Tokyo or Bust (But Please, Universe, Not really)

Yes, yet again it would appear I have abandoned this blog for months.  But, honestly, when all I really did for the past few months was school, work, and the occasional social-like thing it didn't really seem all that appropriate or interesting to blog about it. Occasionally I'd come up with something to blog about, but then we run into the "I forgot/I was lazy/I was busy" territory of excuses.  So part of me wonders if I should just copy/paste the opening paragraph of my blog every time this happens, but then I wonder if every blog entry would start this way.

However! I am about to do something much more interesting than school, work, eat, homework, sleep, lather, rinse, repeat, etc.  Well, at least I think it's more interesting.  If all plans go, well, according to plan Wednesday morning I'll be boarding a plane and won't be returning for another two months.  And when I say "according to plan" I mean barring computer glitches and national disasters because apparently those things happen a little bit more frequently than I'd like.  So, you know, knock on wood and cross your fingers for me because I'm going to Japan.

I've been telling people the whole thing seems so surreal partially because I feel like I don't usually do things like this, and partially because I've been planning it for so long.  Ignoring the fact that I've been studying the language since my freshman year of high school (so 6 years) and the fact that I've regretted not applying to go on a high school exchange program that went to Japan the summer after my freshman year, I've still been planning this exact trip for about two years.  My entire freshman year of college I researched programs, attempted to figure out dates, went to study abroad fairs, visited the study abroad office and whatnot, and then spent much of this year applying and getting ready for it.  So the fact that I will be in Japan in 3 days is just... wow.

So for the next two months I plan on recounting my countless adventures on this blog.  After all, this place needs some love and the owl gets lonely. I've also got a tumblr I'm planning on posting pictures to.  The idea is I'd at least like to post a picture every day and a blog every now and then (once a week perhaps?).  Maybe I'll get really ambitious and post some video blogs! I'm not entirely sure how much internet or computer time (especially with the energy concerns that are going on over there) but I'm hoping to use the time I do have to post on these things. Beyond the fact that I've had a lot of people say they want to hear about what I'm doing, I'd like a record of what I'm about to do.  Mostly because I feel like when it's done with I won't believe it's actually happened.

Oh Snap!

I feel like there's some law in the universe that prevents me from reading Gravity's Rainbow before 9:00 at night. I got home around 5 PM, which honestly should have given me plenty of time to start the reading I have to have done by tomorrow. Yet, like the past two times, I found excellent ways to waste four hours of my life before finally starting on it. I realize that doing something three times in a row doesn't necessarily mean it's a law, but I definitely think it's at least a pattern.

But I was tired! I slept horribly last night AND I went to a pilates class today. So I ended up watching youtube videos for an hour, then I took an hour long nap, then I attempted to get Pokemon Snap to work on an emulator for another hour, then the fourth hour was taken up by people getting home and me trying very hard to (not) start my homework.

And you know the worst part? I didn't get Pokemon Snap to work. Fail.

Seriously though, I have so many good childhood memories about that game. I just thought it was the most BRILLIANT IDEA EVER for you to get points for taking pictures of pokemon. Then it had that awesome level at the end where (spoilers! haha, no not really) you take ten million pictures of Mew for the boss level. Except you can't get to the boss level at all on emulators, and you have to do a lot of special modifications to get other parts of the game to work. So, my current plan is to see if my old N64 works next time I go home. That or, you know, play games that came out in the recent decade.

WTWA: While Pokemon Snap didn't work, I did play a Japanese version of Green on an emulator for a while. Due to the fact there's like no kanji (since the reading level is aimed at kids) it was pretty easy to understand. Especially since I've started about a million Pokemon games and the intro is more or less the same in all of them. Still, Japanese comprehension for the win!