If I was still in Japan, we would be finishing the fall term now. Last year, my girlfriend and I spent Christmas eve in a nice hotel, and New Years Eve in a mediocre hotel. No complaints.
Well, I have a job, and I found out I have a place to live next month. So I can get out of my kind aunt and uncles house. Also my parents are giving me money for a new laptop, as this one is loud and slow and overheats constantly. Plus it's big, and old. Yeah, I'm talking about you.
I love Japanese. I was having a mildly crappy day. The weather is cold, wet, and rainy. I was wandering Chicago all day running errands, and killing a lot of time in between them drinking coffee, tea, and other cardboard Starbucks food. I didn't sleep well last night, and I really wanted a nap. I longed for the Shinjuku internet cafe I could crawl into and nap, or even the Tokyo Starbucks, where it's ok to sleep, if you do it discreetly. Oh, the McDonalds next to the ShinOkubo station, it's forbidden, by the way.
Part of the fun of being in IT, is explaining things to people that that are common sense to me, but unacceptable to others, until they go through the pain that I have been through. Maybe it's true of any industry. Making a suggestion, i.e., here's a better way, and being told, thanks but we will stick with the way we do it, just try and make it work.
Well the test is over. Maybe I passed. It was strange taking it in America, but it was nice to hear Japanese being spoken.
Writing and Vocab - I did good; listening was okay; reading, well, as expected. I did about as well as could be expected. If I had to guess, I probably didn't pass, I think about 55%, but maybe I'll get lucky and 5 points will blow my way.
To anyone coming to Chicago to take the JLPT, I hope the weather is better tomorrow than it is now. It's freezing, raining, windy, and icy. That's the Four Dwarfs of the Apocolypse, I think.
I'm not going to get too worked up over this, I don't think I am going to do to well on the reading.
I registered for classes today, and started my new job. I was at school hours before anyone, and got all the classes I asked for. Five classes. The adviser looked at me and said, "That's a pretty heavy load". Buddy, I had 4 hours a day of Japanese, followed by 3 hours of study, and 2-3 tests a week. I've been running in Zaire, I've been living with Sherpas, I've been swimming in Alaska for the past year and a half.
The job seems perfect, relaxed, street clothes, 2 minutes from my apartment. And I'm off tomorrow, so I can study Japanese all day.
I start Monday at a former co-worker's art gallery. I hope it goes well, I had two short lived disasters, it can't happen a third time... It's too good to be true, literally next door to where I am living. How could that happen??
I don't feel ready. But I am forging ahead. I finished the grammar book today, but I still need to review a bunch. Kanji, I will be working on that until the day before the test. Same with vocabulary and reading.
About 8 months ago, I traded drinking for smoking, and 2 days ago I quit smoking. It's not too bad this time, quitting. About 2 or 3 more days, and I won't crave too much. Already, things smell better. Chicago was wet, but warm, and smelled like Autumn.
My gig at the French restaurant lasted 2 days. I think I am done with the service industry. The manager was sketchy to begin with, then got real sketchy on my first night on the floor. I don't really go to French restaurants, mainly because I am not used to food taking that long to cook, and I always felt like someone was in my space, taking plates, moving forks, etc. Well, that's what waiting tables at that French restaurant entailed. He showed me for an hour or two, then berated me for not getting it right on my own tables.
