Finals next week

 I didn't even realize my finals were coming so soon. They're next week. I'm not really prepared, but I don't mind much. Japanese I'll have no problem with, I don't think History will be a problem since he gave us the essay questions so we can focus on making good essays. I'll just gather information up this week. The only final I guess I should be worried about is the Computer Science one simply because the professor likes using vaguely worded questions and "fill in the blank from this textbook sentence" stuff. Plus, failing it or getting a low grade secures me an F in the class since I missed the first test. This week I spent mostly catching up on a few things. I plan to make a (late) post regarding what I'm watching this season after I finish my finals.

On Monday, nothing really eventful happened aside from me having a headache on and off for the day. After Japanese I was of course followed by the girl from before. Don't remember much about what subject she brought up, aside from Mirai Nikki and asking me if I could handle a Japanese conversation. At my current level, I can't, but I kinda took the classes to strengthen my verbal skills. They are helping for that purpose though. We eventually came to the point where I usually head to my bus stop, since I've no class after Japanese on Monday. She asked if I wanted to have lunch with her, and I declined. I actually just wanted to go home and watch Densha Otoko anyway.

On Wednesday she told me she wish she'd spoken to me earlier since the semester is ending so she'd have someone to walk with after class, but she's too timid to do so. That, and the class is filled with Koreans that don't even speak English fully, and she's one of the few non-Korean Asians in the class, so not many people for her to talk to. We actually don't talk much when we're with each other, that's pretty fine to me. When I'm just on my laptop waiting for the next class we're fairly silent aside from when she occasionally brings something up for small chat. Then again she could just be scared to speak up due to me being such a closed individual.

What was really eventful on Wednesday was me passing up the opportunity to make an easy $100. I totally regret it now. How'd I pass this offer up? There were fighting game tournaments being held at my school. Although I didn't want to really participate, I was in the mood for a match or two so head over there. I played Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Ougon Musou Kyouku (yeah, they actually had this there, surprisingly). With Seakitties I got a perfect on the dude I was against, and in MvC3 I didn't lose any of my characters. Apparently I was up against the best that the school has to offer, according to multiple people there (mostly trying to get me to join their game club). I left and, wouldn't you know, the girl from my Japanese class just so happened to be in the area and was watching me play and decided to leave with me. She asked why I didn't enter the tournament since I had a high likelyhood of winning the ones held for those two games. I had no idea how long they'd take, and I really didn't want to end up home at 12AM just for some fight money, especially with the late night bus schedules. $50 for each of the tourneys, and glancing at the other matches it didn't seem I'd have a tough time with anyone (they're mostly just button mashers).

When I got home I was hit with a huge wave of regret. I wish I'd stayed for that, because I realized I have to make a payment of $92 this week to debt collectors and I really could have used that money. But, too late for that now, and no use crying over spilled milk. So I'll just deal with it. Maybe if there's another one I'll go through with it.

I don't want to make this shitpost too long. I'll end it here.

~ Kirari ミ★

I don't think about the future

I don't think about the future. It usually gets in the way of taking it easy. The future is a bit too complicated to think about at times really, and I'm bad at predicting. I'm also extremely indecisive. But for some reason I found myself thinking a bit about it last night before drifting to sleep. Maybe it's because of the debt I've been accumulating and the fee I have to pay by next month before it escalates into a legal issue (in which case the fees would have increased dramatically).

If I had remained a NEET I could have avoided this really. I feel as if I've fallen into a scam I saw miles away but disregarded anyway. But that's just how it works when you take everything in your own pace. I'm not sure what I'll even do. The plan was never for me to work, even though it'd be obvious from the fees I'd have to find a job at some time. Being at a 2 year college, at least the debt isn't so large, still I've no idea what happens after I finish those 2 years. I could continue language in another school, but I'm pretty sure the only other school around that has Japanese would be an expensive private school that's hard to get into. And then for what? It's not like a degree in Japanese would really open any jobs that would be able to pay for the large debt I have. 

But if I just finish my 2 years and decide to start work after, what exactly will that lead to either? I guess it'd make nabbing an entry level job easier as resume fodder or something. But what the hell job would I work? For some reason I see myself working at a bookstore or something, through some entry level job like organizing shelves or working the register. And staying at this position to the point where 10 years from now I'd still be that quiet bookstore worker that occasionally knocks stuff over because of how clumsy I am. I'd still be paying off my debt by then due to my low pay and interest sprouting up. Of course, I'd still live with my mother, but this isn't something I've ever looked down on or thought was a bad idea. I find it more appropriate to live with your family, as it eases the burden of cash and you could always help support each other. But I guess some people find it as a sign that you can't walk on your own two legs so look down on it. Not something I care about really, I just felt like pointing out that I always thought it to be an odd idea to live on your own if there's no actual reason for doing so such as better job opportunities outside of one's hometown.

But as I was saying, it's hard to imagine myself doing anything more than small jobs. After all, I really don't think I've many skills. No, I really don't have anything special about me at all. People believe I'm good at computers, but I'm not really, I've just used them since a younger age than a lot of other people. In some cases some could say that experience alone counts as skill I have that others don't, but it's nothing that any employer would particularly find interesting. I know how to not be stupid with a computer, interesting skill I guess. I have a yellow belt in
Google-fu, which allows me to fix problems by stealing answers from other people. My family comes to me when they have computer issues and I usually just Google it and pick the first result to fix their computer. One could argue it's no different than learning information from a textbook, but I've no actual knowledge in how any of that stuff works most of the time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that anyone can do it, people just don't, so I'm not sure if anyone can call it an actual skill. I've gotten money for doing easy computer jobs from my father's technologically illiterate friends, but (no real offense to them) they're not exactly the brightest of the bunch anyway.

In the end I feel as if I can't really do anything. Maybe that's why I can only imagine myself at an entry level job that could be acquired without any college experience, and remaining at that position. A completely optimistic view of the future would be nabbing one of those nice translation jobs where I could work at home for a game company like Atlus or Capcom or something. Or maybe novel translations. Even manga translations. I can't even imagine this stuff paying much, but I'm sure it'd probably pay more than anything else in my head, and I'd have the benefit of not having to go outside. But I doubt this job has many openings, or that they'd be given to someone with no prior translation experience and only 2 years of classes to show for language proficiency. I guess if they actually tested my Japanese they'd know it was beyond the level I have a degree in, but that's not exactly something I expect them to do when shifting through resumes for a candidate.

But I suppose it doesn't matter too much. More money from a better job simply means I can get my loans paid faster. Besides, if I had too much money I'd probably stuff my room with too many figures and have a problem.

At least I've still got a strong goal and determination for learning Japanese. In my job working as a bookstore employee, or as a janitor, or as a cashier, or anything else, I can at least think of myself as being proficient in Japanese by that point. I don't think 2 more years on top of my current experience (which I've lost track of how long by now) would be an unreasonable time frame for me to be well versed in the language. I don't see myself dropping this determination. In fact, it's the only thing I've ever actually taken initiative and interest to sit down and study in my life. The only thing I really have a passion to learn. If I don't find success in Japanese, I really can't see myself succeeding in anything else. It'd be a huge fall, and a huge failure. But I'm not worried about this, because I've no doubts that I'll continue. I've come too far and I'm still far too determined to back out. That's why I can see myself being able to read novels and VNs fluently, even as a cashier. I can see myself taking my breaks in the bookstore to sit in a private corner and pull out a Japanese novel, reading through the pages at the rate I could read  through with my native language (maybe faster, kanji makes reading feel fast even at my current level). Because I really think that no matter what happens to me by that point in the future, my hard work now would shine by then.

But that's enough for today's shitpost. I downloaded Solanin yesterday and I'm going to give it a watch right now. Thanks for reading. Or skimming, I understand since my post is such a wall and I don't even know when to properly highlight certain points with bold or italics.. Or even just coming to this page to look at my image, that's fine too.

~ Kirari ミ★

Start of spring break, and free from the chains of midterms. And Patchy.

I now have more free time with midterms finished. Spring break has started for me, so I'm taking it easy right now. Well, actually, it doesn't officially start until next Monday, and I have a midterm on my online course that's locked until Saturday (and then I have 1 day to complete it), but I'm not going to stress over it. My days have been super busy because I've been trying to fit everything together. I usually don't study, because I end up actually doing worse on tests when I do study (because I end up second guessing myself a lot during the test only to find my gut instinct was correct), but considering I knew absolutely nothing on the material for 2 of my midterms, I decided I'd look into it a bit. Of course, I procrastinate so much that it was a pain to handle. I also put daily Japanese studies above everything else. My days last week consisted of Japanese studies, try to study some school stuff, anime/Jdrama break, Japanese studies, food, Japanese studies, break, try school stuff, Japanese studies, and sleep.

Now I have more time to focus on Japanese studies, I guess. My Japanese professor was trying to think of ways she can help out Japan. Her family is fine, living in Tokyo and all, but she planned on going out there during Spring break and giving a hand. But there are pretty much no opportunities for individuals to go over and help out. I suggested she donate the money she'd use for travel expenses and such instead, and she agreed that was the best idea. While I was packing my stuff at the end of class she gave me a bear hug for emailing her the week before make sure she's okay. I'm glad she didn't decide to do that during class after giving her the donation suggestion.

And then after, I went to the cafeteria. I don't usually eat at my school since the prices are usually high, and I don't really eat much, but I figured it'd be best to have something in my stomach before taking he midterm that I had the next class, which started in about an hour and a half. Last time I ate, there was some jazz band performing there, it made for some nice background music while I munched. Didn't even turn my MP3 player on because it was okay to listen to. But this time, apparently the anime club was doing karaoke. They had a projector set up to play videos. Tomare!, Brooklyn Rage, On A Blimp, Mottoke! Sailor Fuku, some Dragonball Z parody of Make A Man Out of You (along with also doing the real version, kinda out of place). I did put my MP3 player on for this one, actually, but from the videos alone I could tell what they were singing. I came in during the Dragonball Z parody and didn't know what the hell was going on. Didn't bother me much, and not too noteworthy (aside from the random black kids in the center table getting up and dancing during Brooklyn Rage), but I guess I picked an odd day to eat at the cafeteria.

Oh, and my Patchy plush came in quite some time ago but I never made a post about it. Her hat, sadly, her hat doesn't fit on Beatrice's big head. 

Hat actually topples Mew off balance.

This one is actually from Mari, but it's so cute.

~ Kirari ミ★

Kirari's first week of class

 

My new semester started. For anyone that was hoping I'd become BFF's with the girl last semester and we'd paint our nails and go shopping together, we're not in the same class. The Japanese class this time is composed of pretty much all Asians, aside from about 2 people. There weren't that many in J1, but I guess most people that took J1 just took it to get a language credit out of the way, or they all just don't like the time slot my class is in. Nothing too surprising really, just something I noticed since when looking around the room.

The professor this time around is just as nice as my last one. She's also very energetic and playful, which I think are very nice qualities for people in the teaching profession to have. She noticed I was at a more advanced level than the rest of the class on the first day, forgot how she noticed though. At the end of  the first class she asked me how I retain my information since I'm familiar with kanji that the J4 students are having problems memorizing, so I showed her Kanjidamage and Smart.fm on my laptop and such. Little did I know, in the next class she was showing off online resources and after showing some of her own she wanted me to show off the ones I told her about on Monday. I guess I could have declined the offer to go up, I told her 「でも、少し恥ずかしいですよ」 (But I'm a bit shy) so that nobody else would (hopefully) understand the remark, and she replied with a simple 「大丈夫、大丈夫！」 (It's okay, it's okay!) and just motioned for me to go up. Wasn't too much of a big deal, I was just hoping that she'd show it off instead, but I guess since I was more familiar with the sites than her (since she only had 2 days to play around with them) it is rather natural that I be the one to explain how to use them and such. She asked me at the end of class yesterday if I wanted to try moving up to the J3 class but I declined. I got the offer to move directly into J2 while I was in J1, but I didn't take the offer. I'm taking the classes because I want to cement the basics that I kind of brushed past and forgot by now into my head. I have a big vocabulary list and all, but my grammar is horrible. She told me I certainly don't sound like I have a problem getting my sentences out, and I know way more kanji than others in higher level classes, but understood and just told me that she can see I know more than I five myself credit for.

But just my luck. It turns out the exact day I advertise Smart.fm they put a notice that they're no longer accepting registration, and that the service will close down soon and become a subscription service. Of course, it's not my fault since there's no way for me to have known that would happen. When I showed the site in class there was no notice, but by the time I got home it was there. Wonder if anyone actually bothered visiting the site though. If they did, then it's kinda too late for them to join anyway. The subscription cost will be about $12 per month, which is quite expensive for a service that I mostly use 30 minutes a day. 

In any case, that's my cool story for now. This was actually supposed to be a part of yesterday's post, but I realized the posts were large enough to be split into 2 (I originally thought there wasn't enough material to make 2 separate posts, but ended up writing more than I thought). Hsien-ko and Sentinel were officially revealed today, and rather than making a new post just to show off their videos and screenshots, I just updated my older post with a link to the reveals.

~ Kirari ミ★

Bad start of the new year, cool stories inside.

So I'm sure anyone that cares has noticed, I haven't really made many blog posts lately. I'm sure by now I've lost a sizable amount of my previous visitors, but that's fine. I blog to blog, so don't mind if there are only a handful of people keeping track of it all.

I'm not mad, I'm still taking it easy despite recent events, but I just haven't been in the mood to blog because I wanted to ease myself a bit with my backlog and relaxing cups of tea. Of course, my streak of misfortune is entirely my fault, so I don't plan on blaming anyone else.

So, it starts off with me recently remembering that one textbook from last semester's courses was a rental. I have horrible memory, I've always been bad with keeping track of things. It took me almost 2 weeks to realize that I had a rental, and that it was due at the end of the semester. The fee for not returning the book on time comes out to $80. I haven't been called yet for the money, but I'm sure they'll eventually come after me. 

I had something to settle at school with my classes next semester and took the train to my school. I forgot my monthly train pass at home, so I purchased a 1 day ticket and got it stamped. The stamp machine smudged the ink horribly, but I didn't notice because I don't take the time to look down at my stamped tickets all the time. I got on the train to school fine, but when coming back they did random ticket inspection. I showed my ticket, but apparently the ink was so smudged that it was just a glob of black on the ticket. The officer said it was entirely illegible, and proceeded to write me a $74 ticket. I guess I can try to fight the ticket, the court date is on the 28th at 8 AM (ugh), so I guess I'll head in and hope there's a judge that will let me pass through. After all, it's my first offense, and I do have a monthly pass that I purchased long before that ride, with the pass issued under my name, and I even still have the receipt for it. But I doubt I'll win anyway, I'm too unlucky. I'll most likely end up with a judge that simply doesn't care, because I didn't have the pass on my person at the given time of inspection. Police are truly one of the many dangers of the outside world.

I also lost access to one of my email accounts because I deleted my saved passwords by accident while doing a routine cleaning of my system, and my memory is too bad to remember what my password for the email was. Even worse, I apparently put in a random security question, so can't even recover the account. 

"Where did I go for my honeymoon?"

What the hell was I even thinking putting that security question? I dunno, but apparently I put that question in 2 years ago, and there's no way I'd remember what was going on in my head back then. It's possible I used some kind of secret code that I thought I'd remember long into the future, because I do sometimes do stuff like that when the answers to the secret questions I can remember are too short to be used (why does my father's middle name and mother's maiden name have to be so short?!). It's the account I used for many Amiami pre-orders. I changed the e-mail on my Amiami account, and they said all future purchases will use my new email, but I have no idea what that means for my current pre-orders. Will they send the verification email to my old account, or my new one? I guess I'll drop Amiami a email and see what they say. Hopefully they respond before my Takoluka plush go in stock.

But I don't really mind much.I got a huge dent in my wallet and lost an account I associated a lot of things with, but I can still take it easy if I just lazily lounge around. Good thing this all happened while I was on break, or I would have had the stress of course work piled on with my bad luck. By the time classes start, I should mostly be over everything and have moved on.

As for my blogging, I'll most likely (assuming I don't run into another misfortune) start blogging again on a regular basis tomorrow. I have some blogs that I wanna read too, but haven't gotten to them because I feel that if I open up Blogger, I shouldn't leave without writing something; and because I wasn't in the mood to write anything, I didn't even check up on what all my blogbros have been up to. 

I already have tomorrows blog planned on something simple, just my first look and thoughts on a few Winter 2011 anime, then after maybe a review of 999 (which I finished while in my absence of blogging) and maybe talk about how the new patch for wrestling kitties with scuba gear does for the netplay issue it was having before.

All in all, I just hope you guys are having a better 2011 so far than I am. I'm usually an unlucky person, but this has been a streak of bad luck that's literally been costing me greatly.

Until next time.

~ Kirari ミ★

Trapped in the snow!

 So, for Christmas I went over to my grandmother's house. My family went back home after Christmas, leaving me and my brother behind because I had an aunt from my father's side of the family that wanted to see us the next day. So I stood in my grandmother's house, and there was a snowstorm the next day. My aunt had to cancel her plans, and now me and my brother are here. I guess my brother is fine, he has my cousin to play with, they're the same age and both boys so just roughhouse and play the video games they got. I'd play some of my own games, but I don't like having to restart my progress when I get home, so I'll trash that idea.

Nobody can come pick me up this whole week because they have too much work piled up on them for the end of the year, so can't make time to pick me up. They could have picked me up yesterday, when they didn't have work. Or, at least, that was the plan, but the snowstorm made it impossible for them to really drive up here. I could take the trains back down to my house, it's not that far away (maybe 2 hour-ish train ride) but then it'd make me seem desperate to get home. I know my grandmother wouldn't mind much, but she pampers me so much and enjoys me staying here that I guess I'd feel bad going back by train. So I guess I'll stay here until New Years. At least I have my laptop with me. I mean, there are tons of computers in my Gramgram's house, but y'know, you just wanna use your own. She turned my old room into a nice VIP guestroom for me, rather than renting it out to other people, so I do have a nice place to sleep. My little brother on the other hand doesn't quite have the same treatment, but I'm sure he's fine sleeping downstairs with my cousin when they get knocked out from playing too many games.

I've been playing 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors lately to pass the time, and I'm really into it. It's by the same writer of Ever17, so check it out if you liked that. I'll be getting back to playing that now, so until next time!

~ Kirari ミ★

Kirari's final class

So, today was the final class I had for the semester. I did the written part of the Japanese final on Monday and passed with a 98, and we had an oral exam today. All we had to do was make a short speech about a vacation we went on in the past, in Japanese. Of course, I hate talking in public, and even moreso about myself, but since I never really go anywhere I just made up a vacation and talked about it. As expected, most people in the class didn't do so well, but most were understandable, and I won't act high and mighty, because I'm sure I'd be tripping along my words as well if I didn't have prior knowledge of the language before taking the course.

But that's not the highlight of the day. After all, it was just a normal exam. I'd like to be able to leave right after I present, but I couldn't find the right timing to slip out of the class, and my laptop was recharging, so I decided to just stay for a few more presentations. I was almost the last person chosen anyway.

Everyone finishes their presentations, I start packing up my stuff, I'm heading out the door but I hear 

"Kirari*, wait!"

 *Replace Kirari with my real name

So I turn and make eye contact with the person that called me. I saw she was nervous as hell, which says a lot considering she wasn't so nervous at all during the presentation. Then again, she's one of the few people aside from me that take the class to seriously learn the language, or at least it seems that way.

"Did you register for Japanese next semester as well?"

Er...Yeah, I did, but that was surprising. I told her I registered, and she proceeded to ask what time slot I registered for. I honestly didn't know, because I just picked one that would fit into my schedule. I'd like to have the same professor again, but her name wasn't listed, so I assumed she wouldn't be teaching J2 next semester. So she looks down, takes a deep breath and says:

"Because I hope we get in the next class together."

 That really threw me off. It was just surprising to me. I mean, it's not the first time I've been stopped before leaving a class for such a direct approach, it's happened before in high school, but when it's a boy I can easily react with a flat "no" leaving no room for interpretation by just shooting my normal uninterested expression. I was caught by so much surprise from this that I couldn't even react and kinda stuttered my next words out. I can't even remember what I said, it was something along the lines of "Oh, okay, uh. That....okay. Um, I'll see you." and walked off. Really, this is the first time a girl has been so direct to me. It happened a lot in high school with guys, both the subtle ones and the forward ones, but they're easy to keep away, especially if you stop them from trying the second they even try to get close to you (which was easy for me, even the ones that don't care about personality could be scared away with the right methods). 

I thought I was perhaps just so surprised by the whole thing that I was looking too much into what's just her trying to be friendly and that's still entirely possible but if it was a male doing the same exact thing I'd undoubtedly know that what he was trying to do. I haven't had a real life friend since about elementary school, so it's very possible that kind of invitation into friendship is normal, but I've just forgotten how real friends act when trying to know each other.

It's not that I like her, I was just so flustered over the whole thing that I couldn't properly react. If it wasn't for the fact that she seemed so nervous when talking to me, especially since she didn't seem so nervous before and that she specifically stopped me of all people, I don't think it would have surprised me much. 

Of course, I don't talk to people much at all, but there were times in class where we had to converse with one another just because it's a verbal exercise. Since I always sit in a corner in the back, and on the first day she did so too, we always sit next to each other (though we never talk really), so you can imagine we're always paired up for conversations. I never cared really, I just went on with the conversations. In fact, I don't remember much from those conversations other than the fact that she went to an all girls school from grade 1-12. 

She's shorter than me, which says a lot because I'm short, but she always wears heels and reaches about the same size as me. I do envy her sense of fashion a bit. I've never been into fashion, but she always comes in with different outfits that don't have extravagant designs that make her look silly. She wore a frilly dress that seemed very normal, and she always has hair decorations. She hides her powerlevel, making sure to say she just likes "Japanese dramas" when we first had to ask why we took the course (I just followed along with the "drama" thing when she said it and mirrored her answer). But when I brought in Yotsubato, she looked excited while reading through the pages and asked me where I buy my manga after. Since I sit next to her, I also see her doodling stuff, most noticeably a catgirl. At one point she did ask if I was in the school anime club, and frankly I didn't know there was one but didn't care. In my usual "end the conversation before it starts" manner I just told her clubs aren't my thing, and she said she's not in the club either but might join if someone she new was in there. At the time I didn't pay mind to it, but I guess that was her hinting that she'd join the club if I was in it.

What's even more st*range is that her phone number is in my notebook because we had to exchange numbers at the start of the class with someone in case we missed a day and need to contact someone for the assignment or something. She doesn't have mine, because I gave a fake one (kinda mean of me, but I really don't like keeping contact with people). I forgot about ti completely until I was looking through old notes on the bus for a kanji I was practicing before and saw it.

Cool story, I know. It was just odd for me. This kinda stuff happened occasionally before, but it's the first time a girl has done this to me, and frankly I don't even know what to think of it. I hope my next class isn't with her. I'd feel awkward seeing her again, I think, and wouldn't quite know how to react or be able to put up my "don't talk to me" aura. But this whole event will probably just fade out of my memory within a few weeks anyway.

~ Kirari ミ★

Yandere headphones have died.

We are here today to mourn for the departing of my crappy pair of headphones I've always used as a backup. Okay, they're not completely dead, it figures that they're so durable that they'll stay usable until the very end. Right now it plays music at a really low volume, unless you twist it around inside the socket a little to find just the right spot. With the passing of my old headphones near, am I free from the curse!? I just got a new pair yesterday, so we'll see.

Hopefully my new pair lasts me long. I'm tired of my ears literally bleeding from having those uncomfortable buds placed in them. 

Yeah, kind of a filler post because I want to take it easy today. I have 7 pages to write tomorrow on useless crap and I already feel too lazy to get started on it. It's worth 10% of the grade though, and I completely forgot about it until now. It's supposed to be some reading journal that we write down after reading the stuff she assigns us. I know, that's kiddie stuff, I don't know why we're assigned something like this when we already do essays based off our readings. It doesn't help that I never read anything she's assigned in class because they were all stories that I've read in high school. I really hate having to take general course requirements that are there to just waste your time and money.

Also, freaking weekend with new Marvel vs Capcom news is taking forever to come. It's both a good and bad thing. Good because, well, I'd like some more news. If Megaman isn't announced this month, in his anniversary, chances are he's not in the game and will be saved for DLC (ugh). Bad news because it means that I'm getting closer to the due date of another essay.

I'll try to think of something cool to talk about tomorrow, if I'm bot too busy writing.

~ Kirari ミ★

Presentation in Japanese class

So today I had the Japanese presentation I mentioned before. I decided to just go with manga, it's not like it's so strange for an Asian to like that stuff anyway (in fact, it's kind of expected of us). But I just went into detail about how it's very nice for practicing Japanese and such. I brought seven Japanese volumes of Yotsubato! and 5 English, along with 3 Japanese and 2 English Mirai Nikki volumes. I also brought in Welcome to the NHK!, but only 1 volume since I only have 1 volume in Japanese for it.

Everything was fine. Most people were just reading their presentations from their paper about generic stuff you can tell was paraphrased from wikipedia anyway. But after I went apparently there were more lively people. One girl in the class, the only one that makes it really known she's weeaboo, did an embarrassing presentation on maid cafe's. 

But hey, whatever. I sat through the presentation and didn't say a word. My professor had a face on that looked as if even she was uncomfortable hearing a presentation on a topic like that. A little after some other Asian girl did her presentation on Kanmen Rider. She was pretty damn into it, and even brought some merchandise that others probably wouldn't care much about, but I knew were actually rather expensive. She also made a few of the items herself, apparently from cosplaying. It wasn't a bad presentation really.

Then there was some dude that did his presentation on Japanese game shows, and I was thinking that was such an obvious topic with tons of flexibility. Probably would have been a nice topic for me to pick as well, but too late now.

After class ended my professor asked to borrow some of my Yotsubato! volumes. She said she liked Azumanga but never got a chance to read Yotsubato! yet.

So it was pretty fine. I just hope I didn't raise any flags for people to come rushing at me. I think I did a pretty good job not making it seem like some kind of obsession and making it seem more like something interesting to use to help me study (which is kinda is anyway).

~ Kirari ミ★

I hate beavers

 So today I went out to the Japanese bookstore in Manhattan, Kinokuniya. I always go there to pick up some Japanese stuff, since it's usually cheaper than importing and I can browse around physically to spot titles I wouldn't have remembered to look for if I was searching online. I was quite surprised that a lot of the stuff was more expensive than it used to be. I remember before, I was able to get manga for maybe $2 more than the original yen value, so I'd be able to get a volume of Yotsubato! for maybe $8 or so. But now, I checked the price and those volumes rose to $11! Stupid economy. Value of the yen increasing while the US dollar decreases.

That aside, they didn't have the light novel in stick that I was hoping to buy, which was a bit of a letdown. Guess I'll have to import it if I want it on my bookshelf. While I was in the area I decided to drop by the Barns and Noble around there (48th and 5th avenue? Dunno, too lazy to check right now), and I notice that the sidewalk is more packed than usual, and there are police cars and such. I see a police officer in front of the bookstore talking to a few people. 

"What the hell is this?"

 I was talking to myself when I said that, but some girl creeped behind me and said
"Oh my god, you don't know? Are you even from Earth? lol" (Yeah, she really said "ell oh ell" at the end of her sentence)

So, I have no idea what the hell she's talking about, and she explains to me that Justin Beaver, or whatever the hell his name is, is inside the bookstore for his book signing. That's when I notice the huge line of people, and actually listen to what they're saying to hear every one of them gossiping. "Did you see him going in?", "My friend spent the night here and is still waiting on line, I wanted her to save me a spot but the security won't let me cut!" etc. 

They closed down the whole freaking bookstore for him to do his signing? Of what, his autobiography? Isn't he like 14 years old? What the hell is he going to write about? 

I hate going outside.

~ Kirari ミ★

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

For anyone that celebrates it. I'll be eatings lots of yumyums today, and enjoy my week off. I'll probably still stay in my room all day, but it's the food that counts, right?!

For anyone that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving...um... Happy Thursday!

~ Kirari ミ★

Kirari's (possibly) near rape encounter!

Get ready for a cool story. That's what blogs are for, right? Cool stories?

So, I was running late this morning for Japanese class because I was playing video games for too long. I usually have to leave at around 1 PM to catch my bus, and I get back home around 6 PM or so. I don't eat breakfast, but since I'm out for so long, I usually do eat something before leaving for class. Since I was running late, I didn't have that luxury. I mean, I could have done that whole "run out the door with toast in my mouth" thing, but I don't really like toast alone that much, and was running too late to even get a slice of bread out.

So I arrive at class just barely on time. I had a quiz today, so it'd be quite a problem if I actually came in late. After class I take my normal bus, and everything is fine. I go to the back and take out my laptop and kill time by reading my light novels and catching up on my news here and there. However, today was rather different. There's this guy that always sits in the back as well around this time. I never really cared about him or paid him any mind, but I do always see him playing his PSP, and we're always the only ones in the back. He comes in a few stops after I get on, and never sits next to me anyway.

So I'm on my laptop, killing time, and he asks me something out of nowhere.

"Would you like to get something?"

I didn't answer, because I didn't know what the fuck he meant and I try to ignore people until it becomes uncomfortable for me stay silent, by that point I usually proceed to end the conversation myself with "I'm busy" or something after answering their question. Usually I don't have to do that becaue I guess I just have this aura around me that spells out "don't wanna talk" to people.

So he asks:

"I mean like, to drink. Like Starbucks or something?"

Oh shit nigger, what the fuck are you doing? I couldn't leave this without responding, because he'd keep on, so I told him:

"No, I'm busy right now."

And get back to my laptop. He then keeps asking and insisting, and since I am thirsty and have a hard time dealing with people pressuring me into something

I give in and say yeah, shortly before the stop he apparently gets off at, usually. The Starbucks is right in front of the bus stop. We go in, I order some hot chocolate and a cinnamon bun. The cashier hands me my stuff and I tell the guy "I do have to go home though, so thanks for the drink and stuff" before he has the chance to say anything to me. He was saying before that he just wanted to buy me a drink, I didn't have to stay and chat with him or anything, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to him that I just leave after taking his offer. But then, he says something to me as I'm walking out the door.

"Ah, I live near here. The next bus doesn't come for about 15 minutes, if you want I can just get you a ride home"

But luckily, just as he says that, a bus comes. It's not the bus I usually take, but it does take me near my house. So I told him "No thanks, this bus is fine for me. Bye."

But the story doesn't end there!

I get on the bus, drink my chocolate and eat my snack. I'm on my laptop like normal, and while reading my light novel I start feeling a tad bit drowsy. When I get home, I just crash onto the sofa. I don't even take my stuff off, I just pretty much go straight to it and fall out. I stay knocked out for a few hours, and when I wake up I'm still a bit groggy, but decide to force myself awake.

So...what the hell just happened? Did I get something slipped into my drink? I mean, I'm not dumb enough to accept a drink from a stranger and not keep an eye on them to make sure my drink is safe, but I wasn't paying attention to when the drink was being made because an employee was making it. The guy does live around the area, so maybe it's possible he knows the dude that works there and they had planned this out from the start. Or maybe it was just coincidence. You know, like when you get sleepy after getting some warm liquid in your tummy and fill yourself up after being hungry? Maybe that's what happened? But I didn't gradually get sleepy, it pretty much just hit me like a train when I got home.

Needless to say, I'm not taking the same bus again. I wouldn't take his offer if I didn't think things through and plan on never seeing him again. There's another bus I can take that comes about 5 minutes later and takes a completely different route, but still leads me to my house at about the same time. Stuff like this makes me realize that I should have just stayed a lazy NEET and never ventured into the outside world again. Maybe I won't register for another semester and quit here.

~ Kirari ミ★