happy September

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

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

slowly chugging on

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.

a glimmer of hope

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.

life in a deep freeze

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・・・。

for all the lost Japanese majors

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

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.

chopping bamboo

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

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

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 :)

well, I was right about the dog

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 :)

melon pan, being happy for friends

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.