Ok.... Ok.

Well, I've finally finished. I have updated all of my Japan trip entries.

That's right, people; I finally added the pictures. However, that means, you'll have to dig through the entries if you want to see them.

Have fun with that.

I have many more pics to post, but I've decided to put them in another upcoming entry. It took me 3 hours to do the revamp, so don't expect more pics for another few days.

So, enjoy and until then...

"Let's put a smile on that face"

*It was so good, I bought this poster and had it framed XD*

If you haven't seen this movie yet... SHAME ON YOU!! I bought my ticket 2 days before the midnight showing and Shuu bought his a week in advance. XD It..... was..... AWESOME! I don't even need to review the movie. It's that good.

The Dark Knight: ★★★★★

So, what the hell are you waiting for people?! Get out there and enjoy this movie!!!

将来の兆し

Start this post off with some really weird things I've been noticing since I've come back to WA.

- I was driving the other day and I saw, for the first time ever, a Carl's Jr. in WA. It freaked me out a little bit, since there was one other place I had seen it...

- When I got to my destination that same day, I walked by a car that had a license plate holder for In-and-Out Burger. Hmmmm.....

- This morning, I rode the ferry with a friend b/c he had to go to some training in Bremerton. The ride was eerily familiar to something else I had done in the past...

- As I was driving home, I came across a toll booth, which was a first for me actually. Sorry for saying this, but I had no idea that there were toll booths here. XD I took pics while driving XDD But that also reminded me of something that happened earlier this summer during my trip.

I'm not sure about you, but these things are seriously connected and it kind of freaks me out. I sign, perhaps.... but for what.....?

The Story So Far

It's been about 5 days since I've been back and it's been really lame as I expected.

The day after I got back was spent cleaning and organizing all my stuff. There's so much crap now, I have no idea where to put all of it XD The other part of the day was trying to keep my mind off how depressingly boring my day was, along with the thoughts of work the next day.

On Wed., I had work for the first time in over a month. However, it was a busy day. It was also an 8 hour day. Plus, it was a Returns Day. I was not thrilled. I work Returns all this week and next. Not fun at all. The only plus side is that I have a lot of hours, which means a really nice paycheck. Still...

Thurs., was equally busy. I met up with 2 of my classmates before work to talk and give them some of the stuff I had bought for them. I was supposed to mail out a textbook, but now it seems like I'll have to wait till Sat. or Mon. before I can do it :/

I'm considering moving to another department, so I retain some sanity at this job. I also found out that I was up for the Head Cashier position, but I was taken off b/c I was gone for the month. X### Kind of sucks. Maybe I'll try for another position. If not, then I'll just bail. I still have till the end of the year to figure it out. It's going to be a long busy few months ahead of me. At least there's still time though. Maybe I can put it off till later. XDD

One more thing, since I've been really busy with work, I haven't been able to put up the pictures, so I will try to do that later today after work, or next week, when I have a day off. おまたせしました.

最後の日．．．

So, the day has finally come. I will be returning to WA in a few hours. I'm excited, but really sad. It's been an awesome few days here in CA, as it always is when I come to visit. Going to miss being around actual friends and not just co-workers and classmates. XP

I'll be going back to work on Wed, so I'll have some time to rest tonight and tomorrow. *not looking forward to it after hearing about all the changes that have occurred ><* I think I'm going to start my job hunt when I get back.

The summer will feel so long now, since I'm going back to doing nothing again :/ All I have to look forward to is school and work, and the latter half isn't in session right now...

I'll be graduating in the Spring of next year as well, so that will really give me free-time till I move onto another school. I haven't figured out where I'm going to transfer to just yet, but I think I might have somewhat of an idea of where I want to go now...

We'll just see where this road will take me...

出発の日．．．

So, that night of my last Japan trip entry, we tried to just stay awake the whole night in order to make it easier to fall asleep on the plane. It was a little hard seeing as how I was really doing nothing. However, we later decided to go get some food at 吉野家. It was about 4am when we decided to head out. We went to the one down the street by CoCo's b/c it was close and we knew that the place was open 24/7. We went inside and it looked so nice. It was probably the nicest looking 吉野家 I had ever been to ever. XD I bought the 豚キムチ丼 which tasted awesome as usual. It was a fitting end to our Japan trip.

*Yoshinoya [Nicest looking one we've ever been to]*

*4am walk home*

*The road before us*

*Hokka Hokka Tei moped inside place*

After that, we headed back. I tried to stay awake, but ended up falling asleep for a few hours. I woke up to the sound of my J-cell's alarm going off in Shuu's hand. I got up quickly and realized that I had about an hour till checkout. So, I prepared and packed everything and a few mins before 10, we were out and heading to 関西空港. We arrived at the airport around 11:30am and that was it. Check in time was at 1:30pm and we just sat there and waited till the time came. When that time finally rolled around, we checked in our bags, went to the departures area and waited at the gate. It was sooooooooo boring. Our flight was at 5:30pm that day and we were sitting at the gate around 1:50. -______________- About an hour before were scheduled to board a giant group..... no..... a hoard of people just bum rushed our area and occupied every remaining seat that was there. It was sick. They were a tourist group of like middle and high school students. It seriously made me sick to my stomach listening to all their convos. So pointless and mind numbing. -______-

*How I felt sitting there the whole time*

Finally on the plane, I realized I was sitting next to one of the girls that was in the group and I died a little bit on the inside. I tried my best to ignore the convo she had with her friend, but she was just so loud. It annoyed me b/c I couldn't listen to my music till we were at a certain altitude. The flight itself was ok. It wasn't as long as actually going to, to my surprise. The food was awful as usual. Dinner was chicken curry and rice that was clearly made by someone who didn't know what rice really tasted like. Breakfast was fruits and 1/4 of an egg/ cheese sandwich. It was gross.

When we finally landed, I GTFO'd off the plane and met Shuu in the departures area. We were a little worried since we hadn't filled out our customs form and no one seemed to have a pen. Finally, Shuu asked this Japanese guy if we could borrow one and luckily, he had a spare. We'll be sure to carry pens next time XD. We left the airport in CA around 11:50 and this is where I've been since.

Now, I'm at Shuu's house and will be here till Monday night. It's been pretty cool so far. A part of me wants to stay, but another part of me says I want to be sleeping in my own bed as well XDD

Slightly Off Topic

So a few days ago, I checked my grades and this is what I got:

Chemical Concepts: A *Wow.... A good chem. grade! I'm shocked!*

Japanese III: A *Yeah, this was an easy A for me. Hopefully, the later classes will be a little harder*

Cultural Anthropology: C *I expected something around this. Actually lower, since I knew I wasn't doing so great on the tests. The only A in the class I had ever gotten was on that paper. I think that's what saved me. X/*

Ok..... Back on topic now!

二十：最後の日

So, today was kind of a mixed bag really.

The day started off as usual. I had gotten up a little early today and was ready to go out and do some stuff. I woke up Shuu and he got up... for a little while. He went back to sleep after 5 mins. XD So, I spent the day planning last minute things to do and so forth. I was looking up お菓子や in the area and found a 沖縄料理レストラン instead. I was also researching how to get some 泡盛 back into the US. I think I'm doing it right, but I guess I'll find out when I get there. :P When Shuu finally woke up for good, I went out to go buy some snacks. since I was a little hungry. I told Shuu about the place when I got back and we decided to check it out.

Amazingly enough, it was just down the street, not even 5 mins away. Once inside, it had a very 沖縄 atmosphere. It was very 懐かしい. After a while, the owners and their daughter started to talk to us, in essentially complete 日本語. I felt really happy when I was there. I could understand a good majority of the owner and the wife's stories and even talked a little bit. You could tell they were from 沖縄 b/c they were willing to talk to us and so forth; something that's really uncommon in food places here in 日本. The owner played the 三線 while the daughter and the wife danced. They tried to get us to dance, but instead I just sat there and moved my hands to the music. XD It was a lot of fun. After a while, the owner handed the 三線 to Shuu and told him to practice, since he had said that he played in the past. We sat around for another hour just talking. We finally decided to up and leave and talk about what had happened. It was really a lot of fun going to the place. I hope to come back again some day.

Later that night, I wanted to run one more errand, called the "manga run". I had to go buy some まんが for some friends, so I decided to go to the BOOK OFF. *One of my favorite places to buy まんが* I had to take the train to 天王寺, though, since there were really no 書店s in the area. Getting there was easy enough, however, I had a hard time figuring out where the exit was that I needed to get to, so I had to walk around a little bit. However, it wasn't too far from where I was, so I got there really quick. After getting the stuff, I headed back . I ran into some English people staying here as well and they were talking about how they were trying to use US money in a store. I died a little on the inside. I tried to avoid them to the best of my ability and luckily I did. I just had to take the stairs instead of the elevator. I swear, when I finally got onto my floor, I could still hear them in the elevator and they were on the 4th floor! *We're on the 8th ><*

That was the extent of my day, I spent most of my time now, just watching TV and packing. I had already pre-packed this morning, so I didn't have a lot to do. Now, I just wait. The flight is in 13 hours. I'm not too excited to be sitting for another 10+ hours, but I don't really have a choice.

We'll be out of here at 10am and heading to 関西空港. From there, we'll just be chilling till it's time to depart. Will write again when I get back to the US.

See you all later!

十八、十九日: 京都とCOMME-CA

Day 18

Today, we woke up fairly early because we were going to head over to 京都 to meet up with one off Shuu's friends. We headed out around 10:50am and arrived in 京都 around 12:10pm. *We made the mistake of taking the 普通 train, so it took almost an hour* We arrived in 京都駅 and met up with his friend and her friend. We had planned to eat at マクドナルド but the place was packed and I wasn't too into eating there, especially after the メガタマゴ XP Instead, we went over to this place that specialized in making オムライス. It was really, really good. It was the first time I had ever had it. I had a hard time talking to Shuu's friends because of two major things. The biggest one being, I didn't know what to say. As most people know, I'm really... unsure of how to act around new people. *A key reason to why I have a hard time meeting new people* The second was that I was afraid of making mistakes with my 日本語. It's one thing to be able to read and write, but it's another thing to be able to speak. Coupled with my deteriorating knowledge of 日本語 and my fear of making a mistake and making myself look foolish, I kept mostly to myself. *Towards the end of the night I started to feel just a little bit more confident speaking* After we finished eating we headed to do some カラオケ. It was fun, but the lack of indie songs made it a little harder to sing the songs we wanted. None the less, it was fun. Afterwards, we explored the area and went down the main shopping street that kind of reminded me of 竹下通り. After a while, Shuu's friend's friend had to go home so we said good bye and we continued to look around. We went to a 書店 and a guitar store, before ending the night at a KFC. We talked for a little while longer, then decided to head home. When we got to the station we headed to our platforms, took some pictures, and said out final good byes. It was a really fun day. Probably the most we've done while here in Japan. We headed back to 大阪 on the 特別快速 and it only took about half an hour.

Day 19:

I had waken up early with the idea that maybe we would go out again today, but I wasn't sure I wanted to take the chance again. I went out the door around 1pm to go out and shop for some of my friends and coworkers. I went to the COMME CA mall- store thing that was in front of the 大阪駅 and spent a few hours there. I went to the JUMP store in there, along with UNIQLO and the electronic store. It was actually pretty fun. After I had finished with my shopping, I headed back to 谷町. Something that not many people know is that I like being around people. I like to see how people interact with others and to the environment. This whole time I've been here in Japan has been great. Ever since I had taken Sociology, my thoughts about studying people have been magnified. A great place to study in on the 地下鉄. Just the behavior and everything you see is interesting. Anyways, after that, I got back to the apt. To my surprise, Shuu was still sleeping. :/ I contemplated going out again, but I decided against it and hung around till he woke up. Essentially, that was my day.

We have one more day of free time here in Japan. I don't know how it will be spent, but I'll be sure to write about it soon. Until then...

*On a side note, I've noticed that a few of my friends have been saying that I don't seem to be really excited when I talk about being here. Well, for one, I use to live here. I know what to expect, I know what's around me. [This was most common in 東京. In 大阪 it's a little different b/c it's a new place] Second, I've pretty much done what I wanted to do and that was just to get here. I do enjoy being here in 日本, however. Being here instills the idea that I want to keep traveling. I'm going to keep going with my teaching degree and continue to try traveling. I've only seen so much of the world and I want to be able to see all of it. That's my goal and that's what I plan on doing.*

十七：Mini Adventure

So, my day started like most of my days here; kind of late in the afternoon or beginning of the evening. I woke up early and was contemplating going out early to do some light exploring, but that plan fell through when I figured Shuu would be waking up soon. Many hours later [ XD ] he finally got up. I went out to buy some snacks while he got ready and I kind of regret it. I bought this drink that contained a days worth of vitamins, this purple fruits and vegetable thing, this awkward ice cream candy that was individually packages * that was the appeal*, and 男のビックル, which translates to, I kid you not, "Man Bikkle". Do the research on that one. ;D The vitamin drink was ok. Had a very sour after taste. The purple fruit juice felt like it was burning my inside. The ice cream was..... unique. I put it away for later. XD The ビックル, in my opinion was one of the worst drinks I had that day. I chugged it, which was a stupid thing to do *not listening to Shuu again* and I literally died for like 2 hours. XD

*Man Bikkle*

*A days worth of vitamins*

Though it was getting late, it didn't deter our original plan that had been pushed off several times; we were still going to 心斎橋. I had read up on the place and I was excited/ kind of knowing what to expect, which explains why I wasn't incredibly surprised when I saw everything. It was still fun though. I had an ulterior motive for wanting to go there, but that ended up in failure. I still had fun though. I think I might go back one more time to be a total tourist XDD When we got to the station to go back, there were selling this drink called そば茶. That was just awful. It smelled like cocoa and coffee, but it tasted like tea and coffee and it was very gross. I could barely finish it. I think that drink makes it into the top 5 worst things I've had to drink while ever in Japan. XDD After that, we headed to CoCo's *a curry house that I use to love going to back on Oki* and it was awesome. I missed CoCo's so much. Many great memories of that place. I don't think that will be the last time I eat there before we head back to the US. Then, we headed to LAWSON and bought some ice cream and these ナルト candies that cost like ￥399 and only had 4 pieces of candy in them. XD I don't care. I'm a hardcore fan either way. XD