this 'n that

Eiko says...

Hiki is coming to Japan!! I am SO happy! I've been missing Hiki since last year's summer! We all have. You happen to be THE talk at most of the meal times. "When is he coming?" "How long will he stay?" "Can't he stay any longer?" "Is he gunna run off with Sean at UNO?" "Will he still be just as perverted?" "Has he changed any since last year?" "Does he have more chest hair?" etc.
Hurry up and get your hiny over here, Hicks! And next time, bring your gorgeous wife and adorable child over. They need to meet the family, and we need to meet them too.

Work is extremely tiring. I only work 3 times a week now, but that's pretty much all I can take if I'm trying to survive on 5 hours and less of sleep. But recently Stephan's been a real sweeto and has been driving me to my work place which saves me the 30 min. walk there. I honestly enjoy the walk back though. I probably wouldn't mind someone picking me up, but walking is just as good. The 30min walk back is just enough time to listen to some of my favorite songs on my MP3 player, and gives me time to clear my head of work and my hair of the sushi smell, and gets me ready for some good sleep time. And yes. I still use an MP3 player. I need an IPod, but I think I'll give it a wait till IPods are out of style, and buy the latest "hot item". I'm sure there are plenty of those out already, but I'll wait a little longer till they are withing my pocket book's reach. Ima wa nanto ittemo muri.

My boss looks lazy. He looks lazy ALL the time. His eyes look like they're only half open, and it's not because he's Japanese or anything. I've seen guys with smaller eyes that were much more open and 'awake' than my boss' eyes. And I think he not only looks lazy, but he IS indeed lazy, and I can prove this point too! While I was scrubbing the tables clean of soy sauce, and making sure there were no rice bits on the couches and floor, my boss comes in with a bowl of miso soup that looked awful good, sat down 2 tables away from where I was scrubbing my heart away, and starting drinking it--slowly, blowing occasionally to keep his tongue safe, and casting lazy glances my way. I was only slightly annoyed though. Mainly because I wasn't that tired then. I rarely am during work hours. Tiredness hits the next morning when it's time to drag my feet up the stairs to 6th floor lounge for devotions. Also, I like my lazy looking boss. I'd rather have a lazy looking boss that doesn't speak too proper around us workers than a boss that won't ever sit down, is always running around and barking at us to do better and do faster and clean this and don't touch that. I'm sure there's a balance between the two, and I have yet to see that 'sharp' side of my boss. But I'm not eager to. He's just fine the way he is.
He asked me about my home schooling the other day, and proudly told all the workers that were working till last about my English speaking abilities. I got a few oooohs and ahhhs from them after saying something super cool like, "Yeah, I speak English fine. It is after all, my first language." He didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that my Japanese is flawed and my pronunciation needs improvement. He's too lazy to mind that kind of stuff. I was happy to find out that he isn't too lazy for laughing and a sence of humor.
I am learning more and more about exactly how much I can speak and understand Japanese and how far I need to go in order to be up to par. I've got quite a ways to go actually. But just the fact that I'm forced to talk and answer and ask questions in Japanese there at my work place is helping me to use the knowledge I do have, and is giving me opportunities to expand that knowledge. I asked one of our sheep about my Japanese, and he said my Japanese was very clean and that I could speak fine. But the problem was that I pause at the wrong times. Huh?! Well, there isn't much wrong with my pronunciation and my speaking abilities. It's when and where I put the "ettos" and the "anos" and the "nandattakes" that make me sound like I'm stupid. I was only slightly disturbed when our sheep said, "But that's something that probably won't change, so don't mind that. Really. You're Japanese is fine!" What does he mean by "probably won't change"? I am so gunna prove him wrong. Believe it or not, I happen to only be 18 years old. My brain ought not to be that stiff for change and improvement. I'm gunna make it happen. I'm gunna sound 100% Japanese. Hell! I AM 100% Japanese! Yipes!

And I need to go for another hair cut. I'm having great difficulty fitting all of my big hair into the kappa zushi hat! This is another factor that made me doubt my boss' mental state. During our first interview, I had my hair down, and since I was late I had ran the last 15 min stretch, so my hair was everywhere. He noticed that it was long, so he gave me the biggest kappa zushi hat and told me to stuff all my hair into it. The thing is, he gives the biggest kappa zushi hat to all girls that have hair that go past their shoulders. But it's more than obvious that my hair is not normal hair. My hair is special. I've got an unnatural amount of it, and it's also way longer than just past my shoulders. It's a miracle that I manage to shove all my hair into my work hat and that it actually stays there. Whatever. My boss is weird. So is my hair. I need to cut it. Not short, but I need to decrease it's volume somehow. Soon.

And FDTP is rolling around!! Or should I say boot camp? *shudder* I still don't know what to make of it and the fact that I'm going. When I think about FDTP, I go, "FDTP...right. Right. Riiiight. Okay. Right. Um. I hope I have enough money by then. Of course I will. Okay. Um. Right. " I know it's going to be fun, and difficult, and strange, and a good change and a lot of other things. I know I'm suppose to go too because Jesus made it clear to me that I ought to. And that's what I suppose I'll do.

And I'm so cutting off here. This post is getting long and tedious. I doubt any of you actually read through all of the above. I betcha you skipped till the last paragraph,...the one you're reading now. Well, I don't blame you cause I do that all the time, and by me, you can do that whenever you feel a blog post is boring you. Anyhow, I'm getting sleepy and my fingers are getting stressed from all the fast typing I've been doing. I'll write more later. I'll try to add more pictures to this blog. Pictures bring life to a blog!

Night.