prime example of why i would rather just stay in japan: i wouldn't have to deal with those f'n idiots at parking services. i really hate them right now... really. just look at this:

You can park by your dorm on Sunday. However, we do start ticketing Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. You are welcome to come to our office Monday morning and pick up your permit- unfortunately we do not open until 7:30 a.m. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

geh...
Saturday, August 18, 2001.10:47 a.m..japantime.:



well, that's it. my grand adventure here is almost at a close, and it really was worth every red cent i paid. it'll probably be a while before i get to see everyone again (well, except for maybe hal... but he's a georgian, so he technically doesn't count right now), but i'm very determined to visit all of my tomodachis at least once before i graduate (or be visited by, at any rate).

and for all of you hif kids who are reading this, i love you all and i miss you all already (except for whoever took my honyaku-san - you are evil!!! warui ko!). whenever you decide you want to see georgia, just let me know.

akafun video ordering page will be coming along sometime in the next month, i promise. tanoshimini, ne? oh, and so will the pictures *evil grin*

okay, must stop procrastinating from packing.

must not cry
must not cry
must not cry

*sigh*
Friday, August 17, 2001.09:52 p.m..japantime.:



and so begins the long day of farewells. today's the farewell party at hif, and afterwards, everyone's pretty much going their separate ways. kanashii... kedo, hopefully i will have lots of national and international visitors at uga to look forward to this year. i wouldn't even mind if hal came up. although i will beat him with his own skull and crossbones if he flirts with my friends too much.

last night's mission was completed successfully. i managed to stay out til past 1 am. a whole lot of us ended up eating at sister moon (the mexican restaurant) again, which was very yummy (and my jitensha is still there). then we slowly migrated to jump (huge game center) that's down the street from the restaurant. and yoshikazu is amazing. no kidding, he can play any of those crazy games there, and he does it well. you should see this guy on the drum mania game. he tore it up! yeouch! good grief, he can even do para para (although he was a little embarrassed about it...)

after we finished there, we headed to goryokaku to shoot off fireworks. i really am going to miss the little japanese fireworks whose name i always forget. they're so tiny and beautiful...

when we used up all of those, we headed back to jump, losing a few people along the way who had to go home, then got ice cream, then managed to cram six people into yoshikazu's tiny car and drove to see the nightview from hakodate yama. and after dropping off everyone except for me and doris, we drove to see the nightview from the opposite side of hakodate. i feel as though i have a very well-rounded nightviewing experience now.

i'm awfully sad, though... yoshikazu is more fun than you can imagine to hang out with - he has so much energy and is so very... open-minded (not at all like your typical nihonjin) and i'm still convinced that he belongs in america. but last night's probably the last time i'll see him in a while (although i thoroughly intend to come back to hakodate eventually to visit everyone here, but this trip took a huge chunk and then some out of my bank account, so it'll take a while for that to recover from such a blow). and then my host dad left this morning for his soft tennis tournament, so now i'm just extra sad... and all of this sadness won't wear off until i'm wrapped up in school again at uga, and even then... it'll still kinda be there, lingering in the background.

*sigh* maybe some shopping will cheer me up... and God please let my honyaku-san turn up today!
Friday, August 17, 2001.08:28 a.m..japantime.:



thanks lacey! i was wondering why my site meter had shot up recently, and then i checked my referral logs and all those hits are coming from your site! wow, you're really popular! i am made great by your greatness! come home to athens soon and visit me when you get the chance!
Thursday, August 16, 2001.04:44 p.m..japantime.:



期末試験は終わったから、私はすごくうれしい。But we only have two days left here!! Not enough time!! But you'd better believe I'm going out tonight (can't tomorrow... have to pack and such) and am not planning on coming back until ridiculously late (actually, with my luck lately, i'll be back by ten...). Yeah, but Amanda bailed on me, so it looks like it's just Yoshikazu who's coming out... this will be strange... i have no idea as far as what to do. hmm...
Thursday, August 16, 2001.04:13 p.m..japantime.:



i will never understand japanese television. heck, i don't think the nihonjin even understand their own television. there's this show (that i'm still sitting here watching as i type) that's hosted by a couple of guys from v6 (i think) where high(middle?) school girls climb up on top of some building and shout very loudly in front of the rest of their school about who they like. then the guy gets the opportunity to yell back at the girl his reply. very strange...
Tuesday, August 14, 2001.08:27 p.m..japantime.:



i am so full. i can't even begin to describe. i cooked dinner tonight (just spaghetti and garlic bread - nothing to get excited about) and since i had to keep tasting to make sure everything was kosher, then had to eat my own portion, i am more full than i feel comfortable about. oh, and my host dad added a whole lotta crab to the table, and i can't possibly pass up crab legs! good grief, i even ate the hairy kind of crab that hokkaido is apparently famous for. but now i don't want to move...

but move i must! i have to complete all studying and other such activities tonight, because tomorrow is yudelka's last day (she has to go home early for ra training, of all things) so we're all meeting up at mister donuts bright and early at fifteen til eight.

did i mention we had an earthquake this morning? very interesting, to me at least - this is the first one that i've actually been fully awake for. i think it would've been more interesting had i been out on the street so that it felt like the whole world was shaking, but as it was, it only felt like a really strong wind blowing against an unsturdy tree house. actually, i like to view the whole earthquake episode as God's wake-up call to me. i slept through my previous alarm that i had set in order to get up early and do my homework. so because i woke up for the earthquake, afterwards i managed to finish all my homework and even get in a little studying before this morning's test! yay!

awww... my host dad just came down with a photo album from when he and my host mom were younger. kawaii!!! and you know what? my host dad when he was younger looked a whole like cute judo sensei... O_o oh my.
Tuesday, August 14, 2001.08:07 p.m..japantime.:



he he he... i am so evil.

for almost two months, i've been speaking nothing but japanese while at home. i didn't strictly have to, because my host family does understand a good bit of english, but i wouldn't have learned as much if i hadn't spoken strictly japanese. well, since i only have a week left here and my family needs to practice their english while they have a native speaker in their household, i announced yesterday that starting today, we would have an eigo dake (english only) rule! yosh!

so tonight's meal was very interesting. i got to yell "dinner!" up the stairs to call my siblings down. that was met with a lot of laughter. and then i had to remember to speak slowly. it was really odd, tho, to hear english coming out of my mouth at home. i really don't think i've spoken any english since i've gotten here, except to ask what a word was in japanese.

my family trips me out tho, really. my host parents seem to be overly concerned that there's no way i'm going to be able to get all of my stuff back to america, and keep suggesting that i leave the manga behind. i told my host mom tonight that she could have my socks, if worse came to worse. my host dad's silly too. everytime i come home with lots of bags because i've just gone shopping, he starts laughing and shakes his head and says something to the effect of "nani kore..." (which is basically kinda like an exasperated "what's that...") and then he shakes his head even more when i enevitable explain something i bought by saying "kawaii, ne?" (isn't it cute?). he he he... my brother makes me laugh because the other night, i was talking about how chris wants a gundam as his gift from japan, so i was showing them the gundam he wanted, and my mom calls up to sotaro who was upstairs that i've got questions about gundams. and i can hear him come pounding down the stairs and my host mom tells me that he's grinning like a fool. so cute. he's worse than my real brother when it comes to model kits. geh...

even na-chan (the rabbit) trips me out. i think the little bugger is trying to attack sakiko's foot right now or something. no, i'm wrong... the bugger's attacking my host mom's foot instead. baka...

i keep telling my host folks that my luggage will be fine, but i'm really beginning to wonder myself. i bought a whole lot of stuff! and i still have a list of other stuff i need to buy before i leave. maybe i will leave my socks and other unneeded articles of clothing behind. i just don't want to have to ship anything to america from here.

yoshikazu trips me out too. i just wish i could completely understand what he's writing in his weblog. i know it's about what happened friday night, but i just can't seem to make sense of it. i think he's talking about when he yelled at a group of japanese kids who passed us after we left the restaurant and said something to him. geh... i will be so glad when my japanese is good enough to understand what's said on the street. then i will not have this problem.

my sister just told the fish "good night"... hen... chotto hen...to omou...

geez... this is the last time i get to watch "shotgun wedding" in japan. no fun. i love this show.

geh... now i'm sad. and i have homework. bleh...
Monday, August 13, 2001.08:53 p.m..japantime.:



i am so proud of allen, i just can't describe. my little bro finally has made it to college! he just im'd me, and it's his first night in the dorm. sugoi! i'm so proud. he's seems like he's grown and matured so much, and i can't wait to go visit him when i get back. way to go, allen!
Sunday, August 12, 2001.12:34 p.m..japantime.:



yes, karl, i'm still alive. and josh and linny, if you're checking up on this, then welcome home - i can't wait to see all of you guys again! i miss you so much! you too steven!!! wai!!!

but i haven't been able to post all week almost because i've been so stinking busy! wednesday, i can't remember what i did, but thursday, i went out with doris, hal, mike, kyle, justin, and jim to a huge game center near goryokaku first. the guys were impressed when doris and i did dance dance revolution together *smile*. so after killing lots of time there, jim and justin left, then the rest of us headed to a chinese restaurant to be treated by doris. now that was some delicious ramen, i must say. everything else was wonderful as well, and aside from that, we just had a really good time just hanging out. so yeah, i got home late that night.

i got home really late last night. eep!

we had the talent show yesterday, which didn't end til after 8. oh, and yoshikazu came! isn't that great?! he cracks me up! (and he's writing about us on his weblog! ha!) oh, and i also met some guys that just started in the jet program in hokkaido. ben is from uga, actually! he came to hif last year, and is now teaching english about an hour north of hakodate. his friend is pablo, who is from australia, but lived in argentina, and his accent is wonderful! wonderful!

so after the talent show, a huge group of gaijin plus yoshikazu headed for a mexican restaurant near goryokaku. oh, it was yummy! but the restaurant is really small, yet we somehow managed to cram everyone in. i had so much fun there! the owner didn't believe yoshikazu was japanese, so she made him say all kinds of things really fast in japanese. oh, so funny! he ended up getting his meal for free tho, because he decided to be a nice guy and help wash dishes. he said he didn't mind because he used to work in an italian restaurant parttime and did the same thing.

amanda had already took off to meet the jet program guys and some other students at a bar a little ways down the street, so after receiving what sounded suspiciously like an older brother lecture from jim, yoshikazu and i left to catch up with amanda. except that when we got to the bar, the woman there said that the group had left an hour before. so where the heck was amanda?! she'd virtually disappeared.

so while hoping amanda would email us, yoshikazu took me to this tiny little hole in the wall looking japanese bar that he usually goes to and introduced me to the owner and the owner's girlfriend. what fun! we ended up watching the talent show video footage with them, and then amanda finally emailed us. so we went to go pick her up and bring her back to the bar. apparently, she hadn't caught up with the other group either, but ended up going to another bar with another handful of students. so we all hung out together for a while, and eventually headed home (yoshikazu being kind enough to drop us off at home).

so i didn't get home til about 2:30 in the morning. eep! but i had so much fun, i can't even explain. and yoshikazu is really such a good guy. i wish he could come to america, though. for what he's interested in doing, he'd have a much better chance in america right now than in japan. who knows, maybe i can help him out somehow.

oh, and lest i forget to mention, you guys should've seen my hair last night. i let doris play with it, and i ended up looking like a one of those japanese crazyhair girls. yoshikazu said it might look strange to an american, but in japan it is very cute. yeah, don't worry - lots of people took pictures of it, and it's on video, so i'm sure you guys back home will see it eventually. just don't laugh too hard, okay?

all righty then. must go retrieve my bike and hurry back home. my host mom's teaching me how to make maki sushi and bread tonight! yosh!
Saturday, August 11, 2001.02:09 p.m..japantime.:



this is all hikaru no go related. be warned.

i finally got my hands on the new jump weekly (i'm really gonna miss being able to read this once i go back to the states), and would you believe hikaru still hasn't found sai?! it looks like he might actually have been in tokyo all this time. geez! why did sai disappear in the first place? purpose, smurpose! he should've stayed with hikaru!! argh... if they don't resolve this in the next installment, i really will be sad.

here's a lovely hikaru no go site i stumbled across. i wonder how much longer the story will run in the jump weekly. my host dad seems to think it won't be much longer. however, on the cover of this weeks jump, it mentions something about a hikaru no go tv show starting on october 10 at 7 p.m. (don't know what station though). and aside from that, there is also apparently a video game that is either coming or has come out.

so much hikaru no go! i want them all!!!

sai!!! kakkoii!!! wai!!!
Tuesday, August 7, 2001.06:11 p.m..japantime.:



yeah, i'm definitely kicking karl in the booty once i'm back home. oh no, now i've made myself sad again. i'll be back home in about a week and a half! no more japan! the final crunch is already weighing on everyone's shoulders. we're already beginning to do the last minute partying, so everyone's schedule is slowly filling up with things to do, on top of studying for the last few tests and finding time to spend with our host families. i'm so jealous of the students who don't have to go straight back to school after the program and will be able to bum around japan if they feel like it. i have no such luck.

doris and i are still in the midst of our observations.

i tried to film cute judo sensei last night since it was my last opportunity, but apparently he wasn't coming to judo. sabina said she saw him as she was getting off the densha headed in the opposite direction. how sad was i. but she also said that he was wearing a high school uniform - i didn't really have a problem with that... maybe he likes older women *wink wink* oh well, guess everyone back home will just have to take my word about how good looking he is. *sigh*

ugh. so much to do. i think a little nap is in order beforehand, however. i just can't function with so little sleep.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001.05:45 p.m..japantime.: