I'm ... yes, still alive

so there's been a few things since the last posting.

I've been assigned to go for a 6 month sales training. that, means that i'll be going around japan carrying around our company's products around to surveyors and contractors trying to sell an expensive piece of equipment by conducting demos and stuff. yes, stuff. I still don't really know what the hell I'm supposed to do.

no need to mention that i've been a bit blue for a while. but that led me to thinking about me. and ken. and lisa. we've always thought that we were, well ... the average. we've always had people we'd admire for their linguistic skills, and it never really hit us that we were rather a minority.

it's not that we didn't work hard to achieve this "native bilingual" status ... but we were just somehow born into a family that had an ideal environment. we still find flaws in our linguistic abilities, and have this sense of failure at only being to wield two languages. our father has always used three languages, and our goal was to always surpass that number. I'm not sure about my siblings, but I've never really taken people close to me age wise, because we're all in the process of learning. i don't know how to say this right ... but that's just how it is.

and i don't know if i can go to Jin or Lam's wedding. or John Mayer's concert.

fuck that for going to sales for 6 months. and i didn't volunteer myself into this either. fuck that for all the cold glares.

shopping in japan

First of all ... I have a non-part time job that pays me enough to live, with a dormitory that is unbelievably affordable. Yes, it's cheaper ... much cheaper and decent than what I spent my student days in. That consequently leaves me money that I can spend more money than when i was a student. duh.

I go to more concerts now. I actually go shopping now. I actually kind of sort of have to wear makeup, to cover up the blemishes I've gotten from the numerous breakouts since work started (which, I blame my lovely, beautiful coworkers showering me with sweets).

Saturday ... I went shopping after I went to a concert hall to pick up a coin purse that I had dropped during the Jackson Brown and Sheryl Crow concert (which, was AWESOME) because I'm a hermit crab with a lazy ass ... I was sure that I wasn't going to go out again on Sunday. I remembered just in time that i've run out of cleansing. I look up where the nearest Clinique is, walk over and ask those pretty sales ladies for cleansing. And, of course, I end up buying more than just cleansing. but then that sort of works in my way ... there was this lottery thing where you pull out a scratch card to see if you've won any pampering prize that the department offers to shoppers who have purchased more than a said amount.

I, was aiming for the teddy bear post-its that everyone got, just to make them feel better about not winning anything substantial.

I, ended up winning a free session at a spa. There's a choice between a facial course and a body course ... but i. wanted. post-its.









Juli, facial? Juli .... body pampering course? HA. HA. HA.

... the gift card is going to a coworker as a birthday gift.

weddings

I'm finally experiencing the wedding rush of friends that I've seen other people go through. It's actually quite exciting ... just filled with joy for the happy couples.

Jin, my best friend's big brother ... he's always been the goofy one of the gang. I was, to say the least, more than happy to hear the news from Lisa ... he's been working hard alone in the states, and he deserves this happiness and so much more.

Lam, a super special friend from highschool. I love her to death, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that's been wondering when this couple - that looked like they've been married for years - would actually tie the knot.

I wouldn't want to miss their memorable days for the world ... now all I have to do is convince my boss to give those days off.


And oops. I just called my parents in the states ... and it's only 5 AM. Sorrys!

dilligence ... but i'm a professional procrastinator

There's always that mixed feeling of satisfaction and emptiness after finishing a good book. Satisfaction, a given, for finishing. Emptiness, for not having any more pages to look into the new world I've just only begun to know.

I'm now pushing away the books I've ordered on the trusty Amazon.com (well, the Japanese version) to try to keep up with the daily hour reading of textbooks for the assistant surveyor exam. Not that I can write that down on my resume, even if I pass the exam, because it's a Japanese license ... yeah, it's only effective in Japan. Like a driver's license ... or not.

It's just that I've realized that I really don't know anything about my work ... or the industry I'm in. This exam, which I'm supposedly taking in May, should motivate me to learn more ... I hope. I need the knowledge. I really do.

Valentines Day

VD is quite unique in Japan ... the girls are expected to prepare chocolates to their male co-workers and bosses. Yes, it's a girl to guy one-way chocolate road. The sweets floor of department stores are a complete mess of women in line to purchase boxes of brand-name chocolates, hopefully to their sweethearts ... but then, the girls around me were all in a rush to get reasonably priced boxes for workmates.

I, on the other hand ... well, I've got more love shoved into the plastic baggies that will be placed on to the ladies' desks. Not that they're anything expensive, but just a little more thought out. (Preparing chocolates for 30 people really does add up)

I love being American. I get away with so much more.

six

So. I guess it's been a while.

I'm in Japan again. This time, it's for a decent amount of time ... I'll be counting years, not days or weeks. It's exciting and a bit scary at the same time. Why? Well, I'm LIVING in Japan for the first time in my life, I'm working ... funny how I'm no longer a student, and Japan is a little far from home. I've already lost two people I love dearly. I don't know why I'm on the wrong side of the Pacific every time, whether it's for the heartbreaking tears or the happy sobs. Dropping sighs for the realization that I'll most likely be missing Lam's wedding, I really don't know why I visit the wrong countries while I'm away from home.

Three more days will mark six months ... these six were unexpectedly superb. I have a job. I love my co-workers. I've got a new hobby. I guess Taiwan did rub off on me, since it's taking a lot of energy to hold back the urge to start a collection of Chinese tea sets. My new year trip back to Taiwan ended up becoming a love confession to their rich variety of tea leaves, starting with Oolong and Eastern Beauty. It's just strange that I finally have the chance to go around Taiwan to take in its culture and beauty only after I leave.

I'm only starting to miss driving a car, the hours spent on a bookstore couch, the double oven kitchens, the easy trip to the theaters, the quick naps on the family room sofa ...

... I'm still trying to convince myself that I'm not homesick at all.

japan. is. cold.

I'm in japan, after figuring out how to pack things without exceeding the ridiculously low baggage weight limit of 20kg. I'm starting to get a headache trying to figure out how, with my near empty savings, am I ever going to move to Japan in the summer. Hope that snail mail is reliable? Enlist the help of mom by seducing her to go to Japan with me? Give up and ask one of the many international delivery service (pelican, black cat .... yeah, the animals) to haul my things? Oh. I forgot. There was another option: fly first class so that I can check in a few more kilos.

Well, Japan is cold. Not snowing cold, but cold enough to consider going into hibernation、that is, if I could. For now, it's not a stay of indulging food, shopping, sight seeing or meeting people ... it's been a stay of torturing my butt by sitting long hours re-reading academic papers for the thesis that's been haunting me. My butt is sore.

yup, that's Japan this winter .... sore ass.