Tuesday, March 27, 2012

じゃまた!

Arachi !
I said I was gonna post about the Japanese Exchange, so here we go! On Sunday they arrived while the last showing of the musical had just started.  My girl told me in her email that she was very excited to watch it, but she ended up asleep for most of it lol. Afterwards we went home, played a maze game with my sister, and then sped off for some dinner with the other host kids.  After shelling out lots of money, we went to the local park to chill out on the swings and run around like little children....until the police came and casually told us we were trespassing.  Lol we are so bad ass. Not really. That night she told me she had a lot of homework, so I let her do that while I sat around and did what I do best: nothing. The next day after school we went to the nearby Panasonic building to listen to presentations (since they give us money for the exchange program) and Arachi (my girl) fell asleep (again).  I took pictures, hehe.  But it wasn't that bad since I won 5 bucks for figuring out how to switch off a laser-curtain detection device (there was a giant switch that said "main" lmao) and we all got free earbuds and little footballs.  Afterward we journeyed to Red Mango and waited around while the Japanese students tasted every single flavor 3 times each with the little taster cups. Then we went to random stores and they bought chocolate by the pound until it was time to go play basketball and soccer at my old elementary school.  We played 6v6: Americans vs. Japanese and we got our asses handed to us.  After a few runs up and down the court I was wiped out hahaha.  That was probably the most exercise I've done in a while. Tired and sweaty, we crashed at Mara's for some pizza and calamari.  After dinner, they tried to teach us how to fold oragami crabs, emphasis on tried.  We failed miserably, and gave all of our half-finished crabs to Mara.  Then we educated them in the fine American tradition of Kemps.  Lol, I love that game!  Okay, so maybe it's not very steeped in culture, but it was pretty fun.  Also I learned that day that Japanese people make their teams by doing rock-paper-scissors.  Isn't that cool? Anyway, that night Arachi and I actually stayed up pretty late talking about random stuff, which made me really hopeful that maybe we could become friends since for the most part she was detached. Sadly that never actually happened, and this post is probably gonna take a turn for the worst, so brace yourselves haha. 
Red Mango and peace signs all 'round :)





Hard at work minus one. Okonomiyaki!
Right, so the next day we went to the mall after school where Arachi stayed in Forever 21 for FOREVER. I think I played atleast 10 games of scramble, tried on a few dress, and browsed around for half an hour aimlessly before she was ready to leave. Atleast the shirt she ended up buying was cute.  That day was when I started getting weird vibes from her.  I think it was mostly because she seemed so different from her positive-excited-sounding emails.  She told me she really wanted to cook okonomiyaki for me and wanted to go to a grocery store to buy the ingredients, but when I actually asked her if she wanted to cook dinner that night, she said no.  When I asked the other Japanese students, they got really excited and had to convince her to agree to it!  It was really bizarre.  but they did end up cooking for us, and it was delicious! Okonomiyaki is cooked in a pancake sort of form with shrimp, cabbage, ginger, apple, and then topped with different sauces. They also made us miso soup which was yum-tastic. I further enjoyed the evening by washing a shit-ton of bowls, forks, spoons, pots, and pans.  Fumiya and Rina were super nice and kept offering to help wash, and in the end I gave in to them. The next day was the last full day they were to spend with us.  After school we had to sing some Beatles songs for them in the cafeteria (don't ask me why), and we went to Cold Stone Cremery (I got mint mint chocolate chocolate chip, and I felt like an idiot saying my order).  Afterward we went to Toys R Us and Models before heading home for dinner.  My mom called in the car and started screaming at me over the phone because we were planning on eating out, but she wanted us to eat at home even though she already ate, etc. etc. The actual arguement didn't make any sense, but I drove us home and then immediately got sent out to pick my dad up from the train station.  During the ride I had a super break down, and was sobbing to my dad about how frustrated I was with Arachi and how I thought she and some others might've harbored secret dislike towards me (or atleast indifference) because I wasn't white.  I've hosted twice before her, and in both cases I bonded alot with Yui and Satomi.  Even with our horrible language barrier, me and Satomi were able to talk for hours and hours. I tried really hard to get to know Arachi, but she just didn't care.  She didn't mind talking about herself when I asked her, but she never tried to ask me anything.  There were glimmers of hope where I thought things were finally turning around, but alas to no avail. One night we talked until 1:30 but it was extremely passive conversation haha.  She did confide in me that she still has a huge crush on her ex who was on the trip too, (and apparently her best friend doesn't even know!) but then again, it's easy to confide in a random stranger. But I'm getting off topic again haha. Anyway, I was practically blinded by tears during the car ride, and to be honest, I was scared I was going to crash, but thank god we made it in one piece.  After dinner we went to the farewell party which was a blast.  We taught them shots, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. I also talked with a couple of random Japanese girls who somehow knew my name, and they were so bright and showed emotional response to things people said. I know I'm being mean, but I can't help it.  It was just so frustrating! 

Yes, that's my shadow ^_^
The next morning was farewell day! We all took lots of pictures, and before long their bus was en route for the airport and we were waving our arms like crazy.  Even though they technically left before first period started, I skipped psych and crashed with the sophomore Japanese clash.  What made this farewell different from the last two was the fact that I was perfectly composed and hadn't shed a single tear. Or so I thought. Halfway through the period, it suddenly hit me, and I couldn't stop crying for my life.  It was extremely weird, mostly because it came with no warning, and also since I couldn't even pin-point why I was crying! My belated emotions started a chain reaction, and a couple of the other host kids around me came over to hug me as they joined in on the sob-fest. The best part is that I had just finished having a conversation with our Japanese teacher about how I hadn't gotten nearly as attached to Arachi as I had to my other girls.  He walked over and called me out on trying to be cool and collected.  Little does he know that I have instantaneous-crying-syndrome.  I don't actually, but that'd be a viable explanation for my little episode.  It was quite embarrassing. :( This whole experience has got me a little scared for my short home-stay in Japan in two weeks!  I'm worried that my host family is going to hate me, but Ed told me that I'm just being stupid and the chances of that happening are very slim.  Regardless, I'm beyond excited for the Japan trip as a whole! 10 whole days of delicious food and foreign culture here I come! The next two weeks are gonna be a scramble to buy presents for my host family and get everything ready! Also, it's the end of the marking period so I have a billion projects I need to start and finish, nbd. Also before I forget, on friday at midnight, I went with Mara to see the Hunger Games premier ! It was absolutely fantastic (but some of the serious parts were hilarious) and afterward we went to 7 11 at 3 am for some munchies.  I got a bag of Funions in case anyone was wondering. Now it's really late so I'll call it a night!
Kuzen! Fumiya! Mara! ....and I have no idea who that dude in the front is, but he was really nice. :)

Gifts! Nanoblock of a famous golden temple in Kyoto, and the most delicious mochi I've ever tasted.
A pineapple I saw on top of someone's car today while I was walking home from school lol. 
Japan Exchange 2012 :)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Endless Night to Dream

Well, production week started two weeks ago, and our last show was exactly a week ago.  Ahh I've been so busy that I haven't had any time to update at all! So much has happened recently, so I'll try my best to remember what happened during production week haha. At first I was sooo bad! Oh my god it was actually embarrassing how awful I was.  But eventually I got really comfortable with the music after listening to it a billion times on repeat and practicing after school.  Monday through Wednesday was pretty intense.  Run the show from 5-10 after school, but on the bright side, they provided us with a lot of delicious food :) Thursday was our dress rehearsal which went by pretty quickly and smoothly.  Friday was opening night!  Holy crap I was sooo nervous standing there before the show, looking out at the sea of people.  For the past three years I've manned the spotlight in crew, safety tucked away out of everyone's sight, sitting in my little spot up in the catwalk, but this year I had to stand in front of everyone in the pit, right in front of the stage.  Haha if I could barely do that, I can't imagine what it must feel like to actually be on stage! I'd probably faint from fright, which is saying a lot since I've never fainted before in my life. But that's beside the point.  Anyway, it went pretty well! After the show, two former drumline guys came to congratulate me and victor on a job well done.  They're both sophomores in college now, and I was surprised when one of them hugged me.  I had the biggest crush on him a couple years ago when we went to school together haha.  Then we went to TGIF's for food since we were starving, and I got this delicious spinach bread stuff and chicken with tomato and mozzarella.  I was going to post more food pictures on here, but I decided that pictures of the show would probaaaably be more exciting (though I did include a picture of cookies from the cast party). I got a ride home around 1 am, and didn't realize that my car was still at the school until they were driving away, so I had to call and ask them to come pick me up and drop me off at the school haha, I'm so stupid. -_-. 

Making masks in AP art:  Mr. V casually applying plaster.
Saturday night's show went smoothly, and afterwards was the cast party!  We loaded up on pizza and amazing seven-layer dip before realizing that we should've saved room for dessert. :\ oh well.  It was pretty hectic with people singing kareoke and dancing around.  Let's just say it was pretty obvious who was in the cast and who was in the pit and crew.  I left semi early and went with some people to Wendy's at midnight haha.  It was pretty awesome since I got to stick my head out of the sun-roof while we drove.  So illegal, but it felt fantastic.  Now I know why dogs are always sticking their heads out of moving cars.  Sunday's show was kind of bittersweet.  The whole musical affair started off as a giant pain in the ass, mostly since I couldn't follow the music at all, but eventually it grew on me and I was sad to see it end.  So I gave it my all on the last day and I think I did the music justice :). Also Mr. N wrote us all an individual note, and mine said that he was going to miss me so much and how he respects me.  I tucked it into my letter box along with my good luck notes from my parents and Nicole and CC! Thanks again guys for the encouraging "Don't mess up, we're watching".  It really warmed my heart right before the first performance haha. After the performance on Sunday I had to scramble to move stuff to the band room since my Japanese exchange student was waiting for me to finish.  She slept through the whole musical I'm pretty sure haha.  Anyway, I thought the musical was a great experience and I'm gonna miss it :(.  Now onto the next blog post about the Japanese Exchange!


The Pit Orchestra!! 
My babies! Timpani, triangle, ratchet, mark tree, bass drum, bells, and xylophone hahaha




Cast party munchies!
Artsy shot of all my musical papers.  Percussion 2  

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Will You Love Me Tomorrow ?



Sundae with three cherries :)
Busy busy week!  At the moment I'm having a hard time remembering what I did this week, but I do remember that it was busy.  Lol hopefully I'll remember more as I type. Thank god I have these pictures to prompt me.  Anyway, on monday I think I went shopping for a little bit after school, then bought some Simply Orange and Simply Grapefruit (2 for $6!!).  After that I rushed home to change into my PJs for "Pajama Night" at Friendly's (no shame).  Mara and Nicole got there first, and I was late since I had to call the airlines and reserve my ticket to Japan.  They put me on hold for about an hour and I gave up, so I double-checked with Mara to make sure it really was PJ Night, hopped in my car, and sped to Friendly's.  Little did I know that she's a dirty rotten liar, and it wasn't freaking Pajama Night, but oh well, atleast I was comfortable while I ate my delicious grilled cheese and tomato soup (which Nicole hates). So there's this thing called grammar, and I'm not sure how to use it, because I think my last three sentences were all run-ons.  Anyway, the rest of my week comprised of vicious cramming for four tests (and possibly failing a few of them), lots of tutoring, indoor drumline, lots of pit orchestra practice, and minimal amounts of sleep. It was state testing week, so the seniors didn't have to go to school until 10.  Technically that meant I was supposed to get 3 extra hours of sleep, but I had to viciously cram so I woke up at the regular time and studied :'( my precious sleep.

SHALOM.
We also squeezed in some shalom practices for our show on friday, which went pretty well (except for when I totally messed up -_-). Sadly half of our usual crowd couldn't make it, so the noise level was a little less than usual, but it was nice since it was CC's first shalom show !  Also I realized while on stage that Nicole knows more of the lyrics to our songs than I do hahaha, how sad is that? What a hardcore fan. It was the preliminary round for Battle of the Bands, and we made it, so our next show is gonna be in May ! And there is the slimmest of possibilities that I might sing something. I have a lot of practicing to do in the next two months then!  My goal is to become not-bad. Also before the show I ate some jalepeno pizza which was mad good but made me feel like puking lol. After that we congregated for the pre-show sermon-esque thing.  The pastor told us that our friends, family, and lovers might love us today, but when the question comes to "Will you love me tomorrow?", the best they can do is say "maybe".  According to him, the only one that will love us tomorrow is Jesus. Isn't that depressing? I really dread going to those meetings, because it gives me the creeps, or as Dan calls it, the "jeepers".  Anyway, after we performed, the rest of the Shalomies did some covers and mash-ups in the acoustic lounge downstairs. Thomas and Brian did a mash-up of Wonderwall by Oasis and Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day with Victor accompanying them on djembe.  It was amazing! I'm so proud of my fellow shalomies. Dan sang a Neil Young song, and Thomas sang Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz. Afterwards we went to the diner and I split a Happy Waitress (it's like grilled cheese except with fried tomatoes and bacon in it too). Lol two dinners in one night, no shame. 

Deliciouusssss spicy tuna sushi. Can't wait for sushi in Japan !
Woke up past 1 the next day lol. Then spent two hours slowly getting ready for a quick mall trip with Mara. We went to Teavana twice for tea "samples" aka we probably drank like $3 worth of tea each, but hey who's counting. That night was Isabelle's and Mariana's joint 18th, so I made some quality last minute cards, wrapped up some money, and arrived fashionably late (as always).  Sadly I ate before going, so I could only eat small amounts of the delicious food :( The party was mainly just drift around and talk to people, play foosball, play mario kart, or watch people play foosball and mario kart.  Me and nicole 2v2'd CC and Sarah and we kicked their asses in the first two games ( "You know, back in college they used to call me the foosball master. That's what my frat called me". ) ... but then they murdered us in the last two games ( "So like, they used to call me the foosball destroyed back in college." ) Hahaha we were so obnoxious and it was so intense.  I ended up pulling an arm muscle.  Lol, and today while running I super-pulled a leg muscle.  I don't think I was cut out for exercise of any sort, even foosball is too intense.  I guess I've really slacked off since my college days of being the foosball master.... Anyway, other stuff I did today was tutor (really, on a sunday?) and went out with my dad and kaykay for some Panera.  And then for dinner my mom really outdid herself holy crud did I overeat (...again.)  I'm still semi bloated and I finished eating over three hours ago! Jesus christ I need to control myself or else when prom weekend comes 'round...my belly's gonna be really round.  Oho, I am so funny.  And that concludes yet another food-heavy, ridiculously long blog post.  But don't worry, my next one will probably be even longer! Lol. Musical production week and Japanese exchange coming up! Good night :)
Hot peppers, onions, garlic, and pork. Yumyum.
Quality last minute cards
A lab we did in Chem on tuesday. Lol I can't believe I took a picture.
Gigantic pencil sharpeners! 

Monday, March 5, 2012

Tower of Jelly

Artsy teapot-reflection selfie.
Holy crap I don't even know how to start this post.  I really need to make blogging more of a habit so I don't end up sitting here trying to remember everything that's happened in the last ten days.  It might not sound so difficult, but with my pathetic memory, it's pretty hard to do.  Anyway, last weekend we had an indoor drumline competition.  The school was so freaking cool.  The walls were covered in giant murals of paintings by famous artists, many of which I knew (to my surprise. I guess Mr. V's art rambles really did rub in).  Like holy crud, why can't our school be that cool?  I'm president of the National Art Honor Society at my school (which is kind of a joke) and I've been trying to get our supervisor to agree to some murals in the music and drama wing of our school.  I am so bringing these pictures in to help persuade her.  Our walls are so naked :( it's embarrassing. Anyway, some highlights of this week include eating subway for the first time in my life.  I got chicken teriyaki with sweet onion sauce and it was pretty delicious.  Also, it was free cookie day, and the raspberry cheesecake cookie I got was heavenly.  Thursday after indoor practice, we went to this new froyo place that just opened in town on that very day.  It was deliicciouuss.  That saves me many trips in the future to the next town over cuz we have our own frozen yogurt place now.  So ha, take that! On friday, during lunch we drove to Wendy's (I know, how bad ass right?), and I got some chili, yum yum. Then for dinner, we went to that Japanese place again, and I got to try green tea ice cream tempura for the first time! It was gigantic and oh so perfect.  Lol is it sad that like 4 out of 5 highlights from the week involve food? Also, on wednesday there was a reception for an art show (that I won 1st place in for colored pencils!) so I went to that and got to look at all the amazing art.  I took way more than this, but I limited myself to posting only(?) three.





Awesome light at the Japanese restaurant. 
Then yesterday we had another indoor competition....and it was 2 hours away fml.  But we made it there in one piece and gave a semi shitty performance, before driving another 2 hours home. Oh the horrors.  I spent alot of time playing this awesome new game on my iphone called "draw something".  I think I have an obsession complex. Whenever I get hooked on something, I get really hooked on it for a while, until I move onto my next obsession. Anyway, "draw something" it basically like pictionary.  I get a word, draw it, and then my friend guesses it and draws me something back. Alot of people complain to me that I spend way too much time and effort on my drawings, but hey, haters gonna hate. After the competition we went to the diner, and with the help of my fellow drummers, constructed the masterpiece that you see below.  Isn't it beautiful? Today was a somewhat chill sunday. I went to the mall with my mom to return some stuff wearing my trusty new cross-body black coach bag.  That's right, coach. I received it yesterday in the mail! A graduation present from a family friend. Pretty sweet, huh? Then in the afternoon we had a short shalom practice.  One of many to kick off the week!  Our show's on friday! So many things to look forward to in the coming weeks.  Next friday's production week for the musical, which means rehearsal everyday after school until 10pm for the cast, pit (me) and crew.  I still need to learn my percussion parts! eeep! Then as soon as that's over, the Japanese kids are coming! I'm hosting a girl again, and she recently emailed me...which reminds me that I need to email her back. I can't wait! And only a few weeks after that....JAPAN.  Just a warning, major blogging will ensue  in the next month, accompanied by massive picture spam. And after that is MIT preview weekend, and then Death Cab for Cutie concert, and then prom, and then prom weekend, and then graduation! But that's getting a little too far in the future.  I really show focus on making it through this week first. Busybusybusy.  Good night!
Super ridiculous uniforms. Super intense drumline. They were absolutely amazing! I wish we were that intense. 
Constructed from the finest Smucker's jam packets.
Green tea ice cream tempura ! 
First in my history.  Artsily displayed by two hands.
Our school's winter guard! They travel with us and go to the same competitions. Mara's in the guard.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Love Songs and Stained Glass

"Every time you hear a love song, imagine that I wrote every word for you."

I heard these words on monday, while seated in a beautiful church room lined with bright stained-glass windows. These were the words that his father had said to his mother on their 25th anniversary, and they were the ones he had chosen for his closing remarks at his father's funeral service.  These were my neighbors, who lived just two houses down and across the street from us.  I'd never been particularly close to them, (actually I've harbored suspicions that they secretly disliked me when we were younger), but I have a lot of respect for their family.  The three sons were extremely strong in the face of their father's death, and kept up warm and friendly conversation during the wake.  I marveled at how I could barely open my mouth without bursting into tears, but they were able to smile and personally chat up every single person that showed up.  And their mom was just as strong.  Thanking everyone and relating all of the last moments of his life. A couple of stories from the wake particularly touched me, but first some background information.  He was only 56, and seemed perfectly healthy until around the beginning of fall.  His brain tumor grew quickly and before a year was up, he was gone.  Now for the stories:

At the wake we got to talk to the youngest of the brothers for a little while (he's a senior like me, but goes to a different school). He told us about how his dad waited for him to go on his school trip to london before letting himself get really sick.  And then he waited for him to come home last wednesday before passing away early thursday morning.  He also talked about how his dad got to watch his dreams come true when he got accepted to his top choice college and got to play guitar on stage at some famous concert hall.  Then we were speaking to his wife, and she told us about how she decided to take a nap early in the morning for an hour on thursday.  In the dream, a man came and took her husband to go somewhere.  She immediately started protesting, but the man consoled her and said not to worry, that he was going to a good place.  So she let him go, and immediately woke up to find that he had passed. Aren't those stories crazy? They're things I'd expect to see in a movie or read in a book.  Anyway, I'm too socially awkward to provide them with any sort of verbal consolation, so I'm planning on painting them a giant painting.  I'll start it in the coming weeks, but I'm not sure when it's going to be done. :\ We'll see. But anyway, RIP to a great man that I had the honor of knowing, but wish I had known better.