AM: 8:43.47

"....Nugh?...."

"....Is someone shaking my bed?"

"Wait...Why would someone shake my bed?"

".....Why would someone be in my room?......

OH SHIT. That's an earthquake. What do I do now? Under desk?
No, Luggage in front of desk. Desk bad.


.....Uh.....



Bathtub? YEAH....No, that's tornado..."

"...."

"I um....I guess I'll stay on the bed 0_0...."


So, if anyone was wondering. Yes, I was right smackiddy dab in the middle of that earthquake. I was on my way down from Hokkaido to meet dad in Tokyo tomorrow so I stopped in Sendai.
It was a 6 on the richter scale. WHOOO!

I know the extact time because that's the only thing new stations were showing ALL DAy.
No longer is the crazy anime fan that killed 4 people in Akihabara which people are blaming on Death Note the top news. Go Earthquake GO!
No one was killed, just a bunch of people bonked on the head. One of the hotels near me had some glass break (Sendai Metropolitan, actually. You fancy expensive hotels are WEAK! My fidy dolla hotel is STRONG!). That's about all.
Oh wait, big landslides, a few people fell in, but they're okay. A shrine gate broke. That's probably the biggest tradegy.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to call anyone, but I'd like to say that I have, in fact, arrived! (Pretty much, I just got into the airport, and I'm currently using a computer that has 10 minutes of intarwebbs for 100 yen to make this post. EXCITING)

MmmMMmmm...New experiences.....

Long flight, good food. I haven't actually done anything yet. ^_^
But I live.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!!! ^_________________________________________^

Diana's last two months:

Head surgery went well. Everything's healing hunky dory (that's not going to stop Mr. Surgeon from seeing me EVERY OTHER DAY. Post Op care: Awesome. But I'll heal faster if I'm not poked every two days)
Percocet is not fun. Those entire two weeks in March are a blur.
An apparently hilarious blur.


So, because I'm incredibly smart and talented, I got Unknown Death PLague 'M' because I pushed myself too hard after my surgery (I was like: 'Hey! My jaw isn't actually wired shut. That must be a sign from above to work AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!!!!')

So, a few E.R visits later they were all like "Okay, so we dunno what's wrong, but you're really sick. So uh....Don't move or anything I guess....Until you... get better?"

"...But I need to wo-"

"NO WORDS FROM YOU."


But now I have a great ultimate threat. If someone annoys me, I need only to lick my hand! The world is at my command.

Anyway, so Death plague 'M' was suspiciously similar to Mono, spleen issues and all, but they didn't think to take the mono test until my second E.R. visit, and even then, it took them another week and a half to get the results. By that time, it was almost gone XD.
It was Mono though. Even though they didn't think so.
Dad was convinced it was the flu, even after that test came back negative, and the doctors really wanted it to be strep, even though that came back negative too. Everyone had their own favorite viral infection for me.

So that's nice.
I'm glad it went away fairly quickly. I'm rather untalented at sitting around, anyway.

I love Hillary and Jen forever. Love love love love love. You guys are the reason I wasn't found D.O.A on the couch facedown in a pile of drool.
Also, my fantastic roommate did so much for me. And my cat, who was very happy with my fever, because it gave him something warm to sit his butt on. Love love love.

I never did take my final. By the time I was totally better, I was already a week into spring quarter.
Oops.

Since then, I've been getting ready for Japan. AUGH.
Most of this involves getting presents for various parties of people.
I have two seperate host families, A study buddy person, a teacher, plus Tavis and I got presents for two representitives from Kobe.

I'll be in Japan for three months. The first three weeks I'm with my class traveling briefly to Tokyo and then Kobe. The next three weeks are with my first Host family in Kyoto.
I don't know a whole lot about them, other than they're about my dad's age and they have two young children. One (The girl) is 14 and the boy is 10.
For those three weeks I'll be attending Japan's oldest language school for foreigners, the Kyoto Language School (Inventive name huh?) It's pretty much right across from the imperial palace.

The three weeks after that are my free weeks. I think that for the first one, I'll either go with a classmate to Nagoya or Hokkaido. We'll talk it over on the plane. This way we can split wherever we're staying and I won't be a cute little girl travelling all by herself.

The last week of my three weeks daddy's visiting with Lindsey. YAY! And that'll be fun. That leaves me a week by myself and I'm thinking perhaps Kyuushuu with the 9 'Hell Hotsprings' or whichever place my classmate and I didn't go.
Or both.
I could do that. I have a JR pass. May as well make it work for me.

The next four weeks I'll be with my second Host family in Tokyo. This part of the trip is also part of my class.
I don't know anything about my second host family other than: They run a Ryotei (Uh...traditional japanese restaurant. Like the ones in the Edo period.)
Oh. Mai. Goth.
So I just about died.

My project for the three months is technically fashion, but I'll also be working on my ongoing food project. The food project (Tabemonogatari (食べ物語)) is a project I planned for the year long Exchange to Kobe (April 2009 through March 2010). Which I did get in for, by the way (yaaaaaay) but I figured being in the Ryotei would be too good to not document for the Kobe project, so I'll do both.
The reason I was paired with this family was because of my interest in food. Originally, before Setsuko Okayed my fashion project, she was hoping I'd just do the food project all the way though. I was hoping to be able to focus on many areas of Japan, through many visits. There's something to be said about focusing in on one thing, but I also think it's great to be able to do lots of different things.

I also feel that, because presentation is so important to Japan in general, that fashion and food mix together. The old saying goes "you eat with your eyes and taste with your mouth' and I believe that Japan's attention to detail with all aesthetic aspects reflects that. Therefore, food and fashion can be one and the same. Just with different mediums, but the idea is there.

And that was long winded XD.

Anyway, so, as you might be able to tell with all the rambling, I'm really exited! I promise to take lots of pictures, and If you need to get in contact with me, please contact me through Livejournal or Deviantart. I may or may not check my e-mail.

I will be getting a pre-paid cell phone there, and I'll post the number you can reach me with (if you're in japan >_> ). I'll also be calling dad every once ad a while. But I WILL be on livejournal regurlary. It wil be the best way to contact me.

YAY!

-So Diana, what's new with you? 0_0

-Oh me? Not much. Mostly just dying in a brilliant flaming ball of glorious death. Why do you ask? ^___________^

-......Oh you know, you just looked kinda sad. >_> ;;;;;;;;

I get it. I'm pasty X3. (Not for long. I will be Yakiningen. Delicious. I has a flavor.)

No, life is mostly still kicking.
This morning I was woken up at some really super early o'clock so that I cold rush down to the school early in the morning in one hour's notice to have a mini interview with the Exchange Student board.
Way to let us know.

I did found out that there's only four applicants (That's nice, unless they figured out through our trendy college guises that we're all like hikokimori tweaker nerds unfit to be let loose public, we should all be able to go. )

Because of their brilliant strategy of having us all unprepared and sleepy, it seems like we all managed to say at least one thing we all probably didn't want to mention. For instance; when asked about my weaknesses I have the fantastic idea to mention I'm WISHY WASHY (actual words:'indecisive') which I quickly and unnaturally followed up with: "But once I decide on something, I'm really driven and passionate to finish. And Um...I mean, It's like....Uh...Like if I had to decide what region to visit first for my project, would I go South? North? At which point I would ask my classmates,see what their personal experiences were, if they had recommendations, and if they want to come with me."
(My brain: Yeah! that sounds good. Way to sound TOTALLY RETARDED. Good Job.)
Other weaknesses I mentioned was that I'm not fantastic at writing, Japanese or otherwise (as was so pointed out earlier this week by my current faculty, Setsuko, who's on the board. My paper's are apparently REALLY BORING. Thanks. I needed to know I lack a point of view on everything. This ties in with my lack of being able to make a decision. I look like a fabulous choice. 0_0)
I also failed miserably at the: "What will you do to make yourself a good ambassadors?" I had already mentioned that I joined clubs while I was there previously, and that I liked doing things with my friends, and that I wished to communicate effectivley. What was thee to say?
I started with the ever so safe: "UuuuuuuUUuuuuuh........~I.....Uh.

......uh.....


Want to communicate...that....uh. We are all people and that war is bad and that we all are effectively the same, have similar interest and hobbies and uh...."

Way to not actually answer the question. But I'd felt that what I said before, being active with the student body and with people I meet, and to take part in as much as possible was already a sufficient answer.
Oh oh! How about this: I'll try not to kill anyone!

It's just that America's so diverse, I would end up being more of an ambassador of myself rather than of my country or people. I can really only show them my knowledge of the world, my interests and the fact that I love their culture. I don't know what else I can do, other than cook them Thanksgiving dinner.

I was very long winded, and in the wrong sorta round-about way. Still, I think that I did okay, and there seem to only be four applicants anyway.

Way too stressful for that early in the morning.

In other doom: My kinda major dental surgery thing on Monday. I'm sort of really not looking forward to it. Something about the possibility of them breaking my jaw if something isn't working right worries me. Just a little.
They've (finally) decided to take out my #11 Bicuspid (Canine) that's been sitting sideways inside the roof of my mouth, but as an added bonus, completely for chuckles,lets take out my wisdom teeth that show no sign of going anywhere for another eternity? Yeah. That's fantastic!
The reason they're going for them (All four, simultaneously) is because of the imminent bone graft they're planning to do to the implant sight for the fake canine I get. Just in case the bone isn't built up, which it probably isn't because there was never a tooth there in the first place.
Also, my mouth is mushy because of the braces I've have on for oh...Seven years.
But this means they'll come off sometime! Right?

So, I'm going to be a drooling pile of ow for two weeks. Hopefully, in my narcotic high I'll decide to color something and I'll be able to submit something to deviant.

The only problem with the narcotic situation is the fact that I can't take off a lot of time from work (So 'll be going back the Friday after.... Especially since I didn't work the weekend before last, they screwed up my last weeks schedule and I only got 10 hours, and I'm not working next weekend. Customers will just have to be drooled on when I start going off about pink bananas and skateboarding snails.


...Also, I have to take my final exam.

Last time I took a test after a surgery, I explained diffusion through a complex analogy involving swiss cheese. Which almost worked, except that it totally didn't.

Otherwise: The college convention is this Saturday and Sunday (right before Mr. Surgery McOuchie pants) and I will most likely be running the karaoke room in SemIIA1107 both days, except when I'm moved to main events to do the Karaoke Contest and the Name that Tune contest.
But an official schedule has not been made as far as I know. And therefore might be entirely different.
We're prepared.

I....LIIIIIIIVE....Jounal!


Live journal looks different.
There's all this...stuff everywhere.

So. Hi. It's been a while.

I'm buried under classwork and preperation for FIFTYBILLIONDY DIFFERENT TRIPS RIGHT NOW.
Which is why I haven't posted. Pretty much, if I'm not at school, I've been working. Or at school anyway. Or preparing for either work or school...or both.

But this is the fruit of my labor!
I'm leaving again!

April 21 : I go to japan.
July 17th: I come back.

That's three months (yay!) and I will mostly be travelling around. Allthough if anyone wants to let me crash with them. BY ALL MEANS PLEASE.
Because otherwise, I have to be a hobo for two weeks in the middle. And no one really wants that.
I read his one manga...Zetman...And the hobos were attacked by superclones

Between May 30th and June 25, you can visit me! And buy me Food!!!!!
Just let me know, and I will see what my four weeks of free schedule in Japan can do for you!
Hi mom.

I would like to let you know why I have four weeks of skipping around Japan unsupervised. See, it's actually two separate trips, each for a month long, and it would be stupid to go home in the middle of them. The first is part of my current class, and I'm probably selling off a kidney to pay for it, as work keeps cutting my hours.
good thing I have two! (Thanks world!) The second is a trip sponsored by the same teacher, and gives me eight whole credits, Just for one three weeks.
LOANS!
So there's a good amount of lag time between the two. Dad and I (...Just dad really) Did some research and determined that going all the way back home, and then coming back, would cost as much as staying in a youth hostel for a month, and he was planning of visiting for two weeks anyway... "So no. Just say there. It's less stupid", was decided.
Exciting~ ^^

Otherwise, I'm finishing up all thel application stuff to do the 2009 Exchange program thingy my school offers. I hope I make it~

Other Things:

February 13-18
I will be back home. Mostly for Katsucon.
MAID CAFE! And karaoke.

March 1-2
Chibi-Chibi COn: My college.
Come and support our small-ness!

March: Later
Sakuracon!
I'm SO not missing it this year.
This will be Nikita's first convention.

School is going well I suppose. My teacher seems to think so anyway, and that's really what matters. Personally, I think I've lost it. I wish I had more time to draw, but at least I;m not bored.
I have plenty of planes to draw on coming up so...I think It'll work out.
I learned how to sing enka. I've been practicing everda on the way homw from work for the past nine months. the other day, I finally got it. My teacher and I have plans to karaoke enka songs now.
I need to buy an apron for afore mentioned maid cafe.
I'm hungry.
Gaysball (ookiku furikabutte) is fantastic. I mostly call it gaysball because 'Ookiku Furikabutte' is a mouthful.
.... and they're totally gay.
I'm also enjoying 'Oh! Edo Rocket' and 'Mononoke', because of their fantastic Iki!( 粋 ) Edo spirit.
My kitty is fwuffily.
*deathbyramble*

Joe poked me.

Books were thrown at us today in the store.

Luckily, scary french men are not sniffing me.


I AM SAFE. For now.




And no one has any idea what I'm talking about.
Some if it has to do with my day at work. The rest is the movie 'Perfume'. Which involoves deranged olfactory endowed French men with British accents....?

AANG HAS HAIRZ.
ON HIS HEAD.

He's got an asian afro.



Aaaaand, yes, that needed caps.


The third season of Avatar has been on hold and hasn't had a date for like...forever.
Finally, they released the planned date for the Book III (Third season) DVD 1.
When will it be on the air? NEVAR!

They all look weird. Is it like...Disguise?

Katara's infiltrating the fire nation by disguising herself as Zuko's mom.
Oh yeah.

I am an Avatard.

*squish squish squish*


That is my carpet


*squish squish*



This is actually kinda funny kinda sorta.

So, I hear this sound, much like my cat peeing on things.
I yell at Yuki.
But...He doesn't look guilty enough.
I look past him and....

The door is leaky.
Our bathroom door.

Not under the door. The actual DOOR is leaking.

AAAAAAAACK!

It starts coming from the outlet, the ceiling, the walls, all the molding and anything sticking out. It comes from the carpets, the closets, the fire alarm.

So uh.
Half our apartment goes 'squish'. I expected fish to fly out, but...no.
Darn, we're running out of food too. Fish would have been awesome.

Can you eat mold? Like, wall mold? We have that on order....

Luckily, we found it fast enough, and got things out of the closet before anything got permanently damages. It stopped in about and hour (then started again, but stopped petty quickly) and a few hours later a guy sucked most of the water out.
We're on the bottom, and got the worst of it, but it still wasn't that bad I guess.

As far as we can tell, something exploded, like...our upstairs neighbor's shower.
Luckily, Mr.Maintenance man lives on the third floor of our building, so he fixed it within a reasonable amount of time.
We documented everything, and currently have a fan the size of our dog blowing on our carpet 65 miles and hour.
My cat's not a fan of the fan

Get it? FAN of the FAN?

HAHAHAHAHA...

*dies*

Okay, other than that...I had work for nine hours today.
I love customers.^^
No really, I do.

Last time I worked Cash register, and today I worked Customer Service.
I think I like Cashwrap best 'cause I don't get disappointed as often.
Like, at customer service, you find things for people, but I kinda suck at that (I had no idea where the wedding section was. Or the world Maps. We have a floor map, but it doesn't help much. I'd always stayed on the right hand side of the store (Manga, Sci-fi, Mystery, Kids, History, Food, Culture, Art. Diana in a Corner) so I fail at...oh...everything else.)

So I felt really bad. A lot. 'cause I'm, just not very familiar with everything yet. I love helping people, and really get sad when I can't.
I probably shouldn't beat myself up as much.

Also, I'm just not familiar with how things work and all the protocols and abbreviations and things we're supposed to do while doing fifty million other things. X/
I hope I'm not causing trouble for anyone.


Oh my god I have a huge list of books I really want.
I AM BUYING SOMETHING!
As a 'Diana is really sad because her house is squishy and she worked 9 hours and felt bad about most of it' present to me X3.

Anyway, I tsill like Chashwrap best. I love seeing what people are really buying, and I love money, and I love everything about it. it's fast-paced (So is customer service), but not frustrating. I mean, I wish I could sell more memberships (which are awesomer than I thought, by the by) but it's still the happiest place. I love books, money, and people buying books with money ^__________________________^.

I want to be in charge of the manga/mystery/and Sci-Fi section......I wonder how that happens.

Anychu: I needs work clothes, and shoes, really bad -_-.
(Footies say ow)

ChuuUUUUUuuuuuU~ ^_^

I HAVE JOOOOORB!


WAH HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!

Someone was nutsy enough to give me an interview and I POWNZ AT INTARVIEWS!
I AM made of adorable sauce. (Mmmm.....Nutmeg-y. I made Gingersnaps yesterday. I love gingersnaps.)

I don't look bad on paper, but I'm awful with reference phone numbers apparently (Funny story in which I call up lots of people, hyperventilating, trying to find out exactly what Hillary's number is. I'm sorry Hillary's mooooooom -_-. Thank you Hillary, Jen, and Devon ^____^)

This could be why none of the other 3,494,745,789,345,785,478,457,857,857,834,578,345,789,345 places I applied to called me back, even thought I have priority since it was basically just three Gamestops and I've worked for them before.


Ware dos Ahz Hafs me a jorb?

Barnes and Noble!

NYA HA HA HA HA! I can use my leet English skills. ENGLEET! I got a B in English once!

B ARE GOOD.

Anyway, so I start training Monday. Barnes and Noble is also owned by the Game Stop Company. She liked that I did lots of stuff, had lots of mornings avaliable, and that I said I didn't mind working cross...something. They had a fancy word for 'someone that wouldn't mind bouncing from floor to cafe to register.'
I thought that sounded fun. I won't get bored.

YAAAAAAAY!

In other news:

Mr. Ridiculous-Maroon-gravitation-bunny wallet has escaped. The deserter made a dash for freedom yesterday around Four-thirty from roommate's faulty knapsack. We think it might have crossed the Canadian border in order to get cheap medical supplies for it's grandpoo, 'Sir Prince of Tennis wallet' (Since retired from the service.)

Authorities were unable to trace it's steps from the suspected scene of the crime, even though investigators returned to the vacinity only minutes after the alleged break for freedom. The detectives scoured nearby areas in vain, and are left with the option of filing a missing persons report to the higher authorities.


All joking aside: This is very, very bad, but on the bright side.......

HA HA HA!!!! Good thing I lost my credit card before I went to China already!
I TRIUMPH!!!!!!

My wallet had my pin number, commonly used passwords, account number, and some (expired) ID. ^^
Still kinda worried about that....

Also good thing I spent like...All my money on a PS2 a few days before, or I would have lost 120. Versus just the 20.


Still, I had a lot of photos of my friends I've had since Middle school (My Kuma and Marroh piccies (the bane of Kuma's existence. Hopefully, I still have extras floating around in my room. I TOOK SO MANY ^______^), my Fuzzy, Sparky, and Claudias....and my family picture with Mom, Chibi, Chris and Dante.) I also had a lot of business cards from people in China and Japan I hadn't had the time to write down anywhere. Also all my club cards (Mr. SMOOTHIIIIEEEE! Book Off!! And....Uh.....Sanrio.) and my Japanese Library card...along with my (Very Expired (2004) American Go Association Card. But I liked it.)

AAAAAAAAUGH.


At least I can have a good excuse to the Barnes and Noble lady for not having my Social Security Card? (I didn't have in in the first place (My parents lost that one), but hey! I definitely wouldn't have it now ^^)
I do have my passport and Student ID. That better work.
I might have a Birth Certificate. Hmmm......

Anyway. So...Um.... Aurgh - vent vent vent.


It's just weird. I don't lose things. I really don't. especially not important (money related) things ;_;.
My world is crashing.....


School: Hiatus! Much of the class is in the middle east, which means I get a mini-vacation ^___^.
I'm kinda sorting through all the China stuff, but it's a big task and I'm being lazy.
So not so much of that.


My kitty is adorable. Agi needs to stop eating his mousies though, or he'll find he's down one leg and possibly some vital organs.
Anyway, Yukino seems to be getting used the the whole 'that's a dog and by the by, you've moved a few timezones away. Here's your litter box, and yes you may sleep on my face' Idea.

What else is happening?....

We need something to sit on, but I actually have something to sleep on now. We have...uh.....Pizza bites (those things are made of win.) And Bills.

Other that, not much. I've been recoding again because I'm a hopeless narcissist. Also, I like bothering the neighbors.
I've managed to get Nikita in on the action (Oh my googlygarageband! The power of Duets will be MINE! Nikita is a great singer ^^)

The Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Movie is cool. I want to be a Poke'mon Coordinator too.....Even though it sounds like a glorified poke'-pageant.