As George Michael Said, "FREEDOM!"

DONE! FREE! OWATTA!

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE!

And to top it all off, it was a PERFECT day. Well the day is still going - its only 3:51pm here as I type this, but the last test is DONE! The sky is clear, blue with puffy white clouds, the Kamo River isn't overflowing, so people are in the river, it's not humid...but it is hot.

That's why I am back inside my shady apartment - the windows to the balcony face East, so from about 7am to 5pm, I have the sun blaring inside my apartment, which makes it hot. Today, I kept all my curtains closed, so as a result, it wasn't bloody stuffy in here.

After my test, I went down to Book-Off, the used bookstore (where the books are restored to newness) to see if they had Harry Potter. Unfortunately, the didn't have it in th 105yen section; they did have 1-4 in hardcover, but those were 1000yen, andI didn't want hardcover, I wanted paperback. At the 100yen shops, they have these nifty little box-bag things that you are supposed to put your manga series in, but I will get that before I go home to neatly transport all my Japanese novels. When I go back home, however, I will check out the Book-Off by the NYPL on 41st and Madison (yep they do have a branch in NYC! I got my first three Sailor Moon manga there, speaking of which, I need to complete my set) and see if they have the rest of the Harry Potters. The paperback price was originally 950yen, but I got it for 550. And it was the first one too so a nice way to start.

I was browsing again through the 105yen section when something caught my eye: Diana Gabadrudon. Huh? I pull it out - in the foreign section I pull or quickly look at the cover of the books as opposed to looking at the bindings since the titles and the authors are in katakana and just getting the cover is faster for me to understand the book - and on the cover underneath the Japanese title, it says: "Outlander by Diana Gabaldon."

OH MY GOD! THEY HAVE THE "OUTLANDER" SERIES IN JAPANESE!!! YOKATTA!!!

In case anyone doesn't know, the Outlander series is sorta in the romance genre, but not exactly the bodice-ripping sort of romance novel. I read one of those after I read Outlander back in 2002 when I was in Greece (my mom's cousin had the first three book) and I put it down in disugst; Outlander is much better. It's got your stereotypical Scottish hot guy in a kilt but the series is much smarter in the sense that it's not all about bodice ripping. That, and it gets better a it goes along; personally, I would choose Roger, Brianna's husband (olive skin, black hair, green eyes and 6'3") over Jamie (the red-head Scot who is Claire's husband and Brianna's dad) any day.

Seriously, if you do not have enough to read this summer, pick up the series. It gets better: each book is at least over 700 pages so for me as a fast and avid reader, that makes me happy. Thing is in Japan, longer books are cut up into smaller pieces; my copy of Memoirs of a Geisha is in two parts, and as Harry Potter goes along in the series, the book is cut up as well. Don't ask me why, but it's more for compactness (and maybe to make more money). I was able to find all parts of Outlander, but alas, not all were 105yen. The other two were 400yen each, so the whole thing was 950yen. In reality, it would have been 2,220 yen even in paperback. Yikes. No wonder places like Book-Off are so popular. However, they didn't have the other books - yet another reason to go to Book-Off in Manhattan. I took a look at the publication date: Outlander in Japanese came out in 2003 so maybe they don't even have all the books translated yet. Yikes.

Just did a check on Amazon Japan and they have up to Drums of Autumn...not bad. And they have a lot used, so I think I will get them from Amazon when I get back, just to have them and read at leisure. I did say I was going to get rid of all my English language books (o DRAT, I need to check if Book-Off had Pride & Prejudice!) and read Japanese novels for reading practice...

...Speaking of reading practice, after my test, my teacher (who was my old "homeroom teacher" back when I was in mandatory Japanese) said if I was going to come back next semester. I told her I didn't know if I was able to, but she said I was always welcome to take classes. WOO-HOO!!! I got her email address so that I can contact her at the beginning of the semester; if I can take Japanese at Kyodai for sure then I'm definitely going to do that as opposed to Rits, because the Kyodai classes are better.

So, after my heart attack and paying for the books, I went to the Kamo River in a bit of a dilemma: which to read first, Harry Potter or Outlander? I was in quite a pickle. In honor of Potter-palooza back home, I started with Harry Potter, and got maybe through one page. Now I am going to try out Outlander, but both will come home with me along with Girls Guide - now I am in the middle of god knows how many books! And in Japanese to boot. I should just start getting them from Amazon; especially Harry Potter because I want to keep all the covers in the series the same.

Now, I need to complete the Harry Potter and Outlander series and get Pride & Prejudice, and get more pretty book covers from the temple fair to cover and protect my books. I already have a cute one that I originally got for Memoirs of a Geisha, but now that I have more Japanese books, I am justified in getting pretty book covers.