Justin got accepted into school today! He's leaving in August. ;___;
I'm not really too thrilled about York and the response I got from them. I didn't really mind them just redirecting me to a stupid webpage and giving me fluff answers so much. It was the large offensive blue font that really turned me off. I'm looking at U of T and they look like a better option. I only need 3 courses in English (check!). But the intermediate/senior option requires two teaching areas which I don't have (FUCKING Asian Studies! You are so useless!) but the junior/intermediate only requires one. I actually really like being in junior high school. There's always room to move up to high school once I get my degree and some experience. They also don't require an interview (at least from what I've skimmed) which would be sweet. I have kind of stopped caring about that for the moment; if York isn't even interested in me, it won't matter about trying to schedule an interview that I can't be in the country for. I think I have everything for UBC, unless they've changed things since I applied the last time.
I always forget that university applications cost money. Shit. It's going to cost me like 300$ to apply to 3 programs. York's application is due at the end of November, U of T is due December 1st and UBC is sometime in February. I think applications will all be available around the same time, in September. Which is only 3 months away! Sigh~ I'm getting anxious just thinking about this.
I am going to have to pilfer the school's resources and print off information. I need to figure out how much this is going to cost and start seriously saving. Or figure out how much of a loan I'm going to have to ask for. Honestly, I would rather go to U of T over York. If I had to stay in Ontario, that is. York just doesn't impress me at all and U of T has the prestiege. I should hope by the time you're doing your second degree, the snobbery has worn off.
It's only barely June. There's time.
I can't return this fucking phone. I don't understand. I'm frustrated because it doesn't make sense -- I'm the customer, I'm not satisfied with the product, I want to return it. Why can't I? I haven't even paid for the stupid thing yet. At ALL. So what's the big deal? I don't "own it" yet. I don't want it. I don't care if my phone bill isn't going to change since I went down to a cheaper plan; I don't want to pay for something I'm not going to use.
But I'm more frustrated that I can't explain myself or full understand what they are saying to me. I went to the place I got the phone and they were like "Oh, I'll change it to English for you" but you can't, idiots. Don't think I haven't tried; I'm just pretending to be that clueless. And then they tell me they can't do anything. You sold it to me! Why not? It's not like I'm canceling the contract or anything. So I went to the AU shop in Kashiwa on the way home and they said the same thing. I'm not canceling my contract. Ahh, but I am canceling the upgrade becuase if I give back the phone, they won't get 20,000 yen from me over 2 years. I probably haven't paid off my last phone yet anyway so now they are getting double. The guy told me the only thing I can do is cancel everything, which costs 10,000 yen and then get a new phone and number, for another 20,000 yen. IGULSKDFASDKj. It's only been 5 days since I got the stupid thing. Isn't there some kind of grace period where you can cancel things? I'm sure there is in Canada. I want to think there is, but I've never been in this situation.
So I could either learn to like this new phone and use it, even though I just got new ringtone and layout for the old one (which I fucking should have waited to get... UGH). Or try and sell the fucking thing on CL. It must be an old model because the stupid thing isn't even listed in the May catalogue.
GOD FUCKING DAMN ASSHOLES. I am so not happy right now. This is fucking bullshit.
Okay, so Andrew and I met up for dinner last night and he gave me his JLPT2 study stuff so I can start thinking about that. I got a new backpack -- pretty pink Coleman thing for 3,300. :D I also found Freecell at the bookstore in Ueno station. And then we had donairs for dinner. Yum. Though now I'm hungry and miserable. We spent 2 hours in a phone shop discussing changing to Softbank since Andrew's contract with AU is up and he's getting jerked around.
Ah, and it had been such a good day until then!
I ended up trading in points (which I didn't know what they were for anyway) and got a new handset... and I regret it so bad. I switched to a different, cheaper plan so my bill won't get any more expensive even though I have to pay 840 yen a month to pay off the handset but still. The biggest thing that I hate is that I can't put it in English. I don't need it really but I want it. But even without that... I don't think I like it. The interface isn't as nice as mine (though you can download new ones, I just never bothered) and I don't like the buttons. The screen pixelates the emojis and it makes all this fucking noise whenever it does anything. I haven't gotten around to messing with the sound settings but I feel miserable after doing this (I should feel so happy to have new things!).
It's only a phone! I'm just worried I can't take it back. I just wanted a new phone--even though I like the one I have and didn't really like any of the others. I didn't like the others more than I like my own, not enough to change but I did anyway. I should have looked at other models, gone to Yodobashi Camera or something and actually played with them and I would have seen right away. I don't see why I can't take it back on Saturday (providing I can... I'm not canceling, just returning the hardware I don't want) when I'm out and about in Tokyo if I really, really hate it. And I probably will. It will be a bitch to trek from Hiroo to Ueno and then back to Shibuya or wherever I'm meeting Kumiko though. But cheaper than making a special trip to Ueno just to return it.
I feel so wretched. Really, really awful. The most aggravating thing--all the shit I downloaded on my other phone can't be transfered so I have to pay to get it all again if I want. DX I better like the damn phone if I do that.
I slept on it. I still regret it. Well, I did find some cool things about my phone. I can switch the little window to show tomorrow's weather or my fortune by holding # and it flips through them automatically. I like the time window in front and the lights. The functions on the main menu are better; I don't have to search for the infrared functionin sub menus anymore (though I had it as a shortcut on my old phone on the standby screen). It's red and matte which I like.
I'm so-so that the screen doesn't swivle, but I didn't really use that much anyway and it's become a bit wobbly on my old phone. The standard ring tones are all really boring and I don't like any of them. The icons are kind of plain and the emoji all look pixelated and ugly. It runs slower--I have to go through more commands to send a fucking email and takes time to open and load things. The camera is 3.2 megapixels instead of 2.1 but I don't use my phone for taking good pictures and the upgrade is negligable.
I don't feel as miserable as I did last night but I still don't like it as much. It doesn't seem like an upgrade, especially not interms of the screen. But maybe that's because it's Toshiba and not a Casio. I'm giving myself until Saturday and then I'll decide whether or not to take it back.
Congratulations to Yuka and Yuto! I wish you health and happiness for your new life together.
What a night. Wow...
I'm kind of reeling. It wasn't even my wedding. Haha. It's just a huge shock because this is proof that I'm really an adult and at that age where my friends are going to start getting married and buying houses and making babies.
I don't even know what there is to say that will be of any interest to anyone here... Haha. It wasn't what I thought it would be like, for one thing. Maybe it's a Japanese thing? I thought it would be more like the wedding receptions you see in the movies: a sit-down dinner with speeches and stories from the wedding party and then dancing afterwards. Not even close.
They had the ceremony and small reception earlier that day (they played the video of it at the party, so I got to see it even if I wasn't there) with family and close friends. There were only about 50 guests. This party had at least 100 guests, all friends from work and school of the bride and groom. There were a dozen tables set out in the hall with food and drinks and a few chairs lined up against the walls. There was a table at the front of the room for the bride and groom and screens on either side where they had a slide show of pictures.
The happy couple arrived at 5:15 and there was a big toast and then a slide show about each of them: when they were born, where they grew up, etc. But not really about how they met or their relationship, which is what I expected. Even though they got married, it was still like they were two seperate people. Yuka sang a few songs, there were a couple games, there were a shitton of photos taken and then by 7:30 it was over. The bride and groom said good-bye to everyone as they left, thanking them for coming, and gave us a small gift of candy. Short and sweet and simple.
The only people I knew there were Aya and Yuito, Yuka's brother. They only knew me so we stuck together the whole night. I hardly got to talk to Yuka at all--only for a couple of minutes and there were other friends around too but that's how I found out she's pregnant! All these girls were touching her stomach and she was like, "I'm 5 months, but you can't hardly tell right?" That's how I found out. I didn't even meet her husband until I was leaving.
Anyway, I really hope they'll be happy together. She's due in October and I'll still be here so I'll get to meet the baby. :D I'll be an auntie! And now for some pictures:
East Gallery, the venue.
The head table.
The guests. There were definitely a lot more guys than girls in attendance.
Mr. and Mrs. Nagakura.
My only picture with the bride. :(
Yuka-chan! She posed with her little bag the whole night. Maybe to cover up the bump?
Mmmm wedding food. I didn't eat until later on when most things were gone and cold. I won't lie, I was taking advantage of the open bar. That's all I ate all night -- which would explain my killer hangover today.
Single ladies!
My favourite picture of the night. :D
キスしよっ！キスしよっ！
Now get away from me. XD
Sending off the guests.
Me and Yuito~
Afterwards, Aya and I left and ended up running into one of her aquaintances at the station. Chinese guy from Richmond! We chatted for about half an hour and exchanged numbers. I'm all about making new friends these days. Then went to Nichome and met up with Andrew and Ben for drinks. It all went downhill from there... too much too fast. But they said I looked pretty. :)
In real life, work was exhausting. I only had 4 classes today; there was a disaster drill during 5th period and then we had club activities. This year there are only 7 kids in the English club. Last year there were 13. There are 3 boys (up from 2) and 3 of the girls are returners. It sucks that it's an odd number but there's two teachers, Kubo-sensei and Naraoka-sensei (formerly Miyazaki, who helped out last year) so someone can pair-up with the odd person out. I asked the kids what they want to do and of course they didn't have any ideas other than games but I asked if they want to watch English videos or listen to English songs (pop music, not kids songs) and they were really enthusiastic about that. Luckily we're in the "English room" so I've got the computer and projector at my disposal, all ready set up from lessons on Fridays. The only thing that might screw things up is if the internet is down, like it was today. One boy wanted Beyonce videos and another girl wanted to see Japanese people singing in English. My pet project! :DD I need to do some homework and put together a list of on YouTube videos for next time. Any suggestions? Nothing too scandelous, they're only 10.
Nicole Anne is in the club as well so hopefully she'll be able to help me out. Her Japanese isn't very good yet but she can understand me perfectly. She keeps coming to me (even in class too) and asking if she's doing things correctly. One of the boys was like, "Oh, she's half that's why she can speak English," and his friend replies, "Aww lucky!" XD Just makes me think that the whole premise of Smile is so exaggerated even more. LOL I spent all my free time today laminating and cutting out coloured squares. I wanted to laminate them so that they don't get destroyed by the kids but I really wonder if it was worth it. Now that I have them, I'm going to find ways to use them in class more often. I should just use them the same way I did today; I could even do it in Jr High. I gave each kid 6 squares of the same colour and they had to go around and greet people with other colours and do a short dialogue, then exchange cards. Once they got all 6 colours, they could sit down. It worked really well. It makes them do the activity because they want to be the fastest and there's a finish in sight. I'll have to keep that in mind, rather than just say "Okay, do this conversation for 5 minutes."
I'm going to head to Andrew's tonight to hang out. Apparently there's a gathering happening. I'm going to sleep over and save some train fare. I was going to go to Ariel's place before the reception so she can do my hair (it's a bitch curling it myself--I can't do the back nicely) but she's got to be in Shinjuku in the evening so she'll just go to Andrew's instead. It's easier for everyone! I wonder if Anna will go tonight too and bring my requested bras. :D It feels like it's been ages since I've seen anyone. Actually, I guess it has been... I haven't seen anyone since the end of Golden Week.
I was almost hit by a taxi on my way to work today.
I'm walking along the road on my way to work, rocking out to Inoue Joe on my iPod and gross the one major intersection and right in the middle of it this taxi nearly hits me as he's making a right-hand turn. The man was fucking green! I actually touched the hood with my fucking hand as I jumped (and screamed) to avoid being clipped by the right headlight. I've never trusted taxi drivers to be any good at driving in any country (oh, the irony astounds) but now I have even more reason to be wary of them. He wasn't going fast enough to have done any serious damage; the only injury was to my iPod: the body is scuffed and warped from the impact with the pavement--of course this had to happen when I didn't have it in any kind of case. And then. The asshole driver had the nerve to roll down the window and shoot me a look afterwards. I couldn't tell if it was a dirty look or not but he didn't even ask me if I was alright or stop or anything. I finished crossing the road and squated a bit to let my heart rate return to normal and give myself a chance to cry. I didn't but I felt like I wanted to. Or that I would have been appropriate. I was just a little shaken. Of all the places to get hit on my way to school, that crosswalk was the last place I would have thought it would happen because about 75% of the way has no sidewalks. I didn't even think to look at the license plate to report him.
I had to use my Chinese again at work today. At lunch, Tamaya-sensei asked me if I could speak Chinese--fuck, hasn't that gotten around yet?--because he wanted me to ask the new kid some questions. Apparently, he's moving to Shin-Matsudo and the school is kind of like, "Urr why? That's kind of problematic." I don't think there are any rules about catchment areas or whatever but it would mean he'd have to take 2 trains or a train and a bus to get to school and that's just a pain. It would only be for 1 year though and he already started at Toyoshiki and has made a couple friends? Or at least has people friendly to him. Mineo has been somewhat assigned to be his buddy for the meantime because he can at least understand some Chinese. I even heard Kimura from 2nd year say "Ni hao" to Yao in the hallway. XD His written English is pretty good too! I am looking foward to seeing him in class soon. I kind of freaked out and did a crash course by looking up key words like "when", "where", "why", "leave", "arrive", "station" at lunch. Though when I had to ask him when he was going to move I kept saying "ima" in Japanese instead of "xian zai" in Chinese for "when" and couldn't remember how to ask about the date. -___-
I don't like having only 3 days at jr high. I've got about 4 classes a day, consistantly, but I don't even have enough time to get to see each class once a week. Today we only had 2 periods because the New Philharmony Orchestra Chiba came to play for us. It was awesome! I never really appreciated orchestra music before but it's so fun to watch. Watching the string intrument players get all synchronized is amazing. It's like a dance. They did some explaining about the different sections of the orchestra and played a bunch of different pieces from Indy Jones to Swan Lake. The even did a Pirates of the Caribbean medly!
