Jumping the Gun

I almost always jump the gun. It's a very annoying trait that I have and I know I have annoyed myself again. However, I am trying to look on the bright side of things.

I have not replied formally to my friend's invitation to Tokyo yet, and in a way it was a good thing I didn't. I was very excited about it, posting it here and such, but I jumped the gun. However, I was getting a bit of a "feeling," if you get what I mean.

I took a look at my bank account today and let's just say with grad school applications (sending stuff international is expensive, now multiply that by 8), Australia, a stipend coming late and the most likely trip to the Philippines in February, coupled with the dismal state of my finances (though I did get confirmation that I made the deadline for immediate reimbursement when I get to Australia so I don't have to worry about that, but I get it when I arrive in Australia) I really can't afford to go to Tokyo, what with Shinkansen ticket and spending money even with a free place to stay if for a few days. Things pile up.

I know it would be a treat to myself, but that money is better earmarked for the Philippines because the family is waiting for The Aussie and I. They actually don't know that we are coming, but I know it's important to The Aussie that we try to go as much as we can. Plus I need to save money for when I get home.

That doesn't mean that things are looking bleak. I met up today with my friend Emi and that Shin-puh-kan (a shopping center remodeled from a 1920s building; I will go back and take pictures) and she mentioned how she was going to perform there on the 23rd and I actually wanted to go - she is an amazing singer. So now, I will go and I think I am going to cook Christmas dinner for some friends. I like to host parties (or at least the idea of it, I haven't really done it yet, but I have had friends over and I like to entertain). I didn't get to do it at Thanksgiving, but I will try to do it now.

Kyoto actually looks very nice all decked out for the holidays. So I may not be going to Tokyo but in the end, everything will work out. Tokyo is really messy, so maybe I will be able to enjoy the holiday more here. Thus, the Starbucks Tall Non-Fat Peppermint Mocha is half-full.

Sutoresu!!! Sutoresu!!!

Stress!!! Stress!!!

This is what I get for procrastinating. However, being in Japan means I am 14 hours ahead of the United States (at least the East Coast and that part of the Great Lakes that is on EST), which works for me because:

It means I have an extra day for the grad school materials to arrive on time in the States.

I am such a procrastinator. I wait till the week before the first round of grad apps are due (this weekend, exactly) to submit the stuff in the mail. granted it was via EMS, Japan's version of Global Priority, and according to BOTH the Japanese and English websites it will get to the States in two days.

I go to the post office and mail my stuff. Then I ask for confirmation. In Japan I always double check in case I missed something; I may ask the same question 3 times in 3 different ways but it has worked so far.

"Well, it is the holidays, so it could take maybe a week."

A week? WHAT holidays? The country isn't even Christian! Christmas was imported after WW2 for crying out loud and turned into a couple's holiday! (Which is why I hate Christmas in Japan even more. Mel isn't here and everyone and their mother on Shijo is holding hands.)

I freak out. All day. Couldn't do alot of work on my essays. I meet up with Prof. S. before class and he asks how I'm doing, and I tell him what's going on. He told me to not worry. Given Prof. S's experience, I trust his answer. So I am not freaking out so much.

At least EMS has tracking numbers. As of 1:15am Japan time on 11/26 (lunchtime EST 11/25) it was at the Osaka Int'l Post Office. I am guessing it will be on a plane by the end of today.

I can only hope.

I did finish the academic essay for schools E and F.

"No Worries"

I was looking at my ticket receipt last night for Australia, when I started freaking out.

I only have one hour and 10 minutes between planes. One hour and 10 minutes to go through customs, possibly get my baggage, and re-check. I then looked up the Brisbane Airport and discovered to my dismay that I need to take an AirTrain between the domestic and international terminals because they are THREE kilometers apart.

Oh, crap. Is it enough time?

I tried to reassure myself, (and my mom tried to reassure me over Skype) saying that I had an hour and a half in Detroit to go through that mess known as US Immigration and Customs (even the US Citizen/Permanent resident line took forever!) and had to get my luggage, re-check, and go back through security. I professed my worry to The Aussie, whose response was not particularly helpful: "I told you that the Brisbane Airport was big" (he of course, has an intimate relationship with BNE since that was his local airport).

Gee thanks. I love The Aussie and all, but seriously? Right at that time men sucked. After some more minutes of conversation, I began to really freak out, thinking that I am going to miss my flight, etc. etc. If I miss my flight, I miss the bus to Canberra.

Plus, I learned that the maximum amount allowed as carry-on is 15lbs total. Either I was going to pack really, really light (thank god there is free laundry in Canberra) or I was going to miss my plane. I think I might leave my laptop behind. Ringo may be pretty light compared to the clunkers that my friends have, but it will weigh me down.

This morning, I called JetStar in Australia via Skype, knowing full well I will not get the specific information via the Japan line as easily and as quickly. Apparently, I didn't have the specific JetStar reservation number so I would have to call back later. This was at 9:30am. JTB (the travel agency I used) opens at 11:00am. It was one of those times that I really wished things were like NYC and open either at 9 or 10am. I STILL forget that the shops (except for the department stores) open at 11 as opposed to 10.

At 11:01, I called JTB. After explaining twice in Japanese, the lady told me she will look up the number and call me back. I got the number in less than 5 minutes, and called Australia again.

Good news - my flights are "thru," which means when I check-in in Osaka, I have also checked-in for my flight from BNE to SYD. Also, my luggage will go between the planes so that means I don't have to pick them up and check them in again, like I had to do in Detroit. But I am still thinking of just going with a carry-on (I will call again like a week before just to double-double check). If I do check-in my bag, it means that I can bring my laptop, but I really don't want to lug it around. Alisa pointed out that I can still tweak my presentation, but it's excess weight.

Honestly, I have no qualms running through an airport. It wouldn't be the first time (when I had known Ingram less than 24 hours, I convinced him to run through Narita in Tokyo so that we could make our connecting flight to Osaka on time).

More good news: I got the confirmation from Wake Up! Sydney - 4 Share Dorm, Female Only. Another good thing about it is that while they do take your credit card for the reservation, it's only for reservation purposes; I will pay in cash there (phew). Very happy, though I think I messed up on the number of nights that I was going to stay. I don't like it when they ask for the check-in date and the number of nights as opposed to the specific dates - it can lead to mistakes. So I counted off my fingers - yes, 2/2 to 2/7 is 5 nights, not 6 - and e-mailed them back, telling them sorry made a mistake, and these are my dates.

"No worries," was part of the reply. How cool - they actually do say "no worries" in Australia, and it's not some Crocodile Dundee thing. Mel not only hides his accent (it only comes out after a tipple and when he gives speeches/presentations) he doesn't say "no worries."

All that's left is to email Mel's mum to let her know when I am going to Sydney so she can email the family friends and let them know that the DIL is coming. They might take me around for a day. Also need to email this professor I know who is at a uni in Sydney - we met last year at a conference, so it would be cool to meet up, if only for a bit.

When I return to Japan, it is going to be very interesting (but I am being sarcastic here). They just implemented mandatory fingerprinting like the US. But unlike the US, even permanent residents (except those "special permanent residents") and those who are on visas and have the gajin card (like me) get fingerprinted. According to the news, travelers are fine by it, but a lot of the foreign residents are not happy.

Ooooouuuccchhh....

Head hurts.

School E (or was it D? Who cares) is kicking my butt. They want me to calculate my GPA four different ways! Bloody nitpicky. I think this is the worst of the bunch - this is the one that I have to write two essays for. PLUS, I can only send a 10-page max writing sample. At least they aren't that sado-masochistic, because they also mentioned that in lieu of a whole writing sample, I can provide a 10-page excerpt with a cover letter. Phew. The rest of the schools are around 20 pages, one is 25 pages minumum.

Guess who is going to be playing with formatting tools on Word!

Security Check

Warning: I'm a bit snappy.

You know, they always say that Japan is safe. It sure is to be quite honest; I mean, there have been nights here where I ride my bike back up from downtown at 1, 2 in the morning by myself. No homeless people (they are all under the bridges at the Kamo River, but they don't bother you) no wierdos. I am too busy flying on my bike to garner any attention. Also, there are still people around; the Kamo River/Kawabata-Dori is one of the major North-South arteries of Kyoto.

But still. Except for the fancy manshons (apartment buildings), most apartment buildings in general don't have any security. The main door to my building is never locked; in fact, most buildings don't even have a front door. The only door that you have is the one to your apartment. Anyone can come in.

That has made me a bit uneasy, but I guess I considered myself lucky.

Until about 5 minutes ago.

I was doing my own thing, listening to The Cat Empire when I heard a knock on my door. I muted my music and checked first if my door was locked, then through the peephole. There was a Japanese woman, of middle age in a suit, sort of.

:::Knock knock:::

I KNEW that she knew that someone was inside because obviously I had my music on and I turned it off. But I didn't open the door. She just kept knocking and even looked at my peephole, as if she was willing to see who was on the other side of the door. I am not opening that door! She said not one word. Just knocked. Then she turned to my neighbor (who I think is a bit of a wierdo, he talks in this wailing voice which sorta creeps me out) and knocked.

That's when I knew I wasn't being targeted specifically, but just going around. Then I heard her knock on other doors but not even my neighbor opened his door. And this wasn't the first time this has happened either!

Call me paranoid, but I really don't like it how people can walk into my building without prior notification, or that the front door isn't locked. It just makes the stereotype of "Japan is safe" even worse. Sure, naysayers can say that it's true but better to be safe than sorry. Things still happen here. This place is not paradise.

I am not knocking Japan (pun not intended) - I like it here a lot. But there are just some things that tick me off, which I think is natural. And when it comes to strange people knocking on my door and not even saying a WORD, then we got issues here.

I'm off to the combini. Comfort chocolate is in order.

OH. MY. GOD.

OH MY GOD I JUST GOT AN EMAIL FROM AUSTRALIA SAYING 'HERE IS THE FORM IF YOU NEED TO APPLY FOR A VISA' BUT I STILL DIDN'T GET AN EMAIL SAYING THAT I GOT IN IN THE FIRST PLACE SO I HAD TO EMAIL THEM BACK HELTER-SKELTER AND I STILL DON'T HAVE A RESPONSE YET!!!

And most, importantly...

DID I GET THE BURSARY?

AAAAHHHHH!!!!!

You have NO idea of how much I am yelling at my computer right now, willing that gmail comes back with a response.

We're Having a Heat Wave...

So the heat wave is over.

And I did not lose power.

Woot!

However, my fridge is still an empty hole - we are still somewhat wary of Con Ed and their plottings, so my family just buys the stuff we need as the day requires it with the exception of non-perishable stuff like Costo-size Special K cereal.

There are still generators all over Astoria; according to the papers there were about 87 of them. They are rather large - there are CAT (Caterpillar) generators the size of small SUVs scattered even in my neck of the woods. However, my mother and I were not able to go to the public hearing.

Nonetheless, Mother Nature's latest leash of fury upon the United States was not very enjoyable. I have a slight propensity to pass out when the mercury tops 95, especially when there is a heat index of 100+, so I have been chugging down the water. However, waiting in the subway stations - the underground ones, not the el - is like sitting in one of Dante's circles of hell. Take your pick. 34th Street - on any platform - should be renamed "Ninth Circle" because it is...hmm, can't even use the word "stifling" because it is much worse than that. If the word "stifling" had a superlative of the nth degree, that would describe 34th street. And that is even on a regular summer day, so imagine when it is 115 with the heat index. Add to the fact that you are underground and I can imagine the little blobs at the end of those old-school thermometers bursting into smithereens Looney-Tunes style.


I'd say there is about a month and a half left of summer (HOLY CRAP). Let's see if the following two things will occur:

1) Con Ed gets rid of all 87 generators that have now populated Astoria like hawks on a carcass and fixes the LIC power grid (Fat chance!)
2) I predict at least 1 more heat wave. For three days. Leading to a brownout in Astoria - where else? Pah, 65% of the city's power plants are in the LIC electrical grid and we are the ones that get the blackout from hell.

Yeah, I still hate Con Ed (what New Yorker doesn't?) and am still mad over the blackout.

I Fought the Law and the Law Won

If I ever express the desire to go into law school, someone take a gun and shoot me.

Seriously.

I have been working here at the law school for almost a year. What did I learn?

1) How to waste my time on the Internet.
2) How to use audio/visual equipment. Which was really fun.
3) Bettered my skills with "smart" podiums - a good thing, since I will be the sort of presenter in the future that is NOT clueless.
4) How do deal with office politics and deal with lecturer's arrogant crap.

And most importantly...

5) That most law students are cocky arrogant idiots and that it gets worse the higher you go up in US News and World Report's rankings.

Fordham is ranked I believe in the top 30 (?) and dealing with them for programs already piss me off. Since I was one of the "children" next door, I was supposed to be pre-programmed to hate the "precious law students." As a former admissions tour guide, I actually said that "Yes, the law school is right next door, its a really great program, we have a 3-3 program for undergrads and as undergrads we can use their facilities, but none of us ever do because the law students are rather terriorial." I never got reprimanded for it because like a proper tour guide, I told the truth and the "reality that is FCLC" that the prospectives student wanted to hear, with the shine and sparkle that admissions officers and parents wanted to hear.

The Law school is the jewel in Fordham's crown, hence they are treated like spoilt princes and princesses. And some of them milk it. I do know a few of the law students that I met personally and for programs and some are very nice. There are, unfortunately that think they are gods because they are going to have a law degree after 3 years. Might I just add that most people who go for law degrees never actually become lawyers, because they fail to pass the bar or are just "burnt out"?

They are the ones that get a library that has WINDOWS and pretty chairs - you know, the ergonomical ones that cost about $1000 a pop? I actually commited the travesty that is entering-the-law-school library and sat in one of them. But this was after their finals, so I didn't have to suffer from the dirty looks that are across their faces if I dropped a pen on the floor. Quinn Library - the one for FCLC, GBA, GED, GSS and FCLS (everyone else that is) looks like a factory and has wierd lighting. New, really cute furniture, but no bloody windows. The "rest of us" will not have a library with windows until the incoming FCLC class of 2039 crosses Columbus Avenue for the first time.

My job is fun, but there are some times that I want to take that gavel and smash it into someone's head.

What was the breaking point for me was working for a PMBR Bar Exam law review in McNally a few weeks ago. Personally, its rather ludicrous to pay "all this money" for this degree and then you need to take MORE classes just to pass the bar exam because apparently, whatever you learned in law school isn't enough to pass the bar exam to become a "real" lawyer!

So they had a three day course, two days of which I had to run. The lecturer was like a law student on LSD although she was a former prosecutor in Philly. She made me run around like crazy - asking for extension cords (can't do it - fire hazard but then I see 10 of them within 15 minutes), portable podiums (after I told her I can't move the main one and that I can't take the one out of the classrooms - she took TWO out) and wanting a table (I told her I would get it for her but me getting it down will make noise, the "precious law students" were taking a test so is it ok if I can do it after the break? NO, she made me drag a table down that I am not supposed to! A heavy table, weak arms and a fear of stairs is not a good combination.).

Earlier, my coworker told me that one of the law students unfolded a table in the back to plug in her laptop since it was uncharged. She told the student that she couldn't do that because its a fire hazard, but the student didn't care! Gave my coworker a dirty look. Fine, and when you unfolded that table I wished you broke your leg. It would have served her right, although she would have probably sued the law school. They think they could break the rules just because they pay 40 grand a year. Unfortuantely, most of American college students think that they cn get away with murder and get whatever they want (even that A grade) because they pay "so much money" for it. I do come from a selfish generation.

I feel sooooo bad for my boss and any future coworkers. This fall they are changing the Atrium - where we hold luncheons and registration for events - into a student lounge with couches because the law students don't have a "proper lounge." Boo hoo to them. So now they have to move the furniture every time there is an event and try to keep the law students from stealing the food - it's ok to do it after the event when there are leftovers, but not before. It's going to make the school look bad. All for the sake of pacifying the royalty.

So the law school wins. They are even going to be the first ones to get a new building in the re-development plan of the campus. Frankly, I think they should add one of the 35-story towers first because it makes more space for the other schools as a whole. But no, the law school come first, because it is a "cash cow."

But on a lighter note, I decided to post a new picture of my future toy:

It is the Apple MacBook. I am going to make the conversion from PC to Mac. Strike up the choir, I am going to leave the world of Windows behind!

I say future because it is a belated graduation gift. In high school I got the Sony VAIO R505, one of the first "skinny laptops" and apprently, one of the most popular computers in 2001-2002. I got it simply because it looked pretty and I didn't know any better. After countless reboots, a crashed hard drive and subsequent replacement, overseas travel clocking in at over 30,000 miles (Greece: 2 plane rides, London: 6 plane rides) a broken cd-burner and over 1500 songs on iTunes, not to mention 4 years worth of college papers, outlines, and bumps and scratches, eating dinner as I type my papers and watching Sex and the City DVD's on it, its time to throw in the motherboard.

It looks like its been through WW3. The keyboard has faded where the heels of my palms rested, the A and S keys are almost gone, the screen is always dusty and it really ,really, battered - like there are nicks in it. And did I mention that the battery went kaput? Like it decided to not work anymore, so may laptop is nothing more now than a tiny PC since it awlays has to be plugged in. Microsoft Word freezes, and slowly my other programs are freezing on me as well.

Still, it WAS a purple laptop. I didn't want a standard, gray or black IBM/Dell.

The black Apple is really shiny, as Cat would put it, but its not worth it price wise to spend another $200 for a black casing. I'm getting the white (2.0 gHz), and using that $200 to upgrade the memory to 2GB.

Now if only there were cute laptop cases to go with it. I never used my old laptop case because it was this ugly office-looking industrial black. I would like kelly green. Or black, but with polka dots.

Yeah, I am very picky.