Time for a change, no?

Well it's been while since I last wrote. I'm trying to find ways to stay awake and I need to get a few things to get off my chest so I thought this might be the best way to do it. Or am I just kidding myself?

Well just to start off, I'm extending my stay in Japan for another 3 months. Part of me does not want to do it, and the other part of me does not want to leave Japan. Leaving Japan will allow me to do something else and give me the change I desperately need. The other part does not want to leave, because I'm starting to actually understand things and slowly comprehending things around me. Being able to read most common signs and understand what is being said to me. In an honest note, I need to stay so that I can fulfill one graduation requirement, be currently enrolled at some place.

In extending my stay, I have to extend my visa, which requires me going to Nagoya. I hate going there, because there is absolutely nothing in that town and it's just a waste of time and money. The application is also a bit pricy. The paper work that I require from Yamasa altogether costs around 1500Yen, and then there is a 4000Yen fee for the extension application. The extension doesn't get approved on the spot but it will take several trips to Nagoya. Yeah, more waste of money traveling there, when each way is 600Yen.

On a more positive note, oh is it really positive? Depends on what you think is positive but I got a new roommate. Yeah the days of living alone, playing loud music, using both tables and book shelves, hogging all of the 10inch wide 15inch tall closet, sleeping until 2pm, and just making a general mess out of the place, is now OVER. You know what the crazy thing is? Just a day before I was asked if I had a roommate and I said NOPE, I won’t probably get one until April. Guess what’s the next thing I saw when I got back? Yes, a roommate assigned to my room with his name tag outside MY door. Yeah the cursed of the broken mirror is coming back but I think it’s a good thing. Having a roommate will make me less lazy, I think.

The new roommie is from Switzerland. He'll be studying here for one month in the SILAC program. He's taking holiday from work to study here and also trying to see if he can get entry into this art school in Tokyo. Why isn't he studying in Tokyo then? Well from what he told me, he was in a rush to find a Japanese Language school and it just so happens that Yamasa is always in one of the top search results. Yamasa has a pretty good short term program and the most comprehensive website I’ve seen anywhere. However, this (Okazaki) is absolutely not the place to make Japanese friends or travel around. I wish him luck anyways.

Other than that I can feel a bit of spring coming with trees budding and flowers sprouting from the ground. I can't wait! I enjoy spring in Japan over any other season minus the rain! When the weather is better I'll take some pictures of the soon to be spring flowers. Until then check back. Yeah come back you hear!!!

a little shake

Whoa did I just feel a little earthquake or was it the neighbor shaking the ground beneath me?

Whatever it was I felt my desk moved and my floor shake. From what I've been told it happens quite often and I've slept through at least one of them.

Okay now back time for bed.

Valentines Day

Okay back to the pictures!

I had to do my speech today and as a prop I used this hair piece. And just for fun I made some of my classmates and other friends wear it too, so I could take a picture. They were all willing participants! I didn't have to force anyone. Now we all look very Japanese!

It's unbelievable that some plants are starting to bloom already. This tree is the only one that has flowers on it throughout the whole neighborhood. It gives out this very sweet fragrance. Is there something wrong with this tree? It's only February!

This picture reminds me of some of the flowers I took when I was back in Blacksburg except this one is much smaller. It also shouldn't be coming out so soon! I remember it was still snowing last year and the weather was extremely cold. This year, however, especially today, it was very warm. Up in the 50's I believe.

Now this tree is the strangest of all. These trees line most of the major streets here in Okazaki. The strange thing is that the flowers started blooming at the end of January and it's been like this for 3 weeks now. The leaves are waxy, thus allowing the tree to survive the winter and retain the green color. I haven't seen any plant like this before and the flowers are quite nice. The thing that brothers me is that it’s winter! Why are they blossoming?

Well enough about flowers and how awesomely warm the weather has been. If you ask why this entry is full of flowers then I would have to say, everything looks dead and these plants are the only signs of life in this area. People and cars don't really count. I still would love to take pictures of all the school kids wearing their yellow caps. However, it's V-Day and flowers are a good representation of this day, no?

V-Day everywhere has always been a disappointing one for me, this year was no different. However! Yes HOWEVER! I actually have a valentines and some chocolate. Yes cutie mcbody Reka sent me my valentine’s gift along with my birthday gift in one package. I was able to fight off the urge to bust open the small blue packaged marked "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL Feb 14th". Now that I've opened it, I think it's wonderful. The package contained the following: one small Tiger holding a heart keychain (very cute), a v-day card and of course some chocolate. Last and the most important, this is how well Reka knows me, a package of seeds. All in all it was nice and was a pleasant V-day for me. Now I hope the next one will be even more memorable.

Funny Japan

Well I do waste alot of time so I thought I should share with you what I waste my time doing.

Japanese freestyle dance. They are pretty good dancers!

I thought this was funny too. It’s an interview with Dakota from the movie "War of the World". The movie was crap but this interview was hilarious.

The alarm clock

Have you ever had one of those days when you wake up all refreshed and then you think, oh shit you're late for what ever it is you're late for? Well I had it this morning. My alarm clock rang and I hit the snooze automatically. Then the next thing I knew I overslept. I don't even recall turning off the alarm. In my case I have to go into the menu of the cell phone, find the alarm setting and then turn it off. It takes a bit of brain power. Somehow I managed to do all of that and have no recollection of doing so.

It was nice being able to wake up and feel a bit rested. However I did miss a day of classes but I don't mind too much since it's not with my favorite teachers or anything. Now to be productive for the test of the day, now that's the difficult part. So far I have not. I've been watching and browsing for these videos. Enjoy!

I bumped into this and thought it's quite good.

Not as good as the one before but still catchy. Chris Parnell raps about Jennifer Garner

Getting tired of it yet? This is a SNL skit with Chris Parnell.

At least some of these raps have more content than the crap that is out there. Now it makes you wonder why rap is so popular when even a comedian can create rap lyrics with more diversity and entertainment than the real rappers out there.

Birthday - Another Year!

-Note this is written on 2/6/2005

I don't even remember what I did last year for my birthday. They just seem to go by so fast and I didn't precisely blogged about it like I should have. This blog is supposed to be my journal of what I do and a way for me to track my life. Lately all I've been writing about is how bad the weather has been or how boring my life is. However, there are some eventful things that do occur but I'm usually overcome with laziness when I have to or should be entering it on here. Maybe it’s the lack of motivation considering I don't have too many readers and my writing could use some improvement. For those that do read this, thanks!

My Birthday this year actually was very uneventful. It was cold and rainy. With the bad weather it wasn't possible for me to go out to eat. So I postpone the plans to the Feb 2nd. We (Karl, Evan, Sai, and I) ate at the newly renovated and new ownership sushi shop, used to be Atom Boy. The prices have changed since each dished now has a different price. The dishes are no longer 100 Yen but on average 150 to 240 each so we are expecting higher quality for the higher price. True to our expectations, we were not disappointed! I must say it had to be the tastiest sushi I've tasted since I've been in Japan. The fish just melts in your mouth and the taste is amazing. It doesn't even taste like fish but more like eating a cake with a fish texture, it’s creamy and sweet. Even talking about it now makes me want to go there. Unfortunately it's twice as expensive as before so we were not able to eat too much. Otherwise we would have eaten everything and then starve the rest of the week.

Here is a picture of the plate prices. The 120 Yen plate of course don’t have too much on them and are not so common. We saw the red, blue, and brown plates more often.

I wonder what's on the purple late. I hope it's HUGE and it can feed a family otherwise it's overpriced. Lets hope it's worth it! If not, I think I'll just stick with the free soyu and the ginger while I sip on the green tea.

With the plans spoiled and a day before I was to taste any sushi, I spent some time taking pictures of myself opening up a package from Reka! Thanks sweetie! I have some other pictures but I don't like looking at myself too much.

Yes my friends, that's a hand knit scarf! Now how awesome is that?!