Spider

Today my student's little brother found this huge spider. It's alive, so very freaky. I tried spraying it with insect spray, but not sure if it worked. It was still alive when I was leaving.

I'll ask one of the other teachers if they could finish him off.

Apparently I am terrified of spiders. Not a good day. Just thinking of it makes me shiver.

It's not the greatest picture, but at least you can see the size of the thing. The handles for the bins are palm-sized.
I was too scared to take a better picture, because the spider was moving, and I was afraid it was going to run off somewhere.

Song

A beautiful song someone shared with me:



I don't understand the lyrics too well, but I'd like to read it carefully and translate one of those days.

The music, and the voice, are so beautiful... 何か、私の今の感情はその曲の感情とにてるかも。心から歌いたいの気持ちかな。

いつもね強がり人にいたいが、だれかの前にやさしくて弱くてvulnerableなっていい。
そういう人がいるから、私は恵まれるだと思う。

The other day I had a conversation with someone about blogging and the lack of blogging.

This person said, the reason he didn't blog during certain times was that he didn't feel he had something to say/share.

Well, I actually feel the opposite these days. I have things to share that I shouldn't share on a public blog like this. According to my stats, I have some readers who visit my page, but I have no idea who they are. I usually recognize the IP/ISP/etc. information for most of my friends and family (hehe), so I am very curious who those mysterious readers are, and if they are people I know, or just found my blog via google... But I guess I'll never find out.

Well, in any case, it's getting harder and harder to blog because it's tempting to share about the things (or people) that make me happy, but I know I shouldn't, this being such a public place.

Hehe, so I might reduce the amount of blogging, but of course we'll see, maybe I'll be procrastinating, and blogging lots again...

Oh, and I want to test if I can post special characters, let's see if this works: ♥.

Food

I've been trying to convince myself that the only thing I really need to eat today was congee (おかゆ), with some ginger, egg, and boilled chicken. That's of course because of the stomach flu or whatever it is that I managed to catch this time. My brain though seems to think that I also need to eat watermelon, tiramisu, a jelly desert that my manager gave me before she found out I was sick, and chocolate ice-cream. Maybe my body is asking for sugar... I've been trying to resist, especially since most of this food is really unhealthy, but I did eat some watermelon, cake and ice-cream. (@_@)

On Tuesday my pool membership starts, so I'll be working off the effects of this infection. I thought you are supposed to lose weight during those things, but I am actually hungy all the time, more so than I normally am.

Oh and I discovered that you can make really yummy congee in my rice cooker. :D

I nearly fell off my bed laughing when I read on this website, "last Valentine's Day I bought rose pedals and spread them on the floor in my apartment."

Ah, the mental images of pink bicycle (or other kind of) pedals, littering the poor guy's apartment, on Valentine's Day of all days. Don't you love the English language :D.

...

Looks like it's stomach flu again, or something similar.

Guess I'll be eating congee, bread, or plain white rice for the next few days...

I wonder if I can call in sick at work tomorrow. (@_@)

*passes out on the carpet in the classroom*

(No, I didn't really pass out, but I wish the lessons didn't start today... My manager is coming by later to drop off some stuff, I am going to tell her I will probably be calling in sick tomorrow. Damn, I have the kindergarten too... grrr)

Internet Withdrawal Symptoms

So I have no Internet in my apartment for the next two months... It's only the second day, but the withdrawal symptoms are showing.

Good thing I have Internet on my phone.

I do hope that I will get some solid work, or at least reading done this Internet-less summer.

And on a totaly unrelated note, I feel like $&@% today... (health- wise, not emotionally). I hope it's just one of those days, and I didn't catch anything like another flu virus (I don't think I did). Work is about to start and this is the longest day of the week, and I am really not up for being here today. But I have something to really look forward to tonight, so I'll survive today's classes, I am sure.

No Internet

I have no internet in my house starting from today and until mid August, when I set it up in my new apartment, after I move.

It's a long story as to why, that's just how things are. Sucks big time (it was supposed to be 2 weeks without internet in June, but turned into 2 months, sight). But whatever... I guess this will make me actually do work at home, instead of wasting my time away on youtube, mixi, DA, and other such websites.

I am still going to check email of course, and email is still the fastest way to reach me, because I get sound notifications for mail when it comes on my phone. I'll still be blogging too, because I can blog through email now, so I can do it easily from my phone.

So yeah, just thought I'd let everyone know what my excuse is if I don't answer to emails fast.

JET

今JETのinformation packageを読んで、「本当に八月からこ
の仕事をはじめる。ありえへん」と思った。この仕事がずっと欲しかった
から、今は夢みたい。

Live Show

Today I went to a live show with my friend from work again. I am so glad he keeps inviting me, because I really enjoy those live shows. I should start going on my own too though.

Just as before, this was a punk rock show, but the bands were new. I mean, I saw all of them for the first time. We mainly went to see the band called "Lucy and the Lipstix" which my friend likes, and I really loved it too. I got their CD, and I am glad.

I also got to see and hang out for a little bit with my favourite punk rock band's members. This band is called "Vision", I think I blogged about going to see their show. I've seen them twice so far. I wish they played today too, but they didn't. They'll be playing soon though, in a few weeks, and then next month in Nagoya, and I'll see if I can go to both shows. Not sure about the one this month, but the one in July—for sure. There's also going to be the band from today playing, and a new band that has a member of another band that I really liked, but that broke apart ("The Climax"). I am really really looking forward to that.

My ears are still feel a bit funny (it is loud in live houses), and it took some effort to get the cigarette smoke out of my hair, and I have panda eyes because I can't find my make-up remover and my mascara turned out to be water-proof, but it was quite worth it. The show was so fun, everyone was dancing and jumping around, and so happy, and I had a good time too dancing, jumping, and acting all sorts of crazy. I wonder what what my JHS students would have thought if they ever saw me... By the looks they give me sometimes during the class, they must think I have a stick up my... well, you get the point. Little do they know what I do in my free time :P. And speaking of that, I am glad Toyohashi is such a big city, I can wear any crazy clothes I want without worrying. I wonder if I'd be able to do that in Kameyama... especially because I've been wanting to invest in some VK-style shirts and shoes... I found just the store in Nagoya too... I didn't have money last time but probably come September I'll be able to afford it.

And yes, in case my female friends are wondering, all the eye candy today was, well, very enjoyable... hehe... yeah... Especially the Lucy guys, and the Vision guys...
*goes to drool over the Shoxx magazine and the CD covers*

By the way, I love the new Vision's music, and the Lucy and the Lipsticks CD too.

The other two times after the lives we went with my friend to the after-party, but this time both of us had work the next day (since it's not a Saturday live but a Sunday one). Next time though we both decided to go to the after party. We'll have to spend an all-nighter in Nagoya after that though, maybe go to an internet cafe or something, because we'll miss the last train, but those after-parties are totally worth it. Everyone is so friendly, and it's so interesting to talk to everyone.

P.S. No, I didn't take any pictures in case anyone is wondering. I am definitely going to try to take some next month though, when both of the bands are playing.

Clothes Shopping

I was thinking the other day how much I love shopping for clothes here. It's not only because it's easier for me to find things I like (despite the problem with sizes... good thing I like skirts and not pants). It's also because in some stores you can buy clothes sets, like a dress-looking thing, another dress-looking thing that goes over the first one, and a sweater/shirt... For example, this one.
In my favourite store, Honeys (where a lot of high school girls shop apparently...) most stuff costs 2000 yen ($20), so for that money you can get three pieces of clothes that you can wear together or separately, or combined with other clothes.

I don't know if it's just this year's fashion to wear so many layers, but I am really not complaining.

And one more interesting thing that I noticed: in many clothes stores the display seems to change quite frequently, they seem to get new stuff almost every few weeks. It seems to me a lot more frequent compared to places like Garage Clothing, etc. in Mississauga. (And I can't believe that all of the names of the stores in the mall completely escaped me just now.) I know this because I've developed a rather dangerous habit of stopping by the clothes stores every weekend before I go get groceries. They are right there in the same building, so it's quite tempting. I don't always buy something, but I browse, and the sales ladies probably remember me by now.

I guess I might just as well, because I am told that in Kameyama there is not much shopping... Maybe a good thing too, I'll save more money this way.

Speaking of saving money, my salary is going to be much higher, I don't have to pay key money or any deposits for the apartment, and my school board is going to pay half for my apartment, so I only have to pay 35000 yen ($350) for a 2 bedroom + living room place. So I can actually save quite a bit of money for grad school. I was really happy about that, because at my current job saving money is not so easy.

I wonder if I get the bonus for my current job, or if my boss makes up some lame excuse that I was 5 minutes late a few times, or left 5 minutes early, or didn't follow the curriculum, or some other stupid thing like that. Oh well... I guess I'll find out eh...

JET Placement

I got my JET placement in the mail today!! I will be going to Mie-ken, Kameyama-shi.

~ Sorry for a short post, there is so much I want to do right now before I head to bed.

P.S. I am extremely happy, because this new placement is still close to all the important people ;) (and you know who you are, including the fairy-tale beauty who tends to leave shoes behind at midnight ;)).