Wednesday, March 14, 2012

January-March Update

I apologize for such slow updates, but I noticed that the slower, the longer the posts sometimes tend to be. lol 

So here is what is up since New Years! :D

JANUARY

January was difficult, because I had been in a huge state of depression since December, and Kandai and Webster thought it a good idea to send me home for a little while to recuperate. I left at the end of January on the 24 and wasn't scheduled to arrive back in Japan until the 12th of February.  

I was excited to go home, because I really missed my family and things were getting really tough here, especially financially. For a while, I wasn't really eating, I had trouble sleeping, and stress with my two room mates was flying through the roof.

I took advantage of everything when I got home. :)

I got my F-22 a new faceup, and got to spend time with two good friends from the States. It was such a wonderful evening, and I thank the two of them very much. ^^  I am going to get them an omiyage before I get home. :)  I owe them so much. ^^

Rogue's new faceup by Lady Samhainne. :)



Went to a doll meet and got to see some of the other dolly owners again too.  Had some super awesome conversations that day, and it was a nice change of pace. ^^  Also went to webster and hung out with Shelby. :)

Most of the time though, I was either at the library or at McDonald's stealing the internet.  McDonald's food back home tastes really different too, and NOT in a good way. It is DISGUSTING. D:  The food doesn't really have a taste, it is super bland, and everything is too greasy. @.@


That was pretty much it though. Three weeks of lazing around and doing a lot of writing. :P  lol


FEBRUARY:

Coming back was a little nostalgic, and it is difficult to explain how I was feeling at the time.  I was excited and ready to come back to Japan, but at the same time, I kinda wanted to stay with my family a little longer.  I was having a bad feeling, but I wasn't sure what it was.

Came back, and got right back into the schedule. Jet lag was a little iffy, but nothing too terrible. I never really got readjusted to American time, so it wasn't too hard to get adjusted here.

 I'm getting pretty serious about buckling down and getting some writing done. I want to finish the first installation of my novel series and get Anthology of Faeries finished. Anthology of Faeries is complete writing wise, but now I need to get illustrations for the stories. I found someone I would love to work with, but she has her own projects, and I am unsure how she would like to work with me. :/  

This month, we did a lot of lazing around as well. I still felt a bit disconnected from my friends and I was missing my family again, but things were slowly moving along.  I got the JASSO, and started hanging out with Cas a lot more. 

The JASSO didn't last very long because of rent amount, and shopping for food in Japan is really expensive. Transportation can kill you easily as well.

So starting in Feb, I started applying seriously for a bunch of jobs.

Got my hair done again as well.  They went MUCH too short for my tastes, but eventually I figured out how to style it so it was cute. ^_~ Got another straight perm with it as well. Hasn't broken off yet. lol  But I have been taking good care of my hair, so it should be okay. ^^


MARCH:

I heard back from two jobs, and ended up having two interviews on the same day. Transportation for the whole day was nearly 2000円. I wanted to shoot myself. D:  I didn't get the super awesome job, but I did get a temporary and small position at an English Cafe. 

And just when things started to look up, my mom contacts me and tells me my grandma has a tumor over 8lbs, and one on her gall bladder and one on her kidney.  Remember that horrible feeling I had before I left the US the second time???  She goes into surgery next Friday (US time), so I am really nervous and scared at the moment. A HUGE part of me wants to return home and stay until everything happens, but I know that isn't possible. I'm not the only one, one of the other ryugakusei is also having a difficult time with her grandma and cancer.  Bad time of year, maybe?


Last Sunday was Dolpa Hometown Kyoto 9. It was epic. :)  Sadly, I spent more money than I expected to, but we all did. lol  I am making it work, and we made awesome new friends and now have a bigger support system.

Oh, and this friend? She cosplays. :D  So now, we are going to do cosplay stuff with her. ^_~

Some things about cosplaying in Japan:

*Japanese frown on those who cosplay on trains. Cosplay is NOT okay on trains.
*Most places don't have a dressing room, but you can't cosplay on a train. :P
*Best thing to do, wear something easy to slip in/out of, and get dressed at your location in bathroom or dressing room
*Be prepared
*Don't worry about those around you, but make sure you don't do anything dangerous or appear to be dangerous
*Know your peeps. Get a group together or join a group (if you can). You will now have more fun, know more places, and have a support system. :)

There is a huge difference between cosplay and fashion in Japan.

Fashion includes, and is acceptable:

*Nearly all forms of Lolita can be worn anywhere
*Traditional Fashion
*Gyaru/Other street fashions
*regular stuff


But costumes are not okay, though on Halloween you can possibly get away with this. :P 

So yes! More cosplay stuff coming up!  The Nipponbashi Festival is coming up at the end of this month. ^_~


I also have a job lead for a place from our new friend, Carrie. So maybe I will have a more solid job soon.

I also had a trial lesson with a student from EREV, so I hope that goes well.

And the other day, I had a really strange phone call from a new number... I called the number back, and I got a guy on the other line.  I figured he was the manager from the place Carrie referred me to, cause they had already responded saying they wanted to contact me.  I heard from both around the same time. 

I arrange a meeting with this person the next morning at 9am, thinking it is a job interview. When we get to the cafe (went to Starbucks), he asks me, "So how much do you charge?"    

I'm like... ??? O.o   APPARENTLY, it was a student who contacted me from a different place where I put up a profile. XD   

He is a professor at a college in another city, and is working on two university text books. He wants my help in editing his work and he also has offered to let me publish an article or two of something I have written if he likes it. He will pay me for the article(s) and I will be published, along with my name, in the text book. 

At the moment, he pays 3000円 in person lessons and 2000円 for internet sessions. 

This really made my day yesterday. :)


Some other stuff happened, but I can talk about them in another post.  I don't have too many photos to post this time, so I apologize for that. Maybe I will take some and post them later. ^^