child devil of tuna

It feels weird to be at home. I slept until 3pm on my first day back. I haven't ventured outside of my house yet because I'm kinda scared. I feel like every single white person I see looks familiar and MUST be someone I know or have met. I haven't had Mexican food yet (booo!). It's hot but I'm not sweaty! I dug through my closet and found over 30 track and field, basketball, and cross country tshirts from high school to give to the Salvation Army.

I'm currently going through my photos of Japan and I've found some real winners that never made it to my blog. I'll post them here maybe later today or tomorrow.

Currently Reading: The Little Lady Agency - Hester Browne
Currently Playing: Mr. Brightside - The Killers

posted by Grace @ 7/27/2005 05:56:00 PM 0 comments

Number of days left: 12

Number of classes left: 4

Number of goodbye parties/dinners attended: 4

Number of goodbye parties/dinners to attend: at least 5

Number of compulsory goodbye speeches to be given: 3

Number of cockroaches found in my apt this year: 0 (knock on wood)

I’m caught in this really strange position now where I’m ready to go home, but I feel as though I don’t really have enough time to get everything ready. I’m sad to say goodbye to my good friends, but I’m tired of saying meaningless “sayonaras” out of obligation. I want to be excited about going to England in two months, but I can’t because I’m sick of giving the “I’m going to Manchester for grad school” spiel to the dozens and dozens of people who have asked about my life after JET. Moving to England no longer sounds glamorous, since the story of the next chapter of my life has been somewhat cheapened by constant repetition.

Currently Trying to Read: The Iliad – Homer (haha, I anticipate that I will read about two more pages before quitting)
Currently Playing: City Lights – pH7
Special Thanks To: Eva, for posting my blog entries for me. (No problem, Grace! I'm more than happy to be your blog middleman.)

posted by Grace @ 7/12/2005 11:22:00 PM 0 comments

I have succeeded in shooting myself in the foot. Last month, I arranged for my internet to be cut at the end of June and now I find myself gazing longingly at my monitor, trying to think of something to do to pass the time. I thought that I'd be able to use my internet-free three weeks to get on the ball and clean my apartment, study some genetics, fill out various tax-forms, get to bed earlier, etc etc but so far, I haven't done much more than wish to God that I hadn't done such a foolish thing as cut myself off from the rest of the world.

All is not lost, however. I have spent some of my new-found free time in a very Grace-esque anal manner by writing myself lots and lots of to-do and to-pack lists. I have filled nearly half a notebook outlining what I should do without actually having done any of it. I probably won't pack until the night before, or clean until the day before, or have my goodbye party until the weekend before I leave. But I have neatly organized lists, and it helps to alleviate some of the stress.

On a side note, I have figured out why my students don't think I'm pretty. I have cracked the code. For no good reason, I decided to dress nicely last week and put on a little bit of make up before going to class. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

"Grace-sensei, you became pretty!"
"Grace-sensei, you look nice!"
"Grace-sensei, you don't look like shit today"

And just as I was starting to feel good about myself, I overhear this conversation while eavsdropping on the office workers discussing my successor's JET application photo:

"It'll be nice to have a pretty ALT in the office!"

In their defense, I probably shouldn't have been listening.

Currently Reading: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
Currently Playing: Holiday - Green Day

posted by Grace @ 7/06/2005 10:09:00 PM 0 comments

Last night was our annual farewell party. Long story short: the music was super-cheesy, the bands/performers were good, nearly all of the photos that I took turned out blurry, and most people drank too much. Mission accomplished.

A sampling from the salvageable photos:


Beth, Shannon, and me. It was a white tshirt party where everyone was given a white shirt and a marker and encouraged to write witty/stupid/lewd comments on everyone else's shirts. I'm wearing mine hacked up into pieces 80's style. Oh yeah.


Chelsea, Ruth, and Beth all sporting their Crest commercial quality pearly whites.


Mike and Jenni. Now we all know who wears the pants in this relationship.


Jeff, Ewan, and Jenni giving a kick-ass perfomance.

Currently Reading: Carrie - Stephen King
Currently Playing: Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

posted by Grace @ 7/03/2005 02:14:00 AM 0 comments