Happened in Montgomery

Correction. I thought the bus boycott occurred in Birmingham (Alabama, not the U.K.), but I was wrong. It was in Montgomery. I learned it today at the Rosa Parks Museum.

The museum is small, but informative with historic documents, which is interesting. The presentation of the bus (what happened in the bus, how Rosa Parks rejected to give up her seat for a white passenger, etc.), I thought, is well organized. And you would get background information (more details) on the boycott. Actually, I didn't know that Martin Luther King Jr.'s house was bombed because he helped the movement.

Anyhow, that happened only 50 years ago. Mm ...

Fun But Confusing

I needed a book just for fun. And I missed the movie. That's why I picked this book. Yeah, it's fun to read. But toward the end, it becomes complicated and confused me, going like, "What is reality?! Come on!" This is just for fun, so I decided not to read it again to clear up the story.

OK, I know now I have to be back to school books. Damn, I have only a week until school starts ...

Bed Stealer

She steals my bed ... :P

We Shall Overcome

AB gave me a tour in downtown. Alabama=Martin Luther King Jr. as CNN=Politics (well, I don't believe this). Anyhow, this monument is awesome. I know Martin Luther King Jr. is great, but I was also impressed by the designer who created this. It goes very well with Martin Luther King Jr.'s words.


Martin Luther King Jr. resided this church for six years.

Eight Hour Drive to Alabama

I was very lucky, and I appreciate that AMB's mom found someone who drove me to Alabama today.

This someone, T, was actually driving back to Tennessee (from Louisiana). That is, it's a long drive. So, we agreed to leave Louisiana around 7 in the morning. I don't remember what time I came back last night (or this morning) to my hotel, but I was smart enough to set the alarm clock. So, I could wake up. Good. But, I was still drunk. My face was kind of red, and my breath stank. Terrible.

Anyway, we hit the road. T was a nice person who entertained me by telling me about American history, especially about the time of civil rights movement (because we were driving in the South. No wonder), and asking me a lot of questions. It was fun. Because he is a priest, he is good at talking. I wish I could talk like him because I have to teach in the spring term. Ahhhh, in the spring term, I have to have a class! That's gonna be a nightmare ... Forget it (at least for now). It's the holidays.

It took 8 hours to get to Starbuck's close to AB's house in Alabama. Yes, the United States is huge. T dropped me off at the Starbuck's, and AB picked me up there. I realized that I haven't seen her more than 8 years because her kid who I hadn't seen before is now 7. Geez, time flies. But AB hasn't changed much. That's good. And HB, her daughter, is cute ... and you may guess, she talks a lot as girls do. She's funny.

Beautiful Wedding

AMB's wedding was special (AMB calls it "eccentric," hee hee hee). I liked the homey, hand-made atmosphere of the wedding. You know, Japanese weddings are too much commercialized. The ceremony took place at a little, old church, and the reception was in a historic house, which had been creepy without decoration but turned out very nice when the reception started. In short, the wedding was full of AMB's taste. She loves old stuff. I'm glad that she didn't have her wedding at the graveyard which is her favorite place.

I was moved very much. AMB looked so happy. And everyone looked happy. It was a very good wedding to make everyone happy :) ... And I got drunk because it was fun!

Happy marriage!

Midnight Cooking

Tonight, AMB's grandma, O, kindly offered a room for me to stay.

O, KR, O's daughter, and I came home around 10:00 p.m. O and KR went grocery shopping while I was having beer with AMB's gang.

Anyhow, around 11:00 p.m., O and KR started cooking. Well, O started it, and KR followed. And I ended up joining them. They were cooking traditional dessert for tomorrow. We could do tomorrow, but they started anyway. I don't know why. It lasted until 2:00 in the morning. A little after 2:00, I went to bed. But I guess O and KR kept cleaning the kitchen. They were so energetic. Of course, they are excited with AMB's wedding in a couple of days.

It was a lot of work for the middle of the night, but it was fun. It's gonna be another fun story of AMB's wedding, hee hee hee.

Off We Go!

Yea! We found AMB's future husband's parents at the Houston airport! Off we go to Shreveport!

AMB!

Yea! Finally we are in Shreveport! It was a long way, but it's worth the trip. AMB is here! Her future husband, E, is here! Her family and friends are here! It is great to see all of them (though I'm not good at remembering names).

I reconfirm that AMB is a much-loved child. Her family is so lovely that it is evidence of how much she is loved.

Plan B

KR and I were supposed to leave Austin this morning to pick AMB's future husband's parents at the Houston airport. But when I woke up, KR informed me that they couldn't make it because of a visa issue. It should not be a problem, but it is a bureaucratic issue. Fortunately, the will be able to fly tomorrow. So, we will pick them up tomorrow instead of today.

So, here's Plan B. We will stay Austin another day. It works well for KR because she has a few things to be done before Christmas. We did errands in the afternoon, and time flied.

And it worked good for me too. In fact, I fixed my paper. Well, I need more revisions and need to conclude the paper though.

Anyhow, we hope the gloom's parents fly safely to Houston tomorrow afternoon and hit the road to Shreveport finally. Otherwise, we will need to think of Plan C. Well, Plan C might be fun :P

Where's My Luggage?!

I don't want to take a red-eye flight again. Never again! You can't sleep. Your night is really short. Well, this is mainly because of time difference between Portland and Chicago (two hours). I left Portland 11:30 p.m. local time and arrived Chicago 5:30 a.m. local time. I wasted another two hours in Chicago to get another flight to get to Austin. And finally, I came to Austin at 11:30 a.m.! It was really, really long to get here.

Now, I needed to find my luggage which was supposed to arrive here yesterday. I went to the United baggage office. The clerk said something like, "I only saw three bags out there. If you don't see yours, you will need to find it at the baggage claim." Find my luggage at the baggage claim?! It didn't make sense to me because my luggage made it yesterday and it was not on my plane today. As I suspected, I couldn't find my luggage in the pile of luggage of my flight.

I came back to the baggage office to make a claim. Then, KR found me there. KR is AMB's aunt, who kindly offers me to stay at her place tonight to hit the road to Shreveport tomorrow. Because I called her yesterday that I missed the plane but my luggage made it, she understood my situation. She suggested to me to take a look at the US Airways' baggage office before we left the airport. I appreciate her suggestion. I found my luggage there. Good Buddha! I can put on my pajamas tonight!

Rotary Party in Austin

BR, KR's husband, is a Rotarian. They kindly invited me to their Rotary Club's annual Christmas dinner party tonight. BR was busy to introduce me to everyone. It was fun :)

I don't know about this blues man, but they had a special guest, who is actually an honorary Rotarian like me. Well, he is much, much more prestigious because the level of achievement is different. Anyhow, Pinetop Perkins is the guy. He is cool. He is 90-something, wearing red suits and a cool red hat. He is nominated for one of Grammys this year so I may be able to see his performance on TV.

After the dinner, we joined other Rotarians for dessert. I enjoyed a piece of good chocolate raspberry whatever cheesecake. Mm, I'm stuffed.

I don't know, but I think people here are more friendly. It's probably because they treat me as a guest of BR and KR, and probably because the nature of people in the South. D, who is from Houston, told me that people in Texas are more friendly than people in Pacific Northwest. He is probably right.

Cursed with Winter Breaks

Damn, I’m cursed. Last year, my trip for Christmas holidays was distracted by a sick flight crew. I couldn’t fly the scheduled day. And this year, again! I flew to Portland anyway, but because my first flight delayed, my next flight didn’t wait for me. Damn, United! Actually, I saw my plane sitting at the gate when I got there. But it was too late for me. The gate had been closed. But my luggage made it. I don’t get it. My luggage got on the plane, and I didn’t. What the hell!

Anyhow, United rescheduled my itinerary, putting me in a red-eye flight. You know what? United is stingy. Well, everyone knows this. Because United is stingy and they don’t care about their customers, they didn't offer me a hotel room to stay a night in Portland and take a flight tomorrow. So, there’s no choice other than putting me in a night flight. Damn it.

As a result, I was forced to waste eight hours in Portland. And guess what? They made me fly to Chicago to get to finally Austin (my final destination). Chicago first?! What the hell!!! Learn geography, damn ass!

Man, I’m wasting my time and I have wasted $10 for a couple of glasses of airport expensive beer.

I have to report this to DS who gave me a ride to the airport this afternoon. She must laugh to hell.

Where Should It Go?

I found a $10 bill on the street. One of big differences between the U.S. society and Japanese one is there is no koban, or police boxes, here and there. That is, even if I find money on the street, I can't take it to a police box because I don't see a police box nearby. I even don't know where the police department is in this town. Yeah, this town is peaceful.

It is freezing outside. The weather forecast says that the snow storm is approaching. My biggest concern right now is that my flight tomorrow afternoon keeps the schedule. Last year, my flight was cancelled because of a sick flight crew. I hope the weather does not distract my happy Christmas break this year.

Why did I go out under this freezing weather? Because I needed some air. I was sitting in front of the computer for the whole day, revising my paper. Revising, revising, revising ... revising drives me nuts so easily. In order to keep myself sane, I went outside. I needed to buy some coffee beans anyway. It is a short walk to get to the supermarket. I enjoyed the crispy air in that short trip. And I found the $10 at the end of the trip.

I'm Done

Yea! I finished my presentation. I really appreciate my cohort and friends who gave me good feedback. Actually, I enjoyed it.

And, I appreciate GM and GM. They are my ... mentors. I don't know what to say. They are great, for sure. We got some beer, gossiped, talked about a little bit of academic stuff, and laughed. It was great. I love hanging out with them. Comfortable, fun, and just great. They are great.

Timely Christmas Gift

Is she a genius, or psychic, or something?! She must have read my mind, even though we are thousands miles apart.

I just went to the Asian supermarket with YY and ZY yesterday. I saw bottles of furikake flakes on the shelf. And I thought, "Mm, white rice with furikake on top must be yummy ... But what the hell! These bottles are ridiculously expensive!" Guess what. I gave up.

This morning, on the way to the fitness club, I checked my mailbox and found an envelope there. It was from YY. Oh, this YY is a different person than the YY above. Confusing.

Anyhow, I opened the envelope on the way back from the fitness club. Guess what again. I found a furikake package in the envelope with a Christmas card! I think she has telepathic super power. She must be reading the crystal ball, surrounded by candles. Whether YY is a psychic or wizard, I appreciate that she remembers me :)

Turkey Oyakodon

Obviously, leftover turkey is saving my life. Today, for lunch, I invented leftover turkey oyakodon. Yeah, it tasted turkey, but it was good enough to miss Japanese food.

Recluse

Man, I'm dizzy with sitting in front of the computer the whole day, writing papers and creating presentation files and whatever. Geez, come to think of it, I haven't gone outside today at all. Am I a withdrawal or something? Yeah, I'm a withdrawal.

OK, to destigmatize, I will go outside now to put the garbage out :P

Addicted

Damn, I'm bad. Even though I know I have to finish my papers and other stuff, I wasted my time by watching stupid TV comedy episodes. It's a TV comedy, but I don't have a TV set. So, I watch it online. Viva, the Internet age!

Anyhow, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is really addictive. Simply, I cannot stop watching it.

Leftover Thanksgiving Dinner

I forgot to take my camera with me to DS's Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday. Food was gorgeous. I wanted to take photos of food and DS's family. But it's too late to regret.

Incidentally, I brought a pecan pie from Eugene City Bakery, which is my favorite.

Thanksgiving Dinner means tons of food (maybe waste of food). So, there were tons of leftover. Why not take some home? I'm a poor student. DS and her mom kindly packed some leftover for me. They save my life!

So, I had another Thanksgiving Dinner for lunch today. Maybe for dinner, too.

Batman Is Getting Darker and Darker and Darker

Double DS took me to the Batman movie this afternoon. DSs looked great after a long vacation in Florida. Mm, I'm jealous.

I've been always a fan of Batmobiles. This Batmotorcycle (above) is cool. It transforms from the Batmobile (below). Transformation is coll, but the Batmobile is not as cool as transformation. It looks like a tank, and doesn't involve aesthetic design at all. Boo.


In terms of Batmobile, my favorite is the one Michael Keaton drives in "Batman Returns." "Batman Returns" is the best Batman movie among others, by the way. No massive killings, no gross scenes, no excessive destruction. More importantly, "Batman Returns" has a great aesthetic sense. Of course, it is a Tim Burton movie. The sets, props, costumes, makeups and everything are the taste of Tim Burton. He is awesome.

On the other hand, "Batman: The Dark Knight" is too dark and too serious. As a result, I thought, "Man, these guys are so serious. It should be a comic world. This is ridiculous."

But thank DSs for dragging me away from my computer and my patch-work papers for a while.

Swing! Swing! Swing!

Man, these guys are awesome! I fell in love with them totally, really, as I listened to their music live and saw their performance with my own eyes.

Their music has been my commuting BGM to school for long. If you see someone walking or biking if the weather is OK, shaking her head and sometimes singing, that's me.

Anyhow, they are cool. The lead vocalist, Steve, oh man, where does his energy come from?! He's a person of energy. I like that. And I love his voice. He has both high tone and low tone. His low tone is ... sexy. He said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you," with his high tone after every song. That's cute.

At any rate, their music will remain to be my commuting BGM, for sure.

Can't stand this weight

My only bookshelf--well, it's a TV table per se--collapsed this morning. It's my fault. I put a lot of books on it, and it couldn't support itself anymore. I shouted, "Don't give up, bookshelf!" But it was too late. It was too damaged to be repaired. Goodbye, bookself ...

F***ing Geniuses

Coen Brothers are just great, unbelievably great!

I've waited for long ... Oops, forgive my exaggeration. I just waited for a few weeks "Burn After Reading" to come to the $1 theater. Remember, I'm a poor student.

This movie is a corpus of Coen essences--senseless killings, complicated sexual relations, a myriad of curse words, irrational behaviors, and on and on. In short, it's crazy and therefore hilarious.

Colors in the Gray Sky

It's a nice surprise in the morning to see this big rainbow from my balcony. Something good may happen, that's my hope :)

Japanese Stuff

Yea, something good happened! YO kindly sent me a box of Japanese stuff. I will cook red beans right away. Dried daikon radish, seaweeds, noodles, konnyaku and more ... my diet will be enriched. Thank YO!

Osakan in the Hippie Town

I found someone who speaks Kansai dialect in my fitness club! After the step lesson, this lady came to me (we know each other from the last lesson) and spoke to me in Japanese. In our conversation (in English), I found she was born in Osaka and went to school in Kobe. She said she speaks Kansai dialect but she can't speak standard Japanese. That's cool, isn't it?

Nice Surprise!

Man, DF is too much! I'm lucky to have a friend like her who thinks about me. Ahhhh, I'm almost crying!

DF sent this shirt and card to celebrate my conference debut. HF chose this shirt for me. Good job, HF!

Because I've been anti-social and feeling bad about myself this term, it really really warms my heart and humanizes me that I can feel like someone cares about me. Man, I'm overwhelmed by DF's thoughfulness.

If It Were a Holiday ...

Mission Inn is a very nice, antique hotel. The reason why I came to Riverside is to deliver my presentation. Mm ... it's not fun. I wasn't nervous, (on the contrary, I was too calm. It's weird, huh?) but it was not fun. I know myself that I kind of like standing and speaking in front of a crowd of people. I was trained by numerous Rotary presentations. Thank the Rotary! But again, it's not fun to do an academic presentation.

Anyhow, the conference took place at this gorgeous, historic hotel. And I wish I had stayed there just for fun :(

Ouch!

I feel muscle pain in every part of my body. That step class is killing me one day later!

E*X*E*R*C*I*S*E!

I feel so good! My membership of the fitness club is valid from today, and of course, I joined one of lessons this morning. That was the one-hour-and-half step & body sculpt class. It's a long class, isn't it? But it doesn't force complicated choreography which is often the case of Japanese aerobics classes, so you simply enjoy stepping up and down and jumping on and off if you like. This simple class was good enough for my lazy body which has enjoyed not doing exercise for such a long time.

Stress, Heartful Comments, Tears

Man, I realize that I have been stressed out seriously. Bob the Supervisor emailed me with his heartful comments. When I read it, I burst into tears, man ... I'm emotional. I appreciate his thoughtfulness. I am really lucky to have him in my life as a supervisor.

Finally!

Yeah, my friend kept teasing me by saying like, "You always say you're going to join the fitness club, but you haven't. When will you finally join that?!" But he can't tease me anymore because I finally joined the club!

I joined, but my membership will be valid from November 1. I still need to wait another week to do exercise. Well, my friends, you think it's an excuse to avoid doing exercise. You are right, buddies! I have another week to be lazy, hee hee hee.

GM the Whining Absorber

You know what? GM is a great guy. There are two GMs, and I repeatedly say here both of them are super good to me.

Anyhow, tonight, I dragged one of GM to a bar and forced him to listen to me whining. But it turned out that he is more stressed out than I am. Poor GM. I understand that he is stressed out because he is on the more crucial phase in this program. He is working on his dissertation. Compared with his stress, mine is ... phew, just a thing.

But again, he is such a nice guy that he spared some time to have beer together. To tell you the truth, I shouted (via email) a couple of times to catch him. My email to him starts with "GM!!!" You know, I shout.

McCain vs Obama?!

A friend of mine told me debates between McCain and Obama look the same as this. Yeah, I agree.

Nazis and Presidential Candidates

The Nazis would have supported the McCain-Palin ticket?! Check this out. This is hilarious.

Just in Case ...

Man, it's been a week already since I updated last time. So, I would like to inform people who are wondering if I'm alive. Yes, I'm alive.

I cooked some vegetables to back to healthy diet. It was a pizza party last night, and I need a makeup. Oh, don't be offended, my Italian friends. Italian pizza is healthy, I know. EA's pizza is really tasty and healthy. But you know, American pizza ... no way.

I used white wine to cook these vegetable. I needed to open the bottle of white wine. Once you open the bottle, you'd better finish it as soon as possible, otherwise, wine goes bad. So, I'm having wine with vegetables. That's my excuse.


This is for MF and DF. Your microwave is working perfect!

Biscotti

These biscotti are so good. Well, I made them. Of course, I'm biased. So, I'm gonna ask my Italian friends for their opinion :)

Personal CE?!

As I mentioned before, DS is a really nice guy. My old router had trouble. I couldn't download Internet radio. And Skype didn't work. So, I sent an SOS signal to DS. Actually, he came over to fix this problem last night, but he ended up figuring out that the router had an issue. So, he came over again this afternoon with a new router. He set it up with his magical hands. And it works perfectly! Thanks, DS!

Auction Night

It was hectic this afternoon because of the charity auction. The Rotary Club here held the charity auction, and I was asked to help organize it in exchange of free dinner. Free dinner, why not?

The problem is the preparation was not organized well and organizers were kind of confused. I got a call someone and another. People told me different things, like, "I'm gonna pick you up," "No, no, someone else will pick you up."

Once the dinner and auction started, everything turned well. It was fun. I dressed up a little bit, and I felt good. Oh, I love R and his wording. He know how to make girls happy. "You are extremely beautiful," "Don't you have a date? I would be honored to be your date if I could. Seriously," and on and on. I feel so good.

Foggy

What a depressing morning. Oh well, it's not raining anyway. How could I complain? But it is the dawn of another gloomy season. I hear the theme song of Darth Vader ...

Rewarding

Nowadays, I'm interviewing people, well editors and reporters in a local newspaper here. When I ask them when they feel happy, all of them say when they get feedback from readers. That's right! I was happy when I heard from my readers. And I still am. That's partly why I'm writing previews for a local theater here even though I'm not paid.

Today, my classmate made my day. When I came to class, KR was chatting with SC.

"Hey guys. What are you up to?"
"Hey Duck. I was just telling SC about your writing on the paper."
"The paper? You mean the newsletter of the theater?"
"Yeah, your reference to Titanic is hilarious. I love that."

Oh, thanks a bunch, KR, for your compliment. Yes, feedback drives me to keep on going. Now, I want to work on my next preview. Yeah, I know I'm a simpleton.

Beginning of the Term Feeling

At the beginning of the term, I always get depressed, lightly. I was attacked by that light depression last week when school started. Not depressed, maybe, but overwhelmed. Either way, I didn't feel good until this afternoon.

After I came home, I checked my emails and found an email from a local theater which I almost regularly write previews for. B at the theater said that he got a CD for my preview. It was still light and, most importantly, it was not raining, so I biked to the theater to collect the CD.

When I opened the office door, a couple of familiar people were sitting and chatting in the office.

"Hey, long time no see. What's up, man?"
"Well, I've been too lazy to come over."
"And busy, huh? School has just started. How's your school?"
"Damn, it's already stressful. What are you guys up to? You look having fun, sitting on chairs ..."

It's just a small talk. But I really appreciate that because I felt like "Yes! I have someone who know me!" That lit up my feeling very much.

After I came back from the theater, my roomy came over. It may sound weird, but my roomy is not actually sharing the apartment with me. She is living with her boyfriend in a different unit of the same apartment complex. Anyway, she came. She gave me a hug. We chatted for a while. Again, it was a small talk, but I felt really good because I felt like being cared.

Those guys made my day.

I Needed More Color!

YY is such a nice guy that he took me to a rain boots shopping. Rain boots are necessities here because ... see the weather! The rainy season has already started, damn it. I could curse thousands times. I haven't got used to people who ride a bike, play soccer, or run in the rain. It is raining, people! Well, in terms of the weather, people here are senseless.

Anyhow, I needed a pair of rain boots in order to make rainy days a little bit comfortable. Last year, I bought them online. They were not expensive, but I thought it was ridiculous to pay about $10 for shipping. So, here comes YY, who is practicing driving a car to take a drive test next Tuesday. I asked him to take me to the store which is kind of far, and he kindly took me there. I knew and know he is a nice guy.

At the store, I found those pairs of rain boots, but only those pairs of rain boots. I asked a shop girl, "I found these, but do you happen to have more colorful and more cheerful pairs of rain boots?" She must have thought that I'm a weird person by asking this kind of question. What did I mean by "cheerful pairs of rain boots"? Anyway, they had only this type of rain boots. I wanted to have more colorful and more cheerful pairs of rain boots! So, again, what do I mean by "cheerful pairs of rain boots"? Forget it.

I was complaining until I joined a line of the cash register. YY soothed me by saying, "Well, you can paint your boots with whatever color you want." What a guy. I was soothed by a person who could be my child. No, it's not true. If I wanted to have him as my child, I would have needed to bear him before I started having menstruation. Phew!

Office Manager-Turned-Agent

DS invited me to the movie night with her family. It was nice to see her kids again.

Anyhow, we watched this, which is a remake of the old but famous TV series. It was hilarious. The story? Doesn't matter. Just laugh.

At first, I couldn't remember where I saw this main character even though his face was familiar to me. Now, I remember. He is the office manager in "The Office" the U.S. edition. He is funny, or weird, in "The Office" too.

Donations

I need to remember who gave me what. I'm really blessed with my friends and Rotarians here. I appreciate their help from my heart.

So, here's the list of donations.


This dining table and chairs are from SR. SR didn't say anything, but MT told the chair with a leather seat must be antique which was probably made in the 30s. That's cool. But my favorite is another brown chair with a fabric seat.


This sofa and coffee table are also from SR. I put my old fitted sheet over the sofa to hide stains. The coffee table looks like antique, too. I put little toys on it.


This TV table (I'm using it as a book shelve though) is SR's.


This chest is also SR's. It needs to be painted a little bit. I scratched the drawer while moving :(


This bedside table and table lamp are from SR. I like this lamp, which is chic. This lamp is supposed to be capable for a 3-way light bulb, but when I tried to put it, I realized it didn't fit. Mm ...


SR's biggest donation is this queen size bed. Sheets are donated by DS. I bought the comforter and throw last year.


When I was living in my old apartment last year, I wanted to have a mirror which reflects me from head to toes. This is it. SR gave it to me.


LB found and bought this lamp for me at a yard sale. Isn't it sweet that you have someone who is thinking of you? I'm blessed.


SK gave this lovely floor lamp. I have two floor lamps (I bought a cheap one last year) now, and they make my living room bright and homey.


This huge, heavy desk is SC's. Before I collected this desk at his office, he told me it's really heavy. It is! So, it needed four people to take up to the second floor. And it didn't go through the door of my room so that it's sitting in my living room.

Thank all of you who gave away things for me. I'm really lucky to have you, and I really appreciate your kindness and consideration.

Duck Goes Wireless!

The one thing that was annoying me here in my new apartment is that there's no wireless Internet connection. I had been kind of spoiled by wireless connection because every house I stayed this summer has wireless connection. I had believed that this apartment complex must have wireless Internet connection because it belongs to the university which provides wireless connection at least on campus. So, I was kind of astonished when I found that I need to be wired. And the bad thing is that there's no Internet outlet in my room! I mean, there are outlets in the kitchen and my roommate's room. But there's not in my room. Damn it.

So, I bought a wireless router for my convenience even though it cost me $35. Well, $35 is not expensive if you have more convenience. That's what I thought when I made a big decision to buy it. You know, I'm a poor student. $35 means a lot.

I tried to set it up last night ... and I failed. I knew it! I knew it! Every time I try to set up the wireless thing, I face trouble. So, I emailed DS. Oops, his initials are the same as DS's initials. That's confusing. DS is my friend DS's brother who is a computer expert.

Anyway, DS replied me with suggestions. I tried his suggestions this morning, but I was still not able to set up wireless connection. So, I called him, and he ended up coming over to set it up. You can tell he is a good person. I'm blessed to be surrounded by nice and good people here as I was in Japan. I appreciate my circumstances.

Another Capitol (Much Smaller)

This is the first time for me to come to the Capitol building in this state even though I have been in the real Capitol, I mean, in Washington D.C. I came here to see someone who is working here.

It worked perfect. DS needed to come here to deliver her lecture here this evening. So, I joined her to get here. She had a two hour lecture. That means I had two hours to be done my interview with this guy. That was enough. So, I dropped her at her venue ... Oh well, she drove all the way here and I took her car to get to the Capitol building. She didn't use her car during her lecture anyway. I drove to the Capitol building to meet this guy.

He is nice. When I told him that this was the first time for me to visit the Capitol building, he gave me a quick tour inside the building. The building is neat. It's like a miniture of the real Capitol in Washington.

Tomorrow's Joe

"Stand up, stand up, Joe!"

Well, I'm kind of trying to encourage myself to socialize. But simply, I don't want to be in the school circle right now. I want to keep myself away from school as much as possible. Well, I'm now living in the university housing though.

Hanging out with my friends who are also students is OK because they are my friends in the first place. What I don't want to do is attend orientations and meet new people and that kind of stuff. This is an orientation week anyway. I don't intend to participate any of them. Yeah, I'm anti-social or whatever. I just want to keep away pressures from school as much as possible. That's it!

Move Myself In

Damn, I hate to say goodbye. It was really sad to leave DS's house because it was so cozy. DS is is great to hang out, and her kids and family are just cute. The sad thing is I had to leave right after I thought DS and I just started establishing a good relationship.

I'm feeling kind of lonely here because I'm alone. Damn, I'm so spoiled to be surrounded by familiar people.

Ducks

Yea, I got two stamps on my arm! Oh well, it's not so exciting thing. I just got them to enter the stadium. SA and I went to see Ducks. I don't care about football at all mainly because I don't understand the rules, and partly because watching the game on TV is kind of boring--they move a little bit, a whistle blow, they stop, and they do this again and again. Boring enough, huh?

But I found watching the game in the stadium was exciting, sort of. People are crazy. College kids are arguing with security guards. They drink and smoke marijuana (of course, they are prohibited). Observing people was just fun.

Because Ducks were losing, we left the stadium halfway (I couldn't stand for four hours anyway) and went to a sports bar to watch another football game (for SA) and grab some beer (for me). The bar was packed of people. I don't understand why people are so excited about football. Mm.

Big Moving Party

Today was a big moving day. Moving is always stressful. But I was lucky to have several people to help me. So today began like this ...

MT came to pick me up with her truck. I had made a reservation of a U-Haul truck to move with a couple of friends of mine, but MT offered me her help and suggested me to cancel the reservation, and I did. So, MT and I picked up YY first to help us carry heavy things, and drove to SC's office. SC gave me his desk which is huge and heavy. Then, we went to SR's house to collect some stuff. Because SR kept bigger things in a U-Haul storage, we drove there. MT, YY and I were in MT's truck, and SR and her son J were in SR's Volvo. In SR's storage, there were tons of stuff. SR kindly gave me a lot of stuff--a queen size bed, dining table, coffee table, table lamp, chest, three chairs, and so on. It is not too much to say that my room and living room are decorated by SR's furniture.

Though we had stressful moments to pack those stuff in MT's truck, finally, we loaded them and came to my apartment complex. Because MT is a busy person, as soon as we unloaded my stuff in front of my apartment, she left. YY was also busy and rushed to school. SR and J also went home. And I was left with my stuff.

I appreciate everyone, MT, YY, SR and J, for their help, kindness and generosity. I'm so lucky to have them.

Housing Office Sucks

Leaving my stuff in front of my apartment, I went to the office to check in. And I called my roommate, IN, to come over to check in.

I was surprised at what the person in the office told me.

"Hi, we came here to check in #AB."
"Are you blah blah blah?"
"No, I'm Minami the Duck."
"Then, you are moving in #CD."

#CD is a third floor unit (without the elevator). The housing office offered me this unit once in August, saying that I could move in as early as Sept. 2. But it was on the third floor without the elevator, I rejected their offer. Then, they put me in #AB, which I needed to wait until today to move in. So, I got angry!

"Man! It's ridiculous! If I move in #CD, I didn't need to wait until today. I waited until today because the housing office told me that I would move in #AB. I have an agreement with the housing office that I will move in #AB. I can show you emails from the housing office for my evidence."
"But someone already moved in #AB. This term, this complex is full. So, there's no choice."
"Why don't you call the housing office!"

She called the housing office, talked on the phone for a while, and hung up. After a while, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, the housing office called her back. After hanging up the phone, she said, "#EF is available, which is on the second floor. Are you gonna take this?" I had no choice other than taking this.

IN and I wen to check out our apartment. It turned out nicer than #AB becaues it doesn't face to the street as #AB does. But the problem was my stuff. I left my stuff in front of #AB. #AB and #EF are far opposite sides of the complex. MT left already, and that meant we didn't have a truck to transport my heavy stuff across the complex.

But again, I'm so lucky to have great friends. Even though IN was not going to move in today, she spared her time to move my stuff. Also Z and her husband who are living in the complex helped me to move. How many times did we walk up and down between two apartments with heavy stuff? I don't have any words to express my gratitude to IN, Z and her husband.

After putting things in, my apartment turned to be a mess. I gave up sleeping there tonight, I came back to DS's cozy house. I'm gonna miss DS and her family badly.

Beauty is Fragile

I knew it! I knew my nails would break soon. But I didn't know that water from the tap would break my thumbnail. Was the water pressure too strong? Or my nail was too weak.