Sorry to disappoint, but I was getting sick of wordpress.com… so I’ve started using wordpress.org. xD

That, and I was getting sick of the blog name. It was funny at first… and well… honestly… five minutes after I bought the domain, I got sick of it…

So anyway! What you’ve been waiting for:

http://textualrelations.zxq.net

Two or three Fridays ago was amazing. It was one of my classmate’s last day here in Japan; she’s become a big sister to me. She lives in Sydney, Australia. Anyway, that’s not the point. xD So we threw her a farewell party at this awesome restaurant in Shibuya called Alcatraz E.R. It’s a mental hospital-themed restaurant with a set menu of common American dishes (for example, the second course of the dinner was fried chicken). The entire place is decked out with gorey and horrifying stuff like decapitated heads and feet, and the appetizer was eel spines. They were really salty… And the waitresses were in sexy nurse costumes. xD Each table is in it’s own jail cell and everything, it was awesome. And on top of that, once a night there’s a little show where a “psychiatric ward patient” escapes his cell, and runs around the restaurant climbing the walls and coming into your cells and just generally freaking you out. Tons of fun.

Well, all my classmates here know I’m gay, and the girl who was leaving, Niske, invited a Japanese friend along, who happens to be gay… this cute guy named Dai. A little old, maybe 25, but very cute, and funny. So he stole my first kiss. It wasn’t really romantic, just a peck on the lips, but in his cute, choppy English, he said I tasted good. xD. He tasted good too.

As you can tell, I really enjoy being here in Japan. I don’t ever feel so depressed or uncomfortable around people. It’s really a great environment for me I think. However, Dai hasn’t been replying to any of my messages… but I think I can handle that. After all, now I have Hideki. ;]

And no, that’s not the name of my new MacBook Air, his name is Ryota. :D

Okay, I’m not really dying, but I’ve been really sick recently, so don’t expect any more posts for a while. At least until I get to Japan!

OK, so my last post was a bit melodramatic. The second application period for Sophia University isn’t until some time in May, so I’m just going to get my application as complete as I can, just in case things turn out in my favor, and hope for the best. Anyway, all this excitement for my trip to Japan has just been bottling up inside! I was talking with my friend Kei, and she says that I’ll probably be there in time for the Cherry Blossoms! I really hope that I’ll get to see them! Everyone says that they’re so pretty! I’m definitely going to take pictures of them… speaking of which, I won’t be able to post any pictures while I’m abroad, but I will most definitely post them when I get back! So I found out where the school is that I will be studying at! It’s right near the Tokyo Dome, too! I still need to find out about my host family, but I’m thinking that I’ll hear from the school about the family soon. I’m prepped and ready to go! Oh, and I finally got a translation of the fan that my penpal sent me! It’s very inspirational. I hope she knows that I’m very thankful for her friendship!  Other than that, all I really have to say is that staying home for days on end is boring. Very boring. Except for today, because nobody was around, so I got to watch my favorite JDrama, “Mirai Koshi Meguru,” on my computer without headphones. 

Okay. My parents, you know, the ones who have been supportive of me my entire existence on this planet? Well, they don’t want me to go to (or even apply to) the college of my dreams, Sophia University. Yes, it’s in Japan. Yes, it’s accredited. Yes, it’s the same price as Weber State (the college they’ve been pining me to go to). Yes, it’s a great opportunity for me to broaden my horizons. Everything about it is great. There’s nothing wrong with it. Except for the fact that my parents DON’T GIVE A CRAP. All THEY can think about is how they don’t want to lose their little baby. Yeah, their little 6′1.5″, 274 lb., steak-eating, 17-year-and-9-month-old baby.

What. the. fudge.

The fact that they want me to go to college should alone be enough to at least let me apply.

I mean, come on. It’s only $360. That’s pocket change. [/sarcasm]

Well, in other news, nothing interesting has happened recently. I did get a tetanus shot today. You know, I always scare myself to death over the whole idea of needles sticking into my skin, but as soon as the thing makes contact, I think to myself “That’s it?” Then that gets me wondering… Don’t they put samples of the actual virus in vaccines so that your body can build an immunity to it? Well… if you get tetanus from cutting yourself with like, rusted metal or something… does that mean they put rusted metal into the vaccine?

No, really. Do they?

But for real, I am excited about going to Japan. It’s going to be bomb. I filled out a questionnaire today to match me with my host family. It was in both Japanese and English. It was that cool. They asked the usual questions, like, “What foods are you allergic to?” and, “Are children okay?” But then they threw the weird ones at me. “What is your favorite sport?” “Are you funny?” And then here’s what really gets me. “I hereby accept that Kudan Institute of Japanese Language & Culture and its staff, or host family may act as responsible guardians for my self, (son/daughter)…” Okay, so except for a couple “Engrish” errors, it’s nothing to worry about… so far… “and may decide on emergency medical treatment including surgery, without personal liability.“ All I have to say is, my host family better like me, or else when I get into some freak accident, they’re going to like amputate my leg because of some little scratch. And if I do get scratched because of like a car accident or something, it’s damn well good that I got that tetanus shot. Kudos for rusted metal.

As many of you may already know, I will be in Tokyo from March 28th to April 26th. I will be studying Japanese at a school hosted by Bridge-Linguatec’s BridgeAbroad program. I will be living with a host family the entire time, as well. But here’s the catch:  I won’t be spoken to in English at all during this journey. That’s right. Everything I do must be in Japanese, or else the concept of being immersed in the language is nullified. The reason they do this is so that my mind doesn’t start translating everything on it’s own; it will help me start to basically think in Japanese. This is vital to the experience because if I start relying on English as a crutch, I’m never going to fully learn the language.

Despite being very excited to finally go to Japan, the one place I’ve always wanted to go, I’m very very nervous about this trip. I’m scared that because English is only allowed in emergencies, I will not be able to communicate with the sensei and host family at all. I know this is an unreasonable fear because the program is aimed from people with no knowledge of the language at all to people who are basically fluent in the language. However, I can’t stop myself from thinking the worst is going to happen.

Anyway, I will be blogging throughout my journey (in English and maybe even some Japanese too), and this is where the magic is going to happen. I will be creating a separate page for my pictures as well, so stay tuned for those!

Peace.

ジョーイ 

いきものがかりis one of my favorite bands of all time. From the unconventional, yet gorgeous voice of Yoshioka Kiyoe, to the great guitar-playing of Mizuno Yoshiki, to the classy harmonica of Yamashita Hotaka, this Japanese indie group has a sound like none other. Ikimono Gakari formed in February 1999 as an indie band based in Kanagawa, Japan. Founded by Mizuno Yoshiki and Yamashita Hotaka, the two began doing street performances and decided on their name of “Ikimono Gakari”. In December of the same year, Yoshioka Kiyoe joined as the group’s main vocalist. However, nearly one year later the three disbanded in order for Yoshiki and Hotaka to focus on their university entrance exams. Their reformation occured in March 2002 after the two had gone through their university classes. Four years after their reformation, their first album was released on an indie label. They were signed to Epic Japan Records and released their first mainstream single SAKURA in March 2006. The title song was used in NTT East Japan commercials and heard on various televised programs. Check them out at ikimonogakari.com. 

People sometimes call me energetic, optimistic, neat, different, tall, innovative, and even affable.

Don’t listen to these people. They just think they know me.

Well, obviously this is my first blog post, so I might as well tell you more about me. One major thing that you’d notice about me if you’ve ever met me in real life, is that I’m really shy when I meet new people (and I’m enormously tall). However, once I warm up to them… that’s a different story. I’m passionate about what I’m interested in, but I’m interested in very little. I love almost every kind of music, but the few genres you cannot get me to listen to include Rap, Country, and Metal. I’ve got a big heart, but at times I have a short fuse. And of course as I keep blogging you’ll get to know me even more, so stay tuned for what’s coming.