23Nov07
While I didn’t think it could be possible, this year’s Thanksgiving dinner was even more pathetic than last years. Last year, Stephanie, Kimi and I wandered around in Ikebukero trying to find ingredients to make some sort of a Thanksgiving meal before giving up and eating at KFC, chicken being the closest thing we could find to Turkey. This year, my plans for a Thanksgiving dinner with friends fell apart and I ended up eating stir-fry alone in my apartment room, listening to Five Iron Frenzy to keep my spirits up.
As I think of what I most thankful right now, I am thankful that in two weeks I will be aboard a plane headed home to spend Christmas with my family, a college graduate and finally finished with this long, difficult semester. The relief I feel when I realize that the end is in sight is immense. I know that it is more than a little bit petty for me to focus on such temporary matter on a day created to remember all our blessings but the imminent end of school is what I am honestly thinking about most right now.
Still, I should take a moment to record a few of the things that I thank God for most:
I am thankful for my family. I love my parents and my siblings.
I am thankful that I was born an American and that despite the best efforts of tyrants, fascists, Nazis, communists and bureaucrats the United States is still the land of the free and the world’s pre-eminent cultural, economic and military superpower.
I am thankful for the internet, books and language. Life would be awful without the ability to conveniently and precisely communicate ideas with others.
I’ve been able to pay for university without going into debt or taking money from the government.
I am thankful that I have never gone hungry, never slept outside without wanting to, never had to go without appropriate clothes.
Thank you God. You have blessed me far beyond what I could ever deserve.
21Nov07
The end of my college career will be coinciding closely with Thanksgiving this year, reminding me of how thankful I will be to finally be done. As I finish up, I find this story very amusing.
19Nov07
I’ve got a little more than a week o2-f regular class before I’m finished with university. In that intervening week I have nearly 40 pages of essays, research papers and reactions to write.
Here’s the list:
5 Pages on the McDonald’s Business Model for History of American Business
10 Pages on Women in Athens and Sparta for Gender in Antiquity
10 Pages on The Federalists and Anti-Federalists for Political Science
3-5 Pages on The Awakening by Chopin for Women in Literature
2-3 Pages Reaction to movie on Communist Propaganda Film for Political Science
10 Pages Economic Capstone
1 Page – Reaction to The Awakening for Women in Literature
A quiz in International Monetary Economics
2-3 quizzes in History of American Business
An Exam in Political Science
Wish me luck! I’ll try and get back here to give updates as these are finished.
14Nov07
Pet Peeve: Listening to my Japanese classmates give presentations. In 4 of my 7 classes I have to listen to my fellow students give presentations. This is mind numbingly boring under the best of circumstances but the irritation is exacerbated when most of the people giving the presentations are non-native English speakers. Without variation they get up and read their notes with painstaking, ponderous slowness, utterly devoid of any inflection or emphasis. I get tired just thinking about it. Since in most of the classes, I receive a handout on what they are presenting, I can read the exact information they present in less than 30 seconds but nonetheless I have to sit and listen to them read it for 10 minutes.
Disclaimer: I don’t have anything against my Japanese classmates. It’s not there fault that teachers force me listen to them. If I had to give a presentation in Japanese I’m sure it would be awful for the people listening to me.
26Aug07
Our family will be hosting a Japanese exchange student from Bunka Women’s University this September. Bunka Women’s University is very close to where I am currently living so when we received an email from Megumi, I replied and arranged a meeting with her here in Japan before she goes to visit the rest of the family.
That meeting took place today. Justin and I met Megumi at Shinjuku station at 1:30. We found each other without difficulty and went to Megumi’s favorite burger shop for lunch. We talked for more than 4 hrs until the dinner rush forced us to leave. We made plans to meet again on Wednesday and before we went our separate ways we did Purikura.
It was a very pleasant afternoon and I’m glad I had a chance to meet Megumi.
25Aug07
Today, our landlady treated Justin and I to all-you-can-eat Shabu Shabu. Intent on getting our money’s worth we consumed seemingly endless trays of beef and pork, plates of vegetables and glasses of Calpis. As always the food was delicious. Justin’s post on the subject has pictures.
After lunch we waddled our bloated stomachs over to the Isetan department store where we strolled through 6 floors of Prada and Burberry in our ratty shorts before finding the supermarket in the basement. We made no purchases after we discovered that the going rate for an apple at Isetan is about $5.
Tiring of Isetan, we rode over to Bunka Women’s University, the school attended by most of the Japanese exchange students my family has hosted, including Megumi, a future exchange student who will be leaving for Seattle next week.
By then it was late afternoon so we turned back and explored the area around our apartment a little better while shopping for dinner. We ended up making fried potatoes with bacon and cheese.
After dinner we played computer games with the British tenant, Jon Jo, next door. All in all a very pleasant day.
05Jul07
Today has been yet another day overwhelmed with busyness. I spent all of last night and the early hours of this morning guarding the fireworks stand, a necessary chore considering that one of the other stands on the same street was robbed last night. I stayed up til almost 2 o’clock play Clue* and then watched the Pretender on DVD until the stand opened up at 9:00. I then headed home to catch a few hours of sleep before heading back to the stand to help with sales at 3:00. In the evening we went to my grandmother’s house for a barbecue. Now I’m totally tired.
In the midst of the busyness it is easy to forget what we are celebrating, too easy to take for granted the freedoms our country has purchased with the blood of our soldiers and of our enemies. Perhaps it would be a good idea on this fourth day of July to pause and reread the Declaration of Independence and refresh in our minds the high ideals for which our forefathers fought.
*In playing I developed a strategy that I think will allow me to win the majority of future games. I’m eager to play again to find out if my new technique proves valid.
03Jul07
After a long day at work I came home to find that Mom had made a big turkey dinner. It was delicious. After eating and washing a mountain of dishes my siblings and I headed up to the pool for a refreshing swim. Despite our large dinner, an hour of swimming left us famished and so we returned home to make sandwitches with dinner leftovers (to the minor irritation of Mom). To cap the day Mason and I watched a movie.
01Jun07
I haven’t gotten back into the blogging spirit as quickly as I had hoped but I have a good excuse. I’ve been working a ton.
By a ton I mean 9+ hrs a day for the last couple weeks. Also, I have been swimming daily. In amongst this I’ve also been managing to spend a fair bit of time with my siblings, particularly Mason.
My schedule is full but it’s a good kind of full. My bank account is refilling, I’m getting good exercise and relaxation and I’m strengthening relationships with family members that were adversely affected by time in Japan. All in all, despite the hecticness, I can say I’m wonderfully blessed.
24May07
Lit and in the process of being blown out.
