NANOOKS WIN!!!

OMG!!!

I checked out the hockey scores just now...

UAF (ranked 20th) BEAT Univ. of Michigan (ranked 1st) 4-2!!!!

This news ROCKED my world!! Not only has UAF never won the first game in a Michigan series... but they have hardly ever won any games against them. And usually when they have won it's been on the road in Michigan!! WAHOO!!! Stick it to the Wolverines... they've been a powerhouse too long!!

Just had to celebrate a bit!!

Oh yeah... the Redwings won today too!!

Thursday

This week has actually been pretty relazing on the whole. I've had some extra days off from work... which has been nice. I don't miss the commute to work at all!! Haha...

Last night I went to kendo and had a renshu-jiai (which means 'practice match') for the first time. I actually tied. Which is not bad. The only thing... I had a clear shot... and didn't follow through. I saw it, didn't make it... and went ARRRRGH!!! inside. But at least I didn't open up to be hit. :-) That was really good... but I hurt my thumb. It's a bit funny when I try to bend it. Oh, well... I'll be ok enough to practice on Saturday.

AND... in good news (speaking of Saturday)... I ran into one of my kendo sempai (like a mentor) yesterday and we chatted a bit... and then she asked what I was doing after kendo on Saturday. Answer: nothin'. So, instead of nothing I'm going with her and a few other young kendo people to Chinatown to hang out. Am SO stoked!! I have friends. Just when I thought I was losing friends... it turns out I'm not. :-) YAY!!

Anyway, am headed to Starbucks to study... then do a bit of shopping (have NO food!) and then birthday drinks with my friend Jiyon and some other people from our 7:30 class. Whee!! Am a regular social butterfly, ne??

Talk to you soon!!

Weekend and Update

This weekend was GREAT!! Saturday was the best day ever. First, I got up and went to kendo. Which was pretty difficult since we're getting ready for our tournament in November. All the sensei are pushing us really hard! Wheee...

Then in the afternoon I took it easy and watched the opening game of the World Series. Was sad... I've become an Astros fan thanks to Lauren. Thank goodness the series moves to Houston now. :-)

After that I headed to Waikiki to meet up with some friends from one of my classes. Jiyon and I had talked about getting people together for awhile... and it was finally happening. It only ended up being Jiyon, Kenzo, Doug and me... but that was perfect. First we went out for yaki-niku (Korean barbeque in other places) at a place called Gyu-kaku (Lauren I missed you!!!). It was great. We had some beer... had lots of meat and had a great time. Then, we moved across the street to the karaoke boxes!!! Heehee... that's right. I went and did karaoke Japanese style. Oh man!! It was so much fun. Everybody could sing and we alll sang some really good/funny songs. And I busted out some Japanese songs even. Yay Ulfuls!!! ;-)

Then at around 1 (we didn't even realize how late it was!) we hiked back to Doug's car (a BMW!!) and he gave us all a lift home. Yay!!! Was SUCH a great night.... lifted my spirits entirely.

Now there has been some interest in the drama in my life as of late.... here it is...

When I arrived in Hawaii, I met a guy called Hikaru. He is originally from Sendai (which is really near to where I used to live in Japan) and so we just hit it off. We'd go out to dinner, talk about school, missing Japan, etc. He always managed to calm me down when I was super stressed out (usually about Japanese!!). We were just good friends. Well, I kind of started liking him at some point, but was never going to act on it because we were good friends and I didn't want to ruin it. Well... a few weeks back, he made the first move. But apparently he's still hung up on his old girlfriend. That's as much as he told me in the one email I've gotten from him in the last 2 1/2 weeks. For my part, I reassured him that being friends is fine... but apparently he can't do that. The drama is mostly on my end... I can't figure out how a person I called a friend could actually just decide to NOT be someone's friend anymore. So basically I've lost a really good friend and I was pretty upset about it. Now... I've just given up. I can't do anymore to "persuade" him that I want to be friends.

You may be disappointed by the "drama" but that's it. :-)

Hope you have a good monday!!

Test Time!!

Well, I have another Japanese test today. Funny thing... I feel like I haven't studied enough. Not that I've been slacking on studying, but that the material we have... isn't really that much. Compared to the previous chapters I feel like this one is pretty easy. Not sure that's good or bad.... but am studying all morning before the test. SO, if I missed anything... I'll get it before the test. :-)

Other than that... the week has been super stressful and overall pretty lame. I won't go into all of the drama here. Some of it was self-induced drama and some of it was... well, not. Haha... If you want more details let me know... am trying to keep at least part of my life (blog) semi-drama free.

Have a good one!

Hump Day!!

I am SO glad it's Wednesday. I have Wednesday's off from work. Which is awesome!! No hour-long commute for me today. YAY!!!

Things are getting a bit hectic around here... I have a Japanese test on Friday. Studying starts today and will be continued right up until I enter the classroom to take the test. :-) Wish me luck!!

My friend Hikaru, who has been MIA for a week, is back on the radar. Let me just say that boys/men (Lauren and I discussed this... we're all still boys/girls until we have kids!!) are just dumb. And they don't always ask for help when they should... but we all knew that. Prime example: asking for directions!!! ;-) Haha...

Anyway... I'm keying up for a good day. Hope yours is good too!!

A

Monday!!

It's MONDAY!!! And I'm in a good mood. AND I got to sleep in this morning!! Wheee... How nice was that? Very. I never sleep in because usually I have Japanese homework to do before I go o class. BUT, we are watching a video in class today and the homework he's collecting is homework he forgot to collect the other day... so it's already done!! Yay!!

This weekend was pretty fun. Saturday (my day off!) I went to kendo. Didn't get to practice with Nakane-sempai... but that's ok. :-) I'll definitely practice with him next week!! Heehee... then I met up with my friend Jiyon and we went and had lunch. Yummy!! And then went down to the mall... and I picked up a couple of cute shirts for work @ Old Navy. Thank goodness for Old Navy! I'm too poor to buy clothes anywhere else! Haha.

Then we headed to Waikik where I met my friend Johnny and she met up with some of her friends. Johnny and I headed to Tiki's. A great rooftop restaurant... it was really nice. Then we headed to Kelly O'Reilly's (maybe) Irish pub for a couple of pints. I'm seriously in need of practice... I can't hold my alcohol (and we're talking BEER!!) at all anymore. Hmmmm... have to fix that somehow. Haha.

And yesterday I worked and got off early. Which is always a great surprise... we almost always work late on Sundays!! So yay for getting off early!! :-)

Hope everyone else had a good weekend too!!

A

Thursday... at last!

Man... this week is feeling VERY long!! I can't pinpoint why... it's fairly normal... not much going on with school. Other than school itself. No tests or papers even... I guess I'm just feeling really drained and am not entirely sure how to turn that around. Maybe I'll hibernate a bit this weekend. We'll see...

In good news... it's THURSDAY!!! Which is the day before FRIDAY!!! Yay!! It doesn't take much to get me excited. ;-) hahaha...

Have a good one!

a call for tips!

Hey there!

This week is finding me pretty stressed... and it's only Tuesday. At present I'm getting ready to go to class completely unprepared because I didn't finish the readings for class. ARGH!!

So... here's what I really need... tips for being relaxed and getting things done! Either I get things done and am stressed or I get nothing done and I'm relaxed. Is there any way to fuse the two and get the benefits of being not completely stressed while also getting my work done?? Anyway... just wondering what y'all think.

Oh, and... my Japanese professor has become a tyrant... so that's in addition to all the reading I have to do! Wheee...

Sorry that this is so whiny!!

Windsurfers off Diamond head!! How cool... I may not be that interested in surfing, but this... I could get into this!! 

Me in the rental car pretending to drive...  

Another Kristi pic by the beach!! 

Me and Kristi hitting the beach! We ran to the mall, got take-out from the food court and went to eat at Ala Moana beach. Nice, huh? 

After practice talking with him again... I have no idea what we were talking about... ;-) 

Me and Nakane-sempai... he's super hard, but that's a good thing... I think I'd be much lazier if I didn't have him pushing me ALL the time! 

So, for the first time on Saturday, I had someone who could take my picture while I did kendo...  

These are my boys... Zack on the left and Jayce on the right... we were having a photo session with my camera. But could I get them to make "normal" faces?? NO!! 

KRISTI'S HERE!!!

Yes, we finally found each other!! Or rather, she found me! Haha.

We went to my favorite Japanese restaurant last night, Jimbo. The food was amazing as usual and she was a trooper and refused to use her spoon... chopsticks all the way!! Heehee...

We're going to go walk to a little bakery and get something for breakfast and then at 10... we're going to kendo. And then... not sure... exploring maybe!!! :-) Heehee...

Anyway... gots to go have fun!!

Wednesday

Well... it's over... Wednesday is anyway. I kept trying to write a blog entry yesterday... and it never quite happened. ;-) So here I am, before my 7.30 class, writing...

So, yesterday was a good day. After all of my classes I decided not to go to kendo... because I had too much to do to get ready for my friend Kristi when she comes to visit... TOMORROW!!! Yay!! But I made a fatal flaw... I asked Hikaru to come over for dinner...

I made tacos!! The meal mom's love because it makes a lot and kids like because it's good. And he'd never had them homemade before. :-)

Then we watched a bit of TV... (RO, I didn't miss the OTH season premiere!)

It was a good Wednesday... and today will be even better... and then tomorrow... KRISTI COMES!!! Yay!!

Believe me... everyone over here has been hearing about it too!!

STOKED!!!

So, today I got a voicemail from Kristi Builder (formerly Willenberg)... one of my best friends from my days at Truman. Anyway, to make a long story short... she and Andrew (hubby) are going to be in Hawaii for the Ironman... and we're going to be able to meet up. Actually, even better then that... Kristi will be staying with me next Friday night and we'll get to spend all of Saturday together chilling out and having a great catch-up session. I can't wait!! I'm such a lucky kid!! :-) YAY!!!

Also... in other news... I have a Japanese test tomorrow... am going to try to do BETTER than last time (I got a B-) so I've been studying almost all weekend. Big shout out to Hikaru for coming over and calming my down last night... I seem to be having a habit of freaking out before these tests. ;-) Haha...

Anyway... wish me luck!! I'm going to need it... and a bit of skill too. :-D

TTFN!

A

Hello again!!

Well... I've finished another week of school... but this time I have a job. And I'm dying!! I really like my job... the people are great, the works not too tough... it's really nice. Only problem?? It's really far from where I live AND it takes me at least an hour and a half commute each way! Blah!!! If only buses here were like buses in Japan... and what I mean by that (for my dad...) is I wish they were ON TIME!!! You can't ever count on the buses here... they may show up regularly at a given time for a week... and then they'll be at different times every day the next week. Grrr... Oh, well... I'll live. :-)

Just got done practicing kendo. yay!! I love it still... and I think I'm making more headway... I have some habits that I really need to break myself of... and I'm moving slowly in that direction. :-) Whee!!

I have a major Japanese test on Monday... which means that after I get home from a movie (going to see Just Like Heaven with my friend Jiyon) I'm getting down to studying. Grrr... how lame... studying on a Saturday. :-) The price you pay when you go to school. :-) Heehee...


Anyway... take care.

A