Mmm... nabe, wine, video games, & kit kats.

What a perfect day.

For once I'd like to be the car crash, not only just the traffic jam.

Actually, I often feel like I am the car crash. -_-

Monday & Tuesday this week were pretty terrifically shitty, but today got a bit better. Hopefully the typhoon coming will mean that classes are cancelled tomorrow, even if that doesn't mean I don't have to go to school. I'd much rather be at school & spend all day preparing my post-midterm lesson / studying kanji, than teaching.

I don't even think that last sentence is grammatically correct, which is pretty much how my whole life feels right now.

Dinner at Aunt Diana's was great. Dave's cousin Melanie is beautiful & as outgoing as her mother & as friendly as anyone I've ever met, & her kids are absolute dolls & I just love this family. It's still such a foreign thought that they are now MY family, too. Melanie is my cousin. Diana is my aunt. Rick is my uncle. It'll definitely take me a while to get used to it.

Suffice it to say, though, that I love this family & am more than happy to be a part of it. Dinner was delicious & hanging out with Melanie & Diana & the little girls was tons of fun.



I'm sleepy but I don't want to sleep. I don't have to work tomorrow so I want to stay up all night doing nothing. Too tired to really do that, though. Tomorrow I plan to get a mani/pedi because my nails are too long & need to be trimmed & I'd like to look well-groomed for Tokyo orientation & while that's not for another week, I'm tired of looking at chipped nail polish & nails with uneven lengths. Even if my nails are longer than they almost ever get & I really love them long, I know they're just going to break & I don't wanna deal with jagged nails.

Japanese covers of Nirvana are amazing.

Last week was my last week of work & as such I'm now free! I'm honestly going to miss it there. Despite what anybody may have thought about what my job duties were, I actually enjoyed it. & more than that, I really liked my coworkers & was just getting to know them.

The dinner party we had at Eric's house was a lot of fun. Dave & I took the wines I'd bought in California (a Malbec from Rutherford Hill, & a Riesling from Rideau) & a cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Eric made a pasta bake sort of dish, & Nina brought a salad. We sat around & drank wine & chatted & laughed & at the end of the night we watched Robin Williams' stand-up, which I fell asleep to because wine makes me sleepy.

The last couple of weeks at OSI I went out for lunch with pretty much everyone I talked to on a regular basis. Brian & I went back to Sa Ri One, the Korean restaurant near work that I'd taken him to a month or so ago, & I made him promise that he'd make it back there even after I leave. & then I went to Outback 3 times -- with Matt, then with Jaclyn, Kristin, & Erin, & finally with Nina & Luvina.

Friday after work Matt & I went up to the Blue Martini & had a couple of drinks, after which I came home & passed out. I meant to just take a nap but next thing I knew it was 8am.

Yesterday I did some shopping (& bought a new purse that I couldn't be happier with, seriously), then Dave & I met up with Nicole & spent the entire day with her. First stop: Sanrio, where she bought the most successful goodie bag I've ever seen in my entire life. Next: Saigon Deli, for banh mi & pho, which I'm gonna miss so much in Japan. Then: Back to our house so we could unload all of our Asian sauces / spices / noodles & mixes & teapot & such off on her because there's no way we're shipping it all to Japan with us & Dave's parents won't use it.

Then back to her place to fail (well ok not FAIL) at making Thai tea, & look at photos; then dinner with her & Jarren at Olive Garden where we had the best server I've ever met. She was amazing & Nicole & I plan to write to Olive Garden's corporate office to tell them how great she & the hostess were because really they were great, & after working at OSI I know that at least some corporate offices not only read those letters but put them into newsletters for the whole company to see. Nicole asked to talk to her manager because she was so pleased, but the manager had the personality of a fish. Almost killed the experience, but then Kristen came back & wowed us all over & yeah, I really liked her.

Thennnnn back to Nicole's house for more drinks & hilarity & yeah. I'm gonna miss her so much it's ridiculous. I mean, thank god we met at ALL, but really, it couldn't've been like, 4 years ago, instead of 4 weeks ago?

Today we're having dinner at Dave's aunt's house & I'm gonna finally meet his cousin & her gorgeous kids. This week I've gotta finish packing, & then Friday it's off to Miami!

Less than 1 week to departure!

The past few weeks... well, the past MONTH, really, have been draining in the best way possible. I feel like every time I turn around there's something else written on my calendar.

Dave put up some photos from the Wat on Sunday with Nicole, including (click for bigger version):



which is the only photo I took that day but of which I am intensely proud. Is good, yes?

Also photos of Saturday's Natsu Matsuri. Teaser:

Yeah, that's right, I rocked the yukata. How could I not?

Also Apples to Apples last week. Clearly Dave is more on top of photos than I am, which you all knew anyway.



Monday night after work I passed out around, oh, 4:30pm... & didn't wake up till 6 the next morning. I desperately needed that sleep & it felt great to finally have it. Last night Dave & I met up with Nicole & Jarren at Yoko's so they could see what all the hype was about Daniel's amazing sushi & they were NOT disappointed, & neither was I, though I did find myself utterly tuckered by the end of the night.

Tomorrow's my next-to-last class at Tokyo Mokyo, & then this weekend we're going up to Leesburg to visit my grandparents one last time before heading off to Japan. Monday we're going over to Daniel & Yukie's for a goodbye party with Mikio & his partner Jay. A few of my coworkers want to do lunch with me sometime before I leave & Matt wants to get drinks, so I've got lots more socializing left yet.

& just a couple of months ago I was lamenting how few friends I felt like I had here. Ironic, isn't it, that just before I'm packing up & shipping off to the other side of the world, I should find myself surrounded by them? Such is life. I'm certainly not complaining :)

Birthday cake for breakfast.

Hell yes.

Last Saturday was the unofficial Yelp Tampa meetup. We lunched at the Pine Tree Karaoke Cafe & had Korean bbq, & then went on to a Chinese bakery for delicious buns, & finally hit up Got Tea for boba. The company was absolutely outstanding & we ended up spending FOUR HOURS together. I seriously could not have asked for a better time.

I especially hit it off with Nicole, who just moved here from Michigan (wtf, random), & the next morning we met up again at the Thai temple on the other side of town for delicious Sunday brunch. Turns out that the Thai temple here is the same branch as the one in Berkeley. Go figure!

Then on Tuesday night she had us & Carlos (also from Yelp) over to her house for an EPIC game of Apples to Apples, & she came to Natsu Matsuri today, & tomorrow we're going to Thai temple again... hahaha. I think I've seen this girl more times in the past week than some of my coworkers!

It's seriously ridiculous that we JUST met & have hit it off so well, & I'm moving in 3 weeks (to the day!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh). But at least we DID meet & now if I do move back to Tampa I know a few great people who I can hang out with.... after a YEAR of trying to find some & pretty much failing.

Unrelated to Yelp, tomorrow night Dave & I are going over to my coworker Eric's house for a dinner party with him & a couple of other girls from OSI (through TempWise). I'm really looking forward to that, too.

It almost makes me sad that I'm moving to Japan, because I've FINALLY made a bunch of friends! Japan's going to be AMAZING, though, so I have no regrets. At least I met them, yeah?


I need to make a new usericon. Or 10.

This one was especially fun.

This morning we went to the Tampa Natsu Matsuri (summer festival) with Daniel & Yukie, first stopping at their place so I could help Yukie put on her yukata & tie her obi (& put mine on, too!). The matsuri was small, but actually turned out to be really fun. My new friends Nicole & Jarren showed, & so did a few of the students from my class at Tokyo Mokyo.

I spent the afternoon packing (which to me is fun!) in a dry run, to make sure my stuff will fit in my suitcases & figure out if I need to mail stuff, etc.

We went out for dinner at Yoko's (duh) & then on to see Rent, which is in town till tomorrow. It was so so great! I only wish there had been opportunities for getting things autographed, but c'est la vie. (Less tearjerking than the movie version. But no less wonderful. Seriously. Anthony Rapp is my new favorite person, after Dave. He's so sexy.)

Birthday gifts this year were getting to see Rent & an iPod Touch (which I've named Tonberry. FF fans holla), a pro account on Flickr (link to my stream), & $200. I made out like an absolute bandit!

Thanks to all who wished me happy birthday, & those who meant to but forgot to. :)

smilesinjapan

Add it.

Just posted an intro to the trip. It's really long. Get ready for lots more like it. Booyah.

Yesterday was the JET Q&A in Orlando, so Dave & I drove up there for it. I met a bunch of the other people who'll be leaving out of Miami with me & I really like most of them. (I didn't talk much to a couple of them but they seem nice, too.) We're kind of scattered all over Japan so I don't know how much I'll be seeing them after departure -- apparently there's at least 1 other guy who'll be in my prefecture but he wasn't there last night so I don't know how close he'll be.

& of course there's all the other 4000 JETs from around the world who'll be around, so you know, it's not like I'll be starved for English conversation. The first thing I did this morning was get on Facebook & find a Shizuoka JET group, so I already know of 2 people who'll be in the 2 cities (towns? I'm not even sure what to call them, really) closest to me. Reading through the message boards & seeing all the info that recontracting / leaving JETs have to share is making me more & more excited.

I can't believe I only have a month left!

& I need a favor from someone in the Pasadena area. Can someone send me some postcards of Pasadena / Los Angeles / Hollywood? I will definitely reimburse you. I'm thinking maybe one of Dena's City Hall, one of the Rose Bowl, a couple of Hollywood, & one of the LA skyline. & anything else that catches your eye. Like the total idiot I am I completely failed to buy any while I was actually IN Dena a couple weeks ago, so yeeeeeah. Lemme know if you can & I'll love you forever & send you special presents from Japan. ;)

For today I'm off to buy some generic US souvenirs -- the kind of kitschy stuff that I usually hate but will go over so well overseas.

I got my placement packet from Japan yesterday! I'll be in Shimada City in Shizuoka Prefecture, which it looks like is about 2 hours from either Tokyo or Kyoto (which is funny, because Kyoto is twice as far...) if I go by shinkansen (bullet train). If you're curious to see where it sits on a map of Japan, check out this map. Tokyo's on the top right & Shimada on the bottom left. If you zoom out, Kyoto & Osaka will be further to the west.

I have one base school, a high school, so I'll be spending the vast majority of my time there. More than likely I'll make a few visits a year to a few other schools, possibly including other high schools or middle schools, maybe a special education school, & maybe an elementary school. Most likely it'll be mostly high schools, though.

I'm getting my predecessor's old digs, which is teachers' housing. I don't know if it's a stand-alone house or a duplex or what, but the info he sent me says it's 2 stories, with 2 bedrooms, & he's leaving a good portion of his furniture to me. On top of that, he's taking over the position of Prefectural Advisor -- basically the liaison between JETs (which is to say, JET participants, ie me) & the prefecture's board of education (which is our contracting organization, or, essentially, employer), so if I hit snags or have issues he'll be a shout away.

The city I'm in isn't far from Shizuoka City, the capital of Shizuoka Prefecture, which is pretty sweet, because Shizuoka City's pretty big & I expect I'll be able to get just about all the comforts of home there, with the possible exception of Mexican food.

Oh, did I mention my rent's about $200/mo? Booyah.

Tuesday we arrived at LAX midday & met up with my dad at the airport. Kelly & her boyfriend picked us up & took us out to my uncle Phil's place, where we hung out with my cousin for a bit before his departure for Japan the next day (seems like I know a LOT of people going to Japan this year). Back home for dinner & to pass out.

Wednesday Mom & Dave spent all day cooking so everyone going to Kelly's graduation ceremony could eat beforehand, but then everyone was late & we ended up rushing so much that Dave didn't even get to eat till afterwards. We all proudly watched Kelly walk across the stage... & sat through watching the other 544 students walk. I yelled "Go Bears!" when they announced that 3 of the valedictorians are going to Cal next year. I'm wonderfully geeky like that.

Yesterday Dave flew back to FL at noon. After dropping him at the airport I did some shopping, then hung out at my mom's office for a bit, & we came home & had dinner, & then I went out with Nicole & Charlotte & Nicole for coffee & then drinks. So amazingly fabulous to have a girls' night & talk about everything from sex to school to drinks to friends to sex. Also did I mention that we talked about sex? It's been entirely too long since I've had a good sex conversation. Great company & great conversation made for an AWESOME night.

Today was the beach with my dad & Schneider & Ambria & her neighbor Dennis. Before heading down there we stopped at this health food store / cafe in Pasadena where I ran into this kid I knew back in elementary school, Cody. Totally weird & awesome. Laguna was cold but hanging out was great, & we had delicious tacos & then I passed out on the drive back to Dena, where I'm now sitting on my sister's bed as we both play on our computers.

Plans for the weekend: Drinks with mom & her friends in Sierra Madre tonight. Tomorrow will be hanging out with whoever's in town, & Sunday will be wine tasting in Santa Ynez with mom & Miwa & then dinner with dad & Kelly. Monday fly back to Tampa at noon, get there at midnight, & then back to work on Tuesday.

Then to JAPAN on August 1st!!! Ahhhhh!

California has been so much awesomeness I can't think straight. Also exhaustion, lots of that, too.

I'll save you all too many of the details (can I ever really be succinct?), but in sum, here's what my last week has been. San Francisco first!

Thursday our flight was canceled because of weather in Dallas, so we were rebooked on a later flight through Miami & instead of arriving in SF at noon we got there at midnight. Angeline & Josh were super sweet to pick us up in a Jetta with ZipCar. Love it! Stayed with them the whole time we were up there <3

Friday morning we hung out in Oakland by the farmer's market with Eugenia; she took our engagement photos in this great apartment building where the manager kept showing us other neat areas. In the afternoon we had ramen & took purikura in Japantown with Panda & Brett & Vivian. Vivian's now IN Tokyo doing an internship at the Embassy! Way awesome! Dinner at a Korean restaurant with Angeline & Josh.

Saturday was wine tasting with Angeline, Tess, & Eugenia. We did a "wine basics class" at Goosecross Cellars which wasn't that great, then headed to Rutherford Hill Winery to maybe grab a bottle of wine to drink with our amazing picnic lunch (meat, cheese, bread, & fruit) & ended up LOVING the wine there. Got a bottle for lunch & a bottle to take home. Then to Melanie's baby shower in Oakland where it was great to see all the BD&C folks again. Finally, dinner in North Beach with Tess & Joanne & Ross & Angeline & Josh. Utter & complete exhaustion.

Sunday we had dim sum with Josh's friends & then walked to Ghirardelli Square & Fort Mason & had a fabulous day wandering the City. Angeline & I did some shopping in Union Square, & then dinner at Suppenkuche where due to a kitchen mixup we ended up getting Josh's food & 1 round of beers comped. Hell yes. Effing delicious food & beer. Love it so much. Finally, karaoke in Japantown where Dave ACTUALLY sang.

Monday we had brunch at La Note, then visited BD&C where I was wowed by the changes (major yay for the front desk facing the front now, & having a chart room), & visited Faheema at the Art Studio. Back to the City for dinner with Sabira (yay for finally meeting her!) & Angeline & Josh.

Tuesday off to the airport to head back to LA! Next post for easy (easier, anyway...) reading :)

Tuesday: Get an email from my supervisor saying I've gotta move into my cubicle Wed or Thu. Which is exciting! Because now I'm on the floor with everyone else instead of hidden away in the conference room with the other temps (which is cool & all but it feels disconnected), & because now I have a place to put all my stuff. Aka snacks & dishes & silverware etc. Also, made tentative plans with Eric & Luvina (2 of the temps) to have a dinner party when I get back from California.

Wednesday: Move all my stuff into my cube in the morning then spend a good part of the morning talking to people & enjoying my new access to email & the office instant messenger. Then, just before noon, I get a call....
from the Japanese consulate in Miami. I GOT IN TO THE JET PROGRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is an absolute MIRACLE; I had totally written it off & it was just a distant hope in my mind & I was basically already planning to apply again next year. So I'm totally jazzed & thrilled & there just aren't WORDS! I don't know yet where I'll be placed or what grade I'll be teaching but it doesn't matter. I'm moving to Japan in TWO MONTHS!!

Thursday: Leave work at 3 for the courthouse downtown... & get MARRIED!!!!!!! We were planning to do it in a few weeks anyway, when the ring is ready, but what with GETTING INTO JET we couldn't really afford to wait because I need to get all the paperwork done stat. The most time-sensitive thing is the passport: If I want to change my name before going to Japan then I need to do it all the way, including changing it in my passport, which takes 3 weeks even with the expedited processing. That night we went out to dinner with Dave's parents.

Friday: Leave work at 9 because I can't focus on work & all I want to do is change my name & smooth things over with my mom & call everyone I know! Run around town: Social security (easy peasy), DMV (can't get a new one yet because social security takes 24hrs to change my name), bank (can't change my name because I don't have a new license yet), tailor. Call all my credit cards & student loans to change my name & mailing address (as of yesterday everything was still going to my mom's house). Freak out every so often because OMFG I'm going to Japan and I'm MARRIED!!

Today: Get up at 7 to go boating with Carly & Jeremy. The water was too choppy on the Gulf so we decided to go out tomorrow if the weather's better, & spent the rest of the day hanging out with them out in Clearwater. Had lunch, went swimming in their pool, & generally enjoyed their company.


I'm still in shock & on cloud 9 & wtf I'M GOING TO JAPAN WITH MY HUSBAND!!!

Ladies & gents, may I introduce to you Mr. & Mrs. David Little:

My friend Gabe (who lived in the dorms with me freshman year in Berkeley) came down from Chicago to visit this weekend. I'm utterly exhausted but I had an amazing weekend -- the busiest in a very long time, but amazing.

Friday night he flew in at about 8:30, & from the airport we went straight to Datz Deli, a place my friend Matt (from OSI)had recommended. We had delicious beer & delicious food & I absolutely fell in love with the place. When we finished eating around 11, we met up with Matt at the Dubliner, a bar in South Tampa, for more beers & general hanging out. Headed back home around 3. (I NEVER stay up that late...)

Saturday (yesterday) I got up at 10; ridiculously early considering when I went to sleep. Dave's mom had bought us donuts, so we had a deliciously unhealthy breakfast, & then went up to Temple Terrace to canoe 4.5 miles down the Hillsborough River. Mostly I just took photos & looked at the lush scenery & the wildlife while the boys rowed, which was awesome. We got about 6 feet (maybe even closer) from a 5 or 6 foot long alligator sunning on a log. So cool.

We had dinner at Carmine's in Ybor City & I think Gabe enjoyed the Devil Crab, Cuban toast, black beans & yellow rice, & mojito (the goal being, of course, to expose him to Cuban food). When we got there it was sunny, & halfway through dinner we looked up & it was POURING cats & dogs, so in my distracted state (you all know how excited I get about rain) I forgot my to-go box of food there. Oh well.

We'd planned to go out that night but I wasn't feeling too well. I decided to try to walk it off but when we got to Channelside I just felt utterly horrible. We paid our cover charge for Howl at the Moon & I think I would've loved the dueling / duetting pianos if I wasn't so miserable, so we left after like 15 minutes & came home to play Power Grid (this awesome board game) & then pinball on the old pinball machine Dave's dad got at a yard sale. I went to bed around 230.

Today we went to the beach. We stopped at Datz to get coffee & lunch: for Dave, a sandwich; for me & Gabe, a baguette, brie, & smoked salmon. Then down to Fort DeSoto Park (apparently one of Florida's best beaches) where we swam & lay in the sun for a few hours & ate our delicious food & drank our delicious cocktail which I'd made at home & brought in a bottle (I don't have a name for it: light rum, lemon juice, triple sec, & simple syrup). Just before the rain hit, we headed home (drove thru the rain on the way back, which I always love), Gabe took a flash shower, we stopped at Pho Quyen to get him dinner, & dropped him off at the airport.

Now I'm going to go to sleep ON TIME for the first time in 2 days... I can assure you, it feels like it's been longer than that.

Mk, I'm gonna try to do an lj-cut, but since I'm posting by email I can't
promise that it'll work. If it doesn't, I'll fix it in a couple of hours.

I found this article really amusing, especially this line:

“People in Mexico ate some pork and got sick, right?” said Ms. Tran, who was looking for selections in the beef case. (That is not what happened, as far as anyone knows.)

In other words, you're an idiot. Love it.

( Article. )

Okay, so I have now confirmed that post-by-email works. Woohoo! Now I CAN
update from work during my breaks, & thanks to my phone's
slow-but-functional browser, I can check it, too (though it's really writing
that's more of a pain to do at home, somehow). For some reason, this makes
me very happy.

I had a fabulous weekend. Friday after I got home from work I fell into a
letter-writing mood, so Saturday morning 4 letters went out the door -- 2
domestic, & 2 international. I really need to do that more often. Want me to
send you a letter or postcard next time I'm in the mood? Email me your
mailing address - seraphene at livejournal dot com. (I can't promise it'll
happen anytime soon, though... I'm nothing if inconsistent.)

Saturday was our 6 year anniversary, so Friday night I smuggled Dave's
first-generation DS out of the house on the pretext of going to Walgreens
for nail polish remover (which I really did need) & then to pick up dinner.
I had exactly the right amount of time to stop at GameStop & trade his DS in
for a pretty blue DSi, & when I got home I wrapped it & hid it. Amazingly he
didn't realize his DS was missing, so when I presented him with his
anniversary gift the next morning & he turned it over, I was delighted to
see a look of surprise on his face when he said "Is this a DSi?! You're so
bad!" I'm pretty proud of myself for managing to pull it off. :)

(Have I mentioned that I traded in my beautiful foamy Japanese DS Lite for a
blue DSi? Well, I did, last week (or maybe the week before?). & I love it.)

After exchanging gifts (for me, another Get Fuzzy anthology -- YAY! & a copy
of Watership Down), we went back to the Jewelry Exchange, where we've been
twice in the past 2 weeks to look at a ring set that I just fell in love
with... & he bought it for me! I'll post a picture tonight (if I can
remember) It's really beautiful. Now I just need to get a ruby for it -- I
love my current ring but the color of the ruby isn't as dark as I thought it
was when we bought it (the lights in the store displays can throw things
off... & I didn't realize that the color could vary that much in lab-created
stones), so I'd like to make the wedding set perfect & get one that's a real
ruby-red color.

Then we hung out at home for a couple of hours, & then went to see Star Trek
with Nelson. I loved it! I hope they continue with this storyline & make
more movies. After that, to a delicious suhi dinner at Yoko's, & then home
to snuggle to sleep.

Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning. Gabe's coming to visit this
weekend, so I need to clear all of my clothes off of the bed in the guest
room, & took the opportunity to clean up some other stuff that I've been
putting off, too. I didn't finish, but I have till Friday (so Thurs. nite)
to get everything done, & I think I can manage. I'm proud of myself for
completing what I did, in any case.

So today it's back to work & then this weekend I'll be hanging out with a
friend from California for the first time in over 8 months! I can't believe
it's been so long already... I can't wait!

So I realized recently that I can post by email, so I'm giving it a try.

So here I am.

annnnnnnnd yes.

I got a call just before lunchtime from TempWise. Half-apprehensive (so far, pretty much the only calls my fellow temps have gotten from TempWise have been calls firing them... though not the calls at work, so while half-apprehensive I was also just half-curious), I picked it up, & it was Lee (owner), telling me that she'd been talking to Matt Kombargi (the floor controller; I think of him as the boss of my floor).

& he wants to put me on the OSI payroll starting on Monday!

squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

So I don't know exactly how this will change things -- I'll have a team lead instead of just going to Brian with all my questions/concerns (& THEN to Jaclyn or Becky (the team leads) if he's not there), but I don't know who; I don't know if I'll stay in the conference room with the other temps or if I'll get a cubicle; I don't know if I'll be getting the same pay or an increase.

Right now I get my wage, & then OSI pays TempWise something on top of that, so I'm sort of hoping that they'll raise my wage to whatever the total is that they give to TW. But I kinda doubt that, so we'll see what happens. & I rather doubt that I'll be getting my own cubicle, cause they just hired a new temp & rather than moving me to a cube & putting her in my spot in the conference room (which to me would be logical since they're moving me to their payroll), they put her in a cubicle.

So yeah. We'll see. I was going to talk to Matt about it today but I couldn't catch him when he wasn't busy, so hopefully I can talk to him tomorrow. But yay! Health insurance & 50% off at all OSI restaurants, here I come!

In case you were wondering, the OSI restaurants are:
Outback Steakhouse
Carrabba's Italian Grill
Fleming's Steakhouse
Roy's Hawaiian Fusion
Bonefish Grill
Cheeseburger in Paradise (pretty much only East Coast, & there isn't one anywhere near Tampa)
Blue Coral (only in Newport Beach, CA)