So I was searching what little Japanese artists they have on iTunes, when I came across a cover of one of my favorite songs, The Love Bug by m-flo and BoA. The cover was weird when I first clicked on it. It sounded hip, urban, and world. Like nothing I ever heard before. The band was BAGDAD CAFE THE trench town. I looked up some of their videos, and really liked them! I wish I could get a copy of their CD.... I'll have to check Kinokuniya when I get back.... Well, enjoy!
So, as many of you know, my family came last week to Seattle to visit me during Thanksgiving break. I haven't had Thanksgiving with my immediate family since I was a senior in high school (High School Musical 3: Senior Year!!!), so I was really looking forward to this. I love my family so much and I appreciate everything they do for me. Being of Catholic/European/Pseudo-South American descent culturally, family is always emphasized, but not over emphasized, you know? Like I was never forced to spend certain days with my family, but I always wanted to and it just seemed natural. At Mass, during the sign of peace, I feel perfectly natural kissing my family, which I always thought everyone did @_@. I really don't care being called a "momma's boy" or whatever (my 7th grade teacher called me that once. What a biscuit. Maybe she said this because she had no womb so could never have kids. I hope you're happy now, Mrs. Maahs...) and thought it weird that people in high school had rocky relationships with their parents, who pretty much did and bought everything for them. So yeah, I really love my family.
I was VERY excited also for the time period in which I haven't seen them. Before I left for Japan, I only had 6 days back home, all of which were spent in a car driving to get stuff ready for Japan, and my Dad wasn't even there (he was in New York taking care of my grandma). Then, I went to Japan for 4 months, came back August 6, and went back to Seattle a mere two and a half weeks later. So, that's seeing my family for 24 days within the past 10 or so months. For me, that's really REALLY hard, so when Tuesday, rolled around, I was definitely anticipating them.
It happened that they came in during the time I was serving Mass, so they walked in half-way through Mass. When I saw them, I couldn't contain my smile (man, the more I write the cheesier I sound. Gosh, why does anyone read this stuff???), but I was on the altar, so I couldn't do anything, which was fine. But during the sign of peace, when I'm supposed to be setting up the altar, my dad walks right up to the altar and tries to shake my hand. Now, for those of you who don't know, my dad is one of the most annoying men alive. He's a Brooklyn Ginni with no shame for anything he does. After that, I wasn't so excited anymore. Being away for so long with my family on top of mainly hanging out with my family when I am with them, I failed to remember how embarrassing they are in front of non-family members. OMFG! Where is this going to go the rest of this week???
So, the first thing I did was show them my room and Xavier in general. We go down to the basement and see a fellow RA and someone else I know, and as my brother goes through the door, he says, really loudly and vulgarly, "This place is the tits". What the hell is your problem, Will??? In case you haven't guessed, my brother has no class.... AT ALL!!! Thanksgiving day, my supervisor was in the basement, and I wanted him to meet my family. But remember the previous incident, I decided against it. My family was just that embarrassing. They have no sense of tact and what is appropriate and inappropriate first time meeting conversations. They just say whatever without giving much thought to anything. Basically, I wanted to DIEwhen meeting anyone in the company of my family. Luckily, at the time, my brother was gone, so I thought it wouldn't hurt so much if my parents met my supervisor. It was pretty standard. You'd think that my dad being a principal for 20 some years that he'd know how to handle meeting new people and making a good impression.... This is why I like the West Coast SOOOO much better than the East Coast. They're just too forward there....
Anyways, the biggest thing I was worried about was Thanksgiving dinner, which my mom so generously offered to let me invite 6 additional guests! How would my family handle this situation, especially based on the fact that everyone came from a background my family never really encountered/hung out with much. Would my mom ask too personal of questions? Would my dad make an off-color joke? Would my brother be an all-around ASS like usual???Luckily, my mom was on her best behavior (and best cooking ability! It was so delicious!!!), my dad make a funny off-color joke that people laughed at, and my brother was pretty much not present. All-in-all, it was a really great, relaxing time and the best possible merger of my home life with my social life.
I thought it would be smooth sailing from there with just one more day left, but it wasn't... My dad is really controlling when it comes to food. He has to choose everything, he has really weird rules regarding when you can eat and how much, and he thinks that everyone in the family has his taste (they don't....). So when I wanted to take my family to an Ethiopian restaurant (which they have never been to, but I go to all the time, so I wanted to show them a part of my new life here) but my dad, for whatever reason, didn't want to go, it turned into this unnecessarily divisive thing. I had to drag them there. My dad was silent and huffy and shaking his head the entire time he was there. He kept saying he had stomach problems, even though it wasn't true. On and on, he'd complain about what a horrible experience it was. I kept asking my mom what the hell his problem was??! It was a new cultural experience I thought they'd all like, but just because it wasn't his choice and it was too "expensive" (even though it was the cheapest thing we ate and I "paid" for most of it [my mom paid me back :-D Thanks mom!]), he had to ruin the evening by saying how horrible it was. I was furious with him, but he seemed to not care. Later, since they had to check-out of the place they were staying, they hung out in Xavier. My dad was on his laptop in the lobby (where we get wi-fi) looking at his lots on eBay, something he had spent countless hours doing during the short time he was here in Seattle, which was I guess was nice because it gave the rest of us time to cool off. In my room, I was also pissed off at my brother for egging my dad on against me, so it was pretty much silence for an hour. But then, for whatever reason, I turned on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the three of us (my mom, brother, and I) got really into it. We watched it to its completion and felt a lot happier. It's funny how something as mindless as watching TV can bring families closer together and in essence end pettiness.
Their flight was at 12:40 that night, but for whatever reason, they left my room about 5 hours before the flight -_-;; I had accidentally scratched the rental car picking up my friends even though I told my dad I shouldn't drive, as I haven't done it in over half a year and have never EVER driven in Seattle. Because of this (he actually didn't freak out as much about this as would have been normal, probably because he knew it was his fault for letting me drive), he thought he had to get to the car rental place super early, but my mom told me it was taken care of as soon as they got there and they got through security about 3 hours before their flight. I was kind of glad they were gone. It was a peaceful time that I could spend by myself in the quiet dorm.
My family.... I love them to death, but gosh they are annoying and embarrassing.... But I guess that's to be expected and really obvious. Hopefully by understanding my family, you can understand me.
Why am I so boring? What do I have going for me? What is going on in my life? Nothing. I'm so boring. I need something to make me not boring. I need a new skill or something. Something that can make me stand out. Does driving 25 minutes to Dairy Queen, getting blizzards, and taking 2 hours to drive back not sound fun to you? Well, that's fun for me. Maybe for me to be less boring, I should make everyone else change their definition of fun. That seems a lot more feasible than making me less boring. Bleh...... That's all I have to say.... ever.... What is my problem? That say if you're bored, you're boring. Well, I'm bored right now so therefore I'm boring..... Life....... Goals.... Whatever
Why can't we just take classes we just want to take? Bleh.... I hate this feeling of no motivation for my classes. Like there's nothing to look forward to in that class because the subject just doesn't interest you, but you have to pretend it does. But isn't that life? I guess I should be able to accept that being my age and all, but it's too hard. How are everyone's classes?
Sorry for the lack of updates. Training has been a bitch with me having commitments from 8:00 a.m. to 2 a.m. @_@. But enough of me bitching, it has also been one of the greatest times of my life. I've made 50+ friends who are all amazing! I really hope we can stick together through the year and whatnot.
This weekend, everyone moves in. It should be exciting! A lot of people are scared, but this time is the reason I signed up to be an RA. Not a lot of people really know this (or they probably just expect it from me :-P), but move in for me was one of the most depressing times of my life. Being 2,000 miles away from home and not knowing a single soul was a very daunting thing. Almost all of the first 6 weeks I had to hold back tears of the uncertainty of the day. Would I have someone to eat lunch with? Will they let me hang out with them? Am I the only one who doesn't have any plans this weekend? Luckily, the people on my floor are the most amazing individuals I've met in a long time. To them, I say thank you! I wouldn't be half the person I am today if it wasn't for your guys' love and friendship. So thank you Alex, Jun-wen, Emi, Elaine, Yukari, Christine, Sarah, Liz, Matt, Bessie, Amanda, Cynthia, Aimi, Emie, Brian, Joe, Lawrence, Shasta, Nuri, and Allison. You guys are all wonderful and have so much to ofter the world. I hope and pray that my residents this year are even the slightest bit as awesome as you guys are. I hope I can help them through this rough time like you guys did for me.
I want to write a new post, but haven't had enough time! I have RA training which is so.... draining. Bleh, I don't even feel like typing it here. I have this nice three day weekend, but today's already over. I promise I'll write something in the future. I know exactly what to write on.
Everyone talks about the house of their dreams, but for me, I don't really give too much of a crap. For me, it's all about the animals! Let's start with animals that I could actually own.
First up, dogs. I want three dogs. The first dog that I will get will be a Boston Terrier named... Bessie! I just think that'd be the perfect name for a Boston Terrier! While there are many variations, I'd prefer a perfectly black and white one, like this:
The next dog I own would have to be a black pug. While Stella is a fawn colored pug, I've always like black pugs better. There's just something about them. I don't have any good names planned for her (I'd be getting all female dogs, as they are far easier to train and take care of), but I was thinking maybe something Japanese. I'm open up to any suggestions!
My third an final dog is a tough one. I either want a white French Bulldog, a Chihuahua, or a Pomeranian. Small dogs are just easier to care for, cost less for maintenance, and live longer, so yeah.
On top of the three dogs, I want a Guinea Pig. Preferably, a black, white, and brown one, a brindle one, or a tan one. I'm in Guinea Pig withdrawal right now, because my mom left our two Guinea Pigs, Winny and Ginny, out in the sun too long and KILLED THEM!!!
Next, I want some sort of bird. The only problem is I want to train it to be affectionate and loving, but that takes a lot of work. While I like the idea of a Macaw and a Cockatoo, I think they might be too big, so probably an African Grey would be perfect. They are so intelligent, and if you've ever seen a video of Alex the Grey Parrot on Youtube, you'd want to run out and buy one!
I would also be interested in getting a reptile, most preferably a chameleon! I love their eyes, heads, feet, and tail. They're so exotic! The only problem, though, is that I read that they can't really be trained to socialize. Man, if only we could domesticate them more, they'd be the perfect pets!
Now, for the ones I wouldn't be able to own. First of, I think it would be amazing to have a camel. I was watching this documentary about a baby camel growing up in a zoo, and they are really affectionate. I would love to ride it everywhere when it grows up. That'd be so much fun!
On top of a camel, it would be really cool to own a pygmy hippo. This is another animal that was inspired by something I saw on TV. A giraffe would also be amazing!!!
And last, but not least, is the object of my affection.... a penguin! I'd want as many different penguins as I could get my hands on.
*sigh* If only having all of these animals was feasible......
It was Joe, Liz, and I and some other people, and we were trying to get to the airport in Japan to go home. We were coming from Kyoto back to Tokyo, and Liz wanted to buy some more souvenirs when we got back. For whatever reason, there was a train that went directly from Kyoto to the airport. When we arrived, it dropped us off in this terminal and we had no clue where we were or where we were going. It was like a mall, with tons of shops and restaurants, but most of them were closed and there were barely any people in the area we were in. We went to this store that sold candy, and we talked about how if we bought chocolate, it would melt before it got home. Looking at the time, we realized that we wouldn't be able to leave the airport and buy souvenirs like Liz wanted to (our flight left at 5). We wandered the airport, and we saw this security guard standing there. For whatever reason, Joe dared me to go up to him and ask him the name of the airport. I took the dare, and, in Japanese, I asked him. He responded back in Japanese, but soon switched to English. He never really answered my question, but explained something else, and I just smiled and nodded and thanked him. We kept walking. The time was cutting it really close, so I told everyone to kick it into gear and search for where we had to go. We made it to the gate, and we went through. It was an outside train platform on the roof, though. It turns out that we had to wait for a train to come to take us to our airplane. On the platform, there were many people, mainly our age, who appeared to be returning from studying abroad. We had to wait a while, and while we were waiting, this girl who went to Sophia with us came up to me and said that it was so sad that we were leaving. I knew her and was sad too, but I had no clue what her name was and felt it too rude to ask. I asked her if we could take a picture together before we part ways, and she agreed. I tried taking pictures, but I'd either hold it the wrong way, have the wrong setting on so it would look weird, or just miss our faces entirely. I looked at the camera to change the settings, and I realized it wasn't mine. I was angry and looked around for my camera. Then this college kid with a baseball cap came up to me, laughed, and said "I stole your camera". He pulled mine out and handed it to me. I was so angry, that I smashed the one he switched mine with. After that, I had to retake the pictures, but I kept missing again. Finally, I was satisfied and thanked the girl, gave her a hug, and looked for the train. But I looked at my watch, and it was 8 o'clock, 3 hours past the departure time!!!! My first reaction was annoyance that Liz and Joe didn't come and get me, but then I realized that I never got any ticket or anything, so I didn't know how I was going to get home! Then I woke up......
Weird/boring dream, huh? I always remember a lot of my dreams, and they're usually about something I was frustrated about. I remember that the whole "how am I going to get to the airport?" thing really upset me. I also always have dreams about going back to high school and always being late to my classes. I guess I just have an anxiety about being late to something important!
I love puzzles. Puzzles are what I live for. Anything from jigsaw to word scrambles to Tetris. There really isn't a puzzle I don't like (except slide puzzles and Rubik's cubes..... Those are impossible and boring). When I'm bored and don't have much to do (or do, but am too lazy to do it), I will usually whip out a puzzle. If I 'm on a long drive with my DS, it'll usually be Sudoku, but about 300 puzzles later, I'll be the first to say it's gotten a little dry. My number one time wasting puzzle, though, is web based, as I spend way too much time on the Internet. This little life destroyer was introduced to me by none other than Bessie. What game could this be, one I've surely spent 150+ hours playing? Why, Text Twist, of course. No matter how many times I play this game, I can't put it down. I'll be writing a seven page paper due in less than 12 hours, be stuck on page 3, and my mouse will lead me to text twist, where I'll keep saying "after this game, I'll quit". I finally found a logical argument to stop my brain from playing. I tell it that only if I get all of the words, I can keep playing. Needless to say, I got my paper in with absolutely no time to spare. What is it about puzzles that's so addicting???
My latest addiction is a game that everyone should play. It's called Picross, and is on the DS. I've beaten pretty much all of the standard puzzles on it, but being in Japan, I missed a lot of the downloadable puzzles, which I'm slowly completing. My mind can never rest, and whenever I start a new puzzle, I always am thinking of solutions, even when I'm not playing. Does that make me clever, or pathetic. Yeah, I'm pretty pathetic....
In case anyone cares, I uploaded a TON of pictures to facebook.
Pictures mean a lot to me. When I was growing up, I felt like not enough pictures were taken. I blame this mainly on the hassle that is film cameras. While I know that there are aspects of film cameras that are pleasing, you can't deny the quickness and easiness of digital cameras. I decided towards the end of Freshman year in college that I'd take more pictures. I want to remember those moments in my life, no matter how silly or blurry. I have a good memory, but not when it comes to moments in my life. I always remember useless trivia, but I can't remember what I did two summers ago. This is why I need a camera constantly by my side. Sometimes, though, I think a camera can be hindering to memories. Especially if I go to a zoo or some other highly photographic place. I feel like I'm spending too much time taking pictures without focusing on what's going on around me or just enjoying my time. *sigh*
Nothing makes me happier than when people look at and comment on my pictures on facebook. I get such a happy feeling that someone took the time to share these memories. I also love looking at other people's pictures and commenting. Pictures just show who you are and where you've been.
For you faithful blog readers, I'll post one of my favorite pictures ever taken that hasn't been posted on facebook yet. I hope you enjoy!
Summer, while a great season, is definitely not my favorite, but that doesn't mean that I don't thoroughly enjoy it. But I pose this question to all of you reading: when is the last time you had a real summer? But in order to answer this, you have to know my definition of a real summer. For me, a real summer is no commitments. Whatsoever. Like being able to roll out of bed at 2 in the morning, have 3 bowls of sugar cereal, and watch TV until your friend comes over to go to the pool with you. No commitments means no work, no summer school, no book to read before school starts again, nothing. So when was my last real summer? Probably the summer between 8th grade and 9th grade, 2002, 6 years -_-....
This is what I strive for every year, but it never seems to work out. Last summer, I was scheduled to be even busier then I was at college, but I put my foot down and lessened it. This summer was spent mainly in Japan, which was amazing, but also going to school, which was torturous. But now, I'm at least enjoying 2 and a half weeks of a real summer. No job, no summer school, no summer homework, just me, my family and friends, and Milwaukee. And pretty much nothing to do @_@. The greatest things I've done so far in my week back has been going out for pizza and seeing Iron Man for a dollar at the budget theater with my best friends from high school (who are amazing and I'm so glad that they still hang out with me despite lack of contact when school is in session. YOU RULE BRAD AND CARLOS!!!!) and going on a cross state road trip with my mom through southern Wisconsin to Iowa (that was ridiculously awesome). Other than that, I've been sick and had ridiculous sleep problems (I'm typing this at 7 in the morning, woke up at 5:45, and the previous days, I haven't slept until 7 in the morning). My long term goal for the precious short time I have here? Nothing. But with my loving of lack of commitments, that should be good, right? Well, no. I no this sounds pathetically geeky, but my favorite thing in summer is buying old games and beating them. But with a lack of funds and a lack of systems (as they are being generously watched over my my gracious friends in Seattle, thank you), my gaming has been reduced to my DS, which is what kept me sane in my extreme boredom in Japan.
Another weird thing about summer that I've observed is how it makes my friends act. People seem more thoughtful and reflective during this time away from the friends we spend most of the year with. A side-effect of this is an upcropping of blog posts. The thing I urge friends is to keep this reflectiveness. Otherwise, I won't have anything to read come fall.
As many of you know (and have told me several times), I don't update things very often. With my previous blog, I only had a couple posts when it should have been way longer because it wasn't just for everyone to read but could've been a record for myself to look back on. I don't want to make any promises (just to relieve the pressure), but I hope to blog more regularly. Blogging felt like a chore before, but now that this blog is just whatever I want, I can relax and enjoy it. Also, now that everyone else has one and I'm ultra competitive, I'll try to keep up with everyone else.
I love creating new things, and this blog was fun to create.... at first. The name, which is an all important feature to a good blog, came naturally. But the problem came with the template. I usually like the set up with the posts on the right and the info on the left. But when I chose one of the templates, it just looked weird. So I chose another, and the color scheming was too messed up and didn't offer up a lot of options. So I chose this template and these colors, and after a long time of fiddling, I came up with this. I dunno how I feel about this -_-;. And the picture was kind of a bitch to make, but whatever, it's cheap-looking, just like me.
Hello, all! It is I, Anthony, come home from Japan! Now that it's all over with, I have developed a new outlook on life, and a new outlook calls for a new blog to bitch about all that new stuff I'm looking at with my new outlook. So welcome to Digital Orange! Make sure you check out all of my friends' other blogs, as they are hella interesting and are far better bloggers than I.
