we tapped it early in the night and let the good times flow
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
"...while the loss of liberty is ignored or rationalized away...whether it's [for] the war on poverty, drugs, terrorism, or the current Hitler of the day, an appeal to patriotism is used to convince the people that a little sacrifice of liberty, here and there, is a small price to pay. The results, though, are frightening and will soon become even more so." -Congressman Ron Paul, December 9, 2003
"i predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -Thomas Jefferson
"i predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -Thomas Jefferson
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
today i am finished!
i finished my first semester of Japanese 2 today. I had Oshimo-sensei for my oral exam and i think i did alright. this semester was wonderful, i love my senseis and my classmates are pretty interesting as well.
now i'm off to listen to much Andrew W.K. (which i will thank martis for), teach Chen Han, then later i will put up our Christmas Tree.
now i'm off to listen to much Andrew W.K. (which i will thank martis for), teach Chen Han, then later i will put up our Christmas Tree.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
most useful mozilla add-on: rikaichan
while browsing mozilla's latest updates, i came across quite possibly the most useful add-on i've ever seen. i will share it will all of you lovelies.
Requirements: Must use Mozilla Firefox as internet browser.
Description: Immediate Japanese Kanji translation device. (i.e. after installation, when you mouse over kanji you do not know, the application gives you immediately [in a small pop-up] the meaning, pronunciation and dictionary form of the character. also, if the word is inflected at all, the program breaks the word into it's base [dictionary] form for ease of understanding.
Directions:
1. first go to: http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
2. scroll down about half way until you reach the first blue box in the middle of the page. once there click "Install"
3. next, in the second blue box click on "Install" under Japanese-English Dictionary
4. open both executable files
5. open your mozilla browser
6. click on the Tools menu and select "Toggle Rikaichan"
and that's it! Enjoy browsing webpages in nihongo! ^_^
Requirements: Must use Mozilla Firefox as internet browser.
Description: Immediate Japanese Kanji translation device. (i.e. after installation, when you mouse over kanji you do not know, the application gives you immediately [in a small pop-up] the meaning, pronunciation and dictionary form of the character. also, if the word is inflected at all, the program breaks the word into it's base [dictionary] form for ease of understanding.
Directions:
1. first go to: http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
2. scroll down about half way until you reach the first blue box in the middle of the page. once there click "Install"
3. next, in the second blue box click on "Install" under Japanese-English Dictionary
4. open both executable files
5. open your mozilla browser
6. click on the Tools menu and select "Toggle Rikaichan"
and that's it! Enjoy browsing webpages in nihongo! ^_^
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
thanksgivings
thanksgiving was last week. our 'day before thanksgiving-thanksgiving' party went off without a hitch. we had about 25 people show up in all. there was much merriment and eating.
my turkey turned out tasty - a little dry, but reasonable and the green beanies pretty much all eaten. the stuffing was immaculate, all of it went. em and jay brought amazing potatoes with dill. megart brought mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows. joel and erica brought 3 pumpkin pies. tessa was there in spirit and had mike bring a tasty cran-granola-brown sugar medley. valerion brought the turkey deep fryer. mei yun and chen han (actually came!!) brought sushi! and made mike re-fall in love with SB. i may be forgetting the rest but it was all delicious. oh yes, martis was also there in spirit - as was his vat of corn... but unfortunately he had to talk to the cops all night.
here are some photos from then:
as always i was extremely pleased to see filer and sohrab come out for the festivities! ^_^
my turkey turned out tasty - a little dry, but reasonable and the green beanies pretty much all eaten. the stuffing was immaculate, all of it went. em and jay brought amazing potatoes with dill. megart brought mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows. joel and erica brought 3 pumpkin pies. tessa was there in spirit and had mike bring a tasty cran-granola-brown sugar medley. valerion brought the turkey deep fryer. mei yun and chen han (actually came!!) brought sushi! and made mike re-fall in love with SB. i may be forgetting the rest but it was all delicious. oh yes, martis was also there in spirit - as was his vat of corn... but unfortunately he had to talk to the cops all night.
here are some photos from then:
as always i was extremely pleased to see filer and sohrab come out for the festivities! ^_^
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
teaching plans
this is a post specifically about teaching english to Chen Han:
when i first met with him this was the background information i was given:
he is 21, is attending a Pittsburgh Public highschool, and doesn't think his english is good.
given the above information i assumed that since he was in high school he probably had an elementary (at worst) competency in english. that was, unfortunately, wrong. he knew almost no verbs. almost no adjectives. and lord knows, no sentence structure, tenses, pronouns, possesives, etc. i mean the only thing i could think was: WHAT IS HE DOING ALL DAY IN SCHOOL?! and why the hell is the school not helping him!?
well, there was some relief when i realized that they had supplied him with an ESL study book. "good" i thought to myself "i'll just teach out of this book and help clarify if there are any questions." wrong again. the book first of all looks almost identical to my 8th grade Ven Conmigo spanish book, and the text in the book is COMPLETELY in english -- the language he doesn't understand. great.
so for the first week after getting my bearings i selected very few topics from this ESL book that were completely obvious without knowing english and started there. the first week we learned: colors, body parts, clothing, some classroom objects (the standard opening lesson for almost all language learning). but this book is just ridiculous, for instance, in the clothing section, it lacked the word "shoe" and instead only taught "sneaker" it lacked the word "sweater" and "shirt" but instead only listed "sweatshirt". i mean, really. come on.
for the second week of instruction, i had scoured amazon.com and other book sites (as well as checking all the barnes and nobles in pittsburgh) for a chinese/english learners book. there are almost none that i can find. after close to 5 days i came across a chinese/english oxford picture dictionary. that came late in the week, but helped tremendously. i couldn't imagine learning japanese if my JSL book was written completely in japanese. the only problem is that for structural issues, for example subject verb object word order in english, stuff like that isn't going to be listed in a picture dictionary... so that is my biggest obstacle at the moment.
things that i taught during the second week were: food items fruit/vegetables, subject pronouns (I, he, we, they), object pronouns (me, him, her, us), reviewed all clothing, body parts, colors (still a little trouble with "brown" and "black"). it's sooo rewarding because he just definately learned them and worked on them at home. some of the notes that we had made during previous lessons had little chinese kanjis next to them - showing he'd been trying to figure them out on his own. we also learned the word "and" "on" and about 10 verbs! (make, put, push, cut, eat, wash) finally!! some verbs! now we can make sentences ^_^! trust me... it's really really hard to communicate without verbs. oh, we also introduced the concept "not".
during the third week: we reviewed all old material again, reinforced subj/obj pronouns, some use of the word "not" but that was more on the back burner during these lessons, added more verbs (point, raise, put away, take out, write, listen, talk, erase) --obviously out of the first lesson in the picture dictionary book, and did lots of writing and spelling exercises. actually, every week there is at least a little bit of a spelling component, but there seemed to be more sentence practice this week. english vowels are just stupid. they make no sense for a new learner, so while i understand that speaking and writing of a language are completely different, i want to put a good deal of emphasis now on spelling so that it's not completely debilitating in the future. also we went over some basic expressions of greeting and leaving.
now we are in the fourth week: we are learning days of the week, months of the year, times of day (morning, noon, midnight, etc), re-did greetings and expressions (i'm sorry, excuse me, etc), lots of adjectives this week with their opposites (heavy/light, old/new, fast/slow, expensive/cheap, soft/hard, etc ~ about 10 pairs altogether). started introducing possessive pronouns (my/mine, your, his/her, our, etc.), more work on "not". "not" + noun = not a book. "not" + adj = not pink. "not" + verb = do not eat. also, in light of learning calendar phrases, i'm trying to teaching date counters: ex: Nov. 1 = November first, Nov. 16 = Novemebr sixteenth. there's always seeming like there are lots of little things creeping up that i'm like "oh wait... thats actually said like this... " english is very irregular!
as i teach today, i'm planning on doing a lot of review - there's been a lot of material covered so far - and lots of sentence structure/practice today! we'll see how it goes.
if any of you have any suggestions or helpful teaching websites, please let me know!! sank-yuu!
when i first met with him this was the background information i was given:
he is 21, is attending a Pittsburgh Public highschool, and doesn't think his english is good.
given the above information i assumed that since he was in high school he probably had an elementary (at worst) competency in english. that was, unfortunately, wrong. he knew almost no verbs. almost no adjectives. and lord knows, no sentence structure, tenses, pronouns, possesives, etc. i mean the only thing i could think was: WHAT IS HE DOING ALL DAY IN SCHOOL?! and why the hell is the school not helping him!?
well, there was some relief when i realized that they had supplied him with an ESL study book. "good" i thought to myself "i'll just teach out of this book and help clarify if there are any questions." wrong again. the book first of all looks almost identical to my 8th grade Ven Conmigo spanish book, and the text in the book is COMPLETELY in english -- the language he doesn't understand. great.
so for the first week after getting my bearings i selected very few topics from this ESL book that were completely obvious without knowing english and started there. the first week we learned: colors, body parts, clothing, some classroom objects (the standard opening lesson for almost all language learning). but this book is just ridiculous, for instance, in the clothing section, it lacked the word "shoe" and instead only taught "sneaker" it lacked the word "sweater" and "shirt" but instead only listed "sweatshirt". i mean, really. come on.
for the second week of instruction, i had scoured amazon.com and other book sites (as well as checking all the barnes and nobles in pittsburgh) for a chinese/english learners book. there are almost none that i can find. after close to 5 days i came across a chinese/english oxford picture dictionary. that came late in the week, but helped tremendously. i couldn't imagine learning japanese if my JSL book was written completely in japanese. the only problem is that for structural issues, for example subject verb object word order in english, stuff like that isn't going to be listed in a picture dictionary... so that is my biggest obstacle at the moment.
things that i taught during the second week were: food items fruit/vegetables, subject pronouns (I, he, we, they), object pronouns (me, him, her, us), reviewed all clothing, body parts, colors (still a little trouble with "brown" and "black"). it's sooo rewarding because he just definately learned them and worked on them at home. some of the notes that we had made during previous lessons had little chinese kanjis next to them - showing he'd been trying to figure them out on his own. we also learned the word "and" "on" and about 10 verbs! (make, put, push, cut, eat, wash) finally!! some verbs! now we can make sentences ^_^! trust me... it's really really hard to communicate without verbs. oh, we also introduced the concept "not".
during the third week: we reviewed all old material again, reinforced subj/obj pronouns, some use of the word "not" but that was more on the back burner during these lessons, added more verbs (point, raise, put away, take out, write, listen, talk, erase) --obviously out of the first lesson in the picture dictionary book, and did lots of writing and spelling exercises. actually, every week there is at least a little bit of a spelling component, but there seemed to be more sentence practice this week. english vowels are just stupid. they make no sense for a new learner, so while i understand that speaking and writing of a language are completely different, i want to put a good deal of emphasis now on spelling so that it's not completely debilitating in the future. also we went over some basic expressions of greeting and leaving.
now we are in the fourth week: we are learning days of the week, months of the year, times of day (morning, noon, midnight, etc), re-did greetings and expressions (i'm sorry, excuse me, etc), lots of adjectives this week with their opposites (heavy/light, old/new, fast/slow, expensive/cheap, soft/hard, etc ~ about 10 pairs altogether). started introducing possessive pronouns (my/mine, your, his/her, our, etc.), more work on "not". "not" + noun = not a book. "not" + adj = not pink. "not" + verb = do not eat. also, in light of learning calendar phrases, i'm trying to teaching date counters: ex: Nov. 1 = November first, Nov. 16 = Novemebr sixteenth. there's always seeming like there are lots of little things creeping up that i'm like "oh wait... thats actually said like this... " english is very irregular!
as i teach today, i'm planning on doing a lot of review - there's been a lot of material covered so far - and lots of sentence structure/practice today! we'll see how it goes.
if any of you have any suggestions or helpful teaching websites, please let me know!! sank-yuu!
updates:
for the past three weeks or so, i've been teaching english to a chinese boy named Chen Han at Sushi Boat in Oakland. i've come to the following conclusions: english spelling is たいへん. that is all.
i know no chinese and he knows barely any english, so communication at times is also たいへん。i wish he knew japanese, this would be much easier. either way, i love doing it. and apparently sushi boats loves me too. i am given food almost every time that i teach, which i'm very grateful for. you can tell that these people are genuinely appreciative of my efforts and i almost forgot what simple joys can be had with such small offerings.
i'm also an acting english translator of any and all legal documents for them and am currently trying to tackle DMV issues for them. it's all pretty amusing for me to see people's reactions to me acting on their behalf. this woman at the DMV for example, took one look at Mei Yun and her uncle - immediately realized they were speaking chinese, looked at me and pretty much right there i could read on her face that she'd already given up trying to help. it's like foreign people aren't worth their time or its too much effort to actually explain things. i mean, she was only interfacing with me - an american - and she still resisted answering MY questions.
i just hope that if i get accepted to JET i'll find people to help and guide me like i am doing for my chinese friends. i am paid with hugs and food, and that's good enough for me! ^_^
i know no chinese and he knows barely any english, so communication at times is also たいへん。i wish he knew japanese, this would be much easier. either way, i love doing it. and apparently sushi boats loves me too. i am given food almost every time that i teach, which i'm very grateful for. you can tell that these people are genuinely appreciative of my efforts and i almost forgot what simple joys can be had with such small offerings.
i'm also an acting english translator of any and all legal documents for them and am currently trying to tackle DMV issues for them. it's all pretty amusing for me to see people's reactions to me acting on their behalf. this woman at the DMV for example, took one look at Mei Yun and her uncle - immediately realized they were speaking chinese, looked at me and pretty much right there i could read on her face that she'd already given up trying to help. it's like foreign people aren't worth their time or its too much effort to actually explain things. i mean, she was only interfacing with me - an american - and she still resisted answering MY questions.
i just hope that if i get accepted to JET i'll find people to help and guide me like i am doing for my chinese friends. i am paid with hugs and food, and that's good enough for me! ^_^
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
this year for halloween i passed out candy to trick-or-treaters for the first time. it was pretty cute, but there weren't quite as many kids as i thought there would be. apparently, they all thought it would be much cooler to "trick-or-treat" at the stores on Forbes and Murray - at 5 in the afternoon (half of the store's employee's just put on {e.g} a witches hat and that was their whole costume)! the real halloweeners knew what was up though, so it was ok.
i told maria about JET and swore her to secrecy, which i think she'll actually adhere to. i'm not planning on dropping the bomb to the rest of my family until i know something more conclusive [read as: get accepted].
last night we went to La Feria, the peruvian restaurant, with quite the crew: beth, bressers, steve, nick, and james. chuck met up with us later and we all went bowling at forward lanes. beth and i were share-buddies again and we drank chisaii beer again.
i told maria about JET and swore her to secrecy, which i think she'll actually adhere to. i'm not planning on dropping the bomb to the rest of my family until i know something more conclusive [read as: get accepted].
last night we went to La Feria, the peruvian restaurant, with quite the crew: beth, bressers, steve, nick, and james. chuck met up with us later and we all went bowling at forward lanes. beth and i were share-buddies again and we drank chisaii beer again.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
recipie for heaven.
1 1/2 ounces kahlua
1 ounce amaretto
1/2 ounce tuaca
2 scoops vanilla ice cream
Blend together and top with whipped cream and biscotti. aaron first recommended this/made it for me at the olive garden. it's very very good. it's called frozen tiramisu.
1 ounce amaretto
1/2 ounce tuaca
2 scoops vanilla ice cream
Blend together and top with whipped cream and biscotti. aaron first recommended this/made it for me at the olive garden. it's very very good. it's called frozen tiramisu.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
it's 4 days until maria's wedding. so far everything has gone smoothly with the plans. i can't wait! it's been quite a while since i've seen my extended family and i'm much looking forward to getting drunk and goofing around with everyone. i'll post pictures as soon as i can - i just found out today that my camera that i've been waiting for repairs to finish on is "not covered by warranty". it took them 6 weeks to tell me "Oh wait, lens malfunctions aren't covered. You can have your broken camera back, though." So i'll be looking to borrow one for Friday and Saturday's events - if anyone is willing to entrust your camera to me, i would be much obliged. (i have my own memory card).
i've been cooking much more lately and it's been a lot of fun. last night i prepared tuna steak, asparagus, and parsley potatoes ^_^. in other news i just started reading catch22 upon recommendation from max, it's slow going so far - the only read time i had so far was sunday during my lunch break when i went to primanti's during the steeler game... it wasn't the best reading atmosphere, but they have really good sandwiches!
i've been cooking much more lately and it's been a lot of fun. last night i prepared tuna steak, asparagus, and parsley potatoes ^_^. in other news i just started reading catch22 upon recommendation from max, it's slow going so far - the only read time i had so far was sunday during my lunch break when i went to primanti's during the steeler game... it wasn't the best reading atmosphere, but they have really good sandwiches!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
lists:
it's been a while, so i'm bringing back my love for list making. my recent activities (in no order):
i. listening to a lot of The Decemberists (especially: Sons and Daughters)
ii. 勉強してます
iii. teaching chinese people how to drive
iv. studying for GRE's and realizing i've lost critical thinking skills
v. made guacamole for the first time and ate it all
vi. finished the series Gundum Wing
vii. read American Psycho and was smitten with it
viii. read the Communist Manifesto just because i never have
ix. finishing final preparations for maria's wedding
x. started weight training at steve's in hopes of getting in shape (and fending off osteoporosis)
i. listening to a lot of The Decemberists (especially: Sons and Daughters)
ii. 勉強してます
iii. teaching chinese people how to drive
iv. studying for GRE's and realizing i've lost critical thinking skills
v. made guacamole for the first time and ate it all
vi. finished the series Gundum Wing
vii. read American Psycho and was smitten with it
viii. read the Communist Manifesto just because i never have
ix. finishing final preparations for maria's wedding
x. started weight training at steve's in hopes of getting in shape (and fending off osteoporosis)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
this and that
last week, jam, emily, jason, beth, tessa and i went to Ohiopyle for a day of adventuring. (though we mainly went for the natural water slides to cool us off). it was a lot of fun. i'll hopefully post some of the pictures taken by em shortly. tessa and i were forced to ford the creek/river barefoot since we didn't come prepared with watershoes. overall things went well, even though i ended up sliding and ramming my foot into a (conveniently placed, pointy) rock underneath me. i now, 4 days later, don't feel the need to limp anymore, and my bruise is disappearing. i wish we had more time to explore the woods, but the evening crept on and we left before dusk. we didn't get too lost, but i will say this, "Dunbar, mark your signs better!"
i'm still awaiting my camera's return home. it's away at some bestbuy warehouse, i'm sure just sitting on a self, being "repaired". i didn't realize how much i like to catalog the little things in my life with it, and it's becoming irritating that it's taking so long to fix. thanks, bestbuy, customer service - top notch.
japanese is going well, even though one of my sections induces a coma nearly every time we meet, i feel like i'm at least getting better at my listening comprehension. aside from my (one) class, i'm getting more serious about narrowing my grad school search. i have a lot of trouble forcing myself forward at times. i'm scared of making a bad decision, thus leading my life down another unwise career [see: nursing] path. i have trouble overcoming my hesitance, and actually progress -- at least for the time being. my next big hurdle is taking the GREs. i purchased supposedly "the best" study prep book today, so we shall see if that claim holds true.
i am also in the process of making curtains for my kitchen. for those of you who don't know me very well, this is a big project a.) i don't "make" things and b.) i definitely don't sew. hopefully i'll come out of the situation a little more self sufficient, we shall see. i bought the fabric already as well as the rods to hang them. i mean, i have a degree, this can't be that hard ... the only thing easier to make would be a blanket. hell, i'm even cooking my own dinner these days...
i'm still awaiting my camera's return home. it's away at some bestbuy warehouse, i'm sure just sitting on a self, being "repaired". i didn't realize how much i like to catalog the little things in my life with it, and it's becoming irritating that it's taking so long to fix. thanks, bestbuy, customer service - top notch.
japanese is going well, even though one of my sections induces a coma nearly every time we meet, i feel like i'm at least getting better at my listening comprehension. aside from my (one) class, i'm getting more serious about narrowing my grad school search. i have a lot of trouble forcing myself forward at times. i'm scared of making a bad decision, thus leading my life down another unwise career [see: nursing] path. i have trouble overcoming my hesitance, and actually progress -- at least for the time being. my next big hurdle is taking the GREs. i purchased supposedly "the best" study prep book today, so we shall see if that claim holds true.
i am also in the process of making curtains for my kitchen. for those of you who don't know me very well, this is a big project a.) i don't "make" things and b.) i definitely don't sew. hopefully i'll come out of the situation a little more self sufficient, we shall see. i bought the fabric already as well as the rods to hang them. i mean, i have a degree, this can't be that hard ... the only thing easier to make would be a blanket. hell, i'm even cooking my own dinner these days...
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Donald Kaufman: Oh, God. I was so in love with her.
Charlie Kaufman: I know. And you were flirting with her. And she was really sweet to you.
Donald Kaufman: I remember that.
Charlie Kaufman: Then, when you walked away, she started making fun of you with Kim Canetti. It was like they were making fun of *me*. You didn't know at all. You seemed so happy.
Donald Kaufman: I knew. I heard them.
Charlie Kaufman: How come you looked so happy?
Donald Kaufman: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn't have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.
Charlie Kaufman: She thought you were pathetic.
Donald Kaufman: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That's what I decided a long time ago.
Charlie Kaufman: I know. And you were flirting with her. And she was really sweet to you.
Donald Kaufman: I remember that.
Charlie Kaufman: Then, when you walked away, she started making fun of you with Kim Canetti. It was like they were making fun of *me*. You didn't know at all. You seemed so happy.
Donald Kaufman: I knew. I heard them.
Charlie Kaufman: How come you looked so happy?
Donald Kaufman: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn't have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.
Charlie Kaufman: She thought you were pathetic.
Donald Kaufman: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That's what I decided a long time ago.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
disappear here
i'm back from vacation in west palm beach visiting with jams' aunt. i'm a little sunburnt, but not too badly. i'm a little sick, but not too badly. i finished two books while traveling: less than zero and the rules of attraction both by bret easton ellis. i am absolutely in love with less than zero and am amazed ellis wrote it when he was only 19. i feel the same way as i did after i first read salinger. i find myself developing an inner monologue-narration of my own life and it's amusing me for now. i am currently reading american psycho, ellis's third novel. i haven't read fiction in a while and it's absolutely liberating.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
summer in the city...
and it's h u m i d! today is my second day of freedom for the summer. i'm still really missing bott and now i'm missing my twins who have just left yesterday. despite the heat and the longing for certain friends, i've been pretty productive today which is always fun. i was able to check 3 items off of my newest to-do list, exercise, and later this evening i will be getting a hair cut/dye.for the last few days i've been watching the planet earth series at steve's new place. two things 1.) it's ridiculously amazing 2.) even more so when watching with surround sound + massive sub-woofer. sunday night jordaño, joey rocket, and i went to see cool hand luke at the Oaks. beth and megart met up with us there. man - i love that movie. it's soo good, and i'm still surprised that it was actually made. it's pretty radical for it's time. "yeah, well... it give me something to do..."
Monday, August 06, 2007
Friday, August 03, 2007
nothing gold can stay...
this summer has been absolutely fabulous. today was the last day of my summer intensive japanese program. i came away from it stronger, more independent, and obviously knowing a hell of a lot more japanese. i've been thinking about it and, for me, this is the best summer i've had in memories. there are so many reasons why, it's hard to list them all. but you know me and lists... so i'll try.
# nursing is finally starting to feel like it's taking a back seat in my life. i'm still working weekends, but somehow, that doesn't seem to matter. i actually felt free this summer, which was the exact opposite of the truth.
# i came into the course thinking that i wouldn't really make any friends - at least i wasn't holding out hope that i would. i half expected the class to be full of anime-kids and gamers... (that turned out to be painfully true of the second year students only.) much to my surprise, however, i bonded with five wonderful, beautiful, perfect, amazing people. i truely feel honored to have been able to meet such great people. without them, i don't think i could have made it through the long, long days and all of schwartz's attempts at the CCs. i can really go on and on at this point, but that will probably make me a little too nostalgic for comfort at the moment, so to sum up i would like to just say: Thank You.
# i feel like my life is actually gaining some direction for the first time in a long time. i don't know exactly what it is i'm going to be doing when i grow up, but i feel like i'm closer to answering that question than ever. teaching english abroad is becoming a very strong desire. traveling in general, i'm realizing, is a must in my life. there is so much out there that nursing cannot offer, and i want to be a part of it more than ever.
# i wasn't going to take this course because, honestly, i was afraid to let myself be too busy. i didn't want to feel rushed, or that i wasted my summer away. that attitude has actually been present as far as i can remember - i don't like to commit to things that might be difficult. i usually take the easy choice and coast through life. i didn't register until two days before the course and was still planning on dropping it. -- for those of you that don't know, the class was monday through friday, 9-4, and i work every saturday and sunday 7-7. so, this pretty much meant i had 10 weeks straight without a day off. i feel like this summer taught me that i can make it through tough times. i learned how to be organized. more importantly, if you are doing something you are passionate about, no matter how much is required of you, you will love it. honestly, the opposite is happening: i'm sad to see it all end.
# this summer i've felt more independent than i ever had in my young adult life. james had his internship this summer every monday through friday, and i had my class + weekend work. the time we spent together was very little. it might not sound too bad, but i wasn't convinced that i was going to be able to handle it. as i reflect back, i feel like i've developed a clingy personality over the years of being with the same person. we never have been away from each other for an extended amount of time, and we certainly always fit in together time. this anti-independence alone was starting to worry me, but it's a tough thing to identify a personal weakness and then actively change. the japanese program alone didn't make me more independent, but it kept me focused, and through all of my friends help i learned that me, by myself am a whole person with my own opinions and ideas and likes and dislikes and these people are my friends not just through association, which is something i wasn't totally convinced of before.
all in all i'm extremely happy right now, and i'm looking forward to my future.
# nursing is finally starting to feel like it's taking a back seat in my life. i'm still working weekends, but somehow, that doesn't seem to matter. i actually felt free this summer, which was the exact opposite of the truth.
# i came into the course thinking that i wouldn't really make any friends - at least i wasn't holding out hope that i would. i half expected the class to be full of anime-kids and gamers... (that turned out to be painfully true of the second year students only.) much to my surprise, however, i bonded with five wonderful, beautiful, perfect, amazing people. i truely feel honored to have been able to meet such great people. without them, i don't think i could have made it through the long, long days and all of schwartz's attempts at the CCs. i can really go on and on at this point, but that will probably make me a little too nostalgic for comfort at the moment, so to sum up i would like to just say: Thank You.
# i feel like my life is actually gaining some direction for the first time in a long time. i don't know exactly what it is i'm going to be doing when i grow up, but i feel like i'm closer to answering that question than ever. teaching english abroad is becoming a very strong desire. traveling in general, i'm realizing, is a must in my life. there is so much out there that nursing cannot offer, and i want to be a part of it more than ever.
# i wasn't going to take this course because, honestly, i was afraid to let myself be too busy. i didn't want to feel rushed, or that i wasted my summer away. that attitude has actually been present as far as i can remember - i don't like to commit to things that might be difficult. i usually take the easy choice and coast through life. i didn't register until two days before the course and was still planning on dropping it. -- for those of you that don't know, the class was monday through friday, 9-4, and i work every saturday and sunday 7-7. so, this pretty much meant i had 10 weeks straight without a day off. i feel like this summer taught me that i can make it through tough times. i learned how to be organized. more importantly, if you are doing something you are passionate about, no matter how much is required of you, you will love it. honestly, the opposite is happening: i'm sad to see it all end.
# this summer i've felt more independent than i ever had in my young adult life. james had his internship this summer every monday through friday, and i had my class + weekend work. the time we spent together was very little. it might not sound too bad, but i wasn't convinced that i was going to be able to handle it. as i reflect back, i feel like i've developed a clingy personality over the years of being with the same person. we never have been away from each other for an extended amount of time, and we certainly always fit in together time. this anti-independence alone was starting to worry me, but it's a tough thing to identify a personal weakness and then actively change. the japanese program alone didn't make me more independent, but it kept me focused, and through all of my friends help i learned that me, by myself am a whole person with my own opinions and ideas and likes and dislikes and these people are my friends not just through association, which is something i wasn't totally convinced of before.
all in all i'm extremely happy right now, and i'm looking forward to my future.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
this book has become a close friend...it's been some time. june-july has really flown by! i've decided to continue my japanese education through the fall and potentially do something called the JET program next year. two of my classmates are leaving next week (for a year) to teach english as a second language to japanese children. one will be far north (perkins-san), the other (botto-san) will be west of tokyo.
i will definitely try to do some more research on it, but right now, it's a very large possibility for me. the second possibility is to start a graduate program abroad if i don't teach english (which could also potentially be my grad school focus in of itself). this is literally all the time i have to write, i'll fill you in more later, little blog: ima, totemo isogashii - watashi!
p.s. i'm working on finding a program that will enable kana/kanji. if you know of one, let me know!
Friday, June 01, 2007
Ohaiyo Bloggu-san!
The first week of my japanese class is over... so far it's pretty fun! the people in the class are an interesting mix - yokatta des yo. things are moving pretty fast though, we're already through negation, past tense, and a few particles. most of the kids in there have done extensive travelling abroad, and i love it! i definitely feel like i mesh better here than were i work. i'm also catching the travelling bug, and i hope to do some soon!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Niagara
americani 
horseshoe falls, canadian side
frankenstien loves BK, you should too.
hand blown glass ornaments
lemon drops
Louis Toussad's
we were graced by his holiness 
we're bffs now
my, harry, what tight gleuts you have...
no go on W
i don't even like star trek
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