I'm sorryyyy I have not written since that first post. So sad so sad. But here! A relatively uninformative, stream-of-consciousness style post!
Organization is for squares, let's talk about Japan!
I live here now. I've lived here for nigh on two months now. It's... still pretty great, but I admit I've been experiencing something akin to culture exhaustion as of late. There are wonderful things, like conbini and trains and Arashi and Japanese being hurled at you from all directions, but there are also disheartening things like too-soft apples and feelings of inadequacy and JAPANESE BEING HURLED AT YOU FROM ALL DIRECTIONS. Also, the weather cannot seem to get its shit together and become autumn. I would kill for sweater weather. I would maim someone I only mildly disliked to be able to don my rainbow scarf and justifiably drink hot apple cider. Jus' sayin'. I shouldn't hold it against Japan in the general sense, however, because according to my sources here this is a rare occurrence even in this mystical land.
Friends are another complex issue. On the one hand, of course I'm wanting in the close network of deep personal friends department, but I've been able to make many new friends, both Japanese and international-like! On top of that, there are a few choice 森人 living in and around Tokyo, so I have been able to spend time with the best people from the most supportive work place a girl could ask for. I suppose my lonely period of freshman year in college was a blessing in disguise; I think that if I hadn't experienced that social isolation I'd be feeling it more acutely here. Silver lining and whatnot!
Okay, I cannot contain it anymore. I have joined a choir here at Keio. Its succinct name is "Wagner Women's Chorus" (I give you this because I haven't been bothered to learn the proper name in Japanese) and
AND
For the past two years this particular chorus has performed as the background vocals at none other than THE Kohaku Uta Gassen
aahhhmammagawwwwwd.
There is no guarantee that we will be invited back again this year, but IF WE ARE I WILL BE THE HAPPIEST CAMPER IN ALL THE LAND~~~~
So yeah, that happened.
Today marks the start date of my second--count it--second illness here in the land of 2-pon. I woke up with a horrendous sore throat, managed to trudge through all but one of my classes, and immediately upon return passed out until about half an hour ago. Bleh.
Despite living in the city in which they perform most of their daily activities, my life has been relatively cut-off from Arashi and the fandom. I try my very hardest to watch their shows but recently they've been on break, and then it seems that every time they're actually being broadcast I have a previous engagement and miss them :( I watched Shiyagare this week and last week, though! And Nazodi! And maybe from here on out I'll be able to be a more responsible fan, for I am using the MAGNIFICENT ARASHI CALENDAR OF LOVE AND PEACE to chart the various movements of these here boys. I went to Harajuku yesterday and looked at a lot of bootleg idol shop pictures of them, and then merely out of curiosity stopped into one of those ticket re-sale shops and HOLY CRAP ON YOUR MAMA'S SHOES. They weren't even selling Beautiful World tickets, but MatsuJun's boxer butai tickets were going for over $1000 a pop. This life,
There are also more mundane things about my life, i.e. my dorm, my commute to school, my classes etc. as well as numerous recountings of my adventures thus far, all of which I firmly believe should be immortalized on the internet at some point or another... But I cannot bring myself to write about them at this particular juncture! Perhaps in the future I will regale you all with my tales of the BBQ in the mountains, or the FRICKIN FANTASTIC MONGOL800 CONCERT, or my growing sense of relief that I seem to have been placed in the perfect level for Japanese class. Perhaps some pictures will be forthcoming as well. SOMEDAY~~~
(Obligatory comment about blogging more often omitted for the sake of our combined sanity)
I am going to go back to my EXTREME Lord of the Rings binge, go to sleep as soon as I can, and then get up and write an essay on the tendency for Japanese people of the modern age to shy away from breaking ethnic minorities into more specified groups of peoples :Db
