Juxtaposed in Japan

Thursday, November 30th

How to procrastinate from school work in style

Current Sounds: Tongazu Kids - B-Dash
Currently Feeling: So much work to do..

So, I'm still alive and all that, though the finals workload is finally setting in. It's a shame, too, since this week was so calm and nice (though mildly pointless to attend my classes, but that's another story entirely).

..... and due to a massive oversight, I just learned that I have a paper due tomorrow. Considering it's midnight and I've already finished writing up one massive writing assignment, I suppose I'm not going to be doing this paper. I'm allowed to drop two of my lowest papers anyway, so I think I'll be fine. Ouch. I meant to check these things sooner, but never got around to it. Yep.. definitely not good.

Other than that problem, I have all my other assignments written up on a calendar and have my days scheduled around what gets done when and what days I work on which projects. Akin to last year's rush, I'm aiming for one (or a significant part of) project per night. I really shouldn't let things hang till the last minute, but despite the rush, I think I'll do fine. Need two 8-page papers written by Tuesday, but it shouldn't be too bad. I have a thesis for each one, some prelim reading, and now I just need to write them. After that, it's finals, finals, and I think some finals. Eating and sleeping are probably going out the window, but otherwise, it's not so bad. My biggest issue is being locked up inside my room for obscene periods of time, staring at a screen or a book and listening to cycling hours upon hours of Japanese music. But, I survive. Or I have so far.

As I generally do, I take pointless and obscene breaks from studying/writing (the past two days have been devoted to a large journal writing project). Thus far, it's involved building a gingerbread house, walking around with a cardboard pirate hat, and taping people up and laughing maniacally. I have photos of most of this, except the last ones. I don't really want evidence, you know.

The photos are under "more..", where you can see my awesome gingerbread house, christmas tree, and such. It should be noted that I should never, ever become an architect. Ever. When the walls wouldn't go together, I decided to just put more and more frosting on them to hold it together. The same theory took place for the roofing. I don't think in real life putting more and more cement is a sound way to resolve structural problems. But.. you know? It can't possibly matter.

As for me.. time to go to bed. The caffeine is wearing off, and I have school tomorrow morning. What fun.

I'll write again sometime soon.. probably over this weekend, as my sanity's liable to crack pretty quick. Many, many hours of work ahead. Yay?
Jason on 11.30.06 @ 11:22 PM JST [more..]

Monday, November 20th

Some wins, some losses, not so bad.

Current Sounds: Kotoko - DuDiDuWa*lalala

It's been awhile since I've been this tired. Maybe it's because I've actually been trying to sleep this semester. Regardless, today has been a long day. Tomorrow will also be one of such days, as I have to get up early and start running well before anything's happening. At least it's done in the early afternoon and I can come back in. Just two more days this week and then I have a four day weekend. Yesssss.

Got the iPod problem fixed today. This makes me a happy Jason. By "fixed", I went complaining to two different institutions and got them to replace it with a new product. Ideally, this one won't die on me. To justify it even more, I have several hours of Japanese conversation and language practice on it, so while I'm waiting between classes or doing nothing of import, I can listen and pick up more vocabulary. It's actually pretty handy, since I have several hours through the week where I'm not doing anything but schoolwork and waiting.

Also got some admission issues out of the way, handed in my paper, begged for mercy because I was missing a critical part of my paper (long story that resulted in me running to the library and frantically searching for books with 10 minutes to go, though I only got half of the problem fixed), and did alright on my tests. Definitely could've been a better day, but I suppose it really could've been worse too, huh?

So, I'm going to get off to bed. Trudge through tomorrow, then Wednesday should be relatively light. Afterwards: games! Movies! Totally useless things!

Then I'll remember I have to write a paper, but that's the future. This is now. One day at a time.
Jason on 11.20.06 @ 10:38 PM JST [link]

Want to sleeeeeeeeeeep.

Current Sounds: kukui - Little Primrose

I really want to be in bed, but I got caught up talking to people. Need to wake up early so I can go yell at a department at school tomorrow, so it's going to be something of a long, tiring day. Caffeine can/will save the day, I'm sure. If it doesn't, I'll just have to get more caffeine. That generally solves most problems in life. The one problem is biking to and from school. Unlike previous semesters, that actually requires effort and "being awake"-ness.

Ipod died today. Just said "hey Jason, I'm going to not do that screen thing I did anymore", up and died. It plays music, but.. what good does that do you if you navigate the menus blind? It's still markedly new. Like really new. To say that I'm annoyed is an understatement.. shocked, angry, upset all work pretty decently. There's a really strong love/hate relationship with technology. Gah.. those things are expensive.

Blah. Anyway, I really need sleep. Going to be up in just a short while, need to be coherent enough to demand paperwork get done, hand a paper in, stumble into Japanese class (and ramble away in a foreign language), then meet up with the Japanese guy.

Busy, busy, busy.
Jason on 11.20.06 @ 12:49 AM JST [link]

Friday, November 17th

[Library] I'm working, I swear

Current Sounds: El-Hazard - Kamisama ga kureta hi

In the library, on a laptop, killing time. I'd like to take a moment to complain in great detail about how heavy laptops are when you're biking and have textbooks with you.. but then I realized that I don't really want to talk about it for a long period. Alas, I'm not looking forward to the bike ride home.

I'd never really noticed just how massive the library is. "Huge" is a good word. "Cavernous" is even better, but makes the library sound cooler than it really is. However, the walls are made of stone, so it just might work. Regardless, I spent awhile running around (getting lost?) to get some books for a project I should've done weeks ago. It's due Monday, so now I kinda feel like I should start. Go figure, huh?

Woke up early this morning to go rally two of my Japanese language partners to help out with my teacher's linguistics project. Going to ask another language partner this afternoon, and may make a phone call and ask a fourth guy tonight. She's (the teacher) done alot for me, so I feel it's the least I can do. Other than that, my day's running about average, pretty much like the rest of the week. Get up, go to school, that sort of thing.

This weekend's going to be set to writing a paper (only about 5 or so pages, shouldn't be too bad, and it's a topic I'm already versed in, so research will be minimal), going out to meet one of the language partners for lunch on Sunday, and I might do some Christmas shopping. Other than that, hopefully I'll be sleeping. At the very least, Thanksgiving weekend's coming up, so that should be a nice break away from classes before the last papers are due and I have to make a full-tilt run toward finals.

In other news.. not a whole lot. Life keeps on, as it has a tendency to do. I'm dealing with those general annoyances with people, tired of playing people's games. But I guess there's not really much that can be done about that, huh? I don't care for making short-term, social relationships. They mean little to me. Which means that it's all the more annoying when people you've known for a long period of time grow distant.

Really, though, things are mostly alright. Just have to make it from day to day, keep studying, and get through to the next semester. I'm not one for long-term planning, so I'll deal with those problems when they come up.

Right now, I need to take the bibliographical info on these books and try to feel productive.
Jason on 11.17.06 @ 01:13 PM JST [link]

Tuesday, November 14th

And a week's passed

Current Sounds: Misono - VS

Presumption: (linguistics) A fact inferred to be true by the phrasing within a sentence or statement.

For example: "Why do people suck?" The presumption here is that people do, in fact, suck. The truth conditions are that.. hmm.. there are people, and I suppose that they suck (not sure about that one). Linguistics is an interesting field, I suppose, but feels more like they describe rather than explain. Frankly, that's all we can do in such a field, but one should never confuse these two things. Description is not explanation. Hence I, a lowly undergrad, declare it's a 'soft' science and not quite as serious as other ones.

Been a long week since I last wrote. Fortunately, my wrist is much better (I can write with a pen for decent periods of time now, it doesn't really hurt much at all). My lower back still hurts, especially between sitting or standing, but that can't be helped. It'll go away after awhile, probably in a few weeks to a month or so. However, I did finally upload those Halloween pictures I promised (located under "more" at the bottom of this entry).

I've managed to pick up another language partner (this would be 3 people every week, number 4 for the semester, for those not keeping count), adding another two hours of Japanese speaking and conversation to the week. I can make decent conversation in long-distance phone calls to Japan now, which is a mix of "good", "fun", and "deathly frightening". That's gotta say something, though what, I'm not sure. In those spare moments where I'm not doing anything, I've been working my way through reading some Japanese manga (comics).

Things are generally going alright. Some days are good, some days are bad. It seems more based on what happens when I wake up, though, so I can't blame anything in particular. I might not be sleeping enough, and I also hear I don't have an optimistic outlook. People are being generally unreliable/weird around me as of late, so that's not helping much. One moment things are great, the next you have to justify everything you say or do. One day people say one thing, the next they change their mind. Best yet, I'm supposed to be on top of people's most recent mood shifts, whether I have any reason to know or not. I guess it's really par for the course, but it's still mildly annoying sometimes.

I should go off to bed now, gotta study for two tests tomorrow, have lunch with Japanese Guy #2, then try for a linguistics study-thing.

Odd/amusing thing of the week: There was a man in a platypus costume walking around campus. I really have no idea why.. but they just were, jumping around, waving.. yeah. Good times.

(oh, and again, two photos under "more")
Jason on 11.14.06 @ 10:58 PM JST [more..]

Tuesday, November 7th

Already off to a great start

Current Sounds: Kugimiya Rie - Honto no Kimochi
Currently Feeling: itai, itai, ita~i! Gah, it hurts.

So: slipping is bad. Landing on hard tile is bad. Hurting your tailbone is bad. Thus, slipping on tile and landing on your tailbone and right wrist is really no good. Figured I'd share this information.

I don't suspect anything's broken, but my right hand is definitely being argumentative with me. I imagine I pulled a tendon or a muscle or somesuch, judging by the fact that certain movements hurt much more than others, and everything feels mostly intact. The tailbone feels mostly alright. I can stand, I can sit, I can walk, bending over isn't pleasant. Rather just a dull pain reminding me it's still there.

Honestly, I shouldn't be going to school today. Typing is a bit of a difficulty, and I don't even know if I can hold a pen and use my hand enough to write notes all day. If it comes down to it, I can call my teachers and leave them a message telling them I won't be in due to the accident this morning, but I still intend to make a hearty attempt at getting through the day. Either I'm really "go-get'em".. or really, really stupid. I'm thinking it's probably the latter, as it's not the first time I've thrown it all to the wind and ignored my body's better judgement. But, hey, what's life without learning the hard lessons over and over again?

Any chance I can be a bum and just sleep in?

I need to go get stuff ready to go to school today (pack a lunch, get my books in order, etc), so I should be off. But I'll try to update relatively soon with how things are going. I'm confident it's nothing serious, just markedly painful and going to make the next few days, as the kids would say, "suck". I'll also add photos of Halloween later (2 of them).

Off I go!
Jason on 11.07.06 @ 08:05 AM JST [link]

Wednesday, November 1st

[Library] Watching and waiting, a pretty quick week.

Current Sounds: Typing, whispering.. good stuff.

I distantly mentioned something about how I'm going to London unless something totally unforseen and highly unlikely occurs. To put it simply, something totally unforseen and highly unlikely had occured. Soo.. yeah, no London. It was still possible, but airfare went up by 20% within the course of 1 day, and I learned that I'd have to fly out later, meaning I'd only be in country 4-5 days. At this point, it was simply no longer practical.

Life goes on. Looks like I'll be sticking it out here in my lovely city over winter break. At the very least, it's alot.. cheaper? Sure. If I was a responsible fellow, I'd throw the supposed airfare/travel money back to pay off student loans. But, really, am I that responsible?

Went to school in costume again this year. It was interesting, and people aren't so bad. You get weird stares sometimes, but I really don't care. I have photos, which I should be uploading tonight. Afterwards, I went trick-or-treating. Not for myself, but to go along with the kids. Might as well be festive, right?

I need to run off an make a phone call, inquire how someone's exam went, then finish reading 60~ pages for a book that needs to be done by tomorrow. Yay for long reading assignments over a short period of time.

I'll write sometime again soon. In short, week's been alright. Short, quick, to the point, and markedly uneventful. But by no means bad.

One parting note, though: trying to trouble-shoot someone's computer problems in Japanese is by no means easy. My vocabulary is definitely not quite there yet. Gah.
School on 11.01.06 @ 10:21 AM JST [link]


November 2006
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