That "Meh" Feeling

So now I am on the plane flying back to Japan. But the weird thing is that I am not overly excited about going back, nor am I bursting into tears at the thought of leaving. Call me crass, call me cold but the thing is – I am used to it by now. Maybe it is also a front to prevent myself from bursting into tears, as I aptly warned Mel while I waited for my dad to give him the key to one of our cars:

“Whatever you do, do NOT act in such a way that will make me burst into tears.”
“What, who is gonna cry?” (:::chuckle chuckle:::)
“My new mascara is not waterproof.”

Miraculously, there were NO delays, problems, or flight attendants that overslept and delayed the flight. (Seriously, that was one of the cause for my delays previously.)

So now that I have finished eating my dinner (which has shrimp cocktail, whee!!) I will recount quite quickly what has happened this past month and in particular the past few days (since I hardly blog during the summers):

1) When I actually arrived back on August 3, I burst into tears when I saw Mel and hugged him. He was carrying a bouquet of yellow roses and irises, and everyone at Newark was asking him where he got it (that airport is very gross).
2) I rode my bike through Central Park on the weekend once when they close the roads to cars. And I did the very hard hill as well – it was so much fun going down that steep hill and not having to pedal. I think maybe with two or three years, I will upgrade to a road bike. At one point, Mel went way ahead of me, simply because he has the higher bike. However, I am able to carry my bike up and down the stairs on the subway system.
3) Did not study at all. And I am very happy that I did not.
4) But that didn’t mean that school was far from my mind. As mentioned previously, I requested transcripts from Fordham (free!) and realized at the last minute that I needed transcripts from CUNY Hunter where I took Japanese for a year. Now, CUNY being CUNY and my realization that I needed them just at the start of the school year made me freak out because with the start of school it’s a downright mess. Luckily, I was also able to request them online – cost me an extra $10 and its already $7 a copy, but I did not have to go through all that hassle.
5) Spoke with also a 2nd year student from uni that I am eyeing, same one as 6th year. I feel way, way better now, even though I did spend $55 on “Get your butt into grad school/Get your butt out of grad school” books. But it was for my own sanity. Applying to grad school is one thing. Applying from a foreign country is quite another.
6) Ate a lot of red meat and other things that I really shouldn’t have. Now I really need to get my ass to the gym.
7) Bought “The Historian” and am reading it now on the plane. That is SUCH a detailed book and it moves at a steady pace. But sometimes I think some things are obvious, HOWEVER I would not be surprised if my musings were wrong, either.
8) Saw the 5th Harry Potter movie at the movie theaters on 66th and Broadway. It was in IMAX 3D, or rather, Mel and I paid the extra $5 to see the finale in the Ministry of Magic in 3D. Those Death Eaters are very creepy in 3D.
9) Got my hair cut and I got blond highlights. I have had highlights every other two years or so since I was 15 (because they blend well with my hair I just let them grow out and I don't do touch ups) but I am on the fence on how they look since I am used to my natural hair color now - it's been a LONG time.

Very much a blur this month – it really did go by fast. The interesting twist to the end of my month is that the same day that I left for Japan, my sister is leaving this evening for her year in Rome. I tried to get her on the blog thing but she isn’t interested. Pity – she always has a comment for something. I think she is on the plane now, but hasn’t departed; another wrinkle is that we left from the two different local airports in the NYC area (but not Newark).

She connects in Dublin and arrives in Rome at 10:00-ish local time, which actually, is about the same time that I land in Japan (6:30pm Osaka time is about, oh, 11:30 Rome time? Not sure but it’s in that window). Maybe I will swipe a photo or two off her Facebook profile to give a taste of Italy via Japan – she gets to go to all the other cities for SCHOOL TRIPS. Milan! Florence! Naples! All within the space of 3 months (that is just the first semester!). I’m jealous. Then again, Mel wants to go to Italy for the honeymoon. I want to go to the Amalfi coast.

These next four months will be a blur – especially till about December 15, which is the deadline for applications. I have the following on my plate:

1) TA-ing for Professor S./Taking that Kyoto history course
2) More Classical Japanese lessons/twiddling my thumbs in my sensei’s seminar.
3) Working on some sort of paper for my seminar and attempt to do the presentation come the last week of January 2008 in Japanese.
4) Fixing the last paper for my writing sample for grad applications.
5) FINISHING those Grad applications.
6) Studying for JLPT Level 2 (thought I am not sure now if I am really ready but I would just study on my own to prepare for next year, need to speak to Colleen on this).
7) Applying for scholarships to pay for grad school (there are two that I qualify for, as per my talk with the scholarships office back at Fordham).

All I know is that THANK GOD that I took the GRE in my senior year of college. I do not have that stress as well. And I was happy with my score too.