August 25, 2009

I forgot to give this a title.

I've been so overtired lately and I am not sure why.
This morning I skipped breakfast because I woke up too late and had to hurry.

On Monday, there was a work related health exam. 3 vials of blood were taken from me for testing and apparently the needle was put in improperly- two days later and my arm is still bruised.

I'm kind of excited because I am going to eat Mexican food for dinner tonight- a bar that's Brazil themed, but owned by a man from England has Mexican food nights every Monday and Wednesday. I guess someone from Mexico who is studying in Kagoshima has been doing that, so I guess it's going to be pretty much as authentic as one can get in Japan.I'm going there with Aya, Eli, and Robin. Robin might not be feeling well, so maybe it will just be me and Aya (and Eli???). Either way, it should be great. :)

I've also been kind of slacking on keeping my apartment clean. I really don't know why- it must have to do with the overall fatigue I've been experiencing this month.

Anyway, I'm really hungry from skipping breakfast. Going to see if the vending machine down stairs has anything semi solid.

August 05, 2009

California and returning

My trip to California was all that I expected and even a little better than that.

I've been working on putting together the movie from what I filmed on my camera during my trip. It's fun to relive it a little. Not to mention it gives me something to do.

I had a lot of quality time with family members and a good chunk of fun times with friends (including running around the MPC in the earliest hours of the 31st with the RftW crew.)

I also got to witness an odd little drama unfold due to thrown silverware in a Denny's.

It's been a little hard to be back. Living here with California so fresh in my mind, I notice things that get under my skin more. Like differences in what is acceptable in Japan vs in the US (people are always talking about Americans accidentally being offensive to Japanese, but it works the other way, too), assumptions that I don't understand things, and overall the isolation that comes with those things. It's hard to adapt.

But I do overall enjoy my life here even if it's not perfect. I tell myself over and over that how my life is in California and how it is in Kagoshima are completely different and one can never be the same as the other.

It's comforting to think this way because it helps me accept Japanese life as a completely different thing- outside of the standards I set for US life. On the other hand, it makes me worry that I can never be completely content in either place. One will always be missing aspects of the other.

It's happened almost everyday that one minute I was perfectly happy, feeling as if I am inwardly light and free as a feather. Then someone would say or do something that would put me in a rotten mood. I can't remember if this was standard behavior here before my two weeks in California, but I think it was similar.

I guess I'm overall content in Japan, but I am also a lot more sensitive than I am back in the US (for good reason, I think.) So, I've been playing with the idea of renaming my blog "Real Life Confessions of Happy Bruise"- because I am a cheerful person that doesn't react well to getting "poked at."

I also think that title just might be way too long... :S

August 02, 2009

Airplane blog vol. 3

What's it time for?

It's time for Julia's third annual summer midair blog!

Wooooooooooooooooooooooo!

(There is no enthusiasm...)

I am writing this on the final leg of my journey- I already arrived in Japan hours ago, but now I am flying down to Kagoshima. I already tweeted that I am here and everything.

I didn't really want to type this up during the flight over the Pacific because I didn't want to bother getting the bag down just for a blog. :S

I don't mind sacrificing a little more leg room in the domestic flights, so I have the laptop bag with me.

I am so completely tired.

During my long wait for this flight, I calculated how long it has been since I woke up in California and it came out to 30+ hours. Yikes.

(Edit- actually, the total travel time was about 24 hours... I am not sure how I came up with that 30+ number)

I DID sleep on the plane though! Without any assistance from sleeping pills- it wasn't very restful, though. Neck pain and drool (yes, drool) kept waking me up.

Oh joy.

Aren't you glad I feel pressured to write these things for your entertainment?

YOU SHOULD BE GLAD YOU JERKS!!!!!!!!!

My ears are popping. The stewardess is giving out drinks out and I think one of the options is a soup. Yaaaay! I could really use some nice, soothing soup right now.

My throat is bugging me. I am guessing my voice is rather hoarse right now, but I haven't been using it, so I don't know. I figure it's a mixture of the altitude and my fatigue. I can't really even think right now about whether that makes sense.

In fact, I was really impressed that I could spell altitude just now. The spell check is on and everything. There have been a lot simpler words that I have screwed up royally in this blog so far, so the fact I can get "altitude" right is pretty dang awesome.

I should go soon. Gotta get soup. I guess I can keep this on my lap while I drink it and tell you all about it afterward.

But she's not here yet. She's still making her way down the aisle. BRING ME SOUP!

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING!!

Ok, ok, I am guessing she went to the back of the plane to refill on stuff. Either that or she hates me.

I really want to be home sleeping now.

Anyway, I only have this short flight, a not-so-bad wait for a bus, an hour long-ish bus ride, the short walk home, and the shower that I am still determined to take.

Yay! She was just refilling her cart. Are you relieved? I'm not- I knew it would happen all along.

Don't look at me like that- I did.

DON'T JUDGE ME!

Nonsense comes easily when one is very very tired.

The cart is coming nearer. I'll put the lappy on my lap.

Beef consomme (????????) broth brings me back to LIIIIIIIFEEE!!!!

For now, anyway.

So the cart lady on my side of the plane was totally pwnd by the other cart lady. The cart lady on my side was just a few rows ahead, but the one on the other side asked me what I wanted first. It's kind of unusual for them to take orders from the other side, but maybe I just looked really close to passing out. I have no idea how I look.

This is a blog about drinking broth. It was pretty salty. I'm going to drink some water after I finish this blog.

You know what's crazy? My mom gave me $2 to buy bottled water after I got through security, but I ended up having to use my card because the cheapest I could find was $2.70!! I can't believe how much they abuse the fact that people can't bring water in from outside.

Japanese airports have vending machines just like everywhere else in Japan- I was able to buy a bottle of water for just 110 yen ($1.10 USD) past security. Airport shops in general are much less rip offs in Japan than in the US, I've noticed.

I do really like airports though. The big ones that are confusing are fun to figure out and the small ones are fun to stroll around. It's a hassle to carry so much though.

We got some turbulence and I am extremely tired and wanting water, so I'll end this here.

I'll probably blog about the CA trip. I can't think about that now.