A Belated Happy New Year.
02.01.03
・01:53
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Happy New Year to all, for I have returned from the frozen wasteland where my university is located. Actually, I returned yesterday, but it sounds much more dramatic that way, doncha think? Okay, tabun chau. Indeed, since it is the new year, I suppose I should do some reflection on the previous one:
For one thing, the year was 2001. Some of you may be aware of my opinion on years that end with an odd digit, I find them ugly, generally speaking (but really, I don't have too many opinions about something as ridiculous as the aesthetic appearance of the current year number. Freak.). So I'm happy that the year is now 2002. Of course, this also brings about the inevitable occurence of my screwing up the date when I write it for the next two months or so. It just looks plain odd, maybe after 2031 it wont' be so strange. Of course, in 2031 I'll also be at the ripe old age of 47. Oy. Oh well, when that year rolls around, I shall remember and harken back to these words, because I do weird stuff of that nature. Actually, I lied-I don't really want to talk about 2001. Suffice to say, apart from some emotional trauma that occurred during Sho Does Japan Part II, it was a pretty good year. Highlights included (in no particular order) seeing Malice Mizer live, passing AP exams, lots of CD's, drinking lots of chu-hi, eating lots of yakisoba, karaoke fun, sort-of escaping high school, seeing Yuri, Soba, seeing everyone else, getting my boots, losing weight, getting better at Japanese, getting my driver's licence (are you happy?! I've conceded that it's a good thing. Trust me, this is NOT indicative that my burning hatred for driving has gone down in any way/shape/form/fashion, because it has not. Ah, the joys of being ridiculously highstrung. Just say no, kiddies.), making new friends, and Matt. I could write about the negative facets as well, but I don't think I will-it'll do no one any good, I fear, and this here blog can get negative enough as it is, so I think we'll just leave that subject alone. Some of you may question the inclusion of Soba as a good thing ("Uh, isn't this the guy who've you managed to mess up your own head pretty bad concerning?" "Yes. So?"), I assure you he is. No, things may not have gone as I would've preferred, but rest assured I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I got to see him, I was able to be near him for a short while. It was worth far more than I paid, both financially and emotionally. And that's all I wish to say about that. Hopefully, 2002 will be even better.
So yeah, exactly how was my New Year's revelry? In a word, wonderful. I got to see some of my college buddies whom I haven't seen in a while (minus those who're currently running around Japan), met some new arrivals (new entries for them on the character list will be forthcoming as I see fit), and got to be reunited with Matt. No, it likely wasn't the best idea to begin an attempt at a relationship at the point in time when we did, but the fact remains that we did and that it only made our seeing one another better (the whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" line, I s'pose). I mean, if we hadn't, our reuniting would've likely just been weird and uncomfortable. Instead, it was grand. Yes, I'm being deliberately vague. That's all you need to worry about that. And no, I didn't screw him (some have already asked). Suffice to say that a very enjoyable time was had by all. We all stayed up to watch the first sunrise of the year, and then Mari & Yuya cooked (Matt & I observed) a traditional Japanese New Year's soup containing daikon (READ: monstrous radish that emerges from the pits of Hell itself), carrot, dashi (powdered bonito stock, foo), and mochi. We were supposed to eat with o-hashi (chopsticks. My non-Japanese student readers should be grateful, I think the spirit of New Year's or whatever has possessed me to be generous or something and actually translate things, heaven forbid. That bloody lexicon IS coming, I swear...), but I'm incredibly inept so I got to be the special one armed with a fork. It was okay, I don't really dig mochi (it's a type of severely pounded very sticky and globby rice, gets stuck on your teeth. Not a fun or usual flavour/constistancy to the Western palate), but I think I could've dug the soup as a whole more if I wasn't majorly sleep deprived and had if my blood sugar levels hadn't been freaking out. I sort of didn't eat anything after lunch on the 31st until that morning, and my body made no bones about voicing it's displeasure by way of my getting dizzy, shaking, and spasming slightly. About that time Yuya decided to take Mari & I back to her dorm, where I promptly crashed until 2 in the afternoon (it was around 8:30 AM at this point in time), since I was pretty much freaking everyone out. Matt chastised me this afternoon and Mari called me this evening to see if I was okay. Perhaps I should take better care of myself once in a while.
Yesterday when I was riding home from the bus plaza with my mother, I told her that Matt had asked me to go to a movie. Which he did, but I've been planning to use this situation as an opportunity to introduce them to the concept of Matt & Sho. She didn't seem all that surprised, seeing as she had figured out that I had a fondness for him already, but today I informed my father ("When are we going to see Lord of the Rings?" "I don't know when you are, but I'm going Friday." "With who?" "Matt." "What?" "You heard me.") and I was glad to hear that he didn't freak out. Indeed, my father belongs to the category of what is known as the Overprotective Father in some cultures, so I was a little bit fearful, particularly as I don't date with so much frequency (READ: extremely rarely.). However, I was pleased to hear upon my descriptions of him my father seems to initially approve. Neither of them even seem concerned about the age thing, they actually seem to find it humorous that their daughter is dating what is legally known in the United States as a pedophile (at least for another two weeks. To the day, actually.). I'm glad, I hope their meeting of him on Friday will go well.
So now I'll shut up about Matt. But I'm sure some of you are relieved to hear something that's not Soba-related once. Well, until tomorrow, when I voyage to the third circle of hell, also known as high school, where they will surely press a steaming white-hot iron against my forehead and emblazon their foul insignia upon on it (or in other terms, remind me of the fact that they hold my diploma in their hand. Bastards, that's the only leverage they've got on me and they know how to use it.). Indeed, I'm to turn in the fabled "rough outline" of the almighty -SENIOR PROJECT- (so darn special it even merits Xenogears-inspired markation. Which is a word. I think.). Indeed, I crumpled; I was going to do it on the Tao, or a dissertation on Dante's Inferno, or the development of English from it's Germanic roots, but instead I bowed once again to the gods of laziness and am doing Japanese language. Gee, hands up for those who aren't surprised. But it's just too easy, I don't even have to go FIND texts to research, I can just nab them from school and work with what I heave here. Ye gods, I can even use manga as a resource (which I fully intend to do. My only regret is that I don't have any juicy [pardon the pun] yaoi doujinshi laying around. I suppose Angel Sanctuary or Ayashi no Ceres will have to do, seeing as that's mostly what I got 'round these here parts.), this will rock. But I still feel guilty...oh well, at least it won't be a stretch on my part, heaven forbid I do something like that. Actually, I'm supposed to-the little booklet they distributed on the Almighty -SENIOR PROJECT- claims I'm supposed to do something to "stretch" my learning. Nande kuso (英語で： What the hell)? I don't get it. Oh well. I'm slightly annoyed, one of my resources is supposed to be a personal interview, which I find quite useless. What if I had decided to do my project on John Lennon, would I have to hunt down Yoko Ono or something? Ye gods. Oh well. They say I'm supposed to have visual thing of some sort going on, so I imagine that certain members of the visual kei community's images will be making an appearance. Perhaps I can make this somewhat enjoyable. Provided I remember to do it.
Today I went to the mall with Bak-chan and I ended up going to my place of 5 hours' employment to return their freshly washed shirt. Yup, no job for Sho. However, the manager feels awful for the entire ordeal so I she gave me a box of food. Unfortunately, I think MSG doesn't agree with me or something; this is the third consecutive time that I've downed Chinese food and had gotten ill as a result. I think I'll feel better in the morning after some sleep for this one (meaning not full-blown food poisoning like a few weeks ago), least I hope so. I find this quite sad as I dearly love Chinese food. Actually, I began experimenting with the easy Chinese cookbook (no Peking Duck for me quite yet) I received for Christmas yesterday, and created a plate of egg foo-yong. It actually turned out very well, save for I got a little heavy (okay, maybe more than a little) when it came time to drizzle on the sesame oil. So help me, I love that stuff, it just made everything slightly oily...but otherwise, very yummy, I look forward to cooking more things from there then in turn viciously attacking my Russian cookbook. Need Greek and Italian ones...but why do I feel like making okonomiyaki? Strangeness. Everytime I make it my mother speaks of how it's not good, but she seems to eat it quite often voluntarily for someone who dislikes it so. Hmmm....
Results of diabetes test came in: all is negative. Which simultaneously relieves and annoys me, I'm glad I'm not diabetic (for obvious reasons) yet annoyed because they could've told me my blood type with the contents of that vial. Evil children. So, we still don't know what's wrong with Sho but I don't care to go to the sort of doctor they recommended (they rank up there with gynecologists in sheer levels of fun), so screw them. I'll live I'm sure, just have some things I gotta get used to.
Dunno if anyone else's been paying much attention to current world events, but I for one am not sure whether to be glad about the introduction of the euro. Certainly, it's for unity, eliminates the need for frequent currency changes in Europe, but a country's currency is part of its culture, and says something about it. Look at what's printed on various coins and bills the world over, you might be surprised at what you see. And plus some of this is OLD money, such as the drachma...oy. Yes, I'm a bit of a culture fanatic, if you haven't figured it out yet, and am actually kinda conservative on this issue. I suppose we'll see, ne? Then there's the whole issue of Argentina, which is a very messed-up country at the moment (I believe they're on their fourth President in something like ten days. Probably a few more days than that, but I'm not off by much.)...
But anyways, gotta wake up early for the immeasurable glory that is high school, so I'm out of here. 'Night minna-san, and wishing all of you good hopes for the new year.
chronos
・kairos
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