Starshine

Okay, okay, I'll post already
Another long weekend this past weekend (yaa~y). No more of those until November I think (booo~). Oh well the next month or so should go by reasonably quickly. October, November, and December tend to fly by for me. At least we get to do Halloween and Thanksgiving at the Center. When I was here for them the last time I barely noticed that those days were different from any other.

My famiry came up over the weekend. We didn't do much, just went to Hikone castle and a temple. Still, it was fun to see them. My otouto and imouto are growing up too fast. Makes me feel old. ;_; But they're great kids.

Li-chan, dear, I would have written here more often had I not been battling the schoolwork demon, the homesickness/depression demon, and other such things. I'll try to write more from now on, but considering that the class load here is above overloading for me, and I have to cook for myself, do my own laundry, and all that stuff, entries might continue to be sporadic.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002,08:18 a.m.

It's been three weeks since we had the flight...
So I've been here three weeks. When can I get a break?

It's really annoying when you want to complain and rant all you want but you feel like an idiot doing so because you think of all the reasons why you shouldn't be complaining.

Nothing to see here, just a student on study abroad really starting to miss her home country right about now, move along.

Thursday, September 19, 2002,08:58 p.m.

Ya mou
Had a long weekend this weekend due to a Japanese holiday that gave us today off. Still was pretty busy, as we went to karaoke on Friday night and I went to a movie with Todd today. Did some cleaning up yesterday, but otherwise just laid around recovering from classes that hit me like a train last week. Yes, I'm lazy. I think we all knew that. I do apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. I am trying to write letters and such. It just goes slowly.

Feh. I'm too tired to do a decent entry. Will write more later.

Monday, September 16, 2002,08:34 p.m.

Happy Friday the 13
Now go watch some Jason movies. :) Should you want to, that is.

I just realized that my last entry was made on September 11 and I didn't say anything about it. They had some stuff about all the one year later events on TV over here but it was ignorable. How'd all those in the U.S.A survive the hoopla?

Test today. >_> We were all going nuts last night. I tried to study, but it wasn't working. Of course, my usual philosophy of "if I don't know it by now, cramming won't help" should have meant that I wouldn't have even planned on studying. However, I've been half asleep for most of this week and things are fuzzy. Plus, everyone else's panic was contagious. Feh. At least I got a lot of sleep. Liana's suggestion. At least now I've got plenty of energy for all the stuff I'm supposed to do today. Cooking class (for our Friday Project) after the test, watching the movie they're showing, and then going to karaoke tonight. Can Katie sing worth a damn? No. Does she care? No. ^_^

Now if you'll excuse me, the test demon and homesickness demon need a good thrashing.

Friday, September 13, 2002,08:31 a.m.

I feel human again
Sleep is a very good thing. Yes. As is being coherent. Give me a couple more days and I should be back to normal.

Started my class on Japanese culture yesterday. It looks like it'll be fun. At least it's taught by an American who has lived in Japan for a while. We can be more informal than in Japanese class. Not that I don't like Japanese class, but I'm the only girl in there, which is never fun, and whenever I'm around the sensei I have to try to act all nice and proper which is getting to be surprisingly difficult for me. I think all of us in that class are going to really enjoy having a chance to jabber with another gaijin and vent about any cultural issues that we're having. Plus we get to watch movies. :) The class is basically going to look at Japanese culture as how it's presented in movies. One of our assignments, in fact, is to look at how an American movie portrays Japanese culture. Can we say Katie is going to have a lot of fun? ^_^ I'm just glad that the teach doesn't feel the need to pile on the homework. A few short papers and some reading, that's it. Hope that my sensei for the other class I take that starts in October feel the same way. Otherwise I'm going to be dead by the time I get out of here for winter vacation.

Feh. Class is starting soon. Baibai.

Wednesday, September 11, 2002,08:26 a.m.

Nemuta-i

The weekend turned out to be quite interesting. Saturday in Osaka was fun, once we all found each other. Go see Liana's diary for a full account of the happenings. I would have reported sooner, but my right wrist was being a bitch. Suffice to say we had some organizational problems, but it all worked out okay in the end. We had a good time, and I got lots of manga and fun stuff. Even went a bit overboard, I think.O_o Li-chan, you'll be happy with the present I found for you, I wager. I also got something for Michelle that she should like. Harl, I'm trying to find Noh and/or Kabuki music for you, but the search does not go well. ;_; Any other ideas?

As I bought lots of Gravitation manga in Osaka, that's been eating my brain lately. I almost like the manga better than the anime, what for all it moves more slowly. You get a better idea of the characters and see more characters, too. Any more babbling will have to wait. If I start now I'll be here for a long time, and I need to get some sleep. Quiz tomorrow and an essay to write.

Monday, September 9, 2002,10:02 p.m.

Friday!
Only two Japanese classes today instead of the usual three. ^_^ Man, I feel like I'm back in high school, only high school was never this cool.

Moved rooms yesterday. My old roomie's suggestion. I'm perfectly happy with the new arrangement, though I have to resist the urge to be snippy right back at the girl and her little clique. Beeotches. Though Lindsey, the girl I traded with, seems nice. *shrugs* Anyway,I'm not getting the bad end of the deal, roommate-wise. Liana's nice.

Talked to Okaasan last night. They're coming to visit on the 21. XD XD She also said she'd get me a cell phone (Keitai denwa or just Keitai) and send it over. Easier to reach me that way. Have I ever mentioned how much I [heart] my okaasan and famiry? :)

And tomorrow is the day trip to Osaka. We've got a nice, big (but not too big) group going. So far we plan on going to a big anime goods store and a big electronics store. I'll report on it on Sunday.

Friday, September 6, 2002,08:03 a.m.

Slump time
The excitement of traveling and settling is over with. Now comes the boredom of actually having to go to class. The professors are cool, though, so classtime goes by fast. The homework's going to kill me, though, at least on the nights we have kanji to go over.

Went on a hike yesterday with Todd, Sara, Lung, and Jessica. Saw many spiders and other insects. Killed none. The view you can get from the mountains around here is amazing. We also found a really cool shrine just off the main road.

Not much else comes to mind for me to babble about. I go get ready for class now.

Wednesday, September 4, 2002,08:06 a.m.

Had a bad day...
Not really, but it was kind of a mood-swing day. Was in a good mood this morning, especially after finding out that I made it into the level 3 class here. :) Got into an irritated mood after dealing with some real jerks while watching Inuyasha and Metantei Conan. I love the shows, but two of the guys kept on making comments in very loud voices. I'll admit to doing my share of talking while watching TV, and I don't always mind MSTing the shows a little, but watching TV in Japanese with no subtitles is hard enough without the guy sitting next to you making stupid remarks. In a very loud voice. It annoyed me more during Conan, where listening is really important if you're going to understand anything. >_< [/griping]

Anyway, the shows were fun to watch. The Inuyahsa anime is keeping pace with the manga really well. It's somewhere around the 23 or 24 volume, about two or three away from where the manga is now. Conan's the usual drill: he solves the case and all is good. But it's still a fun show.

Went shopping the other day. Got some manga, and I found Harry Potter books translated into Japanese. :) XD Anyone who wants to hear me jabber about them let me know.

The people here are pretty cool. I'm trying to get a group together to go to Osaka this Saturday. XD Should be neat-o if it can be pulled off.

Monday, September 2, 2002,08:10 p.m.

Nihon ni imasu
Got over here okay.:) Made contact with parents and all that good stuff, so now I just need to unpack. And get cleaned up. After killing this Japanese computer's odd keyboard. Will set up my own computer tomorrow.

Anyway, the flight over wasn't bad save for the length. Thirteen hours in a plane is not fun. But we made it to Japan safely and are settled in/settling into our rooms. Some people will eventually head out for homestays, but for now we're all in one place.

I'll email people tomorrow. For now, however, I bid you good night.

Thursday, August 29, 2002,09:56 p.m.