Wed 30 April ~ Wed 7/5: I need to stop saboru...ing... LJ, AKA, 2 weeks behind.

[tammaiya]

I also need to learn/remember how to speak English. I left the title as is just so you can see the pile of fail my brain is turning into. Saboru is like... cutting class. XD; Anyway, things:

1. I forgot to mention the other post, but when I was in Shinjuku about three weeks ago, I wasted like 1400 yen on the skill testers before I came to the conclusion that they're just as evil and rigged as western skill testers. 200 yen a play doesn't seem like a lot, especially when the toys are so big and easy to target, but when you get the claw right over the top of the toy and still don't hook it, you really have to wonder.

2. Another thing I keep forgetting to mention is how weird it is for me whenever I hear western music hear. (Other than on my ipod, I mean.) I just didn't expect to hear Kylie Minogue in okonomiyaki shops, Elvis and the Beatles on random ads, Linkin Park and the Black-Eyed Peas in clubs... the bakery I went to the other day was playing Good Day Sunshine, which was kind of nice, but mostly it's a rather bizarre feeling. (They play Japanese songs too, btw, just there's also a lot of Western songs.)

3. I have discovered the word "doona" is Australian, of apparently Norse origin, a fact of which I was previously unaware. It has made me quite distressed trying to explain to Japanese and British persons what the hell I am talking about, because I had a mental blank and forgot the other word I vaguely remembered being used in books. Google is my friend, however: DUVET. Doona is the Australian word for duvet. We have all learned something, whoo.

4. You know what I honestly don't get about Japan? People here are obsessed with weight and really health conscious about some things-- some restaurants tell you how many calories are in each meal; I'd much rather hear about the carbs-- but everything here is LOADED with sugar. You don't get diet coke in clubs or restaurants or whatever. There's no such thing as sugar-free chewing gum. Even BREAD is really sugary. Literally everywhere you go there are cakes and pudding cups and parfaits. I just... don't get it. O.o; It's the same with recycling, there are recycling bins all OVER the place (to the point where you can't find a normal bin) but that doesn't stop stores here from using ten million billion plastic bags. ~_~;

5. I've been mostly healed for a while now, but I canNOT get rid of this wretched cough, and mum has made me paranoid that it'll turn into bronchitis. ><

6. Actually, you know what I find really irritating? Second-hand smoke. Living in Canberra, I had grown very accustomed to a pleasantly smoke-free environment most of the time. By law, you can't smoke in any enclosed building or even within a certain distance, I think. There's smoking ALL OVER THE PLACE here. I've almost gagged several times; one memorable time was when my cough was still fairly bad and I was eating lunch outside the cafeteria and there was someone sitting at the table behind me who lights up and is completely indifferent to the fact that I start choking on the smoke they're sending my way. AAAAUGH.

I was kind of worried that getting up for class on Wednesday was going to make me get sicker again, because it's the one day of the week where I have class first period. Which means I have to get up at 8, 8.30 at the latest, and my throat had stopped hurting on tuesday but I was really worried it would start again if I forced myself to get up.

In the end, I needn't have worried, though that's mixed in terms of blessing, because I didn't feel sicker on Wednesday... because I didn't have to force myself to wake up. Since I'd once more barely gotten any sleep, with the joys of gagging crap up out of my lungs. Oh how I love to cough until I throw up. Um. >> Sorry for the health TMI, guys?

Japanese class was, you know, class-like. Although it royally sucked when I started on a really bad coughing fit and just could. not. stop. One girl gave me a throat lollie to suck, which was nice of her. I was kind of worried it might contain sugar, but I was desperate enough to just go with it, and there weren't any massively adverse effects to my BGLs... which might have just been because I was tending towards low blood sugar anyway, because I really don't trust Japan to have sugar-free ANYTHING, but whatev, I'm not questioning.

Anyway, after class I was meeting up with Kaori so we could go back to the Immigration Bureau local branch in Tachikawa and collect my VISA, YAY~~. Except I was sick and out of it when I'd gone to class, so I'd left my phone in my room. *headdesk* So I had to go back and get it. I was only a little late to meet Kaori but I still feel bad.

To get to Tachikawa from here, you go to Musashi Sakai and catch the Chuuou line rapid same as you would to go to Shinjuku, only in the opposite direction. I didn't get to eat takoyaki this time, though, because Kaori and I had decided to catch the bus rather than take the 20 minute walk-- because it was really hot on Wednesday, and I was lethargic and sick, and also Kaori had class third period and we were running to a deadline-- so we got off one station earlier to catch the bus.

We were aiming to get to the bureau before 12pm, which is when the reception closed for lunch, but unfortunately for us the bus only arrived at the closest stop at five to and it was just on 12 when I got there. I managed to grab a ticket before they pulled the shutters down, but they weren't seeing anyone until after 1pm. Kaori, meanwhile, had gone to the shop nearby to get a revenue stamp for me (you use them to pay instead of actual money), figuring we'd have more chance of making it in time if we split up. It was a good thing to get the ticket before they closed though, since it meant I had to wait less time after they reopened... but I was going to have to do it by myself, since third period starts at 1.10pm and Kaori had to get back to campus before then.

So basically we went to the combini nearby where I bought tissues and water and we both bought lunch (*got gyuudon*), then Kaori went to catch the bus and I went back to the Immigration Bureau to eat lunch and do my kanji homework while I waited. (So much kanji. So. Much. Kanji. I still haven't finished the kanji homework from this week, let alone started on the next set. thank god next monday is a public holiday.)

Once they opened the windows again, it took them about twenty minutes to get to me, and then it was all really quick and I had my visa. I am officially not an illegal alien until 30 April next year, by which time I'll be back in Australia studying at the ANU again anyway! \o/

I went to catch the bus back to the station, since it was still hot, I was still sick and lethargic, and also I didn't have the map with me. I almost caught the bus from the wrong side of the road, except the traffic guy (traffic guy! we don't have them in Australia) told me and indicated to the where the right bus stop was.

Then I sat down on a brick wall which was the only place to sit while I waited for the bus to come. I had to wait a WHOLE TEN MINUTES. Jeez, Japan, not on. (I am going to weep tears of BLOOD when I get back to Australia and actually have to start checking timetables again before I go anywhere if I don't want to wait an hour for the next bus.) And during that time, I got savaged by big ants, which is why my little finger on my right hand swelled way up and I got a weird mottled bug bite on my inner right arm. ~_~

While I was waiting, a guy from China (I never actually learned his name) suddenly struck up a conversation, which was interesting; I chatted with him until I got back to the station, where I went to check out the chemist, which was a complete and UTTER waste of time. Forget sugar-free lollies (which my mum told me to look out for, but I remain convinced they don't exist here); the chemists had no IDEA what cold medicine I could take. When I asked for help and said I was a diabetic they were like "... um... go to the doctor?"

>>; So I gave up on THAT stupid idea, and went to the station, where I got lured by a cake shop (stupid Japan and its stupid irresistible confectionaries!) and bought myself a berry tart absolutely SLATHERED with whipped cream, which as you can imagine is the best thing ever for a person with a cold-- er, let alone a diabetic, just forget that bit-- and felt a mixture between vindicated and really guilty. XD; Then I caught the train back to Musashi Sakai, where I wandered around looking for various interesting shops, willfully resisted tripping over and "accidentally" buying a Wii for 180,000 yen (BUT I'LL BE BACK. ONE DAY.), ate the tart, and did some grocery shopping. THE EXCITING LIFE I LEAD. XD;

I don't have classes on Thursdays and I'd run out of Coldeze by that point, so I decided, damn it, I will go to the uni health centre to ask what I can take and then I will go to the bedding place. So I went to the health centre with my empty medicine box, was asked by the nurse for my student card and why I was there, instructed to put on one of those face masks that are so popular in Japan, and then essentially ended up with a surprise consult. I sort of sat around waiting, thinking they were looking up the ingredients or something, but then the nurse came and told me that because my medicine is made in Australia there's no direct equivalent here, gave me a thermometer to take my temperature with, and after about twenty minutes sent me into the doctor, which left me vaguely bewildered.

The doctor spoke some English, but I don't know how much since I said I was fine with speaking Japanese and he only said anything in English when I got confused. Essentially he asked me about what my problem with ordinary cold meds were, what my symptoms were, and any allergies (also, what I was doing about insulin etc since he remembered me from Saito-sensei asking on my behalf about getting diabetes stuff in Japan), and after I finally managed to convey that I can't have pseudo effedriene or sugar in my medicine and that I'm allergic to sulfur, he prescribed me four different medications (anti-histimine for my nose, anti-inflammatories for my throat, suppressants for my cough, and stomach medication just in case side-effects upset my stomach; didn't need/take the last one) and sent me back out to the nurse. Brief mental blank made me forget the word for "nurse" and assume it was the word for chemist, because that made the most sense to my Australian brain and I thought it was a script, but the nurse asked me for the paper the doctor had given me and handed me 3 days' worth of each medication and explained the dosage of each one.

Me: But... what... free medicine? REALLY? *can't quite grasp this concept*

Not, you understand, that I was going to complain about this. Free medical consult AND free drugs? Sign me up!

Also, I forgot to ask about the bug bites, which had blown up horribly (I'm allergic to bug bites, they always get enormous without me scratching them), but the anti-histimines effectively dealt with that anyway.

After that I walked off to the area near Tama St to find the bedding store, which I did, and the shop-owner was very helpful in finding me all the stuff I needed to go together. It came to about 25000 yen, though, and he didn't have an eftpos machine, so I had to ask him to hold them for me until the next day so I could get cash out. He was really nice, although he bowed so much and spoke so much keigo it made me a little awkward, like how do you respond to that?

Anyway, by the time I got back to campus it was about five minutes until the meeting time for going to Shibuya, so I only had time to run up to my room and grab some things and then it was back down to the dorm foyer to wait. (As it turned out, people were late so I TOTALLY would have had time to do other stuff, but whatever.) I don't know if I actually mentioned this before, but one of intergal's friends from her uni back in the UK was helping organise a trip to a live show in a club in Shibuya, and since intergal was going and I hadn't been to Shibuya yet, I said I'd go. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Rachel, Mariet and Dina were all going too.

I have to say, it was a good thing we were in a group because I had no idea what was going on for most of the time until we got there. We took the train from Tobitakyuu-- that's the station 20 minutes walk from here, and Dawn and Mariet and I had to run to catch up to everyone because I got distracted by a poodle, it's like my fatal weakness-- to Choufu, where we swapped to an express train, got off at Meidaimae (I didn't figure out that's where it was until just the other day. And every time I say that name I feel like it has far too many vowels in it), and caught another train from there to Shibuya. During this time, I was really starting to regret deciding to go, because I had this totally epic coughing fit on the trains the whole way there where I literally couldn't breath, and aside from being really embarrassing it was painful and felt horrible. Adding to the fun, my period had finally started for the first time since mid-December-- which on the one hand was a good thing, but on the other, WHY WHEN I WAS SICK? And why did the worst cramps have to be when I was going out? Yeesh, my body hates me. ~_~

We then waited for some students from another uni to join up with us at the station exit near the Hachi-kou statue and the world's biggest pedestrian crossing, and walked off to the club which I doubt I could find again, but intergal knew where we were, at least, which was a good thing because we ended up leaving early. (more on that later)

When we got to the club, I had this horrible moment going in where I thought I wasn't going to survive this because it was FULL of smoke. Incense and cigarette smoke both, and it just made my poor abused lungs want to give up completely. ;___; I somehow managed to adjust, though.

Some interesting things to note: it was still only about 4.30 in the afternoon when we went into the club. Clubbing starts early here? It was in a basement, the main level of the club was several steep flights of stairs down. It cost 2000 yen to go in, and 500 yen for a drink ticket. The club was pretty dark and cramped and there was a stage taking up half the floor space.

There was a DJ for a while until the live bands. He was very enthusiastic and energetic and kind of fun; the music wasn't too bad to dance to, it was a little strange to have Black-Eyed Peas in a Japanese club but I like Don't Phunk With My Heart, so. He did have a tendency to stop a lot between songs to talk, but he was kind of funny so I forgave him that. Besides, Japanese people apparently DON'T DANCE IN CLUBS-- I don't know why, I don't understand it, can they not? will they not? is there some cultural reason? But the only people dancing were the foreigners, mostly our group, although at one point a Japanese girl a bit older than me came up to talk to me and dance with us a bit. It was hard to talk over the music, but I translated a bit of Don't Phunk With My Heart for her. XD

What else... I went to get a drink with my drink ticket. I was considering getting a tequila based drink, until I noticed there was a cocktail called "cherry blossom" and I promptly cracked up and ordered it. XD (cherry liquour and... probably water.) That was my only drink for the night; I did return at one point and contemplate it, but the drinks were expensive and sugar-free coke doesn't exist at bars in Japan, so I gave up and drank water from the bathroom taps (you had to pay for water, too).

I should mention at this point that I'm exactly the kind of terrible person, who when faced with a new and interesting experience like this, immediately starts thinking things like, "can't breathe! smoke! ... you know I bet Subaru would HATE this place. Haha cherry blossom. ... omg there so needs to be a club scene in boyband!X." *cough*

At around maybe 6 they started having actual bands. There was this band of guys who had coloured t-shirts and one of them had glasses like a censor bar that kind of fascinated me. After them there was a girl band that was the highlight for me. I won't lie; there were five of them, and they were kind of smoking hot, although I wanted to feed the bleach blonde one a sandwich. And they had really good costumes and dance moves, too. I quite liked the songs, enough that I bought one of their singles afterwards, although I'll admit that was largely so I could get it signed. XD I haven't ripped it to my ipod yet, I should do that.

intergal and I left after that set, because as I diabetic I really needed dinner-- well, I needed it so I could take my meds, too, and I'd fucked my sugar up with the cocktail, so. intergal wanted to eat too, so we said our goodbyes to everyone and bailed. Since intergal actually knew where the fuck she was, she lead us onwards to moss burger, which also didn't have sugar free softdrink (I've given up asking now, if the fast food joint doesn't have diet coke no one does aside from the supermarket/vending machines/combinis).

After dinner, we hit up a bank, where I went to withdraw money from my credit card-- there wasn't enough in my normal account for the bedding-- only to realise I DIDN'T KNOW THE PIN. So I had to call my very unimpressed parents, doubly unimpressed for the fact you get whacked with a huge extra charge when you withdraw advance cash on credit (*didn't know this*). And then my phone ran out of batteries. But not before I got my PIN! So at least I got the money.

Anyway, we caught the trains back to Tobitakyuu at around 9-ish, and then I was buggered so we made a valiant dash down to the bus stop just as the bus for Fuchuu arrived and let it take us back home. Aaah.

On Friday, I have my class second and third period, same as Tuesday. The third period class is my crazy 17thC literature class; I'm kind of wondering if I would've been better off with a more straightforward history class, because as much as I want to learn classical Japanese this class is more prac work than lecturing which can be hard enough in any case let alone when you have no grounding. The other course I was thinking of taking was on Thursday, though, and I like my day off too much, so it's not like I'd be taking it if I wasn't taking this class... anyway.

After class I went back to the bedding shop, and I have to say, "service" is the best word ever. Not only did I get a discount on my bedding for buying everything together, I got two free dishtowels! The awesomeness of this is trebled when you realise that I was actually thinking I needed more dishtowels and maybe would have to buy them. XD He also gave me a lift back to the dorm with all my bedding and carried it up to my room for me! SUPER BONUS, I was wondering how I'd carry it all back to campus and then I didn't have to.

The new bedding is really nice, too. It cost me about 250000 yen-- approx. AU$250-- and for that I got a soft mattress-futon, a "covering" futon (the Japanese equivalent of a doona/duvet), a blanket, a Japanese-style pillow, a Western-style pillow (sometimes which one I want depends on my mood. also, the Japanese one is crap for sitting against the headboard), a futon cover for the bottom futon (essentially like a top-sheet), and a sheet. The sheet is white, the futon cover is blue, the pillows are blue and white, and the blanket and covering futon are pink with flowers. Also, the blanket is fuzzy. I love them ALL. The first few nights I was a bit iffy about the covering futon; it's definitely not as good as a doona, it's stiffer and harder to mold, but I guess I have a feather doona at home so I'm judging things on different levels. It got less still after a few days though. And I felt really stupid, but I complained to mum that I wasn't sure if I was just really spoilt and had a higher thread count in my sheets at home or WHAT but these sheets are kind of itchy! and she was like, "you didn't wash them. did you."

Me: .............. uuuuuh.
Me: Well that would explain THAT!

They've stopped being itchy now, though. For the record. XD

Moving on from the bedding, I then I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening writing Becky surprise birthday fic. *beams* There was also some Moyashimon-watching. And... that's about all I have to say about Friday.

Saturday was pretty glorious in its complete lack of activity. This was not entirely by choice; I'd been thinking of meeting up with cienna at Super Comic City day 1, which was the day with all the game doujins. Unfortunately I'd had really bad coughing attacks that night that made it impossible for me to sleep until about seven or so in the morning-- which is realistically when I should have been getting up to catch the train-- and when I texted cienna at ten (the next time I attained consciousness) to ask if it was still worth trying to get out there, she said it was cold and rainy and horrible and if I was sick I was better off not bothering, and that if there was anything particular I wanted, she'd keep an eye out for me. (Thanks again, btw. ♥)

So in the end I stayed home, watched VS Arashi, and read a whole bunch of manga. Between getting to the end of the Kisen arc in Soul Eater and catching up on both Holic and Tsubasa... seriously. A LOT of manga.

Sunday was, of course, THE DAY. You know it's got to be pretty freaking spectacular if it can make me get out of bed at 7 in the morning, but I did it. I DID. I was so organised, guys, I checked the time table the night before (something I otherwise haven't needed to do in Japan, since the trains come so frequently and I live on campus so I generally don't have to get anywhere by a particular time), I set my alarm, I DIDN'T MISS THE TRAIN.

Anyone who knows my long and really not so terribly illustrious history with public transport probably understands why this is a big deal.

But whatever, I got to the train station in enough time to spare to do a quick drop in at the combini next door (combini are open 24/7, but I ought to mention the fruit shop etc were also open despite it being before 8am) and pick up some moisturisor and hand towel. I'd been wanting to get the former for some time because even in this climate my legs get really dry, and I was wearing a skirt without stockings for the first time since getting here so it was a good time for it.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, getting to Tokyo Big Site from Tama station takes at least 3 trains and about an hour and a half. The first, oh, ten minutes of that was from Tama to Musashi Sakai, and that was the only bit I was able to sit down for. ~_~; There was a HUGE exodus to the convention, so despite the fact that it was butt o'clock on a Sunday morning in the middle of nowhere, both the Chuuou line to Shinjuku and the Rinkai line from Shinjuku to Kokusaitenjijo station were packed. (Oh, well, the Chuuou line wasn't PACKED. There were few enough people that it created the false hope that eventually I'd be able to sit, but no dice.) Just as well I brought my ipod as well as my DS and a book, because it's much easier to listen to music than read or game when you have to stand.

(By the way, quick tangent, I now know how to get to Yokohama! I was actually mildly worried that I'd caught the train going to Yokohama instead of Kokusaitenjijo, in fact, because they left from the same platform in the same direction. Not that I didn't check really carefully, but me and public transport have that History, like I said, so, you know. Paranoid.)

Then, once I got to the station-- which is right out on the bay, at the east outer limit of Tokyo compared to me, towards the western fringes-- it was about a ten, fifteen minute walk to Tokyo Big Site itself.

Not that I got to discover that right away. I arrived at 9.30, about half an hour after cienna and ontogenesis; the doors were supposed to open at 10, and they in FACT opened at 10.30. So I was very grateful for the fact I'd brought the first Dresden Files book with me, although it didn't help my legs getting stiff from trying to sit on the asphalt of the huge parking lot they made us form into lines in. I also struck up a conversation with the girl next to me, who was a little older than me and was on her second time at Super Comic City.

Once they FINALLY let us in, I stopped and awed at the sheer scope for a few minutes-- there were 6 halls, and every single one of them was DO DEKAI oh my god, I speak English, really ENORMOUS. Then I went and found Hall 3, which was the hall with all the stuff I was particularly interested in that day (CLAMP, GanGan, Moyashimon, Ouran). There was no Soul Eater, I feel there's enough FMA on the internet without me spending heaps of money on doujins at a time when I'm not even active in the fandom, I judged the one KyouyaxTamaki table a fail when I realised TAMAKI WAS ON TOP (I'm sorry, that just hurts my brain cells. also the book wasn't professionally bound and it didn't look that exciting. AND TAMAKI WAS ON TOP), and I wasn't really in the mood for Tsubasa doujin. But after the day before, I was completely in a Doumeki/Watanuki OTP mode, and also craving Moyashimon, so I picked up way more doujin than I should've for both of them.

Also, as an unexpected bonus, there was a CLAMP Campus Detectives table. There is NEVER enough CCD in the world, so I picked up two cute books from there. (One is mostly text, but I can read it and it's not like there's CCD fic on the net either.)

While I was loitering around the CLAMP tables, I ran into ontogenesis, who helped me navigate the Holic and Moyashimon tables. After we were both done there, I followed her around to the other tables she'd marked off as tables of interest. When we were in Hall 5 (JUMP: TeniPuri, Bleach, etc; also the place where the HikaGo was)we ran into Shuuhei, a guy Jenny and Jen know but thought had gone back to Kyoto. Turns out he's staying in Tokyo until about the same time I am. Anyway, Shuuhei was totally awesome and adorable and was hunting for TeniPuri doujin-- specifically Silver Pair, his OTP-- so we said we'd split up for the moment and meet up again for lunch.

More wandering occurred, then we conferred with cianna via mobile and met up with everyone-- there was a whole group of us, and I hadn't met anybody except Jen and Jenny before, but it was nice meeting everyone else-- and waited for Shuuhei. Everyone compared purchases, chatted about fandoms, etc etc, which continued on when Shuuhei arrived, although I forgot myself and started talking in Japanese. (I can't help it! It's becoming an ingrained instinct! ;___;) Not that it mattered TOO much, but some people at the table didn't speak Japanese.

We then went to go get lunch and meet up with the last two members of our group, Meghan and youkofujima. :D Shuuhei and I had a fun conversations about fandoms, including the Tales series, while we were in the line to get our curry, and then when we met youkofujima we discovered more converging of interests! Including Panic and Fall Out Boy. XD youkofujima and Shuuhei are both really good artists, too, and I got to flip through their sketches. It was really fun. ♥ And kind of reminded me of back in highschool when we all used to flip through each other's sketchbooks all the time...

Ah, but back to the point! It was Meghan's birthday and she had this invitation to come to karaoke at this place in Shibuya, which was on the way back towards civilisation for all of us anyway, so we decided to go to the karaoke bar. I didn't go to Shibuya at all, and then suddenly, twice in a handful of days. *g* It was my first time doing karaoke in Japan too, for that matter.

The karaoke club was HUGE, like so many things in Japan are. We had to wait a bit for a room, but eventually they took us up to-- floor 4, for memory, where we got a big room with couches. We then proceeded to spend the next two hours rocking out. And eating an enormous parfait, because no event is truly complete without parfait. Mmm, parfait. I mostly sang a lot of FoB and Panic, thanks to aforementioned conversation, though there was also some Disney and Hikari and such. Someone else put on the eva themesong and I was surprised to realise that I could have sung it WITHOUT the autocue despite having not listened to it for years at this point. It was great, everyone sang along. ♥ (I was similarly surprised that I actually pretty much knew the tenipuri and hikago songs that were cued up, despite never specifically learning them and not listening to them for years. Although, maa, I guess I had 70-odd episodes to learn them in...) One of the other highlights was Shuuhei singing the tenipuri seigaku regulars song and doing all the Seigaku voices in the appropriate places. XD That was made of win.

Once karaoke was over, about half of our group went to catch the train home and the rest of us-- me, cienna, ontogenesis, Shuuhei and... I think one other person? was it Meghan? augh, my memory fails me, it's been a week and a half. Whatever, we went on a mission to find a Lawson's (for cienna) and a bank with international ATMs (for me). Finding the bank was pretty hard, but we managed. There was also a stop-off at McDonald's, where the people smoking indoors almost killed my lungs and I had to go downstairs with Shuuhei to the non-smoking area to wait for the others.

Eventually we made our way back to the station and caught the train heading in the general Shinjuku-Ikebukuro direction. I got off at Shinjuku to change for Musashi-Sakai, everyone else stayed on the train for Ikebukuro.

All in all, it was exhausting but really fun, and I met a lot of cool people. youkofujima and I exchanged LJs-- obviously-- and I got everyone else's mobile number/email. As well as FINALLY working out how docomo phones RECEIVE infrared signals, which was driving me batty. I just hope I get a chance to meet up with Shuuhei again, since he was really nice.

Then after all that, I caught the train back to Tama, bought dinner from Sankichi, and crawled back home, thanking any deity I could name that I still had another two days of Golden Week. (It might have been the lamest Golden Week ever, but it was still better than nothing!)

Speaking of... You know, I assume I must have done SOMETHING last Monday, but I really don't remember what that something could have been. *muses* I... think I spent the whole day just like, finishing watching Moyashimon and Soul Eater. Soul Eater airs at 6pm on Mondays (which is kind of inconvenient for me most weeks, I have a class that FINISHES right on 6pm), and I still needed to watch the first 3 eps. I watched one before ep 5, then ep 5, and the other two later that evening. Along with a bunch of Moyashimon. Or that could have been Tuesday. I DID emerge from my room at one point to grab lunch from the combini (everything else was CLOSED, okay, it was a public holiday) and do a little grocery shopping, but mostly I just vegged out.

I did do some writing, though! \o/

But Tuesday, that was some SERIOUS vegging. I don't think I left my room at all. Seriously, guys, seriously.

... Oh no, actually, I did leave my room. I didn't leave the dorm, but at one point in the evening I threw on some clothes and went to intergal's room to help her pick some clothes for her live performance the next day. :D Eventually it occurred to me I really had to go and make myself dinner before it got too late, but.

Other than that, yeah. Writing, anime, vegging. It was pretty sweet. XD

Wednesday, however, totally ruined my so-called Golden Week. I don't have classes on Thursdays, so if only I'd had Wednesday off, it would have been almost a week's holiday! Which is the only holiday I'm getting until August.

But noooooooooo. No, I have class first period on Wednesdays. >< UGH. It was pretty thrilling, as I'm sure you can imagine. Especially since we were doing kanji vocabulary, and I got picked to read out the one word I couldn't read (減少, genshou, reduction; knew the meaning, not the onyomi of the first character), which was made even better by the fact that I was trying to surreptitiously study for our vocab test on Friday in the other text book and thus had no idea what page we were on. So it was like, "Shibon-san! Yondekudasai!" "..... eh? *blank stare*" "Midori no hon. XY pe-ji." "*opens page, looks confused?*" "Zooka no shita." ".... haa?"

("Siobhan, please read to the class!" "Huh?" "The green book. Page XY." "?" "Beneath 'zooka'." "... um?")

For the record: I could read the kanji for zooka, had I in fact looked at them. I just had no idea where on the page to look, not having the faintest clue where we were up to. XD; LESSON, KIDLETS: PAY ATTENTION IN CLASS.

After class, I was going to meet up with Kaori to go to Fuchuu and get my health insurance, but she texted to say she'd fallen ill so I went back to my room instead and plotted the scene order of Boyband!X. In pretty colour-coded-by-POV texter, because I am THAT MUCH of a dork. (Quote: "My Subaru and Hokuto texters have gravitated towards my Seishirou texter! That's so hilarious! ... oh my god, I'm so pathetic.")

Eventually I did emerge from my room on two further occasions, first to eat lunch at the cafeteria, and later to see intergal's live performance. She's in the rock band club, and the various bands were doing a show all afternoon in one of the performance halls. They were running a bit late, so we had to wait before Dawn was on, but it was fun, even if the amps were turned up a bit loud. She was really good. ♥ And after her set was over, I met one of her friends from the club, Akane, and we went on a combini run together. Akane seemed really nice, so hopefully I'll see her again some time. I do have her phone number, but.

I remembered while we were at the combini that I was out of orange juice-- necessary in case of hypos-- so I picked some up, which unfortunately meant, since it was a hot day, that I had to go back to my room pretty much straight away so it wouldn't go off before I put it in the fridge. On the up side, when I got back to the dorm I discovered my TV tuner card, complete with mini aerial and adapter AV cords, had arrived. It doesn't get very good reception for TV-- I'm still using my mobile-- but that's okay, because my actual purpose in ordering it was to run my PS2 through my laptop. Which I can do! Admittedly it's not a perfect system, the picture is a little fuzzy and sometimes the sound stops working and the only way to fix it is to change the region settings-- which isn't hard, but IS annoying.

Still, I haz a PS2 again! :D

Okay, stuff it, I'm leaving it at that for now, I've at least narrowed the gap to a week.

On that note, I finished the chapter of Boyband!X at just under 10,000 words-- but there's still one chapter left to the part and I want to post them together, so you'll all have to wait a bit longer. XD;

I am weirdly tired and so incredibly sick of homework right now. Here, have a tale of random homework-related stupidity:

tammaiya: I was getting really frustrated
tammaiya: by this sentence which was "denwa wa, BELL _____________"
tammaiya: denwa is phone
tammaiya: I'm supposed to use the structure ni yotte (passive verb), which means "subject is/was verbed by object"
tammaiya: And I thought they meant bell the noun, because you call a phone ring that in Japanese.
tammaiya: And I was getting SUPER PEEVED because I was like, what the hell, that makes no sense, how do I create a sentence out of that!
tammaiya: ... until I realised they meant Alexander Graham Bell. *facepalm*

Comments

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

Oh, think McDonald's. There's sugar in McDonald's burger buns.

But yeah, like I said before-- Japan does not do bread the way the rest of us consider bread to be.