As I write this I am watching my only Christmas tradition: Mystery Science Theater 3000's Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (ETA: actually right now I'm at the end of Die Hard for about the 400th time. I started writing earlier and am finishing up). I've never been any big fan of Christmas movies and after I found out that this one existed (complete with more Road House references than I ever could ask for), my Christmas viewing dilemma was solved.
I woke up this morning... er, this afternoon actually (it was past 12) not entirely sure what day it was. It's the first time in my life I've been able to sleep past about 7:30 on Christmas morning (I have a little brother who continues to be as he was even into his mid-20s... Hi, Kenji!), so the fact I wasn't groggy and wanting another couple of hours of sleep also threw me. Heh, reminds me of the Christmas I set my brother's alarm clock several hours behind to make him think it was about 2 or 3 in the morning instead of after 6 (the time when I'd usually get someone in my room telling me to get up) and got in trouble for being a Scrooge. WORTH IT. It's also freaking sunny and about 50 degrees out in Yokohama today, so pardon my confusion. Oh, and perhaps I also downed more than a couple screwdrivers at a Christmas Eve party last night. In sum, I had more than a few factors working against me.
I woke up this morning... er, this afternoon actually (it was past 12) not entirely sure what day it was. It's the first time in my life I've been able to sleep past about 7:30 on Christmas morning (I have a little brother who continues to be as he was even into his mid-20s... Hi, Kenji!), so the fact I wasn't groggy and wanting another couple of hours of sleep also threw me. Heh, reminds me of the Christmas I set my brother's alarm clock several hours behind to make him think it was about 2 or 3 in the morning instead of after 6 (the time when I'd usually get someone in my room telling me to get up) and got in trouble for being a Scrooge. WORTH IT. It's also freaking sunny and about 50 degrees out in Yokohama today, so pardon my confusion. Oh, and perhaps I also downed more than a couple screwdrivers at a Christmas Eve party last night. In sum, I had more than a few factors working against me.
However, now that I'm awake and mostly functional (also delaying on going for a run because despite the fact I'm not in the States, that holiday weight is sneaking up on me and I need to at least try to mitigate the effects of tasty eats - ETA: done and done), I'm reflecting on my first Christmas alone, as is my wont. If the story of my life had were an album cover or movie poster, it would probably look like this:
It's an annoying question especially when in most instances it all means nothing. I'm fairly certain that even this first solo Christmas doesn't mean much of anything either since it's more circumstance and ticket prices keeping me from going home. And it's not like this is the first Christmas my family has spent away from each other (and given current trends, I don't know that it will be the last). But even in knowing this, I still insist on finding meaning in this Pauly Shore movie, and as you can tell, my conclusions are pretty flimsy and pointless. And as I said in a previous post, this is always a difficult time of the year for me and my thoughts are likewise jumbled and cloudy. And for some reason my left eye has been twitching non-stop for about a week now. I'm done with classes, I'm done with applications, and though I have a journal submission hanging over my head, I really shouldn't be suffering from any kind of anxiety. It's like I'm stressed out about something I don't even know I'm stressed out about. Again, I blame the time of year. I think this quote from The X-Files' episode "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" sums it up pretty well:
It's an annoying question especially when in most instances it all means nothing. I'm fairly certain that even this first solo Christmas doesn't mean much of anything either since it's more circumstance and ticket prices keeping me from going home. And it's not like this is the first Christmas my family has spent away from each other (and given current trends, I don't know that it will be the last). But even in knowing this, I still insist on finding meaning in this Pauly Shore movie, and as you can tell, my conclusions are pretty flimsy and pointless. And as I said in a previous post, this is always a difficult time of the year for me and my thoughts are likewise jumbled and cloudy. And for some reason my left eye has been twitching non-stop for about a week now. I'm done with classes, I'm done with applications, and though I have a journal submission hanging over my head, I really shouldn't be suffering from any kind of anxiety. It's like I'm stressed out about something I don't even know I'm stressed out about. Again, I blame the time of year. I think this quote from The X-Files' episode "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" sums it up pretty well:
LYDA: Now, who is filled with hopelessness and futility on Halloween? Christmas comes but once a year.
MAURICE: You're right. These two do seem pretty miserable. We need to show them just how lonely Christmas can be.
LYDA: Now that's the old Yuletide spirit!
Mulder and Scully do get a happy ending, though, at least in this episode (ETA: watched that too. I'm just full of holiday references today). The second X-Files movie is an entirely different story.
And so to distract myself, I've been planning the rest of my winter break as well as putting Santa hats on random images like this one:
Sorry, Carly, I may or may not have borrowed the jpeg of this picture from Wilson. But he looks so festive now! Aoki-sensei is the Spirit of Christmas.
As for my plans for winter break, I think I'm being a bit too ambitious with the amount of stuff I'm doing. I'm pretty much making up for all the travel I haven't done since I first got here. When I first started thinking about break, it seemed like the distance between the last day of classes (December 22nd) and my mom's arrival (January 5th) was interminably long and I had to do something with it. At first there was talk of doing a trip overseas, but that eventually evolved into a few days in Okinawa during the time I'll be in Kyoto with my mom (thanks guys :P), so I had to come up with something on my own. I know someone through Brandon who lives in Kobe and decided to take couple of days to visit her there before the New Year. Presumably she'll be with her family for お正月 and I didn't want to be in the way. However, this was about the time I sent an e-mail to my host parents asking if it was OK for my mom and company to stop by on January 8th, and through a coincidence I can only think was 以心伝心, my host mom sent a message to my phone asking what I was doing for Christmas/New Years. Being the overzealous idiot that I am, I was like I KNOW, I'LL DO NEW YEARS JAPAN STYLE and made a date to go to Nagoya on the December 30th from Kobe. I figured I would stay in Nagoya until either the 2nd or the 3rd; I haven't quite bought tickets yet.
My mom and her friend Karen will come in the January 5th, and then my friend Tina will arrive on January 6th, and after that will be a tour of Japan that will include Nagoya (again!), Kyoto, Hiroshima and Hakone for a Fuji viewing. Speaking of Fuji, KT pointed out to me where I can actually see Fuji-san in my neighborhood, and when I was out running earlier I saw it outlined against the sunset. Made me think of this Hokusai ukiyo-e of Fuji:
Naturally I didn't see it in this detail, but I was pretty excited about it. Anyway, I'll be traveling pretty much until the day that school starts on January 17th. I expect to be completely worn out. Did I mention that the way I'm getting around in my Kobe-Nagoya excursion is by night bus? I can't imagine I'll be sleeping very well on those legs of the trip, but I'll do what I can. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm doing this to myself (it's not like I'm rolling on money here either, though at least the night bus is cheap), but it'll be an interesting experience nonetheless. I'm excited about doing a Japanese New Year, and since I'll be with my host parents I'm sure to be well fed. I can't argue with that.
And somehow in these next couple of weeks I need to cram in 20+ pages of grammar review, look-up Japanese academic articles pertaining to my field of research, and also write a 2-3 page summary of my research focus. It's going to be a disaster. However, the good news is that in our individual interviews at the end of the quarter my sensei (the one in the Santa hat above) said that I've made really good progress across the board. He also seemed particularly impressed with the presentations I gave this quarter, and I explained that it was a deliberate move to take on harder topics and try to write like a Japanese person. My speaking still leaves things to be desired (particularly when giving presentations since I still read pretty much straight off the page), but at least I can kinda sorta communicate with my mouth words now. Further, he asked if there was anything I thought the program could do better, and I rattled off more than a couple of things that needed improvement. I won't go into them here, but believe me I've bitched a good deal about my afternoon class this quarter and try to relay those complaints to him in a much more diplomatic fashion. It's also great Japanese is a difficult language to swear in: removes temptation.
Other than that, this last week has been pretty much just hanging out with people and releasing some of that end-of-the-quarter tension at izakayas, karaoke boxes, and house parties. Last Friday was a shit show of 飲み放題 and karaoke, and Saturday was Carly's Christmas party (I really had to glue myself together to get out the door to keep my commitment). The party was fun and hilarious given Carly's brilliant idea to frame the above picture of Aoki-sensei (minus the Christmas hat) and use it in the Secret Santa. I unfortunately didn't partake, but there was quite the battle royale between Wilson and Josh to get that picture. Josh eventually got it. However, the picture managed to turn up in Wilson and my locker during the week and when I saw it I literally stood there for 5-10 seconds like WHAT THE FUCK? Then I realized Aoki-sensei could very well be standing behind me, yelped, and slammed my door squeaking "危ない！危ない" ("That's dangerous!") to Josh and Wilson who were both standing nearby. Ridiculous.
Tuesday I ended up at yet another 金の蔵 Jr. (it's the name of a cheap chain of izakayas) for 飲み会 and perhaps had a few more than I had intended at the start of the night. Still, it was good fun. Wednesday was the school sponsored 忘年会 (literally "forget the year party"), but by that point I think we were all worn out and everyone was pretty sedate. Still, I made the mistake of giving my camera to Speed, who has to be the most demanding photographer I've ever met. Theme photographs of everyone, and one top of that he twisted Aoki-sensei's arm into being in photos with pretty much every student in our morning class. And he wonders why Aoki keeps avoiding 飲み会 with us. I already posted these photos on Facebook, but I figure they're worth reposting here:
My mom and her friend Karen will come in the January 5th, and then my friend Tina will arrive on January 6th, and after that will be a tour of Japan that will include Nagoya (again!), Kyoto, Hiroshima and Hakone for a Fuji viewing. Speaking of Fuji, KT pointed out to me where I can actually see Fuji-san in my neighborhood, and when I was out running earlier I saw it outlined against the sunset. Made me think of this Hokusai ukiyo-e of Fuji:
Naturally I didn't see it in this detail, but I was pretty excited about it. Anyway, I'll be traveling pretty much until the day that school starts on January 17th. I expect to be completely worn out. Did I mention that the way I'm getting around in my Kobe-Nagoya excursion is by night bus? I can't imagine I'll be sleeping very well on those legs of the trip, but I'll do what I can. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm doing this to myself (it's not like I'm rolling on money here either, though at least the night bus is cheap), but it'll be an interesting experience nonetheless. I'm excited about doing a Japanese New Year, and since I'll be with my host parents I'm sure to be well fed. I can't argue with that.
And somehow in these next couple of weeks I need to cram in 20+ pages of grammar review, look-up Japanese academic articles pertaining to my field of research, and also write a 2-3 page summary of my research focus. It's going to be a disaster. However, the good news is that in our individual interviews at the end of the quarter my sensei (the one in the Santa hat above) said that I've made really good progress across the board. He also seemed particularly impressed with the presentations I gave this quarter, and I explained that it was a deliberate move to take on harder topics and try to write like a Japanese person. My speaking still leaves things to be desired (particularly when giving presentations since I still read pretty much straight off the page), but at least I can kinda sorta communicate with my mouth words now. Further, he asked if there was anything I thought the program could do better, and I rattled off more than a couple of things that needed improvement. I won't go into them here, but believe me I've bitched a good deal about my afternoon class this quarter and try to relay those complaints to him in a much more diplomatic fashion. It's also great Japanese is a difficult language to swear in: removes temptation.
Other than that, this last week has been pretty much just hanging out with people and releasing some of that end-of-the-quarter tension at izakayas, karaoke boxes, and house parties. Last Friday was a shit show of 飲み放題 and karaoke, and Saturday was Carly's Christmas party (I really had to glue myself together to get out the door to keep my commitment). The party was fun and hilarious given Carly's brilliant idea to frame the above picture of Aoki-sensei (minus the Christmas hat) and use it in the Secret Santa. I unfortunately didn't partake, but there was quite the battle royale between Wilson and Josh to get that picture. Josh eventually got it. However, the picture managed to turn up in Wilson and my locker during the week and when I saw it I literally stood there for 5-10 seconds like WHAT THE FUCK? Then I realized Aoki-sensei could very well be standing behind me, yelped, and slammed my door squeaking "危ない！危ない" ("That's dangerous!") to Josh and Wilson who were both standing nearby. Ridiculous.
Tuesday I ended up at yet another 金の蔵 Jr. (it's the name of a cheap chain of izakayas) for 飲み会 and perhaps had a few more than I had intended at the start of the night. Still, it was good fun. Wednesday was the school sponsored 忘年会 (literally "forget the year party"), but by that point I think we were all worn out and everyone was pretty sedate. Still, I made the mistake of giving my camera to Speed, who has to be the most demanding photographer I've ever met. Theme photographs of everyone, and one top of that he twisted Aoki-sensei's arm into being in photos with pretty much every student in our morning class. And he wonders why Aoki keeps avoiding 飲み会 with us. I already posted these photos on Facebook, but I figure they're worth reposting here:
Please note that it took forever to get these shots together because our poses were never good enough for Speed.
My face is weird here because any of the other expressions I tried were not good enough for the photographer.
Aw Canada, such a mystical land.
Glasses are hot.
Cue the absurdity. Poor Aoki-sensei; he was so clearly uncomfortable taking photos with just the girls.
I shall treasure it till the end of my days.
Why the dudes weren't in any of these individual photos, I don't know.
After the 忘年会 we tried a bar and then karaoke, but it wasn't nearly as raucous as I had expected. I guess we'd been celebrating the end of the year for pretty much a week and there just wasn't anything left to わいわい about other than being able to sleep like a normal human being again. And I've done a lot of that in the last couple of days, which has been really really nice. I've also been able to catch-up on my reading; I'm working my way through Jonathan Franzen's Freedom right now and I am really liking it. I woke up yesterday around 9 and then laid up in bed for a couple of hours reading. Ah, the pleasures of fiction. It also cracks me up that one of the characters is from Westchester, NY, and I recognize all the town names and locales described in the book. Of course, this character has fled from that suburban dead end, and obviously I can't blame her. I love my family and friends there, but there is just no way I'll ever settle down there.
Also yesterday was the Orphan's Christmas Eve party, which was also a hoot. There was a ton of food (I made chicken teriyaki and I'll be pretty much eating that for the rest of the weekend), and also drinks. A good time was had by all. I again rocked out at beer pong (without beer, so it was more like water pong), and I apologize for my competitive side. As I have said on many an occasion, I don't like to lose. I also enjoy smack talk, but I tried to keep that to a minimum yesterday. After that we played a game called celebrity, which is some combination of Taboo and charades, but with famous people. Apparently the universal symbol for Don Draper is pointing to me and then making a jacking-off motion. Very charming. It's Jon Hamm more than Don Draper, but anyway. This also seems an appropriate point to use this moving gif:
At least just take off your rings!! (I can't believe I'm including this here knowing full well my mother reads my blog)
Aaaaaand, on that note I should probably just stop. There's not all that much more to report. But it's Christmas! And it's almost 2011! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! Let's dance!
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