First "State of the Nosha" Address

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Tina, I really wish you had been here today. This morning I made my mom and her boyfriend some buckwheat pancakes with chopped walnuts and a caramelized pan fried apples in substitution of maple syrup. It was one of those moments where as a cook I wasn’t quite sure if I liked the outcome or if something could have been different. But cooking pancakes this morning made me think of the Running Club I was in back at Kansai Gaidai. On our first long run to Yamada-ike Koen the entire walk back all Tracy-Sensei would talk about was pancakes, how good pancakes would be after a run, and how much better those same pancakes would be with peanut butter or fresh fruit on them. After this we always promised that we would have some sort of a pancake night with the club at his place.. And though that never came about, we did have one when we entered the Soccer tournament. I believe that night it was myself, Quill, Aurora, Trevor, and Peyton crowded around our kitchen table in my unit, just chatting and having a great time. I think that might have also been the same day Trevor scared me shitless (and I forgave him naturally :P) and I told Quill I would make him a skirt.. which I did! Just need to send it to him at long last. I think perhaps that whenever I have pancakes now I’ll associate them with fun, with good company, and with friends to last a lifetime.

It’s been three months almost since I left Japan and come back to America, and I think I’ve finally recovered from the reverse culture shock. My friend Keely told me that there is always going to be good fishing in bad waters; it echoed a lot of what Viktor said that you can find good people anywhere and everywhere. I think finding these people has been a lot easier since I’ve come back because I really have changed in a number of ways, or at least rediscovered who I used to be. I know my family and friends here must be tired of all my stories from Japan and talking about Japan compared to America, Japan this and that.. but frankly, those experiences have become a deep part of who I am now. Japan is the first place I learned to live life, to enjoy life, and to not let things or people hold me back from what I dream and desire. And just like the Japan stories I know they are probably tired of me talking about going to Sweden.. but I’m really glad that all of them support my decision and choice, and actually are encouraging me to go forward with this. I’m proud that I’m bringing what I learned in Japan here to America, and can “keep living my Japanese life” as Quill likes to say.

For the moment I’m in the process of trying to find another full-time job, mostly because working with the temp agency isn’t pulling the kind of weight I had anticipated. They’ve only place me on two concrete jobs since the start of July that lasted around a week, and always tell me things that end up being quite the opposite. So while I am still dropping applications in receptionist and administrative assistant positions I have taken a more serious look at the food industry, and trying to find a bakery job here in the DC/Metro area. In the bigger picture of my life I know that some day I do in fact want to own a bakery; baking, cake decorating, those sorts of things just feel very natural to me and it’s something I love to do. I don’t have a lot for my portfolio as of yet but I am hoping that making a Katamari Damacy themed cake for an upcoming anime convention will give me the push I need in this field.

On becoming a girl: I never thought in my life that it would be fun to wear a dress until now. I actually really enjoy all the changes I’ve seen in myself, and am finding that this new appearance and way of dress is extremely fun. I’ve only changed my hair once since the beginning of July and that was to only color it black; my bangs are now past the end of my nose, the longest pieces in the back touch my shoulders when their straight, and my ear tails are past my jaw by this point. Tina, really, that hair cut I got in Japan was completely worth it with how it is growing out now. The only thing I haven’t really been able to place a lot of effort in is my wardrobe, which will undoubtedly be solved when I have a steady job and am making some income. I’ve toyed with different styles, and though the image behind it isn’t my taste.. I find that I like the emo style best of all, along with my traditional Indies style. :P People seem so surprised at how friendly and upbeat I am when I’m dressed entirely in black; I think the reactions I get are half of why I love it so much. Physically, I have worked myself into a routine of running between 11 and 12 kilometers a day, so I can hopefully work myself down to running 10 kilometers in a half-hour’s time. It’s a stretch.. but I think it’s possible. One thing I have found really strange since being back is that my food allergies are quite a bit worse in America than they ever were in Japan. The only thing I can attribute that to is the number of additives in American food choices versus Japan, or the fact that it’s not as convenient to buy fresh foods here as it was in Osaka. It should be a fairly easy adjustment to make to simply stick with natural products or fresh fruits and vegetables, though. Just need to make sure to follow up with an allergy test before I leave in January.

There are a number of things I am looking forward to in the upcoming future, with one big event being my getting a tattoo. Keely has graciously offered to draw the design for me and help decide where we’ll put it.. but until I get it done I’ll keep what it’s of a secret. 😉 My sister and her boyfriend are coming up to DC next week so I’m looking forward to spending time with her and getting to sightsee a bit further around the area. Since coming back we really haven’t had a lot of time to catch up, and I feel like we haven’t had enough chances to reconnect. We only became really close as I grew up and reached an age where we could have similar interests and tastes, and definitely since college we have become really good friends. The biggest way we’ve kept in touch this summer is Facebook surprisingly enough, but it’s been a lot of fun to joke and poke fun at each other, even if we have to use the internet to do that now. But after she visits is our annual family reunion on Labor Day in September, and Anime USA follows very shortly after that in the start of October. If the job situation and finances allow I really would love to get to Sweden in November, but I know what is important is the actual moving there—not a visit.

But perhaps the thing I’m most excited for is seeing Dir en Grey in concert in November. Their tour “The Rose Trims Again” begins in America and Canada this fall, and they’ll be playing at a local venue in Baltimore; a lot of my friends and I are planning to go, all of whom are diehard Dir en Grey fans or J-music fans in general. The only other concert I’ve ever been to is when L’arc~en~Ciel came to America for their SMILE tour back in 2004, which.. I feel very grateful that I can see either of these two bands. Next to L’arc~en~Ciel, Dir en Grey is another band that I have always wanted to go to a live for, and to have the chance is exciting beyond reason to me. It’ll sound awkward but the way I learned Japanese to begin with was through Japanese rock music, and it is still the best way for me to speak Japanese. I always have problems in regular conversation with tripping over words or my speech impediment making things blend together without me realizing them; but I have don’t have this fault when I sing Japanese songs or songs in general. This same pattern and trend happened with my learning Spanish as well back in Grade school, and even with English. Recently I’ve been looking for some Swedish songs and bands to get interested in since I know it will be a similar case.. And thank God for Disney songs and You Tube. :P Nothing with bands but I've been watching a lot of 90s Disney cartoons this past week to try and get some listening practice in. And they've really been a big help!

Of course there are times when I miss Japan, and I will always long for the company of the people I met there all around me. But I have found ways and methods of staying in contact, of keeping in touch, and I’m really glad that this blog can be an effective means of communication as well. It’s already almost September; isn’t that bizarre to think about? Time is really flying by and with each day passing I just get more and more excited. Things are going to change soon; I’m finally ready for them to do so.

As always, love and best wishes to everyone. Thank you for continuing to follow me along this journey!

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Photos

Family
Three of the members of my family here in America - April in the front, myself, Sarah behind me and Kerri behind her

Tada!
Hm, this picture made me think of your comment about my wedding dreams for some reason, Bro :D

It's still black!
I love that even though my hair is getting long I still make a really convincing boy.

Is that Nana?
Everyone kept asking Keely if she was in Cosplay that weekend when she wasn't. In particular, they kept going "Ah, are you Nana?". We got to a point where we thought about pointing at her and yelling "Oh my God, it's Nana! Nana, let me get your picture!".

Needs more Metal
Keely getting ready for the day when we were in Baltimore

End of an Era
We decided to take random silly pictures when we were in costume for the convention. This was supposed to be Yagami Light dying. :P

Candy Shoppe
There's a fudge store in the Baltimore harbourplace mall where the staff and fudge pullers sing the entire time they work. They dance, clap, make rhythms and rhymes.. Whenever I go I'm filled with so much happiness.

Discovery Channel Building
Next several pictures are from a mural on the Discovery Channel building here in Silver Spring. It's of a comet when you see the whole thing.. really beautiful actually.

Comments

[Rion]

Funny story...
Hear me Roar! ... err well the great thing being was I was just thinking about that um incident a few days ago and I can still remember that night quite well - how we spent most of our time chasing after the ball cause we were playing on a hill to me trying sneak in all of Quills pancake toppings in sem 3 in my backpack, dem were da days.