It's been a long week

It started off pretty normal, stress and quizzes and the upcoming choir concert for parents and family weekend, but got really bad really fast when, on Wednesday at about a quarter to five, an email went out to the campus that a TIUA student, Yasuyuki Sampei, died that morning. Yasu was my friend, even though I hadn't seen him much since last semester, and it managed to get just that much worse when the report from the medical examiner came back and confirmed that he'd killed himself.

So now, rather than just have a chill weekend with my mum and sister, I'm also going to a memorial service on Sunday. Yasu's parents, who TIUA brought from Japan, gave the university permission to have a service more or less as we see fit. I'm grateful for that, as are a lot of us, because they didn't have to that, but it's very kind. It's going to be open-casket, which will be difficult, but good in a way, too. We need the closure. I personally am not planning to speak, but two of my friends are - Alex as a Willamette student, and Atsushi as a TIUA - and it's finally set in that, yes, this really happened. At the meeting at TIUA today, which a few of us WU students went to because we're part of this, too, a lot of people, including the dean of students, broke down, and that was what really drove it home. When I went up to check in with Lorenzo, the TIUA coordinator, I finally started properly crying, too, rather than tearing up and stopping myself, and he and I hugged for about two solid minutes. It helped more than I thought it would.

And that's where things stand. The loud, outgoing, outrageously funny guy who came with us to Genderfunk dressed in Annie's lolita skirt and a blonde wig, who made up a long, nonsensical version of happy birthday for me last year (complete with air microphone), who would shout my name from a block away and wave like a lunatic just so he could say hi, who carried a camera everywhere and took awesome pictures, is gone.

I'm glad I knew him, even if things ended like this. He was a really great guy.

JET To-Do List

• Ask Bette and Gale for letters of recommendation
• Ask Christine for letter of recommendation
• Send/give letter of recommendation form to Bette, Gale and Christine
• Send physician's form to Dr Zhou
• Fill out self-assessment medical form
• Write Statement of Purpose
• Request official transcript
• Request JSP transcript
• Request registrar's letter verifying my graduation date
• Fill out application
• Copy pages 1 and 2 of passport
  
• Make 2 copies of everything and send it all to DC by 24 November
  

It's on now. I'll be sending the forms out today and tomorrow, so I will be confident about the whole getting-them-back-soon thing, and then I move on to everything else. I like keeping to-do lists going - it's very satisfying to cross things off as I complete them.

And so it begins

The JET application is supposed to go up online today. It doesn't seem to be up yet and if I don't see it today, I'll call the consul in Seattle tomorrow (I default to Seattle because I'm a Washington resident and that's the consul I've always dealt with). Someone there will know what I need to do and, anyway, it's not like I've never called and harassed them before. My JET to-do list is massive and daunting (and everything must be in triplicate, because Japan is like that), and I have about seven weeks to complete all of it. But I can't start anything until I have the forms, which is why they have till tomorrow to get everything up online before the annoying 'yo, what the hell' phone calls begin.

If JET doesn't, for whatever reason, work out (though I have some qualifications that should give me at least a bit of an edge, so I'm tentatively optimistic), all hope is not lost and I have other avenues I can pursue. But it would be so nice if this just would be it. JET people, you better hire me, because I am awesome and deserving of a job.

Just saying.

While I'm on the Japan subject:

Dear Economy Gods,

Please to be returning the exchange rate to something nearing my favour before I leave the country again. Right now it's 84 yen to the dollar, which in terms of buying power means Japan is owning us. Last August it was 103 yen to the dollar and I was happy. This 84 yen thing? Not Cool.

Peace out,
Me

By the way, according to Yahoo!Finance, it's ¥89.87 to the dollar and, while that may be true in theory, in practice it's a lie. No one is ever trading as high as Yahoo!Finance says they are.

Also, I'm onto another book (The Difference Engine by William Gibson in collaboration with someone else - steampunk this time around, and awesome). Book number 24 for 2009. So I know I will have made it at least half-way through my intended 50, because I will definitely read at least one more book after this. That's pretty sweet, considering how crazy everything is these days. I'm also on internet restriction again, because I acquired a couple of Asian horror movies (one, Alone, is Thai and about the surviving half of a pair of conjoined twins getting haunted by her dead sister (or something), and the other, Kwaidan, is Japanese and classic). I've been meaning to see Kwaidan forever - it's from the '60s and is four stories based on old legends/folk tales, and it's supposed to be really good. So sometime soon, we'll have to have an Asian horror night.

Finally, since I never actually talked about this semester's camping trip up in the Cascades (can't say where - it's sort of protected and most people aren't allowed to go there), have a picture. It was raining and cold and we got soaked through on our hike up to this cliff, but the lake was still gorgeous.

Such a beautiful place, even in the rain.

ETA: My media blog actually has 6 whole entries in it now! With some variety and everything! Now to remember to update it more than once a month. That'd be pretty awesome.

Somewhere on the outside

First of all, time to update that books list I've sporadically been keeping. My reading has slowed down again with the onset of classes, but there are still additions since July. Go me?

Books of 2009, as of 27 September:
1. Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil - Inga Muscio
2. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
3. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
4. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
5. Neuromancer - William Gibson
6. The Opposite of Fate - Amy Tan
7. The Joy-Luck Club - Amy Tan
8. The Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan
9. Takarazuka (Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan) - Jennifer Robertson
10. The Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan
11. The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan
12. Cunt - Inga Muscio
13. Beyond Heaving Bosoms (The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels) - Sarah Wendell, Candy Tan
14. Killing Rage - bell hooks
15. Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
16. Polite Lies - Kyoko Mori
17. Looking for the Lost (Journeys Through a Vanishing Japan) - Alan Booth
18. Lost Japan - Alex Kerr
19. Geisha: A Life - Mineko Iwasaki
20. Women of the Pleasure Quarters - Lesley Downer
21. The Faded Sun Trilogy - C.J. Cherryh [it's an omnibus, so I'm counting it as one]
22. The Loved Dead - H.P. Lovecraft
23. Idoru - William Gibson

So, hey, I'm up to 23, which isn't bad at all, given how much I have going on most of the time. As you can probably see, there are some trends in my reading this year, a couple of repeat writers, some similar themes. I get mini-obsessions every so often and my reading habits definitely reflect that. Although the Japanese studies thing is more of a long-term interest that just got a lot of attention this past summer. I'm on a William Gibson kick right now.

In other news, I met my language partner, Keisuke, and he's very, very pretty. Also, unfortunately, the variety of Japanese person I can have a bit of trouble conversing with. Very quiet and subdued, leaving me to do most of the talking. So it was an okay meeting, the work got done and he was definitely easy on the eyes, but I'm hoping he'll warm up to me a little, or subsequent meetings are going to be a little bland.

All of that aside, I've been crazy busy lately. My Writing Center job resulted in having to meet all 14 of my freshmen about their first paper, over the course of several days. It made for a very long week, let me tell you. It was interesting in a way, figuring out what they're interested in (or not interested in) based on what aspects of the film they paid attention to, and also getting to know them a little bit in general. One kid is kind of an asshole, with that hipster 'I'm too cool for this' attitude. But he lost the argument we had over structure, which made me smile because he totally thought he could BS me, and overall they're pretty cool kids. So, really, so far so good on the job front.

And, as a final note in this scattered blog entry, tonight Annie and I (plus Alex, as often happens) ate left-over spaghetti (really left-over, as in we originally made it over two weeks ago) with a side of mushrooms from the Saturday market that we sauteed in butter and garlic. It was delicious and wonderful and we were very happy because we like good food. Then we went to watch a few episodes of Avatar (yes, that cartoon that ran on Nickelodeon - it's better than you think)... and forgot to turn the burner off. So the sauce we'd been keeping warm while we ate ended up sitting over low heat for, oh, an hour too long while we were in Annie's bedroom at the back of the apartment. So now my kitchen smells kind of like overcooked lasagna, and a burnt sauce-encrusted pot is soaking in the sink. But on the plus side, the spaghetti's finally gone!

I need to start keeping a log of Alexis and Annie's Domestic Adventures. We're pretty awesome.

I can be a bit of a fangirl, yes

I finally, despite having had it on my faithful external hard drive for some time now, watched the Takarazuka La Mariposa. It's Snow Troupe, starring my most loved Mizu Natsuki, and it takes place in some unnamed Latin American country complete with a song or two in Spanish. It also features a possibly unprecedented number of scenes with Mizu in a fierce suit looking pimp. So, really, how could it not be awesome? It doesn't have a ton of music, unlike the big Zuka shows like Elisabeth, so it's very dialogue-heavy, which could make it difficult for a non-Japanese speaker to follow. Except it's so full of sexy and Takarazuka-ified machismo that it'd probably be enjoyable regardless. It also has a plot!

In brief, Nero, a night club owner, smuggles political prisoners out of his unnamed Latin American country, and does other smuggling operations to fund hospitals and such. He and his friend Escobar do this because, apparently, they were part of a revolutionary group that failed. Anyway, Nero teams up with a plantation owner, then falls in love with the plantation owner's daughter, Selia. Selia's brother then clumsily aids an assassination attempt made on the president. Turns out he's part of a rebel group and he goes missing. While this is going down, there's a mobster from Miami just sort of around trying to do business with Nero, an American journalist hangs out annoying people, and finally a showdown happens. The end.

How's that for some summarising skill? I'd share video, except there's nothing on youtube. I looked. So, instead, I'm going to make note of something, complete with visual examples.

If you are Mizu, you get to wear fierce suits and hang out with your best friend drinking beer, discussing the CIA and just generally looking badass.

If you are Kimu, on the other hand, you get to look slightly ridiculous standing next to a suave Mizu.

That is a very unfortunate suit. But I guess that's what happens when your character is a college student/night club singer. Kimu just isn't cool enough to get Mizu-quality costumes.

In related news, I finally gave in to almost a year's temptation and bought Elisabeth. I'm not going to say how much it cost me through the very nice, convenient shopping service, but rest assured that it will be awhile before I let myself buy another Takarazuka DVD. When I do, it will probably be Lucifer's Tears. Either that or The Brothers Karamazov. They both look pretty fantastic.

This is an expensive hobby. I love it, and there's nothing else quite like it, but the cost hurts. If any of y'all ever want to watch some of my Zuka, just let me know. As soon as my DVD arrives, I'll have a collection of three (two were given to me in a trade, so I didn't pay for them) and I will happily share the awesome.

Back in Salem!

Yes, I have made my return to Salem, which means I've moved into my apartment! If you don't know, I'm living with Annie in Haseldorf, which is one of the university apartment buildings. So, I pay everything through my tuition/room and board and don't have to worry about monthly bills. However, despite it being university housing, Haseldorf is pretty sweet. It was an apartment building in the 20s that the university bought some number of years ago, so it has really cool architecture and high ceilings and hardwood floors. Unfortunately, it also has some problems, what with the age. Today, for example, we had no hot water. And I was not pleased.

Anyway, to your left, you have a picture of half my room, and below to the right is the other half. I have the smaller room, which doesn't have built-in closets, so I also have the huge closet in the hall. Because this apartment used to be issued to four people (even though the bedroom I'm in is not big enough for two people to share comfortably), each bedroom has two beds. I was annoyed by this initially, but then just decided to get a cheap comforter and turn the second bed into a makeshift couch. So it has a big pillow and a couple of blankets and is actually kind of nice to have. Annie, in the bigger room, pushed the two beds together and got a mattress topper to make a king size bed.

The one really weird thing about this apartment is the hall light that doesn't work. Well, that's a little unfair to the light, which might very well work. The problem is that there's no switch. At all. A bit of exploration and investigation led me and Nikki to the conclusion that this apartment is actually the combination of a one-bedroom apartment (101) and half of apartment 102 (the other half of which was merged into apartment 103). So, apparently, sometime in the past, the light switch was lost. This also explains why Annie's room is so freaking huge - it was probably a living room once upon a time.

In other news, classes have started, along with my job as a Writing Center consultant. I am the consultant for one freshman colloquium (this Willamette thing that freshmen have, a class that eases them into college). The one I'm working for is about interpreting visual culture, with a fairly new professor. So, I have 14 freshmen to work with on their three papers. They're required to meet with me three times each, so that's a decent bit of money. Otherwise, I have two regular WC hours a week. It's a small job, but a little bit of extra income is still pretty cool.

This semester, I'm taking math, biology, Victorian poetry and (hopefully) Japanese 430. Annie and I almost went to the first day of Japanese 430 hung-over, but then the class was canceled, so we went back to bed instead. Probably for the best, that. But, as evidenced by Facebook, we hosted the greatest unplanned party ever, so it was totally worth it.

Tomorrow I'll find out if I can take 430 or not. I really hope so, because it would make me very sad not to have any Japanese this year. Fingers crossed.