Term-End Celebration

My cohort got together at Excelsior to celebrate the end of the fall term. Yes, we have survived! J arranged the lunch of celebration for us and treated us. Geez, we should've gone Dutch, but she insisted. She is too much. Not only she is sweet but also my cohort itself is a group of sweet people. I'm grateful to be among them.

Final Paper

Yay! I handed in the final paper of JW's seminar. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free at last! Oh, well, there is another paper due next Monday, but it should not be a big deal, compared with JW's final paper. Let me celebrate with IPA!

No Email

Well, I haven't received an email from the complaining student yet.

Sometimes I don't understand those students. One student emailed me, saying, "I have concerns about my essay and want to talk in person," and I replied, "OK, then come over during my office hours," and the student never showed up. Where did his concerns go? One student sent her paper via email, "I'm intimated by the professor, so please let me hand this in to you." Oh, man, you should know that the electric version is not acceptable. That kind of stuff.

I gradually understand that university teachers are having a hard time to handle those young students.

Complaining Student

Oh-oh, I got a direct complaint from a student about my grading. Yes, I graded his essay and gave it a poor mark because he didn't follow the guideline which the professor indicated. The guideline says the essay must discuss ONE medium (television, radio, Internet, newspaper, magazine,or whatever), but what he did is to refer to The Economist, The Financial Times and Reuters. Excuse me, all three are different media: The Economist is a magazine, The Financial Times is a newspaper, and Retuers is a news agency. Well, I understand that he wanted to discuss "financial stuff" in his paper, but I couldn't give him full points because he ignored the guideline.

Anyhow, he came to me after class and insisted that The Economist is categorized as a newspaper and Reuters publishes a financial paper for ordinary readers. Really?! I don't think so. I asked him to send his evidence via email. Now, I'm waiting for his email.

Check-Up

Because suspected hemorrhoids (well, irregular bleeding, actually), earlier period, and this and that, I went to see a doctor this morning. I was thinking of seeing a practicing doctor in town during the weekend because I had irregular bleeding again and it lasted two days this time. I was worrying that it's getting worse. If so, seeing a "real" doctor must be better, I thought.

But my bleeding had stopped, and I decided to go to the health center of the university instead because it might be cheaper and easier to make an appointment. And luckily, there was a cancellation, and the doctor saw me right away.

Oh, I don't like gynecologic visits at all. Each time, regardless of countries, I have to answer very personal questions (well, related to sex life, of course) and sit on the table with legs wide open (embarrassing ...).

To get to the conclusion, there was nothing to worry about. The doctor checked everything from a pregnancy test to microscope exam, palpation, sampling and whatever, and concluded that I'm not pregnant, and my thing seems normal, clean and healthy. Though we have to wait for the results of a couple of lab tests, the doctor told me there would be no problem.

Then, why did I have irregular bleeding? It's because of my age and stress, according to the doctor. When you get older, your body tries to reproduce as much as possible, and it causes bleeding in addition to regular period, she said. Gee, I feel much older now. Also, stress from graduate school is a big issue. Yeah, I know, graduate school is crazy here.

A Week Has Gone By?!

Can't believe it, a week has gone by already since I last uploaded a blog?! Well, this week, many things happened, but I didn't have time to post blogs.

On Thursday, GM invited us, new doctorate students and families, to Thanksgiving Dinner at his place. That was great with good food, easy friends and adorable kids. More than anything, I was glad to feel like belonging somewhere. They accept me, ant that's great because I feel lonely almost all the time here :(

Friday was AS's DJ night, so we went to see him at the club. And I had a couple of gin, mm, I love gin even though I know it contains tons of sugar. Gin reminds me of my days in Cardiff. Oh, I'm sentimental now ...

Yesterday, I was kind of crazy, grading. I blamed myself of ignoring grading for long. I should've started earlier, and I wouldn't be stressed out. But it was too late to regret. Just grade them!

And today, I continued to be crazy, grading. But I managed to finish it in the afternoon, and that was a big relief for me. Thank Buddha, my lip didn't break this time. After grading, the final paper for JW's class came. Yes, I should've started this earlier, I know that. But again, it was too late to regret. So, I just did it! I managed to form the essay, quality aside, by 10, not a.m. but p.m. of course. Now I'm waiting what DM would comment on it. I know he will criticize it a lot, but at the same time, I know it's good for me to improve my writing.

Sentimental

I feel more and more lonely here. It's kind of contradictory because I'm supposed to feel more comfortable with my cohort, and actually I do. And I have DG. But ... I'd better not be too serious about this, otherwise, I would be depressed. Christmas break is coming soon, and I will see DM and CM who accept, spoil and love me. Two more weeks to try to be sane. Two weeks ... two weeks ... and I'll be OK ... In the meantime, IPA soothes my feeling.

Waterfalls!

Holy cow, what the nature (again)!

On the way back, DG took me to see a couple of waterfalls. The photo is one of them called Sahalie Falls. Isn't this gorgeous? Walking down the trail from the parking lot, the moment the waterfall came in my sight, I felt in love with this. What an impressive scenery! The water on the top is a little greenish and changes colors into complete white when it falls. This subtle color change is the beauty of the nature, creation of the nature. Ahhh, it's too beautiful and powerful to be true.

There's another waterfalls down the way, called Koosah Falls, which character is totally different, like mini Niagara Falls. Either waterfall is amazing and astonishing. The sound of water clashing down in the pool is so relaxing and never bore you. Oh man, I love waterfalls.

Feel the Nature, Naked

The grand finale (last destination) of our short trip was Cougar Hot Springs. It's totally natural hot springs, and people bathe themselves naked. Wow, in the nature, bathe naked?! I wished no one had been there, but there were. But luckily, there was a naked women among three naked men (Yes, of course, everyone must be naked in hot springs). "Phew, I'm not the only one," I thought.

Anyhow, it was not sensual at all. The strangers were friendly by waving and saying, "See you next time," when they left. Some of them were talking about politics, which we tried not to get involved. Actually, I got an awesome feeling from bathing naked. It's the feeling of being a part of the nature, maybe.

Well, I took some photos there, but I'd better refrain from posting them here.

Again, thank, DG, for everything. It was such a nice, relaxing, amazing weekend. I like this guy very much.

Smith Rock

Holy Toledo, what the nature!

Last night, DG proposed going on a day trip on a whim (or maybe he had been planning). So, we rented a car and went to Smith Rock. Gee, the scenery was overwhelming. Each rock has different appearances, colors, textures. Especially, the moss on the rock was amazing, and its color, deep green, was soothing and healing. You may feel very relaxed, seeing that from far. Oh, my my my my, I'm totally amazed.

We decided to stay in Bend instead of going back because we had too much beer to drive for three hours to get back. Mm ... locally brewed beer, Anniversary Ale, was so good.

Thank, DG, for the trip, driving all the way, preparing things, and everything!

Presentation in Front of a Bunch of Young Students

This quarter is done! Over! Yay! ... Oh, well, I have two papers to go, but my presentation which was the most concerning thing in this quarter was done! All my presentation was recorded in this tiny video tape.

Ahhhh, I'm so relieved, and I'm so grateful for DM, GM and SR who helped me a lot in terms of structuring and practicing my presentation.

Also, I appreciate the students. Not all of them, but I believe majority of them paid attention to my presentation and responded to my questions during the presentation. They wrote good comments and compliments on their write-ups. Oh, what a lovely bunch of young people.

Pancake Brunch

Hmmmmmmm, DG's pancake was so good. Pancake baked with banana, served with "real" Canadian maple syrup ... mm, so yummy.

After a little nap, we went to Hendricks Park to feel the nature because the weather was unbelievably nice. The park was quiet and relaxing. Listening to birds and looking down the town, I could forget my struggle in school (at least for a while). The good thing is that here I don't feel like, "What am I doing here?!" which I felt all the time as long as being at my office in Tokyo.

It was an absolutely relaxing Saturday.

Oh, well, after relaxing, reality comes to you. I have to do abstracts now. That's my reality.

Credit Card

Travelation.com was giving me a hard time. After I bought air tickets online, they required me to send them verification documents such as a form and photocopies of my credit card and my driver's license because my credit card is not issued in the States. Yeah, it happened in the U.K. too, and they didn't accept my credit card because it is "international." Geez, credit cards should be able to be used all over the world.

Anyhow, at first, I sent the required documents by email by scanning them into PhotoShop files. And ... they replied me, saying they couldn't open the files. Damn it. Their office doesn't have a single Mac which carries PhotoShop?! So, I changed the format into JPEG and PDF and sent them again. And ... they replied me, saying they were too blur to read. Damn it. Finally, I gave up and faxed them. Damn it. In this digital era, why do I have to make a photocopy of my credit card and driver's license and send them by fax?! That's too analogue.

Feeling Blue

I've been bad this week, feeling useless. I know myself that I'm trying to avoid socializing as much as possible, speaking minimum. Once this starts, things go worse for a while. I come to be unable to comprehend what people say, say what I want to say, think what I have to think, and on and on. I want to escape from this vicious cycle! Someone help me out!

Hemorrhoids?!

Geez, did I come down with hemorrhoids?! But the "hole" doesn't hurt at all. What's this?! ... That's what I thought when I saw blood on a piece of toilet paper in my hand.

My period is always irregular, and it usually comes late. So, I didn't think up that it might be period. But it was. It came 10 days earlier. Oh, my, I hope nothing wrong is going on in my body.

I might be proving that American food contains too much growth hormone at the cost of my body. Geez, that's awful.

Box Full of Japanese Taste

The box that YO sent me finally arrived, yay! I was so excited to open it. And I got more excited to see what inside: a tube of wasabi! grilled chestnuts! sheets of seaweed! udon noodles! soba noodles! and a lot of other stuff! I really appreciate YO's sympathy. She is a person of consideration.

Now, I'm excited to think of eating those Japanese stuff!

Hiking

I joined DG and his friend from his hometown for hiking to Spencers Butte. The way up to the summit is steep and rocky, but it is worth climbing it because the scenery from the summit is gorgeous. You overlook the whole Willamette Valley under your feet, Mt. Hood to the north, The Sisters to the east. It was peaceful, relaxing and refreshing up there by forgetting about school and work. That was an awesome hiking experience here. Thanks, DG and M!

Football 201

Oh, well, today is Saturday, that means, today is college football day. And, DG kindly gave me a lecture on football following last Saturday. I'm not into football, to be honest. But what can I say?

Because he had his friend (he is not into it, either) with him, we decided to watch the game at home. But we faced a problem. The game, which was a big game according to DG, was not on TV. How come? The game took place in our town, and our school was in. Why didn't TV broadcast the game in the town? Anyhow, DG has a cable TV at home which is supposed to broadcast all college football games. He called his friend to check out what the problem was and figured out bars have the game on TV. Isn't that weird? With some reasons, bars have special licenses to broadcast games which are not broadcast to TV at home, DG's friend who joined us at the bar where we ended up explained to me.

At any rate, DG enjoyed the game (our school won!), and I enjoyed beer. Oh, I love IPA, which is very tasty beer. Yummy. Let's see ... I didn't learn anything from today's football lecture because of three pints of IPA.