Entries tagged with friends

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: housing HQ

Entry tags:

Gaming for Japan!

I participated in a charity event to donate money to Japan!
My friend Kristina who is the secretary of the college videogame club, helped set up the event and asked me to lend a hand.
Kristina helped me through English class and we helped each other with math class (I was bookless so we shared books). We'd always hang out together at ACen too. So of course I would help her out.

She told me to buy some lollipops because everyone needed more sugar so they wouldn't be depressed. So I bought a really big bag of dum-dums. I felt like I could do more...

So then I started working on a design...
Then I folded over 100 cranes!

I filled up a large jar with all the cranes I made. I put the Japanese flag on the left wing and put the name of the event on the right wing. When Kris saw them... she jumped up and down with joy and excitement. She was so amazed at my patience and my determination to fold so many cranes. She was happy to know that I too was working hard for this cause. I stayed up late to fold these. I folded these while I ate, heck, I even still folded cranes while in the dentist's chair getting a root canal. We gave the cranes as a gift to people who donated.

This is the admission/donation desk. I sat here folding some extra cranes to give away. A lot of people stood around me to watch me fold. I'm surprised of how many students don't know what a crane is let alone what origami is nor the significance of the paper cranes. That kinda makes me sad.

A lot of people donated, we had quite a large turn-out. It was so awesome, the college let us use the projector to play Rockband. Third picture, everyone is swaying, crying(not really), and singing Bohemian Rhapsody together. Fourth picture, you can't tell but everybody is head banging. "Galileo! Galileo! Galileo! Galileo! Galileo Figaro..."

It was fun, the school gave us tons of free pizza... We raised nearly $400 in donations (coming from college students, is a lot).

I'm happy that I got to help out. I'm happy that so many people supported Japan.
I'm really happy that I got to fold a ton of cranes for Japan!

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: housing HQ

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College Fair.

This was yesterday, but I didn't have time because I worked on the Attack All Attacker's update all night. I was so worn out that I didn't post on my own journal.

We had a little fair at my college. Since I attend Wilbur Wright College, the fair was called Wilburpalooza!
It was on campus. They usually rent a ton of games and some inflatable bouncy things. Can you imagine college students playing in a bouncy castle? Yeah... I admit I bounced around for a few minutes. There were a lot of students there. They had free pizza too. We have this fair every year. There was Dance Dance Revolution, I only played for a few rounds because I have no stamina for it anymore. I was really annoyed from the metal dance pad sliding out of place. It was a heavy slab of metal, it shouldn't move! Marvin arrived right after I finished two songs. He wanted to play too, so I warned him about the moving pad. We played one round together and Marvin was getting pissed off at the pad like I was. Marvin's a hardcore dancer, so... lots of movement, he had to stop and adjust the pad frequently.

I recorded Marvin and Christina playing DDR.
Check out Marvin's sick moves!

Unfortunately, Marvin is getting a little rusty. He hasn't really played since high school.

I had to leave after recording.
I got back home and I'm greeted by a package.
I can't believe it! Arata's package arrived! Arata had shipped me my Black Rock Shooter figures.

The chibi is sooooooooooo cute!!! I love my new toys, thank you senpai!!!!!!!!!!

Arata is so nice, she even sent us some souvenirs she picked up in Okinawa!
Check this out! The famous Okinawa Star Sand!

See the white pointy pieces? Zoom in if you need to. That's the star sand. It can only be found in Okinawa, no where else in the world. Funny thing is, it really isn't sand. Those pieces are actually prehistoric micro-organisms from the sea that have died and their exoskeletons are left behind. They're like baby starfish!

There were snacks in that box too. But I'll wait until Miki returns from Taiwan.

Apparently, the MRI technician at the hospital my aunt works at, he breeds Siamese Fighting Fish. He raises them for their beauty. He has many varieties and different crossbreeds. He gave my aunt a really pretty baby Siamese Fighting Fish he had imported from Thailand.

Now I'm responsible for raising this new baby fish too.

IT'S FINS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!! My new fishy!!!
For future reference, my old Fighting fish is still alive, now I need to raise two.
The guy gave us this one for free, he said "this is the most beautiful breed, it's still a baby now, but if you take care of it, it'll grow really big and be even more beautiful." He's giving us another one next week too.

This just means I need to clean multiple tanks! (Fighting Fishes must be kept in different tanks or else they'll beat each other to death)

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Chicago

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Gone to Taiwan.

It's so lonely and quiet over here in Chicago.
Miki departed from the airport today at noon. So in the end, she took up that study abroad program and left.

Ah man, I have no one to talk to. Now there's no one to back me up at work on Saturday. There isn't anyone to watch j-dramas with. There isn't anyone to play Mario Party with. There's no one to take me to delicious restaurants. There's no one to hang out with...

When we were at O'Hare Airport today, Miki and I snuck off to terminal 5 to go buy something from McDonalds. We have a habit of eating at the airport, particularly at McDonalds. For sure, I know Miki's going to meet up with Chi-an when she gets to Taiwan.

The house just feels empty, now that Miki won't be back for a long while.
Before she went through security, these were my final words:

"Study hard...
Have fun...
and...
GO STALK WU CHUN!"

Aren't I an awesome sister?

Ya know, I was a little surprised about Miki wanting to go to Taiwan immediately. I mean, we just got back from Japan, yeah, we came back from that same general area. Leaving so soon? Phobia of flying to top off that equation too. Although, not complaining because I'm just as afraid of airplanes too.

Oh, by the way, Maciek's coming over early in the morning tomorrow to help me with web stuff. I called Jason earlier today. Jason already moved into his dorm, now he's at DePaul University. According to him, he got the best room. I can't wait to see his dorm room, he said he can have visitors.

Current Mood: blah
Current Location: housing HQ

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Happy Birthday to Me!

Yup, today's my birthday! I just turned 21!
Wohoo... drinking age... blah blah blah... Everyone knows I don't care much for it. Never liked the smell and taste, never will. There's something about moldy liquid bread and spoiled rotten vinegar that doesn't appeal to me.

I had a party with my friends yesterday too. Everyone actually came. We all got together and went to go eat at Shiroi Hana, one of my favorite Japanese places. I mainly like it for the fried shrimp heads, oh I love it so much... My horrible luck, they didn't have any shrimp heads yesterday. Jason, Marvin, Maciek, Ex and I really enjoyed the lunch.

After lunch, we all went back to my house to chill. I opened presents when we got back. I opened Jason's gift first. He got me a cute bowl with a little ceramic doggie clinging onto it. Next I opened Ex's gift, he gave me a temp tattoo and $30. Then I opened Maciek's gift. This was awesome... Maciek got me the platinum edition complete dvd box set of Neon Genesis: Evangelion. It was a collector's edition tin box with the complete series. THANKS A LOT MACIEK, NOW I'M GONNA DO AN ANIME MARATHON!!! Then of course, I saved the best for last, I opened Miki's presents. Miki got me a kitty coin bank, which was super cute, it was a box, you put a coin on a sensor plate and the cat will pop out of the box and snatch away the coin with it's paw. The other gift was Mario Party 8 for Wii. The final gift from Miki was a beautiful venus fly trap, it had beautiful red traps. My friends were so fascinated by the plant, because most people have never seen one up close. Miki wanted me to name it... I was thinking of naming it "Buzz-kill," but naming it "Seymour" (ref: Little Shop of Horrors) was on my mind too.

You know what we did all day besides eat cake?
We played 15 rounds of Mario Party and we played Super Smash Bros. Brawl non-stop. With my friends, once we get started on Brawl... we don't stop. It's an endless massacre! I got second place first round and I won first place the second round.

Today we celebrated my birthday at the restaurant too. Mostly employees showed up. It was fun and there was good food.

Noooooooooooooooo....
I'm getting old......

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

Opportunities and Celebration.

I thought I should write this now since I have some time.
So anyways, Miki got back from Vegas last week. I'm so happy!!! She got first place! Overall, she said it was fun. As long as there were good memories from the competition, I know they'll last. A victory is a victory, but we didn't get to celebrate. Everyone's been busy, even me. But, Miki did bring back a gift for me.

Check out what Miki bought me:

Isn't it awesome!? It's a scorpion lollipop!!!
I haven't even seen these before! It looks good. Miki actually bought me something that suits my unique sense of taste. And yeah... that's a real scorpion in there. It's banana flavored, I can't wait to eat it, yet I don't want to eat it because it's too beautiful and I really want to keep it as a novelty. But Miki says I should just eat it because we'll come across more wacky things from different places we'll visit in the future.

So... while Miki was basking in the glory of her triumphant victory in Vegas, a rare opportunity presented itself. Miki was offered a scholarship to study abroad in Taiwan!!! Of course this scholarship is for her to sharpen her cooking skills, a culinary arts scholarship... We were talking about it for a bit today, Miki has been thinking really hard about it. She's still unsure if she should stay or go. We talked about it.

Me:NOOOOOO DON'T GO!!!!!! I CAN'T BE SEPARATED FROM MY SISTER, I CAN'T SURVIVE!!!!

Miki: what do you mean? mom's not going to starve you.

Me: I'M GOING TO MISS YOU!!!! I HAVE NO ONE TO TALK TO!!!

Miki: it's only for a short while.

Me: now that I think about it... Taiwan...

Miki: uh-huh...

Me: since you're going to Taiwan, you could totally stalk Wu Chun!

This is what followed...
And that's where I got today's Miki's quote of the day:
"OHHH... I'M SO GOING TO TAIWAN NOW!!!! Aww... how thoughtful, you're thinking about your future brother-in-law."

Miki loves Wu Chun...

Oh yes! In addition to that...
MY BIRTHDAY IS THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
My party is going to be on Friday. I'm so excited. I've missed my birthday for the past few years. My birthdays have been really sad for me too. I always try to invite my friends months in advance. But.... they always flake out the day of my party. In the end... either two people show up or no one shows up at all. I begun to hate my birthday after a while. Why bother if people don't show up? Why bother if no one cares? My family (except Miki) ignores my birthday. No one does anything special for me. I don't get a "happy birthday" and I don't even get a cake. According to tradition, because my birthday is so close to a bad day, we aren't supposed to celebrate it. But instead, it's just made me miserable.

This time, I'm actually going to have a party on Friday. My friends have confirmed their availability. Attending will be: Maciek, Marvin, Jason, and Ex. Yay, my birthday is so close!!!!!!!!!

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

Why am I so Negative?

So, I woke up early...
Umm... I'm still suffering from jetlag,.. I can fall asleep until 6:00am. I sadly don't wake up until 2:00pm. Waking up at 8:00am means I only sleep for 2 hours. Imagine the grumpiness. The dentist appointment is at 10:00am. More cavity fillings, my jaw and teeth hurt so much!

Later I was dropped off, alone, at Ikea to go eat some soft delicious Swedish meatballs with lingon berry sauce. I walked around, explored, found a cool sofa. I was picked up and we did some grocery shopping. We had a barbecue. I ate blood dripping raw steak, because that's the way I like it. The sweetness of the blood and fat still remains when the meat is raw. I'm not trying to sound creepy, but I've been eating that way since I was a child. It contains lots of iron.

Maciek visited me a few hours ago. He came to pick up the souvenirs I got him a cute Naruto in Asakusa cell strap and an awesome violent shirt with a cute bear (he called it pedo-bear) viciously cutting up Ronald McDonald. Maciek loved it because he knew the bear. He stayed for a bit and I showed him all the cool stuff I got from Japan.

I dunno, my life just really feels pointless.
I realized a long time ago, but maybe my parents are right. I truly am useless. I've been told that I'm useless for all of my life. I am of no contributing value to society. No one needs a loser like me. I never did care for college. As matter of fact, I don't want to attend classes! I don't like my classes, I don't like where my life is going. It's true that people say I'm smart, but I'm a different kind of smart. I only know how to resolve peoples problems and bring smiles to them. As for knowledge, I only know random useless facts, my memory of facts is decent. Nobody cares if I know about the fall of Edo, the secrets and origins of the himitsu bako, the American Revolution, the specs of every passenger aircraft (right down to the engine and fuel tanks), filming skills, or agricultural knowledge (don't ask). I know useless things. There is no place for me in college. I have no interest in classes. It's been so many years and I still haven't decided on a major! Society doesn't need lazy good for nothings like myself. For me, I would prefer to rot on the side of the street like the useless fool I am.

I needed to get that written down, my emo-ness always weighs me down.
Now I feel better.

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

Miss Them Already!

It's been several days since returning from Japan. I wish I could've stayed longer. Blasted school schedule!

I miss Arata's sillness, I miss Hiro's interesting attempts at English and his otakuness, I miss Toshi's humor, I miss Chizu's cooking and the delicious okayu she always made me, and most of all I miss Toshiko. Toshiko couldn't speak English so I had to use my limited Japanese and some invalid sign language. Toshiko was able to understand me, even if it made me look silly. She shared her umeboshi with me every morning, she was very impressed that I could even eat it. I wish I had a grandmother like Toshiko.

The greatest memory of Japan that I left with was the day we went to explore and shop in Akihabara. I felt bad for making Hiro carry all of our shopping bags. I asked if he was alright and I even offered to help. But Hiro gave a big smile and bellowed, "ME OKAY!!! GOOD! STRONG!" Hiro refused to let us carry anything after that. Seriously, he was hanging on to a lot of bags, we really wanted to help. I drew a little picture of our shopping spree.

I'm going to make another tribute picture to those who I miss in Japan.
I just want to thank them one last time.

Current Mood: blah
Current Location: Chicago

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Going Away Party.

It was on Monday, but I didn't write about it because I've been busy packing.

I invited a good amount of people but most of them canceled. Isabelle and Sylwia canceled last minute. Because Sylwia canceled, now we didn't have a car. Gameworks is all the way out in Schuamburg. While I was chatting with Izzy on the phone, Marvin arrived early. Marvin and I played co-op on "Fat Princess" for about an hour, aww... we kept getting killed until we finally discovered the secret passageway to breach the enemy castle. There was so much blood and carnage!

*ahem*
Well, we were both disappointed that we didn't really have an easy way of getting to Gameworks. I then suggested that we take the local Pace bus, because it stopped at Woodfield Mall, which was near Gameworks, but it was a bit of a walk. We walked all the way to Jefferson Park Station (name of my neighborhood district) and took the train to the Rosemont stop where ACen is. After that, we got on the Pace bus. We were both surprised that this bus passes Mitsuwa. Well now we know.

After nearly a half an hour bus ride, we arrived at Woodfield. We decided to just cut through the mall to save on time. After that we had to dodge cars while crossing an interstate to another region called "Streets of Woodfield." It was ridiculously located far across the street from Woodfield Mall. We finally got to Gameworks. We filled uop our gamecards and went straight upstairs to the arcade games. I played "Time Crisis 4" first because it's my favorite shooter. Marvin kept dying really fast, he was using his credits an awful lot to continue playing. I felt bad because he used most of his credits on Time Crisis. I'm way too good at it, I only swiped once for a continue. After dying on the 4th level, we took a short break. While Marvin went off on his own, I attempted to play "Too Spicy," another arcade shooter, but this one's about stealing an inheritance from the yakuza. It's really hard because the time limit they give you to defeat an enemy is insanely short. I mean really short, it gives you 30 seconds to defeat the enemy. If time runs out, it's an automatic fail, resulting in a gameover. Marvin snuck up on me while I was playing. He said, "this game is really hard, it's a total bitch." After failing a 30 second challenge, we moved onto another game.

The next game was some military based assault game. You got to use machine guns a shoot everything. I remember it went by really quick. Then Marvin really wanted to play the new "Rambo" game. This one also had a machine gun and the bullet cap was maxed, but you still needed to reload. It was fun, but I think the amount of health for the game was insufficient. After dying on Rambo, we went to the DDR machine. Wow, I haven't played in a long time. We played two rounds of DDR. The first time, the machine was being difficult, we couldn't figure out how to change the difficulty level, instead we kept accidentally selecting songs we didn't want to play. We wasted our first round playing songs we didn't want on the easiest level. Each round allows you to play three songs, we wasted three songs trying to figure out the machine. Both of us hadn't played DDR in a long time, so we actually forgot how to use the machine. Our second round, we figured everything out. Marvin always plays on Heavy or Challenge, as for me, I'm way out of practice, I can only do Standard(mid-level). It was so weird because my stamina did not allow me to last very long while playing on Standard. I tried but I was way too tired. Marvin had a hard time too. We continued playing, but on one level lower than what we normally play on.

After playing DDR, we were both super exhausted. We were really sweaty and could hardly stand and walk. We limped over to the couches on the balcony. We both sat down, but I immediately got up and went downstairs. I walked to the claw machines. There was one filled with evil looking cat plushies. Ooohhhh, could not resist. I'm really good at it. I played three times. First: got nothing, second: got a pink cat, third: got a black cat. They were so cute!!!

I ran back upstairs to show Marvin. He was a bit surprised that I actually won something. We went back downstairs to try a few more times but got nothing. I had Marvin hold my cats. He shoved them into his pockets with their heads poking out. Marvin said, "I must look like a fag with these kitties sticking out of my pockets." I said, "Nooo, I think it's adorable, Marvin." He then said, "Yeah yeah, I'll just tell everyone that you won them for me and I'm very happy and love them." I said, "uh... isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Marvin retorted, "bah! what a stereotype."

I went to play some ticket games and got enough tickets to get a Sonic shot glass. After that, we left Gameworks to get something to eat at Chipotle. I told Marvin to grab some extra napkins as a joke for a friend. So we ended up jacking an entire bag full of napkins.

We rushed off back to Woodfield because we were afraid to miss the last bus back to Chicago. We actually got a little lost on the way back. We started to panic when we thought we couldn't catch the bus. Fortunately, we made it right on time. We went back to my house and that was my going away party!

But I wished that my other friends could've gone too.

WAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow. I need to get some sleep.

Current Location: Housing HQ

Entry tags:

I Feel Bad...

I haven't been online as much as I usually am.
I've been working non-stop as I said in a previous entry to earn some extra cash for my trip. Working leaves me with almost no time to relax on the net, even after work. I would've posted more stuff but... I'm an idiot and I left my stupid charger and cellphone cord all the way in Chicago. I had pictures from my dinner, Thai fest, and Jame's b-day at the restaurant

So it turns out...
I'M GOING TO JAPAN ON JULY 22!!!
I also have a list of people to notify before and after I get to Japan... friends, cell service, bank, host family, etc...

One of my crazy friends, Maciek, decided that I should have a "going-away" party. Funny thing is... I planned a day (this Monday) and he wasn't even available to attend. Unlike me, Maciek's job requires him to be there and not miss days left and right (unlike Roel). I have job security, Maciek doesn't, so he needs to work his shift and hopefully get promoted. So... my party is this upcoming Monday, I was thinking... Gameworks and eating out. After Maciek, I sent a message to Jason. Jason's first response is that he couldn't go because he's broke, thanks Jason. He apologized though. My unreliable friends, I can't blame them though, they go through something called "life," it's something I have yet to understand the concept of. I sadly, have no knowledge of responsibilities and independence. Those are the main things holding me back from "growing up." It's also the reason why I'm still childish and have the logic and reasoning abilities equivalent to a child.

Those two are out. I was on the verge of canceling my party. Then I got a response from Marvin and he's totally up for my party. He was a little disappointed when I nearly canceled the party. As long as one person is willing to go, the party is still open. That's one check for Marvin! Today I called Izzy, but I called from the restaurant phone and she didn't recognize the number so she didn't answer until my second call. I haven't talked to Izzy since ACen, it was nice to talk to her again. I told her about my party and she's available on Monday, yay! It's the first time that Izzy and I will hang out outside of ACen and Harold Washington College.

By the way, did you guys know I go to two colleges?
I switch back and forth between Wilbur Wright College and Harold Washington College. My grades are valid for both colleges and it transfers easily. Same school system, no hassle, it's like going to the same school in a different part of town.

So far, just Izzy and Marvin are available for my party.

Okay, when I get to Japan.......
I want to buy a lot of "Zoids!" My mind is set on buying toys! Zoids are my absolute favorite motorized model kits. They're like robotic animals and they walk and roar after you assemble them. They were popular in the States for a while then popularity declined and they ceased all productions of all the Zoids products. That made them really difficult to find, since they weren't sold anymore. The US only had certain Zoid releases, well... a few of them and Japan had all the exclusive ones. While I'm in Japan, I'm going to buy the Zoids I never could buy over here. Like the "Murasame Liger," it roars and swings a katana around as it walks. Or the "Shadow Fox," it has launching missiles. There's a rare one I want too, it's called the "Whitz Tiger: Imitate Edition," it sounds like a fake but it's not, in the Zoids series, the Whitz Tiger is a reflection of the Whitz Wolf, which is why it's called the imitate. It's a very detailed model, it's so beautiful. I want this Zoid so bad, I hope I'll find it in a shop somewhere in Japan. This is a picture of the box.

*whine* I WANT THIS ZOID SOOOOOO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really hope that I'll find this in Japan. Everyone says I'm too old for this... I DON'T CARE! I WANT THIS ZOID!!!

Current Mood: blank
Current Location: housing HQ

Entry tags:

Found One!

Everyone is probably wondering what Tessie found this time?

Okay, well... today was another ordinary day at work, the lunch shift is dead as usual. A customer steps in and tells me that he's alone so a "table for one." I noticed that the young man was carrying something familiar in his arm. I guided him to his seat and I pointed out, "Dude! Nice longboard!" He was a bit surprised when I said that, he replied, "What?! You actually know what this is?! Yeah, thanks, I just got it recently."

I FOUND A LONGBOARDER IN BATAVIA!!!

I just got into a little conversation with this guy, "Wow, that's really cool! And yeah I know it's a longboard, because my friend bought a custom longboard back in high school and he's a member of the 'Chicago Longboard Society.'" Then he asked me, "Do you know what shop your friend got his longboard from? I was thinking about getting a custom for myself." I told him, "I don't really know, my friend told me that he bought it from Michigan, but no details about the shop, sorry."

Now I should explain what a longboard is...
It basically looks like a skateboard, only bigger and longer. The material for the board is sturdy but really flexible. The trunks are larger and have a wider range of motion compared to a skateboard. The wheels are much bigger (double that of a skateboard) and made of a gummier softer translucent polymer. It's a bit of an underground sport. Not very many people practice this type of boarding nor do most people know about it. Finding other longboarders is like trying to win the lottery... very random and slim chances.

After the guy finished eating, he walked to the counter to pay for his lunch. I made a strange request after he finished paying. I said, "I have a strange request, can I take a picture of you with your longboard?" The guy said very happily, "Hahaha, why of course you can!"

Here he is!
The longboarder I found in Batavia. I so want to show this to Maciek. Maciek is still an active longboarder, I'm sure he'd enjoy hearing about how I found another longboarder. What I found strange in this picture... this guy's longboard is rather small. Every time I visit Maciek's house, I can see his longboard sitting in the corner of the basement. Maciek's longboard was definitely bigger than this one. It's a different shape too. Oh well, I need to ask Maciek about it then...

It was fun talking to this guy today. Unfortunately I didn't catch his name. I wonder if he'll stop by to eat again... In the future, I can probably give him the name of that custom longboard shop in Michigan. But I would need to ask Maciek first.

Until next time, bye for now.

Current Mood: bored
Current Location: Tusk Thai Cuisine

Entry tags:

"Too Much... A!"

I need to stop watching "We Got Married?!"
Crown J and his Atlanta obsession...

I've been suber busy lately! I almost have no time for LJ either. I need to be quick about this because I'm still at work, but I need to go into Chicago today, because of my insane schedule.

6/5   Santi and Chian's wedding
6/5   Catering for their wedding
6/6   Return to Batavia for work
6/7   Return to Chicago
6/8   Wondergirls/2PM concert
6/9   Go to work in Batavia
6/9   Commute back to Chicago
6/10 Skating lessons
6/10 Go to work in Batavia
6/16 Commute back to Chicago
6/17 Skating lessons
7/26 Leave for Japan...

My work schedule is still undecided. My feet are already bruised from working so much. Well, I need to work to have some spending money for Japan, even if it means I'll get lots of blisters. I'll work hard and try my best!

Regarding the wedding tomorrow, Miki went to go check out the banquet kitchen and I heard the landlady was really snippy about letting Miki use the banquet kitchen. She was concerned for liability issues and whether Miki was a professional or not. She kept saying she won't let non-professionals use the banquet kitchen. Really? She thinks Miki isn't a professional?! In order to handle food at all, you can't hire just anyone. Caterers need to have licenses to cook. Miki is a licensed and insured cook, she went to culinary school lady!!! That lady just took one look at Miki and said, "uh, no!" My guesses are... Miki forgot to mention that we are licensed under "Prangtipaya Inc." and the fact that we do own a restaurant. If that doesn't scream professional, then that lady is beyond stupid!

While all the wedding planners were over there, they were trying to haggle for a lower price to rent the banquet hall. Chian really wanted the price to be $1000, but the lowest that landlady would go is $2000. Someone made a comment that Santi refuses to admit that his fiancee is cheap. Chian's mother overheard and said, "NO... you no cheap, you rich... in mind!" Miki then said, "but I'm really cheap! I'm always on low budget!" Chian's mother kept saying, "Nooooo... you rich in mind!" Miki replied, "yeah, but I'm poor financially." Happiness within yourself is what makes you rich, not the amount of capital. Imagination goes a long way too. Chian's mother is awesome.

More about the wedding. I remember hearing stories about Santi's days as a model. He was really a model. He was in a lot of ads and magazines. I think I saw him in a "Johnny" magazine before, meh... it could've been my imagination(then again, it was confirmed). One of his modeling jobs was for "Levis." I only heard about one, but he's been in many things. I wonder what he does for a living now... Well, I'll get to see him tomorrow anyways. I wish Santi and Chian a long and happy marriage, best of luck to the happy couple!

Now... I must return to my relentless busy schedule. Oh, and I need to gather more intell on Japan.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: housing HQ

Entry tags:

Scarier Than I Thought.

Not only was the skating instructor frightening, but she was downright intimidating! She had a really mean looking face and she had a booming voice. Her teaching methods were questionable... it was along the lines of, "do this and I'll get back to you later." She was teaching two levels at the same time, on the same rink. She was going back and forth. I didn't feel like I learned very much because she didn't explain clearly enough and I had no idea if I was even doing it right because she kept leaving.

There were only two levels being taught today, pre-alpha and alpha levels. I was placed right between the two because I could definitely stand on my own, I can move, and I can brake, but I didn't know other basics like swiveling or strokes. Originally I was placed into pre-alpha, but then I was put on the spot in front of other classmates because I already knew how to skate. I felt like an outcast... I was the only person in hockey skates... everybody else had figure skates, but I still had to learn the same basics like everyone else. Today, I practiced strokes on both left and right skates. I didn't realize that skating took that much energy and power, I was worn out very quickly. My legs were hurting so much, so I sat down and removed the insoles from my skates, it does help. By the end of today, I'm not sure if I really learned anything today.

When I got back home, my roommate informed me that a package arrive for me. I got really excited and attacked the package. My roommate asked me, "AAA again?" I replied, "of course, what else would it be?" I opened the tube and there were my AAA posters from the "Heart to ♥ Tour." My roommate then said, "wow, so pretty." I went into my room and took my custom frame off the wall. I slipped one of the new posters into the frame and re-hung it on the wall above the bunkbed. My roommate then walked into my room and stared at the new poster. My roommate then started talking about AAA. I'll paraphrase because I despise my roommate's English. "I'm starting to like AAA, I can't help it, it's all because of you, it's AAA in your face, like AAA spam, your room is just loaded with AAA posters, calenders, CDs, pictures, products, and artwork. It's like I can't wake up without seeing that giant poster at my bedside. You are a true AAA fan and now I might become one too!" I said, "Oh yeah? You haven't seen my room when I had tons of KAT-TUN stuff. I still have that KAT-TUN flag I made, it's behind my bed." KAT-TUN didn't exactly meet with my expectations, so I had to let them go and move on to a different group to listen to. Like "Golf & Mike," I began to hate them because they were....... meh, I don't want to say it, I'll be nice, I won't destroy their fanbase just because I know the truth. It's information that people who know them in real life would know. Even though I don't like them, I'll keep my mouth shut for their sake.

Moving on to yesterday with Jason...
Okay, I invited Jason over yesterday. One reason is a secret(I promised not to say anything), the other reason is to watch the rest of "Love Exposure," and mainly to hang out. We were texting each other with plans, and I mentioned that I watched Jason's recommended drama, Shibatora. Jason then texted back saying that he never watched the SP because he couldn't find the subs. I told him that I had the subs. I was trying to get the hardsubbed one, but bitcomet was backfiring on me and refused to move, so I found the RAW of the Shibatora SP along with the softsubs. Then I worked on hardsubbing it myself since I couldn't get it earlier. I spent all night the day before, just hardsubbing that "special," with my own software. I'm an awesome friend, don't you think so Jason? The first thing we watched was my well worked on hardsubbed special which we watched on TV via the PS3. I need to show Marvin how to hardsub... "Thank you so much 'Querbeet' for the Shibatora SP and the softsubs, the hardsubbed video was unreliable so I took matters into my own hands for the sake of watching it with my friend, thank you again!"

After finishing Shibatora, we made a quick snack run to the gas station and continued our day by watching the rest of Love Exposure. Jason was very surprised by the randomness of the movie. Jason said it was so weird and there were so many hentai moments. But he did say the movie was "interesting." When we finished the first disc, I told him we should take a break, because Marvin still needs to watch the second disc too. We should save it for next time. Then we played Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Jason had told me that he played "Melee" at home, so I told him that the controls were exactly the same. We played for a few rounds and Jason was still trying to adjust. He wasn't getting so many KOs. After a while he started to get really good. We mostly played team battles because anyone playing against "me" alone... really has no chance of winning. By team battle I mean being put on the same team. It was fun, I don't get to play on teams that often, because everyone I play against always want to do a free-for-all. Yesterday was really fun. I ended up walking Jason to the blueline station and because of my horrible luck, it started pouring when we got to the station, which meant there was no chance of me walking back home. I then spent $3 on bus fare to get back home.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

Memorial Day.

I want to go to sleep, so I'll wrap this up quickly.
This morning my mom called Ex and invited him to our barbecue. Surprisingly, we he arrived, he brought the whole ACen group! I got to see Pete and Kris again, later Kris's sister, Kat, stopped by too.

We didn't do much. We played Zoids, Super Smash Bros. Brawl (which I still pown in), New Super Mario Bros, and a Dragonball Z game. Then we ate and watch some Suju variety shows. We watched for a short while. When I handed the PS3 remote to Kat... I had stuff prestored onto the system. I have a lot of shows on there. She selected most of the "Show King," WonderGirls, Big Bang, and Girls Generation stuff. That's all Miki's things. Because of that, we didn't get to continue playing games, I was disappointed.

Because I couldn't do anything, I was watching stuff off of my Calvary(eternal hard drive). I was showing the guys some random videos I got for fun, like Masi Oka beatboxing really well with Nakamaru. I showed them how cold and scary Hokkaido is in the winter. Akanishi went there with Nakamaru as a punishment trip. They froze their butts off in Hokkaido, such torture. I popped in my "Heart and Soul" DVD and watched the video. Pete became very interested in the video, he said he liked the rhythm and the visual. Pete said the overall style looked much cooler. I told him that the choreography is from the same guy that does Big Bang. Pete then said, Big Bang makes it look gay with all those glittery pink outfits, AAA pulls it off quite nicely with the black and blue, AAA had the better image, according to Pete. I then showed them "Otameshika, all the guys were so shocked about how pretty Nishijima was. They said they now fear to go to Japan... Kris, the same guy who happens to be a Shinjiro fan... He was watching the second round of Otameshika and he said that Nishijima was so hot and attractive as a girl. Kris was so mesmerized by how pretty Nishijima. I then pulled up a picture of Yukari and he snapped out of it and said, "ooh, hot girl! Me like." All of us laughed, "and so you've returned to us, Kris, poor confused Kris." Kris's inspiration for his admiration of Shinjiro and AAA all goes back to DEN-O...

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

ACen 2010: Sunday Coverage.

Today is the last day of ACen!
I'm going to cry because I wish ACen didn't have to end!
Like every year, I had a lot of fun and now I've become very exhausted. Everything hurts, I can't walk without limping. Being on your feet constantly makes you unableto walk properly for the next few days.

GAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
I JUST FOUND OUT YESASIA IS SCREWING ME OVER BY CANCELING MY ORDER AGAIN FOR THE 7TH TIME ALREADY!!!!!!!!! I do not find this to be amusing at all!

Back to ACen...
I woke up a little after 10am. I actually woke up earlier because Miki had to be mean and call me much earlier. Leave me alone, I went to bed at sunrise! Since Miki already woke me up, there was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep. I woke up shortly after the annoying phonecall. I got ready and ran out of the hotel.

I recorded quite a bit after leaving "aLoft." I walked into the convention center and met up with everyone. I told the boys that they need to hurry and shop quickly, because we need to check out of the hotel before they kick us out! I walked around with them for about half an hour, after that I chased them back to the hotel room to help me clean and pack up. We threw all the trash away, cleaned the floors, and packed up our con goodies. My dad soon arrived afterwards and I took all my stuff downstairs to load it into the car. I told the boys to take their bags down to the car while I checked out. Jason then walked into the hotel lobby looking for me because Shin forgot his CD player last night, I handed the CD player to Jason and then we all walked out to the convention center. The main rule for the boys is, they have 45 minutes to shop in the convention, once it was 1:10, they had to return to the car.

We all split up, except for me and Jason.
On the way to our continuation of our shopping, I happen to run into Roel! The last time I saw Roel was at Maciek's party.

I miss Roel too! He goes to ACen every year. I always run into him.
Roel is my friend from high school. After encountering Roel, I told him that Marvin was looking for him all weekend. I didn't see Roel all weekend. He was lost among the seas of people walking around the convention.

Here's the wood panel painting of "Okami."

It's so pretty. It was being sold in artists' alley. Artist alley is filled with artist selling their drawings, jewelry, artwork. I really love this panel painting, it's so cool!!! I really liked the video and the storyline.

Later, I bought this really sweet Gundam!!!!!!!!!

Check out my super awesome Gundam model!!!
.

I pick this model all on my own.
Last time I forced Ex to help me pick, because I couldn't choose on my one! I really like this Gundam. I already started building it but it's really time consuming. I only finished the head and body.

As we continued browsing around the merchant area, I took Jason to "Man in the Dress's" shop. That guy runs one of the two J-rock stores. His shop always has some neat dresses. There's a lot of books, pictures, dresses, and jewelry. All of the products in Man in the Dress's store are actually flown in from Japan by the owner. Everything is good quality. I only get to see him once a year, it's fun to see him every year. I hope there's a next year... I noticed that this year's exhibitor's hall is lacking in stores. I wonder what happened?! Jason found this really cool necklace at that store. It was really cool! It was a key with a crown on top. I took a picture of that necklace while it was on Jason.

Man in the Dress said it was a perfect fit! After paying for the necklace. The kind shop owner wanted to talk to Jason, they were talking about interesting things... But anways, he wanted to become friends with Jason. I've known Man in the Dress since my first con 4 years back. He's a really nice person. He really wanted to take a picture with Jason.

He is so awesome!!!

As for myself... I went a little crazy and bought some JE magazines, because I love those Johnnys. There were only a few shops at ACen that sold any JE magazines. The J-rock magazine was purchase because I miss checking out the different rockbands, I was curious as to how much the scene changed while I was away with AAA.

I got one J-rock magazine with Akanishi Jin on the cover, it has interviews from his recent moive, "Bandage" and it comes with some UVERworld interviews and also some Gackt posters. My Wink up magazine was filled with nothing but Jrs. What is going on? But at least it had an Arashi poster and a NewS poster included. I was randomly flipping through the Wink up magazine and I came across an article about "Tumbling" and some of the actors, it was interesting.
Check this out:

The first article is on Koji,

The next page was Yusuke:

Jason really liked Yusuke's hair and asked who this person is. To his surprise, Yusuke was in a few dramas too. A well-known drama, Hana Kimi! I told Jason that this guy was the ghost boy from Hana Kimi. Jason was very surprised, he said Yusuke looks different from back then.

Today I bough a lot of figurines!
I got to K-ON figurines because it's super cute!!!!!!

I also bought tons of the "One Piece: Strong World" figurines too!!!

As you can tell, I dished out a lot of money on these, I almost have the complete set.]

I had a lot of fun at this years anime convention!!!!!!!
I'm so sad that I must return to civilization...
WHY CAN'T ACEN LAST LONGER?!
It's the only thing I look forward to that isn't my birthday! ACen is just once a year and I never get tired of it. Now I'm super excited about ACen 2011, I hope it will be another great convention...
ACEN HAS COME TO AN END!!!!!!
My posts will return to normal!!!!

Until next time, bye again!

Current Mood: bored
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

2 Days, New Skates!

My old customized AAA skates actually broke a while ago. The buckle clasp broke and my skates won't keep my foot secure anymore because of it. The actual buckle mechanism broken too, which makes it difficult to tighten my skates. I use recreational hockey type skates, so I never really need to lace mine up like Miki's figure skates.

Like I said before, I prefer speed over showing off. Skating fast is just as peaceful as skating slowly. It's quiet, there's no one around to tell you what to do, and it's a nice feeling to let the cold air hit your face. When I skate fast, everything around me becomes a blur... I can easily imagine just myself on the ice, I'm free to glide around without worries. Skating is very soothing, it's a good thing skating will cure just about anything for me. Random fact for today, I just found out that there are a ton of ice rinks popping up in Thailand because of the Korean and Japanese Olympic medalists for ice skating. I found it a bit ridiculous because Thailand has never participated in any winter sport competition and they never will. I'm only laughing about this because they CAN train for winter sports(even though it's summer all year round), our teams can head a few miles up north to China and train there (China gets snow, Thailand doesn't), but they choose not too. They have the sudden urge to get into winter sports now?! It's a plus for me because when I visit, I can bring my skates. I can go skating at "SUB-Zero" or at "Siam Discovery." Building ice rinks in a place where the people have never seen ice in a large mass...

Well, here are my new wonderful skates I ordered that finally arrived.

These are really nice skates!!!
They actually fit right. My previous pair of skates were one size too small. These skates cost a bit more than my old ones, but it's worth it. They're nice and wide, perfect for my wide peasant(rice field farmer's feet) feet. These "comet" model skates are built to last, the actual blades are supposed to be more "indestructible" than my old skates. I don't believe that lie, but if they meant the carbon steel is of higher quality, then that makes sense. The blade on my old skates have nicks and chips in them. Having any deformity on the blades is actually dangerous because the blade balance and surface friction is thrown off. Does anyone think I'm dumb for buying my new skates at pretty much what is now the end of skating season?!

I might finally get to learn how to use an advanced brake and possibly crossovers!!! Miki suggested that I take lessons. I then argued, "hey wait a minute!!! I would be the only one in that class who would be wearing hockey skates, everyone else would have figure skates!!!" Miki then said, "good point! But that's why there's also a special class that teaches hockey basics, like drills, braking, protective skating and crossovers!" I wouldn't want to get into hockey, but I'm definitely interested in learning the different brakes and techniques. I will finally be able to take revenge on MIKE!!! I WILL FINALLY LEARN HOW TO USE THE ADVANCED BRAKE!!!

I only went to school for a short while today, since finals are done with, I don't really have to go to class. I hung out with one of my friends, we chilled in the computer lab. I showed her the first episode of "Delicious Gakuin." I started her off on the first part of episode 1, but she wanted to read her fanfics so she forgot I opened the page for her. I pointed out to her that the cabbage guy is awesome because he has super powers! As most people usually are when they first watch Delicious Gakuin, she was very confused and was culture shocked, it was her first dorama, she had never seen one before. Not only that, but Delicious Gakuin is a really fast paced show, a lot of stuff goes on at once, so she was quite confused. She kept asking questions, I tried to answer them as best as I could without revealing any spoilers.

"Cow... Beef... Moo..."

When the principal made his appearance, she was even more confused, she paused it and asked me, "The principal's a cow?! Please tell me the principal is really a demonic cow statue!!! Come on, there is some demonic forces at work here!!! The principal is totally a demon, THE EYES GLOW!!! Is he even human?!" I answered, "NO! No demons in this show(although questioning Rouma's savage nature towards hunger), the principal is not a demon! That cow shield/statue thing is a multipurpose recording device, surveillance camera, and intercom..." But my friend... "Are you sure???" *suspicious glare* Yes I'm sure, but he doesn't make an appearance until much later.

Anyways... dinner...
I had a very simple dinner today, because no one was around to make me anything and there wasn't really anything in the fridge to eat. I ate what my mom left me which was unagi and rice with a side of seaweed salad.

Does anyone know how long mochi lasts??? I have a piece that has been sitting in the living room for almost a week, still in the packaging, unopened. Oh well I don't care, I've eaten almost every type of mold, I have a high bacteria tolerance, I can eat anything without getting sick. I'll try to eat that mochi tomorrow if I don't forget. I just hate the idea of wasting food, which is why I'm not picky at all.

Marvin said he was going to pick up his ACen badge on Thursday, because he wants to beat the Friday wait. I gave him the opening time, I hope he gets there early enough to register quickly. I'm guessing I won't even see him at school tomorrow. Good luck Marvin! See you at Acen and no I will not charge you for hanging out in my hotel room, I'm only mean and overcharge my roommate for hotel since my roommate doesn't pay rent for staying in my room(at home). Haha! We could all get together and watch "Ai no Mukidashi." But we'd need to chase the kids out of the room first. It would be me, Jason, Marvin, and Isabelle. I'm hoping Samuel won't crash our movie night.

Until next time, bye for now.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

4 Days, Filled With Joy, Happiness, and Deliciousness!!!

I'm so excited!!!! ACen is 4 days away. I've been studying my math, I will surely get more than 40% on the math final! I know I can! But... I'm not done with my online test and homework yet. It's almost midnight, but maybe as long as I turn it in before class starts I should be fine.

I finally got my awesome USB flash drive. It came in!
THANK YOU ARATA-SENPAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so happy you actually went through the trouble of buying it for me. I love my Falcon Bloody Monday USB card, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! The USB card is so cool, it looks just like the card from the Bloody Monday drama!!! The best part is.... it works on my computer!!!!!!! The description from the Japanese website stated that the flash drive only worked on Japanese computers. I proved that wrong, it works on mine!

This USB flash drive is really cool, an exact replica of Falcon's USB!

It operates normally on my computer, so I don't see why the website said Japanese only?

It's so awesome, it has Falcon's infamous logo etched into it.

It's so metallic and shiny!!! It's really light weight!
My favorite feature of the flash drive is the fact that the USB port is retractable!

This is the other side of the flash drive with the USB port retracted.

Just like from the drama, it has the motto "SAVE THE DATA," it's a spin off of another term used with the drama, "SAVE THE EARTH" which is the name of Bloody Monday's OST. This Falcon USB is exclusive only to Japan!!! I'm so lucky to actually own this! These are made in limited quantities, so they're limited edition! I've been wandering on the web and different forums/communities, apparently every Bloody Monday fan is trying to get their hands on this Falcon USB. But the main issue for them is finding an online store that sold them and if they did find a store, they need to be a resident of Japan to even buy it. I've tried looking for US dealers to make it a little easier, but to no avail. I was only able to get my Falcon USB because of senpai.

I'm glad Arata is my friend, not just for getting things from Japan for me, but when she still lived in Chicago, I was happy to have someone like her to hang out and talk with. Arata was kind and listened to my stories about my dark past and even though I revealed who I was in the past, Arata still excepted me. Arata once told me that people make mistakes and people do horrible things in their past, but as long as you are the person I know and became friends with now, in the present, then I have no right to judge you based on who you "were," because I like you as who you "became." You learned from your mistakes and you made yourself into who you are now, that is why you are my friend and that is why you are a good person. After I heard Arata's small speech I actually cried a little, it made me so happy to hear Arata say that, I cried tears of joy. I told Arata this before she left but, she was the one who pulled me out of darkness, she was the one who brought my smile back. I've felt betrayed on so many occasions, I thought I would never be able to trust anyone again...(oh no, I'm starting to cry) then Arata came along and showed me that there are still some great people out there in the world. I was able to smile again because of Arata, for so long, there hasn't been a person who has shown me such kindness to my self-proclaimed undeserving self. Meeting Arata in art class was a blessing.

Anyways *wiping tears* moving on...
Okay, so I started working on packing my stuff for my stay at the "aLoft Hotel" nearby the anime convention. I'm staying for two nights, but I have to pack enough things for three days. I packed a lot of things! Everything for my survival needs, all in my suitcase. I AM PREPARED FOR ACEN!!!!!!!!!! Check out the contents of my suitcase... THIS IS HOW TESSIE PACKS FOR A TRIP!!!

Immediate reaction from when my friends saw my suitcase was,
"Oh Tessie........" *face-palm smack*

Food is the ultimate necessity for ACen! Hey, there IS clothes pack in there for your information, it's in the upper portion of my suitcase! Yes, I packed a AAA shirt... Well I have clothes in the pouch. The rest is the food I will be living off of. And yes food is uber important!!! I even have an electric kettle to make hot water for ramen! My many wonderful snacks and drinks can be seen arranged neatly in my suitcase. I have ramen, canned ravioli, pop tart, cheetos, oreos, root beer, different cookies, and there's a kit-kat bar buried under all of that somewhere. Hey I think I forgot to pack my toothbrush? I'm ready for ACen!!! I know I won't starve! Hey now! If this is what I pack for 3 days, imagine how crazy I pack for an overseas trip that will last for weeks?!

I'm off to continue studying and prepare any other last minute ACen related things like panel scheduling, I know I'm going to the para para panel!

Until next time, bye for now!

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

6 Days, Me and My Randomness, Thanks to a Certain Friend!

6 days until ACen people, how ya holding up?!
I'm studying my butt off today!!!!

Okay....... I might have completed watching "Delicious Gakuin" today.... Leave me alone people, what can I say... Its awesome and its a funny show!!! But now... the visual of Rouma spanking Matthew's ass is a bit disturbing... OMURICE DANCE = BEST THING EVER!!!! I am having too much fun right now...

Anyways, as I was studying, I signed into my AIM.... guess who I saw, yup... Marvin! He tells me I'm not on the net much. Ha! In your face!

I was talking with him about random topics. We eventually got into topics regarding Asian, then it dove into Japanese stuff. Eventually... we were talking about hentai and the industry. How on earth did I get into a conversation about hentai?! Thanks a lot Marvin!!! I'm kidding it was my fault for even starting on this topic... So here I am talking about random hentai stuff... Don't get me wrong, I'm into that kind of stuff. It only came up because I mentioned "Ai no Mukidashi. (Love Exposure)" Yep people, you know what I'm talking about! All of us love that movie, it was awesome... disturbing but awesome!!! Nishijima's role of course, was the highlight of the movie. My favorite scene was after he graduated from upskirt photography, well... the part where he goes all psycho and slices everyone up is cool too! That one scene of him smacking his crotch looked really weird. He obtained more fans through the movie. Maybe if his buddy Shinjiro were in a movie, he might get super popular too... OH WAIT HE DOES HAVE A MOVIE. AAA is getting better and better as far as cinema! As everyone knows, Sion Sono's latest work has been considered one of the best "epic hentais" since the movie is nearly 4 hours long. Still though I was talking to Marvin about hentai, that still cracks me up!!!!!!!!

I own "Ai no Mukidashi" on DVD with subs... the movie is seriously epic. Marvin needs to watch part of it sometime. This movie is awesome, I took film class, I would know!!!

Here I am "studying," not!
I really should be...
I'll get to it... eventually...

That's enough randomness for one day!!!
Until next time, bye for now!!!
I know you're reading this, Marvin!

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Chicago

Entry tags:

7 Days, Time is Tickin, T-Time is Tickin Tickin.

Yes, time is ticking indeed!
The entry title is the most famous quote from "Epik High's" song "One." I also use it as a message notification on my cellphone. Time is ticking because ACen IS A WEEK AWAY!!! I always get hyped up for my favorite Anime con! One week away, it didn't seem too long ago that I made a post that was marked at 40 days. Now, there's 7 days left!

Main topic today, besides studying vigorously for my math final, I'm hating the statistics chapter right now! Sorry, main topic... for the longest time I have finally returned to "FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER." It's been almost two years since I last saw them... my self-made family. FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER is considered at least to one of the members as this exclusive dinning society... I've been unable to attend for almost two years because I've been busy at work. There's no one else to run the restaurant, because of that, I haven't been able to go to FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER. We actually have a Facebook page!!! It's where all the FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER MEMBERS stay connected.(I still hate Facebook, so I don't have an account)

Miki's over at the stove making some delicious pasta with Italian sausage, so yummy! Unfortunately... I ate all of my pasta before I could get a picture, oops... But yeah, Miki and I usually cook for everyone.

To me, it's more of a nice gathering of people who have moved to Chicago to fulfill their dreams and left their real families behind. Since none of them have a family to really eat with, we all meet up once a week, every Friday. Our self-made family is made up of different people with different backgrounds and occupations. They've all known each other for years. Some were classmate, others were roommates at one point, some were friends of friends which then became our friend, and some were high school friends.

Left to right: Jeffrey, Kapan, Bill, Christoper, Carl.
Members not pictured: Buffy, Yasuko-san, Robert, Gretchen, Nathan, Miki, Hachi, Monty.

With my self-made family, since I'm the youngest, I'm the child. They all give me advice about life, sometimes it's about things I shouldn't do or sometimes its about very random facts I don't need know about. They share their wisdom with me, but I usually ignore the weird advice, for example.... Bill once said, "Never attempt to jump over a bonfire when you're surrounded by gay guys, you get badly burned in many ways." Everyone in my self-made family is nicer than my real family. I can actually tell them secrets and what's on my mind. My self-made family even supports my dreams, they agreed that I could become an artist or cinematography, as long as it makes me happy. They even comfort me when I feel troubled. My real family just shouts nasty things and makes it worse, along the lines of "cry it off you big baby, no one cares about you, heck, I don't care about you, you're not even worth my time, useless child." For most of my life I've always been insulted by my mother. I have issues with my mother, which is why I'm closer to my self-made family and trust them more. My self-made family never yells, insults, or beats me senseless. Those are the main differences between my families. My self-made family... they aren't just friends, they're family to me!

You could say I had a traumatizing childhood and it has screwed up my view on real families... To me... real families are the artificial families, not self-made families. But that's just my opinion based off my own horrible childhood experiences.

Anyways, check out what's left of this viciously attacked red velvet cake.

It was so good, Miki's baking skills are the best!!!

I've skipped out on this week's shift of work, I have to study and finish my remaining homework for math. That final is next Tuesday! I need to study for that final, my grade is between a "B" and "C." I need to go to sleep now, but tomorrow I will try to get as much done as possible.

Until next time, bye again.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: housing HQ

Entry tags:

13 Days, Great to Hear from Senpai.

This morning I made a disturbingly profound discovery...
Which I refuse to talk about because I do not wish to ruin my mood.
I wish to remain silent for fear of incriminating another...
I PLEAD THE FIFTH!!!!

Work was absolutely boring today!!!
Waste of my time, they totally did not need me today, I don't know why they bother.
Earlier today I requested Miki to bring my i-pod plug that I use for my i-turtle.
So, on the way back to Lake in the Hills, I plugged my i-pod into the car radio... and I blasted AAA's "FIELD" in the car, that was so fun. After FIELD, "Crying Freeman" was the next song. My aunt said, "ohhhh he has such a sexy voice... this Shinjiro kid." I was thinking "why do you have an obsession with Shinjiro???" She said Naoya's voice was sexy too, when she heard "Soul Edge Boy"(no argument there). Nevermind, my aunt also likes the boys in "2PM." She just really likes hot and sexy singers...

Moving on...
Arata(my senpai) e-mailed me today.
It was regarding my Falcon USB card order. She finally sent it over today, the shipping was only 260yen, so cheap and the package will arrive in 5-10 days. I'm so happy, my awesome USB will arrive soon!!! I'm so excited. Senpai also e-mailed me some lovely pictures! The cherry blossoms are in bloom and they're sooooooooo beautiful!!!!! Now I really wanna go to Japan!!!

Look at these beautiful pictures:

Front row, third person... Arata-senpai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at how beautiful the sakura petals are just floating around in the pond!
Arigatou senpai!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We miss you Arata-senpai, please come visit us in Chicago soon.
OR I could always make a trip out to Japan this year!!!
Yeah!!!! Going to Japan would be fun, wouldn't it?!

Another thing....
Why was everyone talking about food today?The torture, now I'm hungry!
Talking about food is great, but I don't like the side effects... aka "hunger."
Minna, thank you for showing me such wonderful delicious foods!!!
I love your love for food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This totally made my day!!!!

Until next time, bye again!

Current Mood: bored
Current Location: housing HQ

Entry tags:

14 Days, Painful Yet Interesting Day.

I did wake up kinda late, though unintentionally.
It felt nice to sleep in because I've been having a rough week, I've been so busy that it's making me tired. Like I said, "I haven't been living."

I woke up and I made myself a rather large bowl of bacon ramen.
As if I couldn't get any unhealthier, I made BACON RAMEN!!!

It was so good and yummy.
Although, Miki always disapproves of me cooking this... as she eats half of the bowl's contents. I love Miki so much... "this can't be good for you, *gobble* you should cut down on the bacon, *slurp* I know it's delicious, *chew* but you should think about the calories in this *dives into bowl*" My usual response, "uhh... Miki... can I have MY ramen back now???" Miki then usually says, "it's my right as a sister to eat a majority of your delicious food."

Yes, the ramen was devoured for breakfast and it was DELICIOUS!!!
After breakfast, I had to go check out LJ because Jason wrote something and I totally forgot(I was really busy too) to write a response to him. So I went back and wrote back to Jason, but the majority of it was an apology. I felt really bad, he posted something important and I missed it for nearly two weeks. Jason also responded to one of my entries, the one about video similarities. There was this one incident where the music video for Otsuka Ai's Planetarium was thought to be plagiarized from Rikki's Suteki da Ne. It turned out that Ai did it as an homage to Rikki's video. But if you take a look at the two videos, they're practically the same.

After dealing with writing to Jason I went to go check out some stuff.
Shinjiro looks so badass with that square between his fingers, it's so bad, yet he's soooooo hot. I can't help it, that is smexy!!! I also read up on some blog translations, as fun as ever. I commented, end. I had to go to work... again, I have no time to do anything.

At work... it wasn't so busy. My job... everyone knows what my job is. I just stand all day. There were a lot of carry out orders. I felt like I was on the phone all day. I was taking care of customers at the counter, my roommate was being too slow, so most customers came to me to pay for their meal. Even though it wasn't as busy as a regular Friday, there was still a lot going on. I wasn't able to breathe at one point and I became very dehydrated. I walked to the back to pour myself some water. We store purified water in a 5 gallon barrel. I picked up the barrel to pour myself a glass when my fingers slipped.... and I dropped the 5 gallon barrel of water on my foot... A 5 gallon barrel of water is about 41 pounds of water. I DROPPED A 41 POUND BARREL OF WATER ON MY FOOT!!! I immediately bit my lip to prevent myself from screaming in pain. I limped across the room while still biting my lip to get some ice for myself. Fortunately I didn't break anything, but that REALLY HURT!!!!!

The end of the workday was drawing near, so I took my little break an hour before closing time. I sat down and pulled out my laptop. I went on the internet and I was looking at a picture of Shinjiro(my previous window open). My aunt who was nearby, walked up to me and looked at my screen. My aunt then asked, "who is that young man, is that your boyfriend, why haven't I met him yet?" I replied "he's a Japanese singer, his name is Shinjiro and hey, he is not my! ..." My aunt replied, "okay, I understand, but he's so cute and handsome... are you sure you aren't lying about the part where you said he was a singer, but he really is your boyfriend?" My angry response, "GAH!!!! enough already! why would I lie about that?" My aunt said, "fine then, but that boy is IRRESISTIBLE..." *giggles and walks away* It was slightly disturbing to hear my aunt say Shinjiro was irresistible... She jokes too much...

And here I am back from work and talking about my strange day. Now, why in the world would my aunt assume Shinjiro is my boyfriend? That will forever be a mystery, but my aunt also thinks she's funny. Strange sense of humor. My foot is kind of healed, a little bruised, but I'll manage. Too many things happened today, but it's too much to fit into words. So that's all I have for today.

Until next time, bye for now.