The return.

I realized that I started a post earlier this summer, the day after I posted a link to my work blog. I never posted it, but I think I should now.

"By the way, things I should probably mention:

"My parents are getting a divorce; they separated this Christmas. Earlier this week, my Dad proposed to his girlfriend, Shannon.

"I'm going to Japan this fall; I finally got notified of my acceptance by Kansai Gaidai (the university in Japan), and I bought plane tickets yesterday."

So, it's been a while. The only people who probably still read this know the most important things. That my parents separated about a year ago, got divorced last summer, and that my dad remarried this August, a week after I left for Japan. My dad sent me a care package on Halloween with a photobook and DVD of the wedding. It was probably better that way.

I've basically been in a different life for 4 months. I'm gradually getting back to it, but now I know how I want it to be different.

I don't want to lose Japanese. For a long time I'd sort of given up on it. I received a C- in my last Japanese language class, in Fall '06, and I decided it was time to take a break. I was burned out. I may never be fluent in the language, but I don't want to lose it again. My proficiency in Japanese plummeted while I was taking a break from it. Not speaking or thinking about a language for a year and a half does that to you.

While I was in Japan, I didn't get the immersion I had expected. Honestly, I spent most of my time there speaking and thinking in English. My classes were in English, my classmates (even those from non-English speaking countries) all spoke to me in English, my roommate and dorm-mates spoke to me in English, and those Japanese people I knew also spoke English enough that I would often have half-Japanese half-English conversations with them. I ate lunch with my speaking partners once a week, but they would often bring their Japanese friends, and instead of talking to me, ended up talking amongst themselves in Osakan slang that I couldn't understand, occasionally turning to me and attempting to translate in broken English.

By the end of my time in Japan I could talk about various things, but I still couldn't really understand what was said to me, most of the time. I did have a rather strange one-sided conversation with the taxi driver on my way to the airport the day I left, though. The thing I remember from our conversation was that he disliked old politicians - the new prime minister is younger than the last one, apparently - and that he didn't like Hillary Clinton because she was too old. Yeah... Well, at least the Japanese know the U.S. presidential candidates. More than I could say about Japanese politics. I mostly muttered "yes" "is that so?" "ah" and such while he happily ranted at me. What surprised me, though, is that I actually figured out what he was saying. Often I don't get that opportunity because when someone says something to me and expects me to understand it immediately, I often don't understand the context well enough to guess at the meaning, so they get frustrated and give up, or try switching to English.

I think the biggest change that I saw while I was in Japan was a healthier way to live. I don't really like Japanese food, so I had completely different eating habits while I was over there. I like bananas again. While I was there I lost about 30 pounds and I got into what was, for me, probably the best shape I've ever been in. I walked everywhere, biked to school every day, went outside every day, explored shrines, and hiked up a mountain. My life was relatively low stress. I just learned not to freak out or stress about things, because I had to deal with a lot of changes, and to act the way I do at home would have been horribly stressful. Japan was an interesting place, but mostly, it was an opportunity to see how my life could be different, and what I could do with it.

summer website

For those of you that still read this, or that are interested in what I'm doing this summer, I am required to make a website by the organization sponsoring my summer research. In other words, since I'm required to have a website for work, I'm much more likely to actually update it. So, here it is:

DMP Webpage

Enjoy.

No more rulers, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks (post #700)

NO MORE SCHOOL!

<dances around the room>
<dances around the room playing guitar hero>

All I have left is... my 10 page essay, due Monday. Oops. Guess I should start that, huh?

Schedule:

Tonight:
Go out to dinner with Daniel.
Go see Leah's LED clothing light show dancing thing.

Tomorrow:
Drive Dan to school for his final at 9.
Study for astronomy final.
Astronomy final at 10:30.
Lunch, perhaps?
Work on paper, perhaps?
Sci-Fi.
Spiderman 3.

Sunday:
Study / work on paper.
BBQ with the fellows at 5.

Monday:
Physics final at 10:30.
Turn in paper by 4.

Tuesday:
GameDev. KHAAAAAN!

Wednesday:
Review session for 1300 (hey, maybe I should set one up for 2270? Nah. Too lazy.)

Thursday:
Theory of Comp final at 10:30. (Notice how all my finals are at 10:30?)
SWEET SWEET FREEDOM!

Friday:
Party.

Beyond:
Look for an apartment. Crap.

avatars

This is what I have been doing all day:

t-shirts and birthdays.

I was surfing on Engrish.com and I found this t-shirt:

Spilled Milk

Indeed.

I'll be turning 21 next month. In 6 weeks, actually...

I don't know what to do. I'm not really very excited about it, actually. I don't like alcohol, and I don't want to get drunk. I guess I'd like to try some drinks (though dad did say he'd buy me some alcohol if I came by to see the show). I want a piña colada. And I want to try hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. But I don't really want to do anything else. Maybe we could see a movie or something. I want to hang out with Nikki, and Daniel, and Cam. And Ian wanted to come too. Which means I should probably invite my other friends... but it's a Monday, and I don't know that I'll want to... I'm not sure I'll want to do much of anything. Stupid Mondays.

I'm tired. And I haven't done anything productive all night. I just feel blah. I don't really want to work on physics. And I can't concentrate long enough to determine if there's anything else due, that I might actually want to do...