Today I was thinking about the "good old days"--the time from about my junior year of high school up until when I actually moved to Lawrence. This was when me and my friend Jessica would sit on the ground outside of Broadway Cafe on a warm evening and drink coffee and fold newspaper origami, and Kyle, Sarah and I attended the Andy Warhol film series weekly at Tivoli. One night Kyle drove me to a noise show at the Hassle Castle and we drove back quite late in his ancient Honda hatchback that had a hole in the floor hurtling at such high three-digit speeds that I feared the vehicle would about fall apart. This was a time that I didn't even dream about drinking alcohol. On a trip I acquired the angry cat air freshener that still to this day hangs off of my rear view mirror. Back then it still smelled of the pumpkin spice scent. Whenever I smell pumpkin spice I'm always reminded of these days. It makes me wonder what my friends now were doing at that very time back then, but I guess I'll never know.

so um i want to do a lot of dancing when i get back bc srsly NO ONE does that here.

also: not new but, i miss kyle

This Friday I was coerced into attending my Chinese neighbor's birthday party at, strangely enough--T.G.I. Fridays. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've even been to T.G.I. Fridays. Everyone ordered the nomihoudai (all you can drink for a few hours, which is available at many restaurants in Japan) and then I attempted to order some vegetarian appetizers. What I ended up with was a plate of nachos that contained only four chips laid out around the edge. What the hell. Also, I ordered something called "fried mac and cheese" which was rather interesting and quite similar to a mozzarella sticks.

Then I looked across the restaurant and noticed that many Americans had decided to come to T.G.I. Fridays on this particular night. They looked exactly like people I would imagine go to T.G.I. Fridays in America, and this is horrible...they made me feel like I wanted to vomit. I simply hadn't seen "real" Americans in a while, and by real I mean the kind with buzz cuts and khaki shorts and butterfly tattoos. I can tell reverse culture shock is gonna be a trip already.

On a lighter note:
Unidentified Flying Object noodles

i feel very self-conscious today

places i want to visit:
australia
hawaii
china
iceland

it might be nice to learn mandarin chinese

Hakone

so this weekend i went here:
it was incredibly beautiful and much different than the city-ish part of Tokyo in which i live in. i didn't take a bath in the hot springs. i get stared at enough with clothes on.

it rained torrentially almost the entire time. you were supposed to be able to see Mt. Fuji, but visibility was less than a mile thanks to fog. the highlight of this trip was probably me and my friend sleepily walking into the crowded shoes-off breakfast hall with our shoes still on at 730am.

Sick Day

today i was sick. i've been coughing like none other. i slept until 3 and then stayed home to watch japanese infomercials and children's shows. of course this was much better than going to class. now i'm watching a dubbed version of the matrix reloaded.

i'm going to spend all of this weekend at hakone, a place famous for hot springs.

crass tattoos are pretty cool. i don't plan on getting one.

i did my homework on the train. tonight i went to the wrong venue at first that was approximately 50ft away from the correct one (O-West instead of O-Nest) and made a fool out of myself when i had to ask for my money back.

i had a lot of fun tonight. i'm more homesick than ever.

Bonjour

in the last week i've been taken for a French person...twice.

so i just got this stuff today. it was recommended to me by someone because it's sometimes difficult to find vegetarian food to eat when i'm out and about. it comes with four potato-flavored blocks in this one box. from what my friend said you're not supposed to eat them all at once because this is some serious calorie intake. all i could find on the internet about it was some hikers saying they split half a stick when they were stuck overnight in the wilderness. is this some willy wonka food or what? wow.

i foolishly thought that bringing a week's worth of clothes would make me want to wear only those clothes. of course i was very mistaken. at least my so called "wardrobe" has pretty much doubled now that i've been here for months. i can't believe i've been here for months.

if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all

I don't even like Elvis Costello

but I recently came upon the My Aim Is True album and looked at the back because it has that "Alison" song that everyone used to always sing to me when I lived in Ad Astra. When I was looking I realized that not only is Track 5 titled "Alison" and spelled the same as my name, but Track 4 right before it is titled "Blame It On Cain." That, to me, is really weird...

this was going to be about how i didn't give a fuck today and how good it felt to not care what people think for one second.

it seems if i think i have a good attitude for japan it's a bad attitude for america, and if a good attitude for america, it's horrible for japan.

now it's getting towards 3 am.

fuck my life.

i refound the shoes i want!

Akihabara

yesterday around noon some guy stabbed and killed 7 people in broad daylight on a busy street in Akihabara, the electronic district in Tokyo. yeah, i don't really want to ever go there now.

i've been so busy lately! it's almost a surprise. this weekend i saw three contemporary art museums, and went to see my friend monika's band. i have a sleep deficit. i think my goal for the rest of my time here is from now on to fill up as much of my time possible with fun things to make the time pass quickly until i can go home. i talked to cass for the first time in months, for two hours and could've talked for much longer.

in the next week i'll go see another friend's band and also go to see mika miko twice! oh god. sometimes i wonder if this is reality or if i'm still in lawrence taking a nap and dreaming about all this--not because living here makes me happy, but more because it really puzzles me that i've been able to live so long so far away from where my heart is. i've never been good at explaining how i feel or if i feel at all.

omg. i just looked at the ten day weather forecast for Tokyo and it actually says that it's supposed to rain EVERY DAY. rain sucks major ass and i wish it would die.

at least--i am more than halfway through my time here. i'll get to see my baby soon. i'm pretty sure the realization that i'm not here for too much longer has affected my already faltering social skills. in the numerous awkward conversations i have each day with new people i meet, i think: is there even enough time to create any sort of real friendship?

still, japan is pretty fucking amazing. i think kyle and i coming back out here so i can teach english in a few years is definitely a possibility.

this weekend i:

• was not bored for the first time
• wore some new shoes until my feet bled
• went to a mix cd exchange party in the park
• saw a skateboarding dog
• met a cute Japanese artist couple. the girl, Yuma, is a glassblower who makes necklaces i want to buy. the guy, Yoichi, studied abroad at KU a few years ago, has a love garden messenger bag, took art classes from Carol Ann Carter, and i guess, knows Annie!
  
• am excited that my friend Yun is back in Japan! i can't wait to hang out with her