So this week's been busy. I got started in my courses, and found two jobs. They're both working at the library, which should be fun, but they're both low-paying. One is shelving and doing related shelving work, and the other is in the Japanese collection, ordering and receiving materials. I didn't have to have a lot of Japanese knowledge to do the job, just basic reading skills. So that's kind of cool, and good experience to put on my resume.

I started kendo practice on Tuesday, and it was good to get back into the dojo. We practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There are a lot of beginning kenshi, which is good. I had a lot of fun at practice, but I miss my dojo in Japan a lot.

I have to do a research project for my linguistics course, and I'm either going to study Japanese dialects or Singapore English, known as Singlish.

I also made a big life decision. I'm not going to graduate next May. I'm going to do 6 6 6 instead of 9 9 and graduate next December. I want to work and enjoy school a little more while I'm here, and also take advantage of what's on campus. There's really quite a lot to take advantage of on campus, as long as you're proactive.

Well, it's the first day of school here in Sunny Tucson. It's actually kind of strange, as I haven't experienced First Day of School for quite some time. In Japan, we'd have a long boring meeting, followed by cleaning, followed by a long boring ceremony which has no real point, followed by another meeting to discuss the long pointless boring ceremony and other Pointless Issues. By my 3rd year, as people know, I skipped the meetings and went home, claiming to be really busy.

Right now maintenance is in my apartment. There was a hella leak in the living room, it came from a cleanout drain which came from my bathroom. Turns out the people who built the building didn't install the drain plug properly. So now we have a full-blown repair job being undertaken, with custodial coming to clean up and dry the carpet. Kinda interesting.

I'm reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It's quite a book. The movie is fabulous!

Anyhoo. Here are a couple more shots from campus. They're the main gate to campus, and a shot of the SUB from the library.

So here are some photos from my new pad in Tucson. These are my two crazy roomies, Audra and Angie. We have a 3rd roomie, Haruka, but she's off in the wilds of Japan. We share a kitchen/living room/laundry, but have our own bathroom/bedrooms.











Here's a view of my room from the door. It was really hard to get used to having a small room for my living space, vs. my seemingly huge apartment in Japan.












Speaking of Japan and Japanese, style, that's what my desk is. We didn't get desks given to us, and I didn't have very much space, so I built my own desk courtesy of Home Depot. My friend Tracy labeled my furniture as "Bohemian", because it can come apart and move easily. I guess that's what I am, though--a Bohemian. But, as JRR Tolkien wrote, 'Not all who wander are lost". (Not that I like Tolkien, and frankly I found his work boring as hell, but it's a good quote).

Long Strange Trip...

So I've been moving in to my new apartment at the University of Arizona (http://www.arizona.edu) in Tucson, Arizona, and it's been a trip and a half. I have 3 roommates, but we all have our own bedroom and bathroom so it doesn't seem so bad. My two roomies are Angie and Audra. We have another roomie, Haruka, but we haven't heard from her. She moved her stuff in and went back to Japan to visit.

Angie and Audra are really cool though. We're similar personality-wise, so it's a good time.

Yesterday was Angie's birthday, so we had tacos and chocolate cake. The tacos came courtesy of Audra, because I had a meeting, and I made the chocolate cake. They're calling me Suzy Homemaker now, because tonight I threw together a hamburger quiche and, on a whim, folded the paper towels into cranes.

Today Audra and I went to a library orientation. It was pretty cool. We went to different stations, and got stamps. If we went to all the stations, we got a piece of pizza and a fruit slushy.

The highlight of the library tour was, by far, the Information Commons, which can be seen at http://www.ilc.arizona.edu/features/infocom.htm

It's a new part of the library, and has a lot of different areas to work. Some of the campus is now wireless, and other parts will eventually become so. I'm on ethernet in the apartment though. I was flat-out impressed by this part of the building, and will most definitely spend some time here I'm sure.

I met with my advisor, and I'm not sure whether I should do a thesis or not. I'd like to go abroad, so I might be able to get some grant money to go study if it supports research.

I was originally going to try to graduate next Spring, but I may slow down a little bit. I feel like I should take advantage of more opportunities at U of A while I'm here, and that will probably mean staying 2 years to do so.

Country Western Song

Today was a country western song.

I was trying to get parking at UA and couldn't, I had a test to write, I couldn't decide on a car, and then to top it all off my computer died. The LCD or some damn thing went out, I dunno.

So here I am at my cousin's house finishing the test (thanks again Rick and Janece!), and decided to blog for just a minute.

I'll go down to AZ sometime the end of this week, probably Friday at this point. I need a break. Got the test done, and the car bought. I'll try to get pictures up sometime. It's an awesome 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix, 4-door, spoiler, full sunroof, CD, etc. Nice! The trunk's huge, you can put lots of booze in it. Or a dead body. Or both. I dunno.

Got the parking all sorted too. I forgot how inaka (rural) we were. I had to go all over Pleasantville to find a fax machine. I was grateful, though, the bank graciously faxed my page for free no matter how many times I offered to give them money. It was cool!

My roomie Audra likes beer too, so we'll be good friends I'm sure. She's from Virginia, and spent 5 months in Argentina, so we have lots to talk about with reentry into the States, horse United attendants, etc.

I miss my kendo teammates a lot. I'll try to get a photo up forthwith. They gave me a Do, and some really great photos.

Talked to my friend Chloe, who is having chemo for cancer. I hope to see her before I leave, and maybe drink some Huckleberry wine from Latah Creek (http://www.latahcreekwinery.com).

Also talked to my friend Lee Sean, who was also a dancing bear (ALT) in Nakatsu. He's in Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix. So hope to be able to keep up with him a bit now that we're back in The World. He was saying he knew right away if Japanese rice was Japanese rice or not. I told him to call on that fraud. How dare they call it Japanese if it isn't.

Doing okay, just still a bit tough. Will try to blog more when I get to AZ.

Thoughts of Home

Now that I'm back in the States, it's kind of hard. I was really glad to see my parents, and they're being really cool about giving me my space and not asking too many questions at once.

Coming from Seattle, looking over the landscape as it turned from mountains to plain and then mountains again, I knew that I was home. No matter how far away you go, you always have this feeling of familiarity when revisiting old haunts.

We ate dinner at a local grill, as I hadn't eaten that day since 6.30 am (it was about 5.30 pm), and I had my first pint of Moose Drool in 2 years. Very nice.

It's frickin' freezin here, Mr. Bigglesworth. The temperature's only 80 degrees or so, but it seemed so cold to me. I'm in my basement typing this, wearing a sweatshirt. And it's August 2nd!

Today I slept until almost noon, but woke up with no visible jet lag. I got up, ate lunch with Dad, then did a few things, then I went up to his shop to help him for a few hours. I cleaned his truck--it was hella filthy. Drove my old car a bit, and miss my Levin already. I may be getting a new car here shortly, as I don't think the old green Beretta will make it to Arizona. Will look at it tomorrow and see. Dinner was pork chops off the grill, with roast potatoes and corn. Lovely!

I'm trying to catch up on my classwork. 3 days gone is a lot in graduate school. I'm doing my best, but it's the last week of courses, so I'll focus more on getting to the final on Monday. My professor and everyone knew that I was transitioning this week, so I think they understand that I may not be contributing so much to the weekly discussions. I've contributed a lot each week, so I don't think that missing one week will affect me so much.

I was just reading my friend Lee Sean's blog (http://lshuang.wordpress.com), and saw that he had many of the same observations I had about the States. There was a world of difference between the Canadian faction and US faction at Vancouver immigration. The Canadian guy was friendly but official, the US people virtually barked at me like we were on Full Metal Jacket. At least I went through rather quickly though.

Yeah, lots of fat people (not that I'm exactly skinny myself). Loud rude people. I said 'hello' to the airport staff in the States, they didn't even have the courtesy to answer back.
Holy shit, in Osaka this United woman flight attendant comes barreling to the head of the security line, chomping gum (two things which are appaling to Japanese, barreling ahead and chomping gum like Dobbin the Horse), and then starts yapping loudly in English to this Japanese dude, who of course didn't understand her because he's Japanese. What's up with United flight attendants? You want attitude, fly United. Air Canada, though, was very polite. Nice people.

Today I went to the gas station to get some beer, but didn't find anything I liked. So I just told the attendant "sorry about that, just didn't see what I was looking for", and she snaps "you have to be 21 anyway". I stopped, and said, "Yes maam, I am aware of that, and I AM over 21. In fact, I've lived independently in 3 countries now, and can drive in two. I've also learned the virtue of speaking to people with respect, without snapping. I frankly am appalled by your rudeness." and walked away.

This was in my one-horse town of 300 people, which used to be a lot friendlier.

Can't wait to see what else is out there.

Back in the saddle...

I finally made it back to the States, and I'm not sure how to feel.

The goodbyes were really hard. Friday I finished up my last Kendo practice, and my dojo had a goodbye party for me. They gave me a Do. I first did Iaido, and then there was a "leaving" ceremony. It was cool! I also got 2 tenugui (the towels you wear on your head) and two really neat boards that everyone signed.

Saturday I woke up at 6.30 am, and started cleaning out. I worked all day. My friends Kimura San, Fujiwara San, and Takiguchi San helped me tremendously. Then that night I worked at my dojo's fundraiser selling shaved ice and fried potatoes. Finally got to bed at midnight.

Sunday, after sleeping for about 2 hours (my knee hurt a lot), I got up and went to Usa for an Iaido tournament. That was ubercool. We did it at Usa Shrine. First we had a ceremony where the priest blessed our weapons (katanas, naginatas, etc.) and then us. Then they broke open a taru, or big sake barrel. I got to have some later, it had a lovely wooden taste.

Monday was the final stuff. My dojo teammates came to the airport, and so did my Eikaiwa and English teachers. Saying goodbye was excruciating.