First Visit To A Japanese Temple

Yasaka Shrine, which we visited
before Kiyomizu-dera

Hey look, a post I started to write ages ago!

Well basically at this point I've decided to write totally out of order in favor of just getting things done. I started to write this when the memories were still fresher in my mind, and then finished it up today. So here goes: skipping about two weeks ahead, I'm going to talk about my first trip to a Buddhist Temple.

right outside the temple,
a pagoda

My friend and I managed to work out a time to go visit Kyoto, which is sort of her hometown, and also an old capital city of Japan. 

For any of you who would like to know how it is written (or to find out if your computer supports japanese text, haha) these are the kanji:  京都

So anyway, I got to visit Kyoto! Specifically, kiyomizu-dera (清水寺), an old temple that is both sprawlingly large (well technically it's not large but there are a lot of small surrounding shrines and other things so it's like a big complex of shrines and one fairly large temple) and breathtakingly beautiful.

thank God for google images -
yatsuhashi unbaked

google images gets credit here -
yatsuhashi baked

google images to the rescue: warabi-mochi

 Before and after visiting the temple, I got to wander through small streets where all sorts of little shops were hawking regional specialties like yatsuhashi 八橋 (dough made of rice-flour flavored with cinnamon and sugar - they come in two delicious varieties: baked crispy and served with ice cream like a super-thin shortbread or raw and filled with chocolate/red beans/etc. The dough itself also comes in other flavors, though traditionally it's cinnamon) 
warabi-mochi 蕨餅 (starchy jello-like cubes that are then covered with powdery flavored things, a bit more on the undersweet side but very flavorful) , 

google images - tsukemono

tsukemono 漬物 (literally means "pickled things", my friend who went with me described them as "things you put on rice". They are a lot of pickled vegetables and come in a HUGE variety of flavors, my friend and I probably tried two or three at each shop and each shop had like twenty or so, and we still managed to eat about fifteen or so different varieties of pickled veggies. They might be pickled in a normal brine but also come in soy sauce brines, miso brine, and various other flavors), 

google images - umeboshi

and umeboshi 梅干 (pickled plums, which I used to think I hated until I tried these. Turns out I just don't like cheap umeboshi. These pickled plums varied between extremely sweet with a hint of sour and so salty I wasn't sure if it was actually plum or just salt and vinegar with plum waved over the top. They all had a really good flavor, and the shop also served some sort of seaweed broth with it that tasted like sea water but not quite, it had a bit of some sort of soupy essence to it. like if you made soup out of ocean water maybe... )

Finally, last but not least, Kyoto is famous for its matcha 抹茶 (a powdered green tea with a very strong flavor. If you've ever had green tea ice cream, it's a little bit like that, only imagine it much more concentrated. Very good, though according to my friend there are quite a few people who don't like it, they think it is too bitter. I love it though, which means that when my friend and I decided to get a green tea parfait  that cost an arm and a leg but ended up tasting FANTASTIC and was almost too much even though we'd decided to split the parfait and price... haha.  I loved it. There were also matcha cookies that had white chocolate fillings and it was like heaven in your mouth, the subtle white chocolate and the powerful matcha... the easiest way to describe matcha is to have you think of coffee.  I KNOW IT SOUNDS STRANGE, JUST WORK WITH ME HERE FOR A MOMENT. So matcha, like coffee, is a very strong flavor that can be bitter but addicting. Like coffee, there is matcha flavored ice cream, matcha flavored cakes, matcha flavored jello, matcha flavored desserts in general. Now technically matcha and coffee taste nothing alike. But they have very similar qualities in that they both have a very discernable flavor that is an acquired taste but can be used in a myriad of ways. And I love it, so of course I had tons of fun trying the different matcha flavored things in kyoto.)


Now to go into detail about the fantastic temple:

kiyomizu-dera from a distance

it was beautiful. Surrounded by trees, made of old worn wood, the sound of water running (this temple is famous for a waterfall that can supposedly cure ills), a light breeze, the last of the cherry blossoms drifting down from above... the atmosphere was perfect, it wasn't too warm out, and I'm pretty sure my friend was sick of hearing me saying "Aww! So pretty!!!" over and over again.

a shrine connected to kiyomizu-dera

Unfortunately, my camera died almost right away because I couldn't figure out how to get it to tell me if it was running out of batteries or not last night and so I hadn't charged it (stupid me, I know). Fortunately I have a japanese cell phone that, while its photos aren't the greatest, they are of a decent enough quality that I can post them here, though they are a bit fuzzy, sorry.

a buddhist monk chanting

So the first thing that we did when we got to the temple was wash ourselves before entering. This was really interesting to me, because I know that purification is an important concept in Christianity, and I love seeing the things that carry over between cultures because to me I see that as the little pieces of ourselves that God has primed for wanting to know and please him. So to me, realizing that a religion so different from Christianity as Buddhism/Shinto (both have places to wash, particularly shinto shrines) also seeks to purify one's self before entering the presence of a great, eternal being, I was reminded of how we are also meant to approach our creator with a contrite heart, and how important repentance and respect are in our relationship with God. One thing that I absolutely loved about the purification was that not only did you wash your hands before entering the shrine, you also wash out your mouth. 

my friend sabrina took this picture at
kiyomizu-dera, I just stole it from facebook

There was something so intimate and powerful about recognizing that uncleanliness not only comes from what is outside you, but also inside of you, in this simple act. It reminded me of the scripture that says "out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" and reminded me that the natural state of the human heart is wicked and dirty, and it's only through Christ Jesus that we can become clean.  Every time I visit a shrine or temple in Japan, I find myself in awe of how a pagan ritual can actually bring me to new understandings of God and what he tells us in his word, and it makes me so happy that he can use these sorts of experiences to teach me, and, I hope, in turn help me to relate to those who are still lost by pointing out universal truths that have been pursued and found in the wrong place. Because no matter how many times you wash your hands and mouth, your heart will not get any cleaner. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can truly purify me.

burning incense in front of the temple

As we continued from there, I was able to look at the temple's interior, which had a large statue of Buddha and was burning incense. If there was one thing I took away from this trip, it was how strangely comfortable I felt in this place, and at the same time, how intensely sad it made me. I was expecting to feel afraid or awkward when visiting a temple, but instead found myself feeling introspective, and concerned for all the lost who came to this place looking for answers that a wooden statue covered in gold leaf could never provide. In the time since I've had the chance to visit many shrines and temples and out of all of my friends, it's safe to say that I am the most comfortable in these spaces of worship, despite the fact that I am also the most vocal about my faith. I once discussed with an Atheist friend why she was so uncomfortable in the space, and she said to her the idea of religion was so foreign that it was hard to come to terms with it. She also mentioned it felt threatening to her worldview in an abstract way, which I found interesting.

kiyomizu-dera is known for having 3 streams
of water - one for good luck, one fore healing
and one for something else, I forget. people
come to drink from the streams of water.
Another interesting analogy to ponder...

To me, I explained, despite the fact that I don't believe in Buddhism or Shinto, I had no problem interacting with the religious spaces, nor did I feel particularly threatened by them. I suspect in part this is because I approached the space as an opportunity to understand how to better reach those who followed it's practice, and also approached it with the understanding that very few Japanese actually practice these faiths. For the Japanese, religion is more like a way to connect with the past than a personal conviction, so many of these shrines and temples are little more than a place to go to "cover your bases". Much like a lot of cultural Christians in America today.

I don't know if the reason I didn't feel much tension in these spaces is because I am not considered a threat by the enemy (I really hope this isn't it, I like to think I'm making a difference), or because I am approaching this religious fixture almost like Paul did on Mars hill  - here, look at your religion, it is close, but you are missing the most important piece: Jesus! The unknown god!

You are worshiping the created rather than the creator! 

One thing I do wish is that more churches in the US were set up like buddhist temples and shinto shrines in Japan - not in the sense of statues and insence, but rather the deep and powerful beauty of these areas for religious gathering. These spaces are beautiful, and so carefully cultivated to really display the vast and intricate beauty of nature. Really, God created this world in so many fantastic ways, and I love that these shrines and temples so strongly display the beauty and wonder that he has created. I think that's probably what I love best about visiting Temples like Kiyomizu-dera -- looking around and seeing God's handiwork, from the nature, to the craftsmanship that was created through talents he gifted... 


When I go to a religious space in Japan, it is created in such a way that I become more attuned to the beautiful and majestic creations in our world, and I wish that churches in America today would bring me the same sense of wonder and beauty. I wish it would be easier to find spaces like this in America, places where I can revel in the handiwork of God as I praise him in a peaceful and beautiful space surrounded by architecture, pools of water, trees, plants, and the wide open blue sky.

Writing, Writing, and... well, yeah.

Well. I have finally managed to get to the last item on my post I posted several months back about "not having time" to write at the moment. Well, I suppose I proved myself correct, to a certain extent. However, as the last bullet point on that list was "Writing Buddy," stating that I don't have time to write seems rather counter-intuitive.

That's me, counter-intuitive. I could blame it on the fact that I'm a woman, but it probably has more to do with the fact that I'm me. I guess it might be genetic, but it might just be something unique to my personhood. Or not. Anyway, on to what I was supposed to discuss, and that being my writing buddy. Or 'writing partner'. Though I prefer the term 'buddy.'

My awesome writing buddy and I have started writing some fiction together. I say 'some' not because we also write nonfiction, but because we both write our own fictional works in addition to this fictional work that we have begun writing together. However, I have noticed that having a writing buddy is extremely helpful for keeping a regular schedule for writing. In the past few months, we have written something around 12,000 words. Yes, 12,000. That's with a full-time school schedule, and also general busyness on both our parts. Needless to say, I don't get this much writing done on my other fiction. Which is something I have been lamenting lately.

She and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing together, and I also spent some time picking the brain of a close friend of mine for insight into how the male mind thinks. Not because I think that men and women are from different planets, but because I know that there are ways that men and women look at things that may not be as obvious to a member of the opposite gender. So that has been tons of fun.

On the downside, my fanfiction writing has taken the heaviest hit, I have not written a single chapter in any of my fics for months. Additionally, some of my stories are also suffering. I have, however, worked on editing one of my particularly favorite stories. And I am re-writing for the fourth time a story centered around a character that I first invented when I was 14 years old.  So kudos to me for sticking with my character. The classes I have been taking in school have all helped me develop these stories, and I am particularly fond of this character that I invented 5 years ago. The classes that have helped me the most with his story:

• International Relations
• I took this Political Science course last quarter, and it helped me develop a lot of the cultural systems and interactions between the planets, as well as setting me on a vague course for how and why the interplanetary war in this tale takes place. The story is about a young man who is a member of the ruling class of his society, and learns about how his planet and its culture is contrasted with other cultures of surrounding planets. There is a deep and somewhat painful history between their people and some of the other people groups. There are also some deep-seated prejudices towards different peoples, and it is interesting to see how different perspectives can affect how countries will interact. Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" work was particularly interesting in this regard.
• Communication and Difference
• This is a class I am taking this quarter, and it explores the impact of Power and Privilege on people, and how denial and systems are set up in cultures in such a way that people often cannot even see their own privilege. It is an extremely eye-opening class, and it got me to thinking about the insecurities and stereotyping that is rampant in our society, and how that would carry over into cultures that are obsessed with genetic engineering and the physical representations of pure genetics. There is also the differing cultures of what is considered normal in which culture, and the differences in patriarchal societies, matriarchal societies, and perhaps societies with social structures that we don't have any comprehension of. It is interesting to develop cultures that dismiss some cultures as 'crude' simply because of how their culture has developed (ie: "You mean your people don't genetically engineer your children to have the best chances in life? How...interesting.").

And I guess that is all I want to talk about right now. I should really be studying for my Japanese test. Bah. How has Japanese helped my writing? Not really very well. It hasn't done much. My intro to linguistics course, on the other hand, has done wonders for helping me decide what I'm going to do to develop a distinct language for my "aliens." I'll probably recycle it for my fantasy stories, and then fans who read both my stories can have fun realizing that both languages work in the same way and use identical vocabulary. I think it might be kind of fun. Of course, if the Editor wants me to change it, I guess I won't have much of a choice...

In the meantime, I'll keep editing my story about genetically engineered orphans. Which actually has nothing to do with the above story, aside from the fact that they are both written by yours truly. Ha!

And now, to study...

The Infamous Ailment Known as "Celebrity Crush"

Seriously, they need to categorize celebrity crushes as some sort of psychological disorder, or at least a disease - because I want a cure. They should put that at the top of the list, and bump down the "find a cure for the common cold" down to #2 on the 'priorities, but not really priorities' list of diseases to cure. It's driving me nuts.

As I rock out to The Phantom of the Opera (easier than one might imagine, I assure you), I decided that with my newfound freedom that is Friday night, I would write in my blog again since I did promise to do so. See, the homework crush really hits home on Saturday afternoon of the weekend for me, so I have to find my freedom early in the weekend or I'll end up not having time to happy dance over a lack of homework. So consider this post my happy dance. I could spend more time youtube stalking my celebrity crush, but I'm really trying to avoid it since it's a total embarrassment to me.

In fact, why don't I just talk about that for a bit. I thought it was silly and a little bit cute when I found out my Japanese professor had a celebrity crush on Johnny Depp. But you know what? AT LEAST THEY WERE THE SAME AGE! That's what really bugs me about having a celebrity crush-- most of the time celebrity crushes affect young people who are not yet old enough for a serious commitment and so they have these sort of far-off ideas of romance and stuff that keeps them afloat until they are old enough to realize that most celebrities are creepers and not very nice and it would be better to find someone who makes a decent wage rather than trying to find that movie star -- especially since they'll probably just end the marriage before too long, since most of them are really messed up by Hollywood.  (Apologies for the run-on sentence, I don't want to go to the effort of fixing it since this is basically just a brain barf on a page kind of blog)

 The way I see it, you can't find fulfillment without Christ, and that probably hits home the hardest when you have everything but feel like you have nothing. Which is probably why so many celebrities have such messed up lives, because they're going crazy trying to find that thing that is missing from their lives, but they can't find it in other people. As a wise man once said, "Sorry Hollywood, but one needy person plus one needy person equals two needy people. The only way to true fulfillment is through the perfect love of Christ."

But I digress. Most celebrity crushes seem to be an affliction for 13-year-old girls, causing them to fawn over 30-year-old (or older) movie stars. And that, my friends, is just creepy. So of course, I always prided myself in never having fallen for one of those silly celebrities, especially since they were all like 20 years older than me. And then... GACKT (who happens to be 38, making him exactly twice my age... eep!).

It's really frustrating to have a celebrity crush, since I'm not exactly sure how it developed. I've been trying to make it into a good thing, but that's only made it worse. Now I know that there are people out there who will go look this guy up if I don't provide some sort of reference for you guys, so I'll go grab a few of the videos/photos I found while internet stalking this poor guy.  (Poor guy because he's a celebrity, stalked, non-christian, etc. Not poor monetarily -- the guy is loaded.)

Aaaaaaaand, did I forget to mention that he is from Japan? Ahaha, I have to laugh at the irony. My Japanese teacher wanted to teach Japanese in America and has an American celebrity crush. I want to go to Japan and help lead people to Jesus and also teach English, and I end up with a Japanese celebrity crush. It's a painful irony.

But mostly I like his voice, because he has a great one. So now I shall show you what I mean. (Warning - he sings rock music, and some of his stuff is pretty heavy.) Seriously, he has a really good voice. I'm posting a live video to prove it, because if you can sound good live then of course you can sound good in studio. I love the strength and clarity of his tone, and I love his vibrato. He stylizes occasionally, but I also just really like the overall sound of his songs too. I tend to like stuff that's on the almost metal-y end of the rock spectrum, so I really like listening to his stuff.

He also dances! (and he's way better at it than I am)  (PS: the following song is one GACKT did for the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. The song is about being a cyborg and how he doesn't want to be controlled by the machines in him)

And he acts! He recently played in a movie that was done here in the states called "Bunraku." It was rated R for violence (and I think 1 swear word), but I thought it was a really, really well written movie. I've only ever seen 1 other rated R movie, and I liked this one better. Then again, the other R movie was Black Hawk Down and it did not have a happy ending, so maybe I'm just doubly biased into thinking this movie was better than it really was. However that works, the fact remains that I was impressed. They managed to hook you and keep you interested in a story that had two protagonists, and you never even learned the name of one protagonist. (It's like a huge no-no in movies to have more than one protagonist - it confuses the audience. it's also a big no-no to have a protagonist that's hard to relate to - ie, a guy with no name) But it was still a great film! Plus it had an interesting premise - Post-apocalyptic world where guns are outlawed so everyone fights with fists or swords (hence the violence - it's a lot more up-close and personal).

But I digress. Or, I could show you a movie trailer...

 

And I just really loved this scene in the movie. These guys come in right after Yoshi (played by GACKT) has showed up at his uncle's Japanese restaurant. They're messing up the place, threaten the uncle, and then make a pass at his cousin. Yoshi (GACKT) has had enough.

 

 (Oh, by the way, JIN is one of the 7 ways of the samurai. It means trying to keep from fighting until it becomes necessary.)

And I mentioned earlier that this was a celebrity crush that I was trying to turn into a good thing that just turned into a worse thing, right? Yes well, I was starting to get really interested in what was going on with this singer GACKT dude but I didn't want to get too obsessed because I have vehement distaste for the whole celebrity crush thing. It's childish, in my opinion. So, in an attempt to keep myself from turning this into a crush I decided to pray for him, since he is not a christian. Now, I don't know if God has decided that GACKT will be an 'object of mercy' (Romans 9:16-ish and onward) or not, so I'm just praying that if Gackt is one of the people whom God has selected, that God would just put people around him who would lead him to a relationship with our savior. But to my dismay, I discovered that apparently praying for someone is not a good way to stop thinking about them, and so I ended up just liking the guy more -- and praying for the guy just makes my feelings stronger. NOOOOOOOOO!!!! So now I officially have my first celebrity crush, and it's all because I decided to pray for him. I'm not going to blame this on God, but I am a bit disgruntled that this happened.

Oh well. Who knows? Maybe my prayers will end up working, or at least get something moving in the heavenlies. I mean, even if God can get some christians into Japan's music industry I would be happy. They have no christian music, which makes it sad for me because I would like to listen to uplifting, christian Japanese songs but they don't have any of those, unlike in the US. Besides, God knows the Japanese people need all the prayers they can get. Their country has the highest rates of Manic Depressive disorder in the entire world AND they have the highest suicide rate of any country. Only 5% of the population claim to be christian, and the culture is very, very secular. So lately my prayers have gone a little something like this:

"Dear God this is stupid but I have a stupid celebrity crush and I pray that you would bring people who know you around GACKT, and that if it is in your will that you would soften his heart towards you God, and I pray for the rest of the people of Japan that you would bring more of them to you and that you would strengthen and encourage your believers in Japan and lastly if you could help me a little with my stupid homework I would appreciate it..."

I'm just glad that God isn't a grammar freak or I would never make it past the pearly gates. I swear most of my prayers are mental run-on sentences.

So there you have it, folks. Another filler chapter (update? post? whatever these blog thingies are called) that I wasn't planning on writing. But hey! It's the weekend, and I'm FREE TO WRITE (blogs or otherwise) for another few hours and then I will disappear into the abyss that is sleep and then I will get up, do some writing or drawing, and about mid-afternoon Saturday I will reluctantly begin my homework.

...really? Wow, I just have no life...

...Sorry. Sometimes I just look at myself and laugh at how pathetic I am. This, my friends, is one of those times. Well, this unfortunately celebrity-crushed girl is going to try and find something to do that does NOT involve youtube stalking a certain celebrity for more of his talk-show interviews... 

Yeah. Definitely not.

At least, not for TOO long...






...'cmon guys, that was a joke. You're supposed to laugh, not stare at me and "heh" awkwardly.

...

School is Murder and Other Tales of Woe

Well, I said I would not put these in any particular order, and I feel like it's time to begin ranting about school since there are only two weeks left in the quarter. (I have such impeccable timing... not.) I really just wanted to post this so I could say "School is murder... oh yeah, and dead week is coming up soon, so watch out!" Yes, I have an odd sense of humor. I blame my father.

As for school, my complaints are as follows:

• I just got over the stress of giving a 5 minute speech in Japanese class, only to learn that i have a speaking test next week and a final the week after that.
• I have to put together a video for my Communications class group  because apparently I'm the only one who knows how to use Windows Movie Maker.

...I can't think of anything else. Yeah. Well, those two things seem like enough to me. I really don't have the time to be writing this, but I wanted to get my stress off my chest and make you all feel bad for me. ("You all" being the 5 or 6 people who actually bother to read this thing.)

So, first Japanese: I was a dork and procrastinated. The whole stress issue was really my fault. I just hate talking in a foreign language if I'm being graded. It's not bad if I'm just trying to communicate, because people tend to be more forgiving than someone who is giving you a grade based entirely on how well you can communicate in a language you've only been practicing for about two and a half years.

In other words: "I'M GONNA DIE!!!!!"   (My famous phrase that I frequently utilize rather than say "I'm nervous" or "I would rather not do public speaking in a foreign language" or even "I don't really like getting up in front of my Model United Nations team and giving an impromptu speech about China's opinion on Least Developed Landlocked Countries (LDLCs).")

That's like grading a FIRST GRADER on their speech-giving skills! Most of the time when first graders give speeches it's "show and tell" and they get a big ribbon even if all they did was stand up on the stage and twirl their hair for five minutes! When we have a vocabulary (approximately) equivalent to a first grader, why can't our speeches be graded along a similar curve? I mean, yes I am not a first grader, but if I only have the ability to talk like one, can't you cut me a little slack? I may mess up some grammar. I may accidentally use the wrong word. But aren't I cute? Watch me twirl my hair!

Okay, enough of that. On to topic two:

COM 201 is a media studies class and we were assigned to do a group video project. My group has 4 people in it including me. I volunteered to make the video, even though it will probably take me between 5 and 7 hours to complete, plus I will be narrating the poor dear. (Trust me, the quality WILL be poor.)

As if this weren't bad enough, none of the other group members knew how to convert their own videos (add another hour of video conversions and downloading youtube videos or google images to my list of time-consuming activities). But hey, at least they would show up to the meetings and wrote their scripts. The last group member has dropped off the grid without leaving so much as a line of script for me to use in narration, and I don't have any vidoes or pictures from them. And even that much wouldn't be too huge of a deal if it weren't due TWO DAYS FROM NOW.

Yes. Let the stress begin............... Now, I know you're probably wondering why I would be writing this when I should be working on that video of doom and despair, but I kind of have stress up to my eyeballs and I need to release some tension somehow, and I've actually found this blog to be rather cathartic. Now, I don't put all of my thoughts here, (I usually talk things out with God and he and I work through most of my struggles together) but I do enjoy talking at the people who take the time to read this, and I wasn't particularly specific about why I was so busy in my last entry. And yes, I know it's only been about 2 days when I'd waited an entire 2 (or was it three?) weeks before updating last time.

But I never claimed to have a proper schedule, so I guess that's all right. Then again, if I gave myself a proper schedule I'd be more likely to keep it. But that would take all the spontaneity out of my blog and then I'd probably not have as much fun writ(rant)ing in it.

So, there you have it. School is murder, and other tales of woe. BEWARE THE DEAD WEEK!!!!

Signed,
               That person who irregularly updates her blog, the infamous and ineffable Rahib*.



*Apparently "Rahib" is what my first name looks like in my signature. This nickname was bestowed upon me by my kind father two winters ago. He felt obligated to parade about the house demanding who "Rahib" was and why they had signed our Christmas cards... the rest is history.

No, seriously, it should be history by now. But somehow it stuck...

Japanese Translation Attempt - Successful?

Haha, today instead of doing homework I distracted myself by drawing two pictures for an OC Double meme I'm doing with a friend of mine. ("OC" means "Original Character," in case anyone wanted to know) I was quite happy with how they turned out, though I'm not sure about the language of the meme, I might end up censoring it after I finish it. Although, my OC had a smart remark for one of the swears, so now I'm ever-so-slightly conflicted... anyway, here are the two pictures:

mwahaha, I tried to draw him for this "intro" spot three times before I decided on this pose. I ended up using a reference picture from google images to get the back and shoulders/chest/head - basically the entire pose - right.

And... I used another google image reference picture for the face because I've decided I'm no good at figuring out chibis by myself. I really liked the sweatdrop, personally. I've never done an expression like this before, so I was happy with how it turned out.

And now that I've got that out of the way, I got tired of drawing after finishing these two and went to make sushi, which was incredibly yummy and fun. 

And then, after sushi, I discovered yet another way to keep myself from doing homework. It was totally unintentional, I'd meant to get started on my homework, but a friend of mine sent me a link to a Japanese song on youtube, and I explored some of the related links, and stumbled across this funny parody song about "hikikomori." 

Since a lot of people don't know about hikikomori, I'll give a quick run-down of what hikikomori are here. A hikikomori is a "shut-in." This psychological condition of hikikomori is uniquie to Japan. Basically, a hikikomori is a young person who locks themselves in their room and refuses to come out for school, work, or much of anything else. A lot of times these hikikomori will only leave their rooms to shower at night when no one else is around, and they refuse to communicate with the rest of their family. A lot of them are thought to live virtual lives through the internet rather than bother with the real world, and many are thought to be "otaku," (which basically means "nerd" or "geek" in Japanese) people who love anime and manga and play video games.  I'll post a quick picture of an otaku's room for an example:

yeah, it's pretty much insane.

And a picture from an article on Hikikomori:

 Anyway, so this parody song was about hikikomori. And it sounded funny, but I looked around and I couldn't find any english subtitles, so I didn't know exactly what it was saying, though the parts I understood sounded funny. So, I decided that I would translate the song.

Well, three hours later, I finally finished translating the song. As you can see, the song had the Japanese subtitles in the video, but the kanji were really hard to read and so if I didn't know them then it was very difficult to look them up in the dictionary, and like with any singing, some of the words were hard to discern the pronunciation from the song. I probably spent twenty minutes on one kanji because it was eluding me. Another problem was the language, since it's extremely conversational and informal, so it's hard to know exactly how to translate it to get the right feel, and I probably failed in some places though I really tried. In the end, I ended up with this (admittedly rough) translation, which I have decided to post here so you can watch the video and read along if you want:


The World's #1 Hikikomori "World is Mine"

I am the world's #1 hikikomori, 

and so you should be aware of how to treat me... right? 

First, one should not enter my room without permission.
second, just the right amount of light would be nice, right?
third, bring my dinner up to  my second-floor room,
and don't you realize that vacuum cleaner is too noisy?

Because none should question my whims.  

 My parents, from the bottoms of their hearts, are quite concerned．

I am the world's #1 hikikomori, 

one might notice 'hey, hey, what about work?' 

but that's out of the question． 

do you think that I am garbage, 

that I should get a job soon or just get tossed out?

Get up?  Was it wrong to be sleeping until 11 AM? 

Excuse me, you should be listening to what I say.
-hold on…-
-oh yes, and then?-
 Oh, were you bothered by why I phoned you?   

You should come here to meet me 

from the convenience store (even though) it’s only 30 seconds away.

Honestly, you really shouldn’t question my whims. 

After all, after walking just a little bit, I end up rather short of breath.

I have one room in the whole world that is mine alone, 

one might note, ‘listen, listen, you should do some cleaning.’ 

my figurines are overflowing a space of (approx.) 11 meters (six and a half jou). 

please be careful – clean up in here, quickly!
My parents absolutely do not understand the value of my figurines!

Limited edition anime goods!  the latest notebook computer!
Everybody, everyone, don’t be so patient!
Don’t think of me as an impatient child, 

just because I don’t regret living in a house I didn’t buy.
It’s natural, therefore I am--

The world’s #1 parasite! 

I receive all sorts of things from amazon unexpectedly. 

If my cell phone randomly stops working, 

I’m like, “wha-?” “Shouldn’t you pay the bill?”

say my caring, penny-pinching parents.  

But I absolutely do not want to work!

Yes, I am inordinately proud of my accomplishment of spending three hours just to translate one measly song. But it's my first time translating something that WASN'T in a textbook, so I am quite pleased with the result. I just hope it's accurate, or else I will become disheartened.

Anyway, that's my update for the week-ish, I suppose.

God bless, all! ^_^ *anime smile*

OH OH, on a final note, if anyone was just dying to know,  Here is the original song that was parodied:

Death by Homework

Mwahaha! Again, I've failed to write anything for about a week! (Business as usual, eh?)

On the bright (-ish) side, I've managed to somehow survive midterms and a snow week's worth of homework, all without dying. (Though I did stress out a bit last night and this morning since I hadn't done nearly enough studying for my Political Science midterm...)

For some reason, today seems to be the day of parenthetical statements, though I'm not sure precisely why. As for what I've been doing lately (besides homework), I went to two Karate classes this week, and it was great to get back into punching things, kicking things, and yelling my lungs out. This class is even more vocal with their kiai's than my last Karate school, and school is stressful enough that I can really use the excuse to make noise. Additionally, I'm really appreciating how a good tight diaphragm can prevent the wind from getting knocked out of me.

I also started watching a new anime (ooh, big surprise there... not) and though I'm only a few episodes in, It's pretty interesting. The best part is noticing that I'm needing fewer and fewer subtitles as my Japanese studies continue. That's probably the best part of watching anything in Japanese for me. Of course, the quirky science teacher who sits backwards on a computer chair and wheels himself into and out of rooms for dramatic effect is amusing too. (The best part is when the chair hits the doorway area and topples over...)

And hey! I found a video of it! Excuse the subtitles and weird music, and there may be one curse word, though I forget.

Anyway, beyond the awesomeness that is Dr. Franken Stein (I know, I know, so creative... props to the Japanese author for that one... (sigh. The world would be a more fun place if there were a sarcasm emoticon. But the sad part is that there's no universal look that means "sarcastic." Eyeroll gets close, but I think if it as more of a "good grief, you dork" kind of emoticon rather than a dry, snarky sort of emoticon...)), the other characters are interesting too, particularly the OCD kid who has a thing for symmetry.  And yet another video for your enjoyment (or not) ... (I'm pretty sure he swears once in this too... sorry)

Well, since I've babbled my way past toppling computer chairs, needing a sarcasm emoticon and the OCD Kid, it's probably time for me to think of a better topic. Church has been awesome lately, we're going through the book of Romans and I've been liking it a lot. I've been very convicted by a lot of these sermons and I've learned a lot since coming up here. Bible study has been great too and I love my small-group. I want to look into getting more involved on campus, but then again, being me, it'll take a lot of stretching outside of my comfort zone to figure something like that out. But I'm game! (Just give me some time to work on it...)

I have been doing some fiction writing lately, though not as much as I should, probably because I've been watching too much TV/Anime/Movies... I really need to get back into reading and writing. The thing is, I can multitask and "watch" movies while not actually watching them. I've gotten really used to just listening to what's going on in the TV show while doing homework or drawing, and so I don't have to set aside time specifically for movies, etc. On the other hand, writing actually takes effort and full concentration. I tried watching anime while writing this post, and it didn't work. If I can't even write a lousy rambling blog post, imagine trying to write something of value while watching TV! Impossible!

Well, though I haven't done much writing, I've done some drawing, getting used to my new Wacom Bamboo tablet that I got for Christmas. (It's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I love it!)

 

Soooo, here's a few quick pics of story characters that I drew using my tablet. (these were all done solely on the computer, from sketch to coloring. I'm actually rather pleased with them...)

   ...well, now that I've written a goofy update and reminded everyone of how insane I am, I suppose it's time to do some homework, or perhaps some writing! (PS: Aren't you proud? I figured out how to put pictures and videos in my bloggy-ness! I'm so happy... maybe I'm not as computer illiterate as I thought!)

Until next time: God bless!

SNOWPOCALYPSE!!!

...at least, that's what was predicted...

Ah yes, it's 2012, the world is going to end before 2013 and Seattle drivers are trying their best to make it happen. Right now the ground is dusted with about three to four inches of snow (weathermen were predicting 1 foot, but that was probably just to convince the University to close). It's quite beautiful, and I will probably brave the weather soon just to get out of the house at least once today. Who knows, I might find a post office. Then again, I might not.

In spite of the predicted snowpocalypse, I went to my first Karate class last night! My quadriceps suffered mightily because I am out of shape. I didn't realize how out of shape I was until the instructor had us jumping and doing lunges for approximately ten minutes. After that, we had to link arms back-to-back with a partner and lean against each other, basically doing the wall-sit with another person. Well, it took me a little while to figure out exactly how that worked. While my partner was a kind blackbelt, she had to remind me several times that we were supposed to be pushing against each other from the hips, not the shoulders. As a result of not figuring it out right away, my legs pretty much turned to jelly. It hurt.

On the bright side, I don't seem to be particularly sore today, and because UW is closed for the snow, I was able to put off my first Japanese midterm by one day! So I got an extra day to study Japanese and also my International Relations textbook and other readings. I'm a little sad that I had to miss out on one of my IR lectures though, because my professor really knows his stuff. He was even quoted in the textbook and is considered a prominent figure in this area of study. Which is really nice. He reminds me of Dr. Fisher, only less quirky. However, like Dr. Fisher, he knows his stuff so well that you could pick any international politics topic and he could tell you all about it and give you some really fascinating insights on the matter. Plus, the stuff he teaches really fascinates me, which doesn't hurt.

As the snow continues to fall (yay!) I know that some of my roommates are praying that school is cancelled tomorrow as well, and while that would be fun, I am up here to learn. Still, there's something about a snow day that brings out the inner child in a person. (Or the inner nutjob. I heard that the snowball fight on Greek Row got so intense it took 6 police cars and some arrests to break it up...) So, I'm off to dig up my new wool sweater and gloves, pull on my hat, bundle up, and tromp through the snow in my awesome leather boots. Since it's not slushy yet, I should be able to return with dry feet.

I haven't really talked much about last quarter, but that's the recent update, so I suppose it all works out in the end.

Until next time, God bless!

~'chel