Fall on the Horizon

Fall is here. Today I saw the first of the turning leaves. The air smelled different. The arthitis in my bones ached.

Fall came early last year, too.

I like autumn, though, so I'm excited to have it underway. Cinnamon drinks, pumpkin spice, and cocoa - the tastes of Fall.

I'm definitely ready for it.

Labor Day

Imagine my surprise when I ordered a cream soda and got this. Note to all travelers, a cream soda in Japan usually means soda, in this case melon soda, with a scoop of ice cream, not the IBC type beverage we're used to here in the states. It was delicious, though. Of course, I really, really like melon soda.


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Since today was the Labor Day holiday, Val and I went out shopping. It was lovely! I bought a new jacket - I didn't need it but it was snazzy and on sale - and some drapery for my room.

Now I'm home and cleaning off my desk, searching for the notebook that has my frequent flier number in it. With two trips to Japan and back, I think I should have enough miles to get my holiday flight back home for free! I hope.

Really, I have no idea how these things work. (・・。)ゞ

I seem to be in a perpetual state of cleaning my desk. I clean it up. It gets cluttered with papers again. I clean it again. It gets cluttered again.

So frustrating.

Maybe I'll do some downsizing next weekend, see if I can't get rid of some of my unused things to open up the space for filing things.

It would help if I could find my apartment complex's dumpster.

I was thinking of taking out the trash but, when I looked out my window, I couldn't see our dumpster. Maybe they moved it to the other side of the complex. I'll look for it tomorrow before I leave for work.

Now it's time for me to get some studying done.

Looooong Day

This was the most tasty garlic pasta in the world. We had it at a restaraunt in Canal City in Hakata. I wish I could go back there right now and have it again.

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The morning went quickly, but the afternoon was slow. I didn't get nearly enough work done for having been at work for 10 hours. Well, I got work done, but nothing that had a physical product to show for it.

It's the weekend, though, and I also have Monday off for Labor Day.

I can sleep in!

Now, off to game.

Spoke Too Soon

An advertisement at a Diesel store in Canal City. I...found it horribly tasteless. But I'm betting that Diesel stores in the US have the same damn ad.

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Every time I try to go to bed early, my stupid neighbor downstairs plays her hideous classic rock on her TV.

I really, really don't like her.

Right. I shall counter with The NaB's, then.

Hungry

This is quite possibly the best meal ever. Well, in theory. Anago and a mango frappuchino. Soooo yummy. Well, it would have been better if the anago was from Wada, and not from a random bento place in Hiroshima station, but it was still tasty.

☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*

Today was a good day.

That's about it, really. Work was good. School was good. All around - good.

Busy but Good

I took today's picture at the Denver Natural History Museum. It's a block of rhodochrosite. Pretty, isn't it?

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Today I called into work because I was too tired to drive there safely. I slept in until 11am - I went to bed at 11pm, so I guess I was really tired - and have been doing schoolwork since.

Tonight, I'm going to see The Little Mermaid musical with Val. Yes, again. It was soooo good last time. First, though, I have to go to Spanish from 4-5:15.

I think school will go well this semester if I can keep on task and, somehow, manage to keep up my sleeping schedule. That will mean getting ahead on the weekends and not shirking things off until the last minute.

It's a big goal - I'm not the most disciplined person on Earth - but I'm hoping I can pull it off.

Tuesday - Victory

While we were at Dazaifu, there was a...thing going on. Behold!

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Today wasn't all that bad.

I got into work early, had a ghetto mocha, and left early. I visited our department secretary and caught up on all the English department gossip, then went to classes.

Victorian Literature is going to be fun because I get to write about Tennyson. Any time I can write about Tennyson, I'm a happy monkey. Throw in a dash of Hardy and you've got me.

Also, Bruhn is my hero.

American Women Writers isn't going to suck. I'm not a fan of American literature in general, but I'm fairly certain David is going to help me pull through this one.

Also, I think I know the original story I'm supposed to be working on. I had the idea in AWW today while David was talking about...something. Not sure. All I know is that I have the idea written in my class notes and now I'm kind of stupid excited to get writing it.

The story may fizzle and die into the Pool of Prologues on my hard drive but, for the moment, I'm super hyper happy.

Also, the situation with the neighbor is, in theory, taken care of. Apparantly there were people that were fighting before I came home. She assumed it was me because she doesn't like me and called the police when she heard my pans. She has been made aware that it wasn't me and that she is not to jump the gun like that again.

Haha. I win. ヾ(＠°▽°＠)ﾉ

Not in the Mood

So I'm home from a very lacklust series of classes - I'll elaborate on that tomorrow as I'm too annoyed to do so tonight - and, not five minutes after I walk in the house does my downstairs neighbor - the one with the TV of Loudness +5 - decide to bang on her ceiling with something.

Loudly.

Whatever, I think, and continue talking to Val and doing my dishes.

Shortly after I hang up with Val - maybe 20 minutes after I've been home - there's a knock on my door.

It's a nice police officer. She asks how my night is and what I'm up to. I raise my sopping hands and say "doing dishes." She asks is anyone's over. My cat runs out the door. I grab the cat and say, "Just me and the cat." She asks if she can have a look around and I say sure.

She checks my closet - the one with all the Maurihara postcards - and she checks my shower. She looks at my pile of sopping wet dishes. She explains that someone had a noise complaint.

"Oh," I say, "the gal in 223? Yeah. The floor has no insulation. I hear her TV and she hears my dishes. It's just the way the old building is." I shrug and the police officer smiles. She leaves to go report to lady in 223 and I continue with my dishes. No doubt, police lady went back down and said, "She's doing dishes."

So this means I need to speak with the manager on Saturday - the only day I'm here and the management office is open - because this is harassment. I don't call the police on her crappy classic rock, but she seems to think doing dishes is a violation of her sound rights.

Does she have any idea how stupid it is to piss me off? Does she understand the utter bitch I can be when I'm inconvenienced over stupid ass crap like this?

My retribution will be mighty.

Yawn

Yet more pictures from Dazaifu. These are koi swimming around near the bridge over the pond.


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I started the day pretty energized, but I quickly fell into the sway of work. Now I'm yawning and kind of dozing in my chair.

Not good, not good. (・・。)ゞ

I'll perk up in a few, though...I hope. I slept pretty well, snuggled against my cat and cocooned in a warm blanket.

The dark mornings make waking up kind of depressing, but I'm managing okay. Hopefully I won't start hitting the snooze button when Fall really sets in. It feels like it's going to be a pretty cold Fall and Winter again this year. I'm ready for it, though, and am looking forward to the colder months. I guess Colorado really is getting to me.

Sunday before the Storm...of sorts

These are some turtles swimming in the water at Dazaifu. I was particularly pleased at how the lighting turned out on this picture. This was the first time I'd seen so many turtles in one place, swimming about.


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I have a headache.

Today I need to do laundry and study some Japanese - I've been very lazy this week and have barely done anything. School starts up again tomorrow, though, so I'm loath to jump out into the world and be active.

Yesterday, I cleaned the house a bit and spent the rest of the day watching television. I hadn't watched TV in so long, it was kind of relaxing. Mostly, I turned the TV on so I didn't have to listen to the music from the apartment under me.

Hopefully, I'll be able to take it easy today but still get a few important things (laundry!) done.