Merry Christmas~

I don't celebrate Christmas anymore, but for those who do, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Nodame Cantible Movie

I was extremely pleased with the movie. I was so excited watching it. The music was fantastic. I'm still not a big fan of Tamaki Hiroshi, but he did a good job on this movie. Too bad it's only the first part of the movie. The next installment is coming out 4/19/2010. I'll have to wait half a year before it's out, but I guess it's worth it. Right now my Japanese really sucks. I could only understand perhaps 30~40%. I hope to be able to know about 80-90% when the next movie comes out. Oh, I laughed so hard when they did Bolero. They did a fantastic job making it terrible. I couldn't stop laughing. Lol. I think I might see it again. XD

Ohoku movie

Just read that Ninomiya Kazunari is starring in Ohoku. The movie is based on a Yoshinaga Fumi. I'll have to check out the manga then. Hmm, it seems this will be the second film Ninomiya will star in that is based on a manga. Should be interesting. I think he's a great actor. Looking forward to it.

TV!

I got the TV to work on this computer. I needed to put in this B-CAS card into the back of the computer, which I had no idea when I first opened the package. It took me two trips to Akiba to finally realize how this stupid TV tuner worked on the computer. Anyway, now it works, so I'm super excited! I get to watch all the Christmas specials coming out at this time, and also my favorite Japanese band on TV!!!! XD

Quick update

• Dinner with dorm friends 12/19

So, I went to dinner with two of the girls living in this dorm. I must say I had a great time. I spoke a lot of Japanese, which was good because it gave me some practice. They're both really supportive of me trying to speak as both of them are struggling to learn English, so we all kind of know how it feels to be inferior while learning a language. Anyway, little by little I'm improving, but I still have a long way to go. I hope by the time I graduate from this language school, I'll be where I want to be. Anyway, it was enjoyable eating a talking in Japanese. Makes me want to work harder to learn the language.

• Movie rental

I always get nervous when it comes to speaking Japanese. God, signing up for this movie rental card was so nerve wracking... I thought I was going to faint by the time I got done signing up. Thankfully the guy was really nice and didn't mind me standing there looking like an idiot trying to figure out how to sign up. I'm glad I brought my alien card, though at first I didn't know he was asking for a picture ID. Thankfully he had some paper that pointed to picture ID, so I gave it to him so that I could sign up. God I feel absolutely idiotic at times, but I was able to rent a movie. I rented the latest Harry Potter because I didn't see it when I was in the States. So, this is my chance to see it now. I was tempted to buy the blu-ray version, but it was frickin expensive. Plus, I wanted to make sure that I like the movie before buying it, and so a nerve-wracking 30 minutes of trying to sign up for this video rental can only make me laugh now. Oh the things I experience while here...

Living a Dream?

It's about two and a half months since I left the US to come live in Japan. Through this whole time, I've felt like I've been living a dream. I get to eat whatever I want and buy whatever I want. Of course I put restrictions on myself as the money I'm spending is my parent's money. I feel extremely blessed. I know there are more hardships to come in life, but for right now, I guess I just want to live this dream for a little while longer. I'm glad I got the chance to come to Japan to learn Japanese. I can only hope that I do something useful with it in the future.

Thoughts Before Bed...

• Japanese

I just keep trudging through... I'm not really sure if I'm getting anywhere at the moment. I guess time will only tell. I wish I could learn a little faster, but I guess these things take time. I hate the waiting time of processing what I learn, or more like it's frustrating that I can't remember everything in my head. Well, I guess I'll just keep moving along. Hopefully by April I will attempt my first translating project. I initially wanted to do it at the end of this year, but I'm finding huge gaps in my learning. The intermediate at this school is very different from college intermediate, so there's some review, but a lot of new stuff that I'm learning here, in college, they'd say "Oh, you'll learn that later...." Hopefully this class will fill in all the gaps that I had in college.

• Shopping

It's getting colder here... I bought two long sleeved shirts. I really liked the color. I bought white and pink because I couldn't decide which color was better. They're really soft and warm. I'm glad I bought them.

I also bought face-wash and moisturizer from Shiseido. I actually had a skin test done, and apparently, I have really nice skin. I'm happy that they said I have nice skin. I just need to take better care of it... It feels really good to have a nice clean face before bed. Glad I bought them. They are going to last me for a while.

• Friends

I never really thought I would ever be able to have close friends in real life. For most of my life, I've always had acquaintances, or they felt like superficial friendship. I've always been jealous of people who had close relationships with someone else who did everything together. Somehow, things changed over the past two years. It's such a weird feeling that even though we're so far apart, they know I still care about them, and we still can talk about practically anything no matter where we are. I think I found true friends in my life, and to be honest, I am very content with it. I used to think that life wouldn't be complete without someone other than family physically beside me, but that only makes more empty relationships. Well, they aren't exactly empty, but they aren't people that I can open up to about my problems and my life. The interesting thing is I talk to these friends mainly through the internet because we can't see each other anymore. I'm glad I have the internet because without them, my life wouldn't be complete. I don't feel lonely in life because I have them in my life. I know I will always have my family, but I have been yearning for good friends in my life, and know I found it. *huggles her 3 good friends*

Ok, time for bed. I've been tired all day... Today was fun walking around Roppongi. Very ritzy and affluent area, so not a place I'd want to live. Plus, there are about 20 embassies in the area... kind of scary politically. I think I have an idea which area I want to live, but I need to do a little more research. I'm thinking of probably moving in April if possible. I think that'd be a good time to move unless I have opinions telling me otherwise. Well, we'll see. *Yawns and slips into her fluffy down comforter... ZzzZZzzz*