I suck at pic fics or whatever you call them.
Yoshiki book and Yoshiki NUDE POSTER declined to participate in the bout as they are made of paper and therefore it would be an unfair match. They might face off against each other though...NUDE might win on naked ego merit alone though.
-Jun Planning, company that makes all kinds of toys and figures apparently went bankrupt. Like two months ago. I...did not know this. I'm not sure what this means for the Pullip/Taeyang dolls - I believe they mainly come from the Korean/Chinese leg of the company, which might still be doing alright, but apparently the US leg and Japanese leg have ceased operations and probably have closed up shop. That's kind of sad as I am a bit fond of the Taeyang dolls, though I have all the ones I ever really planned to buy...mmm...
NEVER WATCHING GHOST SHOWS AGAIN. I WILL NEVER SLEEP. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
By the way, I saw the video responses to Toshi's "taisetsuna mono" youtube video campaign - most of them are videos of babies or cats. BABIES OR CATS. THESE ARE THE TWO THINGS I WILL NOW FOREVER ASSOCIATE WITH HIM FOR HE LOOKS LIKE A CAT AND LOVES BABIES.
I took a few photos of Yoshiki vs Yoshiki vs Yoshiki but I am undecided as to if I like them or not. They are amusing at least.
Higashiguchi tells me we have class together today (this was on Tuesday). Oh yes I know. Well it's...up to you to decide the lesson, so maybe just some games, fun communication games. ...8D? We're reading the Magic Box right now but it doesn't have to focus on any grammar or anything. Okay! 8D;;
So I make this crown, as the Magic Box story has a king in it, and a list of "wishes" the king can make that "everyone, only boys, only girls, group___" must fulfill. You can be king if your group wins that round of the game.
There are four rounds, and four kids per group. The kids decide who is number 1, 2, 3, 4 because if they win round 1, number 1 gets to be king, so that it rotates around the group.
In 3 minutes, each group must compile a list of words, spelled correctly, based on a letter or theme that I choose. They can't use their books or dictionaries or hand outs - just their brains. You can't write the same word twice, and if its a verb, its spelling must change: run and ran are okay, run and runs is not okay. You can't write down people or place names. And you can't write down a list of numbers like twenty one, twenty two.
In 3 minutes, I have had groups come up with 40 words.
When certain embarrassment of others can be obtained, everyone suddenly remembers English vocabulary.
I do keep it simple because if it's too specific then they'll run out of words to think of, so it's stuff like "letter b, letter s, letter t, letter m, food, sports, things related to school [which means anything and everything related to school except for breakfast, money, and people's names]." I would do animals but that's kind of hard, even though there are many animals in the world.
I was doing this with second grade. By the time I had finished doing it with one class, I think the entire GRADE knew of it. We had to start changing up the order because the class would already know about it and the kids are silly enough to say "the first one is S, definitely S." loud enough for us to hear them. A few classes definitely looked forward to it.
I felt like I was back in elementary school - where the news spread quickly if Jessica sensei had this GREAT game and everyone in grade 3 got to do it.
The only hard part is getting the kids to be quiet because it takes time to explain the rules, and we also have to check the words. But I think it's fun and it pushes the kids to think on really hot and humid days. Only time when it wasn't fun was when one group won 3 of the 4 rounds because it was made up of basically the smartest kids in class. But they managed to barely lose the 4th round because we let the other groups pair up and form groups of 8 against their 4.
I do think I did scare a poor boy when I had to take his group's paper as he called me "huge!" (He might have turned and found himself confronted with a pair of knockers that are basically the size of his face.)
Crazy doctor sensei told me I am a clever girl because I know how to use technology. Her husband apparently talks about me a lot. D= Seeing as how this man only sees me when I walk to work, I am wondering what he has to say. But it doesn't seem to be anything bad.
I am not sure I recorded something the way one teacher wanted it...I tried but really I am not the best at putting emotion into stories I have to read for kids to practice with for speech contests. I tried, and if the emotion doesn't send her, then I hope the pronunciation does. I did a bijillion takes of these two stories just because I kept messing up how you said this or that word. But I am rather proud of myself for taking the initiative to talk to her - this woman is scary and always very busy. I feel like she tolerates my existence sometimes, and humors me with her small talk. But she can be really funny I think. Anyway, as advanced as the world is, it's hard to record things at our school if you don't have a) an old fashioned cassette tape recorder, or b) know how to use the recording equipment in the broadcasting room. This teacher knows how to do a) but always tries to do c) which is using a microphone that no one knows how to use (including herself) with possibly and most likely incompatible CD/tape recorders. We tried this once. We wasted a good deal of time trying to get said mic to work. We ended up doing a) and d) doing whatever you wanted recorded LIVE in front of the kids. I remembered just yesterday that my electronic dictionary is fancy enough to RECORD VOICES. ONTO AN SD CARD. WHICH YOU CAN PUT INTO A COMPUTER. AND THEN MAKE CDS OF. I told her this, and she loved it. I think I might be her hero in that respect. Because the dictionary goes anywhere, runs on batteries, and as long as we have and SD card reader, we are set.
WEEKEND. BLISSFUL WEEKEND.
And my visa was apparently ready Monday...and I got the postcard today. JAPAN. YOU FAIL AT MAIL ALRIGHT?! But, I am thinking, there might have been weather caused issues of lateness as the wind and rain has been something fierce in some places and that does affect mail if it can not be trained/flown/driven around the country.
But still! DX Well...here's hoping I can get it on Monday. *sigh*
AND MY YOSHIKITTY STUFF CAME AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
This means I must do a photo shoot of Yoshiki doll, Starlight Yoshiki doll, and now Yoshikitty. IT WILL BE A BATTLE OF THE YOSHIKIS. WHICH EGO REIGNS SURPREME?! *eats dinner*
Kid: Copy Otaki! =D
Otaki: Ok...so be like Jackie Chan, doing the crane pose! Then we do the praying mantis! And last, MOON WALK!
Kids: *attempt all of this*
Me: AHAHAHHAHAHAHHAA <-not taking part
The best part was Otaki moonwalking. I am not sure if he did it but it looked like it anyway.
Me: *explaining how we use the word bike* It's my new Honda! *motorcycle pose*
Kids: Honda hehehehe
Me: Yeah, we got Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki...
Ikeda: Oh we don't really have Kawasakis...
Me: Really? When I was a kid we had this toy Kawasaki motorbike and the commercial went "Kawasaki ninjas rule, Kawasaki ninjas cool!"
Kids: LOLOLOLOL!
Apparently, Kawasaki is a REAL motorbike company...I never did get to have one of them damn bikes. Or Barbie jeeps.
You got hands, you got lips, make some damn use of them. Tell me if plans change. I need to fucking know, because I have my own life to worry about too.
Fucking hate the world and people who can not think outside of their own needs.
-No offense to anyone I know of Asian descent, but there were a lot more Asians at the JLPT than non-Asians. And I heard a lot of Chinese being thrown about between tests. I can see why they want to make this test harder - if most applicants are Chinese then they can pass simply based on their knowledge of kanji alone (they don't need to know Japanese to pass when 3/4 of test is questions written out in booklets). If they're Korean, then they know the grammar for the most part as the two languages share very similar grammar patterns. and I believe they have a few words that are the same, and there is also kanji in Korea, though I've heard it is restricted to the use of official documents like a birth certificate or something. I kind of felt at a disadvantage.
-That being said, I didn't feel like the test was OMG SO HARD GONNA DIE. More like "oh shoot I know this...it's...something...meeerrr...gah let's go with this answer!" BUT THERE WAS A KANJI FROM THE YOSHIKI BOOK. WOO. I LEARNED SOMETHING DURRRRR. I don't think I passed - I know my kanji and grammar skills are like...shit...but if I did manage to pass, I will be impressed with myself. If I didn't, then I will study for once! >_>;
-The proctors are real...pains in the ass though. DON'T TOUCH YOUR PENCILS. DON'T MOVE. DON'T BREATHE. IF YOU EVEN SO MUCH AS BLINK, YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THIS EXAM. Jesus Christ Almighty. They get the Japanese people with sticks up their ASSES or VAGINAS or BOTH to do this job. However, they suck at catching the real cheaters. Not cool.
-I seem to have luck with getting back home in time/on time. It is rather amazing. Let's see if it applies to other things.
-I feel quite ill at the moment. Probably need sleep. DO NOT WANT WORK TOMORROW.
-A man was walking his cat tonight, by carrying it on his shoulder.
-A group of people were having like a party in the little park near my house. At night. With lights and stuff.
-And just UGH.
These kids just had an all day sports event yesterday. And it's hot. And it's Friday. And we didn't really teach anything so much as tell them what their interview tests were going to be. Talk about boring. And dead silence. But the one boy, who I think is called Kouse was being a real...smart ass I guess? He's like a class clown. He's cute though, and I think he's funny. But I had to get "real teacher" on him so he'd review for his test, and not fight with the other class clowns (apparently the boys felt the need to wrestle each other today, I don't know why, guess they were squabbling). He is very smart though, and he understands English really well. And will translate for the class. Actually, all the funny boys are smart and good at English.
The class he is in is the one class I did entirely by myself, much to Matsui's surprise or satisfaction perhaps. The kids and I had fun talking if they weren't studying/sleeping. I was taught that "boshi" is the short form of "ume boshi" and is not to be confused with "boushi" which means "hat." I think they find my pronunciation funny - I don't doubt it sucks and sounds very American. Kouse replied to me once with a "Thank you so much" in a high falsetto which lead to him saying "I sound like Michael Jackson yeah?!" "Uh yeah I guess so...he had a high voice..." "He always said 'Thank you so much!'" "Horii, do you know Jackson?" "Of course!" "Do you know Thriller?!" "Yeah..." "SING IT!" "I don't know it!" "Sing what you know!"
I am sorry Michael Jackson. I have turned "Thriller" into:
Thriller...Thriller Night
hmmhmmhmmhmmm something HI HIIII
This apparently moved the class clowns, to the point that they used newly learned English to tell me they were impressed, and Kouse claimed I was JUST LIKE MICHAEL JACKSON. "When Horii sang, Michael Jackson appeared before my very eyes!" was something akin to what he was saying.
He then had me sing "Bad."
Because I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it SHAMONE <-my rendition
IF THEY ASK ME TO MOON WALK, I WILL HAVE TO TELL THEM THAT NOT ALL AMERICANS ARE AS COOL AS MICHAEL JACKSON.
But now I really need that Thriller jacket. I need to earn me some street cred.
-We did do one third year interview test and I was amused at the amount of questions I was asked about X Japan. (They ask me 3 questions, and I ask them 2.)
-I FINISHED THE YOSHIKI BOOK. WOOO. There were parts where I nearly cried but as I read it entirely at school I could not cry. Because that would not be cool.
-I watched Repo! The Genetic Opera. I...I got kind of lost...and the characters seem very...2D...but damn. DAMN. Yoshiki knows how to make Hollywood soundtracks. He really is...crazy good at music. Reading about it made me want to watch it because he was going like...insane trying to finish it, to the point where he yelled at one of the dudes "If you say one more thing, I'm gonna fire you!" "But...Yoshiki I hired YOU. D= You can't fire me!" "...SO WHAT?! I'LL FIRE YOU ANYWAY! DX" Oh Yoshiki. But he would make time for Toshi and his phone calls and little visits. <3 But yes back to the movie...um...blood and guts really isn't my thing. DX But minus that, and the very quick paced story that kind of makes no sense and seems like a cheap romance novel fiction plot at times, it is a good movie! So many lesbian make out scenes. XD
-And I found the Hetalia fanart I was looking for. Damn, that girl has skill...and really likes the UK as a cum covered uke in a skimpy waiter's outfit. D= I CAN NOT UNSEE IT. WHY. WHYYYY. And Prussia too. Ah well.
-Tomorrow I head off to the JLPT so I won't be back online until sometime Sunday. Sorry.
And if the artist has an account/site, I want a link because I think they've done even more fanart and I'd love to see more.
The only problem with Hetalia - the fandom is so huge I don't know where to look for things or ask. And I have had the experience in the past of people telling me to just google something or search a community for the answer when said community may not use memories, let alone tags (I remember LJ before there were tags...those were the dark ages of LJ). =/
I really just want to find it but I don't want to spend weeks searching photobucket or pixiv for it because there are literally thousands of pictures tagged as "hetalia." And as it is a group shot, I can't really narrow it down to say "america" or "france."
I just want to see the picture not pixilized and not cut up into an icon! DX
And then I find it on my own. Go me! >_>; A link, so you can all see it:
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd20
And it apparently comes from:
http://107.xii.jp/hetaria/top.html
I am hungry.
Dammit I have to go to bed. DX
Rawr!
As my Alfred would say "YEA! PANCAKES! HAPPY CANADA DAY! WOOO PANCAKES!"
Oh God
July 4th is this Saturday
I WILL HAVE NOTHING AMERICANESQUE TO DO. D8 YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONELY INDEPENDENCE DAY IN JAPAN IS WHEN YOU ARE RAISED IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL AND PEOPLE START GOING NUTS COME JUNE ABOUT JULY 4TH AND THEN ALL THE FIREWORKS AND FLAGS AND FOOD AND DRINK AND SONGS AND TV SPECIALS.
D8
T______________________________________T
IwantmyHappyIndependenceDay!
-The pill bugs continue to pile up in the main entrance. Do they go indoors with the intent to die?
-It just keeps RAINING. Snow boots have proven effective in keeping my feet dry, however they give me blisters. The hide jacket only works if there is no strong wind.
-The rivers and lake are starting to swell. It's starting to worry me. But if the streets flood, there will be no school.
-I have been doing interview tests for the past two days. I think the first years may now fear me. But hopefully they will like me again come the next time I see them. The one teacher says I have "been revived" as my one week absence pushed all these interview tests back a week. I don't think the kids really noticed, but it amuses me to be referred to with the same verb as X Japan was when it reunited.
-Some third year girls help me with kanji reading in the Yoshiki book. I think they think it's cute that I can't read a good deal of them.
-My kids know a lot of English. And are in general in awesome. I really do like my work, I can just get bored.
-People still ask me if I am sick. This damn cough won't leave me! DX
-I have taken to playing my iPod through iTunes. "Dirty Diana" is one of my favorites.
But I cry whenever "Heal the World" comes on. Not because MJ is dead - though that is still unfortunate- but because what it means to me personally. And...perhaps because it is a very genuine song about making the world better, that I feel is drowned in a sea of voices that are concerned with more selfish concerns. (IE: a plea for help falling on uncaring ears.) It has a lot to do with internal struggles as well for me. How I say and think one way, but do other things. And how that goes against what I feel is right. Mmmm then it gets complicated.
-The local doctor makes a point to point out I teach English to other patients and demand they learn English from me. A man on his bicycle talks about me too loudly every time I pass him in the afternoons (yes it is the same guy). Old Japanese men...love white young women. *sigh*
-TOSHI MUST HAVE GOTTEN INTO THE CAT NIP KAORI HAD BEEN HIDING BECAUSE HE PASTED SHINY PINK UP ARROWS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS ALL OVER HIS ENTRY. There is more little moving gifs than words. I think he was 48+ hours without sleep. He is also indeed shorter than his wife. There is something cute about this. HE IS DOING A MATERNITY CARNIVAL CONCERT. HE REALLY LIKES BABIES. This man's love for babies amuses me a lot. Seriously. I think he likes babies more than most women.
-The Yoshiki book is making me sad as I have reached a sad section.
-Renewing my visa is being difficult. If you can, never move in a year. It makes renewing your visa...interesting.
-I think I am starting to slightly panic about the JLPT this Sunday. 8D
and now I am sick of typing. Long update is long. DX
This kid ROCKS.
And best of all, he is still a child. The way he lit up with Ozzy came out to see him, was adorable.
At least when we teach them "Here you are." "Thank you." they remember the "Thank you" when they really need to.
But seriously. His face. And his "Ozzy!! Ozzy!!!"
This kid is apparently friends, with Riku, the boy drummer who works with Toshi on T-EARTH stuff. He's really proud of the guitar kid (Riku is)! He should be! They should make a band! Ozzy or Toshi can come and do vocals some time! XD
I am never eating fish again. Not the fish from Matsue anyway. Bleck.
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That's hard...but I think "Black and White" is my favorite.
-Said mucus makes tummy feel bad. So does medicine to get rid of mucus. And food.
-I am getting sick of sounding like I am hacking up my lungs when I open my mouth. The kids are gonna think I am dying when I show up on Monday.
-Speaking of work, it is all interview tests next week. 8D I am going to be going "Is this your HACKCOUGHWHEEZE*pauses to spit out mucus*...p-pen?" Urgh.
-No one is online. I have no one to talk to. Nothing is on tv. And someone keeps setting off firecrackers in the street.
-I think I am going to take a bath.
Now for seriousness.
And if you're sick of hearing it, then skip it.
I skip tons of post about movies or TV shows I CAN'T SEE BECAUSE I LIVE IN THE FUCKING BOONIES OF JAPAN. (Yes, I am bitter. I want to see Star Trek too. I want to see Transformers 2 too. I haven't watched Merlin or Heroes Season 3. So I skip posts about them.)
According to South Park it will take 22.3 years before something is funny.
I don't know if I can call my hair, on the days it does it, Farrah Fawcett hair anymore. She was a fucking hottie though, even if she didn't want to hear it. You were damn sexy, Farrah.
As for good old MJ.
I once had a French girl stay over at my house for the summer. I was...in 7th grade so I might have been 13 or 14. She loved Michael Jackson. She had us help her buy some things related to him off ebay (yes, I've been on ebay for over a decade...Jesus Christ...no wonder I am good at auctions.). One of them was his books, Moonwalker (or something like that, I forget). It was a very interesting read back then.
I've always liked his music, and loved his dance moves. His music videos were crazy cool. And I was very uncool for not knowing how to moon walk.
But what I think hurt the most was being made fun of for liking his music because of the scandals surrounding him. For being told you were just as fucked up as him if you liked his music. But who would really say they didn't like "Beat It" or "Thriller"? Seriously.
I don't care about who he was or what he did outside of his music. I like his music. It is GOOD stuff. Fuck, it's in the damn Yoshiki book! So is Madonna...is Yoshiki gonna turn into Madonna?
Anyway, I thought it was a lie that he was dead because yes, I thought he would somehow live past the apocalypse with Cher and cockroaches. And he's dead.
And I cried. I cried a lot. Because I'm sick of people dying and I know it's what people do - we live, we breed, we die. But that doesn't mean I like it.
Sure it makes me childish. But maybe it's because no one is supposed to die before me in my imagination.
But maybe it's a lot of other things and I am just over sensitive.
I once had a blog layout that was entirely Michael Jackson (but I can't find the files to save my life...I had worked hard on it!). And I KNOW at one point in my life I wished I could be him (I am thinking it was elementary school as I had many phases between the age of 7-14 where I wished I was several different famous people, none of them women now that I reflect back on it, but all different aspects of who I am - artist, comedian, singer, humanitarian. I am however not a good singer - I just like to sing.).
Well...that is that. I will shut up about it now. Make fun of me if you like.
Ed McMahon died too. My mom thought I didn't even know who Johnny Carson was. I might be 24, but I am not pop culture ignorant.
My fever broke...yesterday. It was a grueling 24 hours of living in a body with 39 degrees Celsius temperatures. But I did it. It was gross. I never want to have a fever that high again because the way the body decides to heal itself is SWEAT. Lovely.
Unfortunately, this also means I regained enough mental function to do things such as laundry and vacuuming which in turn wear me out.
But I think the medicine is working. My cough is getting better but now I cough up mucus. DX Not cool.
I am anxious about many things:
-JLPT on July 5th (no studying was done. at all. none. let's see how bad I do. note to self, this is just to see how it is. it is a test run. we did not go into this expecting to pass. we knew we would fail. this does not mean I am Japanese incompetent.)
-VISA RENEWAL. 8D
-RE-ENTRY VISA. 8D;;
-probably something else, I don't recall.
So right now, I will deal with booking hotel for July 4th and bus tickets because the JLPT is in Hiroshima and I gotta get down there the day before. Yeah.
Um...that's about it.
I need to see a lot of Summer movies.
Star Trek, Angels and Demons, Up, Transformers 2, Harry Potter...so many
Damn anxiety. Makes me feel sicker.T_T
I did not lose MY punyo. I must learn Toshi's method of illness. Maybe he sleeps for days on end and thus his body consumes his excess fat in order to keep alive? WHY MUST MINE DECIDE TO WAKE ME AND DEMAND FOOD?! WHY?! At least Kaori would never have to worry about me losing weight.
That man needs to shave. Some men look good with 5 o'clock shadows, but Toshi sure doesn't. He looks...kinda Hispanic with one. Kinda. Or if he's not gonna shave, go all the way and grow something. Unless he can't. Because I do think Japanese men, for the most part, can not grow facial hair until they hit 80. Something in their DNA. Sorry Toshi.
I feel so bad.
Like I could die.
Or expel my insides from all orifices.
Toshi Blog translations will get done when I am no longer this sick.
If these are allergies, then I hate whatever is causing them with a passion.
If it is a cold, well then it is a cold.
There are sparrows making nests at the school entrance. I wonder if there will be baby sparrows.
And that's all I really have to say. Need to pack for Osaka...and sleep. Wish the packing would do itself.
When the hell am I going to do laundry? Or buy groceries?
Ugh.
By the way, if you read a kid's misspelled romanized Japanese, they howl with laughter. Particularly if the word in question is Hokkaido. The best one was probably Hokkdou, followed by Hokido, and Hokkibo.
- I booked my flight home. America, I am yours from July 22nd until August 22nd. <3 Let's make the most of it sweetie.
I think I have a cold or bad allergies. DX Noooooooooo! I want to breathe through my nose again! DX
Also, I am sad I can no longer listen to the subbed Hetalia drama CD on youtube. You have no idea how funny it is to hear "Japaneseblahblah...aaaah...shit...moreJ
I did use to get "OH MY GOD!" back in Kumano...but that kid also would just shout "AMERICAAA!" at me, along with "OBAMA!"
The kids don't call me rice anymore. T___T
WE HAD FRIED CHICKEN AT LUNCH AND IT WAS DELICIOUS. DELICIOUS. And pineapple bread. Which was sweet? Mishima-sensei was like I had THREE PIECES AHAHAHAH YOU ONLY HAD TWO. Next time, Mishima, next time! (This is a teacher I have fought over second helpings for.)
A cat apparently also got into the school. Mating season is soon and apparently the cats all come to my school to go at it. Lovely. But I like kitties. T^T One of the first years told me all about it because he remembered I love cats. This boy is really cute - he loves talking to me.
Matsui-sensei will envy my ability to draw until I die I think. She loves it. So do the kids but she loves having me draw FOR her. I don't mind - I like drawing. But I need time if it is to look nice. But she's pleased with the result!
I KNOW I need to listen to this new damn Toshi CD (the sample on his blog is fucking gorgeous. He could go into opera if he wanted. Seriously. Yoshiki knew what he was talking about when they were like 13) but uh I haven't? PAN, I WILL TRY TO RIP IT FOR YOU SOON.
And now I link you to the best picture of Alfred and Matthew ever because it is so true: POKEMON AND YU-GI-OH RULED OUR YOUTH. I WAS FUCKING KICK ASS AT YU-GI-OH. And my brothers were awesome at Pokemon.
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.p
Um...yes. That is that. I think.
I WANT MY NOSE BACK. FNREHFJREKFL.
Randomly, whenever I have to do self-introductions, I always show them Jamestown and Monticello. Believe it or not, I do like history. I like to read about it. And make up parodies based off of it (aka Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in order to obtain koalas but were misguided by a map they bought from Russia. It always involves koalas in my version. ALWAYS. Koalas are awesome. But they do not live in Hawaii.). Alas, Thomas Jefferson is not famous enough for the Japanese. But he's cooler than George Washington in my opinion!
I miss Virginia. We are the awesome state.
