bad tan lines

today i met ginny and tracy at sid's. after ginny's hair was finished we went to the carolina inn for her pictures. she's really a beautiful bride. her dress and everything is lovely. i was there to help with the train. it needed fluffed every time she moved. tracy had to leave to go to work so it was just me. he took some pictures of us carrying the train and i said out loud that i looked like ass and that my bad tan lines were showing. great!

we fininshed up around noon and ginny showed me where everything was going to happen. it's a really nice place. i went back to her house to grab my paintings and dresses. she asked if she could wear my japanese dress to rehearsal dinner. i'll have to think about it. i haven't worn it yet. so i don't know.

came back home and ate a turkey wrap and didn't really get much accomplished. i was going to go out to the pool and try to get rid of these tan lines but it was cloudy for a most of the afternoon. around four it was really bright and i checked the weather for the week. it's supposed to rain all week, even on saturday. great! so i went to the pool and layed on my stomach. some guys were playing corn hole and were pounding the board. i was trying to read my book but it fell down. i fell asleep a couple of times, but it was mostly cloudy. about an hour later i flipped myself and fell asleep again. but when i got back home, the tan lines looked worse somehow. so i think i'm just stuck with them. ginny asked me if i wanted to go to the tanning bed at the gym. she was serious. i said i've never been and i don't do that. funny!

i went to the fitness center and did arms. came back to the apt and ate dinner. david came by to get some things he left in the cupboard and so i was trying to clean the room a little bit. it's a little better now. i should just shower and go to bed. wake up early.

strange dreams

i had another dream about ka. he came to visit and we went on some trip to walk around outside with a bunch of people. i think denise was there. not sure. but by the end of it, nothing was settled.

yesterday was really productive. i got up super early at 8am and then did some things on the to-do list and finally got out the door to head to the storage unit. i got rid of a bunch of stuff that i didn't wear and now it's in my car. waiting to go to goodwill. i also got my sheets and threw out some stuff. i love purging!

then went to kroger on the way home. had to buy groceries for the new diet. i found those low carb, high fiber tortillas. awesome. came home and had some carrots and roasted red pepper hummus for a snack and made a turkey/spinach wrap and it was good. tried to organize some more and did laundry.

found the fitness center and i loved it. i did my running routine, worked my thighs and my quads and hamstrings. yay! did some abs and went back home. i really need to walk from now on, it's closer than i thought.

ate dinner: chicken breast and black beans. it was good. i was still hungry and ate some peanuts and cottage cheese. note to self and everyone: you cannot buy store brand cottage cheese. it's disgusting! but i suffered thru it, because i bought it, but never again!

the time has come for a change

may 2nd

this has been an incredibly long year! long because i had to deal with all of the people in the real world house. school wise it flew by. the only month that dragged was april because it was my last rotation and i really didn't want to be there and i just wanted to be done.

i'm done with merd and i'm ok with never talking to her ever again. she, along with melody, are bat shit crazy. it's fitting that they hung out at graduation practice. i basically ignored her every time i saw her yesterday. i don't have anything nice to say so why bother? i just hate dealing with all the drama all the damn time. ginny thinks it's funny that i ignored her because most people pretend to be cordial and i didn't. gin also thinks that she's scared of me. that's kinda funny :)

it was really good seeing the old crew. roy, park, gin. then there's brandon, jina, kha, jenny, and andrew. poor jenny is going to vcu with wiggles, kelly, and lindsay. i hope she's ok. and andrew is going to cmc with tyler. i'm really glad that i'm not doing a residency. i'm excited to start my life and pay back my debt. moving to a new place. i'm going to enjoy it!

my sublet is great. i know i'm only here for a few months, but i get to have my own room, a full size bed, sharing a full size bath with only one other person. i'm going to check out the workout facilities a little later. i just hope they have a good treadmill.

i have always hated my stomach. for whatever reason i have never been able to get rid of it. so i've decided that this is the summer that i will lose the belly fat. i'm going to take things a little extreme. i'm going to go on a diet and restrict carbs as best i can and cut out the snacking. the snacking i think is going to be the hardest part. i even bought this really cute bathing suit to motivate me! i hope it works!

car troubles

so i know that it's been a while since i've blogged. i have it written in my planner than i need to catch up. but i'll still need to blog later about the last 2 months.

so this morning i woke up late. i was supposed to wake up at 545am to leave at 615a, but woke up at 615a. i get dressed and eat breakfast, wash my face and such. i get out the door and my car won't start. SHIT!!!! i have 88 miles left in my tank and the gas light has NOT come on yet. but i park backwards on a slant. crap crap crap. i should have known better, but this hasn't happened in a while. great!!! so i go inside and ask melody if i can use her car to get some gas.

i drop her off and head to the citi gas. no gas cans. i go to the shell. no gas cans. i go to hess, which is crazy busy because it has the cheapest gas on hwy 25 and no gas cans. he recommends ingles. ok. i go to ingles and get the only gas can, thank goodness. and since i was there i got some pretzels, and finally found the reduced fat cheez-its, and some bananas. i go back to hess and fill melody's tank with 2 dollars and fill the 2 gallon gas can. i get home and some has spilled a little. not crazy, but just enough to make the back of her trunk smell of fumes.

i put the gas in my tank and still nothing. so i go inside and look up the number to pardee pharmacy and call and tell kerri that i can't come in today. i then call steve to see if he can come by the house tonight after my meeting to help with the car. he said sure. then i'm getting ready to leave because i don't want to be there when merry maids gets there. steve calls back and says he might be able to help after work because he is getting out early. i tried to text melody to ask if i could use her car, but no word yet.

i can't miss my dentist appointment... so i've walked to the mahec library to get some work done. we'll see how far i get :)

aug 1

orientation

it started at 7am so i had to wake up at 530a. i was amazed that i did it. then i got ready and we left at 630 am. we see katherine, meg, and teresa. and then the boys: ahmed, adrian, and matt mcbane. we go get name badges made. then we start going through the rules and the manual.. there is a lot of shit this year. a lot. great!

we got information overload all day. we went to lunch and i got the summer salad and it was delish! then more crap. we didn't finsih til like after 3pm.

we get home and me and merd still need to unpack more. then we learn about drama. melody was pissed that we might have wanted to room in her room. uhhh. there is an extra bed. and then she told rachel that she didn't want anyone in her room. she got here in asheville at 830am on purpose so she could have first pick of the room. she even talked to shante on the phoen and knew that there was only one room with one bed and she had it already. she purposely picked the smallest room and rearranged it to her likeing.

we didnt even want to room with her and she's being pissy. so merd goes to talk with her an dno good. so we keep moving and then we rearrange furnitre and head out for target and dinner. we couldn't believe she was still acting like that. we met ahmed and adrian to go with us to dinner. we told them the drama.

we get home and melody is all smiles and how's it going? we get upstairs and then she comes into the room and starts talkign to us. then she starts singing this weird song. "oh i made this up when i was in 3rd grade." then she sings it again. i walk to rachel and say i think she's crazy. rachel looks at me and is like didn't you know. well i thought so, but now i think even moreso. and so she is. i think bipolar. honest. up and down mood swings. crazy. whatever. i don't have time to deal with that. nor do i want to.

i've been trying to clean up and get oganized. but i went to the bathroom and when i get back the light was out. ummmm. hello. i'm still in here. it's not my fault you want to go to bed so early. it's going to be a long year!

july 30-31

i didn't wake up til after 12p. i finally made myself get out of bed. i needed to ship back my piccell phone and fax some forms to mahec for orientation. i finally made it to barons's and they closed at 430p. that's gay. so i headed to the annex and got both taken care of there.

i came home and mom had ordered pizza. then i think i watched movies the rest of the time. and i loaded the car up.

july 31

i asked mom to wake me up at 6am. she did but for some reason it took me a while to get moving. i ate breakfast. i loaded the rest of my things. and then i wanted to check for directions. i went to starbucks to get coffee and was off. i got gas yesterday. i got to chapel hill after 10am. i went to the storage unit and things had shifted and the door was hard to open. then i couldn't find what i was looking for. then i dropped the padlock and broke off the key. i had to go to the office to get a new one. then i had an appointment and then i met up with clayton. we talked for a long time and then i headed to asheville. i finally made it before 10pm.

there was all this drama with the rooms. when i got there, there is shante in the only single room. and then rebecca on first floor, emily melody and rachel on 2nd floor and all by themselves. so i look in rachels room and see that there are 2 extra beds. she said she is saving one for merd. i ask if i can stay and get hesitation. ok. so i go to melody's room. and ask what about that one. she asks if i looked around at the other and i said no because i know rachel and her best. but i go with rachels room because it's bigger. i asked melody if it was ok to see how it went in the big room and if needed move into hers. she said ok.

july 29

i woke up at 415am and kara got up around 430. we took my things down to the car and then came back up to fetch the girls. they drove me to the station. i was going to catch the 509 to yokohama and then i was to catch the rapid sobu line to the airport. BUT because my bags were so heavy it took more than 5 minutes and i missed the train.

now i was freaking out a little bit because i didn't know any other way to get there. but i looked at my jr maps and if i took the local sobu line i should be able to make it. thank goodness we left so early. i got on the train to chiba. i had to get off and wait for the next train. then it went to narita. i wasn't sure if this was the right stop. i got off then got back on. then the train took me straight to my terminal.

when i got there i loaded my bags on this huge cart that even went up the escalators. i went to the 4th floor for international flights and waited in line to check into the us flights. both of my big bags were only 30kg total. that's better than i thought. so i went to some gift shops to kill some time. then i went thru the departure gate and they had to check my bags. then i waited in the terminal. i saw some monks in golden robes get on. i read my book, and then they fed us. i slept for a few hours and woke up. i watched 3 and a half movies. i saw 21, fool's gold, and vantage point, and half of 10,000. we landed. i took the shuttle to connecting flights. i had to go thru customs and then get my baggage and take it to the next send off point. then i waited.

i called mom and brenda and waited. i got a salad from wendy's and then boarded. i fell asleep but there were these children that would not shut up. we landed and i got my bags and then i saw daddy.

we went to the car and headed home. we talked about where i went and what i ate and everything. daddy said he really liked yakisoba when he was there.

we stopped at bojangles on the way home. we got there and i gave them their gifts. then i stayed up. i don't know why. i don't even remember what i was doing. i went to bed after 12a.

july 28

so this morning i wanted to go to harajuku to shop for some clothes. i ended up getting there after 12p and stopped at the convenie for a rice ball lunch. so i started looking at some shops. i thought things were still expensive. the problem was that you weren't allowed to try shirts on. i understand that we are all sweaty, but i'm sorry i don't like to buy things if i don't know if it will fit. and i don't like wearing big clothes. not for me.

so i wandered around a bit. and then i saw this cute dress. it came in metallic brown and black. i didn't care and tried them on. i am a L. that's ok. i got the brown one. it's dressy. i could wear it to a nice dinner. then i found this fun gray dress. with cut parts and different textured fabrics. i will look cute with leggings underneath. but then i was kinda out of money.

so i went to some other places. i was trying to find monchichi for kara. i've seen him all over the place and when i actually want to buy one, i can't find it. i did find one, but he wasn't in a cute character costume.

then it was time to meet the students at school. i made it to the university after 4pm and then took pictures with some. i got to meet ken, aki, and both kazus. kazu 1 showed me pictures of his trip to nc. they like walmart and pizza. they went to durham bulls games and new york. it looked like they had a fun time. they also met up with alice.

i said goodbye to akiyoshi sensei and matsuyama sensei. then it was dinner time. it was me, yoshi, taka, chinatsu, ken, kana, youko, mari, and naoko. we had monja and okonomiyake. it was tastey. but they didn't always listen when i said it wasn't ready.

then we went back to the university. and i said goodbye to them. it was kinda sad. when i was alone in the elevator i wanted to cry.

i went back to kara's and stayed up too late sorting through things and packing.

july 27

today i woke up so groggy. it was about 10am i think. i got dressed and started packing up my crap. the girls had to clean the bathroom and kitchen. kara cleaned up her room. i started playing zelda. i love that game, but i can't do it without cheating. kinda sad.

bonnie and billy came over after 2pm. we were all playing our ds. kara left to go get ice. then when they were talking about dinner bonnie realized that kara didn't have vegetables that weren't frozen. and she doesn't eat stove top. so she needed to go back to the commisary. but kara wouldn't go with her. kinda weird.

she came back and they cooked dinner. i liked everything. pork chops, can green beans, rice pilaf, stove top, rolls, frozen corn. we put in willow. bonnie had never seen it. i played my game. bonnie looked tired. and no one would make the margaritas. well i got up and started. kara was just gonna keep sitting.

then we started playing mario party 8 on the wii. it was pretty fun. i had two little glasses of margaritas, but i got a headache.

i checked the train times and i need to be taken to sagamino station before 5am. it takes 2.5 hours to get to the airport. but i only want to change trains once. it will be much easier on me since i'm carrying all this stuff alone. it's still gonna suck.

next time i come back i won't buy as much, i hope.

oyasumi nasai!

july 25-26

this has been a lazy lazy last few days.

july 25
the girls had a doctor's appointment early that morning. so i heard them leave around 8ish and kept sleeping. i woke up again and saw skyelar in the dining room. surely kara wouldn't have left her here. i look at my watch and its 1230p. wow! i didn't mean to sleep that long at all.

i finally get up and we go to the nex so kara can buy willow and i found these really cute tweed-ish capri's that could go with some brown heels and a cute top.

we come back home and do a whole lot of nothing. at 6p bonnie and billy pick us up to go to the pirate ship. it was cool. i almost fell off this rope swinging thing. we played and took pictures, but then came home. watched more psych.

july 26
we woke up at like 930. kara said mom called. i got up and dressed. bonnie and billy picked us up at 1130a. first we went to the post office and i sent two more packages home to mom and dad. i wish kara would have told me about the flat rate boxes last time. but oh well.

next was the fish pond. it was really cool. the girls bought some fish food and we fed the coy. they were huge! and they follow you around the tank. if you put your hand over the tank they all start coming out puckering their mouth. and when you feed them, they nibble on your fingers.

then we went to the daiei. it is a really cool store. it is grocery, and everything. i find my lunchbox and chopsticks. i bought some hapitan and more haichu. and anpan. they had a game center too. we should have taken purikura. we had to go home after because bonnie needed to eat lunch. she's diabetic.

we go by the commissary and it's really stupid but visitor's can't go in. kara gets some milk and we head home. it's a lazy afternoon and night. i was going to go running before dinner but i started to rain. of course. but i've been eating and snacking all night. i can't help it. japanese food fills me up. american, not so much. i had spaghettios for dinner. i watched another disc of psych.

showered and almost time for bed.

july 24

july 24
today was toon's farewell party. i knew we were doing bbq in odaiba. but i'm never really given the details about anything. i had to wake up at 730 to leave after 8a to walk to the station and catch the 840 train. i dressed nice because i got tired of being in jeans and my zipoff pants all the time. but i was in all black.

i make it to the university at 10am and chinatsu calls. i was at the elevator on the first floor. then i see everyone come out of the elevator. so we head out. we are walking toward hamamatsucho and instead of taking the train we are taking the bus. it's cheaper. only 200 yen each way. nice! we get to odaiba and go past joypolis and muscle park. we get off the bus and start walking to the park. good lord it was hot that day! i was melting in all black.

it was a crackhead idea to have a bbq in the sweltering heat. we were by the river. it's a place where many people come to rent equipment: grill, chairs, to bbq. we had beef, pork, seafood, hotdogs, and yaki soba. i wanted to help, but wasn't sure what i should be doing.

later they gave some presents to toon and she gave presents to them. yoshi and taka drank too much. taka went barefoot for a while and then took off his shirt and went to go sit by the rail near the water. kinda funny. and yoshi had to work that night at the pharmacy. tsk tsk tsk.

we had some icecream and then packed it up. luckily we caught a bus right after we got to the stop. then we went back to the classroom and i was going to go to the zoo, but it is only open until 5 and the last admission is 4pm. i was too late. so instead i went to akihabara to go back to animate. it's like 5 or 6 floors of cool stuff. i bought some more manga and other souvenirs. i love japan! have i said that enough?

i got invited to go to fireworks with toon, taka, and naoko. they were meeting at the university at 630p. i told toon that if i made it back in time i would go. well i did. i saw some of the other students going to class. i went with them. my mistake. we went to ueno station. if they just told us to meet there that would have been great, but they don't really like to fill us in on things. toon was already in ueno to go to her teachers hotel. and i was only one station below ueno. so we both wasted time going back to the university. when we get to ueno (standing the whole time) we switch to another line (and stand) and get off the train. then we walk for over 30 minutes. as we are walking we see the show has started already. we keep walking and when we get to a good spot, we stand. SHIT! i really didn't need to come all this way to stand for 3 hours! i saw fireworks already but wanted to hang out with toon one more time. i should have went home. yes, it was a cool show, but wow. i should have gone home. on the way back i switch at tokyo station to the tokaido line and have to stand and then on the sotetsu line, standing again. and then the long walk home.

much too long of a day.

july 22-23

Yesterday we didn’t really do a whole lot. I woke up late and then we went to the post office again so I could send my mt fuji stick home and two more packages to friends. We came back and I think I blogged. I repackaged my belongings and I may need to post more things home if the weight limit is over. I looked up train schedules for kamakura.

Today we woke up before 830a and got ready. we didn’t leave til around 930. we got to ofuna a bit after 11am. We went to see ofuna kannon, the goddess of mercy. We were going the wrong way and a nice lady gave us directions. I understood half of it. But we eventually found it and it was really cool. A giant kannon statue. It was cool. I even got me a little statue of it. We stayed there for a bit and ate lunch.

Then we were off to kitakamakura. First was engakuji, the 2^nd most important site in kamakura. This also had the Zelda triforce symbolI didn’t go to this one before. Then we went to meigetsu-in temple and all the hydrangeas that the temple is know for had fallen off and died. But they did have a cool bamboo garden. Then we went to kencho-ji, this is where I saw the triforce symbol first. It has a nice garden in the back. then we walked to tsurugaoka hachimachi. It was a cool shrine and we got to see mikos and went to the lilypad garden and saw huge fat coy fish. And a mutated turtle. Not sure what kind it was. Then we walked down the street and looked in some gift shops.

Then we took the enoshima train line to hase where daibutsu (big Buddha) is. Its still impressive the second time around. I love it. We took pictures and I asked for someone to take a group photo of us. It got the girls a dragon and tiger Buddha for their zodiac year. and a plushy Buddha for me!

We left and headed back for home. The train was a bit packed. the girls don’t know how to stand up on the train. And they get tired so easily. I guess I’ve gotten used to standing up. For long periods of time on the train. I just read my book.

We got off at sagami-otsuka to walk to the beef bowl place. It was tasty. Then we walked home. It felt great to shower of the sweatyness. Oyasumi nasai.

July 21, 2008

So today I woke up around 10 am and spent nearly all day transcribing from written to electronic. And I had to make entries from july 11 to today. It took a while..

So then actually went running after the sun was going down and it wasn’t as hot. I went to the little track and ran 10 laps that took about 25 minutes. I think that is pretty good considering I haven’t worked out since before may? It felt good.

Tonight we went to the skate park and watched billy bash his head on the fence and come running back to his mom because he was bleeding so much. It was just running out. They ran to her friends house. They called 911 and an ambulance, 2 fire trucks, the police and another little fire emergency van came. I took pictures to give them later.

Then we came be to the house, showered, and watch some psych. It’s a good show.

Tis all!

july 20

So today I woke up at 10am and got ready to leave the house. I needed to catch the 1132am train. So I left at 11am. I was going to leave 5 til, but there is always something that delays me. Anyways, I made it to the station just in time. Caught the train and actually got a seat. Played some Zelda on the ds and got to yokohama. I switched to the minato-mirai line and went to motomachi-chukagai (old town – Chinatown) station. I met with chinatsu, youko, and yoshi. But as soon as I got there yoshi left to go and reserve our seat in yamashita coen (park) to watch hanabi (fireworks). So the three of us went to take purikura (tiny sticker pictures) and then we went to Chinatown to find food. We found a little restaurant that had some seats open. Amazing because there were sooooo many people out and about today. One, there were hanabi in yokohama and two, it is a holiday weekend. People everywhere and many in yukata. I wish I had bought one! We had pork and shrimp with rice. I liked the shrimp because it had sweet and sour sauce.

We left in search of the hot bun that I like. We found one store, but the bun was too big. Then we found another and it was just the right size. And I found a notepad with pen, AND the best part of all: I found bootleg lesportsac of tokidoki! I was very excited! chinatsu said "i don't think this is lesportsac." me-- "yes, bootleg!" "bootleg?" "fake" "is that ok?" "YES!" so of course i had to buy it. it was super cheap! And come to find out, the real lesportsac is made in china anyway! Awesome!

Then chinatsu gets an email from yoshi, saying that his phone does not have much power left and he cannot talk on the phone. chinatsu is worried that we won’t be able to find him. So we go to yamashita coen park. Chinatsu decides to stay and find yoshi. And when she does she will call/email youko. So youko and I go to landmark tower by the minato-mirai line to minato-mirai station. We walked thru queen’s tower on the way. It is also another huge mall. We walk around landmark tower and Youko keeps asking what do I want to buy. I don’t really know. I just want to look around. We found a ghibli (totoro) store and saw a really cute nekobasu (cat bus).

A bit ago youko gets an email from chinatsu that she found yoshi. And it’s almost 5p so we go meet mari and her son at the station. Then we go to the park. We find yoshi and chinatsu. Chinatsu said that yoshi was a liar and his phone worked the whole time. He was being mean to her! We sat and hung out. Mari’s son is humiya. He was really shy. But very cute. He had mari’s eyes. It was a very cool show. Of course my camera sucked ass. Oh well. i will ask chinatsu for pictures.

We walked to the jr line because the minato mirai line was way too crowded. Motomachi means old town. Yokohama is a very old city. It is also very expensive to shop. They have a mikimoto shop. We get to the ishikawacho station. It means stone river. We get on the train to yokohama and it is packed. We all get off and they walk me to the sotetsu line. They are all very sweet. Then I walked it home. I showered and put things in my new purse J

July 19th – mt fuji

So today we had to wake up at 3am to get ready. the mwr bus leaves at 4am from the corner pocket store. Thankfully it is across the street. We get on the bus and sleep a bit. Sumi-san is our tour guide and she wakes our ass up at 530 just to say this is mt fuji. But we still have another hour left. Great. You shouldn’t have woke us up. Whatever. We get there go to the store to buy our sticks. It is already stamped with the first one. We take a picture of all of us and off we go. we got dropped off at the 5^th station and were told that if we could not make it to the 8^th station by 11am we should forget about it. And we should leave the top by 3pm.

We start going up the path and it is not that bad. I think. kara and skyelar are having some trouble. Kara’s side already hurts. Not good. we get to the 6^th station and kara doesn’t look so good. she says she’s out of shape. She has to keep stopping for water breaks. Then I offer to switch bags with her. Her’s is like a ton. “what did you bring in here?” “everything on the list” I open it up and there is this huge sweatshirt and big ass first aid kit. “why did you bring this?” “that is my long sleeve shirt.” “you don’t have a long sleeve shirt?” “no, that is all I have” “you should have showed me this huge first aid kit, we could have brought my small one.” It fits in the palm of your hand. Whatever. We switch and keep going. They are still not doing good. we make it to the 7^th station. I’m still pumped to go. we keep going to the 8^th station. Kara calls it quits and skyelar doesn’t want to do anymore. Autumn and I decide to keep going. We make it to two more huts. I think the last was the 9^th station. Maybe. And then autumn says she wants to go down. GGGGGRRRRRR!!!! I am so fucking disappointed it is unreal. I didn’t pay and come all this way to only make it part of the way. That pisses me off to no end. I really wanted to drag her ass up the mountain, BUT I didn’t want to hear it from kara. This really disappoints me. Going down the mountain sucks ass big time and there is no victory or retribution in not making it all the way to the top. That is failure. I am not satisfied with only making it to the 9^th station. We make it down in about 2 hours. We see some navy guys on the way down and they are walking much faster. I see them go the wrong way, but I can’t call them back. the problem was that I couldn’t just leave her and say I’d come back. I wish I could.

We get to the bus and find kara and skyelar. We go back to town to buy souvenirs. I got a folder, cup, and little plushy. Also a coin. Fujichan is really adorable. We get some yakisoba for dinner and go back to the bus.

Because we finished so early we have hours until the bus leaves. Great. We meet another woman who just got to the base. She asks why I’m here and I saw for school. She says “yea, I don’t know what I want to do yet, that’s why I had a kid, so I’ve got another 15 years to figure it out.” Umm… I don’t really have anything to say to that. I go back to the bus and sleep a bit. Bus still hasn’t left. Finally at 7p we leave and I sleep. We stop to gas up and I go to the convenie. Unfortunately I got a rice ball with umeboshi. L so I eat around it and ditch the rest. I got an anpan and aquarius. Sleep again. We make it back to base at 930p. we get home and immediately take showers to get rid of the grime. Then sleep for real!

july 17 and 18

July 17 – happy birthday mom and Ashley

Today was a rest day. I went to the pool with kara and the girls. i met Christina and her girls emi and lily. We went on the slide a lot and watched the girls jump off the diving board. Then I took lily into the pool for a while. She kept wanting to get in and out.

When we went home bonnie and billy were waiting for us and they cooked dinner. Chili verde. It was really good. then we watch hellboy which is actually a good movie. I’ll have to buy it and see the next one.

Then I sorted through all of my gifts for people.

not much going on.

July 18 –

Today we went to the post office and I mailed myself some papers to mom and dad’s and then presents to others. Then we went to the nex and the mini mart to get snacks for the trip.

It was a slow day.

july 16

So today we were all meeting Brandon at the front of shiba park hotel. They arranged for a bus to take Brandon to the aiport. It takes up to 3 hours. We were meeting at 815 in the morning. So I had to wake up at 6 am. Great. But amazingly enough I made it. I was the first one there. I was carrying the stuff for my kimono too. Slowly more and more people started trickling in and then we started taking pictures. Yukiko could not make it but rie called her on the phone and they had video capabilities. She really wanted to say goodbye to Brandon.

We saw him off and then we went to the classroom. I wanted to go to the zoo because I wanted to see the panda. Akiyoshi sensei looked it up for me and it opened at 930a. I told chinatsu that I would go to the zoo and she and yoshi said that the panda was gone L so sad. But then I asked if they have kapibara and they said yes. So now I really need to go to the zoo. I need a real picture.

I told chinatsu that I wanted to go to odakyu in Shinjuku and maybe donki to check for my bag. Chinatsu wanted to go with me. So we went to odakyu and I got a little lesportsac bag with octopus on it. It was really cute. we went to another mall place but now luck. we went to the don in Shinjuku but nothing either. So we went back to the university to start getting ready for the pleasure boat. We stopped by the convenie first to get something to eat.

I washed my face and put up my hair and then put on my make up. Then I went to the girls locker room to put on my kimono. Everyone was surprised that I could do it on my own. We left and it was slow moving down to Tokyo bay. We bought our tickets and loaded up. It is free drinking once you are on the boat. You just have to pay for food. There were so many of us.

Later they had yukata dancers that all the crazy men liked. I thought it was going to be something more, but they just danced. They were moshing and I had to get out of the crowd because I was being squished and it got old. Then later I saw chinatsu crying and I went over and wanted to cheer her up. So I ended up sending her a picture of me in my spidergirl costume.

taka saito made some new friends when the boat was over. we asked a guy to take a picture and then his friends got in our picture. and then they asked taka to be in there's. then all of us. too funny. and taka igarashi, his yukata was coming undone. he was trying to fix it, and one guy went over and pulled the top apart again and taka pushed back hard. i think he smiles a lot, but if he got pushed he'd beat the crap out of someone.

The pharmacology girls know how to party. They like to drink.

We headed back and needed to change. I had to leave because I needed to catch the train. I stopped at 711 to get something to eat and I heard footsteps behind me. It was kana trying to catch up. J she’s really sweet. We walked to hamamatsucho together and got on separate trains. I walked home, showered and went to bed.

july 15

Today was kabuki. The actor is a very famous kabuki actor. He rumored to have many scandals. He has many girlfriends.

I was supposed to meet them at 9 am at ginza. But I could not wake up in time. I missed the train. So I was 30 mintues late. but it was ok, because all we did was wait in line anyway. We had to wait until 1150 when they started selling tickets. We were first in line.

We bought our tickets and then we got upstairs and bought the English headphones. They tried to give me the Japanese ones, but I needed to switch. Then we sat down. We were in the highest seats up. It was really cool. There were many old people there, but it was awesome. I wished we could have seen all of it. I got a little sleepy but I still liked it.

When It was over, we met taka and mari had to go back to school. We went to have sushi donborri. Delicious. Then we went to the hakuhinkan toy park. It was cool. 4 floors of toys and figures. Then naoko had to go back to the university. b wanted some more marui handkerchiefs. We get there and I looked for my bag, but no luck. we left to go back to the university. we ate dinner in the cafeteria. Every time we thought chinatsu was with us she kept disappearing.

We got back up to the room and I wanted to leave because I wanted to get home early because we had to be there so early the next morning.

So I headed home.

And actually because I was so tired last night I sent kim leadon the wrong file. I spruced it up a bit and resent it.

july 14

I woke up early to go to kara’s. I showered quickly and headed back to the station.

We were meeting maiko and her friend at lunch in shimokitazawa. We were meeting at 1pm. I was 5 minutes late even though I was 10 minutes early to start with. Brandon was already there talking with maiko. I came up and gave her a hug. It has been such a long time since we’ve seen each other. And her English has been much improved.

She has been working in hong kong for the last 2 years and she works with buttons. I kept forgetting that she was 3 years older than me. She looks just the same.

We found a restaurant to eat lunch. I had beef and tofu and rice, with miso soup. before we left I said I had a gift for her. I brought her bath and body works lotion and yatsuhashi from Kyoto. She was excited that I remember she liked it. She got me an address book and a little box from china. We left and started wandering around the town. I told her that I was looking for a bag from lesportsac. She said she thinks she’s seen it in china.

We left shimokitazawa and went to Shinjuku to find a place that sells lesportsac. But no luck. We found a café to have an iced coffee. It was so hot outside. She said that her father has been sick and that both of her parents have been pushing her to get married. It was really nice to see her. We had to finish writing our note cards to the students so she didn’t mind hanging out.

She had dinner plans so we left to go back to the university. we were in luck and dropped off of the presents while they were not there. The only one that saw us was miho. We stayed and talked with akiyoshi sensei some more and then we left. We ate at mos burger and then I needed to go home. I was so tired.

When I got back I had to write that report to kim leadon about the rotation. I was soooo tired. So I sent it and went to bed.

july 13

I went to akihabara one more time to find b’s figures. Got them and left for nakano broadway. I met b and we checked out mandarake. It was a cool manga place. A couple floors full of random items. I found my bag but then this woman was circling it and would not step away. So it was hopeless. I told Brandon that we needed to leave at 430. we had a timeline. And I was getting tired of waking up so early to get somewhere. We get back to b’s and I’m changing into my kimono in the bathroom.

I almost forgot how to tie the obi. Brandon was not able to figure out his obi. So I tied it. I asked him if he got direction and he said yes. We were running late and he couldn’t walk any faster. I was so annoyed. Then he took us to Shinjuku. We couldn’t find the exit and then I realized that we were supposed to be in shimbashi. Why can’t he ever find himself??? I was so annoyed and pissed off at him. I swear he would get lost without our guides and myself. We ended up being an hour late for dinner with akiyoshi sensei. He was ok. He saw us dressed up and he got excited. He said we looked Japanese.

He took us to fish bank. It was a really nice upscale restaurant. We got an appetizer each, I ordered the tuna. I can’t remember. I was really full. I had a dessert made for the made of honour movie. Chocolate and cheesecake with raspberry sauce. It was delicious. Akiyoshi told us that he has been dating his financee for 3 years. She was a student at the other university. her name is akimi. And his said his mothers first name was yoshi something. Kinda funny. He said it was important to keep personal life and work separate. We left and headed back to b’s to change and then I got to the train station too late and my train wasn’t running. There was not way I was going to make it to kara’s. and I tripped and fell on the escalator. I’ve got 3 nice prong marks in my right knee. Of course I need a scar from japan.

So I ended up staying on his couch shivering in the cold.