よかったね！ YAY!

NEWS FLASH: Sapporo University has received all my application materials. Nothing got lost in the vast depths of the Pacific. Booyah! :)

What a great way to celebrate the 100-day landmark in my countdown to Sapporo.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: "w/o notice?" by Kazuya Kamenashi

よこはま！YOKOHAMA!

So, the most important point I have to make in this post is that BSU HAS A SNOW DAY TODAY!

Because I suddenly didn't have my entire afternoon filled with classes, I decided to spoil myself and grab waffles-as-big-as-your-plate and custom-made omelettes for breakfast. Apparently, the rest of campus thought the same thing, so I waited in line for about 50 minutes before getting my deluxe breakfast. But sitting on a stool in front of Noyer's International Cafe for almost an hour was worth it. Seriously. Yum.

So instead of sitting in Japanese 302 and doing each textbook chapter's "Hanashite mimashou!" ("Let's try speaking!"), I'm lounging on my couch, covered in blankets, stomach stuffed with eggs, ham and syrup, and re-reading Tsubasa and Chobits.

What a glorious day.


Yesterday at work, I distracted myself from kanji practice by searching online for different festivals and cities I want to visit during my month-and-a-half-long summer break in Sapporo. Because I already toured much of Honshu last summer (Tenri, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, etc.), I was planning on flying to the southern islands for a tropical vacation, but after finishing "Tatta Hitotsu no Koi" about a month ago, I wanted to check out Yokohama. From other travelers and native Japanese students here at BSU, I'd heard that Yokohama was "the city for lovers" - which made it perfect for the previously mentioned J-dorama romance with Kazuya Kamenashi. Even its romantic atmosphere couldn't deter me from going solo - or at least with some friends.

So I researched. And I fell in love. Yokohama is only about a 20-30 minute train ride away from Tokyo, so visiting Tokyo again would be a plus. And Yokohama at night, with summer fireworks over the water = GORGEOUS! Key sights:

*Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum (discover the history of ramen shops!)
*Yokohama Bay Quarter (a luxury cruise liner-shaped shopping center)
*Chinatown (one of the world's largest)
*Purakin Sanbashi (Floating Pier)
*Yokohama Cosmo World (one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world, seating up to 480 passengers! and it's free, I believe)
*Silk Museum
*Yokohama Doll Museum (doll collection from 130 countries around the world; I'll probably go, unless the dolls are creepy, and then I'll pass)
* The Japan Newspaper Museum (a MUST-SEE for me!)
* The Broadcast Library (shows up to 6,000 TV broadcasts)
* Marine Tower (one of the tallest inland lighthouses in the world)






And it's only appropriate to include a scene from episode 3 of "Tatta Hitotsu no Koi" that has a great view of Yokohama in it. :)
BEWARE: This might spoil it for you if you haven't seen the drama already. And I highly encourage you to, especially if you're a lovey-dovey movie/drama fan.



And that, my friends, is why Yokohama is for lovers.



All photo credits go to Google Images.
BLOG SOUNDTRACK: "Tsuki no Shijima" by Yui Makino

NOW I'M WAITING, JUST WAITING...

今待ってる、ただ待ってる。。。

January 23 has arrived. That means that my student visa and Sapporo University applications are turned in, waiting to be sent out by international express mail to Japan today!

For the last three weeks, I have been glued to my computer, filling out pages of personal information for the Japanese government to do a background check on me and nitpicking my "Purpose of Study" essay, or running across campus scheduling meetings with loans officers and doctors and my personal banker back home... And now all of my worry fits neatly inside a manila envelope with my name on it.

Now all I can do is wait.

And I'm not exactly someone who likes being idle.

At least I can relax now and see that there's actually a world outside this process.

Life also seems much clearer after watching Ai Otsuka's newest PV, "360°" - but then again, it's hard to be confused when every other line in the lyrics includes either "merry-go-round" in English or a string of きらい's (repetitions of "I hate it")... Just like in "Planetarium," the video's artistic, creepily beautiful qualities can't be denied. There's a definite reason why she's my favorite J-pop artist right now, and it's not just the intricate piano intro.

I'd post a link to the vid, but copyright laws have forced most streaming video sites (YouTube, crunchyroll, veoh, etc.) to take it down. Sad day.

JUST A LITTLE OBSESSED, THAT'S ALL...

2008.1.3      11:32 p.m.      Mutemath: Spotlight (Twilight Mix)

"When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed...Don't resent me, and when you're feeling empty, keep me in your memory, leave out all the rest..."
- Linkin Park, "Leave Out All the Rest"

So, in the course of about four days, I read the first two Twilight novels. And when I say "read," I mean "devoured."
As in, not taking a shower, missing meals in my pursuit of the next chapter, ignoring the ringing phone and talkative relatives.

So I'm just a little obsessed.

I'm not quite sure why I waited so long to read them. I could blame my ever-hectic lifestyle during the school year, but I had weekends, holidays, trips via public bus to Wal-Mart when I could have bought the first novel. I saw friends' ecstatic facebook statuses when "Breaking Dawn" was released, reminding me of every Barnes and Noble midnight release party I attended for the Harry Potter series. I guess I just didn't think highly of the craze, looking down on it without reading it like I've done with Hannah Montana and High School Musical. (And this coming from a Harry Potter superfan who read the Sorcerer's Stone 11 times.)

My loss. Like, MAJOR loss.

Like one of my friends called it, the Twilight series is like literary crack. Despite the numerous copy editing mistakes (ugh...), you reach for the next page with shaking, eager fingers. While I wasn't impressed with everything in the story, I know exactly what makes people continue: Edward and Bella. Or, for some, Edward and his romantic, overprotective nature alone is enough.

A flawless, thrilling, dry-humored, sometimes jealous, completely committed vampire with a capacity to love and a vocabulary from the early 1900's? I'm so in.

I'll admit, I'm pretty emotional when it comes to love stories, but this one tugged me more than others. When both books ended the way I wanted them to, despite their temporary happy endings (because, c'mon, something's gotta happen next to keep the series going), I ached. My chest and body ached. I'm not sure if it's from my lack of eating when I become engrossed in a book, or if it was me letting go of the tension in my body from the suspenseful scenes, or if it was my emotional, unconscious longing for someone like Edward who would make me feel the same way... All I know is I was coming down from that Twilight high, experiencing withdrawal symptoms and lounging about the house, clearing my mind for the next installment.

It's addictive, I tell you.

It's also a way to make new friends. After buying "New Moon" at Barnes and Noble and while reading it with a really close friend of mine, a woman at the table next to us eventually came over, introduced herself, and asked how we liked the second book. After seeing our enthusiastic, dreamlike, mid-chapter expressions, she laughed and held up the book she had been reading: "Breaking Dawn," of course.

Who could have guessed that vampire-mortal love would bring other mortals together?

"Forgetting all the hurt inside you've learned to hide so well, pretending someone else can come and save me from myself.
I can't be who you are... I can't be who you are."

Oh, but how I wish I could be.