Laney’s Life

So much time has passed since I last posted. Last time I posted I was a new Junior, just starting the path of full IB. Now I’m almost a senior and a whole lot wiser that back in September. I will now tell you about my journey this year….

Soooo…. In about November I believe I ended up changing my schedule because I wasn’t on the path for full IB so I had to change that. I dropped Chemistry and Theater for IB Psychology and IB Biology and it was hard coming into the class like 2 months late but I managed and I’m really glad I made the switch. I have made a lot of good friends from switching and I am happy to go to school because they make it so much fun.

So the rest of first semester went by well. I got pretty good grades and I learned a lot. I also got a secret admirer though he isn’t secret to me. I <3 him. ^^ Second semester I got a zero hour class and that’s been fun, waking up at 5:40am and starting school at 6:30am. Its an IB class called Theory of Knowledge and it’s interesting to say the least. Can’t really discuss what we talk about because some of it is personal. =x Besides that Math has been a real struggle for me this year but I’m doing better now. I’m hoping to end the year with an A-. The rest of my classes are pretty easy just waaaay too much work. Every two weeks I get a break from some sort of project. It’s ok most of the time because when I’m home I don’t have much else to do anyway.

Thursday and Friday I have my IB Psychology test and I’m really nervous but I know I will do well. They have been stressing me out so much but they’ll be over soon! Once they’re over I can relax sooo much more because I won’t be worrying about the test.

Other than that my life has been good. I got my lip pierced 4 times early this year and I love them so much. I also got a kitten who turned out to be not so much of a kitten (lol) and I named her Precious. I got her from a friend who had picked her up off the street but couldn’t keep her so I took her and now she is staying with my dad and two other cats until I move out with my friend in January. She’s so sweet and so small so my father and I thought she was about 4 or 5 months old but recently she got a respiratory infection so she was taken to the vet and the vet estimated that she was about one year old. She apparently has a very small frame and since she’s so old she will forever look like a kitten which is totally cool with me cause she’s the cutest little thing ever.

So yeah my friend and I are planning to move out together in January and we already have an apartment picked out and everything. We’re sooo excited and I’ll be taking my dog Cosmos and Precious and possibly my two other cats Spike and Princess. It will be so much fun!

This summer I’m going to do a college visit to my one and only choice, Princeton. I’m really excited because I’ve never been there. I hope I like it! Also I’m hoping to go on a two week volunteer trip to Mexico. I’m really excited about that.

I miss Japan sooooo much. I talk about it all the time and think about it even more. If only Foss was in Sapporo, life would be perfect. =)

Laney <3

Hey yo ladies and gents! So much to say I don’t know where to start!

I guess I should start by saying that I’m not living in Japan anymore. I came back to the States on June 27th, 2009. So I’ve been back for like three months now but it feels like a lot longer. June was a crazy crazy month for me this year. I prepared to leave the dorm and the school and it was all quite sad. I cried so much during graduation =( I miss everyone in Japan and those who I spent last school year with. They all mean so much to me and I hope someday that I will be able to see them again. <3

The day before graduation my mom came and that was very strange. I felt like I was an adult, living on my own and my mom came to visit. I lead her everywhere, translated, and spoke for her. It was cool. I managed to feed her everything on our list except Mister Donut but that’s ok. We got the important stuff at least. =p She was with me in Sapporo for 5 days and then Tokyo for another 5. We did lots yadda yadda. It makes me sad to write about it. =(

Anyways when I came back, that was a complete culture shock. Soon after I came back I started doing this photography internship thing that was/is super cool. The only thing was that it was on Mercer Island which takes 2 hours by bus to get to from my house so I practically lived on a bus for the summer. I didn’t do too much else during the summer besides working and trying to make money, doing photography stuff, and visiting my dad. I did get contacts though and that was freaking sweetness. I absolutely love them and I look better than I thought I would with them. I also went to the dentist and I still have NO cavities! Yaayyyy! I also spent some time with my step sister and her husband and that is alway fun!

Now I’m back in school. I started on the third this year and then my grandmother came to visit on the 4th and stayed a week. That was nice to see her. We hung out and stuff. Didn’t really go anywhere but that’s ok. School this year is gong to be pretty crazy I think. This is my schedule for the new year:

IB Contemporary World History (focusing on Europe)

IB English

Chemistry

French 5/6 (3rd year)

IB Pre-Calculus

IB Theater Arts

So yeah it should be fun but hectic. I’ve already had to write two papers! And I’m working on a powerpoint and I have a chapter test on Thursday in math. Craaaaazyyy. Pray for me!

Also I’m FINALLY getting some more holes in me =p I never said on my blog because I didn’t want to spoil the surprise for some people but I got my tongue pierced the day before my last birthday, while I was in Tokyo. I freaking LOVE itttt!!! I decided I wanted to get 4 in my belly button next and that will start on October 9th! I’m soooooo excited!!!! I really can’t wait! I’ll be going to Slave to the Needle in Seattle. I won’t get them all at once so i’ll have to go at least twice, if not three times. But yeah that’s kinda what’s new with me now. Not much else I can think of right now but that’s mostly because i’m quite tired now and I just finished writing an essay so I’m kinda typed out. XD

Tata for now!

<3 Laney

PS I played this really fun dancing game in Theater today! I LOVE that class!

Hey everyone!

I haven’t posted in several months, been so crazy busy with a side of insane-sauce. I’ll be posting again soon!

<3 Laney

Song: Bare Necessities by Bowling For Soup

Mood: Full of good food

Haha I felt like doing that. Anyways it’s been an awesome past weeks since my last post! I finished Breaking Dawn, read Exit Here (very good but very weird), and now I’m reading Being (an even WEIRDER book). I also read Animal Farm for English and I hated it. Totally thought I would like it but I found it quite repulsive. I’m also reading Ender’s Game for Physics class and it’s good so far but I’m only on the second chapter. 

On the first of May my class went to the river to have a barbeque. To be honest I totally thought it was going to suck because it was cold and my class isn’t the most organized class but it turned out to be really fun and I’m really glad I went. So about 20 minutes after school started we took this barbeque thingie that was quite strange, like an incomplete grill. Then we walked to the river and some of us went shopping for the stuff. We had literally nothing but the grill. No knives, forks, plate, cups, sauce, drinks, charcoal, no nothing but the grill. Luckily we found a yakiniku vegetable set (”yaki” meaning “grilled” and “niku” meaning “meat” so it’s “grilled meat”) and all the veggies were pre-cut so that was good. Then we got a bunch of beef and yakiniku sauce and charcoal and other stuff. Then we went to the river and it was sooooo windy and soooooo cold and it really sucked. Then to make matters worse we had to wait for like an hour for two of our classmates to come. When they finally came, it was really fun. We all huddled around the grill (that had started on the grass (did i mention it had no legs?) against what I said and eventually had to be moved to the sidewalk because it started catching the cardboard it was on top of on fire (when it was moved we found out it had burned a big circle in the grass)) and we cooked the meat and veggies and it was really good. When we started cooking we realized we only got beef which one of the people in my class doesn’t eat so he went and got this crazy delicious pork (it came presauced). It was really fun and the boy I was sitting next to was pretty funny so I laughed a lot. Then afterwards we burned everything we could (by this time it was almost dark) and we were cold so we huddled around it and tooooootallly looked like a bunch of homeless kids. It was soooo funny. Then we left about 3 hours after we got there and I had such a good time and really enjoyed the food. 

That weekend was “Golden Week” (renamed “Golden Days” because it’s actually not a week lol). So that means that it was 3 holidays in a row meaning I had a 5 day weekend! Yay! It was fun for the most part. I didn’t really do much but that’s ok. I went on Monday to a hair salon with Tokyo and my roommate because my roommate wanted to get a blue streak in her hair and Tokyo said she would help translate. While we were waiting I said that I really wanted my hair dyed again. So I decided to dye it again. I’ve had reddish cherry hair, black hair, and pink hair before and I wanted to try something new. So I dyed my hair purple. It looks really good and I’m really happy with it. =) So that was the highlight of my Golden Days.

After that it was AP testing at school for quite a few students so the two days of school that week were just a time to mess around pretty much, which was really nice. Then last week the science teacher FINALLY held the snake!!! And he said he actually kinda liked it. So that’s good. Next I’ll see if I can get him to pick her up out of her cage lol. 

On Friday the dormies went on a dorm overnight trip to this place called Gateaux Kingdom which is a “hotel and spa resort” according to its website. It was freaking AMAZINGGGGG!!! We went after school and got there at about 5ish and dinner was at 7 so we all (well 3 people didn’t) swimming together in their various outdoor and indoor heated pools (there is about 6 outdoor pools and maybe 8 indoor pools of various sizes and shapes and temperatures). It was really fun!!! Then we had dinner which was an all you can eat buffet and I ate all I could. XP They even had a chocolate fountain thingie and it was really good. After that me and a bunch of other people went to karaoke (yes this place even had karaoke) for an hour after a special dorm awards ceremony. After that me and 3 out of 4 of my hotel roommates went to the onsen together. Onsen is hot spring and we did it the Japanese way, no covering up. So that was nice to have quality naked time with them XP We got there at about 10pm and then let at almost 12am so we were there for quite awhile. It was really fun and quite relaxing as well. After that we went back to our room and played some card games, talked and then went to bed at 1am. The next day we woke up (well my room anyway) at about 8:40am and went to breakfast at 9am which was another all you can eat buffet. Very delicious once again. After that me and my roommates went to look at the flower garden and we found out that they had two baby bunnies in an outside pen and they were soooo cute! We pet them and then one of the hotel people came out with some greens and gave us some to hand feed the bunnies. They were just sooooo adorable I wanted to take them home with me! After that I swam with the other dormies for awhile and then me and Tokyo went to the onsen together which was nice. After that we waited with the dorm parents for the next bus and then left all together at 2pm. It was sad to leave but I plan on taking my mom there when she comes because it’s really cheap to do the pool/onsen only. After I got home I just chilled out and that was nice.

The next day I went to see the cherry blossoms (because its cherry blossom season! well actually I guess it’s almost over) with 3 of the people I was rooming with in the hotel. First we went downtown because we had to switch lines down there to get to the park we were going to and the people I was with had shopping to do. So we ate lunch when we got there, we had curry. After that we went to a cheap clothing store and I saw these jeans on sale for about 13$ and so I tried to find some that fit me since they were so cheap and I needed jeans. I found some that fit, fit better than ANY other jeans I’ve worn! I couldn’t believe it! JEANS that fit me in JAPAN! I never thought I would get pants here! So I got two pairs for under 30$ so that was really cool. Then I got some black over the knee socks and after that we went to the park and saw the cherry blossoms and the tulips were all in full bloom as well so that was really pretty.

Me and the flowers and then the tulips. After we looked at the flowers we went to the shrine that I went to during Spring Break and we were looking at these thingies which I’ll talk about later, when my mom comes. After that we went home and I chillaxed some more and then had dinner.

The next day I went to school (yesterday) and it was pretty uneventful which was nice. Then today I only had 3 classes which was nice. It’s because of this big play/musical thing the choir does every year. So that was cool. Then after school I slept haha. When I woke up I ate dinner and then after dinner I wrote this!

Music Corner:

I found a band called “The Hush Sound” and I was completely obsessed with their song Wine Red so y’all should give it a listen.

That’s it for now because I’m kinda tired of typing so much XD

<3 Laney

Teehee. I’m in a musical mood so I’m going to include a lot of music info this post (regarding music that I am currently obsessed with).

First of all I finished The Named, read Eldest, and am now almost done with Breaking Dawn. Phew. After Breaking Dawn I don’t know what I will read because the last 6 books I’ve read, including Breaking Dawn, have been action novels with magic or seemingly magical things and didn’t bring anymore of that kind with me XD The rest are all a “slice of life” whatever the heck that means. I mean how do you have a slice of life? It sounds painful if you ask me.

Next… Hmm I don’t really know what else happened soon after my last post. Only what has happened in like the past two weeks. So I apologize for the gap. Soooo um like last week I did some interesting things. Last last week me and two other girls (my secret lover and my girlfriend ;p) were doing hama beading things together

Y’all remember those things right? It was something  grew up with. So we were doing them together one night and then my secret lover told my girlfriend that she should make the cow that she’s always drawing. So eventually this cow comes to life after the three of us worked together on it and omg is it cute. I will get pictures soon I hope! So then after that we decided to make a pig but we didn’t have enough colors so it looks kinda funny. So the next day (Friday) we went downtown ad bought a bunch of colors. Then when we came back we made a monkey and a dog that I drew (totally cute!) and then later I made Milkshakes (Billy’s pink cat on the Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy) twin, Buttermilk. It would have been Milkshakes but I used a creamish color instead of pink for the color so it’s Milkshakes twin instead =p We’ll make more eventually.

Another trend that started last week (well technically the hama thing started two weeks ago but whatever) is my own trend that I absolutely adore. My science teacher got a king snake (the story is that a girl that went to my school at the beginning of the year (as well as previous years) had a snake but then she moved to England so she asked the science teacher if he wanted her and he said yes) and he doesn’t like touching snakes at all. I don’t think he really liked snakes period but I think she intrigued him because he really likes looking at/watching her. He’s had her for many months and I figured that she never got held because he didn’t like holding snakes. So one day I asked him if I could hold her because I had been sitting next to her cage in class for awhile and every time I was near her I had a strong urge to hold her. He said that I could anytime after school and he seemed happy that I had asked. It took about a week before I actually did it. When I went to hold her I was quite scared to have the science teacher there telling me that he didn’t know if she would attempt to bite me or not as he had never held her for more than a second (to move her from cage to cage). I admit I was really scared at first, I had never held a completely unknown snake like that before I mean my dad and I caught a wild gardner snake once but then I had at least known that it wasn’t going to bite me at all unless I really aggravated it. I did suck up my fear though eventually and stuck my hand in to grab her. When I first touched her she instantly started to struggle violently and it scared me so I pulled back. When I let go of her she wasn’t running away very fast so I figured she wasn’t too opposed to me picking her up so I grabbed her after a few seconds hesitation. She struggled again but made no attempt to bite me and as soon as I had most of her off the bottom of her cage (which after I grabbed her the second time was only about 2 seconds) she stopped struggling and instead tried to hide under her water dish. She is very strong and the science teacher had to move the water dish so I could get her out. When I did get her all of the way out she kept sniffing me and moving her head really close to my hands so that really freaked me out for a second but then I got control over my fears and I calmed down. Eventually she tired of smelling me so she started to try to get away (not to escape but in an almost lazy way, like she wanted to explore) and she did not resist when I didn’t let her go anywhere. When I put her back after about 15 minutes she quickly retreated and I went on my way. I held her again 2 days later and she was about the same, many other people were in the room that time and they all came to look at her and/or touch/hold her for a second. I held her for about 15 minutes again and when I put her back she seemed like she didn’t want to leave my hands. It got to the point that I had to put her down myself instead of waiting for her to leave my hands herself. I held her again on Monday and I have a feeling that in a past life I was extremely afraid of snakes. When I went to pick her up I suddenly was terrified of her biting me. My heart was literally pounding, a reaction I’ve never had with snakes before. I had to wait about 10 minutes before my heart finally calmed enough so that I figured I wouldn’t scare her. When I finally found the calm to pick her up she did not struggle this time, just quickly wrapped the end of her tail around my arm as I took her out. She was extremely calm when I held her. She moved at first for about 5 minutes but then she started slithering on my legs and arms instead of trying to get onto the nearest counter. I eventually sat down and put her on my lap and for awhile she just sat there on my lap, not really moving. It was very nice. I think she actually really likes me. She’s always the most behaved when I hold her. Though I have a way with animals. I had never noticed until Pickle said that it was amazing how animals are drawn to me so much. It makes sense to me though because I am very good with earthly things like plants and animals. So yeah that’s my recent trend. I will hold her again tomorrow probably and the science teacher said he would try to hold her then. I hope I have inspired/helped/will help him get over his fear.

Another cool new thing with me is that the mentor I had when I was taking the class at Youth In Focus, Sacha, is going to do a mentorship thing this summer. She’ll teach several people about the technicalities of photography and how to run a photography business. She originally was only going to let adults do it but she personally asked me if I would be interested. She said that she would make an exception for me because she saw so much potential in me. I’m sooooooo freaking excited. I told her that I wanted to have a job so that I could get a Nikon D300 this summer and she seemed like she would make it all work out instead of me making it all work out, as if she was really eager to teach me. So I’m super eager and I’m really hoping that I will be able to start my own photography business before I graduate high school. It would be really cool if I could because it’s something that I could do in college too to make money. I’m sooooo excited about it!!! And I feel so honored and lucky that I have this opportunity especially because she’s doing it for free and I’ll get on the job experience! Yaaaayyyyy!!!!

Now onto music! Some bands I’ve been into the past few days/weeks/months are Angels & Airwaves, Amy Can Flyy, Unicorn Kid, Swimming With Dolphins and Rediscover. I really like the song Sunset, 1989 by Swimming With Dolphins. I also like Love, Lust and Pixie Dust by Amy Can Flyy as well as a quirky little song, I’m a Unicorn by 1-800 Zombie. Yeah I think I’ll post more about music the next post because this one is super long. XD

<3 Laney

Hey y’all!

So last week was good. Very busy near the end. So I have continued reading a lot. I have finished almost 4 books. I finished Physik and now I’m reading “the Named.” It’s really good and I should finish it by tomorrow at the latest. After that I think I will read “Eldest” so yeah…. I really have been enjoying reading so much. 

School was ok, mostly work days so I did work. XD Mostly boring work I might add. Bleh. Not really much else to say about the week. 

Over the weekend it was pretty crazy. I had a big project due on Tuesday and I wasn’t finished so I worked on that for a long time. Then on Saturday my school had it’s Spring Celebration thingie so I did that for most of the day. I stood around making yakisoba for a few hours (grilled soba noodles with vegetables and meat). What the Spring Celebration is is a time for classes to do fund raising for the trips they take to Kyoto (always only in 9th grade so I missed it) and the senior Habitat for Humanity trip, mostly to the Philippines. So every class does a few things to make money. Our class did yakisoba, crêpes and face painting. I obviously was part of the yakisoba group. It was ok, really busy. After we weren’t selling any anymore I went to the flea market thing (it was people just selling used stuff they didn’t want anymore but it wasn’t required so I didn’t sell anything up there) But I got some books. WAAAAAY cheap. And I got some pretty earrings too. After my shopping trip I went back to the dorm and just chilled out the rest of the day and did some work. I was up for 21 hours straight. That was awesome. On Sunday I went to the dorm parents church and I had to sit through the service. I don’t really like church so it was really not fun. XD Also I felt like one of the people (American of course since it was a Christian church) was really pushy about his religion. He made it sound like if you didn’t devote your life to Jesus you were a bad person. I don’t like those kinds of people at all. I have my own religion thanks and Jesus is not a part of it so don’t try to push it on me. Because of his pushing I can assume that deep down he doesn’t really like his own religion because if he was as into it as he pretended to be he wouldn’t push others to join. He prolly subconsciously just wanted others to suffer with him. I feel bad for the guy. Owell. After the service we had lunch (btw 8 other dorm girls were with me) and then we decorated eggs all fancy like (which is why the dorm girls came). It was pretty cool and I did one that I can do at home easily so I will teach my sister and mom how to do it when I get back so that will be fun. After that I watched American Idol with Tokyo and we fell in love (well not really but I think he’s really cute) with Adam Lambert. He’s soooo cute! and he sings well too. After that we took Kamui to Co-op (another grocery store nearby) and the 5-8 minute walk (one way) turned into a lot longer. It took an hour to go there and back. Man was that a long time. But it was ok I guess, Kamui enjoyed it. I got some aloe vera juice and it was ok. I like the aloe vera juice in the states better. But it was still good. After that I worked on my stuff and read and watched some American shows.

On Monday school was ok. Didn’t really do much so yeah. Then after school I had a badminton game and I won. Yay! Then after I went back to the dorm Kamui came to my room and we played some online games and watched Powerpuff Girls. Kamui really likes that show. His favorite is Buttercup (the green one). On Tuesday school was ok, pretty relaxing which was nice. After school I was hoping to just relax and read but Kamui came to my room as soon as I got home and then we played a computer game and then I started watching America’s Best Dance Crew and Kamui soon fell asleep on my bed. It was sooo cute. He slept for a few hours (moving to the floor after awhile) and then he wanted his mom/dad so I took him downstairs and he totally clung to me like a little kid. It was sooooo cute. After that I continued watching my show and then I read for awhile. Today breakfast was soooooooo good. It was crêpes and there was a large assortment for toppings (syrup, chocolate syrup, apples, bananas, kiwi, strawberries, cheddar cheese, ham, whip cream, cream cheese, etc). I had one with whip cream, kiwi, and banana and it was really good. THEN I had TWO (because they were sooooooo good) with ham, cheddar cheese and cream cheese. It was the first time I had had cream cheese in almost a YEAR. OMFG thats sooooo long. It was soooooo good. Then I had PE first period and we did volleyball stuff (which we’ve been doing for the last few classes) and I’m getting better. =D Now I’m in computers and I have been writing this and not much else. So yeah It’s lunch in a few minutes then study hall. Whooo. Tata.

<3 Laney

Really Sis? Was Tokyo Godfathers in Japanese or English? I should totally check that out! Of course anything I can get from there I can just watch on the internet prolly. XD Only 18 more days until my nephew is ONE YEAR OLD!!!! OMG it seems like he was only born like 2 months ago. XD I didn’t rent the videos, the teacher whose house I was staying at had them and said that I could watch them. At the movie rental store they pretty much have all the same movies that they do at movie rental stores in the states. Maybe not as many old ones/classics but a very large selection. Plus Japanese, Korean and I think Chinese movies too. As far as how many channels are on Japanese tv, they do TV differently here. There is no such thing as cable really. You buy channel packs, so depending on the channel pack thats how many you have. The dorm has like 40 or so channels I think and they got an American pack I think because it has like Disney (in English), Cartoon Network (English), Animal Planet (usually English), CNN, FOX, and a bunch of others with English shows. There are of course a bunch of Japanese channels as well but none that are very interesting except the anime channel. ^^ The songs I sing during karaoke are all American songs. So like Fergie, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Avril Lavigne, we like to sing the “Whole New World” duet from Aladdin too. XD So yeah. Along those lines. Depeneds on the place too because some have more American songs than others.

So yeah… Last week was pretty uneventful. I didn’t have much homework because it was mostly A days which only has one class that gives homework. So that was really nice. During the weekend I watched this really awesome anime called Rosario+Vampire. Which is about Tsukune Aono who is a normal high school freshman who is unable to get into any private school, due to his disappointing test scores. The only school he is finally accepted into turns out to be a secret school for supernatural monsters, who are disguised as humans. The first student he meets is the beautiful Moka Akashiya, who becomes his friend for an unusual reason; not only she is a vampire attracted to the sweet taste of his blood (and Tsukune’s only, it turns out), but because Tsukune was Moka’s first real friend she had ever made. Tsukune quickly realizes his admission into a monster school must have been a mistake and fears for his life.

Despite Moka’s vampiric nature, she is a kind girl and Tsukune quickly falls for her. Moka also quickly falls in love with Tsukune after they meet. He decides to stay and be near her, despite the various dangers. He must hide his human identity from the faculty and other students, while trying to keep his grades up and avoiding conflicts with the various not-so-mythological monsters lurking around campus. Tsukune soon discovers that when he removes the “rosario” around Moka’s neck, she transforms into a super-vampire, stronger and more powerful than almost any other creature at the school. However, in this state, she has an entirely different personality, often cold and merciless, so the rosario is only removed in dire emergencies. Tsukune is the only person who can physically remove it to transform Moka, and only in the case of an emergency (the rosario remains physically bound to Moka, while Tsukune attempts to willfully remove it in a moment immediately preceding, and sometimes interjecting - a malignant situation). 

As the school year continues, Tsukune becomes involved with other students who start out as enemies but who are won over into becoming his friends: Kurumu Kurono, a succubus who originally fixated on Tsukune as both a means of propagating her species and a weapon against Moka (whom she originally hated for attracting all the male students away from her); Yukari Sendo, an eleven-year-old witch who is the smartest student at the academy (but prejudiced against by the other students since witches are not truly considered monsters, but somewhere between monsters and humans) who developed a major crush on Moka after Moka defended her against a pack of bullies (and therefore thought no mere boy is good enough for Moka!);Ginei Morioka, a second-year student who is not only the President of the school Newspaper Club but also a werewolf and a confirmed skirt-chaser who can’t understand why Moka is attracted to Tsukune and not to him; and Mizore Shirayuki, a yuki onna (snow woman) who began by stalking Tsukune believing them to be soulmates. However, after Tsukune befriends each of the girls, they become friendly rivals along with Moka for Tsukune’s affections and members of the school Newspaper Club with Tsukune and stand by him even after they learn that he is really a human.

Yeah it was really good, too short. Though it’s really new so they might make more. That would be really cool if they did! After I watched that I tried watching the first episode of Gintama but I decided to watch it when I’m better at Japanese because there are lots of jokes that you only get if you speak Japanese. So after that I decided I should watch less anime and do something more constructive with my time which is read and study Japanese. I haven’t been doing the whole Japanese thing but I have been reading. I’m on my third book in three days. I’ve read Maximum Ride the 3rd book, Ruler of the Realm (the 3rd book of another series), and now I’m reading the third book of yet another series, Physik. Last night I found out that I was way behind on some of the best series I’ve ever read so I can’t wait to get back to the states so I can get them! But for now I will continue reading the books I have. After Physik I think I will focus more on Japanese. Cause I’ve been spending hours on reading and like no time on Japanese lately so yeah…. 

Last weekend it was so cute because me and Tokyo and Kamui (the dorm three year old) went to MaxValu (a grocery store nearby) together and it was awesome. Kamui is sooooo cute. I always like going places with him, it’s like he’s my little brother or something. I am going to be sooooo sad when I leave him but it wil be ok I guess because I’ll come back and visit and I have a nephew back home. I hope he’ll be like Kam when he is 3. I will be able to teach him Japanese too so that will be AWESOME. My mom wants me to teach her Japanese too so I’ll do that if my mom meets my requirements. (Yes mom I’m going to be a REAL teacher therefore I’ll give you assignments and keep track of your grades so if you cannot keep more than a C then I’ll beat you. >( ) So yeah we’ll see about that. I also have to get on my French practice too so I won’t be behind when next year starts. Gosh I’m going to be sooooo busy this summer. Oh well I like it ^^

<3 Laney

I really do miss writing in my blog all the time. I’m really sorry I’ve been so bad.

So at Takino I had a lot of fun. We were split into teams before we went and there were six teams (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple). I was on the purple team. Each team had at least one person from each grade from 7th to 12th, there were 14 people on my team. So throughout Takino we did some really fun (and some not so fun) activities and pretty much each one won the teams points (depending on which place they got). At the end the team with the most points won and guess what! It was the PURPLE team that won. I really liked my team, we were very well rounded. So yeah… Too complicated to go into to much detail about all the activities. To name a few there was a Monster relay race, a knowledge bowl, and a giant capture the flag snow style tournament.

Then the next week in my English class we were given the choice between five books (A Room With A View, Picture Of Dorian Gray, All Quiet On The Western Front, Howard’s End and Of Human Bondage) and I had asked my teacher which book he thought that I should read. He told me I should read Of Human Bondage and I took his word. It was a good book but holy cow was it long. It was over twice as long as all the other books, weighing in at 680 pages. I really enjoyed it a lot even though I thought the ending could have been better and at some points I wanted to rip up the book because the main character was such a freaking retard all the time. But the book wasn’t the retard so I didn’t. Out of all his students, all 43 of them, I was the only one to read this book. At first there were two of us (a girl in another class) but then she switched books. I don’t know why yet but I’d like to know. It was a really good book and the girl who chose it seemed like the kind of girl that would enjoy it but maybe it was too long for her? Anyway I started it on like Monday/Tuesday or something and then finished it last Tuesday. In PE me and my partner (my secret lover ;)) did our rhythmic gymnastic routine (as did the rest of the class) and I really liked this one teams, it was really good and thought out. Besides those things the week was uneventful. On Friday (a week from yesterday) my spring break started!! I’ve been staying at the 6th grade teacher’s house, taking care of her cat while she is somewhere else. I haven’t minded taking care of the cat but she LOVES to meow at me constantly. It’s been really annoying but most of the time she’s pretty good about keeping quiet. I have really been enjoying this week of relaxation. I’ve been studying a lot of Japanese (and I’ve learned a lot this week!) and watching anime. I also made for the first time hayashi rice which is the Japanese version of beef stew. It’s SOOOOO good and if any of you have the chance to try it you totally should! It’s REALLY REALLY good. So I made that twice (once with carrots, beef, onion, and potato and once without beef and lamb instead). Both times were REALLY good and I will for sure make it all the time when I go back to America (and the dorm for that matter). I can’t wait to share it with all my family! Also yesterday I went to the Sapporo Shinto Shrine and took pictures of it and the surrounding area. They’re on my photobucket so y’all should check it out because it’s really cool looking. In the pictures you will see that it was snowing like CRAZY so yeah. But it was all good in the hood. Today I haven’t done much except study Japanese, talk to my parents, watch anime and I watched a really awesome movie. It’s called Transamerica. It’s about this guy who is about to have surgery to make his parts woman but he had to get a signature from two psychologists (I’m assuming that’s what they both were) first and one was his therapist who gave it to him easily but the other had to be convinced that it was the right choice. He got the signatures about a week before the surgery. The day before he had gotten a strange call from a New York Juvenile Detention Center, a boy asking for him (by his old male name) saying that it was his son. He tells this to his therapist and she says that since he didn’t want to deal with it because it was something from him being a man she could not give his surgeon the signature giving the ok. This makes him really upset because apparently he booked a year in advance and the date of his surgery was his only shot in the near future for getting it. So he goes to the jail and asks about bailing the kid out, hoping that bail is too expensive so that he would have an excuse not to bail the boy out. Well his bail is a dollar so he has no choice but to get the kid out after showing concern for him. So she does and she doesn’t want to tell him that he’s his father so he tells him he’s a church person. So yeah then they go on a road trip to get to LA (where the boy wants to become a porn star and the main character is getting his surgery) from New York City. It’s a really good movie and I recommend it to anyone over like 16 cause there are some nudey parts in it and drugs and stuff. XD (it’s rated R for a reason!) But yeah I really really enjoyed it a lot and would watch it again.

That’s all for now folks!

<3 Laney

So the last two weeks have been pretty awesome.

I haven’t really been doing anything that interesting except studying Japanese and watching anime. I finished Sailor Moon!!! I was sooo happy when I finished the last episode, episode 200. I was getting soooo tired of that anime! (Note: what I am telling you isn’t really in chronological order XD It will be as I get closer to today but right now it’s too far away) 

Also I went to karaoke two weekends ago with three other dormies and that was really fun. We sang for about 3 hours and it only cost me 430¥ (about $4.50) So that was awesome. After that we went to Tanuki Koji (the street of shops) and met up with 2 more dormies and went ot dinner at the ridiculous restaurant. Why did we go if it was ridiculous? Well…. I’ll tell you.

First they lure you in with their cheap food. Second you don’t know that it’s ridiculous until you get the bill. Here’s what showed up on the bill.

1) Our food which we were happy to pay for as we were expecting to pay for it.

2) They charged us for just sitting down! What the heck! 

3) A boy ordered something that cost a little over $3.50 and he got these sides (that we thought were normal appetizers) and they charged us almost TWENTY FREAKING BUCKS for it. That was more expensive than my meal and someone else’s meal put together! 

4) Since we thought that they were normal free appetizers we all took part in eating them because when they put them on our table they put them all along the table so we did not know that it was actually one specific person’s side. Therefore we ALL had to chip in and pay for it (adding to my already over budget meal).

5) Because of all these weirdo things added to our bill it took us about 30 minutes or more to figure out how much it cost per person.

Our revenge was to take all their free candy and leave the wrappers. Muahahahahaha! Sad don’t you think?

Then that week of school was really uneventful, I didn’t get much homework, though for some reason I never do. I’ve been really happy these days and it’s been really nice, it’s hard for me to look at the bad side anymore and thats just amazing.

Last weekend was pretty uneventful. I just watched anime mostly and that was nice most of the time. I like those kinds of weekends for the most part. I also finally finished Kenan and Kel! Whooo I was watching that for awhile and I finally finished watching all the episodes. So now I’m working on Jigoku Shoujo and Rurouni Kenshin. After I finish one of those I think I might start Gintama. I’ll tell you about what that’s about when I know myself. XD Rurouni Kenshin is an anime about the best swordsman of Japan who during the Revolution (that then turned into the Meiji era) killed many many people and was called the “Man Slayer.” After the Revolution was over and the semi peaceful Meiji Era began he threw away his killing sword and instead uses a reverse blade sword (where the blade is on the back instead of the front). With that sword he helps lots of people to repent for his killing past. It’s good.

This week has been entertaining. It’s Spirit week and yesterday was cross-dressing day and a bunch of the boys wore skirts/dresses but sadly I didn’t get any pictures of them. =( It was really funny that that was cross-dressing day because that was the day that some people from the japanese high school next door came to spend half the day with us. They all got a good laugh out of it and it was really funny. 

In history I started taking a test that i was supposed to finish but there was a Hiragishi club (the exchange club with those Japanese high school students) meeting after school and we only meet once a month so I didn’t finish the test yesterday. I hope I don’t get in trouble. XD

Tomorrow is when the school will go to Takino together and we will be there overnight so I hope it’s fun. Then it will be the weekend! Yayyy. I don’t really have any homework for the weekend so thats really nice. I love weekends like that!

So yeah if you want to check out my pictures go here http://photobucket.com/guestlogin?albumUrl=http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q290/SyCrossChan/ and if you don’t have the password ask someone who does (like me or my grandma or my mom (if you know them)). If you want to ask me then just write it in a comment and I’ll email it to you. There are a lot of them so have fun! I’ll be adding more soon!

<3 Laney

Hey everyone! There’s so much to tell about the last 9 days but I don’t know what to include! 

So last time I left you I wasn’t sure about my candy dilemma. Well Yeah I’m still not to sure but I’ve almost finished a chocolate orange so that’s progress!

I’m pretty sure school was uneventful. I didn’t do much worth mentioning. 

Last weekend I went to the snow festival with Ko-chan. That was fun. I took a lot of pictures and my camera died about halfway through. On Monday school was ok. Didn’t really do anything interesting. I was kinda lonely actually. That night I decided to get happy for real and so I came up with a regimen and started it that night. On Tuesday it was like one of the best days of my life!!! I woke up tired but as soon as I got off my bed I was wide awake and feeling fantastic! Then I had a really good breakfast (eggs, bacon, kiwi, and a glass of orange juice). Then I went to school and Physics was really interesting and easy, we only took notes the whole class. History class was study hall because the teacher was watching the junior high doing some test thing. English was really easy, all he had to do was read a short book the whole class. And Japanese was easy as I just studied kanji and did a worksheet. After school I went back to the dorm and I watched some anime and that was really fun. That night I had a really yummy dinner, instant ramen, 3 shrimp dumpling things, a stick of yakitori (chicken on a stick with yummy sauce), kiwi, bacon, and two glasses of apple juice. It was soooooo good. I felt sooooo good all day and I felt good going to bed too. The next day I had off and I woke up at about 7:30am and talked to Pickle. That was nice. Then later that day I went to the snow festival and took a picture of all the other snow sculptures I missed before. I was alone so it kinda sucked but I just went to take pictures anyway. I’ll put some up later. Then yesterday school was ok. Mostly just chilled. By the way grandma I’m making you a present!!! I hope I’ll finish it soon but it’s taking a long time so I don’t know how fast I can finish it. I’m trying! After school I just chilled out and did homework. Then I finished watching the first season of Jigoku Shoujo or Hell Girl. An anime that gets pretty twisted but I really like it!!! I watched the whole season with Ko-chan and we are both addicts. For reals. So you’re probably wondering what it’s about? Well heres what Wikipedia says: 

Most episodes are self-contained short stories in which the series narrates the suffering of a different individual caused by one or more antagonists. A website known as “Hell Correspondence” may only be accessed at midnight by one who harbors a desire for revenge against their object of hatred. Should someone submit the name of someone against whom they bear a grudge or immense hatred, the Jigoku Shōjo (Hell Girl) will offer them a straw doll with a red string wound around its neck. If the string is pulled, she will ferry the target of the revenge straightaway to Hell. However, to do that, the client must agree to a pact wherein he/she will go to hell after their life has ended. Sometimes, Ai shows them the consequences of going to hell; there is constant pain and suffering and they will wander for eternity.
During each story, the protagonists’ dramas are explained in detail from the start of their grudges, through the escalation of their torment until it becomes unbearable and they resort to accessing the Hell Correspondence website; however, this does not hold true for all cases. The Hell Correspondence website is accessible only at the strike of midnight at exactly 12:00, and only if the client accessing it has enough hatred inside him/her. Upon accessing, a flicker of a fire appears on screen and the a black page is displayed with the following text: “あなたの怨み、晴らします。” “We will take revenge, on your behalf.”, a text box where the grudge’s object must be written, and a “送信” (Send) button. After the client’s request is posted, they are visited by Enma Ai, a young red-eyed girl wearing a traditional sailor school uniform (usually the dark version used only in winter months). She hands them a straw doll, which is actually one of her assistants, with a red string tied to its neck. She then tells them that if they want their vengeance to be delivered, they must remove the string from the doll, and their enemies will be immediately taken to Hell. A black crest-shaped mark will appear on the protagonists’ chests after the revenge is carried out, which serves as a constant reminder that once their lives come to an end, they must give compensation for Ai’s service by having their own souls also sent to Hell.

Yeah so it’s a really interesting story. Not for the faint of heart though. Then today I woke up feeling good and I decided that I’m going to be almost completely happy by March 5th. I know it’s kinda weird and maybe not smart to set a date but for me it really helps keep me focused on the good things. Then I played a game in Physics and I lost. I’m still in Physics so yeah. I hope that today will be awesome. I have a feeling that it will be!

<3 Laney