独立記念日

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-

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

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

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

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-

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

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.