, no gold or copper) and it will look great. Bonus: it cost less than the copper one in the store, even after shipping. (I'll be spending it on alterations, though...) Here are some pictures of it!

I fixed the color on the pictures to make it look a bit more like it does in person. I'm really excited to wear the dress, actually. I also bought some shoes for it (in black) and a wedding present for my brother and my soon to be sister-in-law (they looooooove Thai-style food and she really loves to cook, so I thought it would be really nice for both of them). I spent a lot of money today. I also washed dishes for a whole hour at work (anyone will tell you it's my least favorite kind of housework - thankfully at least you can get a machine to do most of it for you!) and had the new pumpkin spice latte we're introducing on Monday, and it tastes pretty good (kind of sweet when you get to the bottom, though). I sat outside on the patio drinking that before going home, and it was very relaxing.

Someone is finally buying my old anime/manga/game CDs! So happy :D there's not much of a market here for that. More money for dress alterations, or sewing supplies.

Speaking of sewing, I'm planning to devise a way to make my own underwear because
A) they're so expensive for what you get (so much money for so little fabric and it's usually not that great in terms of quality)
B) you need a good lot of them (unless you want to be doing laundry every few days or replacing them every few months)
C) they're so small and manageable to make, I would think. You could easily whip up a pair in an hour once you figured out how you wanted to construct them. and
D) You could make them really, really cute/your own style.
Finding a good fit will be the hardest part. That'll probably take a few different patterns and a few test pairs with each to figure out. You can even get the fabric for them from other clothes. :D New use for T-shirts I never wore, and the designs from the ones I wore too much!

I also need to shorten the straps on this dress (the bunny dress I bought in the winter!) so that my chest does not look like it's 50 and losing the battle with gravity. I don't look like that just yet. XD The model looks sort of like that too now that I look at someone else wearing it...maybe I just made a bad choice of dress. oops. but the print was so cute.

I thought I was going to cook dinner but it looks like we're going out for Indian food tonight. mmmmm ^^

happy September

2008-09-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

Another month has gone by. I am still looking for a job, although I tried a lot harder in August than I did in July. 3/4 of the people do not even get back to you when you apply to shit, so 75% of the work you do is for nothing. I feel like I look really nice on paper but the second they actually have a chance to talk to me, the little red flags go up in their heads. I feel like the last interview I had went really well, though. I guess what you have to believe is that every no is one step closer to a yes, partially because you get a lot of practice on the way.

I had a wonderful day at work today for several reasons:
1) There's this one guy who always has a smile on his face that stops in a couple of times a week, and always gets the same salad, plus a huge cappuccino with lots of foam ("dry" for those of you who know the terminology). Thanks to him I have been able to perfect my milk foaming technique, because so few people order such foamy drinks. He also always tips me. :D Today he brought some friends and stayed to eat instead of taking it out.
2) One of the younger baristas that started about a month ago told me today how she likes working with me because I get excited about little things and it brightens her day. That made me feel awesome.
3) Two men came in today and ordered some food to go, and I found out they were from Switzerland. They must have liked me because after I made their coffee and the other server brought them their food, they came back and found me before leaving, and gave me a Giandor chocolate bar.I got so excited because Swiss chocolate is damn good, and after researching it a little bit I found out that this brand is not sold in the US at all. Bonus points! I also thought it was really sweet of them to give me something at all. Random acts of kindness rule.

In exactly a month I'm flying out to Washington for Zach's wedding, which means I need to find a freaking dress. I'm not in the wedding, but I will be in a decent number of the formal pictures so I want to look nice! There's a bridal store here that has a lot of styles and colors for dresses, even on their online clearance, and my plan is to go to the store and try some of their dresses on just to get an idea of what size I should order (their online deals are amazing, but you can't return the dresses once you buy because they're final sale items). I also hope I get a new job by then so that I don't look like a total slacker, and I'll have something to talk about. I mean it was at that point last year that I flew out there to look for a job, and they didn't take so kindly to me not finding one in 2 1/2 months there.

In other news, I'm getting a study group together for the JLPT and hopefully it will help us all do better, boyfriend had his first live show with his new band last Friday and it was a raging success, it's REALLY hot outside (please fall come soon...), I went to a rummage sale and got some cool things for cheap for my room upstairs (the vase and chair on the left side of the picture, plus a sterling silver bracelet with heart tag and some cute blue polka dot ribbon, all for only $6.25!).

I'm also impressing lots of boys with my cooking lately. It makes me wonder all the more if I belong in cooking school.

August is here

2008-08-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

and there's not so much going on as before. but I think it'll give me some more time to focus on what I need to get done, like finding full time work. so what have I been up to lately? a lot.

- I went out into the country for my boyfriend's family reunion and we stayed with his grandma at her house. On the way we passed this teeny little town called Gotham (never knew there was one in WI) and there's a bar called The Bat Cave. haha. But yes, his grandma and her man friend have a peaceful little house on a farm with cows and a big garden with fruits and veggies. She gave us some red raspberries. His family is also very welcoming, more so than mine, probably because he's one of very few grandchildren and not very many cousins either.

- went to Superior to get boyfriend's new car (which is SO nice!) and Duluth to see Collective Soul, Blues Traveler, and Live in concert. The concert started EARLY (WTF man. Concerts NEVER start early, except in Duluth where there are really lame lawmakers that want the parks closed by 10 PM) so we missed most of Collective Soul, but Blues Traveler was nice to listen to. I recognized some of their songs. and Live was AWESOME. I mean, with a name like Live, you have to put on a great live show, right? I also recognized about half of the songs they played. I had no idea I knew so much about Live. As for the old car, boyfriend put it up for sale and sold it in less than a day FOR MORE THAN HE PAID FOR IT because the lady offered him more. He drove the car for two years. His dad was going to fix all the problems and then try to sell it, but the lady wanted it right away. In the words of Brian, she got hosed.

- job interviews. two of them. both ended up not working out. I feel like I look great on paper but let them down when they finally meet me. I know that it all boils down to preparedness and confidence, and I just need some more practice. Unfortunately the five jobs I've applied to in the last week have not called me back yet.

- Noah's Ark with boyfriend, Dave and Zach. We rode every single ride and it was a really awesome day, weather-wise and everything. Bringing my own lunch and eating it out of the car reminds me so much of being little and going on vacations with my family. I did, however, partake of my very first funnel cake. It's a big, overpriced, soggy doughnut. I will probably not have one again, but it was good for experience.

- my birthday! I went to eat Indian food with Dave for lunch because I hadn't been to this restaurant in a very long time and it's one of my favorite places to eat. I decided at the last minute to have my celebration downtown and go to places that I have not been before. Nick's was more expensive than I remember, but the ambiance is nice there. I will definitely drink at Genna's again when I can, because it was so nice and cozy. After we were done there we had a massive jumping group hug that made me jump up and down without even trying. Strange but cool. Most people went home around 11 because it was a weeknight, but I was glad they came out for me ^^ I also wanted to try out the Red Shed, but boyfriend had to go home (work in the morning) and Zach offered to bring me home so I could go everywhere I wanted. :D I got a free balloon and some random drunk dude on the street wanted to breathe the helium in it, so I gave it to him (it was going to be deflated by morning anyway). The Red Shed was awesome in a big bang for your buck kind of way (but otherwise it was very loud and crazy), and I ran into someone that couldn't come out for my birthday and he still got me something to drink. yay ^^ all in all a successful night of party, not something I do often, which is why it's fun.

- celebrating Lammas (the celebration of harvest) with Dave. We went to a nature sanctuary in the country and participated in a Wiccan ritual, a first for me. I didn't know it operated in such a religious manner. We sung some interesting chants, sung around the campfire, burned a giant wreath, ate peaches and bread, and had dinner (not all in that order). It's not really all that different from what I know, just that you worship nature and not the invisible man in the sky.

- had a picnic in the park as a goodbye party for Evan, who's moving to California soon. We also had Les stay at our house for a few days after he had to move out of his apartment. He's moving to Oregon shortly. Eric is going to Hong Kong with his wife, and Ken's going to Hong Kong too...so many goodbyes, such a short time. :( but that's life. and it's not goodbye forever.

- finding a dress to wear for my brother's wedding now that my mom is unable to make me one. I have two options: buy my own or make my own. Making one is fairly cheap but takes a lot of time, and I'm not exceptionally skilled at sewing (although I do have a machine now so it would make things MUCH quicker). I COULD take it home for my mom to help me with at some point, since I plan to visit home sometime this month or next month. Buying a dress is quicker but it's expensive, I have a very limited choice of fabric quality, and I'd have to pay even more for alterations. Maybe I'll get lucky and when I go to the mall there will be a lovely, simple, classy looking chocolate brown dress on sale and all I'll have to do is hem it a couple of inches higher.

I haven't any more plans for this month besides going to Mike and Amy's wedding this weekend and finding a new job. Those are my priorities.

Lastly, I want to share with you some songs/music videos that have put me in a good mood lately.
Perfume - love the world
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
m-flo - DOPEMAN

独立記念日

2008-07-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

Friday was the 232nd anniversary of flipping England the bird. whee.

Work called me and told me to come in an hour later than scheduled, so I went for a stroll with Ty and Dave and did some shopping. Turns out I WILL get paid time and a half for working all day then, which is very nice. I need to be making that much regularly. XD Business was pretty slow the whole day. People were generally in a good mood at work, which was nice, and I got the manager to pay for my lunch. XD We ended up closing two hours early too, but I was there for one of those hours cleaning the place up. I got some leftover bread and yogurt parfaits and brought them over to Kevin's cookout. One of his roommates bought a bunch of meat from the Internet and we cooked that, along with beer brats and veggie burgers and even marshmallows. It was the first time I ever roasted a marshmallow over a gas grill, and it took a lot of time. XD After a while there, we walked to the lakeshore and were able to see three fireworks shows from the small towns around Madison. Sure, they were far away, but it was really pretty, and all that reflected in the lake along with the Capitol building was awesome looking. It looked something like this photoshopping that I did. XD

Today I finally have a day off and I'm going to clean the house up a bit and do some fun things. Yay for Dig & Save XD

夏空 -summer sky-

2008-07-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

I think after fall, summer is my next favorite season. Although I don't particularly enjoy all the heat and humidity, I have to say that nature is very pretty in summer. The sky is the prettiest during the summer, it's the one time of year here where all manner of colorful plants grow, a lot of fruits and vegetables taste the best in the summer (tomatoes, cucumbers and berries... ^^), and being out in the sun and breeze feels really good on a very base level. Humans were definitely not meant to be cooped up indoors all day.

Last week, Ty's grandma picked us about 10 pounds of strawberries from her garden at home and brought them to us, and every time I eat them I can't believe how good they taste. I made a strawberry rhubarb crisp out of some of them, and while that was tasty, I think I like eating them all by themselves better, or in strawberry shortcake (which we've had about 3 times in the last 2 weeks).

We also went to New Glarus last weekend for the Heidi Festival, but mostly we just went there for eating and drinking. We toured the brewery there and the Primrose Winery, and ate at Glarner Stube like last year...we got Swiss cheese fondue for an appetizer, which was REALLY REALLY good, but even for five people it was a bit much...we were full by the time our dinner came to the table. XD I couldn't even look at Swiss cheese for a couple of days afterward. We also got lost a lot on the way there and back, which wasn't so bad because it's a pretty drive, but it was a bit frustrating when we didn't know where we were or where we were going.

Someone stole my basil plant off the front porch that day, too. :( I came back from the farmer's market and it was gone. It was growing so nicely too. You can't leave ANYTHING outside these days, not even on your own damn property. If it can be moved, it will be taken. On the good side, though, someone has offered to give me one on this plant exchange thing, which was really nice. I want to move all the mint plants to one place, but they're really kind of hard to dig up. I probably don't need to be too careful, though, I guess...it spreads really fast, so even if I kill some there will be more to take its place :) I tried moving the sundrop plants to the bed by the front door and 2/3 of them died. I guess I'm not very good at gardening. But I tried. XD The anemone bulbs never grew anything. I was really disappointed. I think I'll just try to grow poppies instead. They look a lot like anemones.

Still looking for a new job, although I've applied to some. The one I have now is getting comfortable and sort of boring, and the annoying things about it are getting to be more of a problem. Especially now that I have reduced hours and I live a lot farther away, it's not all that convenient anymore...and it's weird being recognized by random customers outside of the store, particularly the guy that sells newspapers to help the homeless right across the street because he rides the same bus I do in the morning and says hi to me every day. He's kind of creepy. Someone that you know nothing about who tells you more than once that you have a nice smile, and knows where you work and generally where you live is kind of creepy, right? Lately the autistic guy that works where I do (and his special ed teacher from a nearby high school) have been coming to work in the morning. He does some of the really simple tasks that I do when it's not busy, so I felt compelled to remind him where things are and how to get what he needs if it's not where it normally is. It was slightly awkward at first because I didn't really know how to communicate with him...like I know he's a perfectly intelligent human being and I want to treat him as such, but just talking to him as I do with anybody wasn't working. The teacher that accompanies him is pretty cool. At work nobody really asks each other about their personal lives or anything (I suppose it's none of my business, but still) so it's hard to get to know them, but she is really the first person I've talked about that kind of thing with, and it was nice. When I mentioned that I know Japanese, she told me all about how she used to work on an Alaskan fishing boat (which is pretty badass) and her experiences with Japanese people there and on neighboring boats. I have to work all day on the 4th (tomorrow) while Ty gets a day off...and I'll be late to Kevin's cookout, but hopefully I can still get some dinner there.

Speaking of cookouts, they are fun. We had one for our housewarming party a couple of weekends ago, Les had one last Wednesday and we went swimming (yay swimming pools!) and now we have a big grill screen for the giant grill we bought from the guy who used to live here. :D

I have also been busy translating Base Ball Bear interviews and finding out new and cool things about them. I especially love their new song (and video?! they have a video!) "SUMMER ANTHEM". :D Speaking of music, I have occasionally been going down to the Man-cave (the basement) and playing bass. Zach was over not too long ago and we had a jam session with him singing, Ty on guitar and me on bass, and we played AC/DC songs. That was FUN. ^^

My next challenge: perfecting a recipe for curry squash, or for any curry, really. I hope I can find some winter squash in the middle of summer XD

slowly chugging on

2008-05-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Life is moving slowly, and today that's just really getting to me. Thankfully I have some extra free time to do something about it. I say that and then I don't make any headway. But I like to think that I do. If you call job hunting for a couple hours and not applying headway, then I've made some.

I'm excited for margaritas with good friends on Thursday evening after work.
I'm excited to see the Yoshida Brothers on Friday night in Chicago...if Ty's car can get us down there and back. (please, belt on motor, do not snap...) I wonder if Ken'ichi is as ridiculously good looking in person? :)
I'm rather anxious to move on Saturday because of all the new space we'll have, but not so excited about having to spend tons more time getting to work (a job I'm only OK with; I don't particularly like or hate it right now)

I'm not excited that it's going to get much hotter outside for the summer and we don't have an air conditioner. It's been in the mid-50's during the day mostly and I love it.

I have this song stuck in my head right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL2od1AF_Cs
So catchy. Every time I listen to it I think about it for a few days. yay Genki Rockets.

I want to translate something else today because I feel like I'm making breakthroughs in understanding things I wasn't quite getting in certain stories or songs before. Some days the ideas just make sense to you, and you think of good ways to put them in your own language. I think this is one of those days. Novala Takemoto, here I come :)

Someday I'm going to send him my translations of his work when I get enough of them. His afterword in Kamikaze Girls made him seem really excited for his work to be available in English. I think he'll be happy that someone likes them that much. In any case, it'll give him something to do when he's in jail. It's too bad he was the one that had to get caught with cannabis. I agree, he's probably a rather weird person, but writing while on drugs is practically an institution. How else would Japan produce such crazy shit? How do kids' shows get written? (Seriously. No person in their right mind would come up with the majority of things children watch and read.)

I feel like I'm in a trap as far as my professional life is concerned. I'm working a dead-end job right now, and for what I REALLY want to do, I need more training in Japanese, and I feel that the best way to get it at this point in my abilities is to live (and work?) in Japan for a while to get practical experience and further my practical knowledge because there's only so much you can learn from books and controlled situations. But I have someone who doesn't want me to leave, and he will come with me, but I need to wait a few years before he will want to. So find some other work that will feed into translation in the meantime, right? That's hard here. Hard because there are few avenues for translation work here, and the few companies that ARE here are very small and it seems unlikely that they will need to hire someone for something other than translation. Of course, I guess I need to contact them and figure that out for sure. Even just a day of job shadowing might be enough to inspire me to try again. I also thought of other jobs, like proofreading and editing, for something that may not have anything to do with foreign languages at all but is important to the translation process. I have yet to figure out if people generally like you to have an English degree or something to hire you for that, though. Maybe a job at a newspaper or magazine. What other places need lots of editing done?

I don't think I've gone through that thought process with anyone else, to be honest. I don't know why I'm afraid to, or otherwise just don't want to. I guess I'm scared of not getting what I want. But through that I'll get a better idea of what I DO want, at least, if it ends up not being the right thing. It's too bad that it's so much work. Man, I sound like a whiner. If you really want something, you will make yourself do what it takes to get it.

what i gathered from a breakdown

2008-05-13T21:41:00.001-07:00

Don't be afraid of who you are.
Don't be afraid of what you want.

You will end up like me if you do.

wanderlust

2008-04-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

I think it's all the friends I have in other places than here, but I really want to go on a trip somewhere soon. Thankfully it will be summer soon and my boyfriend won't have school to worry about anymore. I guess I feel inferior for staying around the old college town, but I think as long as I'm not simply hanging onto what I used to have, as long as I'm trying to make a new way of living here, then it's not a problem.

If there's one thing I want to do today, it's translate another essay or short story. I haven't translated anything for a while and that's kind of sad. There isn't much in the way of professional gigs here, but I suppose I need to just keep on looking. Eventually I'll figure out something, and until then, I'll translate things I'm really interested in. ^^ My work schedule is not really allowing me to go to Kaiwa no Kai anymore, which is also sad. I was walking down the street yesterday and Alex tapped on my shoulder after I'd already passed him, and I turned around and waved. I wonder where he'll be for the summer. He's in the next batch of Nanzan students, so I'm really REALLY excited for him.

My anemone bulbs are not growing and I'm sad about that. I even soaked five more that had roots growing out of them by the time I potted them, and they still aren't giving me anything. (I've actually dug the original ones back up to check on them...I don't know if you're supposed to do that.) Maybe they aren't getting enough light...the windowsill doesn't get much direct sunlight and that's what they love.

The property management company deposited the security deposit we sent in with our application, so I guess this means we're approved to live there, which is going to be niiiiiiice. They said they'd call by Thursday if they wanted to have us sign a lease, so maybe they've called Ty already. That would be cool.

Tomorrow is the first day of May! We're going to have a little party. Dave is especially excited. Apparently he quit his job yesterday because he can make just as much money in one weekend going up to help his dad out with surveying in his hometown as he can working here five or six days a week. I need to find something like that. I want to go home sometime soon. I left a whole lot of my stuff there. I've been contemplating waiting until we move because then there will be a lot more room for stuff (and enough for Ty's, too...I hope).

I also miss Cooper. He got a bunch of new little brown spots in his fur, and I'm sure he's gotten smarter, and maybe a little more well behaved. I also wonder how he plays without snow. :)

発生 -the miracle of life-

2008-04-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Somehow I am far more fascinated with how plants begin their lives than with human/animal life. Personally, I think busting out of a seed all by myself in a dark place and trying to figure out which end is up is a lot more badass. Even though I understand how the process works, throwing water and amazing. Bringing in a pot of dirt from outside, forgetting about it for a week and coming back to find sprouts in it is pretty crazy, too.

I've been thinking about this because I planted some anemone bulbs yesterday. I really want to grow them inside because we're probably going to move in May or June, and I want to take them with me. I heard they don't do so well indoors without a lot of pre-treating, though, so I planted a few outside too. I'm waiting to plant them all to see which ones grow better. If the outside ones grow better, I'll just leave them because I know the people who will be living in this place after we leave :)

I have been working for a week now, and I feel like I'm finally getting the general idea of what I'm supposed to do. The hardest part is when it's really busy and knowing what to do when. I worked a really busy Saturday night, and since the place was really full, there was a lot of food to be taken out to customers, but since we were all busy taking orders and delivering food to tables, there was no one to clean up the mess that was left behind, and most people aren't willing/happy to sit at a dirty table. I went to clean some tables off and was met with some annoyance when I came back because there was so much food waiting to be taken out. Whatever. 95% of the time everyone is really awesome, so I think it's just when people get stressed out, and their way of dealing with it is not destructive. I wouldn't say it's constructive either, but at least the rest of us don't suffer when one of them is having a bad day. So far I like it. :)

I woke up with the incredible will to create something, or do something significant today, so we'll see where that gets me. I washed a bunch of dishes and had my first successful attempt at chaahan (Japanese Chinese-style fried rice) in the longest time. I think the trick was cooking it in a big enough pan for it to fry evenly (I thought I didn't have nearly enough rice but it turned out to be the perfect amount), and having really dry rice (it wasn't Japanese rice - it was left over from Chinese takeout that we got 4 days ago). I have also discovered the awesomeness of sautéing cherry tomatoes. It sounded really weird to me at first, but they taste so good. ^^

I wanted to go to Memorial Library today, mostly for inspiration (the best ideas come to me when I'm wandering around in the stacks, in the silence...you can hear yourself think), but I think I have enough to do here. Besides, it's raining, and brought neither umbrella nor raincoat with me when I moved, and it doesn't help that all of my shoes leak.

Let's see what I come up with today :)

tea time and reconnection

2008-03-27T11:22:00.001-07:00

March has almost completely left us behind, but a lot has happened, and I feel like I'm getting back into my groove. I was pretty down for the first half of the month or so, and it was hard to look for jobs. People don't want to hire people that don't believe in themselves. I had a few interviews but nothing really worked out.

Ty's giant surprise for our third anniversary was pretty awesome. I didn't like being blindfolded for an hour while we were driving (Harry Potter audio books kept me entertained), but after I found out we were spending a day at an indoor water park I felt much better. XD I mean, who doesn't like to stand under a giant bucket that drops 700 gallons of water on you, and ride on giant water slides? Even the ones that weren't so giant were fun. It was a much-needed escape from reality, and made me remember who I was.

Although I ended up falling into my old mood right when I got back, I was able to snap out of it. For some reason Ty was able to get through to me. I'm not going to get a job with a depressing attitude, sitting on the couch, and he came with me to drop off applications that I would have waited on. I think that was what did it, and made me realize that you can't wait on things forever either, or nothing will get done.

Since last week was spring break for the college students, I was able to meet up with two friends that would have otherwise been insanely busy, and we had tea. Kiyomi is one of those rare Japanese people that actually means what she says, so you can actually talk seriously with her. I completely agree with her that it's really sad that we have such a good Japanese program here, but graduates have such a difficult time finding jobs where they can use Japanese, especially when they decide to stay in the United States - even if they have second majors to support it. It made me feel better knowing that I wasn't the only one struggling with that situation. I know the East Asian Studies chair holds an annual information session where people discuss career paths after graduation, but I went to it, and it didn't help that much. Basically, all they said was that if you want to get a job in the country of your choice, get an English teaching job. It's pretty much the only freaking job you can get in Japan if you're foreign and straight out of college, unless you're lucky.

I really want to help the current Japanese majors understand the main roads, actually. True, after college it's up to you what you want to do with your life, and I feel like the Japanese department doesn't want to get involved in people's personal choices, but I felt SO LOST when I graduated. If they just had an information session about jobs or something, I think it would help them out a lot. It's not forcing them into anything; it's just letting people know possible options.

In any case, talking with her made me feel much better, and I felt like I have my own life, what with going to see a friend and not tagging along with my boyfriend. Coffee or tea was about the one luxury I could afford with what money I had left.

I also went to meet Mariko for tea on Easter Sunday, and although we originally planned to go to a café, I thought it would probably be closed (being a holiday and all), so we went to the 5th floor of the Biochemistry building instead. Mariko was really busy with research there, and there's a kitchen! I hadn't seen her for an entire year. She sounds on track with what she wants to do after she graduates in December, but she's a bit disappointed. She wants to go back to Japan for grad school, but there are no programs in Japan for what she wants to study because it's so new, so she has to stay in the United States, and she'll be so busy that she won't get to go back to Japan 4 times a year like she does now. However, her last semester won't be very busy, so she says once summer starts, she'll be able to hang out more. We're still going to get together for tea again soon because the biochemistry building is convenient for her, and it's free :)

Lastly, I landed a part-time job earlier this week! All the people there seem awesome. Training and orientation is today ^^ Luckily the man I interviewed with was the same cheerful man I talked to on the phone when I scheduled the interview, and the format was the best kind for me: just having a conversation and trying to get a feel for what the other person is like, not asking all those cold, impersonal questions. They were asked, yes, but it was in a much more friendly, congenial way. I'm excited.

Lastly, I woke up this morning and I saw that a friend of mine from studying abroad was on, and I talked to her for the first time in about two years. She's Thai and just got a job at Bridgestone (the tire company) as a Thai<->Japanese interpreter at a factory. She says it's really hard. Interpreting is not easy, after all. I know she'll do well ^^

OK, work starts soon. I'm out.

shiori + hori-kun + me

2008-03-06T11:24:00.001-08:00

This morning I went on a search for Base Ball Bear stuff, trying to find interesting tidbits. I found a lot of cool pictures, and some CD reviews from 4-5 years ago that have a more detailed biography of their earlier history (most of the newer ones shorten it up a lot, I guess because recent happenings are more important). The best thing was an interview from a few months ago, with a "top three things you're into right now" for each of the members. Normally I'm most interested in Shiori's stuff, but after watching a few Richard Dawkins documentaries, it seems kind of dumb, like she's just caught up in alternative healing scams at the moment. I hope aromatherapy and Yomeishu aren't eating up all of the money she makes playing her guitar. (Yomeishu is an alcoholic herbal drink made with Chinese medicinal herbs. Part of me thinks it would just taste awful, but I'm also curious to try it just to see what it's like. It costs about $22 per liter, so a little on the expensive side. At least it's not homeopathic and actually has viable amounts of herbs though...)

I think it's good that Hori-kun is on a diet...and he uses Billy Blanks tapes to exercise! hee. I remember doing those in gym in middle school. Oh, good times.

Job hunting is going all right. If I accept the job that randomly came up yesterday, I may be doing some interpreting at a hospital later this month. However, I'm not confident, especially with the last time I tried to interpret at a hospital, and that was really informal. Lots more pressure this time.

I finished the first story in Novala Takemoto's book Emily recently, and I'm about 33% done translating it. The story is only about 12 pages long, but hey, you have to start small with literature because the author is not always blunt, like in a newspaper. I need to get myself a denshi jisho, badly. I'm borrowing one from a friend right now and I never realized just how useful and convenient they are.

one big circle

2008-03-04T15:36:00.001-08:00

Guess where I am now? That's right! Right back where I started ten months ago! Well, a few blocks away, but in the same city. Yes, Madison. and this time I'm not sitting on my butt waiting for something to happen. I don't know if I said that before, but the people here will not let me do that.

I got here Saturday and had my first interview today at the gelato store! Not bad if I do say so myself. :) But I'm not stopping there. There are lots of applications to fill out yet. If I don't get a job bad things are going to happen to me, so I really, REALLY need one. I applied to Jamba Juice and the bead store too. Ty wants me to work at Jamba Juice because he says I'll smell REALLY good when I come home.

My tax returns are very nice this year, but I won't get that for a while, and I'm saving it when I do, along with that economic relief money if I'm supposed to get it. That's not what they want me to do, but I'm sure for every person that saves it, there will be two more that spend it and then some because they think they have more than they do.

Me? I just want to be able to go to my brother's wedding in October...even if I get bitter just thinking about him. He's my brother, and I need to get over it. Once I start making my own way I think it'll be fine. That and when he isn't so damn stressed out.

So what else is going on lately, you say...
- Apparently Evan is teaching Steve's class for a week or so because Steve's wife is going to have a baby very, very soon. びっくり.
- I want to go to the St. Patrick's Day parade again! Last year was so fun ^^ March 16, guys. I'm getting together all the people I can.
- Every time I get to the intersection of Gorham and Wisconsin I look up to Gilman St. and wish Sarah was still around. Apparently Brian does too, from what he told me yesterday...ehe.
- I made a nice purse out of black wool, and finished it last night while the guys recorded a new song. I WOULD have had it done sooner if I hadn't spaced out and sewed the outside of the bag on inside out. Since the fabric is the same on both sides, it was easy to confuse. That and I got really angry at Cooper because he pulled one of the straps off the basement table and chewed a hole in the side of it the night before I moved.

And that's all. Time to make some dinner. :D

a glimmer of hope

2008-02-11T09:39:00.001-08:00

I'm finally getting somewhere with this ball of emotion that I've been carrying for so long inside. It was like a big mess of tangled yarn. I've finally untangled the knots and started rolling it up in a nice organized ball, with a little help from Ty.

I've decided to try to get a job in Madison, and it will not necessarily be a translating job, but if it isn't, I can still translate in my free time. My goal at this point is to get something that will LEAD to a translating job because I can't get past the preliminary stages of job hunting with translation jobs. If it's at a Japanese company, that would be good too.

I've just gotten back from a fairly long visit to Madison, and it really gave me a boost. Last Saturday, right after my class finished, Ty picked me up and we drove to Madison. It took longer than normal because of the snow. I saw more cars stuck in the ditches than I ever have in one trip in my life. It almost happened to us, actually, but luckily there was nobody behind us to crash into, and all we did was end up spinning 180 degrees onto the shoulder, and a police car came up to keep the incoming traffic far enough away for us to turn around and get back on the road. That's not to say I wasn't really scared.

Upon our safe arrival, Ty covered my eyes and brought me into the room, and when I opened them, I saw a little amp and a red bass guitar, with a red paper heart tucked between the strings. It was cute. I can practice any time I want now ^^ I was surprised I was getting it for a present. ^^

Later that night was Evan's party. We were going to walk, but it was VERY cold and far away. We took a bus part of the way, and even though we could have walked just as quickly, it was MUCH warmer. I ran into Helena (a friend of Mami's that I met last year) and she thought Ty and I were brother and sister. Seriously. I only get that from Koreans, you know. I was looking forward to talking with the Japanese TAs, and although Atsuhase (as he is known to some) was very sick and couldn't make it, I spent a lot of time talking with Kawakami-san. I was happy to find that my Japanese isn't completely degenerating. I talked to her about how I was doing with finding a job, and we talked about relationships and the other people in the Japanese department. Apparently she's the only TA that thinks socializing with your students is OK, and that all the other teachers look down on her for it, but she doesn't care, and she says it's because she is, first and foremost, a student herself - she feels she shouldn't miss out on that whole opportunity for friendships just because she's a different kind of student. A while ago I would have never guessed she's the department's black sheep of sorts, but knowing how Japanese people do their thing, I'm glad she's not suppressing things she feels strongly about...because when you leave, you're not going to remember your harmonious work environment, but what you did to make your own life worthwhile. Since that party was at the Japanese House and our good friend Phillips-san lives there, and he was kind enough to stay up for a bit and socialize, we played Rock Band. The vocals are a lot trickier than the guitar, but it was really fun belting out Weezer and spending some time with someone I don't normally get to see. Best party I've been to in a long time.

Sunday was pretty lazy except for grocery shopping with Aki, and while we were in the store we ran into Brock, whom I hadn't seen in ages. He has a job, is thinking about going back to school, and broke up with Mariko but is still living with her because they signed a lease. Oh well. I made cookies too. You'd never think to make cookies out of cake mix, but they're surprisingly good. I had coffee with Molly on Monday and went shopping (for beads...spent $1), did some research for a presentation in my translation theory class, and crashed the spring job fair at the Kohl Center. While I was there, I ran into lots of people I knew and got interviewed for a newspaper. Oops. Thankfully the interviewer was someone I knew ^^

Tuesday was a pretty full day - I went to visit with one of my former professors and was a guest in his class. He teaches modern Japanese literature, and I translated a story by one of the authors he covers, and asked me to come in and read it to his class. I got to talk with him about it a little more in detail and that made me feel even better about it, and one guy in the class suggested I submit it to a magazine if I want to get it published. Maybe I will :) I also found out that Geyer-sensei is going to have a baby (!) Afterward I was going to have lunch with Tracie, but she had forgotten and already brought her lunch to work. She told me to come in anyway to visit, and I had quite a warm welcome and was given things to eat ^^ Maddy's going to Germany for six months! I'm jealous. Tracie wants to move to Oklahoma with her boyfriend (he lives here, but his parents are CRAZY, so I can see why he wants to get away) and go to nursing school...I hope it works out despite her parents not wanting her to go. I was wondering what to do next when Ty calls and says he and Molly want to skip their class, and they came to meet me. We played video games and talked a while, and then while Ty went to tae kwon do, Molly and I rented Stardust and made dinner. Stardust is VERY ridiculous, in a good way. I have never laughed so much watching a fantasy movie.

Yesterday I was supposed to go home, and waited all day to go. I had some avocado toast in there...avocados taste similar to egg yolk, I think. It was good though. I also tried chocolate covered espresso beans, which were better than I expected. After Ty got home and we talked a bit, we decided it would have been really hard for him to drive me home and get back so late (especially on an empty stomach...he'd have been really crabby), so I decided to stay until morning, and we went out on a date instead. Yay for Glass Nickel pizza and beer. I love that place so much. Then we went on a quest for raspberry ginger ale because I remembered drinking pink ginger ale when I was very little and he said they still make it...but it was sold out. :( We got raspberry soda and ginger ale and mixed them instead, and it was fairly close. ^^

I came home this morning and it has just snowed and snowed and snowed all day. Cooper got neutered today too, and he was a little loopy when he came home, but he seems pretty much back to his old self now. Tomorrow I'm going to take a test at the library as a preliminary interview-type thing. Too bad it's going to be horribly cold out...

I just can't believe I'm so lucky. I had a really good time this past week. I love the people I'm surrounded with. I don't know why I get so discouraged sometimes. I just have to remember that I have a lot to be happy about, even if I don't feel like it all the time.

creative paradise

2008-01-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

Two sites that are worth checking out if you like unique handmade things: Etsy and DaWanda. People sell their handmade jewelry, art, clothes, and other accessories. If I had enough money and had less of a creative spirit I would buy a lot of things from here. Maybe someday I'll even sell my things from one of these. ^^

life in a deep freeze

2008-01-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Another month goes by, and I'm still without work. Go figure. I've been thinking a lot about it, though, and somehow I feel closer to knowing my options. All I have to do is decide which way I want to go. Since I had nearly no guidance at all in terms of career planning relating to what I want to do and how to go about it, I'm probably going to write up something for new graduates who studied Japanese and are looking for a job. Maybe it will help someone. In any case, it will let them know that the road is not exactly paved with sushi and Anime, even if you're in America. (thanks Molly for the inspiration :))

I've started attending a class at the technical college near my house called "Theory of Translation and Interpretation". It's surprisingly much more difficult and in-depth than I thought, and there are only nine people in the class, most of whom are older than me, so there's a lot of interesting discussion. You have to already have a bachelor's degree in order to take it, so in a way it's kind of like grad school. It's just a lot cheaper :) The teacher is originally from Cameroon, knows 11 languages, studied in many of the best translation schools in North America and translated for the government of Cameroon for a long time...so long story short, he's well qualified. I like how he talks too. He seems really happy to be teaching the material, and I like the sound of English spoken by African people. Unfortunately I don't do so well with theoretical-type classes, but I've decided that I will try as hard as I can since it's really the only thing I have going for me in terms of constructive life-skill-building activities at this point. I'm also needing to get in touch with the Japanese instructor at the school (amazingly they have one!), and although their Japanese classes certainly are nowhere near the intensity of the ones I took, I don't doubt that she could be a great resource for breaking into the Japanese community here. I thought there were no Japanese people here at all, but maybe she can help me find them. AND apparently she corrected my bilingual assessment and thought I did pretty well, so I've already made a decent impression. Yay :)

I've spent a lot of time taking care of Cooper too. He's mellowed out a bit since I first met him (AND we think he's potty-trained now) but there are some times where he's just been out of control. I do like him, though. He does a lot of quirky, funny things and he's very sweet.

I've occasionally visited Madison thanks to Ty coming to pick me up, but part of me feels a bit like I'm going there to escape doing something about getting a job, and I can't just relax and have fun. It makes me feel like any job at all would be better than this, even if it only paid minimum wage. Maybe if I tried harder while I'm home, I wouldn't feel so bad about going on "vacation". I think I'm just not trying hard because I don't know where I want to go...I don't have a clear concept of what I'm trying to do or where I'm trying to go with my life in the near future. But time is running out and I need to decide.

あたしの未来図をもうすぐ描かないと・・・。

happy 2008だよ

2008-01-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

Or so it should be. I have a good number of things to be happy about. I think once I actually get a job or start with school (whichever comes first) I'll feel much better. So I'm going to talk only about the happy things.

I got home from Seattle just fine, and was especially feeling lucky after all the crap that my brother and Jenny had to put up with to get here and back. My suitcases were filled as full as they could go without being too heavy for the plane, and I sent a 17-pound box of crap home. Talk about good packing. I'm happy to be gone from there. My job at the candy store was the best thing about it. Living with my brother was more stressful for everyone involved than I think any of us thought it would be, and I've come to learn that my brother is awful about helping people out. He won't say no because he doesn't want to seem like a jerk, but when you bug him about actually helping you when he said he would, he feels like he's being taken advantage of. Just say no if you can't, and save everyone some freaking trouble and stress, because either way you're going to end up seeming like a jerk. Lesson learned: don't ask him for help. Ever.

Christmas was happy, mostly. I was happy to see my family again, and we did a lot of our traditional activities (except going to church, and my sister put everyone's feelings perfectly - she snapped her fingers, smiled and said 'darn!' in a lightly sarcastic tone :D). I got some awesome presents from Ty and my sisters and my parents.

Cooper is such a troublemaking little dog, and he got into his share of fights with Oscar while they were both here (mostly about food). But he's so warm and fuzzy and affectionate. My favorite thing about him is the way he tilts his head when he hears unfamiliar sounds or isn't sure what something is. It's SO CUTE.

I also like it when he smiles. :) he just got done playing with balloons when this picture was taken. I always thought it was dumb when people get dogs and that's all they ever take pictures of afterward, but they're really like part of the family in that way. I mean everyone takes pictures of their new babies, and puppies are sort of like babies.

I've been on vacation for a little while with Ty in Madison, visiting friends and doing fun things together. It's been really cold so we've been spending time mostly inside, cooking and playing Wii games and watching movies. We did go to a theater to see Sweeney Todd though, and it was amazing. There are lots of good actors, they're all decent singers, the songs can be funny and kind of catchy, and it keeps you interested. Although it's depressing (it is, after all, about a serial killer) it's wonderfully executed (haha, I made a funny...), the best example of this being that it doesn't drag on unnecessarily like a LOT of other movies I've watched lately. It's very concise, tells its story wonderfully, and then gets out of the way, but stays in your head.

Out of all the new video games Ty got for Christmas, the one I like most is Super Mario Galaxy. This is because I have had a special place in my heart for Mario games ever since I was born. My mom used to play them and she's pretty inept with any form of electronics. That's how cool Mario is. It's cute overload, what with all the stars and penguins and the bee suit and themed galaxies. Even the ones that are supposed to be scary are really cute. The scariest part of the game is not always knowing whether you'll be able to walk upside down on stuff or if you're going to fall off or float away into oblivion.

I've also been learning bass guitar, or attempting. Ty has been teaching me a few things. It's not as hard as I thought, at least once you learn the notes you need to play. I can't read music and I'm not good with recognizing notes by ear, but I'm sure if I work at it enough I'll be able to tell what each string is supposed to sound like if it's in tune. I learned to play a couple of Blue Hearts songs (and it was no coincidence that we'd just watched Linda Linda Linda before this). :)

Molly's New Year's Eve party was also really fun, although I had a little too much fun and had to spend the next day recovering. I STILL don't think my stomach is fully recovered. ehehe. Yesterday we threw a ramen party, which was a lot more fun than it sounds because I spent all day cooking the soup and base myself (noodles I KNOW I'd have screwed up so I bought some), and we had a lot of toppings for it. We couldn't find kamaboko so we used chikuwa instead (they're both a type of fish cake), and it reminded me of my host mother and how she used to fill the hole in the chikuwa log with cheese and serve it as part of meals. :) The meal itself was really good, and a success in that we got a lot of our friends to try new foods...like fish cake and miso and seaweed. And they liked it.

Today we go sledding on lunch trays down Bascom Hill after Ty and Molly are done with work. Somehow to me that just embodies the spirit of college. I never actually did it before I graduated, so I better do it now :)

...

2007-12-09T22:54:00.000-08:00

well, brother, I'll be out of your hair in a week and a half. Then I'll never ever bother you again. I won't want to. I'll erase any evidence that I was ever here.

I need to get a job and move into my own place and then none of these problems will exist. Sure, I will have other problems, but at least I won't have someone telling me what to do.

happy december, first snow

2007-12-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

Happy December! I'm a couple of days late here but I said it to people on December 1st, so there.

Lots of things have happened lately, I feel like, but I can't remember much of it, and for no particular reason. I resurrected my iPod from the depths of hard drive failure hell on Friday, but the second the batteries wore down and I plugged it back in to charge, it was corrupted again. :( I have no portable music player. Hell if I'm getting another freaking iPod. There's got to be a kind that isn't rendered useless within two years.

This weekend was full of excitement, mostly revolving around the JLPT (which is not really exciting though). I went to another bridal salon Saturday morning with Jenny to look at wedding dresses, and then I went with her to meet Zach and a potential candidate for their wedding photographer. We went to a café called The Globe, and it was a really nice, relaxing place. I sat at a table by myself to study while they talked at another table. The table I used was right in the window and it was oval shaped with a really old blue map peeling off the top. It was awesome. I overheard bits and pieces of other people's conversations about snow, and when it actually did snow this guy yelled "IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!" and he ran outside with about six or seven other people, and they were jumping up and down and dancing. (Snow is a rare sight here.)

Sunday I got up and tried to be as relaxed as I could, and took my test. People came from as far away as Florida and Ohio. The test itself was not as horrible as I'd imagined, but it WAS hard, especially the reading section because they don't give you a whole lot of time. I spent too much time on the reading comprehension questions and ended up getting rushed for about half of the long-passage questions and the grammar part. Kanji and vocabulary was what I had studied the most for because those are the hardest things for me to remember, and I was surprised to find things on there that I actually knew. Listening really threw me for a loop. All in all, I really can't say if I passed. I'm borderline if I did, but I'm really just not sure at all. If I failed, I guess there's nothing else to do but take it again, but I'll still be disappointed. The test took place on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, where a teacher of mine from the Japanese department spent his undergrad years. It's a really pretty campus, and it was slightly inspiring being there and knowing this is where he started studying what I am effectively finishing up here. ^^

Zach took me out to The Duchess (it reminded me a lot of State Street Brats but it wasn't as dark inside) for a beer after he picked me up and we talked for a bit, and then we went home and I helped Jenny with dinner. We rented a couple of movies too.

I'm actually kind of excited to go home. The hardest thing is probably going to be quitting my job because I don't like making people unhappy. I was not lying when I had my interview and saying that I was planning to be here until Christmas Eve because that's what my plans were at that time. My plans have changed. Other than that it shouldn't be so bad. I get to plan the Christmas gift exchange for my family and I'm starting to get lists~ it's great. And I get to meet Cooper. He seems like such a little shit, but he'll be cute anyway.

the office, the british and work

2007-11-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

Before, when I was still living with my old roommate, I used to associate The Office with being boring, lazy and not knowing how to clean things properly because she and her boyfriend would rent it and watch it together. However, after finding out that my brother and Jenny love it, my dad started watching the show and I was downstairs listening to them while I did other things. Then the one thing that pulls me into anything more than any other appeared and I began to watch it. Mostly, I watch it wondering how the office romances will turn out, and the little hints that are dropped here and there are fun to look for. When something major happens it's almost shocking just because you're used to such small hints, and when it's not what you wanted, you feel disappointed. It's like real life, but you see the relationship from all angles, or are given tiny hints as to what might be happening. The fun is in keeping you guessing.

The show is also very funny. Not everything in it is funny to me, but I think if you got a LOT of people watching it at once, there would be constant laughing. I like the pranks on Dwight the most but all of the characters have their funny side.

The UK version obviously has a different sort of humor to it, and unfortunately I don't know what in British comedy is supposed to be so funny. Maybe I need to watch more than the first episode of the British version to see, but the first episode was not that funny...

But British people are awesome, in particular the friend from work that my brother and Jenny took me to hang out with yesterday night who just moved back to the UK. Not all of their friends are so easy to talk with, but he was for some reason. And I like hearing him talk with his accent and all ^^ He came back to the house and we all hung out for a while. Oscar couldn't understand the guy when he gave commands in his normal accent but when he modified it to sound as American as he could (which was hilarious XD) Oscar understood. it was cute.

I also worked on Friday, Black Friday. The mall was packed, but the candy store was not that busy, and I was working with three other ladies most of the time, so we weren't overwhelmed when it did get a little busy. I also learned to gift wrap boxes properly, which I was worried about, but wrapping boxes (as opposed to other shapes) is not hard and having the paper pre-cut is nice. Mostly I was tearing plain white paper off already-packed boxes and rewrapping with red and gold Christmas paper to make it look festive, but I did wrap some customers' boxes that day. I feel a lot more comfortable doing the job than I did the previous time I worked, although I can still be awkward talking with customers. The other ladies working there are really nice about helping me when I don't know what to do or can't find something and that helps a lot ^^

I'm going to study for the JLPT again. I'm still pretty worried about vocabulary and kanji. I can read characters and words correctly most of the time, but hell if I know what they mean. If they ask about readings of words, awesome, but if they ask what word means the same as another one I'm sort of screwed. I'm starting to feel better about grammar since getting my awesome book to study from (which I KNOW I will use even after I'm done with the test. it suspiciously looks like my grammar lessons at Nanzan sometimes) and after reading through the chapters carefully, I usually ace the practice exercises. It's the kind of thing where if I get exposed to it and spend a little time with it, I can usually guess correctly at its usage if I see it again, even though I don't know exactly what it means. With any luck, this will all balance out to above 70% average and I will get my certification...

heart mark

2007-11-24T01:24:00.000-08:00

men in love are really something.

thank you

2007-11-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

Lots of people this year think about what they're thankful for, and I'm no different. add me to the pile. in fact, I'm happy about probably the same thing a lot of other people are. but they don't know the people I know, so it's still special.

I'm not as stubborn or motivated as I used to be, and I'm working on getting that back because I feel like part of me is gone without it. That nagging feeling that says you should get up and do something? That's been gone for so long. I have wasted a lot of time.

I have a big family and I already know that all of us have lots of different interests but I have also learned (especially since coming to live with someone who is not my family, not yet anyway, but knows it well) that all of us have a similar vein. I found that it's much stronger than I thought. They care. a lot. more than their job, in some cases. We're just not that vocal. I take my family saying nothing to mean that they don't really care that much, and that they do things for me or say nice things because they feel like they have to and not necessarily because they want to help me or make me feel good.

In fact, I don't really even believe a whole lot of people when they say nice things, but when they offer criticism, I take it straight to heart. How did I get so messed up? I think I've surrounded myself with the kind of people where a great many of them mean what they say, or they wouldn't say it...and yet I deflect pretty much everything but the criticism they give me.

I'm happy that I have so many people who are willing to support me even if I'm being difficult, or don't completely believe what they say about me. Without them I would be in a cardboard box on the street. I'm glad for the friends I have that don't give up on me when I'm being stupid. There are more people looking out for me and interested in knowing how I'm doing than I thought there were. they are all people that are important to me.

if I can ever return the favor, let me know.

in terms of the holiday feast, I am excited. Jenny is brining the turkey (basically soaking it in a mixture of salt water and spices for a whole day) and making most of the food, and it will be different from my mom's, so I'll get to try some new things! I made a pumpkin pie a couple of hours ago, and squash soup yesterday (it's so thick it turned out more like pudding...), but that will probably be the extent of my cooking because she wants to do it herself. Zach is happy as long as he gets food. We'll make him peel potatoes or something. :D

for all the lost Japanese majors

2007-11-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

I spent last Friday compiling a list of headhunting/recruiting/consulting companies that deal specifically with people who speak Japanese. It's geared kind of toward what I want (a job in the United States) but there are some that recruit for companies in Japan and the UK as well. If this list is of any use to anyone I will be happy. I learned a lot just making it.

===================
Bremar Staffing Professionals http://www.bremar.com/ (USA)
Executive Resource Group http://www.jobschicago.com/ (Chicago area, IL, USA)
GaijinPot http://www.gaijinpot.com/job_search.php (Japan, some China/Taiwan/Hong Kong and Korea)
Interesse International, Inc. http://www.iiicareer.com/index.php (USA, Europe & Japan)
Kimata Personnel & Consulting http://www.kimata.com/ (Midwest US & Japan)
MAX Consulting Group http://www.maxjob.com/ (USA & Japan)
MRJapanese http://www.mrjapanese.com/ (USA)
O-hayo Sensei http://www.ohayosensei.com/index.html (English teaching in Japan)
Pacific Advisory Service http://www.paschgo.com/en/home/default.aspx (Midwest US & Japan)
Pacific Bridge http://www.pacificbridge.com/index.asp (Asia)
Q-Jin http://www.q-jin.com/ (USA, mostly Midwest)
Staff Service http://www.people-first.co.uk/staffservice/ (UK)
Teruko Weinberg Inc. http://www.twinc.com/ (USA)
TOP HR Professionals http://www.top-us.com/ (USA & Japan)
WIN Advisory Group http://www.winadvisorygroup.com/AllJobs.html (USA)

DIRECTORY OF RECRUITERS
http://www.i-recruit.com/index.html

NONTEACHING JOBS IN JAPAN
http://jguide.stanford.edu/site/employment_in_japan_238.html

lately things are looking cloudy

2007-11-17T17:46:00.000-08:00

Friday morning I felt sick, so I didn't go to work because you're not supposed to work at a food service job if you've got a highly communicable disease...and I talked to my mom and she seems to be all for having me back home. I've been debating moving back to Wisconsin lately. She IS right about me having an opportunity to learn to drive again if I move home, and I wouldn't be putting so much stress on my brother and Jenny because they seem to feel like they have to parent me (and believe me, they aren't willing to be parents now). I just feel really intrusive here, I guess. Zach thinks maybe it's just that Jenny can sometimes get irritated with complications of having to share her personal space with another person, but it's not because she hates having me around. I get like that too, so I understand it, but it doesn't make me feel any better about it. Plus I'd be close enough to most of my family and friends, and my favorite person of all.

I can't think of much that I absolutely want to stay here for. I'm not finding the job situation to be any better, frankly. The public transportation certainly is much better, though, and I do like helping with the home improvement projects that happen every so often. Sure, I work at See's now, but that job ends on Christmas Eve, and I'm not getting that many hours as it is (but I DID just start...as Christmas gets closer I know I'll work more), plus it's been really stressful because of putting all my new knowledge to use, and it's a fast paced customer oriented job where I have to actively sell things, which is not a strong point of mine.

I think I just did things in the wrong order. If I came out here already having a job I'd be fine, but I was lazy. I was lazy the whole time I was in Appleton. I think it's finally gotten to the point where I actually WANT to get a job. Unfortunately it's taken a lot of people getting angry with me for that to happen.

But if I do move back, it's not because I've been defeated. I just need to go where I have the best opportunities, especially since I have so little money, and I found out this is not really the place. I would not be adverse to moving back here if I found a good job here further down the line.

And this past five weeks or so has been good life experience for me in terms of getting a customer service/retail job (completely new type of work to me) and learning what you can and can't make people do for you. I've grown up a bit, I think. Above all, I learned that I need to have a plan before I drop myself into a completely new place, or I will get nothing done. It especially helps if someone else is helping structure your plans (ex. school or a job) so you have something originally to keep you motivated day to day, and you just go on adding from there.

Lastly, I gave this no mention before and I should have because it's made me very happy all week. Ty was planning this surprise for me for a while and had a whole bunch of people in on it - Steve included. yes. He read 'Ominameshi', a Noh play about a woman whose husband cheats on her and she jumps into a river and drowns herself. The flower that grows on her grave becomes a symbol of promising to grow old together because she was faithful to him to the end. He read the part about the flower and decided he wanted to get it for me. He found the original text for the passage and that's what is written in the white bubble in the middle of the poster. He made the poster on the right under Molly's direction and with the art department's materials (muhahaha), and with Steve's help found the English name for the flower in the play (patrinia/golden lace), and got me two plants. I put them in pots and they seem to be looking less droopy than when I first got them. The leaves are still rotting in some places, though :( I hope they survive. The picture at the top is what the flowers look like.

Only two weeks until the JLPT...have to get cracking.

NHK Radio Online

2007-11-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try to listen to this often, mostly because I don't understand Japanese news programs at all when I see them on TV except for the images and the headlines at the bottom of the screen (basically anything that moves slowly enough for me to read, or anything I can easily see). With this, it's basically just the audio track of the daily news (although there are other programs, hopefully music ones ^^), so it's interesting to figure out exactly how much I understand. I COULD just put it in English, but then it's not studying anymore...

chopping bamboo

2007-11-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

At the moment I've had too little to eat and too much to drink for the day, so pardon my typos.

I suppose I ought to start with what happened since my last post. I really made my brother angry and I felt horrible about it. Not going to go into details. But I have gotten word from him that all is forgiven and the best way to tell him I'm sorry is not to do it again, which is easy enough to do. Just have to plan ahead for things and I'll be fine. Friday went fine, but I didn't do that much except have an interview with a recruiter from a job placement company that specifically deals with Japanese-English bilingual people and she said that Seattle was a really bad place for me to try to be getting my first job. part of me wants to take her advice and be much more open to where I live, but seeing as I've only been here for a month, I think I'll try to give myself more of a chance to find something before I call it quits here. like until May or so. Ty says he wants to at least try to live here. I think once I actually get a job I'll be a lot less stressed. But honestly, I don't care much where I live. Having a job I love to do is the most important thing for me, or at least more important than living in a specific place.

Saturday I went to an orientation and hiring meeting for See's, and I met a man who spent 7 years studying geology at my very same college, which was quite the coincidence since they only hired about 5 new people for seasonal selling. I can foresee plenty of people mixing up mine and Heather's names, judging by how I always get called Heather when people forget exactly what my name is. Joe reminds me a lot of my friend Fred, large and jolly and funny. I feel like I talked a bit too much about myself, but it was just so nice to meet new people, to be perfectly honest. I spent the evening studying for the JLPT while my brother and Jenny organized their office room. All I heard was excited voices, particularly when they found things while unpacking that they forgot they had, but apparently there was a bit of arguing too...

Today was rather nice. It didn't start out that way, though, mostly because I was feeling left out of the plans for the day. They were going to the outlet mall, which is where I wanted to look for rain boots, while I cleaned up the kitchen and washed dishes. It was nice of Jenny to call when she found some rain boots, though, and she picked up a pair for me. As for the boots themselves, I'm still deciding whether I want to keep them. I'm definitely sending back the Hunters, though. I like them a lot, but they're just too expensive, and not lined. The ones Jenny brought back today don't go all the way to my knees, but they cost about half as much, and come lined with sheep's wool. Much better deal if you ask me. I went poking around in the backyard where this wooden table with clay pots is standing (and the clay pots have algae, standing water and slimy crap in them from the previous owners of the house just leaving them there), and found a few cute little pots and washed them. After they came home I found out Jenny wants to keep most of them, just hasn't gotten around to cleaning them up yet.

And then Jenny went grocery shopping while Zach and I went to pick up some caulk (to hopefully stop the ant problem in the kitchen) and an electrical outlet tester. We also got paint samples for the house. Then we plugged up the holes the ants were coming in, and spent the next two hours chopping about 10 square feet of bamboo out of the yard. I wanted to keep a little bit of it, and Jenny was very reluctant to let me, but she said as long as I keep it in a certain size pot and keep it outdoors, she will allow it. yay ^^ I think the situation with the bamboo in their backyard has made them both hate it forever. IT IS SO HARD TO REMOVE, particularly from very confined areas. Zach spent two hours out there with a hatchet, chopping it down and then digging out the root balls with a shovel (then throwing it on the deck) while I cut/broke it into manageable pieces and packed it into the yard waste bin. If you ever want to have bamboo in your yard, THINK AGAIN. Or just keep it in a pot.

I planted three stalks of the bamboo in a pot, and we're all happy that that's all that's left. I also transplanted a plant that Jenny's best friend gave to her. She gave it to them because it blooms in October, and that's when Zach and Jenny's wedding is :) Turns out it's a camellia bush! Camellias are so pretty. I'll have to see exactly what kind it is, because they can be red, white or pink, and can have two major types of flowers. I hope it's the kind that look like roses. In any case, it'll look better than the bamboo when they plant it. XD

Tomorrow I go to get my food handler's permit! I'm going to the earliest morning class (8:30) because I figure there will be less people than at 11:00 and 2:30. I also have to get the missing parts of my work uniform. Maybe I can find them downtown? I'm going to the market again tomorrow too, to get more persimmons. kaki 柿. I love them. They're kind of like peaches, but even better.

konbini life

2007-10-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

the owner of Konbini Life posts curiosities from Japanese convenience stores that he bought and tried. I must say that I visited convenience stores nearly every day of the 9 months I was there, and product connoisseurship was an entertaining hobby, if a slightly expensive one. But if I was already buying a snack anyway, I guess it wasn't that bad.
Maybe that's why I gained 10 pounds while I was there ^^;;

I've been thinking a lot about the JLPT lately, and the more I see practice questions and data from previous level 1 exams, the more nervous I get. Apparently there's about a 25% pass rate, meaning that only about 25% of people that take it in any given year receive a passing grade. You only have to get 70% to pass...so are most people that take it just kind of dumb and unprepared, or is the test just really, really hard? I guess all I can do is make sure I'm prepared. The sample questions on the kanji/vocabulary look pretty difficult, so maybe I'll start with those.

On the job front, I had an interview at See's yesterday that seemed to go pretty well, and the lady will let me know by Wednesday if they've decided to hire me. I kind of hope they do. A chocolate shop would be a nice happy place to work, even if only until Christmas Eve.

Christmas.
I know one thing I want, and I hope I can have it.

I also was in touch with a job recruiter today for people who can speak Japanese and they want to set up a phone interview for this week. Thank god it's not a face-to-face meeting yet because I still need to hem up the pants for my suit and get the thing dry cleaned. And I'm not good at interviews. :) Surprisingly, though, for the two I've been to this past week, I've been fairly calm once I get to where I need to be. And lately I feel like I'm not as bad on the phone as I thought I was. I just hope these things transfer to looking for a permanent job.

pounding the pavement

2007-10-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

Looking for jobs, that is. It's a full time job in itself. I've been doing it most of the week. I've applied to numerous places and asked countless times at more if they're hiring. I think I'm getting pretty good at it. Unfortunately I seem to have missed the new wave of hiring (college students start school in September and they're all looking for jobs), but I've found a couple of promising-sounding leads (knock on wood). I'm thinking of cancelling my interview with See's though, because I would have to work pretty much every day until Christmas Eve (I have a plane trip back home on the 18th...and seasonal hires are generally not allowed to have long vacations around the very busiest time of year), and the interview is at such a weird time (3:45 PM on a Sunday) and I have plans tomorrow. Yay outlet mall. I guess I'll have to skip going to visit the new baby at my brother's friend's house. However, the job pays VERY well for here (over $10/hr), they'll train me, it's a candy store~, and you get to wear a cute uniform. I just hope that if I get a job there (or anywhere else for that matter), I won't be working with grouchy-looking old ladies. The ladies weren't actually that grouchy, they're just not that approachable.

I need some wellies (rain boots) badly. They're going to be my rubber limousines, my car for the winter, because Seattle is so damn wet and rainy during the winter and I have no money for a real car. I bought myself a VERY high-quality pair of Hunter wellies, but unfortunately I don't think I can afford to spend $100 on a single pair of shoes right now, so I'll probably send them back. Maybe they'll have some decent ones at the outlet mall. Apparently j.crew sells some, and they have a store at the outlet mall, so if I can find some ones that are just as nice and don't cost quite that much, I'll be really happy. I think I've decided on red ones, because they look nice with a navy blue coat, but we'll see.

that's really about it for now. My sisters are getting ready for Halloween partying, as are my other friends who are still in college. Just don't do anything too stupid, guys, and have fun. :) Me? I'm staying in tonight with Oscar while my brother and future sister-in-law go on a date. I'm handing out candy this year to little kids on the real Halloween (Wednesday), and wearing my Goth-Loli outfit from my Japanese presentation in May, but with my own boots instead of Sarah's and a witch hat instead of the rose headdress. It's my first time in the handing-out side of the holiday rather than the collecting and having fun side. But I think it will still be fun.

Pretty soon we're going to have some new furniture in the house :) Zach is buying some furniture from some ridiculously wealthy coworker of his that doesn't want it anymore. He's bringing it in a U-haul in less than an hour. Speaking of the house, I still need to take pictures.

and lastly, I am back on Skype, so look for me :)

shut down.

2007-10-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

I don't like to feel stupid for wasting time. I already know I have. But don't drill it into me. I'm the type of person that will shut down rather than lash out at someone who upsets me, so you'd do well not to make me feel bad about something you want to talk to me about. I will not talk. As if that weren't enough, here I am all alone. I have nobody here. and I don't really enjoy the dog's company. He doesn't make me feel happy. He doesn't seem to like me a whole lot lately either.

so I will shut down.
and be alone.
and not talk.
no one's here to listen right now anyway.

Base Ball Bearの「愛してる」

2007-10-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

This song has been stuck in my head ALL DAY. I watched the PV (it has subtitles!) and I must say it's the most awesome song I've heard in a while. It's iffy as to whether it's REALLY a happy song or not, but it certainly sounds happy enough. The video is probably the most entertaining Japanese music video I've ever seen. It's funny because they take off their coats...then start singing "I love you..." and nonchalantly taking their clothes off. The irony of it is that it's not dirty. I laughed. Especially when the drummer unzips his pants...to reveal a flesh colored pair of pants. Horinouchi is such a tease. :P

Another thing I really like about it is that Shiori sings more than the backup vocals! Surprise solo :D She also smiles toward the end of the video, something she really doesn't do much. And the English at the very end was also hilarious. I think the subtitles are on the original video, but if I'm wrong, and a fan did the ones on there, they did all right.

As for the Japanese lyrics, I felt like typing them out, so here they are. The real ones that come out with the single (which comes out on Halloween, 10/31, in a week and a half or so) may look slightly different. I JUST FOUND OUT THE SINGLE WILL HAVE KARAOKE ON IT. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D
not to mention a "Shiori Rockets version". Maybe she sings more in it? :)
I may just buy this single.

==============================
愛してる / Base Ball Bear

初めての「愛してる」で　君はちょっと悲しい目をしていた
喜んでくれると思っていたのに　隙間風が吹いた　そんな気さえもしたんだ
漠然とプレゼントみたいに思っていた　男の子な発想とは yeah

愛してる（愛してる）　愛してる（愛してる）
君を間違いはないはず　君と歩んでいきたいはず
愛してるはず

３度目の「愛してる」で　君は僕を嫌いになったと告げた
本当なんだと繰り返す僕は　何かが違うような　そんな気がしていたんだ
親友と焼酎で広げる恋愛論理　フューチャーもアンサーもないや　ないや

愛してる　愛してる　愛してる
君を間違いはないはず　君と歩んでいきたいはず
愛してるはず

その言葉を口にするたびに　愛が逃げてく気がする
愛は形のないものだから　似ているものを　そう　僕の心あげる

愛してる　愛してる
愛してる（愛してる）　愛してる（愛してる）
愛してる　yeah

愛してる（愛してる）　愛してる（愛してる）
愛してる　君を間違いはないはず　君と歩んでいきたいはず
愛してるはず　はず・・・多分・・・はず

==============================

In other news, Mother Nature is unleashing her wrath onto the Northwest...it's been pouring rain one minute and hailing the next, windy as hell, and it's even poured while the sun was shining. But no rainbow. She's not happy. Stupid ocean. AND the foundation of the house is leaking water into the basement, as Jenny found out when she came home for lunch and went downstairs to get something to eat. JOY.

We're going out for dinner tonight! Yay for Thai food. :) I want something with coconut milk in it. Ty is having a birthday party of sorts tonight and I hope he has fun. I was going to hook up the camera in here and call to the party, but I need my brother's password to do it, and I don't think he'd give that to me. damn. oh well. I miss my friends back home, that's all.

wind storm

2007-10-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

There's supposed to be a wind storm tonight due to high-speed winds coming off the ocean. The wind has been blowing hard for a couple of days now. Oscar doesn't really understand the concept of wind - he can see things moving and hear the blowing sound and feel the air swirling around him but he still hasn't put it all together, so he's concerned and barking a lot more than he has been. It reminds me of the typhoon in Nagoya but without the rain. My host mom and I went somewhere a few days after I'd gotten there, and it was extremely windy, and she said to watch out for things falling from the sky. We tried not to go anywhere during the typhoon if we could help it. Last year the wind storms that blew through Washington took out a lot of visitor center stuff and ruined trails on Mt. Rainier, and a lot of the city's power was out, some people's for up to a week. They're taking precautions this time to reduce damage. Thankfully my brother's house doesn't have any huge trees in the yard. I've been told to charge my phone now just in case.

I had a dream last night that I think I've dreamed before. It was strangely familiar. Since I have pretty much nothing else to do, I'm going to see if I can't write a story or draw a picture or do something creative. I miss doing those kinds of things.

well, I was right about the dog

2007-10-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Oscar, that is. Sure, he can be a little annoying sometimes (particularly when he just barks and whines at cats and people and things he sees or thinks he sees from the front door) and he does leave around a lot more hair than I thought (I should talk...), but for the most part he's just fine to have around, and provides entertainment. Plus, I feel good helping take care of him. :)

I haven't heard too much about my parents' new puppy yet, but my dad took some pictures of him yesterday and he is still the cutest little thing I've ever seen. Too bad they can't agree on a name for him, though. I got to hear some funny puppy stories about Oscar, like the time they took him over to one of Zach's friend's houses when he was about 16 weeks old (about a month older than the one in the picture), and Oscar was persistently trying all night to get their friend's Bernese mountain dog (who was about 10 times the size of him) to play, and she just wasn't having it. Then finally, she bounded, all 80 pounds of her, over to where Oscar stood and let out this thundering playful bark, and Oscar shrank down into their carpet...and peed himself. Kind of a weird story, but still very funny.

I woke up to my phone ringing this morning (and earlier to my brother coming in and out and rummaging in the ONE closet in the house for his nice clothes, and to a dream that ended with my failed attempt to commit suicide and realizing I didn't really want to die anyway, and another strange dream I can't quite remember). I got to talk to a nice man who called me Heidi-san and is attempting to get me a job. I never actually spoke with a recruiter before, but I like to think it'll get me somewhere. I spent the next few hours throwing together a cover letter. My original plan today was to go to Uwajimaya Village and Kinokuniya and look for the JLPT grammar prep book, but it's already getting to be late afternoon and I just kind of wanted to bum around there for a while, but not spend too much money. I guess with my security deposit money coming soon (I got the joint check in the mail from Di-chan yesterday) I can afford a little something, like あんぱん or nice ingredients for a good Japanese meal...but I still think I should save my pennies until after I have some income. Maybe I'll take some pictures of the house and around the neighborhood or go for a walk instead (but I'll probably save that because Jenny is coming home early, and Oscar hasn't gotten to go outside today). There's still that tree that fell down and blocked the road. And the invisible roundabouts that people just barrel straight through anyway. XD not to mention the fall colors are beautiful in this neighborhood.

It's settled. Picture time.

ハッピーバースデー to マイボーイフレンド. ユーアーマイラブだよ。
I wish I could be there, but what I sent will have to do. And I already gave you my present :)

puppy!

2007-10-14T19:37:00.001-07:00

Since the breeder they'd been planning to buy from was being a big jerk, my parents decided to look elsewhere to get a puppy. They sent some pictures from a place to my brother today, who forwarded them to me, and they were all extremely cute. My mom called soon after to say that she and my dad were going to visit the place and have a look at the puppies, who are currently 12 weeks old.

Then she called about an hour ago, saying that they'd stayed for four hours at the breeder's place...and were driving home with a puppy this very minute. He looks like this.

ISN'T HE CUTE??!???!?! ^*^
I like the spots on his back. Gives him a bit of character. :) I wonder if he was posed that way for the picture or if he really lays down like that? Mom said he ran right up to them when they got there and was extremely friendly, and that at the moment they were driving in the car with him, and he was laying on his back in her lap (which is a very good sign, because dogs have to feel VERY safe with you before they'll lie with their belly up when you're around). Apparently the breeder has two little daughters and a 9-month-old baby, and they've handled him so much that he's pretty well socialized for his age and has no fear of being around people.

We need to think of a name for him! any suggestions? :D

i made it

2007-10-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm at my brother's house and just unpacked my things this morning. As may be expected from Seattle, it is raining, or at least it was. It looks nice enough to go explore the neighborhood now. I forgot a toothbrush, so my mission for the day is to go and buy one.

I woke up to Oscar licking my face at 6:30 AM today (which isn't as bad as it sounds since my alarm at my parents' house rang at 8:30 most mornings and at any given time it's two hours earlier here than there). As much as I thought living with a dog was going to be a little annoying, Oscar is extremely well trained, doesn't leave TOO much dog hair on things, and I think as long as I understand how to help take care of him, we'll get along great. Zach and Jenny are at work now and I decided to give this computer a try. (it's on the floor in a closet for the time being. they're getting a new computer soon.) So far things are going fine, and they're nice and encouraging. I just hope that feeling kind of continues as I'm here longer. What I want to do the most is be able to help them get all these home improvement/maintenance projects done, and they said it would help the most if I helped keep them on top of daily cleaning and such so that they have time to think about the bigger stuff. Maybe I could even gather some information for them later today :) I don't know if it'll help at all, but I can try. I really don't have that much else to do besides look for a job, and let's face it, nobody could look ALL DAY nonstop for a job. I feel motivated, though, seeing higher prices for just about everything. I'm going to run out of money sooner than I think, I just know it. o_o;;

My last source of income, the security deposit check my bumbling idiot landlord sent to the freakin apartment I just moved out of, is finally on its way, but with one more catch: it was made out in both mine and my old roommate's names, so we BOTH have to sign it, which wouldn't be a problem, except now we're living across the country from each other. Thankfully, though, I get almost all of it back so I'll have a few hundred more dollars. yay.

I was thinking, despite the unglamorous sound of it, I think I'd like to work at a grocery store. I'd be near food but not necessarily have to do too much with it, and I can definitely run a cash register. There are a lot of restaurants in this area, so maybe I could work at those places too. My biggest concern with a job is that I'm able to get there easily. I would just love it if I got a job where I could walk to work...and not have to work too late at night so that I wouldn't be walking home in the dark by myself.

time to go on Operation Toothbrush. until next time.

happy weekend

2007-10-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

That it was, because I got to see some of my favorite people in the whole world, and got to spend some nice time with my boyfriend. My mother had a nursing seminar that her work paid for her to go to in Madison, and my dad and I tagged along with her. Ty and I got them to come out to dinner at the Glass Nickel for pizza and he was there waiting for us, with some orange and yellow lilies for me ^^ we had a good dinner and then went to my mom and dad's hotel, and went swimming in the pool for a bit. the hottub was not hot :( but it was nice. They played POLKA MUSIC, of all things to play in a pool. I guess when they say adult swim they meant actual old people...not that I don't like polka.

After swimming I went home with Ty and we had a cake and presents. It was his pre-birthday party, but there were presents for me too because I'm moving away. I sewed him a blanket to cover his bed (blue on one side and green on the other) which sounds kind of weird for a birthday present, but I wanted to make him something and he doesn't wear jewelry or use purses so he gets a blanket. He really seemed to like it, though. :) He gave me a sticker from the Peelander Z concert he went to last weekend, and a webcam so we can have video chats! Plus I can talk with all my other friends around the world now too ^^

Saturday was quite the eventful day, though it started off very slowly. It was HOT outside for October. We went to the farmer's market and picked up the homemade berry jam Chinatsu says is so good (I haven't actually tried it yet though) and cheese curds to give to my brother and Jenny (but I forgot the cheese at Ty's house >_<), and ran some errands, then went back to his apartment and started watching a movie when Bill pops in. I had not seen Bill in a LONG time so it was nice. He left a while later, and then we had to meet behind the Red Gym to help with Trevor's marriage proposal. Trevor wanted Ty to write him a love song for his girlfriend earlier this week, and Trevor didn't say what exactly it was for until after the whole song was recorded. It came as a surprise to pretty much everyone because he's only really been dating her for 7-8 months. O_O His plan was to take her on a walk, and every few blocks one of Trevor's friends was going to be standing there with a gift for her, and ended where we were all standing, and we all sung her the song and at the end he took out the ring and asked her to marry him. All I can say is thank god she said yes, because we were really not sure what to do had she said no. ^^;; I later had my own farewell dinner with most of those people that had been singing, plus a bunch of friends I had invited, which was a LOT of fun :) Most of us went out to the karaoke bar afterward and joined up with another friend that was having his birthday party that night, and we sang together and just had a lot of fun.

Today we woke up and cooked breakfast, packed up my things and Dave came to visit because he didn't make it to the dinner last night but still wanted to say goodbye. ^^ The drive back home was really nice. I'm going to miss seeing the green fields and red barns of rural Wisconsin, to be completely honest. I don't live on a farm and wouldn't like to, but I love to look at them from the road. I wonder what Washington's countryside will look like, besides having mountains. Thankfully my sister didn't have to go back to Eau Claire until 5 PM so I was able to see her before she left. She came back home for our old high school's homecoming. I don't know if she went to the football game, but I know she saw a lot of her friends. Ty stayed to help me set up my webcam and for dinner, and then we had to say goodbye. I hate doing that. but soon we won't have to anymore, I hope. and we can see each other's faces when we talk now.

Time to keep packing up my room...

mochi mochi mochi

2007-10-03T13:56:00.001-07:00

I made zenzai (also called oshiruko) for breakfast today with some toasted mochi in it. Since I'm moving soon and my parents certainly aren't going to cook with the Japanese ingredients I bought (and the ones my host mother bought me before I left for kusa-mochi are already past their consume-by date...) I decided to use up the mochiko and open bag of azuki beans. It wasn't quite as good as I remember, but it was still delicious. The picture on the left is of just the mochi. I'm not very good at making it, but today's was better than previous attempts, and unusual in the sense that I had to mix the mochi flour with an equal amount of sugar. Mochi normally isn't sweet. But this stuff was, and with the mildly sweet soup it went in, it was pretty good. Rolling the mochi into little balls made me think of New Year's Eve at my host family's house. We had about 15 times the amount I made today, and I invited a friend over and we rolled mochi into balls with my sisters Sayoko and Sayuri for about half an hour...then we all ate mochi with toppings on it until we were stuffed, because fresh is the absolute best way to eat it. :) Then we had zenzai for breakfast about four days in a row after the new year because we had so much mochi to eat up before it got too hard and gross. I didn't mind because I liked it so much. XD

shopping

2007-10-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Operation Get a Suit. that's what today's mission was.

I called my brother to ask if I could catch a ride to the mall with him because he works there, and he said he was on his lunch break now and could come to get me in half an hour. yippee :) Four and a half hours of trying crap on got me my new suit. I got two suits, actually :D but one is very inappropriate for work because it's a swimsuit. (and I'm very proud of my swimsuit find. I was in desperate need of a new one, a cute one, and it decided to present itself in just the right size, a nice color (royal blue) and style, and on super awesome clearance for $8.50~~~ the color is brighter in person than in this picture.)

I had no idea that women's skirt suits are considered more formal than a pantsuit! I thought it was the other way around, and I was disappointed because I like skirts so much. yay skirts! ^^ I think I should go back and buy one...if I can get one that fits. Even petite sizes are too long a lot of the time :( Yay JCPenney for having all their suits on sale though :) I should go back there this week while their things are still decently priced.

also, I learned something interesting. For women, they have three kinds of sizes: petite (for smaller women), misses (for average sized women), and ...women's sizes. I wondered what the heck was going on, because aren't petite and misses clothes for women too?? Then I started looking at the clothes and sizes and I realized that 'women's sizes' actually means 'sizes for large women'. I guess there's really no nice way to say that someone is big, but that's just a little too misleading. Plus it inherently suggests that small and average sized ladies are not 'women'. blah.

I'm ready.

2007-09-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

emotionally ready to go to Seattle, that is. Living with my parents is all fine and good for a while, but I have come to the conclusion that they really don't communicate what they expect from me very well at all. Take yesterday's conversation with my mother. I come downstairs after waking up and getting ready for the day, get the mail, and the first thing my mom asks me is why I didn't wash the dishes. Was I asked to do them? no. She then proceeds to tell me I need to help her out more around the house, and that she has a job and I don't so I should do some more cleaning around here. When I'm confronted in that way and I don't know what to say I revert to dealing with anger how I did as a teenager but holding as much back as I can. Normally I just want to walk away, which pisses her off even more and she assumes I'm avoiding the situation. I'm just trying to keep myself from doing something childish. Unfortunately, walking away is not seen as the adult thing to do in her eyes and she tells me I need to grow up and act like an adult. Usually when I'm alone with the other person's concerns, I can process them objectively, separate them from the anger and come back to talk to them calmly about it. Problem? it takes time. especially when you just throw them at me without sitting me down LIKE AN ADULT and tell me that these things are a concern.

Guess what, mom. If you don't TELL me that's what you want, how am I supposed to know? I'll throw a little quote back at you from when I was a kid: "I'm not a mind reader."

She deals with things like this at work in the same way, just keeps her mouth shut but does she EVER let out her concerns to people who have nothing to do with it. I guess I learned to deal with my problems that way too.

At least where I'm going in a couple of weeks, the people I'm staying with are laying out their expectations for me straightaway before I even get there. I have yet to know what those are, but I'm going to call them over the weekend (when they have time to talk) so that I can know. I'm starting to become more and more thankful and excited.

I think I get this way every time I'm about to move somewhere else: you get really really anxious to leave and move on, and an unfortunate side effect is that you can get really annoyed with the people you're sharing your current place with. Only one exception comes to mind: leaving my host family in Japan. I don't know if they felt the same, but I almost burst into tears after I shook my okaasan and obaachan's hands and walked through airport security.

There are no obese old people.

2007-09-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've heard all evidence pointing to this, but having it put this way really made me think about it. just something I was thinking about.

I went to visit my grandma and grandpa this past weekend and go to my aunt and uncle's 25th wedding anniversary. Seeing my grandparents and some of my mom's siblings was really fun, but the party was basically all people I didn't know except for a large handful of relatives, and most of the people there were just getting really drunk off shitty beer and acting like idiots. I got pretty good at giving a brief explanation of what was happening to me now and how old I was, and when I told some of them what I studied in school I just got so annoyed sometimes. I guess it's because they tell you what they think they know about Japanese but most people in northern WI haven't the foggiest idea (i.e. Ty's chimmy-chong story). Somehow the term 'Orientals' really pisses me off too (I like 'Asians' better), and that's what they call them (along with most people over 40 who aren't interested in foreign countries, probably leftovers from World War II). I mean I can't blame them, but if they're not even going to be respectful about it or listen to me explain after THEY ask me about it, they should keep their mouths shut. Luckily not all of them were like that, just a few.

It's really interesting, the way you come to see your relatives after you grow up. When you're a kid they're just kind of there while you play with your cousins (at least they were for me; I had so many I didn't get to know them all very well and I only saw them a few days per year), but when you grow up you notice much more what kind of a person they are, and I think I'm more objective and judgmental toward them, which I feel is a bit unfortunate. I feel like losing that innocent attitude is me being unkind, that high-and-mighty-college-educated attitude. Then again, maybe they were that way all along and I just never noticed. It could also be that we just don't know each other well and don't really need to.

Today I went apple picking and running errands with my mom since she had the day off from work. It was hot for picking apples -_-;; We also got five apples on our tree in the backyard! but the birds and the squirrels ate big chunks out of three of them :( so we have two good ones.

exercise time. :)

ぴたテン (Pita-ten)

2007-09-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Finally I've finished both the anime and manga. I'm not sure if manga to anime series conversion is usually like books turned into movies, where generally the book is better than the movie, but I liked the manga MUCH better. The anime was dumbed down quite a bit, leaving out most of the relationship complexities (actually that's what I love most about watching and reading things ^^;; love relationships, and how people get into them) and the entirety of Misha's past. Also, the end was kind of a cop-out...I mean come on, when people disappear in the manga, it's very emotional (due to the relationship complexities) and then they DON'T COME BACK. In the anime the reasons for characters having to go are kind of arbitrary and sudden...and everyone comes back and lives happily ever after in the end anyway. In addition, I felt the anime was much more focused on Misha and Shia, where the manga sticks basically to Kotarou the whole time. (That must be why I always found the manga in the boys' section at Book-Off ^^) Cute girls can sell anything...especially anime.

As far as characters go!
FAVORITE: Koboshi, Sasha, Misha, Nyaa, Ten-chan, Kotarou
My favorites before I read or watched anything were Koboshi and Sasha. Koboshi's role in the anime is basically to squawk at Misha and get pissy, although she has her clever side and she gets her time in the spotlight. But even after her relationship to Kotarou is validated she goes right back to her old self. I like her manga version tons better, especially the way she faces her problems and how things end up for her. I liked Sasha's increased role in the anime and how much more part of the story she seemed to be there, but I still like her either way. ^^ The manga version of Misha shows she has a lot more depth, and despite how annoying she is at first, you really get to like her by the end. and Nyaa! I HATED the cat for the longest time, but the end of the anime really made me change my mind about it. even devil kitties have hearts.

OK: Shia
She doesn't really bring THAT much to the anime at all, although in the manga she's a LOT more important to the story and she's not necessarily the 100% frail, timid girl. She actually does mean shit sometimes. Plus Ten-chan loves her AND ACTUALLY SAYS SO. And when she goes, she goes.

LEAST FAVORITE: Dai-chan, Kaoru
These two basically just scream every time they pop in and are really freaking annoying. They aren't a very pivotal part of the manga either, as far as I remember (I read it over a year ago). I have nothing else to say about them. That's how much attention I paid to them.

So definitely MANGA > ANIME due to the psychological depth, plot, romance and angst of it all. Don't watch it, read it!

cleaning spree

2007-09-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Since it's Saturday and any job hunting I do can't really continue until Monday, I think I'm going to attempt to clean up the house a bit, or at least finish sorting through all the stuff I moved home and make sure my floor is clean. My mom sort of keeps hinting that she'd like me to vacuum the house, so maybe I'll do that. Then I won't feel bad about making her take me interview clothes-shopping :)

Sarah is going to Japan on the 21st, and I'd really like to give her a present. I have some ideas, but I need to sit down and figure out exactly what would be good. We're also probably going to Madison next weekend. If she still hasn't had a Fishbowl I think we should go and get one :) I was curious myself. Maybe go to Maharani too, if we go Friday and get there before the lunch buffet is over :D

I finally finished and got a letter to Kisa all ready to send! I should hop on my bike quick and get it to the mailbox...pickup is in 50 minutes and I missed the pickup at my house >_<;; Otherwise it won't go out until Monday. I miss Kisa ;_; but now Sarah can see her and tell me how she's doing because they'll both be living in Yokohama now~

but that also means Sarah will be very far away ;_; I'll miss her. a lot. I have to find a job soon so I can start making new friends...because being alone really sucks after a few days. Maybe I won't be so lonely after my parents come home...

all right, time to get dressed and take a bike/walk, and then organize my things :)

melon pan, being happy for friends

2007-09-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

the past few days have been fairly productive, considering what I'd done the first few days of my 'vacation'. I got my resume online and had a call this morning already, which is pretty exciting, but it doesn't seem like they're going to be that helpful in finding me a job. I have no experience in engineering or finance, and people with those degrees that can also speak Japanese practically have companies banging down their doors. Meanwhile, I'm going to apply for things I may not be that interested in but I would at least be able to do and use Japanese at the same time.

Part of me still thinks I should live in Japan and work for a while, just to get my speaking skills honed again. And now that Sarah actually got a job (as an English teacher, but at a nice-sounding private school in the area she really wants to live and work) it actually feels viable. She called me this morning with the news, and I'm very happy for her! ^^ She wants to go to Madison next weekend to see everyone one more time before she leaves (she'd have to be in Japan by the 19th or 20th of this month, so she hasn't got much time at all) and said she'll come to pick me up so I can go too. how nice of her ^^ We'll have to throw her a party. I'll get her to think of some things in Madison she's never done or would really like to do before she goes, and we'll make that all happen :)

I called my oldest brother and started talking to him again. He gave me a nice pep talk like he always does (and it still gets me going) and re-extended the invitation for me to go to Seattle and stay with him a while, and look for a job. I still have to research plane tickets and decide when exactly I would go, but that sounds much better than staying home with my parents, really.

A really good job got posted at Nintendo again, something right up my alley. You know, the more I think about it, the more I would absolutely love to work there. I've been playing their games since I was five years old, been watching people play them as far back as my memory goes, and I grew up with one in my house, and even got this scar on my face because I was jumping over controller cords so my brothers wouldn't have to pause the game while I tried to get out of the room and got scratched on a nail protruding from the wall. ^^;;

My question is, would I be able to work there right away or would I have to do a semi-shit job for a couple of years to get experience before they would hire me? The requirements almost point to the long way, but I think as long as I got my JLPT certification, they might consider it. ^^

I have to go finish baking the melon-pan. I may even put up pictures depending on how well it turns out.

JLPT +

2007-09-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

I just signed up for the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam, level 1. I figure if I get serious enough about studying kanji from right now until the test day I shouldn't have much of a problem because I'm mostly all right on grammar and listening. I think I'll buy a book to help me study, though, because I have no idea what I'm in for. All I remember from the practice questions at Nanzan is that the kanji part was pretty tough, and I was bad at guessing.

My main beef is that you can only change your test site until October 5, and I'm trying to decide whether I should go to my brother's house to look for a job in Seattle and take the test there, or stay at my parents' house and wait until December to take it in Chicago. Right now I'm slated for Chicago.

...I really should have just taken it last year. Sarah knew what the hell she was doing.

A new job got posted on Nintendo's website for a localization expert. I'm by no means an expert, but translating games for them would KICK ASS. Maybe I can convince them to let me have an interview? :)

I've been home by myself for about three days now, and have been driven to extreme activities like cooking all day while watching crappy movies on TV. Yay for tomato feta spinach pizza, chocolate raspberry cake, spaghetti with meatballs and oyakodon. I DID go shopping for nice interview clothes at Kohls today, but unfortunately did not come across any that were both nice looking AND affordable. All the cute stuff was expensive or didn't fit right, and the stuff I'd be able to afford that I fit decently into made me look like I should be 40. I also went shopping for shoes, but the only ones I found that I liked/fit me/were decently priced were too casual for an interview. ;_; I ordered some shoes online yesterday, and hopefully with their overnight shipping that means they'll be here tomorrow or Tuesday. Something tells me I might be returning them because I'm fairly hard to fit and heels are REALLY hard to shop for when you're looking for them to be comfortable for all day, but I still have my fingers crossed :) I may have to have my mother take me on a shoe store tour when she gets home. I also need some sandals because the PVC flip-flops are destroying my feet...I need something with more support. Maybe I'll find a good deal on some because it's the end of the summer.

Plans for tomorrow are as follows:
- Exercise, either on the treadmill (if I clean it off...my mom has a big pile of sewing crap on it now) or outside because it's supposed to be really nice
- design/pattern out the skirt that I just thought of making today :)
- update resume to include volunteer interpreting work
- write a cover letter for the Nintendo job
- write a letter back to Kisa

maybe more, but I think that's enough to shoot for in one day.
おやすみ。

eau claire

2007-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I woke up at 6 AM and got in a tightly packed car to drive my youngest sister to Eau Claire. From now on for the next four years or so, that's where she'll be living and going to school. We passed cabbage fields on the way there, and a truck that had dropped a few cabbages in the road...we had to swerve around those. That was the most excitement on the car ride there, except maybe going and buying sausage at this little store on the way. Yay for free homemade root beer and good sausage.

After driving for 3 1/2 hours and arriving in Eau Claire, we had to wait until 2 for Kelly to move in, so we went straight to my other sister Molly's house where she's living with four other girls and Petey, a puppy. We dropped some things off there and locked down their wireless network so that their neighbors wouldn't steal their internet anymore :/ It looks like things have gotten better with her living situation since I last heard about it - she's gotten used to the dog and the dog is used to being there = it's not upset and chewing everything up, and apparently it's only one roommate in particular that's causing everyone grief, and it's not the one with the dog. I didn't actually get to meet said roommate, but since her room is twice as big as everyone else's with its own bathroom and is paying the same amount of rent, this girl could just be a giant brat who refused to have the smaller rooms. Speaking of rooms, Molly's was really quite small, but she's making the most of the space, and the ceiling has an interesting shape :) I'd have liked it. Better than my hallway of a room in Madison this past year. o_o;; One of the girls in the house works at the mall and gets all the store ads when they change them, so they have Abercrombie & Fitch and Express and American Eagle ads all over their house, including one of some guy sitting in a chair, which they originally had at the bottom of the stairs in a dark corner, making it look like there was always a strange man sitting there in the dark. That creeped them out one too many times, so he's the official greeter at the front door when Petey's not around. :)

For lunch, we went to the pub where my sister works. Around here we make lots of cheese, and have something called cheese curds, little bits of freshly made cheese. Restaurants generally bread and deep-fry them and serve them as an appetizer. My sister and the waitress recommended them, so we decided to try it. 15 minutes later, the waitress comes out with deep fried BLOCKS of cheese about 1 1/2" cubed, about 3 times the size of normal cheese curds. They were nicely fried, but I think those are going to stay with me for a while o_0;; Molly told us how they were made, and how they go through two giant wheels of cheese on a busy day making these things. We also had hamburgers, which were also really really good. Hard to finish after those cheese curds, though.

After that, we went to move Kelly into the dorms. No sooner had we parked the car than 10 volunteer move-in helpers (called Hallraisers, basically like Badger Buddies in Madison) came right up to the trunk of the van and offered to carry things up! I only carried a couple of things, and we had the car unloaded and the stuff outside her room in 5 minutes. We spent about 1 1/2 hours setting up her room with Kelly's roommate, who was there alone (her parents just kind of got her stuff in the room and left her there) seemed pretty overwhelmed with four extra people in the room helping set everything up. Then we shopped for groceries while Kelly set up more things in her room. We got her groceries back, said goodbye and then brought Molly back to her house, and finally got on the road at 6 PM. We got home at 9 and I bummed around and watched TV with my parents and took a bath.

I woke up around 10:00 and haven't done much except cook myself breakfast. I need to make a schedule of things to do next week (my parents are going on vacation and leaving me here ;_;) so I don't end up sitting around forever. I need to make my life go somewhere, after all, and nobody ever got anything done by sitting on a couch :) I'm going to get groceries with my dad soon, and maybe go ride my bike or take a walk. またね！

P.S. Every time I log into mixi.jp there's a new diet program! Honestly, most Japanese people have absolutely no need to go on a soy milk cookie diet, or a strawberry yogurt diet, or any diet. I think this is one example of borrowed Western culture that makes absolutely no sense and it's really annoying logging in every time and seeing how you can lose 10 pounds in 9 days if you just click here and eat this one thing. You're losing weight there because you're underfed and fighting with malnutrition. Maybe if they stopped wearing shoes that are horrible for your feet and companies stopped working them so hard, they wouldn't feel so unhealthy and fat. Then they'd also feel like having babies, maybe, and isn't that what Japan wants so badly right now? Little children to take care of the old people so they don't have to 'stoop to' hiring nurses from Brazil and Southeast Asia?

I'm blowing this all out of proportion here, I think. Diet programs are probably not fucking up much except for really stupid Japanese girls. But I always get this angry thinking about politics and society, whether about America or Japan, and it makes me feel like whipping the country into shape, no matter how impossible it is. The government will always have liars and cheaters in its midst that will exploit the public for personal gain, and when confronted they will defend their hypocritical actions to the death. What really gets me is that they usually still can get away with it.

And on that note, I'm off to start my day.

starting again

2007-08-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

I realize just how much I miss having a place to write down what happens to me and how I think. Especially now that I'm in the post-college stage of my life, away from everyone I know except my family (which will be down to just my parents tomorrow after my youngest sister moves away to her new dorm, and my parents are both pretty busy), I'll have a lot more time to think about myself.

Though I have to admit, having a boyfriend and friends you can hang out with every day is pretty nice.

Now being alone after being with them all this time, I realize that I almost never do things for myself anymore. If someone else wants me to do something I feel motivation to do it, but if it's just because I think I should do it, I don't. It's like I think I need someone else's approval before I can do anything...and I'm past the stage in my life where that's going to work for me. If I don't start trying things for myself, I'm never going to get anywhere.

Time to grow up. Time to do things just because I think I'll be better for it.

and this blog, in case you were curious, is named after a favorite drink of mine. It's special tea ceremony tea = maccha (powdered and usually bitter all on its own), mixed with milk and sometimes sugar is added. The picture to the left is maccha milk pudding but it still looked good enough to put up :)