emarrific: July 2005 Archives

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July 27, 2005

Guilty Pleasures

So, yeah, I have a, uh, terrible weakness for the self help section of the bookstore and yeah, so, um... I bought one today. It's called Finding Your Own NORTH STAR: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live. There, I said it! Are you happy now?

Before you breakdown in giggles, I will let you know that I have your address and fully intend to use it to kick your ass.

Right, so on that note, what guilty pleasures have you partaken in lately?

Posted by Emarrific at 09:55 PM | Comments (3)

Two things made me ridiculously happy today

First of all, I have my very own silver spray-painted statue guy at Fujisawa station! You know, the ones that move when you put money in their bucket? Yeah. I put 100 yen in, and he like moved like a robot while making some pretty convincing hydraulic robot noises.

That made me ridiculously happy for some reason.

Second of all, self karaoke is good, just like (I imagine) self love is. It can be really fun to just sit there and sing whatever songs you want, one after another, without having to worry about whether it's too slow or boring or irritating or unknown or whatever. Of course, karaoke, like sex, can be much more exciting with more people, but the logistics can get pretty hairy sometimes, so sometimes it's nice just to go solo.

Anyway, these two things caused me to be so violently happy that I was dancing on the railway platform while listening to the fast jazzy beats of Ego Wrappin' on my i-audio player. I didn't even bother to look around to see how people were reacting.. I imagine they were just trying to pretend like I wasn't doing anything. He he.

What are two things that made you ridiculously happy recently?

Posted by Emarrific at 09:43 PM | Comments (2)

July 24, 2005

Coffee and Monjya-yaki

Today I came to the following conclusions:

Coffee is evil, or tries to be evil, like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers, but it can never really fully realize it's evil potential and sometimes ends up doing something good. Like now I am updating my blog, while watching "The Girl Next Door", after having taken care of some important emailing. And I brushed my teeth and flossed.

Kindness comes in many forms, including the edible. Today it came in the form of free monjya-yaki, a kind of gooey/crispy batter filled with cabbage and various veggies and meats cooked on a big griddle. I went to a restaurant and this really kind owner lady started talking with my Japanese American friend and found out that she had never enjoyed monjya-yaki. She came right out with a big (free) bowl of monjya-yaki and cooked it in the proper way and showed us how to eat it so it was yummy. Wow. I love random acts of kindness. I need to do more of that in my life because it's just such a wonderful thing, and I don't think I've been doing enough for the world lately.

What (random) acts of kindness have you done lately?

Posted by Emarrific at 01:37 AM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2005

The Beginning of the 激しい Path to JLPT 1 Success!

So, a while ago I said that I wanted to pass the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test with flying colors (over 90%). I just sat down and tried to study for an hour.

It was really really REALLY hard!

As soon as I sat down to study vocabulary, I started feeling all kinds of tired and restless and my head started to feel lead-like and my feet were twitching uncontrollably. My brain wouldn't sit still for a minute to understand and memorize the difference between 一層 and 一段と. The difference is that the first means comparing to before AND comparing with other things, while the second ONLY means comparing to before.

Can you hear my brain exploding?

I've certainly got a long way to go before I can pursue that Ph.D. in Japanese Pedagogy and Anime Literature. He he.

Posted by Emarrific at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2005

Regular Ol' Day with a splash of "Tokyo Grandfathers"

What I accomplished today:

Laundry, shower, hanging previously mentioned laundry (hanging laundry takes forever!), cleaning my desk, withdrawing money, editing and turning in of study leave plan, translated official request letters for two seminars, going over the schedule for tomorrow's seminar for Japanese English Teachers, found a marathon training plan for beginners, bought audio cable, watched "Tokyo Grandfathers" (a very good animations, with a good combo of heart and camp), drank 1.5 beers and .5 peach sparkling chuhai (hard liquor, juice and soda), made comments on Flickr, updated this blog

What I didn't accomplish that I set out to do:

Paying bills, paying rent, writing my first Japanese entry, research locations for JET meetings, research locations for JET party, research translation courses for fall, cleaning bathtub, vacuuming and dusting

Posted by Emarrific at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2005

July 4 Bowling

I went bowling with some teachers from one of the special needs schools I visit every couple of months. Here is the photographic evidence of how fun it was.