blodeuedd

I've never received fancy eau de toilette from a guy before O_O How was he to know that my preferred scent is Right Guard deodorant for men? XD Still, this stuff smells nice... Then he insisted on buying me manga, because he seems quite amused by my interested in such things (and I haven't even really talked about tenimyu yet! XD), so I came home with the beginnings of both Kuroshitsuji and Death Note. He's an enabler! D:

In theory, karaoke is a great place to make out and take part in groping sessions, but the mood is liable to be spoilt by the loud, heartfelt-yet-painful-sounding WOOOOOAAAAAA!ing of the guy in the room next to yours. @_@

I got my results for the practice Japanese test. Since it was only a practice, there is no official pass or fail grade, only an average. I scored 14 points lower than average on the kanji/grammar section (which I didn't even have time to finish), but 18 points higher and 13 points higher than average on the reading and listening sections, respectively.

If tomorrow is as gorgeous as today was, I'm getting up early-ish and taking my camera out for a bike ride around my neighbourhood. Because it just isn't right that I haven't the foggiest idea what lies to the east and south of me.

The end of January and the beginning of February were tough on me. Not only was I sublimating "OMG I've been on my own for a year!" feelings and vaguely wondering what I was going to do with my life (or at least the next little bit of it), I was letting myself fall into a rut of not doing anything: not sewing, not cleaning, not cooking (not that I do much of that anyway, but I was especially lazy), not even going outside much when I could avoid it. I could lay the blame on Prince of Tennis, but I'm not one to let such obsessions overpower my other wants, and it's just as well something so enjoyable came into my life right when I needed the distraction. And a wonderful distraction it's certainly been, what with the insanely long anime, the movies, the music, the manga (which I'm only just starting to read, now that it's ended!) and the fanfiction. Oh gods, the fanfiction...! Anyway, it gave me something to focus on while my subconscious did its job and worked on my issues*, and for that I'll forever be grateful.

All that to say that while I may have gone through a rough spot, things have been looking up. I've gotten myself out and about, been meeting people, been washing the dishes, and now have a new job! Starting next month, I'm going to be Ms. A (because Ms. M-A would be too hard for the kids to say, and I prefer the A part of my name over the M part) at an English-language preschool. The kids, all Japanese, are adorable, and it looks like it'll be a lot of fun.

I'm not naive enough to think it'll be all sunshine and kittens, but I'm really looking forward to the change. For one thing, I'll actually be working almost full time, rather than teaching classes at odd hours the way I do now, so I know I'll be absolutely exhausted for the first couple of weeks, but I'm hoping that just as lethargy begets lethargy, activity will beget activity and I'll be more productive in my spare time than I've been for the past while.

As an added bonus (though whether I'll be saying that at rush hour remains to be seen... ^_^) I'll be spending more time using public transit, so I'll be reading more books, which means that the one book per week average I'd like to attain this year looks like it'll easily be surpassed. Of course, I could just as easily surpass it by reading more at home, but then when would I read all that Prince of Tennis fanfiction, I ask you?

* Now that I think about it, my two other true anime obsessions, namely Fushigi Yuugi and Kenshin, played a similar role in my life. Interesting...

And now, reviews!

( Prince of Tennis (Nationals OVA 1-13) )

( Prince of Tennis (manga volumes 1 & 2) )

And because I try to do some reading in Japanese: ( D-Gray Man (manga vol. 1) )

And something not related to Japan in any way, shape or form! ( Strictly Ballroom )

Wow, the afternoon has barely started and I've already written my weekly reviews (I've still got the live action Prince of Tennis to review, as well as the second musical, but I want to do reviews in pictures for those, so they'll come later). Where is this energy coming from?!