Summer KICKOFF

It's been a while! During that while, it's been 90% humid 36-degree weather every day! Time to list some of the cool shit that happened since the last pix, as well as some future stuff:

• I passed my entrance exam! Both written and oral exams didn't go well, and I'm sure I left a bad impression of my intellectual ability on all the professors involved. But since I made it, I don't care that much! The MSc course will begin next April, which gives me 8 months to revise undergrad physics (and maybe study ahead a little bit), take more Japanese classes, and settle into my new apartment (which I hope to find within a couple of weeks) before getting completely serious. Ideal, is it not?
  
• I went to Tenjin Matsuri, one of the larger Japanese festivals, held annually in Osaka. One of the best things about that festival is this website, a truly sublime creation as far as websites are concerned. Be sure to indulge (I spoil you guys an awful lot, don't I...).
  
• I had my first jam sessions, with 7 different people in total, and I'm awaiting contact from a cool funky band I saw by the riverside last Wednesday soon to find out when we can jam together, since we were all excited about it. Also bought my stand and gig bag - they need some pimping, but I'm as good as good to go. Though my vacation, which has finally really begun, is quite full with short trips here and there, I aim to spend lots of time with my treasured red love. I saw her insides for the first time yesterday, and removed the evil loose screw that was making a ruckus.
• I went to a beer garden for the first time. It's basically a very informal all-you-can-eat-and-drink terrace on top of a department store. Rather less romantic and pretty than I'd imagined, but with people of all sizes and ages gathering and the food and drink being quite alright, it was very enjoyable.
• I met up with my friend Yuuki from London, who was in her motherland for a brief month. "It's a small world" kind of feeling.
  
• I lost my sunglasses.
• I got hold of the Jazz Jackrabbit soundtracks - videogame music is just the best. Nostalgia galore! (Who needs sunglasses anyway...)
  

Holiday plans:

• Biwako fireworks tomorrow, with Ego & other ppl.
• Beach house party in Kobe on Saturday.
• Uji fireworks on Sunday.
• Day trip to Nara on Monday.
• Meeting/clubbing with Koki on Tuesday (do I hear a FINALLY!?!).
• Leaving for "camp" with tutor Ryu, his buddy, and Tareq early Wednesday morning, coming back Friday.
• Leaving for Shizuoka with Misa & friends on Monday, coming back Wednesday.
• Leaving for onsen trip with Misa on Monday, coming back the next day.
• Leaving for Hiroshima trip with 100+ dancers on Sep. 4, coming back Sep. 7.
  
• 2 weeks of Tokyo.
• Finding apartment, studying music, jamming, dancing, partying, doing kanji, finally finishing downloading One Piece (DAMN it's slow).

YES!

Stress

Stanley Clarke's "This Is Jazz" collection of tracks .. works wonders for winding down on a rainy night.

Titinart just told me I seem stressed lately (though she hasn't seen me for a week), which put me to think. This is the last month of the Japanese course I'm following, so there's some exams coming up, which I guess puts a small load on my stress tolerance. Then there's Gion Matsuri, Kyoto's (and maybe Japan's) biggest festival coming up, where I'm going to be going for 3 days straight with different people (always including Misa), wearing a yukata (a very comfortable summer kimono made of thin cotton). This is in the week of 15 July. Also a bunch of other parties coming up - fun in itself, but leaving me with less time to do the things I'm supposed to do (am I really that much of a stresskip?). Then one of the main things is probably the fact that I need to save more than half of my scholarship each month for the coming three months if I'm to make a somewhat civilized move in September (2-3 months deposit, building up a furniture collection from scratch, etc.), which causes me to worry about money every day. Very annoying.

To top it off, I just checked my YITP e-mail, and Mr. Sasaki told me that the form and date of my exams have been fixed: a small, "not very difficult" written exam consisting of 2 problems from undergraduate physics, and an interview/oral exam probably consisting of me presenting a topic of my choice in detail and questions being asked about it. Sounds great, doesn't it? Except for the fact that the whole party has been moved one month! Written exam July 31, oral August 5. I'd started to recap undergrad physics at a very leisurely pace recently, but I guess I'm going to have to skip to the good bits. Oh well, assuming that it's still impossible to fail because of the usual circumstances (people involved in the decision-making process that determines whether or not I stay here get substantial financial profit by letting me stay, etc.), this will probably all turn out to be a blessing, since it means my "real" summer vacation starts a month earlier. But for the moment, it means stress.

Quiet Afternoon - I'm thinking of all the times I've gone crazy to this super-mellow fusion tune with its incredible sax solo. I'm sure Roel, Daniel, Murielle, Mara, Martin, Freddy, Alex, Maurits, Alexander, Mauricio and some others would remember if they heard the song. Definitely a theme song for life.

There's been some very positive stuff going on as well: last Saturday, ZERO was amazing. About 25 shows, some of which were *really* entertaining - the best I've seen so far -, most of the DJ time by 2 of my acquaintances who generally play awesome tracks, and my own first show. That went quite well, though I made some mistakes from nervousness, and was really fun. I think I'm going to get hold of a DVD of the show at some point, so I'll post the vid on youtube for y'all to see. Anyway, I'm looking forward to doing it again, and actually planning to organize a zoo-themed show for an event in November. I already asked most of my friends from the different styles, and so far everyone was up for the idea, but on second thought it's not that easy to find tracks that can be used intuivitely for animal moves. Working on it, updates will come with progress.

Today, we had a nice farewell dinner for Titinart, who's leaving for Thailand (and, later this year, for Europe), including a bunch of us and some of their families with 1-year-old children ... much fun, and not-indecent Italian food for cheap (soft drink refills yeah!).

I'm off to finish my kanji homework and grab sleep. Speaking of which, during a long nap yesterday afternoon on a bench in the hot shade of the university, I dreamed that I was a princess (or prince, can't remember), turned into a frog (it didn't seem nearly as Shrekky in the dream as it does in this writing), and had a bunch of stuff going on. Among other things, I had a dream (inside the dream) from which I really wanted to wake up, and upon trying to, woke up in the real world. Then I figured, "ok, I woke up, but the whole frog story was fun so let's go back" and put myself back to sleep and back into the dream, only to have the dream-inside-the-dream happen again. Repeat. Times four.

That dream probably came from my frequent One Piece watchings the last month. (I'm on a break right now because the next 100 episodes I downloaded are unsubtitled, and I can't be bothered to watch them like that).

Exam update!!

This just in: prof. Sasaki talked to several people who know more about my situation than he does, and it is now most likely that I won't need to take the entrance exam in Japanese, but will "merely" have an oral (English) exam! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwesome.

(the only problem now is the date - he was thinking first week of September, which is around the normal exams as well, but there's an Ego trip to Hiroshima on Sep. 4th-7th and of course I rlllly wanna go, so let's see if I can manipulate fate and make my exam happen before the 4th).

Oki, off to karaoke now ;)