(and birds sing sweeter

Yo.

The UMD end of the study abroad application process is very nearly finished. All I need to do is sign a couple of forms and come in to the Study Abroad Office tomorrow to submit them and fill out a PSA.

The pre-departure "orientation" was today, and I finally found out who else is going to Rikkyo (at least, one person... I don't know if there's anyone else). I know him from Kanji class already, and it turns out that he's Filipino. o_O The number of Filipinos I know seems to have increased lately... after joining a fansubbing group that's based in Singapore with some Filipino members, I found out that a girl in my art class is surprisingly Filipino, along with a random guy who always does his Japanese homework in my other art class (despite not being a member of the class). This may sound silly, but it's weird to me since, to my memory, I've only been personally acquainted with three fellow Filipino students in my whole life previously.

It was quite amusing to see that, even though the orientation was for all of next year's exchange students, I'd say more than half of the students in the room were doing exchanges in Japan.

Anyway, I'm definitely going to re-pick many of my classes for Rikkyo... I've decided that I'm not going to finish an art major, and I couldn't stand having a career in art (though I'll definitely do it as a hobby forever)... so I'll probably end up taking a survey of electives to start giving myself an idea of what's out there to specialize in... since I've deluded myself up to this point into thinking that I knew what I wanted to do with my life, I haven't given myself this kind of an experience in a while.

Muki-chan is so cute. <3 I've never heard her speak more than a sentence in English until this day. And she's tiny.

Okay, down to business.

I got into Rikkyo. ^__^ That basically means that, unless an unforeseen crisis occurs between now and next fall, I will be attending school in Ikebukuro next year. The application process is yet incomplete, but from here out it will be mostly paperwork it seems.

The Rikkyo campus is quite beautiful, with buildings entirely furred with ivy.

Now.... my next task is to study hard for the JLPT. If I score level 2 or higher, I can pick classes from the general (Japanese-taught) course offerings.

Sushi tomorrow!

winter, spring, summer or fall,
all you gotta do is call

Bleeeeaghhh. This is a necessary moment of unproductivity. Every productive night needs one.

How did I suddenly get so busy? No, I understand-- 6 classes (including 2 non-trivial art classes, 3 reading-heavy classes, and one vaguely mathematical joke) and two part-time jobs. I don't have time to read or play WoW, and my only free time is basically wasted doing shit like this or being either hyperactive or depressed.*

*In other words, being distracted while I should be working and, as a result, not having all my homework done. Undeserving unproductive time.

It's sort of nice, I suppose. My life feels like it has more purpose than usual, and there's less time to trap myself in introspection. I was asked to put together a DVD surface graphic for my second job (at the Prange Collection) and they liked the result, so Amy says she will try to give me more design projects in the future. That is cool. They're simple projects, but much more interesting than my usual job of flipping through material to check whether it matches up to the electronic version. (I used to actually try to read some of it, but now it's just a routine.)

Pinder suggested studying at UMD for five years, which I'm actually starting to consider seriously. At first I dismissed the idea because I really don't want to be stuck here for longer than necessary (--I'd rather be studying somewhere else, want to leave Maryland), but if I take a year off abroad, I'll only have senior year to finish everything up, and that seems way too short. Plus, if I stay an extra year, I can go to whatever university I want without worrying about scraping up extra art credits. I have no problem with Kansai Gaidai but I don't want to pick it because it's the only choice.

UMD isn't that bad, I guess... and it's less of a drag if I spend a year abroad, right in the middle.

Bleh bleh. My life is boring. I hate the fourth panel in my design project. Will I have to redo it?

The parking policy at Lot 6 is retarded. There was a game to-day, and I (a) did not know about it, being out of the sports loop, (b) was at work, and (c) went out to dinner with coworkers, meaning that basically I wasn't around all day. I'm required to move my car out of Lot 6 into another lot within 3 hours of the game (but no earlier), and move it back into Lot 6 within three hours of the end of the game (or something equally unfair) or suffer a fine. In other words, either I get fined and possibly towed for moving my car too early, or get fined and towed (for a total of $175!) if I don't move it. And what if I have work and/or an engagement that doesn't allow me to walk the 20 minutes to the garage and back? Not to mention the steep price of the permit alone.

Needless to say, my car got towed, and it was about an hour after I got dropped off before I found out where it was and reached it (11:45pm). Jack (my agent) called the relevant office and they said no Mini Coopers were towed; only a silver, 2-door BMW with my license plate. Wtf?

I meant to get home and immediately work on my trees, but instead I played video games with John, to swallow up hours of frustration.

Things seem so inverted. During the week when I want to work and study quietly, Jack is around making noise on his instruments. I know I won't see him during the weekend much, so I try to have fun with him, but we both have work, so not only is the fun muted and often nonexistent, but the work is inefficient. On the weekend, when the "official" break and "right to have some fun" rolls around, Jack is gone, and I'm supposed to treasure the alone time. During the week, I'd kill for some alone time, but during the weekend, it's lonely.

DC is a hellhole. Not one smooth run, ever.

Trade book folk are fun to be around. As usual, I feel like an uncultured misfit, but whatever. I've realized it's pretty counterproductive to be antisocial as a result of my feelings of social inadequacy.

Mrrrrr. I'm not really unhappy, but I will be kind to myself until to-morrow morning, whereupon productivity shall spike.

Testing Scribefire.

Adobe is infuriating. Photoshop CS3 is undownloadable (and probably would be too expensive anyway), CS4 is WAY too expensive, and Elements fails for the purposes I need it for. (Touching up photos? No.) I've been wrangling with fucking Adobe for HOURS this weekend.

I mean, $599 to upgrade from Elements? WTF? You could at least cut the price by more than $100, adobe.

Plus, I hate it when you erase something using the magic erase tool, or delete whatever's inside a marquee, and it erases <I>beyond</i> the selected area. Why not just turn all the white squares into transparency? Why always go a pixel beyond?

GRRR PHOTOSHOP.

</anger>

Re: the election

Yay! --not much else to say that hasn't already been said.

Re: other things

I'm getting stressed out with the prospect of possible study abroad next year and what I will or will not manage to do; as a result, I've been unprecedentedly unproductive the last couple of days. >__>; No focus- just want to see things settled already.

Tonight's goal: value design! model sketches!

@____@

Saturday and Sunday I went on a hiking expedition with Jack, south along the Appalachian trail to Gravel Springs Gap where we set up camp for the night, then back north along Bluff and Mt. Marshall trails. The first day was fine and cool, warm when we had been walking for a while; we'd been warned of rain, but there was nothing but occasional sleet and styrofoam snow. The night was frigid. It was in the 20s, and the wind was strong, though we were protected from it by the tent. We were tired and tried to sleep soon after the sun went down, but we woke up repeatedly and, by about 2:00am, couldn't get back to sleep. At around 4, we mutually decided to just leave instead of waiting for dawn, so we packed up the tent with frozen hands (forgot gloves) and departed by the light of the full moon. By the time the sun came up, we had already walked about four miles.

So many strange cries in the woods at night, though nothing to compare to the banshee-like scream we heard once in the woods near his house. We were both a little sick- Jack getting over a cold, and me getting one- the sleeping bags we brought were too bulky for camping and awkward to carry, and our hands were bare. We had no food aside from power bars, free Caribou Coffee bars, and one power gel each. It was pretty miserable, but the terrain was beautiful, and after we reached the car, the rest of the day was perfect. We had MacDonalds on the way home, and got to his house, where we napped on the couch with unparalleled comfort. I was slightly feverish and sick in a pleasant way at that time, so all sitting down, food, warmth, and hugs were that much more comfortable. Also! We made delicious castella.

It was the geekiest hike ever; we kept making references to Lord of the Rings and WoW. :0 I found the best walking-staff. It was white and gnarled, with three distinct sections; the bottom third was straight and ended in a horn-shape, pointing up; the middle section was gently curved; and the top section was mostly straight, woodgrains splitting apart and fanning out very slightly towards the very top, which was about my shoulder-height. The top part of the curved section was perfect for resting my hand on. Unfortunately, I had to abandon it at camp to enable increased warmth by finger-curling, but I daresay it was my favourite walking-stick found on a hike so far.

Now back at school, and a minds paper to write. I know what I want to say, and have approximately two hours to write before I break off and come back tomorrow.

The day in bullet points:

- the late arrival, meeting a familiar face in the hallway (expected, somehow), exchanging lazy words that flew backwards, blind banter.

- anatomically correct signs of adoration, pulsing hearts that drew question marks and conspiratory laughter.

- an orange pen, and a piece of paper, and fractalling thoughts (this month's motif).

- sunny bagels, hurriedly consumed on a picnic-blanket of humming refrigerators.

- heated debates about love, and a voice that broke its shackles (blundering, pupils still dilated, but free).

- a drug and a magazine, quiet respite.

- molding, excitement: a question tossed out carelessly and a suggestion nudged back in half-jest. the minutes counted down and we (three, two, one) pulled a smile at the last moment (cheese).

- more laughter, second home, extended family (these are the days we'll miss--i feel a hole where the ache will grow, a premonition).

- spinning, spinning; the practical line of intention blurs and transforms, and we colour shapely frills: green surprise, yellow cubism, pink abstraction.

- instrumental monuments sprouting from a ravaged swampland, triumph over a day. veni, vidi, vici.


My tablet arrived--! Unfortunately I cannot play with it until my computer has been reborn (it's ashes now, not far to go).

Ah, bitter-sweet. (I had a theory.)

( chips of beauty, two dimensional biographies )

back to work.

( beautiful things i've seen in the last few months )

and ( people; )

(there are more for later)

I've been meaning to write an LJ post for a while, but for some reason I can't articulate anything of pith.

Interestingly, though, I've (all of a sudden) lost my negativity. With it, perhaps, the urge to disclose; when I'm content, I like writing in my paper journal, and when I'm upset, I'd rather write to others. Hmm. In a way, it seems selfish: spreading misery, hoarding happiness. Or maybe the distinction is just how much you want to reach out to others for help.

Anyway, I was productive to-day--! :D Not so much in the schoolwork arena, but I spent a considerable chunk of time working on Glass Vase, read Crime & Punishment, got some work done on the website, and played frisbee with Ellen. ^___^ (Okay, I guess the last one does not count as productive, but hey, exercise.)

You know what, I think a lot of my positive vibes are coming from the fact that my room is now clean--or that, at least, the floor is visible and things are mostly where they should be. I feel like things have physically gotten brighter, and my room feels much less like a cave than it used to. Strange how the environment affects emotions. (The room being a representation of the inner self? Heh.)

(I feel so inarticulate. Perhaps, later, I'll be able to write something worthwhile.)

But look, Sara D. got a livejournal: starbird812!

( an illustration )

Hiiii. I find it cute that the Japanese LJ says "konnichiha, whylesssan" in the top right, that little "san" just stuck awkwardly at the end of the link to my username. Aww.

To-day it was 35 degrees celsius, and we had a picnic, and I climbed trees, and swung, and noticed how dangerous Japanese playgrounds are (and how fun), and missed the last frisbee game of the trip, and went to Harajuku, and ate banana choco cheesecake crepes, and had thumb wars in the rain, and loved everyone, and felt happy, and sad, and failed to find four leaf clovers.

I have no idea what city I'm in right now.

It was surprisingly difficult to type *livejournal.com* into the search bar, but finally I:m here. (Pretend all the colons are apostrophes, by the by.)

How is everyone? For me, life is good. I:d been feeling pretty depressed / ambivalent about the whole situation up until to-night, when a bunch of us went out for karaoke. Way too much fun, srsly. :D It:s really cool here, because you rent a room where you can pick all the songs yourself and order food (and get free drinks), so it:s all very fun and comfortable, unlike a karaoke bar.

The rest of to-day was actually quite good, aside from the boring English class I had no choice but to attend. In the morning, we had a very awkward couple of hours chatting with Japanese students one-on-one, but it was actually a lot of fun. You know THE GAME (which I just lost, and so did you)? I successfully taught it to a girl I was talking to! At least, I think it was successful, based on her reaction, and I very much hope she will spread it to her friends so the epidemic can claim many more lives. You know, it:s surprisingly difficult to explain such a simple concept in another language.

While we were waiting around doing nothing, the television was playing Beatles songs, to which Alan and I sang along. It was funnn. And now I:ve been on the computer for a long time, so I probably ought to get off so as not to keep poor Rino from going to sleep. I:ll be able to respond regularly-ish now, maybe, so -- well, yeah... Larisa, I:ll tell Bekka to email if I remember to-morrow.

When I get home, I:m going to type up a detailed account of the entire trip, whether or not anyone is interested. ;P Until then, ta-ta, and I love everyone. How:s summer?

Oh em geee, life is so cool. I:m currently in Akihabara, Japan, updating my LJ from a random Mac Store. xD!

Yesterday, we came back from climbing mount fuji, so currently all my leg muscles are sore. Yay. How are you doing, folks? Duuude, this mouse is so cool; it:s one of those smooth apple mouses (mice?) but there:s a tiny circle at the end to scroll with. It feels so good. Kimochi ga iiiiii. ¦D

Please leave me comments, cool people.