Because of this piece of work.

Hard to believe just how, ah... prescient they were, isn't it?

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go listen to The Right Brothers speak truth to power, in order to come down off of my euphoria gradually.

</snark>

I find it incredibly hilarious that there is a Pennsylvania German Wikipedia. I mean, who among its speakers actually uses a computer?

I figured it was about time to reassure those of you who have me on their friends list that I am not, in fact, deceased. This is especially in light of my previous post, which is depressing and melancholic, and which I finally decided deserves less than the top spot of my LJ. I'll leave the full extent of what I've been up to since then for some other post, but for the time being, suffice it to say that I'm happy again. It was a long time coming, and I certainly had my share of setbacks on the road to recovery, but I now find myself smiling without realizing it, and feeling excited about the future in a way that I have not since even before I met my ex. What can I say? Life is good to those who are willing to endure its sour moments.

When I look back over the course of my time in Japan, I am no longer plagued by the darkness that stalked me as I wallowed in despair and regret. The places I visited there now hold only the nostalgic awe of locales I had never seen before, whose breathtaking vistas and intimate spaces inspire only a yearning to go back and revisit the country. And, so it seems, I probably will.

The breakup itself, in my mind, continues to be a manifestation of pure, irrational chaos: it does not, and probably cannot ever make sense. But, though it caused me more than my fair share of suffering, whatever unfathomable demon took over my ex may well have given me the push I needed to take my own life by the horns.  As they say, when one door closes, another opens; suddenly I find myriad opportunities laid out in front of me that I never would have discovered, had I remained with her. I fully intend to return to Japan at some point, and it may now be sooner rather than later, and maybe even for an extended period of time. But I will explain my thoughts in more detail once they have developed past the "inkling" stage.

At any rate, I should be making the most of my weekend at home before I head back up to campus tomorrow, so off I go~.

Here I stand, stranded alone in a foreign country, and the girl whose presence in my life over the last 3 years has brought me joy greater than any I had ever known... has turned her back on me.

( the long, bitter heartbreak )

There was a time in my life when I was convinced that I would always be alone. That was before I met her... but now, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I was right, after all.

Something I learned not too long ago, and was reminded of when I ran out of my current stock today:

SUDAFED IS ILLEGAL IN JAPAN.

I hope the Zyrtec is enough to cover things... T_T

I'm not going to bore those who read this entry with a blow-by-blow of my Thanksgiving break, but suffice to say that it was a well-needed rest from the stress of Junior year and continued filling-out of forms for Japan. Patricia: you still mean the world to me. Jay: you still rock. My family: thanks for not getting on my case too much while I was either being lazy or out of the house.

But now... I have a few more weeks of the grind, where I need to get a presentation and several papers done, as well as finish making arrangements for my visa to Japan and my housing and/or job situation when I come back. Stressful doesn't begin to describe it. At this point, the only things I'm really thankful for are (a) that it will be over soon, and (b) that I didn't continue the insane courseload that I started out with. I'd be a blubbering wreck of a human being by this point, if not for those two things.

On the brighter side, I will soon be in possession of this and this. Ah, consumerism. While I dislike spending large amounts of money all at once on principle, I am reassured in this case by the anticipated utility of said items while I am in Japan, as well as the sheer niftiness of them. I mean, seriously: who doesn't like holding a piece of freshly-minted technology in their hands? (That was a rhetorical question.) vegettoex and I have also started doing an internet radio show (a "podcast," to the initiated), which can be found here. It's got a feed and everything, and we're angling to get it listed on the iTunes Music store. And yes, I'm still a Dragon Ball dork. Thanks for asking. :-P

At any rate, my main point in writing this entry was that I have been thinking lately about starting up a blog to detail my various travels, observations, and general thoughts while I'm in Japan. I'd prefer not to use my LJ for this, because I want everybody (including relatives) to be able to read it, and not just my friends. (That, and LiveJournal has a reputation.) But at any rate, my tentative plan is to start a new site (hosted by either vegettoex or Blogger), to collect pictures, interesting anecdotes, and other random bits from my time abroad. In the meantime, I'll use the LJ account you see here for material of a more personal, off-topic, or inappropriate-for-mass-consumption nature (not to mention links to the public blog, from time to time). But on that note, I'd like to open this up to you guys. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see? Suggestions for layout? (How much freedom does Blogger give for site design, anyhow?) Something else? I'm up for some ideas.

Hey, blog. Long time no see. Rather than offer up an excuse, let's cut to the chase:

Jgjedi: Ah
KiriyamaBRX: I u e o
Jgjedi: Heh. kakikukeko
KiriyamaBRX: Verily. Let's sa shi su se stop there.
Jgjedi: Ta chi tsu te too late
KiriyamaBRX: Na ni nu ne no it isn't.
Jgjedi: ha hi fu he hope you don't have anywhere to be right now
KiriyamaBRX: Ma mi mu me more often than not I'm just here, bored.
Jgjedi: ya yu you're telling me.
KiriyamaBRX: Ra ri ru reNOUGH ALREADY.
Jgjedi: ro?
KiriyamaBRX: No ro.
Jgjedi: wa wi we won't stop until we're through.
Nn-hm.
There we go.
KiriyamaBRX: You're an ass.
Jgjedi: You're the one who started it, remember.
KiriyamaBRX: YOU SAID AH.
Jgjedi: And whose idea was it to make it into the Japanese syllabary?
KiriyamaBRX: ...yours!
Jgjedi: ...
KiriyamaBRX: :-P

That's all for now. Random AIM quote-posting is fun.

...Until I'm out of here for the summer, that is. I am... quite looking forward to it. The job situation is starting to look up, and I will hopefully be hearing back about a promising offer this weekend. And, of course, I'll be seeing my girlfriend on Sunday. So, all is well with the world. Assuming I can get this essay done and study for the next two days' worth of tests. ><

But actually, this post was really just an excuse to post a meme. In anticipation of Episode III of Star Wars (which I am dying to see, and praying that it won't be sucktastic), and taking the cue from tinamond, it's time... time to see what kind of Jedi I am.


I'm actually surprised that I scored so low on Dark Side potential... that, and I don't really like the color purple. Having my original Japanese mentor (now, sadly, deceased) as a master is more than fitting, however. At any rate, it's an amusing diversion from what I'm avoiding right now. In the meantime, go check out Darth Vader's personal blog. It's a rather... unique take of everyone's favorite Dark Lord of the Sith. And now, I'm off.

Hey, I haven't forgotten about this thing, after all. Nice change of pace. :-)

I finished up all my classes for the semester today. Now there's just one more week to go, in which I will be studying for exams, but would much rather just be back home, already. Meh. At least I've got some time to sort out the contents of my room, and maybe update the site with a few things. Still too much time with nothing to do for my tastes, though. :-\

On the other hand, I'd kind of like to know what my summer job's going to be before I go home, but I haven't heard back from a bunch of the places I've applied to, and the ones where I did hear back, it hasn't been positive. It's more of an annoyance than anything else, since I'm sure I'll find a job somewhere (even if it's something I hate), but I just dislike not knowing. Especially since my girlfriend now knows what she'll be doing, and I still have no idea what my schedule will be like. Grah.

And on a completely random note, I've started translating the instructions to the Gundam model kit I bought at Anime Boston, only to discover that most of the text is either:
a) English scifi-type words rendered into katakana, or
b) Completely obvious from the illustrations.
So yay for easy-to-translate instructions, I guess. But they need some furigana with these things... I shouldn't have to spend all that time looking up kanji I've never seen before, only to find out that the sentence is telling me to do exactly what the picture next to it clearly illustrates. God, I hate having the literacy level of a Japanese elementary-school student. >_>

And with that, I return to learning all about how to assemble a Beam Rifle.

[Has a new date, now that it's finished (though it doesn't seem to have gotten bumped up any). Enjoy... if you DARE.]

I return once more to my LiveJournal, this time (more-or-less) in triumph. There is only one week of class (actually less, now) until the exam period begins, my girlfriend is nearly done with high school, I get to read about Doraemon for Japanese class tomorrow (ya' call that "homework"? :-P), and I spent the weekend at Anime Boston, which was quite a nice break. As I've promised several people that I'd do a con report when I got back, I suppose I ought to devote the rest of the entry to just that. So anyway...

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

And so ends my tale of the magical, mystical trip, which I shall tentatively title, To Boston and Back: an Otaku's Tale. At any rate, this narrative is finished (at least until the start of AnimeNEXT). Until then, who wants to bet that I'll forget about this blog again? :-)

Oh, my late, lamented sleep cycle. If only I were to concentrate a little harder and get this damn paper done -- but no, I'm here goofing off again. Ah, well. Only 6 and a half hours until I absolutely must be up and getting ready for class. Perhaps I'll have found some sleep by then.

Well, I'd hoped to make my next LJ entry something a little brighter, but the fact is that when you're really, really busy, only the most salient points stick in your head. And those things are often bad. And so I present to you the winner of the Douchebag of the Day award for Febrary 1st, 2005: Bill O'Reilly.

The context in the article is pretty accurate, although I should add, for the sake of saying so, that I didn't intend to see the panel, anyway -- the Hamilton College Choir is deep into rehearsals for Gilbert-and-Sullivan's The Gondoliers, and I've got precious little time to spare. And besides, we have conservative speakers who are just as controversial as O'Reilly made this guy out to be, and there was barely anything in the way of protest. Fucking double-standards.

And of course, O'Reilly himself doesn't know jack shit about the school, or the people who work and study here -- all he's interested in is furthering his own crackpot agenda. The hack badmouthed both the school and the people I interact with every day, then went on to generalize the "problem" of campus Liberalism to all Liberal Arts schools (well, it's not a problem, but NO SHIT -- look at what they're called, dumbass! [NOTE: statement directed at O'Reilly, not other readers]). Just in case I'd forgotten, I was reminded, with a slap in the face, why I am really, really disgusted by partisan political pundits (alliteration unintended) like O'Reilly.

So rest assured, Bill O'Reilly (along with the moron who decided to protest "terrorism" by threatening some terrorism of his own) has been added to my "People-I'd-give-a-black-eye-or-worse-if-I-wasn't-a-man-of-principles" list.

Not to resume my LJ entries on a downer note, but it's stuff like this that makes me fear for this country's future. While racism is technically no longer institutionalized in this country, it is a sad fact that it still exists (and has intensified since 2001). While I am neither Arab nor Muslim (and these are separate designations), such virulent racism is just reprehensible. Some might excuse it as a reaction to terrorism, but it is still no better than the same sentiments towards blacks, Jews, Asians, or anyone else. (And please, no comments about being limited to "hicks with pickup trucks" -- this stuff exists in all levels of society).

Less-depresssing, more personal news to come later. Could it be that I'm actually getting closer to updating daily?
(Answer: Probably not.)

Well, stuff is still pretty hectic around here, so no big stories about what's going on around these parts. Instead, have a LJ meme (shamelessly borrowed from haveaday510):


You are a silly English Knnnnnniggit! Brave, loyal,
and (somewhat) chaste, you follow your leader
without question...even though you're not
really that smart.


Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hello, blog. Long time, no see. Did you miss me? No? Aww, that's not very nice...

Er... *ahem*... anywho, it's been almost 10 months since my last post. My, how time flies. Rather than give you a 10-page summary of what went on while I wasn't posting here, I think I'm going to pretend instead that I just haven't posted since Hallowe'en or so, and go from there. So:

( Daizenshuu EX: Still here, still awesome )

( Eta-Alpha-Eta, our new Fraterno-Sorority )

( Spring Break in... Eastern Europe?! )

( Is it Thanksgiving, yet? ;_; )

And so, that's what's new with me. Maybe I'll get to updating this journal more often, maybe not; I guess it just comes down to how much effort I want to put into it (or rather, how much effort I don't want to put into other things :-D ). We'll see. But that's it for now~

Hehe... it's been so long since I posted anything on this, I kinda forgot about it. But... since I'm back at school, and there's nothing else really to do at the moment... here I am!

Things have been going smoothly since I arrived back on campus this Wednesday. Had the dorm set up with my stuff by the evening, and have been making rehearsals for the Choir Musical (for the title, see my music selection) with no problems. Don't have a huge part in it, but I suppose it's for the better, this being my first year (I don't want crazy-insane levels of stress just yet!!).

I've also been contributing a slew of stuff over at the site, although I haven't (as of yet) begun to fashion any sort of Manga Guide that I'll be happy with. I'll get there, eventually... it's just a lot of work, what with 42 volumes for the original Japanese version, not counting the Japanese re-release or the English editions. So... yeah. I'll take my time on that. No hurry. :-)

Well, I suppose I'll get back to doing nothing. Last free day before classes! Uh... w00t?

Meh. :-/

Well, I knew it was coming, but I didn't want it to be here just yet. Nevertheless, campus is now covered in a good 6 inches or more of snow, and it's still coming down. I suppose I'd feel a little better if I had some boots with me at the moment (I'll bring them back with me after Thanksgiving break), but still... grr. And brr.

Otherwise, I'm doing pretty good. Just found out a way to scan things into Photoshop on campus, so it's possible I'll have some new images for the site this weekend. I'm sure that'll please Mike, as well.

And now...homework.

Well...as you can probably tell by my avatar, I got some new manga this week! DragonBall "Kanzenban" vols. 23 and 24, to be precise, which bring us (almost) all the way to the introduction of Cell. Actually having the manga in Japanese is pretty neat, plus the color pages (and new cover art) are nifty (I like 23's cover better than 24, though).

Schoolwork, though, is...ugh. I've got a French paper that's...er...presque fini, but I'm grasping at straws for a suitable conclusion. I also have a quiz tomorrow on Molière's l'Avare that I need to review for, and it's... *checks clock* 1:30 in the morning. Oh well, I guess there's always coffee.

And to top that off, I broke the glass on my watch when I dropped it, which means that, even though it still runs fine, I can't really tell what time it is without staring at the face for a minute or two and squinting really hard. I guess I'll see if I can get it fixed...might be cheaper just to get a new watch though. Bleh.

On the bright side, there's a little less than 2 weeks now until I get to see my girlfriend again, so that's a plus. It's hard being so far apart for so long, but we stay in touch, and we're looking forward to being able to actually *go out* again, instead of just talking on the phone. Only one week, five days, seventeen hours, and 20 minutes...but who's counting?

Well...je reviens à mon travail. À la prochaine.

Woohoo~!

After getting signed on by Mike (thanks again, by the way), and spending way too much time neglecting my schoolwork to do it, my LiveJournal is finally set up and ready for action!
...which means, I need stuff to write about.

Crap.

Anywho, I suppose I'll be using this to keep track of the various interesting (?) things that go on in my life, as well as accomplishments, annoyances, etc. Dunno how often I'll update, but I guess that depends on how busy I am and how much effort I wanna put into it. Maybe tomorrow will be suitable for testing my skills in keeping track of the day's events.

But, in any case, I really ought to be getting some sleep now, so~