Friday, July 31, 2009

FIRED UP!

I had lunch with a good friend yesterday. We talked a lot about searching for jobs. She gave me so much good advice for searching for jobs in Japan and how to go about everything. I am so grateful for all of her advice!!

So now I'm fired up to get out there and find a job that I really want to do! Watch out Tokyo - here I come!!! :-)

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Tired.

I thought that once you are done with a thesis there is a certain amount of time that you get to vedge away and relax. If that's true, why am I tired?? Haha. Seriously though, I am tired and I feel like I haven't DONE anything lately. Yeah, I go in to my internship and I go to work. But I did those things when I was doing my thesis.

I guess I'm just waiting for things to be different now that I'm truly done with school. Guess not. Life still keeps going... and sometimes it's not that exciting! :-(

Monday, July 27, 2009

I have a brother...

that's engaged! WHAT!?!?! I know, I was totally thrown by it as well. Mostly because he's 3 years younger than me and I always thought that I'd be getting married first. Well, that goes out the window now! Haha...

I'm happy, but being in the wedding (first time to be a bridesmaid!) and living thousands of miles away makes things interesting. :-)

Bring on the festivities (wedding's not until next June!)... I'll get ready! ;-)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Why do people have cats?

I used to be a dog person. Not even a mild-mannered dog person. I was a semi-militant dog person. The only cats that I used to like were my friend Melissa's cat, Katrina (r.i.p.), and the new cat, Sophie after her. That's it. I didn't like most cats because, well, they didn't really like me.

As most of you may know, I am now the mommy of a little (not for much longer!) cat called Suzu. She is lovely! She is friendly and nice. The only fault I have is that she doesn't instinctively crawl up on my lap to cuddle when I've had a bad day. Maybe that will come with time.

I've decided that one of the many reasons that people own cats is because they are extremely entertaining. Not in the way that dogs are entertaining... but very independently entertaining. For instance, my little cat chases bugs. And makes quite a spectacle while doing so.

Another way she entertains is by trying to go after things that are just out of her reach... outside the window. Most of the time it's birds or the wind rustling in the trees outside. Today it was an electric company worker who was doing a bit of work outside our window. She was very interested for the 20+ minutes the guy was outside the window. I tried to get her to turn around to no avail!!


I was very amused by this shot! Hope it makes you smile too. :-)

Monday, July 20, 2009

July 25th, 2009; 11:15am Tokyo Time

At 11:15am this coming Saturday I will be "defending" my thesis. In Japan, the defense is very much a formality. Though that is the case I am still interested in what the professor's on my committee have to say. Two are women whose opinions I value so I'm interested in what they have to say about my research.

After I’m done on Saturday I will be done with everything except the graduation ceremony on September 3rd. This MA has been a LONG time coming (4 years!!) and I am very ready to start the next chapter in my life. :-) Wish me luck for Saturday!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Going to the beach

For most people going to the beach is a matter of finding an old beach towel, grabbing a swim suit and trying not to forget the sunscreen. Sadly, it's not that easy for me. Today I am going to the beach. I have decided to wear a two piece that covers a lot of skin - becoming a lobster is not my goal today. Also, I have to first find the sunscreen and then the towel. Not having a towel would be a bummer, but not having sunscreen is unthinkable! I am even considering going a bit later than everyone, just to stay out of the sun a bit longer. I wish I did not have such pasty white skin, but such is life.

Despite all of the hassle, I am quite looking forward to the beach. It should be a good time and at the very least I'll end up with some more freckles!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

July 25, 2009

Yes, the title of this post may seem a bit odd. It's not really July 25th yet. This date is one milestone, the last one really, on my journey to finishing my MA. It is the date that I "defend" my thesis. Now, I put quotations around "defend" because in Japan the concept of defense has not been developed. Rather than a true defense, it seems to be just one last hoop to jump through before you can graduate with the MA. Regardless of the outcome, I will graduate.

At last, the past years in academia will come to an end. In hopes of having many more exciting adventures to share with everyone... I will once again be keeping this blog. I'm choosing not to change the address because there is already so much here that I'd like to just continue.

Welcome back to the blog... I will try to be more faithful in keeping records of my life for everyone to enjoy. :-)