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Saturday, January 31, 2004
so close...
oh maui, it was never meant to be....
but my heart is with you tomes... it`ll be good soon
an aside: i should really stop telling my japan family my travel plans, because so many of my ideas/plans have fallen through... korea, india, niigata, saitama, maui.... sheesh, they`ll never believe me when i tell them i`m not recontracting, until i actually leave =) but if my on-the-train-home-brilliant-brainstorm works, those fallen plans will have been well worth it! woohooooooooooo! ok byebye time to brave the osaka dome crowds, ai ya
oh maui, it was never meant to be....
but my heart is with you tomes... it`ll be good soon
an aside: i should really stop telling my japan family my travel plans, because so many of my ideas/plans have fallen through... korea, india, niigata, saitama, maui.... sheesh, they`ll never believe me when i tell them i`m not recontracting, until i actually leave =) but if my on-the-train-home-brilliant-brainstorm works, those fallen plans will have been well worth it! woohooooooooooo! ok byebye time to brave the osaka dome crowds, ai ya
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
boy band jyanai?!
i have come to realize, to my chagrin, that SMAP, is here to stay. they are the ultimate granddaddies of japanese manufactured boy bands, but unlike american/canadian versions, these boys/men really can`t sing... and the funny thing is, they totally don`t try to hide it! it`s hilarious! well, one guy can sing, Kimu Taku and Shingo can sort of sing... but the rest of `em... "my ears are bleeeeeding!!" (hi liz). but despite their lack of musical ability, the guys of SMAP [they`re not boys anymore, in their thirties, but still appeal to hordes and hordes of teenyboppers including my 17yr old cousin (ick)] have done pretty well for themselves i think...mind you, outside of the musical field =)
first there is nakai, the screechy, sometime bug-eyed little man of the group. he`s a pretty funny guy, and he`s appeared in a few tv dramas, hosted kohaku once (badbadmemory), and hosts Utaban on Thursdays. there was one episode of Utaban where his partner had gone off to Paris to film a segment with the creasey-smiley-faced guy i like, and when Nakai saw the footage, he freaked out in a pouty, petulant way... he was supremely bug-eyed that day...sooo funny =) he`s in this drama right now, where he is a famous concert pianist who falls into these deep reveries like EVERY FIVE MINUTES, where he relives the moment where he killed some guy on train tracks with a big rock. and he drives around in his car a lot, usually at sunset. and runs into this one lady a lot. and he doesn`t talk much, but just stares deep penetrating, intense stares... or he is just trying to remember where he left his car keys. i dunno, it`s in Japanese =)
then there`s kusanagi, aka the Korean guy or Mr Cheekbones. he`s not really korean, full japanese, but he always seems to be hanging out in korea, speaking korean, he`s in a dopey but cute commercial for kimchi tsuyu, makes korean dramas/movies... methinks the man has some SEOUL searching to do (hahahhaha... i`m the best). anyways, he still appears in japanese media, and i see him on this one food show, Dotch, and he makes really good "oiishiiiiiiiiii/UMAI!!" faces. he always looks so sad when he sings... or rather when he "sings"
Goro-chan! this man is all about his hair... it`s so crazy. but his hair really is spectacular... right now it`s in this like bird-wing wavy stage... very big and swoopy. his hair often performs gravity-defying feats, aided and abetted by expensive ion-free hair products (he got some for his birthday, which they showed on SMAP Bistro, their weekly show). Goro is the pretty boy of the group I guess, and usually wears a vacant expression... well moreso than the others. when he sings, or rather, when he "sings" he kind of simpers... it`s really annoying. but he`s pretty bearable when he appears on this kid show about supernatural events.. and is kind of funny as the new Super Mario character. You can still see bits of his spectacular hair underneath the big red cap.
shingo. shingo gets no love. not as cute as nakai/goro, not as hot as kimura, not as... korean (??) as kusanagi...which is why i think he is the most earnest in terms of building credibility as a legit entertainer. the man is everywhere. he has his own show about english conversation, which includes a gallery of luvley foreign ladies (shudder), continuous stream of commercials, acting jobs like the period drama on tv now, a successful diet book, appearances on various game shows, and SMAP (he can sorta sing!). my aunt doesn`t really like shingo. you`re a-ok in my books shingo, keep on truckin.
ah, kimura... or affectionately known by the japanese public as Kimu Taku. my cousin loves kimura. women love kimura. guys really like kimura. he`s the only member of SMAP who can actually sing, and he plays the guitar. he has the typical japanese male sense of humour down: witty comments punctuated by protestations and sporadic exclamations starting with "Omae!!" i have to like kimura. i can`t help it. he is currently starring in the tv drama, Pride, which is about a... PROFESSIONAL JAPANESE HOCKEY TEAM, and he plays the team captain, Hula (snicker). kimu taku`s slapshot looks a little shaky, but i can deal with the monosyllabic responses and cheesiness. he IS really likeable, and i understand the frenzied women... =) no one can sell electronic goods like kimu taku =)
smap...if you rearrange the letters, it`s spam. both owe their longevity to a small pacific island nation, conveniently packaged, and appear in many different variations, playing to many different tastes. ah, i`m a sap for boy bands.
i have come to realize, to my chagrin, that SMAP, is here to stay. they are the ultimate granddaddies of japanese manufactured boy bands, but unlike american/canadian versions, these boys/men really can`t sing... and the funny thing is, they totally don`t try to hide it! it`s hilarious! well, one guy can sing, Kimu Taku and Shingo can sort of sing... but the rest of `em... "my ears are bleeeeeding!!" (hi liz). but despite their lack of musical ability, the guys of SMAP [they`re not boys anymore, in their thirties, but still appeal to hordes and hordes of teenyboppers including my 17yr old cousin (ick)] have done pretty well for themselves i think...mind you, outside of the musical field =)
first there is nakai, the screechy, sometime bug-eyed little man of the group. he`s a pretty funny guy, and he`s appeared in a few tv dramas, hosted kohaku once (badbadmemory), and hosts Utaban on Thursdays. there was one episode of Utaban where his partner had gone off to Paris to film a segment with the creasey-smiley-faced guy i like, and when Nakai saw the footage, he freaked out in a pouty, petulant way... he was supremely bug-eyed that day...sooo funny =) he`s in this drama right now, where he is a famous concert pianist who falls into these deep reveries like EVERY FIVE MINUTES, where he relives the moment where he killed some guy on train tracks with a big rock. and he drives around in his car a lot, usually at sunset. and runs into this one lady a lot. and he doesn`t talk much, but just stares deep penetrating, intense stares... or he is just trying to remember where he left his car keys. i dunno, it`s in Japanese =)
then there`s kusanagi, aka the Korean guy or Mr Cheekbones. he`s not really korean, full japanese, but he always seems to be hanging out in korea, speaking korean, he`s in a dopey but cute commercial for kimchi tsuyu, makes korean dramas/movies... methinks the man has some SEOUL searching to do (hahahhaha... i`m the best). anyways, he still appears in japanese media, and i see him on this one food show, Dotch, and he makes really good "oiishiiiiiiiiii/UMAI!!" faces. he always looks so sad when he sings... or rather when he "sings"
Goro-chan! this man is all about his hair... it`s so crazy. but his hair really is spectacular... right now it`s in this like bird-wing wavy stage... very big and swoopy. his hair often performs gravity-defying feats, aided and abetted by expensive ion-free hair products (he got some for his birthday, which they showed on SMAP Bistro, their weekly show). Goro is the pretty boy of the group I guess, and usually wears a vacant expression... well moreso than the others. when he sings, or rather, when he "sings" he kind of simpers... it`s really annoying. but he`s pretty bearable when he appears on this kid show about supernatural events.. and is kind of funny as the new Super Mario character. You can still see bits of his spectacular hair underneath the big red cap.
shingo. shingo gets no love. not as cute as nakai/goro, not as hot as kimura, not as... korean (??) as kusanagi...which is why i think he is the most earnest in terms of building credibility as a legit entertainer. the man is everywhere. he has his own show about english conversation, which includes a gallery of luvley foreign ladies (shudder), continuous stream of commercials, acting jobs like the period drama on tv now, a successful diet book, appearances on various game shows, and SMAP (he can sorta sing!). my aunt doesn`t really like shingo. you`re a-ok in my books shingo, keep on truckin.
ah, kimura... or affectionately known by the japanese public as Kimu Taku. my cousin loves kimura. women love kimura. guys really like kimura. he`s the only member of SMAP who can actually sing, and he plays the guitar. he has the typical japanese male sense of humour down: witty comments punctuated by protestations and sporadic exclamations starting with "Omae!!" i have to like kimura. i can`t help it. he is currently starring in the tv drama, Pride, which is about a... PROFESSIONAL JAPANESE HOCKEY TEAM, and he plays the team captain, Hula (snicker). kimu taku`s slapshot looks a little shaky, but i can deal with the monosyllabic responses and cheesiness. he IS really likeable, and i understand the frenzied women... =) no one can sell electronic goods like kimu taku =)
smap...if you rearrange the letters, it`s spam. both owe their longevity to a small pacific island nation, conveniently packaged, and appear in many different variations, playing to many different tastes. ah, i`m a sap for boy bands.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
=)
3:30 || joyo || not wanting to do my japanese homework || smile-inducing
1. there`s a kid in 1-6 that looks so much like peter, but a bouzu, 14-yr old, Japanese version
2. when i was at the brink of "starvation," and unwanted tummy rumblings, i remembered the pack of cookies i had stashed in my bag
3. digital cameras: cute nikon vs. silver canon? (i should never be allowed to buy a car)
4. i got pictures of a student`s dog as a present... is an ooogly papillon doggie, but nevertheless, tottemo shiawase
5. Love Actually is coming out soon!
6. lord of the rings is coming out in 2 weeks! woohoooooooo!
7. mari drew me a map for the kaiten sushi in kyobashi
8. there`s actually kaiten super close to my apartment (bikkurishita!)
9. it`s actually cold here... more sweaters?? muahahhaha
10. matt`s slogan of "i`m fine thank you, and you?" is pretty perfect...only JET/eikaiwa ppl would get it though
11. breathe by mich branch; the acoustic guitar song on liz`s cd; take off your cool by outkast & norah jones; first song on the aiko cd; nakashima mika cd; moriyama naotaro`s new music video (and his songs); tick tock by raph siddiq
3:30 || joyo || not wanting to do my japanese homework || smile-inducing
1. there`s a kid in 1-6 that looks so much like peter, but a bouzu, 14-yr old, Japanese version
2. when i was at the brink of "starvation," and unwanted tummy rumblings, i remembered the pack of cookies i had stashed in my bag
3. digital cameras: cute nikon vs. silver canon? (i should never be allowed to buy a car)
4. i got pictures of a student`s dog as a present... is an ooogly papillon doggie, but nevertheless, tottemo shiawase
5. Love Actually is coming out soon!
6. lord of the rings is coming out in 2 weeks! woohoooooooo!
7. mari drew me a map for the kaiten sushi in kyobashi
8. there`s actually kaiten super close to my apartment (bikkurishita!)
9. it`s actually cold here... more sweaters?? muahahhaha
10. matt`s slogan of "i`m fine thank you, and you?" is pretty perfect...only JET/eikaiwa ppl would get it though
11. breathe by mich branch; the acoustic guitar song on liz`s cd; take off your cool by outkast & norah jones; first song on the aiko cd; nakashima mika cd; moriyama naotaro`s new music video (and his songs); tick tock by raph siddiq
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
i is me
so... i think i`m coming home for good this year. recently everything has been looked at from the only-here-for-one-year angle... so i guess i really am convinced, just hesitant about actually verbalizing it. anyways, chinese new year is this weekend... i always thought it happened in february, but i guess the last week of january is close enough. it`ll be weird to celebrate it, without being surrounded by the red and gold of chinatown and market village/pacific mall, not seeing rows of open cardboard boxes displaying glutinous sesame cakes and lap cheoung...being in japan, and becoming totally involved with my japanese identity worries me sometimes because it feels like my chinese/indonesian side is losing out, causing a cultural imbalance in my identity as a whole. but it`s always been like that i guess, japaneseness winning out since ots was/is the dominant figure in the family... i mean my full name is japanese, people say i look japanese vs. chinese, and i can make myself be understood in japanese vs. my nonexistent mandarin/cantonese or paltry indonesian. it`s weird, i feel like my chinese-ness is hidden underneath all of this japanese-ness, waiting to be exposed... but...i`m not really sure what it means to be chinese, which as i type this, is rather shocking.
i don`t feel chinese.
i guess i kind of know what it`s like to be japanese to a certain extent, as much as any gaijin can i guess... i don`t know how to be chinese... i mean i know that being chinese is this ever changing, nebulous notion, and there is no one prescribed path to becoming chinese. also, understanding how to be CBC is completely different; i don`t even know if i have that down. and even then, i don`t know how many CBCs really feel Chinese, cultural identity being watered down and everything in the West. i understand that some people will say that you can`t always feel a culture, you can only be human, you`re Canadian!... but there are moments in japan, where i feel japanese, like yes, i feel like i belong here and i understand them. and i guess just being asian in Toronto, i feel a responsibility to be _________ ...
is it wrong to prefer one side over the other? i dunno... right now, it feels like a betrayal of sorts. and it gets a bit more complicated since mom is chinese-indonesian, which involves a whole other set of memories, experiences and perspectives foreign to "typical" Toronto HK-mainland Chinese. i remember going to my first Indonesian service a couple of Christmases ago with the family, and being so taken with the way Pastor Joe Surdigo spoke, how he rolled his r`s, and how the Indonesian language just punctured the air powerfully and passionately. the inflections of Indonesian are varied; it`s a bit more abrupt than japanese, but smoother than cantonese i think... i really like it. people can sound wicked furious in indonesian =)
when victoria talks about being chinese, i feel this weird disconnect from her... i can recite the virtues of toronto, in all of its multicultural glory, and how our chinese community is vibrant and growing blah blah blah... but more than half of the time, i don`t feel what I`m saying. they`re just facts. going to the kobe chinatown was also a bit weird. i just felt like a tourist, not really engaging in the chinatown, just kind of gliding by. maybe i`ve been in japan too long. maybe it`s unnerving how the japanese can mess up the taste of chinese food (i bought oyster sauce the other day....and chinese lettuce...) which makes me feel more alienated. i think it`s also because i can`t speak the Other language well at all... i`ve noticed how important language facility is in terms of allowing you to feel functional... and since functionality and identity are dependent on each other, i`m at a loss =) sighsighsigh... boooooooooooooo. i wish i was whole something. down with fractions.
i`m half chinese. weird.
so... i think i`m coming home for good this year. recently everything has been looked at from the only-here-for-one-year angle... so i guess i really am convinced, just hesitant about actually verbalizing it. anyways, chinese new year is this weekend... i always thought it happened in february, but i guess the last week of january is close enough. it`ll be weird to celebrate it, without being surrounded by the red and gold of chinatown and market village/pacific mall, not seeing rows of open cardboard boxes displaying glutinous sesame cakes and lap cheoung...being in japan, and becoming totally involved with my japanese identity worries me sometimes because it feels like my chinese/indonesian side is losing out, causing a cultural imbalance in my identity as a whole. but it`s always been like that i guess, japaneseness winning out since ots was/is the dominant figure in the family... i mean my full name is japanese, people say i look japanese vs. chinese, and i can make myself be understood in japanese vs. my nonexistent mandarin/cantonese or paltry indonesian. it`s weird, i feel like my chinese-ness is hidden underneath all of this japanese-ness, waiting to be exposed... but...i`m not really sure what it means to be chinese, which as i type this, is rather shocking.
i don`t feel chinese.
i guess i kind of know what it`s like to be japanese to a certain extent, as much as any gaijin can i guess... i don`t know how to be chinese... i mean i know that being chinese is this ever changing, nebulous notion, and there is no one prescribed path to becoming chinese. also, understanding how to be CBC is completely different; i don`t even know if i have that down. and even then, i don`t know how many CBCs really feel Chinese, cultural identity being watered down and everything in the West. i understand that some people will say that you can`t always feel a culture, you can only be human, you`re Canadian!... but there are moments in japan, where i feel japanese, like yes, i feel like i belong here and i understand them. and i guess just being asian in Toronto, i feel a responsibility to be _________ ...
is it wrong to prefer one side over the other? i dunno... right now, it feels like a betrayal of sorts. and it gets a bit more complicated since mom is chinese-indonesian, which involves a whole other set of memories, experiences and perspectives foreign to "typical" Toronto HK-mainland Chinese. i remember going to my first Indonesian service a couple of Christmases ago with the family, and being so taken with the way Pastor Joe Surdigo spoke, how he rolled his r`s, and how the Indonesian language just punctured the air powerfully and passionately. the inflections of Indonesian are varied; it`s a bit more abrupt than japanese, but smoother than cantonese i think... i really like it. people can sound wicked furious in indonesian =)
when victoria talks about being chinese, i feel this weird disconnect from her... i can recite the virtues of toronto, in all of its multicultural glory, and how our chinese community is vibrant and growing blah blah blah... but more than half of the time, i don`t feel what I`m saying. they`re just facts. going to the kobe chinatown was also a bit weird. i just felt like a tourist, not really engaging in the chinatown, just kind of gliding by. maybe i`ve been in japan too long. maybe it`s unnerving how the japanese can mess up the taste of chinese food (i bought oyster sauce the other day....and chinese lettuce...) which makes me feel more alienated. i think it`s also because i can`t speak the Other language well at all... i`ve noticed how important language facility is in terms of allowing you to feel functional... and since functionality and identity are dependent on each other, i`m at a loss =) sighsighsigh... boooooooooooooo. i wish i was whole something. down with fractions.
i`m half chinese. weird.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
bikkurishita!
oh yeah! i totally forgot, but i was in my first earthquake on the 6th! i was in the recording studio at the bentencho education centre, feebly reciting conversation about takoyaki and Osaka-jo for the materials recording in my stuffed up voice, when all of a sudden, the room began to rumble and shake a bit. at first the japanese teachers were like, "oh the subway?" and then i thought so too, but then when the room began to SWAY, i was thinking either the subway had to be RIGHT beside the room or else this was no subway tremor... then one of the ladies said, "oh earthquake!" ever so calmly. and then the male teacher said,"oh, the lights..." as he pointed skywards to the huge studio lights that hung above us. i actually had a moment of sheer heart-thumping panic, where i wondered if i needed to dive under the desk or the doorframe, whichonewhichonewhichone??!! and then the earthquake stopped. whoa man. i was reminded of it when i was watching tv yesterday and there was a feature on the kobe earthquake of 1995. apparently a lot of families left kobe and moved to the outskirts of the region, specifically the hyogo region. they featured a school whose population had decreased significantly (to 130 kids) as a result of the `exodus` and countered that image with a school in Hyogo whose population increased due to the influx of families. It was kind of sad, especially considering how well Kobe bounced back after the earthquake. Nowadays, downtown Kobe is pretty nice... from what I`ve experienced nothing beats their wide sidewalks, numerous shotengais, a tiny but popular Chinatown, and their Luminaire festival. Even Rokko Island is super nice... toronto ga niitteru na... kobe isn`t a bustling metropolis like kyoto, activity in the main core dies at like 7:30, as shiu, shaki and i found out over the winter break... but still, the infrastructure is pretty amazing. earthquakes are a little scary eh? the ground, firmament... is moving... shifting underneath you... the earth is not as dependable as you thought it was...
also not dependable: weather forecasts by japanese people... mr okada, a few teachers and miharu all promised me snow. the most i got was a smattering of hail... but i`ll take it...hail! it stopped after five minutes...sigh. i was like, "oh!yay! solid precipitation, almost like snow! woohoooo!... owowowoowow..woohoooo!..owowow..."
some interesting questions i got during my intro class with Joyo ichi-nenseis:
i. how do you say dog in french?
ii. do you speak english? (one time i said "no" as a joke, and the kid who asked me looked so scared and confused... hehehehheee)
iii. what is your dream?
iv. what is your favourite japanese word?
v. what do you have?
vi. what does your dog like?
oh yeah! i totally forgot, but i was in my first earthquake on the 6th! i was in the recording studio at the bentencho education centre, feebly reciting conversation about takoyaki and Osaka-jo for the materials recording in my stuffed up voice, when all of a sudden, the room began to rumble and shake a bit. at first the japanese teachers were like, "oh the subway?" and then i thought so too, but then when the room began to SWAY, i was thinking either the subway had to be RIGHT beside the room or else this was no subway tremor... then one of the ladies said, "oh earthquake!" ever so calmly. and then the male teacher said,"oh, the lights..." as he pointed skywards to the huge studio lights that hung above us. i actually had a moment of sheer heart-thumping panic, where i wondered if i needed to dive under the desk or the doorframe, whichonewhichonewhichone??!! and then the earthquake stopped. whoa man. i was reminded of it when i was watching tv yesterday and there was a feature on the kobe earthquake of 1995. apparently a lot of families left kobe and moved to the outskirts of the region, specifically the hyogo region. they featured a school whose population had decreased significantly (to 130 kids) as a result of the `exodus` and countered that image with a school in Hyogo whose population increased due to the influx of families. It was kind of sad, especially considering how well Kobe bounced back after the earthquake. Nowadays, downtown Kobe is pretty nice... from what I`ve experienced nothing beats their wide sidewalks, numerous shotengais, a tiny but popular Chinatown, and their Luminaire festival. Even Rokko Island is super nice... toronto ga niitteru na... kobe isn`t a bustling metropolis like kyoto, activity in the main core dies at like 7:30, as shiu, shaki and i found out over the winter break... but still, the infrastructure is pretty amazing. earthquakes are a little scary eh? the ground, firmament... is moving... shifting underneath you... the earth is not as dependable as you thought it was...
also not dependable: weather forecasts by japanese people... mr okada, a few teachers and miharu all promised me snow. the most i got was a smattering of hail... but i`ll take it...hail! it stopped after five minutes...sigh. i was like, "oh!yay! solid precipitation, almost like snow! woohoooo!... owowowoowow..woohoooo!..owowow..."
some interesting questions i got during my intro class with Joyo ichi-nenseis:
i. how do you say dog in french?
ii. do you speak english? (one time i said "no" as a joke, and the kid who asked me looked so scared and confused... hehehehheee)
iii. what is your dream?
iv. what is your favourite japanese word?
v. what do you have?
vi. what does your dog like?
ohisashiburi...
i think i am starting to get a little tech-weary these days... or maybe it`s just my need to decity-ize...i can`t wait for hawaii, and hopefully i can buy my ticket this week. it`ll be bizarre i think, to be reunited with some of the girls in hawaii of all places, and for tomo`s wedding, an event five years in the making since she`s wanted the married life since she was 18 hahahh. after hearing about julia`s trip to thailand, i had an intense longing to drive along the coast somewhere, anywhere, to follow the sun into night. in a real car, with people that make me happy, falling into that happy-sleepy-warm-fuzzy-state, wanting to be nowhere else except where i am right now. i was thinking of doing a road trip up and down the east coast with liz this summer when i go home, but i dunno how feasible that will be since i probably won`t get my G (curses) and Liz is scared of traffic moving over 70km/h (heeheee...). i love road trips. i don`t mind the driving especially when the sun is streaming through the windshield, and i am sufficiently armed against the glare with sunglasses and the perfect song (reccomended driving music: coldplay, why georgia by jm, rick astley, mich branch). but i love being a passenger. i think it was all of those saturdays as a kid, piling into the car as my family endured a day of neverending errands/obligations, capped off with a drowsy nighttime drive back home to the sticks i.e. Stouffville... for a while if i was in a moving vehicle for more than 10 minutes, i would fall asleep, head forward, dead to the world. i`m not that bad now... i can now endure an entire loop on the TTC yonge/university line without falling asleep *applause*
why am i writing about this?
i have no idea... maybe i just miss home too much. maybe i need to get away... but the past few days have been good for me. i caught up on much needed sleep (and still am hehehhe), cleaned, played with Lucas, and breathed deep sunny wintery breaths. on saturday i walked up to the highest point in chishima park, which offers a 360 view of the park and taisho-ku... the sun was about to set, so everything was coated with that romantic golden sunlight, and for a while, i felt really content about being in Osaka. but at the same time, it was also contentment at having to leave it, which was a first. the clouds were a bit hazy, but i could still make out the outlines of the mountains surrounding the city, and it struck me that i would maybe never be able to live in a city protected by mountains again. mountains. maybe if i moved to vancouver, but i have a feeling the mountains there jut into the sky more raggedly, whereas here, they slope softly, disappearing at night, sometimes reappearing in the clear of day.
points of interest (or a thinly veiled attempt at another list):
1. christmas in japan... was a little samishii for family and snow, but happy with the mellow-KFC-feasting-movie-Matt version
2. new year`s in japan... smoky and crowded for most of it... so basically new year`s with mary at a club (hahahaha, kidding). it was good, i went to sumiyoshitaisha and got some exclamations of "erai na!" from teachers. woohooo japanese culture brownie points! thanks ots
3. my parents are coming in february!!! woohooooooooooooooooooooo... arriving on the 14th, lovelove... but only for a week. booooooooo.
4. i still don`t have a friday school...!!??
5. i bought kimchi. i`m scared... who knows if natto will be next??
6. it`s weird to hear about/feel people drifting...
7. i got really sick on the 6th... i blame Shaun for bringing in some weirdo balinese disease into my midst
8. started reading garcia marquez`s "in the time of cholera"... sooo good
9. i don`t like the book for the book club. poo.
10. i forgot how much i missed shaki when i was hanging out with him during winter break
i think i am starting to get a little tech-weary these days... or maybe it`s just my need to decity-ize...i can`t wait for hawaii, and hopefully i can buy my ticket this week. it`ll be bizarre i think, to be reunited with some of the girls in hawaii of all places, and for tomo`s wedding, an event five years in the making since she`s wanted the married life since she was 18 hahahh. after hearing about julia`s trip to thailand, i had an intense longing to drive along the coast somewhere, anywhere, to follow the sun into night. in a real car, with people that make me happy, falling into that happy-sleepy-warm-fuzzy-state, wanting to be nowhere else except where i am right now. i was thinking of doing a road trip up and down the east coast with liz this summer when i go home, but i dunno how feasible that will be since i probably won`t get my G (curses) and Liz is scared of traffic moving over 70km/h (heeheee...). i love road trips. i don`t mind the driving especially when the sun is streaming through the windshield, and i am sufficiently armed against the glare with sunglasses and the perfect song (reccomended driving music: coldplay, why georgia by jm, rick astley, mich branch). but i love being a passenger. i think it was all of those saturdays as a kid, piling into the car as my family endured a day of neverending errands/obligations, capped off with a drowsy nighttime drive back home to the sticks i.e. Stouffville... for a while if i was in a moving vehicle for more than 10 minutes, i would fall asleep, head forward, dead to the world. i`m not that bad now... i can now endure an entire loop on the TTC yonge/university line without falling asleep *applause*
why am i writing about this?
i have no idea... maybe i just miss home too much. maybe i need to get away... but the past few days have been good for me. i caught up on much needed sleep (and still am hehehhe), cleaned, played with Lucas, and breathed deep sunny wintery breaths. on saturday i walked up to the highest point in chishima park, which offers a 360 view of the park and taisho-ku... the sun was about to set, so everything was coated with that romantic golden sunlight, and for a while, i felt really content about being in Osaka. but at the same time, it was also contentment at having to leave it, which was a first. the clouds were a bit hazy, but i could still make out the outlines of the mountains surrounding the city, and it struck me that i would maybe never be able to live in a city protected by mountains again. mountains. maybe if i moved to vancouver, but i have a feeling the mountains there jut into the sky more raggedly, whereas here, they slope softly, disappearing at night, sometimes reappearing in the clear of day.
points of interest (or a thinly veiled attempt at another list):
1. christmas in japan... was a little samishii for family and snow, but happy with the mellow-KFC-feasting-movie-Matt version
2. new year`s in japan... smoky and crowded for most of it... so basically new year`s with mary at a club (hahahaha, kidding). it was good, i went to sumiyoshitaisha and got some exclamations of "erai na!" from teachers. woohooo japanese culture brownie points! thanks ots
3. my parents are coming in february!!! woohooooooooooooooooooooo... arriving on the 14th, lovelove... but only for a week. booooooooo.
4. i still don`t have a friday school...!!??
5. i bought kimchi. i`m scared... who knows if natto will be next??
6. it`s weird to hear about/feel people drifting...
7. i got really sick on the 6th... i blame Shaun for bringing in some weirdo balinese disease into my midst
8. started reading garcia marquez`s "in the time of cholera"... sooo good
9. i don`t like the book for the book club. poo.
10. i forgot how much i missed shaki when i was hanging out with him during winter break
