fin

well i think it's safe to say that the blog is over. i'm back in WISCONSIN even now and altho my life is as fascinating as always (if it ever was ;p) the framing has changed. there is always the possibility of another blog i suppose, but for the moment i'm just gonna close this happy little window onto my life. If you're still interested you'll just have to knock on the front door ^_~

*checks which side of the ocean she's on*

yeah...i'm back lol

so my last night i ended up on the seine with the picnic-ers and also a swing dance club. in fact there were some really good dancers down there. one of them looked like jim carrey's little brother. i swear!!

but no so the sun was setting and THERE was Notre Dame and THERE was the fontaine st michel and the river and THERE was i in the midst of the dinner spreads and tourists and couples and dansers....dancing couples even.

it was all just very parisian i guess ;p

and i can't type on american keyboards very well...

lol

so wow tho thursday was just killer...it kills me i mean...so this is a negative

the morning i got up to finish the last bit of cleaning (after spending the rest of the day before's evening with the micefa crew) and then i ran to the bakery for dann and i. our rooms were checked and i love how we had to sweep up the duplex again. dann helped tho! thanks dann!

see cuz the duplex wasn't mine. dann's room (mine) was fine lol

ah yeah...

but no those rooms really do collect dust like NOBODY's business

they charged me five euros for the mail key

that emily lost

emily my supposed roommate

she'll be hearing from me lol

ALSO i KNEW it would happen but they owed me money in the end and i TOLD them i wanted to add ALL of my deposit TO the rent because i would be specifically UNable to pick it up at the CROUS (cuz "they don't mail things" as i was later told) but nooooo so there are nineteen euros sitting in paris with my name on them...and i want them!!! but i'm not so sure how to get them...must talk to micefa or something...i doubt anything can be done tho

so then what...this whole fiasco with the rent made me a bit late so i scrambled to make my van time...and then the van was late. then they dropped me off at F instead of C but to be fair none of us knew where i was supposed to go so their guess was as good as mine...

but i had to walk to c with that HUGE duffel bag...and stuff...luckily wheely carts are free and efficient in paris (unlike newark as i later found...paying THREE DOLLARS for the priviledge of a cart that stops on a dime if you don't put your whole weight on the handle bar...sheeeeeesh)

so then boarding was just ridiculous. we had to get on this silly bus sort of thing...which took forever cuz they had to make trips and ferry us out to the plane. then so we were already quite late but since we had missed our time we had to wait for a new time...another HOUR away from the already late time we were at. so we sat on the plane...

and then of course...sat on the plane lol

food was good tho i can say that...never disappointed by airfrance's food

and the entertainment was very cool. altho i was disappointed that the station claiming to be playing japanese music was in fact doing nothing of the sort.

we each got our own screen. which is really hardcore cuz we all got choices of movies to watch. i for my part didn't watch anything in it's entirety...is that spelled right? but i would like to see the other half of constantine i think...

i was just not really in the mood for a plane ride.

i guess lol

and oh there was an all girl german soccer club on the plane.

german is nice.

i sat next to a french swiss boy

who tried to order beer and was shot down lol

but yes lots of waiting in lines

too much

but it was nice to come through customs on the other end

for the record my first thoughts in the airport were, "hey america smells kinda funny"

and then, "wow look american commericals, american billboards"

"everything is in english"

and i have to get used to the fact that english conversation does not automatically mean "stupid american tourist"

my dad's apt is really hardcore. all the more so for being in the bronx's little italy.

gonna be a hardcore week.

he has poison dart frogs and that is sweet cuz i remember looking at pictures in books of them when i was little and him explaining about them and now i can watch them eat flys :D but not really cuz their tongues are too fast.

i'm still awake are you proud?

it's almost midnight

pretty tired tho

been a day and a half hahaha

no literally...lol

we had dinner at an italian restaurant called emilia's. i had chicken stuffed with shrimp, spinach, and sundried tomatos...that is some crubazuby ne? what is better is that the left overs are IN THE FRIDGE WHERE THEY BELONG!!! YES!!! THANK YOU TAKE OUT CULTURE!!! THANK YOU FOR THE MAGICAL BOX-UP!!!

"because i take my culture to go..."

lol

uhm...

i decided i am really looking forward to the fact that i will be able to bike to my g-ma's house in o-town and swim pretty much any day of the week. until i go to mke that is...i will have to work something out.

i will be back to wi on the 9th soooo bizarre....

oh oh oh and the issue with this blog is this. i could keep writing it but that may demand some sort of metaphysical puddle or metaphorical maybe...a metaphysical metaphor of a puddle to be beyond...a metaphorical puddle to be metaphysically beyond...maybe it's that...we need something like that. i mean...cuz THE puddle sadly...is back where it started...to the east!!

eek!!!

anyhow reader comments appreciated...i could just keep writing forever you know..

that was a threat ne? ;p

silly american keyboard

look at meeeeee

"here we are at the barrrbe qqqqqq this is what happens when you have a feeewww look at you look at youuuu (look at you)"

lol

that is a good song...

uhm...

so i went to the eiffel tower and forgot my camera which is entirely in character but still somewhat inefficient lol

but it was nice...kinda lonely...but only cuz i didn't have a cd player. lol i definitely wanted to go buy myself but i kinda forgot you have to wait in line for hours...lol

well this is pretty much my last entry on this side of the ocean...

well...not pretty much...it kinda IS actually...soo

i feel like i should have something to TIE IN or make profound sense but i dunno

did i forget to tell you my grades? i think i did...

i got an A+ in history and an A- in francophone film and lit...

yay

uhm

so that was nice

i wish i had someone to eat dinner with! lol

i'm not sure what to eat...i might go to a grec place cuz it's just so emblamatic of my neighborhood lol

does that seem stupid? i dunno i guess i'll go see what the plats du jour are at the tabacs around here...

lol

x_x

how silly...my last night...

i was gonna go out to my bar but i don't really think i want to...lol it's more than an hour metro ride to go drink a cup of coffee by myself...lol

it's cool

hmmm

well i hope i get a good in-flight movie. that never seems to happen. i always just skip them lol. hope i don't get jet-lagged. i've never had it...don't need to start now.

hope my bags aren't overweight...

!!!

bye ;_;

bad luck

yeah so i lost my metro pass this morning. how stupid. i have so much running around to do. this is not cool.

i guess i must've dropped it while i was carrying that box of stuff to micefa.

;_;

so now i'm reduced to toursity looking purple tickets...

i dunno what i'm doing this afternoon either

i don't even feel very motivated

i think i will probably hit the mcjp, grab coffee at my bar, go to the eiffel tower, and...i dunno i wanted to hit up this bakery i like for some cookies to bring home but i dunno if they'll make it in the heat...

esp cuz i'd have to go NOW

and have them in my bag through all the rest of the stuff

i guess i scrap that...i could just get not as good ones from the bakery around here i guess...

hummm

yeah i need a snack so blah

grr

this day isn't going very well. haven't gotten the e-mails i was supposed to get...

well anyhow i should get out of here since it is my last day...i should be doing something...

dunno what tho o_o

oh laaaa

eek! we are all packing and the like.

prettttty weird.

finally had speed rabbit. didn't get anything exotic though which is fine. it WAS good tho that is for sure. chorizo rocks!

today i saw douches froides (cold showers) for TWO euros of course. it was better than i thought it would be! i really liked it. in fact i'd rather see that again than madagascar (this came up cuz that is what everyone else saw...i already had seen it ne)

but then we walked and walked for pizza

i shopped today

and not much else lol

creepy that tomorrow is my last day.

gotta go home and clean i guess.

...

: /

the day before the day before

i'm leaving in two days o_o this is alarming

in other news i saw two movies yesterday. In Good Company, just because I couldn't resist, for TWO euros i think i'm allowed...and then Mon petit doigt m'a dit...which is a French adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel...it was ok but I'm not sure I understood everything.

Today I think I'm just gonna try for one because I really have a lot of crud (that i don't want to do, i might add) to get done around my house...like...give kim everything. i really hope she will just take it. lol

in fact if she would take EVERYTHING that would make my life easier tomorrow!

i would also just like my dad to kno that we are going to do laundry when i get to nyc lol

anyhow i guess i have not that much to really say...maybe i'll come back later...i kinda want to eat this sandwich now...

a quick note

so there were two film festivals and i mixed and matched TO MY ADVANTAGE

it's not four euros but only two per movie

sooooo

that means i can see four instead of two!! :D

lol

i'm such a geek

i WILL eat speed rabbit pizza before i leave!! i really will! wednesday! i KNOW THIS deep in my soul! just not tonite cuz the nearest one is too far.

...

oh i do so love

ok so last night AFTER i got stood up and had really good penne with seafood and listened to some jazz and called Steve and watched Charade with some friends i had this crummy idea to stay up and see the sunrise and go on a walk.

i mean

it was with all good intentions that i deprived myself of sleep and took the metro out to les halles and walked all the way to the freakin' gare de lyon because i couldn't find anywhere to eat.

i had: bread with butter and apricot jam, a croissant, a mocha that didn't taste like mocha, and orange juice. this is a very french breakfast.

it is also good.

it is also a lot of bread.

after this i was just ridiculously tired.

but no i did not go home i went to the bois de boulogne because i thought maybe i would wake up and feel like wandering around.

needless to say i gave up.

i got home at 9:30 this morning and collapsed until 3:30 lol

hmm tho charade was cool. that is such a great movie. it was funny to watch it being in paris tho. they go from st jacques to palais royal in one stop and it's not even on the same line ;D

tonite i'm going to go see a movie.

i'm worried about getting my apt cleaned up. just cuz i dunno what to do with extra food and stuff.

uhm

whoo i'm so hungry lol i still haven't eaten!

so this is a quick entry lol

that is all!!! o_o

encore les soldes

so the huge big sales started up again yesterday. second semester is interesting cuz you arrive during the first big sale and leave during the second. anyhow...this time i decided i would take advantage. a little shopping, maybe some more today.

DUDE tho there was supposed to be music at my bar last night so i got all psyched and ready to go and then there wasn't any despite it being advertised all over the walls...so i had a milkshake and walked (oddly enough) to port royal (so weird how paris is ONE place that is connECTed lol) it was roller blade night. i didn't realized they stopped traffic for that o_o pretty groovy tho. torrent of knee-padded skaters.

uhm oh before that i saw a too-wholesome anime about a cello player...

i dunno

just killin' time i guess

so tonite there is supposedly really going to be music so i will trek out there again.

well let's see and tomorrow there is no lunch club because i am the only one of us still in paris.

i mean i could have it by myself...but you don't really call that a club x_x

yeah renée left yesterday for london. there are still some people left...but not really ones i see ever. i keep trying to get in touch with emily and dann cuz we have ot figure out business with packing cleaning rent...they don't seem very concerned. whatever...

i wonder if the luggage stores around here are having sales too...

i kno all the leather jacket stores are lol

i need a banana or something ;p

uhmmmmmmmmmm

yeah i guess that's it for the moment...

ugh

I'm sick. And it's hot. And I don't feel good.

x_x

Not cool!!! I decided not to swim cuz I was cold for a bit this morning. It's really hot out. I'm hot now tho. Yuck yuck.

Not cool at all. Plus I don't feel like I slept at all. I know I did for a while, but maybe only like half the time I was actually in bed. Or two thirds. I was awake a lot is the point.

Anyhow this does not help me feel motivated to shop or move or think. My days require planning and I really would just rather not lol.

OH well.

Today there is a breeze but the weather is still slimy. We had a crazy storm last night with hail and stuff. Well...more like yesterday afternoon. I was hoping it would have more of an effect. Anyhow I sat out on my suicide ledge (of a window ne) and got rained on for a bit. That probably wasn't smart but I thought I just had allergies I didn't know I was sick. That's the problem I feel like it's all my fault. Like that cold bath I took for like an hour cuz it was so hot out...that probably could've ended before I got shivery lol. I'm stupid.

Anyhow I had to get out of my house yesterday. Things were just dumb. It started when the laundry facilities were busted so I had to go to a laundromat down the street. That screwed things up. The plans just sort of died from then on. In the end I went to go see Madagascar with Renée which I wasn't going to do here but oh well. It was pretty good and in any case was more cheerful than staying home. The cinéma festival is coming up so I feel like I should wait to see anymore movies until then so I can get a deal for it. You pay one normal ticket and then get as many as you want for four euros. This is not as fantastic as it could be but it is still a good deal. Even if you are a morning movie person like I try to be you still save almost a euro per ticket. I'm trying to think what I would even want to see tho. I should get a magazine to figure out what is playing. Dear Wendy is out...that looks cool.

OHHH I saw a real trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Not just a goofy teaser. What a sweet looking movie (pun definitely unintended...i pity us all ;_;) that little boy is so adorable! :D

anyhow my net time is up...gonna have to get some more cuz there is no way this is my last blog ;p but i can do that later...

ciao

perilous emptiness (and the prenostalgia round up)

yes it's as predicted. i had my coffee at my joint which was very nice. i kept it short today tho. coffee, pay, leave. hmm so tasty tho. they do it right.

so going backwards...seems to be the way it goes....so before coffee i walked from the MCJP to the place and haha. i didn't want to use the bathroom at the bar and the bathrooms at the MCJP were busy or the doors weren't closing or whatever u kno. so i had to come up with an elaborate plan which involved macdo and THEN it also involved going to a monoprix across the street and BACK because they didn't have toilet paper and i wasn't about to ask them to steal some napkins since i was already stealing the use of their facilities. funny hahahaha. it took forever. what a joke. it is really quite a nice hike down the six tho. i quite enjoy it. even tho it's hot out.

on crève de chaud!

lol i learned that today from the movie i saw (continuing backwards) before i studied japanese at the MJCP. i watched "grains of sand" about some high school kids in japan. drama, romance. stuff 'n stuff. but i guess the weather was a bit sweltering in the film as well.

they had another issue of Japan Close-up today! free things make emily smile :D (i'm sure they make all of them smile...so it doesn't even matter who you think i'm talking about)

i should think about dinner. i guess i did already THINK about it. but the problem is that i am cleaning tomorrow NOT tonite. that is what i decided. i will pick up everything and do dishes TOMORROW and not before. yeah isn't that sad? i don't even want to wash a bowl or a spoon. altho then again my spoon may not be dirty. if my spoon isn't dirty i could have cereal ;D either that or i will fry up some eggs ham and cheese into an omlette type formation. how silly.

swimming was nice today. i did four minutes of treading instead of three. not much of a difference, but it was still nice. just to be in the water was nice cuz it was so hot. a bit crowded but not as bad as sometimes. it's just annoying cuz there are kids usually now who like to jump and fool around and whatnot.

hmm i just a phone call from no one...

how...intriguing...

i hope they call back and mean it this time ;p lol

you know for a while i was feeling ok about my hair but now it is just becoming a bit much lol. i just feel scruffy. i saw a lady with hair just a bit curlier than mine but the same kind of lay. and hers was even kinda cut. and it just looked kinda scrubby x_x

hmm and a week from tomorrow i will be in nyc.

this is really starting to worry me.

: /

i kno i wanted to leave but i really don't anymore lol

i kinda feel like the way i did before i left mke. like i'm dying. i think you should only feel like you are dying so many times in your life. actually this is the thought process i had this morning on my way to the pool: i was thinking that maybe you are allotted only so many times feeling like you are dying before you actually do. and that is how stress kills you lol you run out of feeling like dying times and then you just do. i realize it's cheerful lol but so it goes!!! ;D no really tho cuz everything is ending...AGAIN. i guess that's how life goes tho. i guess i'll just feel like i'm on the other side of the world from my life is all....just for a while.

it's so funny tho cuz the way it was wasn't really "real" life anyhow. no one lives on student loans in real life. i can't wait to get out of practice mode. heh

you know i'm going to get home and not be allowed in jazz clubs lol that will be a killer.

*sigh sigh sigh*

i could totally live here (in the future). i've been trying to think of job options. it's just that to be in paris with my japanese i would probably have to be doing french things as well. unless i had a job i could do from anywhere. i wonder how it all works. i could always try for a spot at the MCJP lol XD

i was thinking today about how eventually i will be at home and i will be bored and will say, "ah but it's ok i will get up because i can go to the pool and hit up the MCJP for a movie and grab some coffee on the way home..." and then i will look up and remember i am in mke and for all intensive purposes none of that stuff exists.

...

ahh!

and i will be over there showing people the subway map and i don't know every stop but there are so many important ones. it's weird to notice when a city you visited becomes a city you live in. even when you have a map it is all a mystery until you really get in there and run around. beat your paths and whatnot. when i got here paris was so huge and the metro was confusing and the rer was even more confusing. now i got it down but i have to leave it all here!

ack! o_o

you see what i mean now tho about perilous emptiness! you get to thinking and it's noooo good lol i'm nostalgic and i'm not even gone yet! i plan ahead for everything i guess ;p

fête

yeah the big huge music festival was yesterday and i even managed to drag myself out for it. i had been planning on just staying home and reading the newspaper, but then the newspaper reminded me that there were about a bajizillion concerts going on, so it would've been stupid to stay home. I took the metro to Abbesses which is up in Montmartre, and wandered around. Everybody was out in the streets there were djs all over. Walked past lots of stuff and then found this band called (in french) "The Black Fingernails" They were pretty interesting. Sorta nuts. Bass, guitar, accordion, and sax. All of them sang too, which at some points really got on my nerves because one of them actually had really good voice and the rest were just kinda there. It got kinda theatrical too tho. They had monologues and stuff. I dunno. Pretty crazy it was. Good music tho. I was soooo tired. I caught the metro home and went to bed...

So today is wednesday. I'm gonna pick up some crud at the grocery store and take it home, then head over to the pool. Man my schedule has really just disappeared. My everything. The order in my life is gone lol. Look at my room to check that. Holy cow. Among other things there is now an antique bike in there. Emily was trying to sell it. I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do with it now. Maybe give it to Kim when I leave... Emily also left me a bunch of random food like pancake mix. I was going to try to eat MORE at home but I think I've been eating less. Less in general too. I'm kinda crazy I dunno really what's going on lol

The important thing is to remember to study some more. I need to do that. So I will. I will put books in my backpack and take them to the MCJP and after watching a non-takeshi kitano film, i will take them out and learn things like ~no you ni and -saseru.

Then I'm gonna go have coffee.

After that things get a bit...flexible. In other words, a normal evening, one without plan. Perilous emptiness!!!

Anyhow I gotsa jam out of here if I want to swim. I should probably eat something else first. I had a peach...

*falls over*

it's hot again.

movie and another hot afternoon

today i had a panino (yes o...i don't think there is a different tho) and saw les invisibles. this was an interesting film that i picked somewhat at random...i mean not really random. it was french. that was the object. the sound was really good. cool experiental music or whatever. noise to the uninitiated ne. hot french actor. that sort of thing.

i went at like 4:30.

then i came here.

i slept in today but at least i slept!

that thing last night was ok. i left early. the atmosphere just wasn't my thing. felt bad but whatever. i saw emily today before she left and i'll see her in nyc.

i'm less psychotic today. renée and i met up for a drink at the columbus café. smoothies are the greatest thing. that will be nice about mke. cheap smoothies lol

yez

or at least cheapER

oi it is hot out tho

i think this class i signed up for about caves will be good for learning how to better interact with my living environment. at least that's the way it seems lately. you have to have some spelunking know-how to get around my room. dark and hazardous in there.

easy to trip

oh that guy josh...his parents are from o-town. bizarre no?

we all had the song in our heads then...i can tell you that

normality

vs. reality

there was a picnic in this park. cool grass feels good as opposd to this puddle i'm in...oh wait...those are my clothes sticking to my back...

this morning at lunch an orange attacked me. i have neon specks on my shirt now. it's ok tho. kinda fits in with the shirt. it's busy enough.

there were fried calamari rings. i wasn't thrilled by that.

we ate popsicles in emily's room and listened to funky music. (triflavored popsicles: strawberry, orange, lemon)

and tried not to die of heat stroke.

i gave up on the french novel i was reading. i didn't care what was going to happen next. Now i'm reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime...that's it right? and that is much better.

mmm

this weather kills ambition. i would say "in one swift stroke" but "swift" is not really an option today. it's either motionlessness or the slog.

slogging through the sunshine.

it's the kind where you can feel your skin baking even when you have sunscreen on...and there is no breeze. you just kinda have to wade through the day.

i bought peaches and pears and tasty hummus today.

back when we i found the popsicles.

today is emily's last day. that's a bummer.

she said she has some friends she will introduce me to.

also a certain josh figure.

there is a party at a place tonite.

attendance is in the books.

hopefully we will walk home with the sun all down and things cooled off.

i love walking at night.

some people don't like walking tho...

I guess it really depends on your options.

how to have a good time

so i found a jazz bar. i found a bar and it is mind now and i'm LEAVING. how sad. i could definitely survive longer now. this place KICKS.

they have really good coffee and live music a few nights a week.

friday i saw clarinet, trumpet, and piano. plus they sang in french and english.

the piano guy was back again yesterday. he is pretty hardcore.

jazz is great.

lol

it's too bad i quit piano before i discovered jazz.

lots of people i meet ask if i play cuz my fingers look avid or something.

avid...i dunno if that's really the word i'm looking for but i'll pretend it will work.

uhm

atypical to say the least i suppose?

uhm

but yeah kickin' music and to repeat next week.

uhhhhm other than that not a whole lot going on.

410 instead of 464 (linguistics ne)

oh and the "big news" is that i actually don't NEED anymore credits. i will just be on advisory status which is fine. it will go back to normal after three consecutive semesters of solid full time. life is kickin'

or something.

today i think emily and i are duffel bag shopping. i was gonna go biking but i have to see how things turn out. in any case i have a lot of time.

no classes.

just big time oasis.

that's what paris is i guess

oasis of time.

stop the thinking

i dreamed last night that i fell out of an airplane. fell and fell and fell. it was pretty kickin' tho. i may have jumped, i don't remember, but i'm pretty sure we fell, or maybe we had to jump...dunno. me and someone else but then they disappeared. anyhow i fell for a while and it was pretty fun, cuz i was pretty sure i would survive, and then i landed in a lake. while i was underwater tho it turned into a swimming pool where there was this dude paddling around. turned out it was in his house so he was a little surprised to see me. i tried to explain that i fell out of the sky but you can imagine how that went.

so i've been trying to reassess my budget. i only have two weeks left. it shouldn't really be that hard. i'm just having trouble because i wanted to save enough for some rent but now i need 800 dollars for this summer school class so i won't have rent. i may not even have enough for the class! i dunno. i'll try i guess.

all the "last" things are coming up. like i want to hit the eiffel tower before i go. i think that will be pretty much the extent of that. i still haven't gone biking in the park. i want my last quick burger, my last bento (altho this might be negociable). i still haven't been to speed rabbit pizza! that might be tomorrow. and then i'd like to go out for one more "French" meal. of course i will have my last day at the MCJP but that will actually BE the day before i leave and it's free so...my last day at the pool will probably be that same day.

i'm also running out of toothpaste.

grr!

i should go call my mom and see how many dollars i have lol

dollllarrrrrz

they look so funny!! i saw some a while back and they were just so ridiculous. all the same size and all GREEN! yuck! and the coin sizes and colors don't make any sense...

i will have to get used to it again.

anyhow it's just starting to freak me out. not to mention this evil with school and credits.

speaking of which my hopeful list of classes (which should work i think):

summer: linguistics 430 language and society

fall: linguistics 341 5th Semester Japanese (i have to test in)
420 Introduction to Second Language Acquisition
464 Word and Sentence Structure
english 403 survey of modern english grammer
404 language, power, and identity
geography 128 Introduction to Caves and Caving

18 credits for my fall semester!! rar! i'm just gonna study like a banshee. i can't wait

plus these are all terribly pertinent things.

crud the place is closing v_v

moan 'n groan

ah yes well our exam was today. it is over! and we were fed! that was cool. falafel and such. great stuff. the exam...i didn't enjoy it. i hope i did decently at least. that's all i ask.

i can't wait to get back to the states and study!

i'm trying to get into a summer class...one i need starts the 25 (right after the big hatachi day!!! :D) so i was thinking that wouldn't be too bad. i will be able to movie in with xav by then supposedly. i gotta try to get a job, polish the japanese till it shines like the sun...that sort of thing.

i'm going to run out of takeshi kitano movies soon! i think i only have two more (as far as the MCJP goes anyhow...) dude tho i watched aniki today. sweet movie!!! jeez tho they only had the french dub which was DISappOINTing!!! V_V i'll take what i can get tho. wow it was good. i guess i'm getting used to gangster violence. that might not be so good. >_<;; heh what a premise tho!! yakuza in LA. i need to see the original version. the dub wasn't bad even tho it was a dub and i understood probably 90% of it which was sort of impressive, but it was annoying not being sure what language was really being spoken. cuz i kno there was english, japanese, and spanish and the only language they spoke in the dub was french except for two lines in one scene right before they shot some guys...

oh hey

up note

last night i finally got ahold of emily and dann and they said i had mail!!!

Thanks for your letter g-pa!!! Sound's like you had a kickin' birthday! :D

i guess that is all for the moment. emily went to bordeaux so i don't get to hang with her today. i might try to see what megan is up to. i haven't seen her in a while.

cardigan-ed

yeah i borrowed a sweater with a kitty on it

today i woke up at 8 and had a nice happy bowl of banana creme pie cereal (I believe I've elaborated on that wonderful recipe already...)

then i went to renée's house and we sorta went over our notes for the exam tomorrow.

after that i went to the pooool and got hungry.

emily and i had lunch again at the crous and then we went to a japanese grocery store. she didn't have time to come with to the MCJP tho cuz she had papers to write.

i went tho! i watched another takeshi kitano movie, about a deaf-mute surfer...it sounds sort of deranged doesn't it? it was good tho heh

they had transformed the lobby into an arcade@_@ they had like four or five machines of that donkey kong drumming game. i didn't play tho.

laaa laaa

things are ok i suppose

morale is medium nostalgic and it's also raining so that doesn't really help.

but i think today is going well. emily walsh is hardcore. i'm really glad i met her. we're gonna try to get together while i'm in nyc. she said we should go to china town :D it bites that she is leaving on tuesday! we've been hanging out a LOT and soon i will be back to the lonely! x_x nah i should survive.

uhmmm


i'm hungry!

lol

the plague

that's all that is left to happen to me today i think. or maybe get hit by a bus...but i digress. this morning it took multiple hours to accomplish one load of laundry. the machine decided it would be fine to count up numbers instead of down minutes and it also thought it would be nice to just wash my clothes interminably without rinsing. eventually we had to stop it and flood the floor cuz it wouldn't drain. that was a pain. then we had to mop. they better return my three euros. anyhow we had to start all over in another machine. just kinda switched and put no soap in on a cold cycle since they were already soapy quite hot. something was shredding too...made a big mess. i think it was the inside of my sweatshirt. uhmmm and school is messed up. i'm so sick of thinking about it. grr and well emily and i watched "crybaby" last night which was ok. depp as deviant juvenile lead singer jail breaker...who cries "one salty tear" uhm her friend was there too. and we had various visits from people interested in buying her bike or cd player. we had lunch at the student resto today. broccoli, "rustic" fries, sausage, and a peach. oh and some tomato. and a bit of bread. very well balanced meals they serve over there, but probably not all that healthy despite the fact heh. cheap tho ne i haven't been in a while. it's a good way to get meat tho, since you don't have to bother buying it or cooking it for yourself by yourself in your lonely studio. lol well by the time i got done with micefa etc it would've been two hour travel time for one hour reading time at the MCJP so i decided to skip it. i suppose i will have to get myself to study at home. and i think renee and i are studying for our exam too. and actually i think emily and i might check out some other movie. since i mean she has them on tape so it's free and all. in the funny little tv room at the res. hum premature periods. because completely sentences just aren't worth it sometimes.

do yourself a favor

and not in that snotty bitchy jerk way you know like, "do yourself a favor and get a haircut!! freak!!" lol more like REALLY do yourself a NICE kindly friendly wonderful favor that will make your life easier and increase happiness all around. One of those. In fact, give yourself lots of them, as many as possible! I mean it!

Today I gave myself a few favors so far. I let myself sleep in a bit more to catch up, I went swimming finally, I bought a tuna sandwich for lunch, AND I got this handy internet account which if used prudently should last until I leave, saving countless handfulls of change, which tend to add up to a hefty sum of euros. I suppose that was a run on sentence to end all run on sentences, but I do believe it was warranted.

as for the afternoon, to my surprise, it is passing rather swiftly. and who needs capital letters anyways?

i also paid the majority of the rest of my rent. something got screwed up there. i need to talk to people and figure out what is going on with my deposit etc. one lady said i could put it towards my last month's rent and the lady today told me i had to talk to that other lady and didn't seem to care that i already had. my if i had orders signed in triplicate...*wishes she knew the paperwork schpiel from hitchhiker's...*

is that how one spells schpiel?

i guess i'm not going to be bothered to look it up...

the religious fanatics were out today, with the beggars and the fake gold sellers. yesterday when i got home i was super tired ne but i opted for sensory overload instead of a nap and went to the market. they sell some crazy stuff in there. i walked ALL the way down. out into the burbs. can't say it was really that worthwhile, which is why i don't do it often, but it wasn't detrimental to my healthy or anything lol

loo loo loo

well now that i have this internet deal (a nice brisk walk from my house) the updates should be more regular...which note, does not necessarily mean more interesting. i will, however, try not to let them become LESS interesting.

that is all!!

i wasn't expecting a naked guy

in the play today

it was threeeee hourrrrs long and i really didn't understand much. luckily they had summaries of each act in the program. in french still, but i sorta could follow with that. boy tho i was really tired.

man life has been good tho. i hung out with the third emily friday night. we had indian food and saw the movie Papa which I KNEW was going to be wonderful. emily is cool. we seem to get along pretty well.

greg and i did sushi and a french movie. i couldn't really follow. kinda like the play today. trouble following things. the problem tho is that both were very literary. no one talks like that!! arrgh! lol

so it goes

dinner club went well too. i didn't realize chris was leaving!!! he's off to eastern europe and i had no idea that was so soon! good thing i saw him.

hmmm

tomorrow it is back to the pool. i have been busy and my excuse is avoidance tactics lol but still. i need to go swim! and so i shall.

uhm

well maybe that is all

i guess

*yawn*

i have a life this weekend!!!!

how exciting

greg and i are hanging out on saturday and sunday is the molière play as well as lunch club which as been postponed to dinner club.

thrilling!

boy tho i was tired this morning. when you don't excerise you stay up all night talking and not sleeping muscle it gets flabby i guess.

as long as that is the only one!!! ^_~

i should swim tomorrow. i think this cold is wimpy enough that it would not be a detriment to myself to shiver a couple times if the pre-shower isn't hot. the other day it was cold. grr!!! *minor rage*

also...i realized that i know the kanji for kitano (as in takeshi, the theme of viewing at the MCJP. today was hana-bi) i just learned it. they are the kanji for north and field or realm...that is sort of interesting! i have to say i felt really cool when i noticed...

i have to say tho, that i felt really uncool practically falling alseep over the amalgamation of buddhism and shinto today. i'm gonna have to start that chapter over. too sleepy!!!

and i think i've been sitting on this non-chair for too long. my neck is dying lol x_x

a month till i'm back in mke!!!

this one is free :D

i'm at my friend's dorm. she was definitely the right person to call. we are discussing things and staying up late. she also made popcorn.

it's really cool.

this is the best time i've had WITH someone ELSE in quite a while. most of the really great things i've experienced here have been by myself.

i'm sleeping over since the metro is closed. gonna have to get up in the morning to get my homework.

i'm starting to feel guilty heh

there are people who actually live here waiting for the computer

plus i posted already today x_x

so it will be brief but happy

HAPPY is good :D

so then

tomorrow i have class! o_o how odd

today was kinda blah.

i watched a crazy japanese comedy and read some more about Shinto...

walked down the six line to the four

i'm tired

x_x

my cold isn't worse tho so that is nice!!!

i have this problem tho when i sleep i wonder if it is just the pillow they give us...but somehow when i sleep i lay weird on my ears or they fold weird or something and i have this lousy lingering headache when i wake up. it's been happening more and i more. i really don't like that. it doesn't make the mornings very nice.

i need to study more...

i also found out today that i think i owe more rent than i thought or something. i dunno. i'm just gonna pay it tomorrow and be done. then we just have to make sure the room is clean when we leave. which...it's dumb cuz apparently emily has to have it clean the night before i do. it's kinda dumb they say that when we are roommates...well.."roommates" anyhow. we'll have to figure something out.

shouldn't be too difficult tho

hum

but the 8th! i will be back in the states in less than a month. and a month from tomorrow i will descend on mke bwah hahaha i can't wait. it's so nice there. :D

grilled fish and green beans

eating out is a good way to supplement what i have a home. that is my defense! i'm gonna be really spoiled when i get back tho ;_;

i have a slight cold; i hope it goes away soon.

i did mangage to finally drag myself out of my apt to the MCJP. i watched the movie Dolls and read a bit about Shinto.

I was gonna go for Korean barbecue but they didn't want to let me chill in their empty dining room until they started serving so...I wasn't just gonna stand around. I went to this chain I'd been wanting to check out instead.

was good

hmm

other than that...last night i bought batteries which is nice.

boring things...

maybe i will see greg soon. he finally e-mailed.

i had weird dreams last night!!! that tends to happen when i am prone to be in a lousy mood, which i have been lately...esp now that i'm sorta sick.

maybe it won't get worse tho. i think the increase in fruits and veggies must be doing me good. i broke the evil pattern of having a cold every other month didn't i?

star wars (and a soundtrack spoiler...does anyone mind?)

ok so that wasn't a very good title but i'm sick of trying to think of something clever to say lol

i FINALLY saw it today

how kickin' a movie was that?

best part was when they brought back the theme from Ep I during the end battles

that's all i'll say

but it was super good

uhm...i went to starbucks today and had a moka cococnut frappecino

it was really good even tho it cost more than my lunch

definitely worth it that is for sure

i went to quick for lunch

i still don't like pickles or ketchup

but i'm not so juvenile as to pick them off anymore i guess

kinda rainy out

but still nice

sticky tho

no plans for tonite...so far...

i suppose there is always ep vi on tv but i really don't want to do that...

...

-_-

A Sunday Worth Fast-Forwarding Through

I got up and made a Japanese omlette. You weren't supposed to fold it, but I did cuz I couldn't get the top to cook. Once you make the top the middle, it cooks. That sounds like it should maybe be profound wisdom or something, but I can't think of any application or really...any sense that it could possibly make.

The facebook continues to work wonders. People find me and I find people. Where is Matthias tho? I pine for the day he finds me. I bet he doesn't know how to spell my last name. Have I already elaborated on this before?

Let's see...

Yesterday I spent too much money. I got the CD of Stomu Yamash'ta which is REALLY: Tsutomu Yamashita. I wonder of the logic behind the romanization his name.

So I commented on my last entry about this but there is a big concert today that I don't realy want to go to. Everyone is going tho...it's free...it's part of the olympic promotion I think...2012 go paris. 2012 is a hot number...

I'd kinda like to go see Star Wars finally instead. I feel like if I go to the concert I will catch a cold or something. It's gloomy out.

I read for three and a half hours this morning. Finished White Teeth and read the part of The Know-It-All that I read in the train in England. Steve sent it to me along with the new Athlete CD and stuff. Oh and the Caesars. I'm addicted as hell. So I read a lot...

Then I decided to "do something." I went to the pool and there was a weird guy there so I didn't get to stay very long. He wanted to swim with me and then took it upon himself to catch up when I started without him. I don't really understand this...swimming is clearly one person. Not two. So I was swimming not really paying too much attn to where I was going because he was RIGHT there and I was keeping my eye on him to make sure he wasn't being stupid and then he suddenly grabbed me and I think he was trying to pull me out of the way of the lady who I swam into but all I could think of was that he wouldn't let go of my arm. So basically there was a big collision and I was mad. So I tread my three minutes of water explaining in fractured French that if my boat sank I would be able to survive and left even tho he said I should wait.

Anyhow it makes me mad cuz I only did about half what I usually do cuz I didn't want him following me around the whole time and talking to me when I wanted to be swimming.

I had a peanut butter sandwich in the park.

Now I'm at Emily's thankfully not spending money on the internet.

That's nice.

But it's not like I got any e-mail...lol I think I will just try not to think about it.

I wish I could try not to think about whether I will attend the concert tonite, but it's sort of required that I make a decision at some point. Maybe I will go but go by myself. That might be better. I will show up for a bit and check out "the scene" rather than being in the mob. That sounds better. I would rather be the tv camera man in the helicopter than one of the ants down there moshing.

Hum.

Or I could just read :D and eat pasta :D and ice cream :D

OH MAN I bought peaches the other day from the amazing fresh produce place near the MCJP and I was so busy running around that the one i didn't eat got nasty in my bag CRY

CRY CRY CRY

i have to be more careful with delicate fruits

i dunno man. probably i will get so annoyed with having to decide that i will just give up and go see Star Wars. i hope i will not regret whatever i do. i just feel like i SHOULD go to the concert and i SHOULD go see the mob on the champs-elysees (forgive the accent) and maybe even join it because hey who doesn't want the olympics to be in paris in 2012?

i don't get why it matters where the olympics are.

they should have them in someone's backyard.

that would be cool.

death march to an empty inbox

i was supposed to find a net cafe near where i actually was as opposed to back home. oh well.

i'm not really in the mood to write.

last night i was in such a good mood i couldn't sleep at all but today just sorta bites. what is the point of being happy and motivated when all your friends are asleep and you should be too and you don't have a phone card or anything to do.

i saw the percussion concert it was really cool. yesterday i would've written a lot about it but today i don't really feel like it.

this afternoon pissed me off.

big long walk for nothing.

and i ate the peach i was supposed to have with my dinner.

i want to go back down to the MCJP tonite to buy a cd but it seems like a lot...i will try to get someone to go with me

i'm mad. and i've been spending too much money. on food basically...cuz unless i plan way ahead i never have anything when i am hungry.

i had a salad today but it wasn't very good...

and then i had a dessert at the place i should've had lunch...they had good-looking quiches...

that was a whole other death march of it's own

stupid wandering around

i guess it's just boring by yourself and frusterating when you look for a net cafe and find ONE during the whole hour or whatever you are roaming and then finally give up and go home because the one you found was THREE euros an hour (which at that point you might as well shoot yourself but i have seen much worse...) where you find three within the first five minutes because you live...where you live

of course it lags

and they only have MSN messenger which means i can't talk to anyone

and as the title indicates i got a grand total of zero e-mails

except one that is depressing

and i don't want to go home and have noodles and pesto!!!
something in here smells really ridiculously good

and i want some

of that

falafel maybe it must be i dunno

*cry*

not like i don't have the money to go out...but i already went out today

oh i bought a ticket for le tartuffe (molière) i think xav might appreciate that...or maybe i am not remembering correctly. i dunno. it's a classic. i got a ten euro ticket for the 12 of june.

i went to the pizza place by the mcjp and had lasagna. it was uber good.

i shouldn't have written notes last night about what i wanted to say about the concert cuz now it just seems tedious and boring to write about it again...i will write about it later or something

why was i so happy last night at freaking two in the morning by myself? what is the point of that? i type too fast for the stupid computer...gosh that is annoying but not really...use up all the happy when there is no one around?

today i solidified my belief that my throat is a hypochondriac. amy is sick and i can't put up with that and apparently neither can my throat because for like ten minutes after i finally decided to leave i was coughing

dude so that salad i had today. it had that one veggie that i will NEVER like in it. i dunno. just something about the whole thing wasn't what i wanted. it had salmon tho. i'm kinda sick of finding the same food everywhere. maybe i SHOULD go get some falafel. that you can find all over too tho. still it does sound good. maybe i will do that. i'm frustrated so maybe i deserve to not have to cook.

man i need a phone card...and some credit for my cell phone.

grr
*complain complain*

yeah it's boring today

getting ripped off for net - time is not my favorite past -time

ching ching-ching ching chinnnnng chinnnng

anyhow

uhm

yeah i'm being a bit robbed

not as much some

but robbed

ACK

so it goes

not the most thrilling e-mail tho

mostly junk

i tried to sign up for classes on PAWS today

relinquished my dreams of japanese major...ship

majorship

and

it didn't work

so i guess i will have to wait until there is REALLY nothing left

*sadness*

i need a rich duke

if anyone knows a rich duke who feels the need to enrich someones mind lemme know

today i feel ignorant

it is not a good way to feel

also i watched a really cheesy documentary aimed at middle and high schoolers about japan, really i should've known that is was crud but they suckered me in with their claims of REAL JAPANESE TV CLIPS. it wasn't all that exciting; just bad

this comp is mad lagging

what a life

glad i have a comp to complain about tho

even if it is rented to me for the horrible crime of 2 euros an hour

there are worse places tho

oh and i forgot to say that i started reading about shinto

that is all

it is a "short history"

holy lack of internet, batman

HO-KAY

so here i am once more. that took long enough. i've seen some movies, eaten some french food, and some peanut butter too thanks to my chèr papa.

i'm writing today from a little basement under a panini and sandwich and crêpe place. it's fairly cheap or at least as cheap as it goes.

*sigh*

dad and i had tons of fun. i showed him places i usually go and we checked out Buttes-Chaumont which is fake...did i spell it right? it's a pretty nice park even if it is fake.

god the screen keeps jumping.

maybe i DON'T like it here. i dunno. it's cheaper to get a card somewhere than to just go in for an hour when you need it.

i may see greg again sometime soon. if we get our act together. that has the potential for fun.

so what movies....i saw tokyo eyes and perfect blue (finally!!!) and then...i can't remember. it was about a couple of guys who work at this gay bar and one of them has a crush on the other one blah blah. the dvd SUCKED tho and the sound quit going with the image about halfway through.

dîsappointing.

oh i saw the hiroshige stamp exhibit with dad when he was here. that was pretty sweet.

this friday is the percussion concert.

uhm

i dunno

i'm stressed out and sick of thinking about school and independent study and the reality of me probably not transfering or majoring in japanese or anything.

but then...you know...it's lunchtime (an illusion yes but an illusion i will hold fast to today because what else is there at the moment besides my little white ticket from cyber sandwichs...(sic))

well i may or may not get a card here.

i just lent a girl a pen...

welllll

what else to say? i dunno! i had my history exam today. four questions. i hope i did well.

probably it was ok. and my paper should be decent enough.

that class is over. even if i do remember the address of the place we are supposed to go for the optional class meet next week and even if i could find it i may not feel like going. i dunno what we are doing.

*sigh*

oh i finished that japanese novel. it was good but unfortunately i was really bored with it cuz i knew the end from the movie. it was slightly different tho...at the VERY end. i think the book was actually MORE depressing than the movie if that is possible.

my dad brought me The Quick and the Dead, White Teeth, and Life of Pi (which i will read again if i get that far which i may). I finished The Quick and the Dead. It was reallllly strange but very good. Depressing tho...White Teeth is good so far. also sort of depressing. the short stories i read at the MCJP are for the most part depressing as well. i hope haruki murakami's newer book (which i will have to pick up at the fnac, it's on sale!!) is not so depressing as everything else. dad also picked up a book about japanese for me but unfortunately it is one that i have already. i felt bad x_x but what can you do?

it was nice having someone around. :D we cooked too and that was super. i was really stressed out the whole time tho.

i'm always stressed out.

i stillll haven't seen star wars.

soon enough tho. soon soon soon.

maybe i will go with greg if we get our acts together

well

i just e-mailed him

i think my act is set

lunch is still in order

i should go do that...

i bought my last metro ticket today. the very last. it will be the one in my pocket all the way to newark on the airplane. did i spell that wrong? is there an h in that?

dad took a lot of my stuff home but i imagine i will stil have to send a box.

man i'm feeling lazy today. good thing i went swimming yestedray. it was so nice because there were barely any people. the problem is that i can't go tomorrow so we'll have to hold off till friday. i will make myself go on sunday i think.

altho i was going to rent a bike at the park. well that is fine.

same difference.

ugh

lunch.

hmm.

ok that is all

signing off to bound up these stairs and into the paris sun cuz it's june first

the last parisien month

do you spell that with an a in english?

maybe i will grab a sandwich and go read in the park before going to the MCJP.

then again maybe not; i really am lazy. i don't want to do anything today. i think i sat in bed for like 15 minutes just because i had extra time before i needed to be in the shower. i just sat there and stared at the wall and didn't feel like moving or doing the dishes from last night. apparently tho the chicken was cooked enough which is good because i was worried about it. i don't really trust my cooking usually. oh wait it was turkey. that's right because the chicken was looking a trifle nasty that day.

probably i'm just stressed out and that's why i don't want to move.

easier to sit in one place and not do anything.

if i get myself over to the MCJP tho, i can see a movie and probably the sound will go with the picture this time...

stuff 'n stuff

wellllll starting to get a little bored which is probably inexcusable...

steve has been writing some interesting things in his blog...

also let's see...

oh i saw an AMAZING movie on monday called Nobody Knows. It's about four kids who are abandoned by their mom in Tokyo. The oldest (12 years) is put in charge of everyone. It's sOooooosooooOSooOoooo so sad but very well done. I love the camera and the music too. I love it! If it's around definitely see it.

I saw Tampopo again on Tuesday which was just as good as the first time around.

I miss mke.

The raspberry tarts at Sendik's are better than here. I told this to Xav already, but it's true lol so i thought i would tell everyone else.

hmmm i didn't get to swim today because i moved into my new apt. i don't like it as much as my other one but i guess i will get used to it. my bathroom used to be next to the desk so to get a near full-body mirror i could stand on a chair and look over the sink but in the new room the desk is across the room lol

not that it matters

uhmmm

i finished emma did i say that already? it was very good. i love mr. knightly.

annnnnnd well tomorrow is thursday.

that means film class and no swimming but i will go to the MCJP

and i'm super psyched about saturday

okashi na

so i think i've seen that adjective both ways but i'm not sure...okashi na okashii ne...

heh

uhmmmm

so yesterday i did go to the MCJP and finally got up the guts to go into the Audio-visual space which was such an incredibly good thing. I just never seen anyone go up there and it always seems so quiet that I don't want to disturb anything. I dunno. But I went up and it is soooo cool. They have like six tv stations so you can watch movies that they have. Even some anime (sadly french dubbed ;_; most of the movies are original language tho)

I saw Kikujiro which is so cool cuz it's the first movie that Peter Carey talks about in Wrong About Japan which I've read twice now lol. I would definitely recommend it. It's pretty cute, but sort of odd at times. It's about this boy's vacation. He lives with his g-ma and wants to go visit his mom so this tough guy wannabe neighbor of his is sent by his wife to accompany him. It starts out pretty bad. They end up at this bike track gamboling and the boy is constantly abused by everyone but then they meet some crazy characters and blah blah you know. It's really cool.

I'm thrilled tho! I can go almost everyday and watch a movie before reading. I finished Keigo in Modern Japan. Definitely recommended to all Japanese students. Patricia Wetzel!! Go find!!

EUROVISION was last night!! This rocked. I was at Emanuel and Emily's house (after waiting outside their door for a half hour and it turned out they WERE home but just asleep...WHATEVER) and we all ate fajitas and guac. Super tasty! Eurovision was great, but the French commentators were really annoying. They had to be talking at every possible second. I have no idea what they were saying tho cuz really I could barely hear the music. I thought it was going to be just the three of us but a bunch of people showed up and they were all loud and it was a party. x_x can't say i was thrilled about that but it was ok and i did get to see the show

Romania didn't win ;_; Greece did. I dunno why they won. I mean they weren't BAD but there were better things. I voted tho!! How cool! lol I sent in a text on Romania's behalf and I tried to get one through for Latvia too but they didn't receive it in time.

Now all I have to do is get through this week so I can hang with my dad this weekend. Should be easy tho now that I can go see movies at the MCJP. Plus swimming, plus class on Wed and Thurs. I'm going to go see a movie in the theater tomorrow afternoon after swimming I think. A Japanese one...lol.

OH so the Nô theater tickets are all sold out. They were probably gone before general reservation opened up. Kinda makes me think I have no shot of getting into the sake tasting... Either way tho this means that myl last time to see the big room is the percussion concert coming up. I'm going to miss the MCJP so much ;_;

For lunch club today we had a picnic! It was really tasty and at the park. There were cute little kids all over! One girl in particular ran around giving everyone kisses. That was funny XD

For the rest of the day I am probably just packing up my room. Not terribly exciting, but I have to move probably tonite. I hope it's tonite anyhow. It will be so great to have a window that closes!! I was FREEZING last night!!!

SUGOI XD (more emma spoilers...i hope no one minds)

Grinder-man was totally awesome. Possibly one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It was definitely unique. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it and just giving a play-by-play wouldn't really give it justice...but there were paper airplanes, ping-pong balls, and of course the guys in suits (or skirts) with cubes instead of heads...the cow's head from human growth and developement class, awesome music, sparks flying terrifyingly EVERYWHERE, annnnd more paper airplanes? It was so awesome. AND the MCJP never ceases to amaze me. Their big room (which i think it actually is la grande salle...so...lol) is one of the most adaptable places and so awesome. Really I think the MCJP is probably my favorite place in the entire world right now. I mean I like being at home and I like being in bed when I'm tired, but when I want to see something interesting or learn something about Japan I would love to have a warp to this place because it is so cool. But I was definitely discussing the big room...so I think I've seen it in probably...three or four completely different configurations. For movies they have your standard seats going up in rows. For Kyôgen they had a few rows off to the side of the stage and the rest were normal. Then for Grinder-man they had seats surrounding the stage but the stage wasn't wear it usually is. In fact the stage was kind of gone they were just on the floor. I'm not sure how many different views I've seen but it is crazy. The projection screens can go wherever and Grinder-man even had something projecting onto the floor.

So let's see...Grinder-man. It was also very stylized. The phrase "highly visual" comes to mind but that sounds kinda stuffy. For a while it felt like every next part was another game played by very creative...Grinder-men lol. They wore masks and shot ping pong balls at each other and then at us. They threw paper airplanes everywhere and ending up abducting a couple audience members and making THEM throw them too. ALSO really cool was that they had video footage that had obviously been taken that day including pre-show footage of the audience. So we got to see them running around Paris as well. They have this one helmet/mask that made me think of power rangers because a whole gang of the creepy dudes jumped a couple of the cube guys and the camera tilted...lol. I dunno...I'm sure none of this really makes sense at all...there's not really a good way to describe it. Really really cool and very Japanese. I'm not sure if it was just that fact that it was Japanese guys or if there really was something about the stylization. So aside from power rangers I also thought of traditional theater (because of the styalized movement), The Taste of Tea (some of the moves were very reminiscent of that and other things I've seen but can't think of where)...so I dunno there's got to be something. Oh oh and definitely sumo during the ping-pong face off or maybe boxing too. A cross between sumo, boxing, and ping-pong? And there was a storyline sort of...in imperfect English about a giant trying to make children for itself and failing most of the time. OH and I forgot about the LIGHTS there was a really cool segment where they wore these lightbulbes on their heads with triggers for graduated electricty or something...I dunno what I'm talking about lol and it really does start to sound insane "yeah light bulbs on their heads!!! whoo!! suh-WEET!" XD lol The last thing I have to say is that we were all really concerned when they came out with the spinny spark things. They were wearing some sort of metal on specific parts of their bodies and would basically...I don't even know the word...make sparks LOL big showers of crazy sparks and we were all really determined to stand (sit?) it down and not run for the door. I was especially convinced after I saw a shower go into one of the guy's hair...lol. Smelly, but apparently harmless...

Well I think I have successfully conveyed my exCITEment over the matter if not the matter itself.

The other thing I've been thinking about today was how it might be worth it to have to wear a dress everyday to be able to express oneself with such exactitude as Emma and all the characters in that book. Then again maybe not, but they really can talk.

Floating Cloud (Ukigumo) is still going on as well....slowly but surely. I'm trying to get at least two or three chapters in a day because otherwise I will NEVER finish it. It's sort of a bummer to have seen the movie before reading the book. That is generally the case with lengthy books and movies. I mean it's always better to read first but if the book is particularly long the consequences are intensified by the time disparity. It takes you two hours to watch the WHOLE story but then a month to read it and the whole time you are saying WHY hasn't this THING happened yet? Everything is so stretched out when really it is the opposite and the movie is just condensed as flaming death.

I was lazy today, oh but I already told you that. I didn't go to the MCJP to read about Keigo, tho I will go tomorrow. I studied a bit and I read a bit and basically just waited until it was time for dinner. The other problem is that I always over budget my time so that I get places on time and what not but I am so punctual that really I just end up OBSCENELY early. Today I managed to delay myself on the way to the MCJP by reading a chapter of Emma in the subway station during my cross from the 4 to the 6. Now TELL me that's not PATHETIC?

Well after this I will go home and eat some cereal and probably at that point be listening to Nova and thinking about bed. You know you listen to a radio station a lot when you grow attached to pretty much every song they play. Even the ones that were annoying and the ones that made you go, "huh?" become like old friends over for a round of Idiot and freshly baked apples. Does anyone know how to bake apples or what exactly is involved besides sticking them in the oven? Because after that extended conversation in Emma about them I found myself fairly DROOling.

Here are the spoilers tho...the apples I think don't hurt the plot but this may::

x_x

what is emma's deal? mr. elton was so cool i thought altho i have to admit that frank is better. but even him, what was that thing she said about decidedly when to throw in some coldness when things were getting a bit too friendly? really and truly what is her deal? why can't she just rejoice in the fact that she is having this crazy awesome funny conversations?

also emma's dad is a riot altho it's funny cuz he's like an extreme version of me lately. i've turned into a kind of "you'll catch your death out there" person too. *sigh* AND PORK ROAST!!! I'LL JUST HAVE NONE OF IT!!! (kidding...lol i thought that was funny tho...fry it but make hella sure you don't roast it)

Did you read about the IT workers skipping out for Star Wars? It was in the yahoo news. I was amused. I still haven't seen it. I'll get around to it though; I'm sure there's no hurry.

The question tho is WHATEVER am I going to do toMOrrow????? aside from make my near-daily appearance at the MCJP, i really have no clue. maybe i will go out for some food. there is one sandwich place in particular that i'm sure i will never be able to decide what to have at and would really just like to try it out ten times to make sure i experience the best thing they have...maybe i will go there.

did i tell you about the survey i did? I don't think so. I think i was distracted while writing the other day. Wellllll this guy on the street who I thought was just going to ask me some questions ended up taking me up these swirly stairs to this apt-office where there were all sorts of other bored pedestrians sitting at computers watching commercials. he put me to the task. I saw one for some sort of coffee? and another for a cheeto-like cracker thing. altogether it was pretty much like other surveys i have done only it was french so it felt like a cultural experience. (a rarity may i remind you)

i write more entertainingly when i'm excited i think...

speaking of french tho. emanuel and i were discussing once again the distressing student miguel who has become pratically fluent in his oral expression in i think actually under a year. he's bonkers and it drives the rest of us absolutely nuts. i tend to think of it from a pedagogical perspective and would really like to know exACTly what it was he did to attain such jealously provoking ease with his pronunciation and everything. he just floooowwwwssss and it makes everyone cry. as long as i focus on pedagogy i don't cry tho...so i try to be scientific :D

well i should leave as i am pretty hungry and tired. you know, next time i discover the best place in the world i hope i have some really good friends with me because it's kinda lonely going to all these performances and such by oneself. technically i should leave off there but i feel i should clarify that i do like going by myself and would not skip out just because it's only me, and of course there are certain advantages in attending on one's own such as retaining the afterglow longer...such as...even an hour longer if you are writing your blog after riding the subway in anticipation of enlightening your friends. but then i think it's good to have a nice balance between enlightening your friends and having your friends with you.

incidentally my friends were all having a party for emaneul which i didn't find out about until this afternoon and of course i had had my grinder-man tickets for a month already.

i don't think any of them really wanted to go with me. in fact i probably invited them a month ago.

lol

or i may have given up. I had been trying to drag them out there since march lol during the anime festival thing...haha

oh you know...i'm gonna make this even longer and less organized by tagging on some acute observations about encores:

i don't know if it's just here or if it's everywhere but people really seem to EXPECT them nowadays. here we are clapping and it's not eNOUGH that they just bow, and bow again, and probably bow again, annnnd then walk off. i always wonder how encores work. in band we used to have one ready if needed, but in these big performances the lights don't come up as if it's over; you just clap until they come back even if it takes a couple minutes (rufus). tonite was an interesting situation as there was no encore, which was fine with me, but i think it had some people confused. in fact maybe the house was confused. what happened: so they bow and bow and bow and go off yes...and the lights are still down and the music is still playing and we're stilling clapping but it's starting to taper...and then they came back...and left...and then we were still clapping and the lights were stilllll down and the music was stilll on so when left to our own devices we decided to clap to the music which was of course probably or at least to a me a mutually fulfilling act. They came back and we applauded more and they left again and this may have even happened AGAIN. i can't remember how many times. we loved them obviously and they loved us but i really wondered what was going on. were people expecting an encore? was the house expecting an encore? I would blame it entirely on the audience if not for the lack of houselights coming up. that was odd and i think the performers were sort of wondering how many times in the end they would be required to bow.

okashii ne

the word "okashii" always makes me think of that scene from A Taste of Tea which also makes me think of Grinder-man.

wow tho i really have to leave haha it is TIME

nite! ;D

puffy

what the heck lol datif every time he sees me now he says my eyes are all puffy and asks if i was crying and he never runs into me when i WAS so i dunno. maybe the pool makes my eyes puffy.

soooo yesterday i went and read some more of that keigo book and it did get better :D one chapter about the history of standardization and one chapter about books and classes to help japanese people improve their usage...i guess that doesn't really SOUND super interesting but it was...

today i was going to go read but i didn't. i'm going over there tonite to see Grinder-man so one trip is enough. plus i'm kinda tired after swimming. it wasn't very cool at the pool today, too many people. you couldn't even really get a good stroke going and if you could only for a couple feet till you had to dodge more people. also my number one most avoidance wanted person showed up but luckily just as i was leaving. i didn't actually look at him because eye contact might have been fatal.

i ate lunch in the park! it was nice. there is a cute little park right by my house. i never actually went in before.

i guess i will be switching apts this weekend because emanuel is leaving on THURSDAY. ;_; he will be on an airplane and i will be in my film class. that's strange o_O

i figured out that june 16 is my last day. i have my film exam that day. i should talk to people about studying together. i hope the teachers go over what sorts of things will be on it. DUDE and i haven't heard anything about my independent study. it's getting a bit crunched on time...maybe i should ask her about it...again

bleh (emma spoilers?)

i don't really feel like writing but let's see...

i watched an aspiring chef make gumbo and it turned out really good

i went swimming again but it just makes me hungry so i end up eating more so i dunno if it's really good for me or not

it's official my french is actually worse than it was in the states. even datif says he can tell it's gotten worse.

hopefully i'm just having a crummy day

highly unmotivated

i should go study japanese

i didn't yesterday

see that's just stupid

it's star wars day but i didn't go

probably won't till next week

or whatever

i dunno

dad will be here a week from saturday

tomorrow i have class

today i had class too

it was obnoxious cuz she dragged us all out to this church that turned out to be closed. it's annoying when we go on these tours but don't end up back at school. she just leaves us standing outside notre dame de travail. i went alllll the way back to my pool before having a snack and going to the mcjp

i read about honorifics in linguistics but it was pretty crazy because mostly it was just laying out how different people split it up...and all their respective vocabularies. i dunno. it was tedious and i was tired. it looks like it picks up later. we can only hope.

i'm reading emma by jane austen. i seem to remember my sister and her friend forming a club around the reading of this book. it's pretty good so far. you have to get used to the style. it's not austin is it? i never even look do i...v_v i'm to the part where who is it...someone suggests to her that maybe it is HER that mr. elton (elton right?) likes. you know i should really leave off talking about things if i can't remember what i'm supposed to be saying...but my point was that i had this feeling the whole time that that was how it would end up. things sure were different in the 17th century in england. haha but i guess they still are aren't they...

things are always different

except the songs they play on nova. i've had trouble with radio stations here because they really do play the same songs over and over. i think it's worse here than in the states. it seems that way anyhow. or maybe i'm just used to stations that play electronic or jazz to not have play lists like that...

but it's annoying.

makes me think i should start listening to the news cuz at least it's something new everyday

i should listen to the news in any case

so it goes

fat chance tho if i can't even get myself to study japanese

i dragged myself through a couple chapters of ukigumo tho so maybe that is good

not looking forward to class tomorrow v_v

*siiiiiiigh*

the timing for a semester long program is so lame because you start getting homesick right as you're leaving

not that this program is really typical

at least i hope not

usually i think you're supposed to IMPROVE the language you are "immersed in"

yeah i don't really need to start on this

just sucks

short

i don't have much to say! today i went grocery shopping and to the pool. maybe i will see a movie tonite but apparently one of the star wars movies is on tv, so i might chill at emanuel's. it depends what everyone is up to. i also picked up my room this afternoon while listening to Nova, which is such a groovy radio station :D really truly groovy. that is really all...a chill and uneventful day...

lemme tell ya

so giverny...it was a mess lol because it RAINED BUCKETS all over us. ALL over cuz hey i have no umbrella what can i say and i was not about to buy a printed one from the gift shop for twenty euros. oh the crying lol we were super soaked and it was pretty cold on top of that. i mean for france in may anyhow.

so the flowers were nice (and droopy with rain like us) and the japanese bridge was nice and i did take the time in spite of my shivering and dripping to appreciate the ripples in the pond around the lilypads which were, as can be imagined, not entirely in form.

worst part is that my backpack got soaked to including my notebook, my novel, and so when i took out my camera water POURED out of it...so i think maybe it is quite screwed as for my pics...my full camera was in there too so i dunno if that one escaped or not. it was not quite as wet but you never know.

funny how when i finally bother to take pics that they get wrecked but so it goes

basically the trip was this incredible bust. i was very cold and my feet were wet all day, pants drenched halfway up my calfs you know...the works. so then we went to this little town and i had already eaten and had a crêpe at a vacant café with chris and used the bathroom at a funny little hotel and such and such so i went grocery shopping for some soup to heat up when i got home. after that i really just wanted to get back on the bus but it ended up that the bus had to go somewhere else until meeting time so chris and i wandered a bit. we went into the cathedral and stuff. then we found the tourism office and it turns out that there was this cherry festival going on.

this turned out to be the best thing ever.

we went and there were a couple rides but more importantly they were grilling SAUSAGES which made me miss mke a LOT. we got one and the mustard hurt my nose cuz in france their dijon is SERIOUS and you'd better add some mayo to lessen the kick but i forgot about that...lol

chris also got cotton candy which is called barbapapa in france...like the cartoon character...

then of course there were little stands. it really reminded me of a fest in mke. i was pretty homesick lol there were also very expensive cherries that we didn't get to try.

on the whole we decided that that saved the trip and that next year they should plan the trip to go to the festival and have monet's gardens as the sidetrip heh.

funny how today on sunday it is brilliant out and yesterday was so awful.

the only other thing really to mention is that last night all the museums were open till like 1 something in the morning for free so i went and saw some modern art. i was pretty tired though lol they had this one room totally dedicated to this guy who saves tons of money by buying stuff and taking it back before the 30 days is up or that reimburses your first trial of their product or that gives you money back if you are not satisfied. they had tv clips and magasin articcles...kinda funny stuff haha

there was this one exhibit that was all pictures and drawings and stuff done by this lady who seemed to like blood or something. razor blades to her feet, rose thorns sticking in her arms...a bit nauseating when tired

oh you know today was lunch club and we had fajitas. they were terrific! :D we were supposed to watch the first two eps of star wars but of course they were all rented out. planning was not the best...

now i'm hanging out with datif but he is studying cuz i think everytime i come he has an exam the next day. funny how that works lol

tomorrow will be round two at the pool and shopping. my cupboards aren't bare but they don't really have much meal material at the moment so i gotta find somethings. like eggs and bread.

oh chris let us have some of his peanut butter. it was divine. i miss peanut butter.

there are so many things that you miss and you don't even think about at home. some things you don't even realize you liked until you can't have them. like brats. i started liking them more in high school but NOW i appreciate them forever.

things are going ok. i got my e-mail about my independent study project which was terrifying. i hope she will let me change to something about japan. that would really make me happy! :D

i'm reading l'étranger (the stranger) by camus without a dictionary. every time i run into a copy i read some. it's fairly easy to run into a copy tho cuz emanuel has one haha. i read for like an hour while he had a nap.

oh oh oh

emanueru wa hirune shite iru aida ni, watashi wa kamyu ga kaita shosetsu o yomimashita.

shosetsu...if i remember correctly that means novel. if i don't then it may or may not mean anything...grr lol but hirune is interesting because i believe that the kanji for it are afternoon and sleep...heh

i guess i kinda wrote about more stuff than i thought i had to write about

so it goes!

maybe you were slightly amused.

i dunno.

i decided tho that i will study spanish before my (possible) return to russian. it is so important in the states! i refuse to remain ignorant in THAT respect even if i can't keep track of the lebanese civil war...it was lebanon right? see i dunno...1975 ne i am so bad at stuff like that. gotta read books to find out. READ A BOOK! ;p lol (does anyone remember that? eric? lol)

yay for a happy day

i feel better today :D yesterday didn't go very well.

i DID go shopping but i didn't get anything cuz it all seemed overpriced. plus they didn't have the one thing i would've actually bought even if it was a bit expensive.

dinner was excessively rushed (i ate in the metro on the way to the lecture at the MCJP) but really good (cuz i got korokke bento which is like fried potato things and rice and bento type things...yummoo...i love that place...i saved some of the rice to go with my broccoli for lunch)

the lecture was pretty cool but i was really in a lousy mood so i didn't even really want to go. before they let us in i was watching on the satellite japanese tv this show where this little girl who looked sorta like xav's cousin was cooking with the help of some crazy fantasy creature and a very cheerful chef. they made potatoes and onions and beef with nutmeg and stuff. it actually looked pretty good. i can't tell if that was the end of the recipe or not...cuz they let us into the conference room before the segment was over. there were two ladies. one of them gave the talk and the other read the extracts. she was an actress i think so she read very dramatically.

i went to bed really early cuz i was soooo sleeeeeepy lol

today is much cooler. i made fruit salad in the morning à l'instar de brian only minus the honey. i will have to check if à l'instar de is the phrase i wanted to use. i think it is tho...anyhow the secret is to add some cereal like special k to it. makes it crunch!! yum! :D

then i FINALLY got my act together on the pool thing, which i am happy about! I went to Go Sport and bought a swimming cap (required) and goggles (because the swimming cap only cost half what i had expected it to). I was really scared to go. I dunno why I thought it would be so bad. It was actually really cool tho. The lockers are easy. You make up a code and close the door and then just use that code to open again. :D I was worried about that. They have really nice little changing rooms or at least nice in that they have doors lol and the showers are no big deal cuz it's just pool showers ne. I was worried about being a crummy swimmer but no one there really seemed like they were training for the olymics so it was cool. The one thing that is a bit alarming is that my swimming suit is a little looser in the water than one would have thought it would end up. I guess it's not so much alarming as annoying. Or maybe it is alarming. I can't tell how much you can see because i'm not the one coming down the other side of the lane lol. SO it goes. I did like three more laps than I thought I could/wanted to lol. My arms hurt! That rocks! XD This one guy was there and we were both catching our breath and he said in French, "what a stupid sport this is" lol XD i guess maybe his arms hurt too ;D

Well after this I am going to see if there are still spots left on the trip tomorrow. I will remember my camera this time! Promise!! :D If there aren't tho I get to go have free dinner! I guess that isn't really exciting as the gardens tho so i'm crossing my fingers there's room still.

Well I guess the only other news I have is that the colander I bought works and I can steam things! I was really excited about that :D

I'm still terrified about school but luckily i'm in a better general mood. If i'm not thinking about school i tend to be ne? so i say, "hmm maybe i can try to do 12 to 15 pages...that will be ok...probably" and then i go study japanese or something lol

ha ha haaaaaa

well i'm off

golden days for everybody!!

Rufus and some other nonrelated elements

ah yes the concert was yesterday and let me tell you that you will just not believe it xav because omigosh...

so it was great and he spoke french and apparently was mildly food poisoned the night before from a bad sandwich. everything was great. seeing him with his band is really amazing cuz there are some songs that just wouldn't really work if it was just him. everyone sings! it's so cool!

and his guiatarist is really extremely good-looking

as IF Rufus isn't cute enough

so it ended and we were sad but of course there were encores.

they came back out and he sang An Old Whore's Diet and during the musical interlude something very bizarre happened. he took off his scarf...and we were like haha what a tease. then he started unbuttoning his shirt and we were like o wow what a tease and THEN his shirt was on the floor and we were like what is going on and he's working on his pants and then i notice that the guitarist is stripping and the drummer suddenly has no pants either and the girls aren't wearing very much. Then I'm really almost not sure what was going on. Rufus donned some fairy wings, sash that read "Miss Paris," and a princess crown and started waving a little wand. There were all some red high heels involved, all of which was brought out on a platter by a lady in a wig. The guiatarist put on a fake beard and started waving a plastic pirate daggar around. I dunno...it was really weird. Then the strobe light. We all wished for our cameras because how often do you see Rufus Wainwright in little more than a sparkly blue speedo?

For the next song they were witches who all melted at the end and then they put on some bath robes for the very end.

It was

crazy. ;D

But true. I don't have pictures but you have to believe me because there is just no other choice.

Other than that tho I am increasingly stressed out by the overall situation and acutely today because I just found out that I have to write FIFTEEN pages for my independent study. I might as well just quit school. I feel like I have forgotten how to do it. Just everything. I've proven myself time and time again to be incapable of writing five pages in ENGLISH so I dunno what the point is anymore.

There is a trip to Monet's gardens on Saturday that I suppose I should go on. It's twenty euros but it sounds pretty cool right? Monet's gardens...

Right now tho I'm going shopping I decided.

So that's that.

cliffhanger

Sorry to leave you all with such a dismal last post. Or at least it is dismal in my memory. Before I tell you about the rest of my vacation I have to regale you all with the tale of my dinner adventure. I realize this is specifically contradicting the theme of my last entry, but this is just a funny story and I promise not to complain about how full I am ;p

I couldn't find anyone to eat with (one friend gone, one in bed, one eating already) so I went to this place not far from my house. I had JUST arrived, thrown my crud in my room, and gone back out because I didn't feel like cooking even if there was something to cook in my apt; therefore, I was starving lol. Anyhow so the place had couscous and I was psyched about that because if you can't enjoy couscous then what CAN you enjoy? There were two guys working the counter who seemed very nice and asked if I wanted couscous to which I answered yes and pointed to what I THOUGHT looked good and what I thought was something to put on the couscous. Apparently it wasn't for on couscous, in fact apparently it wasn't good either. I'm still not sure what it was. They were wary about letting me have it but I foolishly said, "yes yes fine good great" or whatever you know, overconfident or perhaps just absentmindedly hungry. I think it was tripe or something. They said they would switch it for me if I didn't like it which was nice of them. I was really prepared for a bowl of animal guts and chick peas... It wasn't hot enough so I took it back up and decided to have them just change it. They laughed at me and said it wasn't for kids lol. It was really nice of them to switch it for me free of charge like that. Most places would have just watched you choke it down. I was leaving and the one who wasn't ringing me up said, "so TWO plates right?" and the other said, "No no she was the entertainment" haha :D Anyhow it was pretty good couscous when I finally got down to it lol and quite reasonably priced.

flash back!!!

so I didn't go to Marseille right? Well two seconds after I wrote that blog and was in the middle talking to one of my collection of Brians the owner of that net joint came in and it was a good thing my computer had sort of stopped working cuz I had just logged off. Gloria had been letting me sneak around if you remember...

They all think he is creepy and with Mafia ties.

Apparently there is a Mafia in Aix and they bombed some bar last year and took it over.

I dunno lol.

Let us recall what happened for the rest of my stay:

I'm gonna stop pointing out where I talk about food because to be honest we cooked a lot and it involved lots of onion cutting, chicken/salmon marinating, potato mashing, broccoli steaming, grocery shopping, cheese smelling, bread slicing, and teabag steeping. (Steeping right?) ETC lol Stephanie and I had a LOT of fun cooking together. Everyone morning we would go out shopping at the open market for vegetables and maybe some fruit. The day we did the salmon the fish market was closed and we bought our other meat at the grocery store too. It always depends on what time and day it is for where you go shopping. They have this great bakery called Banette. There were other bakeries too tho, equally good. Also a really sweet veggie store called Jardaniers.

So the plan had been to go to the beach that next day but that isn't what happened. It ended up that everyone slept in pretty late after the party and the bus ride was two hours each way, not to mention 8 euros (each way!!!) so we decided to skip it.

Did I write about that all ready? If I did I will laugh. I honestly don't remember when I wrote last. lol

donc euhhhhh voila

no just kidding

uhmmm...I guess the time sort of melted together. I do remember not calling my mommy on mommy day cuz I didn't have a phone card ;_; but I called her twice before that and I'm calling her when I get home :D

Oh and last night (my last night) after the salmon we went to go see The Taste of Tea. You know I think I enjoyed it even more the second time? I was so excited to see it again. Stephanie and Brian both liked it too. We laughed so loud. I bet the whole theater thought we were totally obnoxious (or just American...I dunno which is worse...perhaps they are synonymous...is that how you spell that?)

This morning I took some pictures somewhat halfheartedly before leaving so I could show everyone a bit of Aix. I'm really not much of a picture person. I mean I like having them, but the taking them is a bit of a pain.

Hmm...oh I did enjoy first class TGV. :D My seat was much better this time. I had a nice big window, spacious chair with a button to recline a bit, a boring magazine. Then there was a bar down the hall where I ordered a truly overpriced bottle of orange juice. It was sort of funny because all the people in first class seemed very businessy or very rich. I suppose tho that that is usually the case. Because even if you HAVE the money for first class, wouldn't you rather save it? I only got it because the ticket cost the same as my second class on the way down. Oh oh and the other cool thing was that it was a double decker train and I was on top :D I guess the other thing that I noticed was that it was much quieter in first class, probably due to the complete lack of children as far as I could tell...

Tomorrow is Rufus (wow xav and dion I am jealous of your Killers concert lol) and apparently I have to change something on my Grinder-Man ticket. They gave it to me without a seating arrangement and then called my cell to tell me to come in and fix it the day before I was leaving for Aix RIGHT after I left the MCJP. 6_6 The website is just http://grinder-man.com For this of you taking Japanese you can see that they will be in Paris, which is where I am seeing them ne? I felt so happy that I could read the Japanese and use it to see where else they are going. Small pleasures! Baby steps! I love Japanese!

I have a hard time figuring out when to move on...in my studies I mean ne? Japanese...subject change! lol Because since there are no tests or anything it's hard to figure out if you really know the stuff. Then of course even if you know it one day you probably won't in three weeks or maybe even the next day. I do remember how to say alien tho :D uchuujin! kowakute, roketto de tsuita uchuujin! seikatsu ga suki dattara, hashirou! (alien! a scary alien that came in a rocket! run for your life! <---my very loose translation lol how did i do?) i love japanese but i still have a lot to learn...anyhow my point was that i wasn't sure if i should move on...but i realized that if i never move on i will be on chapter twenty forever so i had to continue. there is always room for review!!! i did the exercises! i am genki! rar!! lol And let's all remember how to conjugate the passive because I'm really excited about it! I read an article about learning Japanese that said it is like playing with legos. While the article oversimplified a bit I do sometimes think of this simile fondly because it can be sort of like that. You take your verb stems and the conjugations are so easy!

In theory anyhow...

lol

That reminds me of how it took me like seven tries to get my verb right the other day at dinner. That was the other thing! We spoke so much French in Aix! It was so cool! I also decided that I need to get out and do more things. How much that will actually be followed through in is questionable at least till my dad shows up, but I'd really like to see some more parks and one day I would like to rent a bike...

OH

lol

My poor poor swimming suit has gone unused thus far. You may recall I didn't end up at the beach. To swim in the pool tho I need a cap...grr grr grr. It just gets so complicated. Amy said she would go with me but I would like to go early in the morning. I think that swimming at seven am would be a good way to wake up. I dunno if Amy would think that though...x_x lol Also I dunno how long I would keep thinking that for. And you know they charge you to swim as well. The whole thing give you a rather good excuse to just scrap the swimming. But it would be so healthy!!!!!! grr!!! I think I should go and at least try it. Even if it means buying a swim cap. Maybe it will clear my mind and enrich my soul...

Or I could just get chlorine in my eye...

lol

Hope everyone is doing well. The last thing I will say is that I have purchased a metal colander collander? DRAINING THINGY!!! :D not to drain things with, but to steam veggies and it better work because I could so not afford one of those big things they had for steaming stuff. I figure when I get back to the states I can get a real steamer but for now I just hope this will work. I got all spoiled on steamed carrots, mushrooms, snow peas, broccoli...yum yum yum...

OH and dude Stephanie has some really hardcore Japanese music and she gave me all the artist names. I may compensate for not going to the anime convention by hitting the local chapter of Book-Off...but only lightly I promise lol It's educational! Listening practice!! Yes! Culture enrichment studies!!! or something!

Oh wow I just remembered I am supposed to be doing my history paper! lol (I call it a paper...it's not really a paper...won't take very long...just a page...on a metro station...well i'm writing about a metro station anyhow...)

ok

tiz all

see you all soon! can you believe it's almost half way through may? some of my friends are going home in less than three weeks!!! o_o