The other way down Pacific

Today I had to go to Target to refill my Lexapro, so I took the opportunity to capture some fantastic images of this direction of Pacific Ave.

Ah, yes...this looks...desolate. You kinda get used to it though : /


Here you can see Burns Tower (at UOP) from a distance:


This is a good bit of strip mall. Tiger's Yogurt does pretty awesome frozen yogurt and Sakura Grocery is the local Japanese store. They're actually celebrating a year of existance this weekend.


Thrilling, I know. Just makes everyone want to hop on a plane and come visit, right? Personally, I prefer the Cocoro/Java Aroma direction of this street.

The promised pix

Scene from my desk top this fine afternoon:


What I do when I'm done with the test before everyone else:

They joked that the big middle one was my brain and all the little surrounders were kanji ^_^;; Not true, but sorta cute. I like doodling things like this.

Japanese class. I snapped this while they were all still working on the test:

Stuff on my Cat

Honestly, the website is kinda silly. By that I mean, it's not really that funny. Some of the more creative ones are nifty, but most of it is just throwing...stuff...on their cats...

...

Yeah, but CHECK OUT THIS T-SHIRT!!! The Cartoon Stack is amazing. I think I seriously want that. Not because I'm the biggest fan of the website, which I found only today, but because that shirt is beautiful.

Yes, beautiful.

Oh

I lost my copycard too. That sucks. I hope there wasn't a lot of money on there. It will probably turn up at some point...long after I need to print stuff. That makes me sad. I wonder if they will still be using the same system when I come back from Tokyo...

I'll post again later. I took a pic of Japanese class today during the test, and the doodle I doodled while waiting for everyone else to finish.

It hurts when I swallow : /

Dissolving things make throats happy, ne. So, I had this sucker that was thrust at me in February (pretty red heart-shaped sucker) with an advertisement attached: "Is your [little red heart drawing] set on a career or internship? Your Future Is Now! Career Faire [sic] March 2nd, 2006 11am-3pm Grace Covell Dining Hall." I didn't go. I did eat the sucker just now, though. It reminded me of being a kid in the backseat going through the drive-thru window at the bank. Sometimes we got Smarties, but most of the time we were given suckers, the kind with the rope instead of the stick. I think I like sticks better, because they don't get quite as sticky and mushy as the rope did. Or maybe I am just a more talented sucker-eater now. Kids sometimes get all drooly, but adults can reign in their spit. That must be the difference.

My throat is still sore.

Movie, anyone?

Today both of my classes consisted primarily (or entirely) of watching movies. Not documentaries, either. In JLit we were watching When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, a Japanese movie from 1960 and in JHist we're watching Nobody Knows (which I've ranted about previously). All in all, it made the day pretty surreal. I did get a lot done this morning, though. Maybe tonight I will work ahead in my schedule for the week.

Ooh, can't forget to do laundry, though.

I've been listening to some of the music from Samurai Champloo today. Somehow, I thought it would be better.

Hmm...

Ok, I guess I didn't really have all that much to say haha XD

Yummmmm!

Why didn't I get to do this when I was a little kid?? : /

Took the plunge

So I just drank my first glass of this concoction. (Watch out for the scary lady's voice on that website...) I had the lemon-lime flavor, which I heard was better than orange. Any claims that it tastes like 7-up are completely false, although it is like drinking SOME kind of healthy 5 calorie soda due to the fizz. I really hope I don't get sick. What with all my projects being do next week, and the boy hopefully visiting this weekend, it would be a really lousy time to catch something.

Luckily the nearby grocery store carried the stuff. I called ahead, so I wouldn't have ended up walking there for nothing. Don't need to be running about if I feel like I'm getting a cold. Paid about seven dollars for 10 tablets.

The whole reason I wanted to try it was NOT because of Oprah, although the fact that it was on Oprah does give me some extra comfort, not because Oprah likes it, but because I don't think the teachers who have been constantly recommending it would really feel like having anything to do with Oprah if they could help it and they STILL love the stuff. Seriously, almost every week they bring it up and tell us to pack a lot of it when we go abroad (our Cross Cultural Training teachers.) They really swear by the stuff.

I'm just sort of amused that it says on the package to repeat as needed every three hours. Ostensibly, you could just take it your entire life. The package says to take it when going into schools or gyms or pretty much anywhere there are people. Sorta overkill.

I wonder if it will work : /

Japan in a Nutshell Vol. 1

I found this string bound book at the library among all the other culture books. The cover is fabric coated paper and the pages are printed in that way where the really thin paper is folded in half and then bound (so you can have two sided pages and the ink doesn't soak through.) This volume covers religion, "culture," and popular practice. (Last time I checked religion and popular pratice both count as "culture," but ok.) It's like an encyclopedia of Japanese pratices, festivals, beliefs, etc. Pretty nifty. Feels nice to hold in your hand. Smells old :D It's from 1949.

Shingo Mama!!!

This song is a happy memory :D I had never seen any clips until I thought to look on youtube. Speaking of which, Watashi to Tokyo linked to Popee the Performer videos the other day. Sometimes a little immature, and also violent, but often amusing as hell XD

The reluctant march

I've been wanting to grab a pic of this for a long time. It would've been more poignant on one of those rainy days where everyone had umbrellas and looked even MORE unhappy to be on their way to math and science classes at ten to eight in the morning. I don't know who that girl is.

I can finally show everyone :D

Best keitai charm ever! XD

覚えなくちゃいけない

A:　彼の著書はいつもほめられるね。
B:　まあね。とぶ鳥も落とすいきおいだからね。今の彼の人気は。
A:　文も分かりやすいし、みんなから受け入れられやすいテーマの作品だからね。
B:　そうだね。一度も悪く言われたことがないよね。

A:　あ、もしもし。お母さん？　うん、今日残業で遅くなるから。
B:　じゃ、あなたの夕食はいらないの？
A:　うん、ぼくのはいいよ。みんな先に食べて。
B:　お父さんも遅いって言うから。あなたのも、お父さんのもいらないってことね。じゃ、私たち外食しましょう。

Trying not to feel guilty

Sorry, I realize this is a horrible pic:



I had breakfast! I had a LOT of breakfast @_@ It was tasty. Pancakes, eggs, and ham. Also coffee. Lots. For some reason I could just eat breakfast forever.

Anyhow, this is a great place. Service was excellent. They offer you a newspaper while you wait :D Supposedly their burgers etc are tasty, too. They do Chinese and American food.

I wanted to get a pic of the sign on the wall that said, "FRIED WIENERS $4.95," just to be immature for a moment. It was just hanging out on the wall in block letters. There were guys sitting over there, though, and I didn't want them to think I was taking their picture.

Shoot...

I forgot to take a pictue of my meatloaf. I'm going to try to get meal shots once in a while. I cherish this one:



Other Emily took that on her last day in Paris. That's her food at the Crous. Memories *sniff* It's really too bad I didn't have my digicam back then. In Japan it will be so sweet to be able to take pics. I'm glad I'm getting the hang of it.

Anyhow, remember that stack of books? I got through them ALL. No, I didn't read them, but I wrote the bibliography entries with info about what to expect from them (i.e. what I was supposed to do.) Somehow I have to come up with five more pages of stuff for this project, though. I need three thesis ideas and a summary of the topic, but I dunno if I can get five pages out of that. I guess it's really only two and a half (yay double spacing @_@) so maybe it's possible. I might also look for a couple articles on school refusal syndrome and ijime. That'll round it out right, I think.

I hope I'm doing it right.

Haha.

Anyhow I think I'm going to leave that for tomorrow. I've done a lot today. Now I can study some kanji (which I didn't do at Java Aroma, since I socialized with Marc) and read some more NP. I think I'm going to find more of Banana Yoshimoto's stuff as part of my massive summer reading program lol.

XD

Coffee Excursion

I went with my friend Marc (and we stopped for photo-ops on the way.)


This is a...I think the boy and I decided it should be termed a "housewares store." They sell toilets, doorknobs, bathtubs, and lamps, among other things, such as mirrors. I was worried we would get kicked out for taking pictures. Couldn't really get the lighting right. Turned out kinda blurry and bleh. They sell wall mounted toilets here, which I think is a pretty good idea. You can actually keep the floor clean that way! No trying to mop around the tank.


Best coffee place I've been to in Stockton (which is not to say I get around:)


We chill. The interweb is free for customers. Good music is played.

My weekend thus far

Essentially...



I look so studious...



This is a pretty good book so far:


In fact, I can say that it is quite an enjoyable read. I'm looking forward to continuing. Sort of reminds me of Murakami, in a way. Very fresh, creative stuff. *sparkle*

Ok, that's not ALL I've been doing, but honestly, it has been the greater part. At least I'm accomplishing things. Eating and watching the news aren't too much more thrilling. I think I might head out for some coffee and kanji...

Updated Links

Everyone please note that I've added a bunch of new links. I didn't include EVERYTHING, but I did put up quite a lot. Fun stuff! ^_^ Informative stuff! :D Happy stuff! XD

MINT BROWNIES!!!

Yeah, I wanted to wait until I uploaded the pic. This is seriously the best thing the dining hall has come up with. I ate one yesterday and grabbed another one to save for today (which has already been savored.) Since there need to be more of these in the world, and since I didn't get to share with the boy, I went searching for a recipe. This looked pretty close to what the dining hall had. I bet they're even better XD

I must have these.

When have I ever said that about a pair of shoes? I sound like a total girl. For Marathon Tabi, though, I will. These are too cool.