Thanks you guys! Man the party my friends set out for me on Thursday night was the best hahahaha (^_^) *happy again* It was 5 of my japanese girl-friends and Aurelie... We all went down to this nice place for dinner and just talked and talked and talked... then they gave me a present... this perfume I've been looking at for soooo long! (Adeline you remember the Very Irresistable by Givenchy?) I got that one hahahah *happyhappyhappy*

After dinner we went out for karaoke which was just the best... and by this time it was already almost midnight... after everybody went back home, me and Nazuna ducked in Tsutaya, this DVD rental store and who did I see in there! My really cool Media Culture teacher w/o his glasses and his eyes and cheeks all red and his army of followers (they'd all just come back from somewhere- they were probably drinking) was gathered all around him too! (What a laugh!) He recommended some movies and stuff, I took one of his suggestions and then Nazuna and I left the place laughing our heads off because... well you had to be there to appreciate it I think but, during dinner we'd been mimicking Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow (since the 3rd movie's just come out) and that teacher was acting a little Sparrow-like too. And they'd just all been discussing Ali G In Da House, so it was a pretty weird mixture of Pirates and Hip-hop in the way he was acting. That was just the weirdest/nicest end to the day.

Then the next day I went out with most of my non-japanese friends to the cinema to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3! heeee

It was a nice end to the week. Then on Saturday I picked up my homework again... and I'm doing it even now but I don't feel so stressed out anymore. o(^_^o)

See you guys!

R&R

This week has been absolute h*bleep*ll. I'm in dire need of a break. A break. (Wasn't there just Golden Week? ... There aren't any more public holidays in June... oh no...)

It all began last weekend when I realised that I hadn't completed the reading for my seminar (why oh why did I put so much confidence into finishing it on time!!) I was taking too slow a pace reading it that I couldn't finish much in the end. This episode ended Monday at noon.

Then I realised that I hadn't finished the reading assignment for my Media Culture class, the homework for one of the languages, the handouts for my English presentation on popular science writing... and the teacher now handling my seminar handed us all a piece of work saying we all have to summarise it by next monday. Plus I'm still looking for reading material for my other English class! I'm just so nervous now!

I know I'm going to finish all of these assignments... someway or another. ... MAN! I've got more things to hand it next week and more reports (being backlogged since I can hand those in July) just waiting to be written! It's like everytimne I hand something in, more stuff follow!!

I'm not liking my position right now. I'm very thankful for all the people helping me out but oh whyyy do I have to study on Sundays toooooooooo (T_T)

My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Liliana who lent me her Friends collection. I really needed that. I really really really needed that.

Heh... Joey just cracks me up (^_^) HAHAHAH From now on, every day I go and study I'm defitely going to watch something funny... I go to sleep more easily.

To think I'm going to turn 20 soon as a nervous wreck. I'll probably take time off the rest of the day for R&R and mentally prepare for next week. I hope I can... at least. (^_^) Peace. Don't ever go to Uni thinking that it's going to be all fun and no work, unless you love deadlines - heehee!

Harborland pictures

I know I promised pictures.... I haven't managed to edit the rest of them but here's some of the night view from Harborland- (It's basically only 2 different types with different angles but I like these pictures all the same (^_^)

Wentz

Woops, I know I said I'd post up pictures this time, but I forgot to save it to my pendrive.

I just wanted to talk about how awesome Awakening Emotion 8/5 is ahahahhaha It's by Eiji Wentz(sp?) I just saw it on TV, and like how I fell for Abingdon School Boy's Innocent Sorrow, I felt [this is it] for me... again... hahah, I really like it. It's the main song for the new Gegege no Kitarou movie (ironic, I don't think much about Kitarou).

I'm in a pinch. I've got less than 5 days to finish reading another 15 pages for my seminar AND write a commentary on it. I'm insane. Why oh why oh why did I think I could handle this in a week? I should have done it before Golden Week when I was insane enough to go on studyingggggg- I'm insaaaaane.

Come to think of it, I think it was a wonderful day when I first learnt of the word 'insane'.

Heehee.

GW... is over

...and I'm back to school. (^_^) Well... It's not so bad and I think I did manage to do quite a lot of things... lets start from the beginning shall we?

Technically, my holiday was a lot longer than everybody else's. So I tried to finish the majority of my assignments before Anni came (which was on the 2nd) and I did manage to finish one of my reports and reviewed for some other subjects too (Go Naj!) *big grin*

I remember clearly what it was that we did on the 2nd... I believe that I cooked quite a big lunch at the apartment... then Aurelie came back from the last of her classes... then... Oh yes! We went to Harborland. Harborland was really nice that day, even though all we did was go around window shopping it was still very pleasant. Then we came back and rented an Audrey Hepburn movie... Holiday in Rome or something like that I'm not sure about the English title... and it was really cool too! I should continue watching Audrey Hepburn movies, so far I've watched My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's too. I wonder what else there might be...

On Thursday we went to Kyoto, Sumire joined us that day. We had intended to go and watch Yabusame, which by the way is SO COOL! It's like Kyudo, only horseback. They have an archery contest (sort of) horseback. At first I thought that the horses were going to be trotting or walking or what... but it just zoomed past the track! It was AWESOME (^o^) I'm probably going back there again next year. It was just.... SO fabulous.

Then we went to Kiyomizu-dera, one of the most scenic spots in Kyoto... I've been there several times already too... but it was still awesome.

On Friday we decided to take it easy and go to the Zoo at Oji-koen, the station just next to Rokko (which is near where I live). Aurelie was being all kiddy about it going "I want to see the pandas and the monkeys and the penguins etc etc..." hahahah I wish I could show you guys the video but she might bop me one over the head (^_^).
Apparently it has the only pandas (in a zoo) that you can find in Japan (even if they did come from China). They had lions, jaguars, leopards, elephants, monkeys, gorillas, bears, sloths, white owls, eagles, iguanas, alligators, flamingo, storks, farm animals, kangaroos, polar bears, penguins, sea lions, wolves, binturong, anteaters, porcupines, ostriches, wallabys, hippos, rhinos... I can't remember what else there was... the main attraction was of course, the pandas. Cute really.

On Saturday Anni went to stay over at her host family's place so we stayed mostly indoors, and I was half doing my Korean and reading the Tale of Genji... I only managed to finish the Introduction and the first chapter this day. I bought some manga versions too just to get a clearer picture. What have I found out so far? The novel is an excellent example of Freudian... something. Basically a lot of ... well...

So this guy has a thing for his father's, the Emperor's, Consort who apparently looks a lot like his own mother, and well he impregnates her just after he found and took in (as his own child) a girl who looks like the Consort (only younger) whom he ends up getting married to at some point during the book.

Hmm? I don't quite get much of what I wrote either. Anyways, the whole thing is all complicated. I'd recommend reading the book but then again I wouldn't also... maybe a shorter version? Hahahaha... but I can already smell the complicated mixture of excitement and anguish fuming from the first chapter. Reading this is going to be one ride (and it already is!).

My hat's off to ya Adeline, good luck with Japanese Literature... I've only got one class to please, I'd be horrified if I had to read this book in Japanese (modern translation OR original).

We sent off Anni on Sunday (I was doing my reading assignment the whole day long... Goodness my life is so sad.)

And now! Today! I'm in school! I just had my only class for the day and it wasn't so horrible- only that I didn't understand a bit of what they were talking about... yet again. Anyway at least I have the notes I can review it later (Jeez more studying... Can anyone be more boring? (T_T) Well... Look at the brighter side... My reading pace has improved... I cut it in half *woohoo*

It used to be about an hour per A4 page last year... now it's only half. (Okay, it does still take a lot of time but hey! Maybe next year I can cut it in half again!) (^_^)

Anyway I gotta go and start working on my reading now! I'll post loaaaads of pictures next time!

It's Golden Week again

Monday was a national holiday,
today, all my classes were cancelled,
tomorrow, I have no classes
Thursday is a national holiday
Friday is a holiday
Saturday is a national holiday
no school on Sundays..

So, add all of the above plus last weekend? I'm getting 9 days straight of no classes muhahahahaha (my much needed holiday) Finally.

I just got the order I placed for books through amazon.co.jp and boy am I crying my eyes out (hysterically? - it is my holiday but now I face the amount of reading material I have- and that wasn't all of it!) Anyway, one of the books I got was The Tale of Genji, you've probably heard of it before, if you haven't! (o.o)

Here's a wiki reference:

"It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, or the first novel to still be considered a classic. The issue remains debated among scholars."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji

Well... I hope that was helpful. It's as thick (though a little smaller) as one of my previous Sociology textbooks. I've read a couple of pages already and it really is rather interesting. I would recommend to anyone who would like to read it (for fun, from curiosity, for some light literature) to read the 2002 translation by Royall Tyler. All the other translations are alright however, Tyler's is the easiest to read (as in smooth reading, lots of notes, pictures, descriptions etc).

I've also got Kafka and Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin etc. on the reading list. Crazy huh? I really feel like I went back to studying sociology.

Ah. Second year of University life. Second year in Kobe. First year in my Department. Anyway. You gotta love it.

Holiday!!