With love,

Today will be one of those nights where I can't fall asleep. I'm just not tired and I have a lot on my mind. I'm not sad, in fact, I'm really happy with where my life has lead me and what I'm doing now. But it's the situations around me that are frustrating and I'm trying to figure out how to best handle them.

First of all, I've heard a few times this year that I've "inspired" people to do better things and while they started out doing them, once I changed our relationship they lost all motivation to continue doing those things. So I've watched over the past few months people do things that make me feel so disappointed. I feel so let down.

Second, I see people shutting down over small stupid issues. Life is hard. Everyone knows that. But ya know what? You find ways to deal and you focus on the good things or at least focus on what's best for you until you're ready to see what's good in your life. The last 6 months have really changed my views on life and what I should be focusing on and as much as I love my friends and try to help, I can only help so much unless you're willing to help yourself.

Blah blah blah. I'm too tired to write anymore. But you get the idea.

By the way, I am enjoying my time in Japan although I'm trying to figure out what to get for presents and how I'm going to spend my free time, as well as motivate myself to finish projects and papers. Wish me luck!

Yeah Yeah Yeah's.

Heads Will Roll


[kind of obsessed with this song at the moment]


So it's been a really long time since I last posted anything and by long time, I think it's been over a month. Whoops. To be honest I didn't know what to say and eventually it just seemed tedious to write in here until something really interesting happened. So here's some updates:

• Halloween was interesting. I went to a restaurant called Lock Up. In order to get to the restaurant you had to go through a haunted house but it wasn't as scary as I thought. It was more about the suspense and expectation that something would happen but it didn't. The food was amazing and for 3500 yen, they brought many small courses that each table shared but it was definitely enough to feel somewhat full. Drinks of course were unlimited for two hours which is something I love about Japan. Drinking in Japan is expensive unless you find the bars that offer deals where you pay a certain rate that usually lasts for two hours. It's a really good deal, trust me. Towards the end of our meal they turned off the lights and people dressed up as monsters ran around trying to scare us. It was amazing. Afterwards most of us went home but I went with the small group that went to karaoke. We had a really good time honing our singing skills, or lack thereof, and caught the 5:30 train back to Asakadai afterwards. All in all, a good night. 
• Fall break followed the weekend of Halloween. While most people went off to different countries or parts of Japan, I spent it in my dorm and wandering Asakadai. Not a very interesting time but I'm planning to go to Kyoto for winter break to stay with my friend Ayla and my friends for the Christmas holiday. 
• This past weekend Kaitlin and I were taken to Harajuku and Shibuya by our new friend Natsumi. We had a really good lunch that was a buffet of traditional Japanese foods. Salads, potatoes, miso soup, chicken and some other things were offered to us and everything was so delicious. There were a lot of shops there that I knew from America and some from other countries but it was actually really pretty. I found some shops with cheap clothing that I'd like to check out soon. The weather here is still pretty nice most of the time but I won't go outside without a long sleeve shirt or a jacket of some sort. It's almost like the end of summer/beginning of fall still compared to the weather in Michigan right now. Afterwards Kaitlin and I head back to Asakadai to get ready for our night. During Halloween Kaitlin met a guy, Kevin, who is full Japanese but has moved around and was born in the States. He is a producer of various things and does debates on tv here in Japan. He invited us to a big party in one of the nicest apartment buildings I've ever been to. It was located in the rich part of Roppongi called Midtown. The floors and walls were made of marble and had huge chandeliers in the hallways. The party was nice but really packed and Kevin took us to a smaller party that was being held for governor Miyazaki. (Kevin explained that governor Miyazaki is the equivalent to Arnold Schwarzenegger being governor of California and that he used to be a comedian.) The smaller party consisted of several rich and/or powerful Japanese men. Their occupations included: governor, real-estate trader, president of the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas, and music executive. The other attendees were 20-some Japanese girls who were all in their mid-twenties and dressed very nicely. They spent the entire time fawning over the men. Meanwhile, Kaitlin and I just watched from the couch and spoke with people who were interested in us. I met a lot of people and some of the girls were really sweet and not like some of the others that were there. I didn't like some of the men that were there but I never felt in danger, in fact Kevin was pretty helpful in my opinion. We were supposed to go out clubbing but for some reason or another we ended up not going and since the trains stop running at 1:00 AM, a man named Toshi gave us a ride back. I'm still so grateful for this because it was a 45 minute drive from Roppongi to Asakadai. But we made it back. Oh, on an interesting note...a girl we had met from the first party had exchanged phone information with us and we wanted to her to come to the party with us. She tried to get a hold of us later but we didn't know where to tell her where we were and when we tried to call her back so Kevin could give her directions, no one answered. Somehow she got to the party and seemed very upset and kept asking Kaitlin and I if we were okay and trying to get us to leave. Kevin got really upset about it but I didn't think much of it. Apparently though she thought we had been drugged by the men there and was worried about us and so she called the police and told them that the men were having a drug party. What we didn't realize as Toshi was pulling out of the road away from the apartment was the policeman talking to some of the girls that had left only maybe 50 feet away from us. Luckily most of the people were gone and only a few people were left. A man we had met, Kuroiwa, explained to them that no one was drugged and got them to calm down but it was a very close situation. eek. What an exciting night. 
• On a good note! Kevin offered Kaitlin and I jobs doing voice overs in Japanese videos in English. I'm excited because this might help me out in some way or form later on when I'm trying to get a job. And who knows where it will lead. I have no aspirations to become "famous" but I think it could help with something maybe. 

So that's all that I've been up to until now. School is getting a little more difficult with midterms being just about over and soon our big project for the end of the year are approaching quickly. So until then, I'll try to update more often! 

Goodnight!

After the Storm

Well the typhoon has passed and now I can say I've been in a typhoon. I wasn't sure what to expect but I think if I would of been closer to the coast it would have been a little more scary. It was projected to hit Tokyo around 6 AM but I believe it actually hit between 3-4:00 AM. It poured for hours and I watched the streets and parking lots fill up with water until I fell asleep. By the time I woke up around 9:30, the water was gone and replaced by hind winds like I've never seen before. Regardless of the winds though, it was actually the first beautiful day we've had in a while. It was so sunny outside and the sky was an amazing shade of blue. I stayed inside all day and enjoyed the weather while working on my homework when around 12:00 I found out that all classes for today had been cancelled. Yes, I was excited.

I've spent all day just enjoying my time off and finishing up the Japanese drama "Hana Yori Dango" after starting it over the summer. Now I will prepare for tomorrow. I have two classes and then for dinner, I'm meeting my friends to celebrate my friend Mayu coming to Tokyo to visit from Kyoto. I'm so excited to see her. She's a really sweet girl and I haven't seen her since the beginning of the year.

Making friends has been a little difficult unfortunately. Some Japanese students have been really outgoing and we've exchanged numbers but I can only say I've really spent more than one occasion with one girl, Saori. In terms of the international students, a lot of them split into groups immediately it seemed but I'm trying to be more outgoing and less shy. Everyone seems really interesting and I do want to get to know them. Speaking of being more outgoing, I've also been trying to be more independent. Of course it was very nerve wracking to come to a new country knowing only a handful of people so naturally I glued myself to Kaitlin and Desiree. I love spending time with them but lately I've been trying to be more independent and go out on my own. In general, I am more of a independent person, just shy at first so I'm afraid that maybe I seem like I'm closing myself off from people but I'm not. It's been very annoying being so exhausted all the time and getting used to Tokyo when it's such a busy and overwhelming city is the main cause of it but I will be fine soon. Also, it's VERY expensive to go out all the time and I would rather save my money for other things like going to Korea or Thailand during my break. I've been here for a month and I'm figuring things out I'm happy to say. I hope that everyone else is figuring there stuff out as well. While some people are joining clubs or "circles", I'm content to just explore things on my own this semester. I don't really know which circle I'd join anyways and I want to get used to things here before I tie myself down to something.

Have a good night everyone!

Another photo of Melor

Hello Melor

I just woke up from a short nap and now I need to finish the rest of my homework! Here are some shots of what  Typhoon Melor looks like:

Somewhere in that lies Japan and me. I don't think it'll be that bad for us but then again I've never been IN a typhoon so I kind of don't know what to expect. I expect lots of rain though. It's all we've been getting for a week and a half  now.

Oh look, homework.

Super Typhoons & Massive Amounts of Reading

Well Michigan may have snow storms but Japan has typhoons. Nice trade off for me, right? I guess I'll find out how bad it'll be within the next 48 hours but I'm not even sure how concerned I should be about it. For the past week or so, the weather has been dismal. When it rains, it usually rains all day and even when it isn't raining it's been kind of cold. Well today was no exception except I decided to check the weather and found out the typhoon that's been affection southeast Asia is what's causing it. When I checked this morning they predicted that by the time it reached Tokyo it would have weakened. After school though, I checked my e-mail to find a warning from the American Embassy about super typhoon Melor and from what I understand it won't be getting better. After talking to my friend Greg, I still can't really predict how this will affect the area I'm living in but I guess all I can do is watch the reports and just go about my normal life here. So wish me luck! (Also--someone tell me why regardless of the fact that it's been raining a lot, I still haven't bought an umbrella!)

My classes this week are going well so far except I forgot to do some homework that my Japanese class is supposed to do online. Ugh. But I've been doing everything else and I think I'll be okay. They don't take late homework so there's no reason for me to get too upset about it. I just need to make sure to write down everything on the calendar that they gave us. (Shakes head in frustration and disappointment)

Other than that, most of my homework is just reading and preparing for lectures in class. I'm not very outgoing so I haven't spoken up yet but I'm trying to be more outgoing in general because that's the only way I'll get anywhere while I'm here. I need to make friends, I need to do well in classes, I need to improve my Japanese, and all of that demands me to be outgoing and speak up. So...wish me luck with that too!

It may be strange to say but I consider eye drops to be a beauty product that I've worked into my daily regimen when it comes to getting ready in the morning. No matter how much sleep I get or how much coffee I drink, I never look as awake as I'd like (or as white-eyed) as when I put eye drops in. They make my eyes look bright and they also wake my eyes up. It's like...caffeine for them! Strange ne? When I told this to Shawna last year she just laughed at me and said they weren't but I still consider them a beauty product, at least for me! (^_^)

For a while I've been obsessed with the fashion of Daisy Lowe. Also~I'd like to imitate her hair style because there really is NO point in my straightening my hair when the rain and weather has just been ruining it. Her hair style is more what mine is really textured like. I just need to find the right products to keep it looking like that and NOT a fuzzball all day.

Korea Battles the Twentieth Century

I've spent most of the day doing my homework yet I found myself distracted by how nice today was. I actually enjoy Sundays now, whereas before they were just the day before what would be a long and painful week. The weather was beautiful today. During this last week, it's been rainy or at least dark and somewhat cold. So it was nice to wake up this morning with the sun shining and the warmth rushing in through my windows.

Last year I watched a movie called " All About Lily Chou Chou ". I know a lot of my friends really didn't care for it. It was long and strange compared to the movies most people usually watch but I thought it was beautiful and sad and it still leaves me with this indescribable feeling after seeing it.  I especially love the music from this film. Most of the soundtrack is done by Japanese artist Salyu. My friend Matt gave me all of her music and I still love listening to it till this day (actually~when I took a nap earlier I played her music). So for anyone interested, here are a few links of some of the songs from the movie. Arabesque , Glide , Tobenai Tsubasa . I hope someone else enjoys this too.

I'm very proud of how much I accomplished this weekend. My room is very clean and organized, all my Japanese homework for the week is done, I'm prepared for my other classes and ready to begin the week. Tomorrow I have a follow up dentist appointment. Last week I had to go in because something was wrong with my mouth and I was in a lot of pain. It turned out that the root of my wisdom tooth was pressing into the nerve that runs through my jaw so I was given pain killers and was told a number of things I could do about getting the tooth out. Honestly though, since then the pain has been a lot better and I haven't even taken a single pill today. So hopefully it's moved away from my nerve and maybe I won't need to get my wisdom teeth taken out until it's necessary, regardless of what anyone else may say. I don't see the point in having them taken out until they are physically hurting me. So wish me luck!

Good luck to everyone else for the rest of the week. By the way, how are my friends back home? I hope everything is going well for everyone and I hope to talk soon! Let me know how things are at Western!

おやすみ　みんな！
Goodnight!

By the way~ the reason I titled my post what I did is because that's what my history class is discussing. I just shortened it.