It's nice to be home.

this party is invitation only... but you probably wouldn't enjoy it anyway.








(you may not have been invited... but here's the playlist so you can pretend you were.)

Thought this might warrant a truly public entry...



POSTAL MAIL

Bridget Allison, Box 105
49-10 Arakusa-cho, Kamigamo, Kita-ku
Kyoto-shi, Japan 603-8061

Believe it or not, this is the first time in Japan (at all 3 residences) that I actually know a postal address. It kinda became embarrassing to find I couldn't answer the question of "So, where do you live?".


SKYPE

203.599.4299

I've had Skype since living in Tokyo, it's a local CT number so (if you know anyrthing about Skype) there are no long-distance fees. It simply forwards the 203-number to my computer. I also have an answering service, so leave a message if need be.


CELL PHONE

email: grenciae@ezweb.ne.jp
number: 81.806.137.5671

Both of these are a direct line to my mobile phone. I can reply and send media to other email addresses, so just a note if you see this address come up (well, most would know "grenciae" as mine).
**Also, the cell phone number above has the country code already entered (+81), assuming whoever is calling is calling from the US. So no worries about figuring out how to call international.



Alright, that's it. I know it's kinda naive to put one's address and contact information on the internets with the crazies and whatnot. But a cautionary note, tracking me down wouldn't be worth it.
Regular programming will continue as scheduled.


-Bridget

Current Mood: happy

It's late, it's raining... I'm feeling pretty damn good.


Things have been going very smoothly.



Today, woke up around noon and went to Starbucks and played RocoLoco, I'm almost done with it. After a few hours there, came home and cooked a little bit.
After computer shopping online (decided on a Vaio TX), Loren called. We planned on going out to a movie but there's a horrible dry spell, it seems. We got subway and ate outside on the concrete, since they finished our order in the last couple minutes of their business hours. A picnic of sorts, I suppose.

After coming to the aforementioned conclusion regarding movies, we drove back to his house and watched lots of South Park.

Not sure what's going on tomorrow.


On the 3rd I'm leaving for Vermont for about a week or so. Can't wait to see everybody again!


Time to go apartment hunting for Kyoto. Funfun.



Nights

Current Mood: most content and fuzzy

No, it's nice I guess.

Went to Pilot Pen with the mother, didn't watch much at all... just worked through the last stages of Astro Boy.
After that, Loren picked me up early and dropped me off at home where I picked up my car. I headed over to the salon with Gina to get my hair re-done and then out and around until dinner we met up with Susan for dinner.
Drove around, I bought Yoshi Touch & Go and the Castlevania for GBA, took Kohler grocery shopping...yeah.

Basically every night, I've been egging on my jetlag by waking up usually around 2 or 3 and watching nonstop South Park or whatever anime I'm currently working on... it's awesomeness.


Meow. Picked out the almonds of rocky road ice cream...



So much more stuff to watch... ::prances off::



-Bridget

Current Mood: energetic

back home, haven't found any of the good parts yet...

quick public update


things have been very nice, although if i were the person i was at any other point in my life, i would be falling apart at the seams...but, needless to say, i am not.

every day basically goes the same way, cafe, school (or not), usually akihabara, lunch, arcades and such. i can't imagine going back to a place that will deprive me of a number of things i've become extremely used to...
a prevalence of 24hour internet cafes
5plus story arcades, but more importantly, good games.
ramen shops
no drinking age... (don't get me wrong, i am not taking advantage of this. i am drinking when i feel like drinking, and never in excess. it's comfortable. it's what everyone should be doing, then we wouldn't have so many laws back in the states.)

yeah. dunno.



loren is going back to lawrence in the fall, which is what i hoped he would do. the alternatives included him coming with me to kyoto, and a number of equally far off possibilities.
i'm looking forward to having time for pure intellectual pursuits... since he arrived, i've read a deplorable amount, and done very little research of any kind. i haven't even kept up with my poem quota.



ah well. gonna go check out some model shops, buy some video games, and arcade. our apartment is in horrible condition right now, so i'm hoping to get home earlier than later to clean.



-bridget

new pictures on flickr.

Lost all of my music library from artist names beginning with "S" on. Thought I could recover them, then my computer basically got rained on. That was about a week and a half ago.

It's pretty amazing how much I miss music. I didn't know it played such a large roll in both the inspiration and regulation of my emotions. Anyway, I've been mainly getting my fix via audioscrobbler whenever I'm at internet cafes.

That's about it.

So Loren and I moved into the new apartment yesterday. We got home from classes around 1pm, and packed until the delivery service arrived and took all of our stuff. We paid the utilities, returned the key, and cleaned everything up (haha...I doubt it's the kinda clean most of you all know, what it means to us is basically that there aren't any objects/trash on the floor larger than the size of a baseball).
I had to leave my plants all of the stuff I had scavenged... ::cry:: But I guess that's okay. We left a bunch of silverware and dishes I had ganked from WIP, too. The landlord is probably going to be pretty confused when he finds all of the cabinets full. People are so ridiculously nice here, I bet he'll call up to make sure I intended to leave them.

Anyway, once they had taken everything away, we left the room to go out for lunch/dinner in Nishi-Kasai for the last time. It wasn't eactly sad, but I guess I'll miss it.

We took the Tozai line out to Otemachi and after a few transfers, ended up on the JR(Japan Railways) Saikyo line. By that point we were both very tired (mainly Loren, he still has yet to get over his jet-lag), so we were very relieved when they finally announced our stop would be next.
We got out at our new home, a place called Toda-Koen, and managed to navigate our way to our apartment building. We had been warned that the doors were difficult to unlock (the keys are really bizarre, they're basically flat metal ovals), so we didn't really find anything odd as we stood in front of a door for a good 20 minutes trying to open it... Well, yeah. It was the wrong door. We found our actual suite and opened the door within 5 minutes.
We both love the place. I'll get some pictures as soon as possible, but it's pretty damn sweet. We have a loft that has a window overlooking the entrance of the apartment, a lower area with another futon in it, a tv capable of internet (among other things... god bless you, Japanese soft-core.... you are advertised EVERYWHERE including my mailbox that I am totally desensitized at this point...thank you ><), a washer/dryer... yeah. Sweet.
Loren basically passed out, so I read and played Roco Loco until around midnight and decided to walk around the neighborhood.
As far as I can tell, it's fairly affluent. Families have separate houses with gardens, fenced in garage areas complete with cars...there is a river nearby and a couple parks.
I found a 24h conbini (convenience mart) nearby and bought some basic food items, mainly pretz and various combinations of red-bean and mochi and headed home. Put stuff away, read some more, and went to sleep.

This morning, we woke up and left for the station. Our clothing and such arrives today, so picking out an outfit wasn't any great challenge and we left pretty quickly. Loren didn't wake me up early enough to take a shower...or rather, I resisted for too long, so after about 20 minutes on the train to class, I decided I didn't want to go. I led Loren to the street where the school is located and walked back down the hill to the station. On the way, I decided to go to an internet cafe where I promptly fell asleep.
Just now, woke up and...am typing on Eljay. Surprise surprise.

Anyway, I'm going to do a little shopping down here and then head back to the apartment to meet up with Loren. We're going to "downtown" for some quality shopping time later on, so that should be fun.

Anyway, my 3hours is nearly up, gotta jet.


-Bridget

no real reason for you to read this... i just felt like writing and there's nothing in here that warrants a private post.

( eto... )

Current Mood: contemplative and loving

Too much to mention... instead I'm gonna post some pics ganked from a friend's flickr.

( thank you, zach )


That's all for now. In other news, moving to a bigger apartment near Ikebukuro within a few days. Um... yeah. Meow.

Oh, I guess I should do this whole thing... if anyone wants a postcard or something, give a holler.


Oyasuminasai~




-Bridget

Current Mood: bouncy

So after a day of cleaning...what did I dream about last night?

I dreamt that there was a sale on futons, 2 for 1400yen. And that my room was messy again, I can't even explain the ridiculous depths of the despair I felt.

alright, this entry is gonna be sans capitalization... i really miss US keyboards.

( overview )

( trials and tribulations of dressing oneself )

( today's partial happenings and molestation )

( my shopping list...(jesus christ, why do i ramble? I don't even care about this...) )

( glimmerings of a hope that this entry has a purpose )

( about a full page on internet cafes and the like. (just wanted to warn you.) )

( sweet zombie jesus... )
( somehow i manage to start talking about the fallibility of all retrospection )

( warning, poems transcribed from memory below...just wanted to warn you. please be patient...or just don't read it, i doubt i'll know the difference, and either way i don't care. )

( various ailments: exploring one's own idiosyncrasies, discovering ominous clues of a lurking threat, and treating with no gravity at all. )

( i'll wrap this up... )

okay, this is the end, i swear. i'm here for another 2 1/2 hours and then heading home. hotness.
byebyes.


ps: have you ever seen an eljay entry so long it had to be divided into subsections, masquerading as a cohesive and intelligent set of thoughts? impressive?
...no? what's that you say, overcompensation? for my...what? i can't hear you...my WHAT?! wash your mouth out!

Current Mood: thankful

Hopefully: World Cosplay Summit. Aug 5-6... Nagoya, Aichi.
Most definitely: Comic Market. Aug 11-13...Tokyo.


Real update later, I promise.

Woke around 7:30 and flipped on the news and watched that while eating the most Western of my meals since arriving, cereal, yogurt, and an apple. Checked the balance on my Citibank account, stretched for a bit, and watered the plants. Decided to enjoy the sun (which is pretty rare lately, it's been overcast for the past week), so opened up the porch doors and sat on the little area I built yesterday. Decided to take a bath, and while that's filling, am reading Julius Caesar.
Probably going out to Yoyogi and a few gardens today. Might as well enjoy the weather.

Loren'll be flying in around the 12th (if all goes well), most likely staying with me for a month or so. It should be fun. I only have class from 9:30-1:00, so when I get back to the apartment, we can head out to the more interesting of wards (mine is mainly a residential district, though yesterday I found 2 pachinko/slot parlors within 3 blocks).

I'm feeling very sane. I wanna put a smiley face...but I don't think I have an appropriate one to best portray how I'm feeling.

Current Mood: acting as a passive observer

Alrighty, here's the post-arrival update.

The flight itself wasn't bad...which was surprising. Not because it was a 14 hour flight, but because it was a 17 hour flight. The plane had electrical difficulties, so we left late and didn't even have the option of waiting it out in the terminal.
The worst part of that whole experience was the taxi ride to my apartment. I had arranged for a limo to pick me up as soon as I landed but I couldn't call my driver because a. my cell doesn't work here and b. I didn't even have his phone number. The taxi drivers here are by far crazier than the stereotypical NYC drivers. I dunno, I guess I'm pretty fortunate if that's the most I have to complain about. I just felt bad because...well, you see... Tokyo doesn't really have street names. Most locations are defined by which station they're closest to. Still, it's difficult because all of the stations (the ones I've encountered) have at least 2 exits leading in completely opposite directions. So basically, you have to scour a pretty sizeable radius around the station to figure out where you're going. Maybe there's an easier way to navigate that the damn nihonjin aren't telling us...or maybe I just didn't get the memo.
Anyway, settled in. Arrived at "orientation" after getting lost for about an hour. Not on the subways, believe it or not. Just from walking around on the streets. After I made it there, it was all fine and went well.
Classes are great, I love the people in them and obviously it's a subject I'm interested in. I've been going out basically every day. First day I went to Akihabara with a bunch of people...absolutely wonderful.
Since then, I've gone to Shinjuku, Shibuya (twice, now), Ginza, Harajuku, Yoyogi, Roppongi (unfortunately)...yeah and a bunch others. I have tons of pictures but I'm not sure yet how I wanna go about posting them.
Today we went to "the countryside," namely Okutama. We BBQed...not in the sense you're probably thinking though. Basically we had a huge platter of raw meat, an equally large platter of vegetables, and a bag of noodles. We cooked on a huge hotplateish-type thing, so much fun. :D
Then we played some ultimate frisbee for a while (which was kinda difficult to do since there isn't exactly a natural level area up in the mountains), so we settled for a gravel parking lot.
...Yeah. It was about 20mins until someone's hand got totally eviscerated when he was trying to catch himself after a fall.
Anyway, chilled out near a river until around 3ish, then started our 2-hour drive back. After that, I had to catch the subway back to my apartment.

Oh yeah, my commute to class is an hour long. ><
It's gonna get boring, but I'll tell you how I get to class. I walk (3 or so mins) to Nishi-Kasai station, take the Tozai line to Iidabashi, transfer onto the Namboku line until Komagome station. From there, I walk about 5 mins to class.
It doesn't sound like much, but if you have ever seen pictures of a train of the Tokyo subway system...you'd know what I'm up against. (Namely, people...on all sides. Haha, pun.)



Anyway, I'm probably going to go out with a bunch of people for Karaoke (and sake obviously...I wouldn't do it otherwise) in Shinjuku tonight. Wish me luck.


Jaa ne.

Current Mood: content

Why is it right that the media can be so explicit in showing visual proof of Zarqawi's death?

Excellent series of 3 days.
Wednesday-
Watched the same movies over and over again.
Lunch.
Appointment.
B&N.
Taste with the sister.
RABK/LABK.
"Did you ever wonder why you're not photogenic...and then you just realize it's because your ugly?"
"Man, I'm going to regret this in the morning. My mom is going to be like, "Why is the oatmeal in the Splenda?"
Big Papi was surpassed by...well, it doesn't matter what he was surpassed by, just the fact that it was beaten, I think, strikes us all in a special place.
Four (okay... maybe one, to be honest) college students still afraid of the dark.

Thursday-
::wakes up and hears crunching::
Thopping ending with a big dollop of kohler love. Well, maybe an ittle one.
Appointment.
CVS.
Lunch...mainly consisting of ketchup! :D
Gina's.
B&N with Geebee and Kohler.
Michael's.
Briefly home.
Marc's...Spelling Bee, Happiness, playground, Athena II, Best in Show with Marky Marc, Stevey, Ross, and Loren.
Passed out on the floor of his living room.

Friday-
Woke up around 10ish and drove Loren home.
Ate.
Slept.
Writing LJ entries...the aforementioned is the very watered down, very uninteresting version... :D.

Tonight is Stevey's house to watch City of God and probably Barton Fink with Marc, Loren, Ross, and Dave.


Meow...time to watch some anime.





-Bridget

Current Mood: happy

meow.

had a large black tea lemonade...can't shut my eyes.

sitting outside. being bitten by mosquitoes. catching up on Bleach. listening to José González.

hiked almost all of the blue trail (approx 5 miles) that goes from the beyond the feet to the chin of sleeping giant. watched Catch-22 and M*A*S*H each twice today. enjoyed my americaness and bbq-ed. nearly completed my application for the institute in kyoto.

enjoying tapping my return key twice when i finish a thought.

am enjoying the summer.


tremendously.



( mostly scenery )

Current Mood: calm

...happy towel day...