milkypink [dot] net

Made some small changes here and there, such as removing microblogging stuff as I’ve had another fit of “zomg people can (and do!) read this!” so. last.fm is still there though! You can always stalk me through music :D
Added some linkies because I realised I didn’t have any… which is a little weird.
Things have been generally uneventful, aside from recently playing fantasy-planning for my 2010 trip to Japan. Which I have been fantasy-planning since December of last year. Ee-yep. Been a long time, and still a long time yet. But got to plan, finances and all that.
May or may not be doing the license thing again, after parallel parking about a million times, that is. I’m not taking that test again unless I’m 99% sure I can do it in any car. (that last 1% is general anxiety, but nothing to be done about that)
And then? Who knowwws!
Er, but it will probably involve buying a car and having some semblance of freedom in this (so-called) Land of the Free.
I have 358/2 days (new KH game!), but my wrist/hand has been very twitchy so I couldn’t play for long. Looks decent, though~
And thaaaaaaaaat’s about it!

Kanji progress is 進んでる so that’s good.
Watched some 名探偵コナン episodes I’d fallen behind on (but I already knew the story because I read the manga, too).
Made my heart hurt, reminded me of things I’m trying to ignore, but I don’t want to abandon the series because of that…
Watched some K-ON!, wanted to write lyrics.
Wrote lyrics.
Read old lyrics.
Read REALLY old lyrics written by C, dug up her lj out of curiosity – she looks familiar but so different now.
I’m on a flipped sleeping schedule now, and I’m not sure how or when it’ll get fixed. When it interferes with something I need to do, I guess.
Contemplating just staying up all day, although I don’t know if that will work out. There’s not enough going on to create the energy to keep going…. hmm….

I miss Tokyo.
Also Chiba.

Having performances this week is screwing up my study schedule. Well that and practically inhaling the Death Note manga in a span of two days. And now Bones (oh how I love Bones ♥, thank you M!)

Trying to do at least one lesson today before I sleep, but of course it’s a lesson with two pages of sentences (most only have one)…

Starting to feel daunted again about the whole JLPT thing. Don’t want to lose my nerve, trying to keep perspective.

Missing shopping in Japan a little, wondering what the summer will be like, hoping I can get back to Ishiki progress eventually.

Emptying my head onto paper helps, but it just isn’t enough in the long run.
Emptying my heart through the keyboard helps, but it just isn’t enough to express.
Feeling level makes me worry – that in and of itself is wrong.

Deep breaths, let’s concentrate.

Well, January has come to a quiet close. I don’t expect February to be super great, but I wonder if anything will change…

The above photo was taken in Harajuku, and I don’t remember much of the circumstances surrounding it, only, I was in Harajuku a lot. XD

This photo is of Ikebukuro, near Tokyu Hands. It was taken on my last night of study abroad.

Snowed again today, but it was really wet, to the point where there were puddles and there was ridiculously heavy wet slush everywhere （π　π）
I really miss living somewhere with trains. Within reasonable walking distance, I mean. And with somewhere good to go on the end of them. (Even if I could make it to the closest T station, I have no one to see and nothing to do in Boston. Maybe hit up the Japanese grocery store, or something.)
The station in that photo is one of the platforms at Makuhari Hongo (幕張本郷), a station I’d end up at going from the Keisei (京成) line to the JR… until I figured out that Funabashi (船橋) made more sense, anyway. It was also an easy meeting place when I was going into the city with friends who lived on different lines.
One of the things that I love about Japanese train stations is that there are markers for where you should line up for the doors, and people actually follow them! Sometimes when things are busy people spill over since they’re in a rush to get on the train but usually everyone is very well behaved. The schedule’s right on, too, and if the train’s going to be even a minute late they let you know about it.
I miss being able to just get up and visit places on my own, no relying on other people to drive me anywhere, or have to hang around with me. I’m trying to get to the point where I can drive myself but that’s still not really what I want. There’s just something about being able to lose yourself during transport, staring out the window, listening to music, watching buildings and people as they fly by…

I’ve decided to institute a new policy.
Every blog entry must have at least one (1) photo.
I know I much prefer reading blogs that have nice photos, so why would I have a blog that’s less than my own preferred standard?
As such, here is a photo to express my nostalgia of Japan (Chiba specifically) today:

That’s Carrefour, which is kind of like a Walmart/Target. I bought my pretty pink pans there ♥ In that same building were lots of different stores (including a Mother Gooseの森 store, Uniqlo, Prepoint (tons of adorable accessories)) and a food court :9 It was the location of my first meal after arriving in Japan for study abroad (and became the location of many lunches afterwards).
Maybe I’ll do a retrospective using photos on the Tokyo Shoujo blog…

Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing, painting a rosy picture when things were more grey, but the truth isn’t always necessarily so horrible.
So here are some things I loved about living in Japan, and what pushes me to want to go back:

+ health. I was way healthier when I lived in Japan. I walked everywhere, I ate better, I drank more water.
+ social. I actually hung out with people in my free time. I almost never do that in the US. That might have been a product of study abroad but I really hope not. There are friends back there I miss seeing, and I hope I’ll get to spend some time with them.
+ karaoke. I LOVE karaoke and it just does not exist here. I might even go on my own if I have to, embarrassing though it may be. XD
+ shopping. okay, yes, I love shopping and if I do something like eikaiwa I won’t really have the money or space to indulge but just being able to browse is pretty awesome.
+ trains. I adore riding on trains, watching the scenery go by, listening to music. It’s an amazing feeling ? plus, not having to drive places myself? awesome.
+ bookstores. yes, there are Japanese bookstores in the US but none that are near me, so I can’t browse, which I love doing! it’s so hard for me to get into new series without being able to browse (; ^ ;)
+ keitai. this is less strong than it used to be, since I got my Tilt, but Japanese phones can do EVERYTHING and are so cute (* o *)
+ Japanese. what I mean is, the ability to use, increase and maintain my Japanese language knowledge. living there, my competency level shot up. there’s just no substitute. bonus: actually DOING something that (if indirectly) uses my major.

I’ve been so seriously busy this month, between travel and getting sick, and more travel, and still being sick (x__x)
I have so many things to talk about! But I have to be careful to space them out otherwise I’ll run out of content XD
So first, I’ll make a short entry about my trip to Japan.
I spent about a week in Tokyo at the beginning of this month, and the timing could’ve probably been a bit better, what with it being the end of the rainy season (it was cloudy nearly every day I was there) and friends not being off school yet, but it was the best deal for flights so…. that’s what determined it. I walked a lot, and took my pedometer with me for proof! Each day was usually over 10,000 steps, sometimes as high as 15,000! I still wonder what it would’ve looked like if I had my pedometer with me while I was living in Chiba. I didn’t really lose any weight though, which was kind of disappointing considering the amount of exercise I was getting XD
It was totally exhausting and went by kind of fast after the first couple days. I got to borrow a prepaid phone from my friend, which made me happy because it was almost like I was still living there XD I didn’t really get to do everything I wanted to, because it was all crammed into such a short time, so I’d like to go back (for a much longer period of time, if I can!) but who knows when that will happen. Need to save up for it, that’s for sure.
I haven’t driven at all since before I left for Japan because I was so busy getting ready for the next trip, and I caught a cold at the tail end of my trip anyway, so I was feeling pretty blah I may not really get a chance to practice again until August. Not exactly looking forward to it, but if I want to ever get a real job, it’s the only way, living in the suburbs. Bleh.

Reason #111 why I need a new pink digicam: I can’t take stealthy photos of things with a giant black camera. I mean, not unless I’m a good distance away, I suppose, and at that point my zoom isn’t good enough XD (Yes, I’m still aiming for Canon’s SD1100IS)
Trying to lose waist weight again, feeling desperate. I will drink water until I explode. Well, not really.
Planning out my Tokyo shopping trips to the store, accumulating places I want to go so as not to miss anything.
Cats are doing well with the Cat Genie, though I’m still apprehensive about them suddenly deciding to up and go somewhere else… ( > >)
This is the latest I’ve been up in days!
Currently loving デコ電, 姫ギャル, 東京カワイイ★TV, and coquettish*tiara (unfortunately I can’t seem to find any stores in the Kanto area that carry them :/ boooooo.)
Sleeptiem. おやすみ！(つ∀-)