Juxtaposed in Japan
Thursday, January 25th

Siiiiiiiick.. kinda

Current Sounds: Weird Al Yankovich - White And Nerdy

Woke up at 3AM to a kid screaming bloody murder in the living room. This is, fortunately, not common, but also not out of the realm of possibilities for the things that go on around here. The long and the short of it is that foster care work is a never ending job. The ironic thing is that I'm not the one doing it, but I still get to share the joys of new kids arriving at 3AM screaming their head off. There's more to the story, but that was the only real exciting part. The rest is just kinda sad, and I'm not really involved.

Which is good. You never want to be involved in why kids are screaming bloody murder at 3 am, actually. But I digress..

I think I've gotten sick, but fortunately it's nothing really important/serious. Might have a slight fever (never got around to checking), and about a half pound of mucus resting oh-so-caringly in my lungs. Not quite that bad (I don't imagine I'd still be alive), but you get the idea. In the grand scheme of things, though, this is a pretty decent sickness. Could be worse.

Blah, gotta go get some food (at midnight.. yay for logical eating schedules!), waste some time, then go to bed. Have another exciting (and short!!) day tomorrow.
Jason on 01.25.07 @ 11:25 PM JST [link]


Saturday, January 20th

2 weeks down, 14 to go.

Current Sounds: Oingo Boingo - We Close Our Eyes

My sage idea of taking "a whole boat-load of classes!!!!" is turning out to be a little less sage. Doing a rush of five straight hours of classes, running from one building to the next is definitely not turning out to be one of my better ideas. Fortunately, it's only two days a week, though I'm still tired almost all the time now.

What's sad is that this is all still just the opening classes and I haven't even had a full week yet.

I still think I'm doing the right thing, and I'll be able to make it through my classes with decent grades, but two days a week I come back in looking and feeling like hell. Once all the reading and papers kick in, I'm sure my complaining will reach a new, joyous height. In the mean time, I really need to start sleeping more. Alas, the dreaded 6 foot window which lets the joyous sun in has other plans. One could suggest something about me going to bed at a sane hour.. but that's not really going to happen, now is it? Of course not. I've also somehow developed the weird habit where I fall asleep right away once I go to bed, then wake up 30 minutes later and can't get back to sleep. Definitely strange.

Regardless, I'm getting used to a 6~ hour sleeping schedule again. I become mean and sleep deprived somewhere around the early evening, but that's not so bad! All my classes are done by then, and I don't do my homework until 8-10PM, which is around when I get a second wind.

Other than sleep, I've been attempting to live at least a slightly healthier lifestyle. No real good reason (no weight or health issues, I just feel like I kinda.. should). Less junk food, orange juice and grape juice over soda, going to the gym 3 times a week, all that fun stuff. Not really sure if I can say if it's working out or not, as I don't really have any goals, nor any problems I'm trying to fix. But it's not so bad, I suppose.

I should get back to reading. Right now I'm reading "The Woman in the Dunes" (Abe, Kobo). Not such a bad book, actually pretty interesting, though I'm still not exactly sure what the whole point of it is or what it's supposed to be saying about Post-War Japan.

Anyway, I'm off for now. Going to be up for awhile longer, go to bed, then battle the sun again in the morning.
Jason on 01.20.07 @ 09:57 PM JST [link]


Friday, January 12th

First impressions

Current Sounds: L'Arc~en~Ciel - Link

So, I've officially survived my first week of classes (which was only 3 days and only introduction sections, but an achievement none-the-less). I dropped one class, replaced it with another, then replaced that with a third I hadn't even planned on taking. I also added 2 more credits this morning, knocking me up to 18 units (which is also, incidentally, the highest amount you can take without special administrative paperwork). I'm either insane, trying to work myself to death, or going to graduate as early as possible and be able to relax for my senior year. If everything's on track (it should be), my last year of school will be low-stress 12-credit semesters taking filler credits of stuff that's ideally easy and that I don't really need. Ha!

A secondary reason for all this work is so that in case something unexpected comes up (I didn't count my credits properly, some classes don't count, I need something else, etc), I can easily slip more classes in later without overburdening myself. There's nothing quite like getting forced to take an 18 credit final semester with statistics, advanced Japanese, and a literature class that you didn't expect.

Otherwise, things are going alright. Trying to do the right things, trying to be a decent person, and of course, keep up with the studying. Don't worry: the dedication to the studying will die out in about two weeks or so, once I can figure out how little work I actually need to do to make it through my classes.

Need to make plans for what we're doing in London. As of right now, I have absolutely no idea what people actually do in London, as natives or visitors. You see, when you spend years of your life studying Japanese/Chinese history, culture, and language, you actually spend little time learning about the whole "Europe" thing. This is also partly my fault, due to a sincere lack of interest in Europe as a whole. Yes, I know, I'm uncultured, have a lack of respect for history, etc, etc. For some reason, I just have absolutely no interest in European/Western history. This generally works out all right for me, except for times like right now. I guess I'll look up some info or a travel guide for London online and see what it is that people go do. Regardless, I'll have a helpful guide (whom I'll be staying with), so I imagine I'll at least have a decent chance.

On a positive note, I don't need to rely on foreign language skills to save me while traveling, or bring maps and dictionaries with me everywhere I go! Though at this point, nearly 2 years of constant study since I'd last gone to Japan, I'm quite sure I could get by on my own now, it's at least nice to know that I'll be able to rely on English for travel.

Anyway, I think I'll be off for now. Gotta get starting on transcribing the English and Japanese copy of "Gone with the Wind". Why? I have no idea, but that's my job.

But first, my classes!

Modern Japanese literature (After 1945)
Modern Japanese history (1800-present)
Chinese history (1600-1800)
Psychology of language development
Advanced Japanese language (finishing up my third year)
Independent Japanese study
Jason on 01.12.07 @ 09:58 PM JST [link]


Wednesday, January 10th

Going to London (for real this time)!!

Current Sounds: Within Temptation - Stand My Ground

Been quite a whirlwind over the last few days of break. Trying to do everything I never got around to doing over the break, and accomplishing.. well, some of the tasks. Not all, but it's a start. Alas, classes begin in a whopping 10 hours or so. If I go to bed now, I'll get a full night's sleep and still have time to get ready and be early for class. One would think I really should be in bed.

I'll be leaving for bed in a few minutes, but I did want to post that I really will be going to London now. I own my plane tickets and have all the dates picked out, so it really is set. I'll be spending about 6 days in London over spring break, which should be alot of fun. A bit short.. but at the same time, I think it's short enough to make every day important, memorable. Any longer and you start to drag your feet a bit. I did the same in Tokyo when I went the first time for 8 days. There were some days where you just kinda.. wandered. Fun, but.. when you're abroad, it feels like you really should do something unique each day.

So, off I am now. Need some sleep for the eventful day ahead of me. Gotta fight in the afternoon to see if I can get one of the classes I want. Otherwise, Environmental Psychology (whatever that means)... gah.
Jason on 01.10.07 @ 12:53 AM JST [link]


Friday, January 5th

Those random encounters


Current Sounds: yozuca* - Sakura Saku Mirai Koi Yume

I'm 21, it's a new year, and another semester is rapidly approaching. You know, the traditional "lots to do, little time to do it" thing. And yet, at the same time, I have a remarkable amount of free time in the short period before school resumes. To make the best of it, I've taken to reading as much as I can (did I mention finishing "Jarhead"? I think so. I'm reading "Spiral" now). Not just books, but these long and pretty much useless articles on HowStuffWorks. They may seem useless now, but I'm confident that someday I may need to know the historical significance of our modern-day calendar, the impact of swearing on our brain, and how quartz watches work.

I'm finally semi-satisfied with my school schedule for this semester. Looks like I might have an obscene amount of free time...

aaaand, that got caught off mid-sentence. Someone I hadn't spoken with in over 2 years just called me and we talked for over an hour. So, my thought process was kinda cut off. I really need to sleep now, then (darn the international time zones) if I'm going to get anything remotely decent.

Attached to this post (again, under 'more') is a picture of my birthday cake. Naturally, everyone wants to see my birthday cake.

I'll write more as things happen.. or if I sleep.
Jason on 01.05.07 @ 06:49 AM JST [more..]



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Name:Jason
Age:23
Born:12-30
Location:Arizona


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Location: Japan
Doing: English Teacher
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