It's freeeeeezing (><)

I went out to work yesterday (I'm still working at the English school in Nishinomiya), and it was absolutely freezing on the way back home (><). Not to mention the fact that I missed my train stop by two stations because I was totally engrossed in 'repairing' my thesis. Which is going to be done soon (^^)

I hope.

I should really update more but as it is I'm going to return to my paper now and then leave updating for next week~~

I believe it's that time of the year again to reflect on all the things that you have done. To make next year, a better year, to make yourself better etc etc etc. LoL.

-later-

Sakai-zemi's first Alumni dinner

My professor has been teaching at the University for some time now and about 30 of us (his seminar students) decided to go out and have dinner together. He was so happy to be around with his old students - I can only wish one day that I can come back and join the 2nd, 3rd or even the 10th Alumni dinner in the future!!

October is almost at an end.

I like October. The weather is always just nice here in Japan. The leaves start to change right at the end of the month, the days are warm, the nights are cool, it's always clear and the night-scape is just excellent.

Octoberrrrrr

As in: Brrrrrrr

-LoL-

My nose is all runny and my throat is sore. I am sooo going to catch a cold.

But otherwise I'm okay.

There's been a lot of stuff going on... which I will not mention now but at a later date once I've collected my thoughts.

As it is, right now...



brrrrr... -lol- sejuk

Raya and Tsukuba

So, after a last-minute decision to hop over to Tokyo, I left the house in a scramble. Aurelie was supposed to come back from London on the 25th and I was only leaving on the 22nd night, coming back on the 27th morning. I think I cleaned up the apartment somewhat well - hmm. Well, at least I know it's not more of a mess than when Aurelie left.

The reason why I left in such a blur for Tokyo was because I wanted to celebrate Hari Raya at the Embassy! I miss Bruneian food. I didn't realize just how much until I sank my teeth into that daging rendang and ayam masak kicap. There was karipap tooooooo..... my mouth is watering just thinking about what I already ate haha~~

We stayed at the Embassy till evening and then we all left for Akihabara to take purikuras (above) with Adeline and I went straight back with her to Tsukuba... where I'm still at now.

We'll be going back by bus together to Kobe where she'll be staying one night - because she'll be going to Osaka Gaidai to give a talk about Tsukuba.


I've been having so much fun playing with her Wii!!!!!!! (^^)

My day out...

My day out yesterday consisted of meeting my friend, Tei from Taiwan, and heading over to my Koto teacher's place to play Koto and do Sado (the Art of Tea). I guess I was pretty lucky because these snacks were really great (^^) The tea isn't really as bitter as most people think.


And well, afterwards we walked around looked at the shops, went to an open koto concert (it only lasted an hour) and then played Shogi with the kid, Zensuke, who's always at my koto teacher's place. Only it wasn't the real Shogi (it's like a Japanese version of chess), we only made mini-castles with the pieces. The above is my castle. And below is Zensuke with his castle. LoL.


It was a very nice day. I stayed there till pretty late - around 9pm, I think. It took an hour to get back home - had to use the train of course. Then I had planned to work on my paper some more but I was sooooo tired so I just turned off all the lights and sank into sleep.

Okay so it's still not the typical day one would spend for 'Raya but I had loads of fun.

Today I'll be staying at home. All day. I think. Hopefully productively working on my paper. Hopefully.

Selamat Hari Raya

Raya in Japan starts from today - but I'm going out as usual. Fasting by myself here with no one around me, plus it's holidays so I rarely see my friends too, was very strange. It feels strange even now that puasa has ended and 'Raya has begun.

It feels strange to be having breakfast in the morning. Though all I'm having right now is a glass of this yoghurt-drink. Then I'm going to have to leave for Osaka where I'll be spending most of today.

I'm still working on my thesis. I thought I was going smoothly and on schedule... but yesterday I realized that I wasn't. There's still so much for me to learn and read before I finish it. As it is I've only written about 5-6 pages. I need 4x that. And I've already used up about 5 different sources. Which means. One source per page? - It should be simple enough. I know I've got enough sources but because I wasn't very efficient in sorting out all that information, I left them for the dust to cover. I'm coming back home in the evening anyway so I'm planning to dust them off.

Anyway, the pic above? That's my reaaaaaaaaaaally good friend, Tomoko. She left to study in Germany, just early this month, and I miss her already.

The sky is so blue~~

The weather is so nice today~~

I feel like lazing about and doing nothing all day long....

Plus I feel like I earned it...

Since I finished all my laundry, cleaned my sheets and even aired out my futon yesterday...

Also I'm progressing relatively well with my thesis...

I hope things continue to go on well...

As it is... it looks to be a very nice windy Autumn~~

My favorite season...

because

in

Autumn,

there's

lots

of

fruits!!!!!

(^^)

Arima hot-springs

KagaYuuzen

I made this~~ hehe. Back at Ishikawa~~ It's called the Kaga-Yuuzen technique with the gradation and all~~

End of August

Man I can't believe Japan Tent 2009 is really over. I had so much fun there. Wish I could sit down and write a full report but I have to run~~

The world just doesn't stop spinning~~

PANASSSS

ia tah ni. baru saja aku abis semester - exam sudah abis, report sudah semua siap hantar and whaddya kno? masuk tah kami ke musim panassssss. seriously. hahaha. bear with me. i know it's been a while since i spoke/wrote in malay.

di jepun, semua org mesti buang sampah di tempat yang sudah disediakan di dalam kampung2 mereka pada hari yang sudah kena sediakan. (how am i doing? am i freaking anyone out yet?) dan mereka mesti buang sampah tidak lebih awal daripada pukul 5 pagi sehingga pukul 8 pagi itu. jika ada orang yang membuang sampah pada malam sebelumnya, boleh lah kita meliat babi hutan mencuba untuk makan sampah itu. hehe.

okay. that's enough trying for today. actually the point of the story was that, i had to take out the trash this morning, and it was hooooooot and way too bright outside. it was then when i realized that i am extremely comfortable in the dark. haha.

i haven't relaly been doing much lately. after i handed in my last report i just sank into this anime/manga routine and only just found myself recently... been working on my thesis. i know it's kinda weird but i feel really really guilty if i don't study at least an hour a day. i know it's weird. hahaha. well. i guess that goes to show - one can learn to like studying.

signing out for now! hee~~

ONE left!!

One more report left and I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeee~~~~~~~

...... free to work on my thesis.

Out of the frying pan into the fire really hahahha....



This last report is about International Human Rights. So I'm thinking about writing about religion in Human Rights. Or about the right to a nationality. Well. We'll see. I'll start working on that tomorrow.

Which reminds me, I'm doing my Latin homework tomorrow too.



Hmm... so it's not one left, but TWO!!! (><;)

Ah. But Latin should be fun. So it won't take that much time. Haha...


Good luck to me~~~~

F502

Sitting here right now in F502 - the computer lab for students in my Faculty only, I start thinking. About how so much time has passed.

F502 is a computer lab, yes, but it's also THE place to go to if you were in my seminar class. Everytime I enter, there's always someone here. If studying in the library gets too lonely, I come here and just join the people studying here.

The thing about my seminar class - I've started thinking of them as my family in Japan. These people have helped me out a lot over the years.

Just like this lab.

We've all come here to have discussions on projects. We all come and stay over some nights too and just sort of....fight off sleep in front of the pcs while tweaking the presentation slides and speech drafts.... hahaha.

Had a lot of good times in this lab.

LoL. It's like my second home here in Japan... haha...

Rain rain go away...

All pics are on Facebook!! When I have time I'll post them here too! But as it is for now, you'll probably find faster updates on me from Facebook.

Drat, actually. I got sucked into that whole FB thing.... *sighs*

But seriously? What's up with me?

I've had loads of things on my mind lately.


I've been shuffling over to my Prof's place, and begging seniors for advice - so unlike me. The me in Brunei? I would never really ask for advice from much anyone. But here... I guess I just need someone to show me -the path-. Coz I'm lost hahah...


But otherwise, I guess I finally have a concrete theme for my thesis. So I'll be working on that all summer.

Besides that, I have JapanTent from Aug 20th-26th.
It's the event where 300 foreign students are chosen to go to Ishikawa prefecture, do the home-stay thing for a week while "experiencing Japanese culture" as well as cultural exchange... coolness right?

I bought a camera that was only sale (Nikon Coolpix with touchscreen) for only 16000yen! SO, you can Definitely expect pictures. Haha... and if I remember enough, you can expect some interesting stories too haha...

signing out for now.

Summary of July

Had a great time in Okinawa,

Took the JLPT (1-kyuu) again on the 9th.

Exams started.

Watched HarryPotter6 on the 16th.

Had Summer Camp with my Seminar-mates on the 19th-20th.

Studied studied studied...

Ellen, Mayumi & Tomoko came over for dinner on the 30th.

Studied studied studied...

hahaha....

I'm going to turn into a vampire and suck the pages out of all the book in the library this Summer Hols. hee~~

Yay!! I'm going today

I'm going toooodaaaayyyy~~~

OkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawa
OkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawa
OkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawa
OkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawa
OkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawaOkinawa

I hope it doesn't rain... overmuch. Haha...

Okinawa~~

I'm going tomorrow~~

So happy~~

Finally~~

I hope everything'll turn out great.

It's not like I've been particularly busy. Just the usual round of studying.

Only I've been staying away from the library. July's like, exam season so there'll be loads and loads of people there, but I've been studying in the cafeteria. Odd place to be? Yeah, but I need the noisy din to cover up for my incessant murmuring. I'm studying for my Japanese exam again after all.

I haven't touched my thesis at all this month. But I suppose I'd made up for it much earlier with my studying for it in May. After all this Japanese stuff is over I have to study for my exams *flinching* which will begin around mid-July.

But the good news is that my seminar-class is letting me help plan for the games for the next summer camp we'll be having on July 19th-20th. (Yes! Besides going to the beach in Okinawa, I'm going to the beach again in my prefecture~~ yay!) I presented my ideas last week and the professor seemed to like it very much. Like that deviated version of musical chairs we did in the Philippines and then there's Twister and bowling with empty or water/sand bottles (using a beach ball of course, not a bowling ball haha... they all looked at me weird when I said "Let's do PET-bottle bowling!" The Prof. actually thought that I had a bowling ball to spare! HAHAHA~~) And well, all this planning is giving me great relief from studying.

Since I'm going to Okinawa tomorrow (coming back on Tuesday) I thought to clean up my room (finally!!) and well, I've been discovering old pictures and am throwing away so much... paper now I almost feel guilty. Isn't there a paper-recycling plant somewhere??

Whatever. In anycase... I borrowed Aurelie's camera so you may expect some pictures~~

NON FUI. FUI. NON SUM. NON CURO.

I was not. I was. I am not. i do not care.


So I've been busy lately~~ learning Latin. Not.

Haha.

Latin is fun-ish. It's not so bad considering it's a dead language so I don't need to actually practise >using< it.



More than that, I have been practicing, studying, revising my Japanese since I'll be taking the July 5th JLPT again. (Since I failed last time. ... by 10%!!! gaaaarrrrgughhh) LoL.

Besides that I've just been hanging out with my friends, karaoke, dinner at the uni cafeteria. I also went to my Mongolian friend's house to play Wii and DS etc last Sunday.. it was such a nice Lazy Day. Haha.

Anyway. This week, (on Saturday) I'm going to Kyoto to attend this Joint Seminar, as a guest this time, not as one of the teams presenting and on Sunday I have koto lessons, and my previously mentioned Mongolian friend will be staying over Sunday night so we can play Katamari Damashii on PS2!! Yayyyy~~~


But no, seriously. I am studying. Not just playing. haha.

testing

The Below ChatRoom is something I set up for my classmates.
Please just ignore it for now.

This is not an actual BlogPost.

My birthday was fantastic!!

I recovered from my depression. (I suppose all I needed really was a breath of fresh air). We went to Harborland, had dinner at a seafood buffet, and walked around enjoying the almost-sea air.

Aurelie bought us (me and Nami - it was both our birthdays) a cake and we sang in a whisper because the waitress told us that we could bring in the cake if we did it discretely. LoL - it was hilarious!

Anyway, I have a class soon so I gotta leave, but I'm recovered 100%. I think. LoL.

The big 2 and 2.

My birthday is tomorrow and I am depressed.

Darn the PMS and mood-swings. I really have to say that it doesn't usually hit me this hard but now, here I am, hyper and tired at the same time. I'm on the edge and I feel like I could just bite off the head of anyone who even thinks of looking at me the wrong way. Yep. I feel extremely hostile for no reason at all. The worst thing? is that I'm rational enough to know and understand that I'm feeling extremely hostile for no reason at all.

I'm just tried and frazzled I'm sure. I'm not even particularly busy right now. I just want this hormone thing to be over with before I seriously damage some relationships with my friends.

You'd think that if I were rational enough to know that I'm a little unbalanced right now, that I wouldn't do anything I wouldn't do on a normal rationally balanced day right?


Aaah... the mysteries of life.

'The' Flu

Okay, so I suppose I've left some people out of the loop - but the latest sitch in Japan?


Big to-do because some cases popped up near where I live. It started with one on saturday and now there are 130 people infected at least. Well. They are mostly high school students apparently.

So, classes (even my Uni) are cancelled for this week.

Now I'm just enjoying my free time. I guess. hah.

What do I have in my school bag(s) at this very moment?

Okay, so the first few things I fished out were

1. my electronic dictionary... wish I could start living without this. It's heavier than it looks!

2. my organizer... not something I can leave the house without.

3. my pencil case... again, not something I can leave the house without.

4. two textbooks I'd just borrowed from the library:
Chomsky's New Military Humanism... and my world keeps on spinning. I hope to catch a break soon...

5. Chesterman's Just War or Just Peace? ... how 'bout no? LoL, but yeah. I need this book. And I can't believe the ONE book I really need, by Seybolt (2008), and they DON'T have it available for loan!! I just had to place an order for it through amazon.

6. my phone... like I'd ever be separated from it.

7. mp3 player... same as above.

8. eye drops... I've been wearing my contacts a lot nowadays. Good thing? Yeah, I suppose it is a good thing. Though, I do have trouble catching the bad chicken scrawls on the black board. No offense!! Honestly, the more intelligent people become less the time they spend on handwriting.

9. my card case... What's it doing there?

10. pack of tissues... ah.. ... I should pack another one...

And my other school bag? (YES, I use TWO. This one always weights at least 5 kilos. With reason.)

11. an inch thick worth of papers and files... ahh, couldn't have a fulfilling study-day without this.

12. another textbook, International Law (Jap.)... had that lecture today. It was so nice and warm that I was counting sheep exactly 2-3rds down the lesson.

13. and another textbook, Latin ... lol. As boring and complicated it is, it's actually kinda fun.

14. my latin dictionary... It's fun to see the origins of some words... like insane, virus etc etc.

15. a novel, one of Julia Quinn's translated in Japanese... this has a permanent corner in my bag. I'm always carrying it around. Amazing how much you can read on 15min train rides. Bought the book 2 weeks ago, so multiply that with at least 15 train rides. Almost 4 hours worth of reading!

16. my baby Vaio... going everywhere with it hehe

17. the mouse... wireless mice rock! haha



18. an unfinished pack of lemon candy... a kinda pick-me-up I used to chew on to wake up during the law class.

19. half-finished bottle of water... I drink at least 2 bottles a day now. Not counting how much I drink for break fast and after coming back home.

20. mirror... haha. I never used to carry one around so much until recently.

21. oh, and Japanese kanji practice book. ... taking the JLPT again



So what does that say about what's happened to me today?

Let's see... (^__^) I'll leave that to your powers of deduction.

I was hit by this thing my koto teacher mentioned when I tried to show her some videos of Brunei - modern people live in their bags.
You're connected to anyone through your phone. You have gps to find your way around too so you can go to more places. You've got money, paper AND plastic, and electronic too I suppose - if you have one of those mobilephone-wallet marks and can use it. You can watch TV on your phone too. A book or a pc and you're well entertained.
Where ever you go, you're always surrounded by your own virtual house.

Busy as a Bee

A lot of stuff has happened. I've been rather busy. But I just had to write this down.

This Swine Flu thing that hit? Apparently like all other pandemic-level flus, it's not expected to go away from the global scene in another 6-9 months. Just around the time I need to finish my thesis.

Hear me grumbling?

I don't want to get sick. I don't want to get sick. I don't want to get sick.......... nyaaaah

Gray clouds in the sky...

Don't go~~ You know you'll break my heart~~~
(Celine Dion)

Ah. The song brings back memories of.... ....childhood?

Haha. I just got told off for acting like a child today by Aurelie. We only had 2 classes today but we were -tired-. I even nodded off! (>.<) Not a good sign. Not at all. To think this routine will be repeated at least 12 more times this semester. I'm just going to die. I'm sure I will.

In anycase. I've been busy and out of my mind preparing for my presentation this week. It's on my graduation thesis so I neeeeed to work. I'm just really not concentrating very well right now.

*SIGH*

I'm tiiiiiiiirreeeeeeddddddd~~~

*wails loudly*

I don't think I've been this tired after classes after a while. I haven't even completed the first round yet! We only started classes last Thursday and it's Monday (well, Tuesday, technically) - I haven't even gone round full circle and I'm already tired. GAAAAAAH!

Then my presentation that was supposed to be for the 1st of May got pushed up a week to the 24th of April. What was I thinking when I agreed to switch?? (oh well, I could use the pressure. I suppose it was divine intervention... the more time I think I have, the less I'd be working on it anyway. Nyeh.)

ANYway. Here are pictures!!

From Kariya!! (I went there last week~~ to stay over at a friend's house with another foreign student - Ellen. The Japanese friend is Mayumi or Nee-san as we call her!)




She had Wii!!!


From Meiji-mura

26.5!!

I've read a total of 26.5 books during Spring Hols!!

Hurray for moi!!!


I've also finished my first book for the new semester too!

(Okay, so it's not really a very great accomplishment since I read 4.5 books by Stephanie Meyes - the .5 is for the unfinished book; and I read Catcher in the Rye; and then I read 21 historical romance books. Yes. So it really wasn't an astounding achievement. I'm surprised I can still stomach reading the books - the plotlines are so... well. I suppose the reason why I can still read them is because 1/ I totally accept that the writers weren't exactly planning to write pure literature and 2/ I'm a fast reader and skip over unimportant details. Haha...)

I finished my 20th book today: The Catcher in the Rye.


HAH! Now at least I can say I'd accomplished something during the holidays (for once in my life...).

(^^)

It's Official!!

I LOVE MUSE!!

I LOVE the TWILIGHT SOUNDTRACK to bits and microscopic pieces!!

That said, what have I been up to? Listening to heaps and heaps of Classical music - mostly Bach and Beethoven. Squeezing in Vanessa Mae and Joe Satriani too.

I've finished reading 17 books as of today, including Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. (and the unfinished 5th book too that was posted on her official site). And after watching the Twilight film, I found myself unbelievably obsessed with the soundtrack. It all started with Muse's Supermassive Black Hole and I went downhill to oblivion from there. I just loved the baseball scene where the song just amazingly fit!

an attempt to measure myself up... one day in the life of a -gasp- I'm 21 already????

I found myself complaining to a friend last night about how I wished I had more free time - where he rightly retorted that I would have more free time if I stopped reading so much!

I've already read a dozen books since the holiday started --hooey. I could've spent those hours being even more productive... but I'd do it all over again if I had the chance. I don't think I have kept up with so much of my reading since I left Brunei. So I'm kinda happy that I'm back into that habit. (Instead of engrossing myself into the internet or other various TV dramas).

Which kinda reminds me - I'm still reading The Catcher in the Rye (I'm sure taking my time reading it). I only ever read it when I'm on the train - which would easily explain why all the corners are bent and worn out from being in my bag, as if I'd already read it a gazillion times. And I only realized, after checking some of it's reviews online, that it's a story about a guy who gets a nervous breakdown. Surprise, surprise. I've still got another 20 or so pages left, but even so, it's not like I hadn't seen it coming.

I was watching Criminal Minds at one point and in one of the episode, they mentioned that some serial killer once mentioned that they identified with the main character of Catcher in the Rye. I googled it up some and lo' and behold! There are/were some controversies concerning the book. Apparently the guy who killed John Lennon even asked John Lennon to autograph the book for him the morning of the day he was shot by said murderer. But that's as far as my research got. I dropped it quickly enough I suppose - decided that I don't really need to know.

While I'm finishing up with The Catcher in the Rye I'm trying to decide which book to suffer this endless travelling inside my bag next - there was Shalimar the Clown which I never got around to finishing last year. I really should continue with it... But then there's also the Interpretation of Murder which I bought on whim but then I never really managed to get past the first 5 pages. There's also this book called the Spiral on my shelf, which I also bought on whim, plus it was on sale, and it's of some relation to the Ring (you know, that horror film?) - a sequel or summat. hum hum humm... I guess I'll probably just pick one up without looking after I finish my current book. I'm going to finish them all soon enough I suppose.

Then again I just discovered another treasure load of audio books online!! I just got Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga (all four books, unabridged). That didn't stop me from downloading some classical music too.

I would say that "I just don't know what's wrong with me these days" but then I know exactly what is. I've got this really low self esteem now when talking to my classmates - they're all accomplished one way or another and they've all really good grips on our majors. I'm probably one of the few left that still have no idea what people are discussing whilst attending the weekly seminars. I was wildly chasing them last semester but I still really can't put my heart into it. I am interested, but just not as driven as they can be. It would seem.

I had an epiphany. (haha...) If I can presume to call it one. I think I've finally realized that I don't really have to break myself chasing after them, I can always play to my strengths. Which probably has been and will always be, literature. That's not going to help me at all with my current major but I know now I don't have to judge my breadth of knowledge against them and come up devastatingly short and wanting - now I think I can comfortably judge myself relatively against them and be just as knowledgable, only on a wider scale and not just specifically. (Though I don't know how that'll ever help my future, I just know how that'll help me as myself.)

Hence the sudden driven need to read books, even audio ones, and learn (or in my case, re-learn) other languages... I can totally picture myself one day becoming a school counsellor one day haha... (don't ask me for the connection, I don't think I could explain well enough right now).... ... and now to scrounge up some lunch....

pollen-pollen-pollen... lol

I have been negligent... I haven't blogged anything for March yet!

Well, suffice to say, I've been catching up on my reading. (novels, that is - strictly fiction)

After my trip to Awaji with my classmate I went twice to the cinema (to watch Benjamin Button and Changeling), and, well, besides reading, I've been working on my scrapbook! (^^)

It's a Work in progress haha~~


Pictures from OUFS - Graduation in March 2006


Ta-da~~ I made it so I can flip them open like an onion haha. So I can either add more pictures or write a message (^^)


I dug some of these old pictures out when I was putting order in my closet haha


Mixing up the old experiences with the new ~~ haha I'm not using a particularly chronological order but by one theme or another... well, I'm not particularly arranging them in any semblance of order LoL (I should think my scrapbook should reflect -me- hahaha)


Of course I intend to include the concerts I went to... though come to think of it they were mostly either traditional Japanese or one of those choir-concerts... ...


And I bought a polaroid camera (finally!!!) just for this!!


LoL - I love making it so the pictures flip open to a message of sorts haha...

Okay - so now you see how I've been occupying myself. I hope to be able to show it around one day!!

Sakai- class trip

Phew. I've just arrived home from a trip with my classmates.

There are yearly winter and summer trips for this particular class that I'm taking, and as usual I participated. The Winter trip is usually for the 3rd year students - who have to prepare a kind of framework for the dissertation that they (I) have to write.

I barely slept on Monday and Tuesday and only barely finished an outline at about 2 in the morning the day we all had to go. I'm still fuzzy on my topic but it will be something to do with relief operations. (Like humanitarian aid/intervention, the ICRC, Medecins Sans Frontieres etc)

Our trip this time was to Awaji (the island- which is by the way, a first for me). Of course, as per 'tradition' it is an onsen trip so we had access to hot springs but a relatively nice view of the beach. The bus we took from Sannomiya barely took an hour and a half. We left at almost 11am and so arrived a little after 12 noon. I'm not sure if it's the weather, the bus or the roads there but I was car/bus-sick for almost the whole way that I could barely walk straight after getting off the bus.

After arriving, we had an hour break for lunch before proceeding to the meeting room (which was actually a very fancy-like mini-hall that completely overwhelmed me). There was a podium and a microphone and everything! It was just a little too much for the 12 of us (oh, that was 5 3rd year students including me, 6 2nd year students and the professor) - so we rearranged the tables to a big rectangle and made ourselves comfortable. 4 hours straight (well, there was a 10-minute break in between) for the presentations - approximately 30-45mins per student. I was so embarrassed in the beginning because I only had one sheet of A4 to give out as a handout whilst the others mostly had an A3 sheet... twice of what I had managed to prepare. BUT! It turned out much better than expected. As usual my extremely kind professor summarised everything I wanted to say and gave me due corrections and even sorted out what I should be doing next. (T.T) I'm always forever grateful to him. The others gave excellent plans for their own topics as well.

When the presentations ended we had some time to spare before dinner so we all decided to go and take a dip in the hot springs. I'm getting fairly used to the hot springs now, though I still cringe at the fact of the need to strip whilst amongst complete strangers. Anyway. I went out with my host family (the one I hadn't met in 3 years) just last week, and they took me (and Bolor) to a public bath house that had a rotenburo (outdoor spa). -The hotel in Awaji also had the rotenburo (woot!)! It's probably about on the list of my favorite activities whilst here in Japan. The rotenburo (outdoors, as I mentioned before) can be quite challenging to reach (seeing as we have to step out to the cold outdoors, it still being winter here). But there is definitely some pleasure in being outdoors in the cold while sitting inside a huge bathtub (sort of) - full of hot, steaming water, looking over towards the sea and hoping for the clouds to disappear so we could catch a glimpse of the stars... which we couldn't. But that still doesn't ruin the appeal of the rotenburo to me.

Anyway. Dinner was very traditionally Japanese. I even managed to finish half my plate of sashimi before giving the rest to someone else. I'm good with sashimi - but to 100% okay with it just yet. Nami and Yukichi (the other 3rd yr girls) and I went back to take on the rotenburo again for an actual bath after dinner - afterwhich we rejoined the whole group to what is probably the main event of the trip - the night entertainment. Last year we the 2nd yr students cooked up a quiz - something the 2nd yr students this year decided to hold as well. Only after the quizzes- there was another session Bakuro-taikai. Basically everyone had a list of questions prepared before-hand that had to be answered. Most of the questions had to do with romance, relationships etc. ...Last year we all stayed up till 5 in the morning talking, but this year everyone was so tired that we all ended up sleeping at around 2am instead. Which was great because some of the other girls and I had decided to go and use the rotenburo again to watch at least the sunrise. Well. We were half an hour too late but it still felt good.

The next day (today), we had planned to go to a museum but then cancelled it in favour of going strawberry-picking! We went to a place called England Hill, a farm-park where we made a bee-line towards the strawberry-picking area. It was a whole load of fun going around. We also went to play with the sheep (lol) and then went off to look at the koalas and parrots etc etc. We were hanging around a flower garden when suddenly everyone just sat down and did not move for some time. It was obvious that everyone was getting tired. So we all decided to get a move on and just go back to Sannomiya.

We arrived at 4.30pm and, well, seeing as everyone slept on the bus back - most of them wanted to go back. Whereas Shino, Asami and I went around and did a little shopping. I think we spent nearly an hour looking inside this shop called Lush with all their bath-related goods. We even hovered over this place that gave free facial-pack samples and tried quite a few ourselves. I think I may have bought my first ever facial-pack. I think I may be trying it for the first time... very very soon. LoL. It was 6pm by the time we felt like going home... to which point I dragged them to a tea and jam store hahaha... I even bought some myself. I loooove mix-berry jams. Then, we finally got really tired and so decided to just head back home.

Which leaves me to where I am now. Haha...

Well. I thought that I'd just write about what I've been doing. It does seem as though I haven't done anything like this recently.

Anyway. Here's to a peaceful slumber-filled night.

I hope that annoying dog that my neighbour has doesn't start barking it's mad little head off tomorrow morning because I really need sleep. I don't think I've ever felt as murderous towards anything as that stupid dog. And maybe its owner.

Mamma Mia!

Well. Since the movie was finally out - Bolor and I went to watch it!

I admit I was extremely apprehensive and skeptical at first but it turned out to be embarrassingly good!

Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with my host family - I haven't seen them in 3 years!

booksbooksbooks...

I went up to borrow books from the library today and what ho! It was snowing!!

Well, it wasn't snowing so much or else I would've doubled back to my apartment, but it was enough to bother my glasses.

I'm working on trying to figure out how to write a thesis. Actually, more like, how to compile what to write in a thesis. Whatever. That was why I went up to borrow (probably almost 5kgs worth of) books from the Social Sciences Library. (=__=) I didn't walk up of course - went up with a bus, but I walked back to the apartment. I forgot how heavy books can be. And how far the apartment is from the S.S.Library.

I should really start looking for online journals instead.

Long awaited pictures!!

First off!! My baby V aio! (which is barely bigger than both my hands put togethere!) lol





And now the purikuras I took today with Tomoko!!

We hadn't seen each other in so long so we decided to go and have lunch at Hep5 and take purikuras afterward!! hehe.. Purikura.... it's been soooo long...









And these last two are my favorite!!

Bastard Keynesianism. (I'm not kidding - that's the name of my reference book hehe)

I'm dyyyyyinnngggggg.

I was so sure that I never signed up for economics classes....

Then why am I reading up on Keynes and Bretton Woods????

Another page and a half left and I'm free.

One page and one half.

WHY does that seem soooo very far way...

Seriously, I'm half in tears right now hahaha (though mostly from laughter at how pathetic my situation is)...

I'm goin' crazeeeeeeyyyy.....


Okay. That was sufficient complaining for the day. I hope. I'm going to go watch another episode of Kuroshitsuji and laugh my head off for about half an hour and then go back to this last page and a half that I need to write.

Yes. Then I'm going to sleep. I need sleeeeep...

post-last exam

My mistake, it was a Urban Culture - not Civil Culture. Anyway. It's over. It just finished.

I have no idea if I answered the question correctly. All I did was splash all around about view of how identity is made and who/what controls man's destiny/actions. Hahaha... ugh. ....


(=__________=)



Seriously.

I'm off to write my report now. This next one is.... 日本思想交流論... Exchange of Japanese Thoughts/Idea. ...?



Which means... I'm going to have to go and borrow a book on Japanese history... post-WW2, which means, economics!!!! Eeeeeep.

Sometimes I wish I took some beginners classes in Econs.

Wait.

I think I may have.

Uuuuuhhhhhh.... but it was in Japanese!!! But. I guess I'll go hunting for An Idiot's Guide to Economics or something like that. LoL. I hope they have it though. I didn't realize how necessary some /some/ knowledge of economics is, studying what I am studying. Doing what I'm doing.

市民文化論

That Civil Culture exam I've been reading all these books from is in 4 hourssssss......

(=____________=)

I'ma sooo dead. LoL. I have no head for philosophy. Just what exactly am I supposed to write about???

So! I finally got my new laptop! The VAIO VGN-P70H hehe - the red model. The model only just came out in Japan early this month, I think. 8 inches, 640 grams, 4.5 hr battery - it was perfect as a laptop.

Right after the seminar on Tuesday, I practically flew to Yodobashi in Umeda to get it and came back home at a decent time even. The sole purpose of me getting this new laptop was to be able to type in Japanese - plus I thought having a Vista would be useful especially from the next semester since a lot of pcs at Uni have upgraded. The new Word docx format doesn't work on the old, and it's troublesome to convert it and oh-so-easy to forget to do so.

Then again I haven't bought the program for Word yet - I should probably go this weekend. Reports are coming up! They're not as scary as they used to be, but they are reports and they need to be done.

Another thing is that I've just submitted a sort of pre-proposal for my dissertation today. It's not the official proposal/title but it was necessary in a survey so they can assign me a professor to work with from the next semester. I doubt that it would be any other professor than whose seminar I'm taking now, but I still hope that they will let me go under his wing haha.... He's really popular with the students so he's bound to have his hands full.

Anyway I'm off to sleep now since I have a study session with the girls at Uni from 10am tomorrow... I'll need to study for my exam on Monday! (The one I'm reading all these books on philosophy for....). And then I'll be going to a koto concert tonight. 3 hours of traditional Japanese music... woohoo??! I'm the kind of person that falls asleep in these kind of concerts. I'm in sooo much trouble... (>.<) Why did I plan this trip to the concert hall you say? ...Why indeed. Hmm.

Quick Update

I've been missing mostly because after the initial calm of classes, there's now a flurry of activity and this whole heeeeaaaap of tension going on in the Uni because exams are starting soon. Or at least for some, like me, have already started. But. I only have one exam left for 2nd of Feb and 2 deadlines on the 6th and 1 more deadline in mid-Feb. I already finished one report so I'm all set really.

BUT!!!!!

I had ordered a pile of books from Amazon again, some were pretty cheap and one was pret-ty expensive. There's a list of about 16 books we could choose to study for the exam (The class is Urban Cultural Studies.) and I had chosen 4 to read out of that list. I hadn't paid attention to the titles of the books when I ordered it but since I just finished one of my reports, went off to watch a movie at a cinema, had a little fun and recharged... I decided to start hitting those books.

I opened the box they were delivered in. I realize now that I have
Nietzche's Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is, and
Plato's The Apology of Socrates,
Marx & Engel's The German Ideology and (the really big thick hardcover) was
Deleuze & Guattari's Anti-Oedipus.

I'm up to my neck in philosophyyyyyyyyy. Or is it philosophy??!

HELP.....

I picked up Nietzsche first and swear I almost fainted when I saw the Japanese. Good thing there's a partial English version online. I can pick up the quotes for the exam by cross-checking with the English version....... hopefully.

January blues...

As typical for this time of the year,


I've caught a cold. Yet again.


And yet again, it's hampering my vocal abilities.


It would seem that no matter how healthy I may be before this season I always catch a throat virus or whatever it is that feels like it's making all the insides of my neck swollen.

Yay me.

New Year 'magic'

I've done quite a bit of watching Criminal Minds. I've actually also studied a bit. I've played a LOT.

New Year's Eve, I went out to shop for stuff. There's a looot of sales around this time of year and I wanted to go and have some fun. I didn't end up buying overly much. Which is a good thing.

Then I went back home. On the way, a black cat crossed my path. Haha. I'm not superstitious but it reminded me of my English class (yes, I'm taking English classes - the teacher teaches about Chinese culture so I thought, what the heck--) and it so happened we talked about regional symbolism of good luck and bad luck. The black cat was one of them. I'm not sure what to make of it. Just the first time a cat has run right across the road in front of me in the dark. Okay. So maybe I'm not so sure it was even black.

I'm digressing. I also wanted to say that I caught a small cold. On New Year's Eve. I took some medicine and I was alright the next day. But what does that forebode for me? LoL

I don't judge what my entire year will be like from one day. I think a lot of people think they do. But fact is, when bad things happen - they never say stuff like, "I knew this was going to be a bad year!!!", so I'm not sure anybody really does believe in this 'magic' the New Year has on all of us.

I don't remember exactly what I've done for New Year in the past years but it's always been a quiet time for me. I guess I just think of New Year's as a normal holiday. (Well, it does fall smack in the middle of my semester...) After the hols finish, exams are only 3 weeks away. ...Not exactly the time to party around.

Anyway. Guess what I'm trying to say is.

Bad Luck. Shcmad Luck. I'm going to kick this year in the a$$ too. Hehe.