month-end jump start

there's something about the last day of the month that jump starts me.


☆　did a load of laundry, which is not a big deal until you realize it's at the laundromat around the corner (aka multiple trips to increase multitasking). clean sheets are such a wonderful thing. and underwear of course.

☆　went to the bank to withdraw money to pay my resident taxes for the first two quarters - goodbye $1200 ...sigh - which though, oh how i love you japan, can be paid at the convenience store!! awesome.

☆　signed up for a hot yoga class (tonight 17:00-18:30) they're having a special, so for the next two weeks i can go as much as i want. i need to go about 5 times to get my money's worth; 3 times a week is my goal, but wouldn't 4 times a week be lovely!

☆　stopped by the nail salon in my neighborhood for the first time, gasped at their prices, and promptly texted the girl who did them for me back in march (for half the price of the salon) and she's available tonight, yay!

☆　i'll have some time to kill between yoga and getting my nails done, so i looked up a subway (the sandwich shop) near the yoga studio and am going to take some studying. yesterday's practice test score only depressed me but i love subway so hopefully i'll find some motivation and be productive.

☆　and now i'm off to the grocery store to get something to make for a late lunch to fuel my yoga class. the 2 liter water is chilling in the fridge waiting to be downed too.


hopefully this lasts for the next 3 weeks; i have a lot of stuff to get done.




end of the day update:
i didn't leave early enough so that when i got semi-lost on my way to yoga, and then called to get directions, they told me the instructor had already closed the "check in" for the lesson. i wanted to cry because i had mentally prepared myself for it and then couldn't go. but, i got my 2 week all-you-can-yoga pass and reserved a spot in tomorrow's 1pm class. luckily i had study books with me to kill time, and, at the end of the day, at least my nails are pretty.

to do in oh nine: june

inventory time!

☆2008 leftovers☆

1 1-stop biting my nails
i'm doing really well, and trying to get an appointment to get gel nails again for the last 3 weeks before mt fuji, where my nails will take a beating.

4 18-explore my neighborhood - go to 3 bars/restaurants within walking distance (1/3)
Ro and i went to a great little yakiniku place. it wasn't exactly in my "neighborhood" but it WAS within walking distance.


☆habits☆

1 stick with a face skin care routine.
check.

2 eat breakfast (before work).
check.

3 make a japanese study schedule and stick to it.
uh...half check? t-minus 6 days! ><

4 hoop (or do some kind of exercise) three times a week, even for just 10 minutes.
this gets a big fat no check. though, i've been debating going to hot yoga for the next couple weeks to build up a bit of strength for mt fuji. i think i got an all-you-can-yoga-for-two-weeks coupon at a seriously discounted rate the other day...must look into that.


☆one time deals☆

1 clean out, organize and update blogroll/favorites/bookmarks folders
so i started google reader (a life saver!!) and organized my bookmark folder, but all those organized blogs/links/bookmarks were quickly replaced with more that now need to be organized. ha.

4 work on mt fuji again
i'm officially heading to gotemba on july 17th and will go up to the top on the morning of the 18th. i canNOT wait!!

17 not-appropriate-for-web-sharing-secret-number-17 ;)
check.


☆multiple time deals☆

1 apartment cleaning (including but not limited to toilet room, bath room, senmenjo, stovetop, kitchen cabinets, kitchen sink, kitchen pantry "area", desk, tv area, bookshelf, oshiire, other bedroom closet space, bedroom cabinet, and balcony)
my shower got a total scrub down, and i've vacuumed a few times, and the toilet has never felt so loved. that's what happens when you know someone else is looking.

2 make 6 things on my sewing machine (6.5/6)
1) きんちゃく
2) pinwheel pillow
3) charm quilt (in progress)
4) intial bag
5) cherry blossom baby messenger bag
6) pretty panel curtain for my shower doorway
7) chutes and ladders quilt

3 have a "home party" at least 2 times
i had a party for two guy friends (met through Cheer) whose birthdays happen to be 2 days apart in june. it was small, with only about 6 of us, but it was a lot of fun. the previously mentioned matsuri party isn't happening because they scheduled it over 3 weekdays, making it really hard to have any kind of decent get together.


last month i didn't do any of my mini-goals. oops. oh well, this month's are:
○ yoga?
○ check out a japanese cook book from the library and make ONE recipe from it.
○ actually do the data entry i'm supposed to be doing for Mr. S.
○ take (and survive, but hopefully pass) the japanese language proficiency test.

quote of the day

"if you're wasting time, but you're having fun, you're not wasting time."

-tim ferriss, over here in this video



also, earlier in the same video, when discussing why he blogs, he said,

"...because i want to love, be loved and never stop learning."


i love it.

because, don't we all?

macro monday

saitama prefecture
february 13, 2009
2:56pm

p.s. i thought i fixed the j but it's back to annoying me and it's just one of those days. sigh.

weekend love

i read somewhere that your blog gets boring when you

a. have a new job
b. are in a new relationship
c. volunteer a lot
or
d. all of the above.


clearly i'm an underachiever because i don't have a job nor do i volunteer and yet i opened my blogger homepage for the first time in 4 days, my google reader is backing up, and i'm sure i seem to have dropped off the face of the earth to all my other friends. (sorry Chels, i know i was being so good about emailing until thursday hit.)

but...ah i love the weekends. especially when they start on thursdays. ;) (not that every day isn't a weekend over here...)

i cooked dinner and even carted it to his place (talk about service!) on thursday. then friday night Ro was going to come over to my place after a birthday dinner for his friend's boyfriend, but he called and asked if i'd come along last minute because someone cancelled. he seemed really happy to introduce me as his girlfriend to his friend (disgustingly cute, yes, forgive him).

it was also a chance for me to hear Ro's english, because his friend (who is an american raised in england) doesn't speak much japanese. since Ro and i speak almost all japanese, it was a good "ice breaker" into us speaking english. i have a hard time switching languages part way through a friendship/relationship. whatever language i meet someone in and initially speak is usually the one that feels more comfortable, but since friday night, Ro has been speaking more english and it doesn't feel as weird as it did before. i didn't assume his english was bad, but it's better than i imagined. i guess that's what 3-ish years in california (language school plus 2 years of college classes) will do for you.

Ro's friend and his boyfriend have been together for 7 years and part way through dinner, one of the dinner guests looked to Ro and i and then gestured to the two of them asking, "so, have you guys been together long? like, 7 years?" Ro and i both grinned and he replied, "ummm, more like 7 days!" the two of us just looked at each other again and laughed.

saturday included, but was not limited to, eggs and toast for breakfast, tv channel surfing, a 2 hour nap, walking to asakusa, yakiniku for dinner, a visit to the shrine (sensoji), and stopping by the convenience store to pick up a few "necessities" (and because i wanted a garigari-kun. by the way, my local 7-eleven doesn't have pineapple garigari-kun anymore. is the pineapple "season" over?!!) anyway, the cashier was totally flustered and Ro and i laughed about it the whole way home.

speaking of which, we have ridiculously candid conversations and, as Chelsea says, he seems pretty unflappable. these two things put together both satisfies and terrifies me.

sunday was more of the same, with french toast and dinner cooked by yours truly, a break in afternoon (i went to BEST, Ro met a friend to watch the races...sigh.) and finished with a movie (天空の城：ラピュタ).


in all this, however, the boy has shown up in a bit of an untimely fashion. i've got a (HUGE, aah, breath, breath, everything will be fine, slash i need to get my ass in gear and study this week) test in less than 7 days, i'm working in saitama for 10 days after that (he lives in kanagawa, meaning the weekday rendezvous is out) and then am immediately heading to to top of mt. fuji for 6 weeks.

on the up side, because there's always an up side, vacation to somewhere tropical in september looks promising. :)

things i love thursday

.sleepovers.
.home parties.
.doughnuts.
.painting/diy projects.
.starting new quilts.
.a clean bathroom.
.riding the train hand in hand.
.girl friends.
.girl friends. really.

another project

i saw this photo

in a post over here and immediately broke out the paper, pencil and markers.

the rest is history.

i'm sure i'll be off to the fabric store before too long.


tentative color scheme: black, white, gray and blue

*updated color scheme: navy, white, gray and another shade of blue.*


(let's ignore the fact that i already half started another one of these quilts, in blues and greens, and though i got elastic, i have yet to make make one of these skirts yet. distract-able much? ;P)


**post fabric store trip color scheme: navy, white, gray and a goldenrod color.**

tidbits on a tuesday

☆ i decided to take the summer english program job with my old school for 10 days in july before going to gotemba on the 17th and starting mt. fuji on the 18th. the 18-20th is a three day weekend so anyone without plans, i'll be waiting at the top!

☆ the timing of work on the 11th is such that i can make it to the wedding. i even bought a new dress, a funky summery two layer dress from zara that DOESN'T require me to deal with one of those annoying shawl things all the japanese wear to cover their shoulders at weddings, as if no one has ever seen a shoulder before! anyway, i'm really excited about it.

☆ Ro is already making (at least in his head) plans for a vacation in september when i get back. he said beach and i thought chiba or izu, he was thinking hawaii or guam! whoa.

☆ i got invited out for dinner and drinks with some old coworkers tonight. an older woman who is like my japanese mom invited me out and said that Mr. Disney and Cheer are both coming and she invited Toby, but he was sick yesterday and so declined the invite. in my newly "not available" status (aka trying to forget i may still have feelings for Toby) i said, "eh, that's okay," to which she smiled and said, "i will ask him next time for sure though!!" it's nice to have people who make an effort to help you in your romantic endeavors, but now i have to break the news that, despite gushing to them about my crush on Toby, i've chosen to date someone else. Mr. Disney has met Ro, so it shall be interesting to see what the reaction is...

☆ i gave my shower a complete cleaning job this afternoon. drain, walls, door railing, bath tub, the whole kit and caboodle.

☆ it's hot today. i was out earlier today and the sun on my face felt wonderful. i've got all the windows open with a fan pulling in fresh outside air and....well...life is good. :)


uh, was i supposed to be studying or something??

quote of the day

-Chelsea

(i just happened to have this image i saved from somewhere, but i don't know where ><. i'd love to make my own for future quote of the day posts though.)

the beginning

and so we are, jo and Ro.

it sort of just...happened.

(i stopped being indecisive.)

and it's like this blog post.

macro monday

miyajima, hiroshima prefecture
april 8, 2009
10:33am

things i love thursday

.kpop.
.skype marathon phone calls.
.cocowheats.
.flip flops and too-long jeans.
.自転車で二人乗り.
.learning a bit of size and color html.
.corn on the cob.
.the smell of ironing (reminds me of my mom).
.coffee dates with girl friends.

chutes and ladders quilt

yesterday i started in on this quilt along over here.

i got all my strips cut,

sorted into groups of six,

and then sewed into nine strips, all random and hopefully none too much like any other.

they got their own photo shoot, and then i made myself go to bed.



this morning i woke up and began cutting again,

until all nine strips were cut into three (31.5cm) square blocks, with a bit left over

i played around with the extra pieces and made this:

which i will probably work into the backing of the quilt.

back to the squares, i laid them out, as per the quilt along pattern:

but i didn't like it. it just didn't look "right" to me.

i debated doing something like i'd done with the smaller pieces, where i made sure one fabric WAS touching itself instead of making sure they weren't touching. but it didn't bug me enough to figure out seam allowances and everything else, so i settled on something somewhere in the middle and it ended up looking like this:



p.s. even the BACK is pretty :)


p.p.s. after posting this and looking at the finished photo, there are two blocks whose placement bugs me! oh well...

spring skirt project

of course i'm in the throws of my latest quilting project and this project (and give away!) appears in my reader...

20 minute skirt project?? i'm in!!


something like the yellow one would be super cute with my sunshine yellow rainboots. who said rainy season had to be blah and boring?

and i love the red peaking out at the bottom of the other one.

oooh, the options!!

i need elastic. NOW!

quilt beginnings

my rotary cutter has been in action all afternoon.


i've seen others' quilts from the quilt along over at old red barn co. and finally pulled a bunch of fabrics and cut them into strips.


the tutorial uses 12 fabrics, but i only had 8 that i wanted to include, so i'm just gonna make it work with 8. hopefully! i am really into the fabric colors - so bright and spring-y! many of them are part of my recently adopted color scheme too. ;)

advice

from yours truly, to no one in particular (and/or a reminder to myself):


when you are unhappy with your life or feeling down and out,

don't read everyone else's blog and,

whatever you do,

don't photo browse on facebook.

everyone's life will seem so much more _____(fill in the blank) than yours.

it isn't.

don't worry about what everyone else is doing;

go find something that makes you happy.

...even if just for an afternoon.





okay, i'm *curtsy* stepping off my soapbox now.

web of indecision

i last night i got a text from a kid who was a senior in high school my first year teaching. we exchanged a few texts and i was a little puzzled at the random contact, but then tonight he continued the conversation and finally announced that he was getting married! my suspicion is that it is a できちゃった結婚 since he's only a couple years out of high school, but i don't know, nor will i have the audacity to flat out ask. so instead i asked if they were having a wedding ceremony and he replied saying that they were, and then invited me!

it seemed a little forced, and i wasn't sure if he was just being polite or not, but he texted me out of the blue yesterday, which makes me think it was for the purpose of inviting me, no? so i replied asking if he was able to invite people like me. i never had him as a student, but we used to chat a lot when i made my way to the high school and he and his friends were hanging out outside. he said yes and said "please come!" so i asked when it was, and it's july 11th. doh. i was planning on heading up mt fuji on july 9th.

at the same time, i got an email from Ms. Ohio asking if i was going to be around to help out with the school's english summer program. i had talked about it with the vice principal earlier last month, but with the whole swine flu scare (and the total japanese overraction to it) there was talk of canceling the whole program. they felt bad keeping me waiting while they decided on it and said to just go ahead with whatever plans i had for mt fuji.

well, the dates for mt fuji still aren't set, and the english program is on. the question is, do i give up nearly $1000 of pay to help out the school (which, i am still very much on good terms with, and would like to stay on good terms with, not that saying no would mean becoming on bad terms, but still...) and go to a wedding (which, lovely japan, will cost a good $300 just to attend)?

i emailed Ms. Ohio and asked about dates and expressed my concern about travel expenses from here to the school (not a huge deal, but the 1120yen round trip fare times 14 days adds up!) so we'll see what the details are...

i talked to Chelsea for 3 and a half hours on skype tonight too. it was fabulous. we had a lot of catching up to do (wink wink). after that Ro texted me and when i texted back, he returned with a call (as per usual) and we talked for an hour.

with the developments of possibly going back to school for two weeks for the english program (and seeing Toby at least in the staff room here and there) as well as being involved with the canadian college kids who will be teaching the english program (and who, if you'll remember, went out to dinner with Mr. S and his son Vinny last summer, meaning there may be a repeat performance that i could get in on, especially since a lot of the same college kids from last summer are coming back and they already know Vinny) i'm just getting more and more tangled in the web of boy indecision.

spent the evening with Ro on saturday and we slept in super late on sunday, still no response from Toby, and a failed attempt at making a lunch date on sunday with Vinny. he replied and said something like "let's grab lunch next time we're both free" so i replied and pretty much threw the ball back in his court. now i just have to play the waiting game (my least favorite game EVER). maybe something will come about this weekend?

*sigh*

how did i ever manage my life when i actually had a job too?!

macro monday

tokyo
march 26, 2008
1:14pm

quote of the day

"Let me know which boy loves you from the neck up. Got it?"

- former college part-time job boss and confidante, in response to an email i sent in which i may or may not have spilled the beans about all these boys.

before and after: desk (part two)

perhaps you remember my before and after: desk? well, it gets a part two too!

those plain muji desk drawers on my desk...




got a bit of color last week.

ta-da!!


not a huge difference, but noticeable when you spend a lot of your time at your desk (which is super untidy compared to the first picture, but relatively clean for me, lately). and it turns out the plastic doesn't take to being spray painted, so i put a piece of pink polka dot fabric on top to avoid scratching the paint/hide any straches and decided not to paint the top of the second drawer unit, which went pink!

i also moved it (it looked too busy on my desk) and it works perfectly with some birthday cards from my parents, some trinkets and all my study books and other folders (part-time job and BEST stuff).

a little kpop

it has japanese subtitles but they are hard to read most of the time. i found an english subtitled version, but i feel like jpop and kpop songs sound ridiculous translated into english. i almost like it better without knowing the english. at least with the japanese i only catch bits and pieces and it's like any other catchy boy band hit in japan....a guilty pleasure. ;)

big bang, "haruharu"

crazy

there's a boy who downloaded the movie i said i wanted to see (i didn't tell him it was before going to the ghibli museum, or that i wanted to go to the museum with a different boy) and he's coming over in about 45 minutes with the first half the movie, which he downloaded this afternoon and i am texting other boys for lunch dates?!

i must be crazy.

it's rainin' men

half of this is because i need to get my thoughts sorted.

and half is because it seems everyone enjoys a little bit of boy gossip. ;)


Toby - teacher crush. shows up at disney, and i admit i'm falling.

Ro - the guy from the party last weekend. there are phone conversations and a date.

Vinny - Mr. S's son. met here.



i worked with Toby for two and a half years. we started working at the same time, and became friends even though he only worked a couple days a week. he's from nagano and the eldest son of three boys. we're the same age (me: march, him: september) he has a car and would give me rides to the train station if we happened to be leaving work around the same time. sometimes that turned into dinner or bowling or a trip to the batting cages. since deciding to quit, i've found myself falling for him. he makes me smile. he's not the sharpest crayon in the box, but he has this simplicity about him that is cute. he can't speak any enlgish aside from "okay". okay, he knows more than that, but it's not much. starting in april, he became a homeroom teacher and has his hands full with his class and everything else he has to do at work. he's not much of an initiator but will go along with something if you suggest it. Mr. Disney says i should go for it, that Toby won't reject me (which is totally different from actually reciprocating the feeling, no??). Ms. Ohio thinks he might like me a little bit. Cheer seems to be neutral, but could tell i was starting to fall for him. i don't know how he feels, other than back in february or march, at dinner one night on our way home, he said that even if he liked someone, he doesn't have the time to actually commit to a relationship, that it's all he can do to keep his head above water at work. i daydream about moving to the country with him. (gah, i know, i'm ridiculous) oh, and he smokes, a total turn-off. he hardly smoked when he started working, but Mr. Disney and another coworker take smoke breaks all the time and he joins them.

i met Ro last weekend at a party i went to with Mr. Disney. he was very forward and really put on the charm. i was tipsy and wasn't going to pass up a chance to be flat-out flirted with. we ended up coming home together. he tried to kiss me on the train platform, and i shied away. we cuddled that night and morning, until i had to leave for the school festival. he's a good cuddle-er. he appreciates the "nonsexual" touch: holding hands, rubbing my arm, laughing when i told him about "eskimo kisses", etc. he calls me every night and we usually talk for about an hour. he also smokes, but makes an effort not to around me. he knows about Toby and pursues me all the same, if not harder. he's 30. he was an exchange student in california for 4 years and can speak english. we speak mostly japanese, but when i don't know a word or the mood strikes him, he'll speak in english. we went on a date yesterday and the restaurant was wonderful, we had wine, he paid, then we walked around ginza/yurakucho and ended at hibiya park, on a bench in the dark. we just sat on the bench, his arm around me, talking, laughing, just being. some of the topics of conversation scare me though. as in, when we stopped in the pet shop and he made some sideward comment like "if we lived together...", or talking about future children names we like. we walked hand in hand back to the station, where his eyes said "i want to kiss you goodbye" but he knew better than to embarrass me at the bottom of the stairs in the train station.

this past week, my part time job boss introduced me to his son, Vinny. last year, we joked about him introducing us and nothing came of it, but then wednesday, the three of us went to dinner. he is really good looking. (i may have already known what he looked like from a facebook photo from last summer, but he's even cuter in person. and looks good in a suit...haha) he speaks english, and over the course of the evening, a little bit of english came out, and from what i can tell, his english is really good. he played soccer and was surprised that i played soccer too or like watching baseball in the stadium. he didn't smoke at dinner, but maybe that's just in front of his dad? he's the mystery boy, and maybe that's half of my attraction? the unknown? we're the same age (he's an august baby). his family lives in tokyo, but he lives on his own on the west side of tokyo. when i mentioned i wanted to go to the ghibli musuem, he said he hadn't been but said i should see x movie before going. i'm trying to work out a way to 1. see the movie even though i don't have a dvd player and 2. make a date to go to the museum together (such a schemer).


someone once told me that falling in love is three things all being in line and happening at the same time:

happening*
feeling
timing

(*japanese english? "happening", as in, meeting, or some event occurring that jump starts the relationship?)


i guess when it gets right down to it, timing isn't exactly on my side with Toby. even if he's interested, if he can't reply to texts, or make a tiny bit of effort, i'm only going to doubt if he actually likes me. which is too bad, because i think that Toby is the one who knows the "real" me (and vice versa), since we worked together, and neither of us were putting up pretenses and just being ourselves. i wouldn't hesitate to introduce Toby to Bee and Style. there is the english thing though. having met two guys who can speak english, it reminds me that that's kind of a big one in my book.

without even writing about Ro, i think i've decided that i need to go on a date with Vinny and see what's there. i think most of my attraction is based on the possibility that exists in the unknown. if only i didn't have some lecture tonight. what do we think, lunch tomorrow?

and really, there's no sense in trying to figure out "what will i do if things go well?!" right now. we'll cross that bridge when we get there....

when it rains, it pours, eh?? not that i even have any right to complain about too many boy choices. complicated just means life gets interesting. ;)

designer dogs?

after dinner, we walked toward hibiya park, and happened upon a pet store. it made me want a dog even more than usual.

they had a baby corgie (melt) and a french bulldog that was all white except for a black spot around one eye and one on his back leg (thigh?)

oh my gosh, so cute. except for their price tags that is.

i used to think $350 was a lot for a dog (when we bought our dog, and also when we sold a litter of puppies she had) but...$2500???!!!!!

really japan? really?!

kanji check

awhile ago, i took this online kanji test.

i wondered if i've improved so i took it again today.

it told me i knew 1100-1200 kanji.

that's a 130-190 kanji increase in three months.

that leaves 745 more kanji and only three WEEKS?!



if i can just get a 60% on the kanji section, i'll be happy.

my listening score can cover that 10%

plus still be able to cover some of my grammar weakness,

which is weighted twice as much.


looking at my scores from nearly two weeks ago, it's looking possible,

but i'm mildly starting to panic.



alright, back to studying...

things i love thursday

.spray paint.
.grilled chicken with lettuce and avocado dressing.
.cuddling.
.oversized fake flowers.
.homemade art.
.childlike laughter on amusement park rides.
.caramel corn.
.vegetable juice.
.cute japanese boys (i mean, really).

punch drunk

i jokingly said "maybe his son will come?!!" but...he actually came!!!

gaaaaaaaa....

he's cute. and speaks english. and...is cute!

oh, i'm in deep trouble.

and drunk. forgive me. haha.....

but...gaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

he drinks like me, and by the time we left the pub, the three of us had finished 3 bottles of wine (plus two glasses of beer each before we ordered the wine).

we talked and he seems really nice and we would most likely really get along.

as we left, his dad (my "part-time" job "boss"??!) handed him some tickets to some kind of event. he looked at them and said, "uh, what are these??" and his dad said, "if you don't want them, give'em back!" and he said, "no, no, i want them!" and his dad said, "yeah, go with jo or something..."

gaaaaaaaa.

cute japanese boys will truly be the end of me.

sigh.

life is getting more and more complicated every day.

giddy sigh.



p.s. i found the post from last year about Mr. S and his son.

icing on the lately cake

add to that a 2 hour phone conversation tonight with the guy from the party, which started out innocent enough...

we were talking about the night he came home with me, and i said that i was surprised when he said he was going to my station. he said that he had plans to meet up with friends, who happened to be drinking near my station. he thought i lived one station over and that he was surprised when i got off with him and said that my bike was at that station. it was seemingly an odd combination of misunderstandings that led to what happened. from what i do know, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to make up a story like that.

after that, it turned into really serious talk and a lot of honesty considering how (not) long we've known each other. and of course tears out of me (it's what i do best...) he said that if it's this hard to know what to do, neither guy is the right one. hmmm...i don't know if i believe that 100% or not, or if i know it's true but don't want to believe it. or something like that.

and i'm left even more confused. i mean, yeah, i'm totally crushing on the teacher, but there's something about this guy too.

but, for now we left it at "ちょっと時間かけて、仲良くしよ…" even though he knows the teacher is in the picture. we're probably having lunch on saturday with another american friend of his, and i've been told not to think too much about it. (ha, he obviously doesn't know what he's dealing with!!) i'll try, but can pretty much guarantee i'll think way more than i should about the whole situation...

and it's 2am again. i need to get back into normal people sleeping patterns.

goodnight.

lately

it feels like so much has happened in the last 4 days. so much that i don't know where to start. so much that i don't even want to start.

i want to write something eloquent and deep and meaningful. something of substance with a point. but the words aren't there. but for the record (recently i have loved looking back at particular days to see what i was doing or thinking, and really glad i have some kind of record of my life to loook back on), here it is.

at the end of last week, i fell in love with spray painting and painting in general. i made some really cute wire shapes and framed them (they're still waiting for a nice coat of colorful paint on the background, then i'll post a photo), and "redid" the wall of stuff on the wall behind my computer. i painted the set of drawers that sit on my desk (and moved one to another place). i figured out a creative way to hang the piece of art i wanted to hang on my wall. it's a acceptable substitute putting a big hole in the wall. for the little stuff, i decided to just put nails in walls where i wanted. of course they are really little nails.

the weekend was a flashback to when i used to drink, party, bring boys back to my apartment and then pretend to be a good girl in front of my coworkers. i went with Mr. Disney to a party of a friend of his. Mr. Disney had to leave early, but the guy i was talking to assured him that he'd walk me to the station. time came to leave and there was hardly a discussion at the station when i asked which way he was going home and he said "(name of my station)". i just let him. i didn't let him kiss me on the train platform, despite several attempts, though.

sunday we woke up and cuddled all morning. then my stomach acted up and i waited for it to calm down until i couldn't wait any longer (without missing the whole festival), put on my cute new skirt and i went to school for the school festival (bunkasai). i saw the teacher i'm totally crushing on. :) i went drinking with a bunch of teachers afterward too. sadly, he didn't come, but it was a great time anyway. of course i couldn't tell Mr. Disney that i took that guy home the night before, but i implied that he was texting me and inviting me out for dinner and when i sort of lightly said, "ah, but there's that other guy i like...what should i do??" he said, "ignore him. go for the other guy!" and i said, "wait, do you know who i'm talking about?" and he said, "there's no way i wouldn't know!" and laughed at me for thinking he didn't know. i asked if the teacher knew and Mr. Disney said he didn't think so. but, turns out Mr. Disney and Cheer both knew about me liking the teacher. how much longer until it gets back to the teacher, i don't know. not that that in and of itself would be a bad thing, it just feels so middle school-ish.

yesterday i went to a farm and helped spread natural fertilizer (read: manure). i'm debating just throwing out the shoes i wore (my old beaten-up converse) than deal with cleaning them. i'm sore today. but it was so nice to get out in nature and do some manual labor. it feels good. i can't wait for fuji. in the evening, i managed to make it to disney sea (after six discount) to meet up with two old coworkers. mostly because one of them was aforementioned teacher i like.

see, Mr. Disney is a die hard disney fan (hence the name). they had the day off yesterday for working on sunday and he, of course, was going. he invited me last week, before i even knew who was going, but i already had plans and said i could't make it. on sunday i found out that the teacher i like was going, so when my farming adventure ended mid-afternoon, i came home, showered and made my way to disney sea.

Mr. Disney was ever so accommodating when it came to ride seating arrangements (without being obvious, of course) and at one point "stopped to take a photo" of something and said he'd catch up, leaving the two of us to walk through the park to the next ride. i'm so glad i went. Mr. Disney is kind of heartbroken at the moment, so it's nice to spend time doing something he loves (not much else to do for friends in times like these except hang out with them and be thankful for whatever smiles you can get out of them) we had a fancy dinner and rode a couple rides and just walked around and laughed and chatted and, even though it put a huge hole in my wallet, right now i don't mind if it means i get to spend time with my crush. (such a sucker...sigh) when i got home, the guy from the party called and we talked for an hour. and he asked me to dinner this week. i agreed. (a glutton for punishment, eh?)

today i got an email from the guy i'm working part time-ish for, asking me to come to the office tomorrow and then dinner (maybe his son will come?!! haha - i think i blogged about that sometime last summer...). i've been waiting for almost two weeks to hear from him so i had to cancel on the guy from the party. my recent lack of sleep caught up with me today too. i did do some decent kanji practice over at readthekanji.com though and took a 30 minute nap. and then headed to BEST. i got interviewed for the monthly magazine they send out to their some 400plus members. yikes. that's what i get for being one of two foreigners. they took pictures during the interview too; hopefully there's at least one that looks half decent. i talked with the guy for an hour and a half and there was another guy, who is actually going to write the interview article. we talked about so much, i don't know how he's going to wrap it up into a concise (something my japanese is NOT, so add that in there too...) one page interview article. we'll see. it comes out on july 1st.

on my way home, i texted the teacher. he's swamped at work and doesn't have much time to reply, but...sigh. it'd be so much easier if i weren't crushing on him so hard, because i could just go for the guy from the party. he's assertive and makes initiative, and speaks some english and...well, he's a good cuddler. (i think i've mentioned how if you don't "click" under the covers...coughKaraokeBoycough...haha. that's not to say that it's everything, but, it's a factor, no??!) but i love hanging out with the teacher and i've let myself so foolishly daydream about him and am stuck on him. here's to hoping that things work out...somehow. soon. please? ;)

macro monday

bangkok, thailand
april 15, 2009
2:45pm


yeah, another tuesday...
i need to start schedule posting macro mondays again...
and fix that j...

before and after: entryway (part two)

before and after: kitchen/entryway (part one)

plain jane muji shelving unit:

becomes funky and colorful:

the red is almost the same color of my front door. yay. also, spray paint doesn't last nearly as long as i thought it would. i may eventually paint those tan edges mint chocolate chip too (or should they be red?) well, either way it'll require a trip back to the store for more paint. or i may just leave it as is...


it's kind of growing on me...

armed and dangerous

today i went to the store and bought some spray paint. by "some" i mean five cans. so many fun colors!! suddenly everything in my apartment NEEDS a fresh coat of color.

i also got some medium strength wire and wire cutters. projects already ensuing. photos to follow.

i finally got a poster frame for a piece of art i bought ages ago. it was the inspiration for my apartment's newly adopted color scheme (which includes mint chocolate chip of course!)

i found just the trash can i had on my wish list (yeah, call me practical in wish list making...) and it's already keeping the trash smell in the can and out of my kitchen. it might be in the line of fire tomorrow.

it was too late (and dark) when i got home to start any spray painting outside.

i'm so excited to wake up tomorrow!! what to spray first??! :)

things i love thursday

.trailmix.
.being well rested.
.good hair days.
.new hose.
.neighborhood friends dropping by.
.cute new clothes.
.daydreaming about diy projects.
.vegetable chicken stir fry.
.putting itunes on shuffle and rediscovering great music.

DIY ideas

some cool DIY projects that i'd love to try:

☆ i don't know when i came across apartment #412, etc, but i love it! i love the way she's putting her apartment together and would love to do something like this project! i wish i could hang things on my walls though...any alternative suggestions?



☆ a recent discovery, grosgrain, put up this (so simple why didn't i think of it) tutorial about making super cute vintage earrings (styled after the ever gorgeous nienie). i've gotta head back to nippori to check out buttons!



☆ in flickr browsing, i stumbled onto this photo of an awesome idea for a funky flower vase. it seems like you could use anything you wanted as the vase part, as long as the wire you used was strong enough to support it once the flower and water were in it.



☆ over at craftynest, i love the look of these tables, but am wondering if there isn't an easier (read: less need for supplies) way to do it by giving an unfinished piece a reverse paint job, leaving the original color of an unfinished piece of furniture unpainted while painting the rest. i'm thinking my plain unfinished pine desk, or kitchen shelving unit would look cool done this way.



☆ another craftynest project, this group of salvaged drawers looks great as a bookshelf. i think you can buy these kind of "boxes" at places like muji, and with a bit of paint and fun wallpaper or pictures (my collection of postcards??) in the back = so fun!



☆ a regular reader of design*sponge, i LOVE their DIY stuff. i need (and would love to have) a coat rack in my entryway, but again, i'm not allowed to drill into my walls. but i imagine something like this. sometimes i think i should just hang what i want and deal with the cost to fix it when i move anyway. assuming things go well job-wise, i'll be in this apartment for another 20 months on my current renting contract. anyone have any experience with that kind of stuff in japan?



☆ and lastly, not exactly a DIY, but...somewhere in a sneak peek on design*sponge, i saw this desk work space and i LOVE it.

macro monday

i don't know what day of the week it is anymore...


kyoto prefecture
october 25, 2008
9:32am

quote of the day

"Pretty much everyone you know just wants you to love them."

-the Universe

1kyu practice test

i just took the 2006 japanese language proficiency test as a practice/measure of where i am right now. the difference between my listening score and the other two section scores is laughable.

kanji/vocab: 45 / 100
listening: 93 / 100
reading/grammar: 117 / 200 (58%)

total: 256 / 400


(seriously, 93% compared to 45 and 58??! hahahaha...)


anyway, that's a 64%.
for level 1, that means...FAIL.
i need 280 points (70% overall) to pass.
24 more points...


but, not all is lost. i know for sure that i can count on my listening score to cover a bit for other sections.

mostly by that i mean, cover my serious lack of kanji knowledge. 45%? eek. i guess i actually have to make myself study those annoying little things.

and i also now know that my reading comprehension is actually not bad. i looked at my scores from the reading comprehension questions and on those i got a 73%. my score on the grammar sections was 31%. but luckily the reading comp. sections are weighted just a bit more. i still ended up with a low 58% on my reading/grammar, but feel a little better about my reading comprehension. i've been doing mostly reading comp. practice in the last two weeks, so maybe it paid off?

now i just have to tackle grammar.

and those pesky kanji. :/




33 days til test day.