Friday, February 25th: Valentine's Ball. You may be wondering why on Earth we held our V-day Ball on the 25th. Payday is the 21st of every month.
Mie-ken's premier band, Up Up Down Down. Rock n roll at its best.
Jenni, me and Molly. Jenni sings and we all worship.
Jeff, Chelsea, Joe.
Ruth, Alice, Joni.
The Order of the Black Diamond. Painfully stylish, filthy-gorgeous. And Spam. Gotta have Spam.
Lewis cleans up well, doesn't he?
All in all, a pretty good time. Tried to break in my spectacular heels and managed to squish my toes instead. Oh well. To take my mind off of the pain, let's play a game. I went to the grocery store and bought:
3 smallish grapfruits
2 containers of cottage cheese
1/4 gallon of milk
5 mini rice balls with shrimp (good for one meal)
Guesses as to how much this all cost? Let's do this in American dollars using the rough estimate that 100 yen = 1 dollar.
Currently Reading: Rubyfruit Jungle - Rita Mae Brown
Currently Playing: Tennessee - The Mimsies
Bored bored bored at school. Why on earth they insist that I ROT at my desk on final exam days is beyond me. I practically BEGGED for them to let me grade some of the English exams, but they said no. So you, my readers, get to suffer through a blog entry resembling those chain emails of my freshman-year-of-college days. Stolen from the blog of
Lady J, who in turn stole it from someone, who in took the idea from someone else; thus, carrying on the tradition of chain mails.
10 Random Things You May or May Not Have Known About Me:10) My first ever movie crush was Atreyu, from The Neverending Story.
9) When I was in elementary school, I used to kill ants for fun during recess.
8) A couple of friends and I nearly drowned while scuba diving in Thailand.
7) The vision in my left eye is so bad that it is just out of reach of corrective laser eye surgery.
6) I can fold my tongue into a "triple taco." Ask and I will show you.
5) I hate it when people CRACK THE SPINE on a paperback book. I managed to read the latest Happy Potter without making a crease. OCD? Maybe...
4) I probably own about 40 pairs of shoes.
3) I have read 51 books in the last 18 months.
2) I am afraid of the dark.
1) I was scarred for life when a boy told me in the 3rd grade that I had such a flat face that I must have fallen from a cliff and landed face-first. I still remember his name. He has no idea of the damage he had caused.
9 Places I Have Visited:9) Japan
8) Korea
7) Hong Kong
6) China
5) Cambodia
4) Thailand
3) Mexico
2) Canada
1) 22 of the 50 states in the U.S.
8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:8) Learn to snowboard WELL.
7) Learn how to drive WELL.
6) Backpack around Europe.
5) Go sky-diving.
4) See Australia and New Zealand
3) Illustrate a children's book.
2) Get over my unnatural phobia of jumping insects.
1) Develop a cure for cancer. Or leave Japan. Whichever comes first.
7 Ways To Win My Heart:
7) Chocolate.
6) Be considerate.
5) Chocolate.
4) Be generous.
3) Chocolate.
2) Be honest.
1) Chocolate. Please don't try to write me poetry. Gag.
6 Things I'm Afriad Of:6) Crickets.
5) Grasshoppers.
4) Spiders.
3) Of my teeth falling out.
2) Of failing to meet peoples' expectations.
1) Of failing me meet my expectations.
5 Things I Believe:5) That people are generally good-hearted.
4) That ice cream can cure all ills.
3) That ignorance is inexcuseable.
2) That the Earth is round.
1) That I deserve better.
4 Of My Favorite Things In My Apartment:4) My bed with it's electric blanket.
3) My laptop.
2) My snowboard.
1) My balcony view of the neighboring city, Yokkaichi (also known as "The Big Smog").
3 Things That I Do Everyday:3) Sleep.
2) Eat.
1) Check email.
2 Things That I'm Trying Not To Do Right Now:2) Eat chocolate, candy, snacks, ice cream, refined carbohydrates, and non-100% juice.
1) Grind my teeth.
1 Person I Want To See Right Now:1) You.
Currently Reading: Toast - Nigel Slater (book #52)
Currently Playing: Millencolin - Monkey Boogie
Say "Hello" to my new toy, the
Pentax Optio S5i, in all of its 5 megapixel glory. I was going to try and find a camera that was super-cool, super-kitch, and very Japanese; but practicality won over vanity in the end. Besides, if it were to malfunction, I want to be able to find replacement parts for it without having to have to order them from this country or something equally troublesome.
Having fun with taking photos. Here is
Shannon's cat, Takeru. He is a slut cat and will sit in anyone's lap. He does not discriminate.
One last bit of news. Today, in my mailbox, I found what we Americans (un)lovingly refer to as "the small envelope," which undoubtedly contains a letter opening with those heart-stabbing words: "We regret to inform you..." (as opposed to "the big envelope" which holds the much-coveted "Congratultions on your acceptance" letter and more supplementary information than you could possibly every want). Bastards.
But things are not what they seem.
Leeds: ACCEPTED!!!
Edinburgh: ACCEPTED
Manchester: ACCEPTED
Cambridge: ???
IC: ???
Currently Playing: Tilt - Dental Wreck
Deranged Student vs. Pushover Teacher: Part II
The same student from yesterday decided to target the same teacher from yesterday in a bloody (literally) part II of their previous boxing match. Unfortunately for me, I ended up in the midst of everything again and although I didn't get hit this time, my cut and bleeding student decided to bleed onto my sweater while I was trying to restrain the little punk. Needless to say, my favorite white sweater is now ruined and not to mention, this whole thing is really gross and unsanitary. This all went down at about 8:50 this morning, so I've been sitting at school all day with someone else's biohazardous waste staining my left sleeve. Eeeeeew.
I feel really sorry for the teacher who was involved. He's the substitute of an English teacher who took pregnancy leave starting last month and this is his first experience teaching. He is hopelessly disorganized, easily flustered, and can barely make conversation in English. However, despite his short-comings as a teacher, he is in fact, a really really nice man. Possibly just a little too nice for this school's psychotic student body (which not only includes mini-Mike Tyson, but the ADHD Aki-chan, Daichi-kun, and Kazuya-kun as well). Most of the students are nice to him because it IS difficult to be mean and nasty to someone who is genuinely kind, but students like this one take advantage of his push-over-ness.
I never though that I would have to rescue an older man from a fight with a 75-pound Japanese 13-year-old. This country never ceases to amaze me. Too bad for my sweater, though.
The things I have to put up with in my job... During class today, one of my students punched me. He didn't actually mean to hit me; he was trying to DECK the Japanese teacher that I was team-teaching with and I got in the way. Silly me, I'll make sure to stay out of the way next time.
But that's not the main point of the blog entry. Today's entry will focus on my optimistic outlook on life. Basically, I've decided that if I were a cave-person, I'd be DEAD.
Physical traits that most certainly point to death for Cave-Woman-Grace:
1) I'm blind as a bat. Even a lame 2-legged saber-toothed tiger would have been able to sneak up on me and make me lunch.
2) I have the world's weakest teeth. If I had somehow managed to outsmart the tiger and survive to a mature 13 years of age or so, I would still end up starving to death because all of my teeth would have rotted out of my head and I wouldn't have been able to chew nasty cave-person food which is probably full of rocks and sand anyway.
Physical traits that appear to favor survival for Cave-Woman-Grace but upon careful thought, do not actually do a damn thing:
1) I am a fast sprinter. Yes, I could OUTRUN said saber-toothed tiger, but you forget that I am still as blind as a bat. I'd probably step into a gopher hole, break my ankle, and end up McGrace Nuggets anyway.
2) I am smart. But not really smart enough to invent a car, or explosives, or projectile weapons with which to protect myself from the carnivorous beasts of cave-man times.
My conclusion: I am glad that I am not a cave-woman and that I live in more civilized society where people smarter than me have already invented stuff that make my life easier (yay for contact lenses and dentures) and I am still smart enough to get a decent job. What spurred this weird entry? Went to the dentist today to get a filling fixed. I got a "new and improved filling" while I was back at home during Christmas and spend 200 bucks on it only to have it fall out while I was sleeping. I had a lot to think about while waiting in terror (I am always in terror when I go to the dentist, despite knowing that there's nothing actually wrong with me) for my appointment. Good news is that I probably won't get eaten by any prehistoric predators, but the bad news is that now I might die of mercury poisoning from unknowingly swallowing a rather large metal filling. I bet Cave-Woman-Grace never had to worry about mercury-poisoning.
Currently Reading: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept - Paulo Coelho
Currently Playing: Bubble Pop Electric - Gwen Stefani
I am officially an old fart.
An old fart who managed to drop her camera and break it in Sapporo before taking any good photos (maybe on purpose? Damn, have to buy a
new camera now) so that the only available photos are the ones taken with my trusty phone.
Niseko Ski Resort. Over four feet of snow in two days and a nice chilly -17 C at the summit.
Me and Blue Steel, my snowboard.
Sapporo at night.
Sapporo Snow Festival. From top to bottom: Taiwan, Nagoya Castle, Yong-sama.
Bryan, this one's for you. Darth Vader and R2-D2.
Shannon and Alice.
And on a random funny note, I went to an elementary school today and one of my first-grade students had on one of the best Engrish t-shirts I have seen to date. It said in big white letters across her chest, "Smoke: Get Stoked!" Classic. Wish my camera weren't broken.
Currently Playing: Red Elvises - I Wanna See You Bellydance
Currently Reading: Elegance - Kathleen Tessaro
Happy birthday to me! Well, I'm not officially the big 2-4 yet, having been born on a February 9th, Pacific Standard Time... But hey, whatever. It's February 9th here and I am leaving for the next big Japan-adventure in a few hours to celebrate with some snow, booze, and future monetary debt. All in the beautiful -10 degrees Celsius (that's about 14 degrees F, for the metrically challenged) mountains of Hokkaido. Pictures forthcoming.
Currently Playing: Scissor Sisters - Comfortable Numb
It was another one of those nights, where I found myself surrounded by Japanese girls, jockin real hard for the affections of (undeserving? This time, not the case, thank God) foreign men and then there's me, sandwiched between self-loathing and feelings of resentment for the behavior of the obnoxious yet attractive Japanese girls. It's not often I look at myself in a mirror and detest what I see but as it happens with most (normal) women, it happens to me and last night, I had to fight the desire to just pick myself up off my chair and leave. That would just be rude, now woudln't it? Especially seeing as how it was for the birthday of a friend. So I stuck it out. Waited patiently for dinner to be over while surrounded by intense unflattering halogen lamps, spotless wall to wall mirrors, and the pervasive laughter of half a dozen pheremonal J-girls.
And I hate myself for being so insecure, for not liking what I look like because in the end, I can't really change that, can I? I have my good days; those days when I can believe the well-meaning but not un-biased compliments of my friends and in the end, it's personality that really matters, right? It's my intelligence, my sense of humor, my fucking magnetic charm that really gets me places, right? Then why do I still wish i was 15 pounds lighter, a cup size bigger, and dress size smaller?
Strangely enough, while looking around the dinner table yesterday, I realized that self-indulgent wallowing was not the only dish on the menu. Underneath the immaculate gravity-defying curls of their bleach-blonde hair and between their heavily mascara-ed bedroom eyes, I wouldn't bet on there being a brain capable of having a conversation beyond the predictably vapid "Oh, foreign men have so much HAIR on their arms! Tee hee, can I touch your arm?" I'm not saying that J-girls are stupid (OK, who am I kidding? Some are that dumb, but to be fair, stupidy is not reserved solely for the Japanese...) but I feel sorry for them because society has forced women like them to spend more time putting makeup on their porcelain faces than nuturing their brains. What I lack in absolute beauty, they lack in the more abstract qualities of character. All things told, I would rather possess the latter than the former.
I guess I'm not so bad off after all, am I? However, that doesn't mean the grand "I'm-going-to-lose-10-pounds by the time I leave Japan" is going to be ignored or put on hold. The plan begins in earnest...uuh, 4 days ago, when I came down with a fortuitous case of the stomach flu and I couldn't eat anything for two days straight. Hey, I'm just trying to see the plus side!
Currently Reading: The Reading Group - Elizabeth Noble
Currently Playing: Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous
