30 Hours...

In thirty hours, my dear Michael will be touching down on Japanese soil. And then, happy times will commence!

Lost in (head) Space

Ugh, I feel like crap.

Yesterday I had the MRI done on my knee, and what an experience that was. Nothing else quite like it. Not bad, but not without its side-effects. The magnetic resonance tends to have fun with hydrogen molecules, and when you consider the human body is 90% water...yeah, it makes you feel a little wierd and I experienced the nerves in the leg getting jumpy as the machine did it's thing.

I find out the results tomorrow.

Spent all of last night desperately trying to finish the group presentation for History of Japanese Art and got so strung out to the point that Sarah told me to just give her the flashdrive and she'd take care of the rest. I couldn't even get out of bed for class today. So I didn't go.

Around noon I rose from torpor and went to meet with Mariko in the lunch hall to help her with English poetry and ran into my J3 classmates who told me that I missed out on the best Ann meltdown to happen since ever.

Apparently no one did really great on the last test. We're talking, no one got higher than a C. Ann, in true fashion, decided to blame the professor for not telling her there was a test and for which chapters they would be on, because oh my fucking god, she studied for the wrong chapters. Mind you, she was given an extra half a fucking hour to finish the test.

Hello. We have a syllabus for a reason. And seriously, stop blaming the goddamn professors for your own stupidity.

Ugh.

I was just 2 points shy of a C myself, but I can at least rest easy knowing I got a 80% on Kanji >_>; A silver lining in every cloud I suppose!

Otherwise, I've just been a mentally dead husk. Everything hurts and I just can't focus on anything anymore :( I blame the MRI, it made me feel funny.

Wisdom from the Empress Shoken

I ventured out to Yoyogi with the intent to go to Yoyogi park, but instead, due to the weather being rather crappy, I settled on visiting Meiji Shrine instead. As today marks the founding of modern Japan via the constitution, the Shrine was all sorts of busy with various local shrines having brought their o-mikoshi (portable shrines, to transport the kami, or gods, in) to Meiji Shrine for a blessing.

It was crazy. Absolute chaos. Yet it was so cool. I took lots of photos of the o-mikoshi, some video as well, and of course the torii gates. Bought a matching set of kekkon-o-mamori (protective charms for couples) for a pair of friends who are getting married later in the year, like I promised them I would :) I also wrote a prayer and offered it to the shrine, so when the priests burn the paper as offerings, my prayer will go to the kami :)

Lastly, I bought myself an o-mikuji, or a fortune. Normally they are only in Japanese, however, Meiji being such a tourist attraction (and literally, everything is bi-lingual, even the Priestesses), I chose to get one that I could finally read.

The difference between regular o-mikuji and the Meiji Shrine o-mikuji is that Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken were lovers of poetry, together penning over 130,000 poems. So for their o-mikuji's, they use one of the many poems. Given how randomized it is, the poem is supposed to have you reflect and meditate on it's deeper meaning as opposed to the "You will die on a Friday" type fortunes.

Mine is below:

Let us but be gentle, honest --
Though we lack the worldy greatness,
In the bamboo grove of life,
To tower over all.

(Be gentle and honest above all. Though you lack the genius to tower over others like the tallest bamboo in the grove. Thus your life will be truly happy and unclouded.)

In short:

Learn contentment, don't set unrealistic goals, and when you find that balance, all will be well.

...I rather like this fortune <3

Sanrio Is the Cult of Cuteness

That is all.

Days of the Week, Planet Names, and Sailor Moon

Today's "Stupid Things I've Learned from Anime" involves having learned the kanji for writing days of the week (stuff I learned a long time ago, anyhow) and the standard lecture on how the days of the week correspond with heavenly bodies.

Today, Kurokawa was on leave from class as her Grandmother had just died. Instead, we had Ozaki, who is the J6 and Special Japanese 2 professor.

The day went as follows:

We learn how to fully write days of the week (日曜日、月曜日、水曜日、etc etc) and Ozaki, in true elementary teacher fashion, is like "Do you know why these are the days of the week?" and I'm all, of course in my nerdy way, "Oh! Oh! I know!"

So we put the celestial bodies in order, from the Sun to Pluto (which, we were told in Japanese is no longer a planet, of course. It's just a numbered space rock :C Poor Pluto.)

太陽　- Taiyou - The Sun - 日曜日 - Sunday
水星 - Suisei - Mercury - 水曜日 - Wednesday (Water Day)
金星 - Kinsei - Venus - 金曜日 - Friday (Money/Pay Day)
地球 - Chikyuu - Earth
月　- Tsuki - Moon - 月曜日 - Monday (Moon Day)
火星 - Kasei - Mars - 火曜日 - Tuesday (Fire Day)
木星 - Mokusei - Jupiter - 木曜日 - Thursday (Wood Day)
土星 - Dosei - Saturn - 土曜日 - Saturday (Ground/Earth Day)
天王星 - Tennousei - Uranus
海王星 - Kaiousei - Neptune
冥王星 - Meiousei - Pluto

So, how does this relate to Sailor Moon, you wonder?

I didn't notice it until after Ozaki wrote "Tennousei" and I went, "Uranus...Tennou Haruka...Sailor Uranus" and suddenly a lightbulb went off and I went on with my hunch and when she started to write "Kaiousei", I knew what Pluto would be and I just balked.

Now, I know each Sailor Soldiers name is a play on a legend or their planet of "origin", but I had no idea that the surnames of Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were just blatantly ripped off from the planet names themselves.

Today, I truly proved to the class what a weeaboo I am. But hell, one does not have spent a childhood loving Sailor Moon, Greco-Roman Mythology AND astronomy and NOT pick up on things like that >_>;

Soybean Storm!

Alright, Storm just finished. Seven dorms. Seven performances, and one very, very upset pair of knee caps. Good god, my left knee is swollen like a cantaloupe. It took a beating to save the right and now both of them are very angry =_=;

Today marks Setsubun. At the very end of Storm, we were treated by the men of 2MD to eho-maki, as well as the irimame with which to pelt the two poor sods who were wearing nothing more but novelty thongs and oni masks, all throughout all three floors of 2MD.

Afterwards, we ate the eho-maki to bring in good health, while both the oni men recovered from being pelted with hundreds of roasted soybeans. And for one special, unfortunate sod who arrived late to the party, he had to eat his eho-maki from the groin of a fellow dormmate.

To give you an idea of what 2MD is like, the penalty for not doing your weekly or daily duty is not a financial penalty like it is as 3WD, but a porn penalty. IE: you miss your duty, you have to buy the dorm a porno mag and it has to meet the discriminating standards of the Minister of Finance. What was best was the fake x-rated posters of various guys from the dorm involved in fetish situations. Proudly above the door of the common room was someone getting fake-bukkake'd. A pixelated phallus and whip cream on the face.

Yep. I can see why 2MD and 3WD are BFFs. We are fucking nuts. I just wonder when the video hits YouTube >_>;

Departures, Oni, Earthquakes, and Storms.

As of tomorrow, Spring begins in Japan. I know it probably sounds weird to you all back home or in climates where the snow is still around until Mid-March, but here in Japan, the third of February marks "Setsubun", which is a festival/holiday when a family throws soybeans outside the house to cast out oni (demons) and to bring in happiness to the household for the New Year.

It seems the New Year has been full of discoveries already. Last Saturday, Abigail returned home to North Carolina. Prior to all of this, she came down with a recurrence of glandular fever and that on top of being stressed out and overworked from Intensive Japanese...it was a recipe for disaster. She spent the last few weeks missing class because she just slept through everything. I hope she gets better.

Last Saturday and Sunday I woke up both mornings to minor earthquakes. It was like being rocked back and forth subtly in a bassinet. For all the horror stories I hear about people flipping out about earthquakes (granted, the BIG ones), they don't bother me so much. I find them to be nice breaks from the ordinary when they happen :D

Tonight is 3WD's Storm. Storm is how dorms advertise their parties. What happens is we parade around campus and then go to each dorm and perform a skit and a dance routine which often has to do with our party's theme. Being as it's February, we're throwing the Valentine's Ball, and I get to do fortunetelling :) Can't wait to take pictures of everything happening.

Anywho, time to finish writing post cards and I'll send 'em out tomorrow.