So I lost the studio to someone else because I'm still stuck to my current contract. It's ok.. I'll try again in february, when the university is taking in new people and they're in need of rooms again. Then I can end my contract and move into a studio, I'm sure there'll be lots of nice things available.

Today's exam went well. I was done in less than 45 minutes, which gave me the feeling I went through it too quickly as usual, even though I know it'll be fine. *shrugs*

I still have 20 more pages to go in my history book though. Fortunately a classmate passed around a very useful summary of the book which she found on the net.
Friday's exam covers everything from hunter/gatherer Japan up to Edo. I'll manage. Somehow. +__+


You know what? This wins bronze, silver and gold in the olympics for most stunning Gackt single covers.


(click for the full thing)

He's sitting on a throne with fabulous hair and there are like.. candles and sparkles and snowflakes floating around... XD And guess what, the moooooon is back.

Oh, and his face resembles a lightbulb again.

So yesterday was my first exam (Dutch) and it went ok, I guess... With Dutch, you just never know. It's a fucked up language. :P

Friday I have another exam (Japanese: listening), and then my autumn break starts. The week after that I have 3 more exams (Japanese: writing and reading, Japanese: speaking, and last but not least Japanese history), and then another week off, because my class doesn't have any exams scheduled for that week.

4 weeks of lazyness, yay. Well, I figured it might be a good opportunity to start looking for a bigger room, preferably a studio with my own kitchen and bathroom. I found one on Kamernet last night and sent an e-mail.. I hope it's still available; it's situated on my current cycling route to school and very close to a line 9 busstop. And the most amazing thing is that it's more than twice as big as my current room, but €110 monthly rent cheaper. Yup, now I'm sure my current room is a ripoff. I need to find something else as soon as possible now that I have time to move.

I'm looking forward to this weekend; I'm seeing my dear friends es_chan, littleflapper and joostmusic again! That's going to be epic as usual~
And the 31st I'm going to see the Michael Jackson film with anei_no_tsuki, who I haven't seen in a while either~ <3

I'll definitely meet up with my classmates during autumn break as well, since they all live in the vicinity of Eindhoven. (THOSE ARE MY TRIBE OF PEOPLE YOU KNOW XDDDD)

Ah, it's been ages since I've felt genuinely happy! The last months went very well, it's like I forgot what it's like. If only I could see my friends more often.. Damn distances and school!!
I'm so restless, I'd rather go out and do stuff instead of sitting at home, being lazy. Last night I did kanji for 3 fucking hours because I was bored. I can use all kanji for the first semester now. I also finished ICT. If only my pageturning in my history book went that fast. I'm still behind on it because it was delivered a month late. >_>
I've also been exchanging e-mails in Japanese with Kana-sensei, which is very good practice! She and Aoi won't have classes with us anymore after the exams though.. they'll be switching with the exchange students who are in charge of other classes now. I don't see the use of that, honestly.. I think it's important to develop a bond with your teachers, it's no use if they dissapear again after each semester.

I want to go shopping. I need a new coat. :|

New icon to celebrate I will have leftover money this month since I'll be mostly home the coming three weeks.


Exam went.. um well it passed in a blur as usual and it left me feeling "meh". XD

Teacher gave me and my partner a 7 out of 10 and I suppose I should be happy with that, considering we made some stupid mistakes while figuring out our file cards which made US point out mistakes that we had to correct in our conversation (which was going through a weekly schedule for a Japanese businessman together).

"Emmy, Wednesday is pronounced as Wennsday, but I'm sure you know that."

Me: "Yes, of course. Sorry."

No, I did NOT know that. I have made that mistake since elimentary and no one ever corrected me because I had far from capable instructors. But YOU, Dear Sir who speaks perfect British, don't know it's OOsaka, not oSAAKA. Or MIyazawa, instead of MiyaZAwa.

"Emmy, you're a real businesswoman; you skipped the smalltalk."

Me: "I guess I was busy then."

No, I just don't do small talk on the phone. Ridiculous; they subtract points if you get to business after the "how are you" exchange. I thought that was more than enough, but if you want to discuss the weather and get a high phone bill, be my guest. XD

We were marked seperately, but both of us scoring 7 was a bit unfair.. I had to correct my partner many times because she gave me the wrong info (which I had to react on) and some of her sentences were a complete mess.

Meh, I'm satisfied with my 7 even though it's the lowest mark I ever scored on this subject. *lol* It's not going to appear anywhere; this oral examination, the letter we wrote 2 weeks ago AND attending all classes this semester merely contributed to a 0,5 point bonus to the mark we receive after the exam in January. No harm done.

*sigh* Putting myself under so much pressure is a habit that stuck after secundary school. I was the best at English in my class (on the whole, the level at my school was way below avarage) and cursed myself when I ended up with a 9,4 at the end of my fifth year, which then appears as a 9 on your diploma; 9,5 and higher appears as a 10. At my current school I believe they have the same rounding system. If I'm able to score a 9 on my test in January, thanks to the 0,5 bonus I'll be able to restore my dignity. *slaps self*

But that's not gonna happen, I have to accept I'm simply not good enough to score a 9 for English on this level.. and this guy strikes me as a teacher who simply doesn't hand out marks above 8. I've had a few of those.

Why are English teachers always such haughty pricks who think their subject is the best and most important? XD

Anyway, yesterday's workshop was calligraphy!! I'll definitely take it as a subject in Japan. I want to get better at it. Like Gackt.. Although unintelligible, his handwriting is like art. XD

For anyone interested, here is my first try at "Ai":

It's freezing -2 outside. ;___;

I'm in bed in a new vest (pity I don't have my camera here, I got some new clothes at the New Yorker and it's EPIC XD Remember the Drapery!Gackt at the Korean Dears event??) with my laptop on my lap (aahh warmth <3) but my feet are SO DAMN COLD. I want wool socks or something. It's getting better though, slowly. I should fix some tea but I'm too lazy to get up. XD;;

Man it's October and I'm already complaining. I have a feeling it's gonna be a cold winter after such a nice summer. Bleh. Why can't it be 20-22 C all year long?

I'm nervous for my English oral examination on Friday. It's a formal conversation on the phone and I will have partner. We get 10 minutes to prepare ourselves. I know I can do this, I just get so nervous for things like this, I'm not at my best under pressure. Writing in English is so natural for me, but speaking.. bleh. It's so alien, and I don't enjoy it.
It's weird, I'm not nervous for Japanese at all, which will be interpreting between two teachers.

I should just tell myself English will be a piece of cake as well, then everything will be fine.. I hope. ^^;;

My day started out shitty (tired as hell, cold), my afternoon was even shittier (damn crowded trains and buses, got my period), but now I'm at home and I can finally relax. :)

There was also a package waiting for me:



These are Darts refre and sixgem replicas very skillfully made by kurenai_kimitsu. Same beads in the same size, only way cheaper. XD Sorry Gackt, I can't spend ¥20.000 on your bling. ^^;;

Ohh, and Tokyo losing the run for the 2016 Olympics is a pity but sort of expected.. my bets are on Rio now.

And LOL at Balkenende planning to haul ass to Bruxxelles. Clean up the mess you made before you leave, jerk.

My cold is getting worse again, and I'm so sick of it. In my room I'm considerably fine, but at school or outside I cough all the time, and I'm in cold sweat by the time I reach the busstop. The random headaches aren't really helping either; I feel like shit. It's like everyone is sick at the moment, I can really feel it around me. I wash my hands eighty times a day and take vitamin supplements as if it's candy, but it's just not helping, and it's pissing me off.

I should probably get more rest and avoid going out in the early morning or late evening when it's cold. Hell, I'm so cold; my hands, feet, limbs..

To be honest I've never felt this physically weak in my entire life, while mentally I feel like I'm capable of anything.

I need some drastic changes in my eating patterns as well, because instead of losing weight, I'm gaining weight, and my lack of good nutrition is definitely what's affecting my health right now. I stood on the scales at home yesterday morning and when I saw that 67 I got so angry. The previous day all I had was a few sandwiches with peanut butter and some wok chicken and noodles for dinner. How do other people stay so slim? What is their secret? Why do I have to move mountains in order to go back to my 60 kg and get rid of my chubbyness?

I also need a bigger table in this room. I'm avoiding homework because I have no space to sit and do it properly.

*sigh*

And still through all this, I go to school like a good girl and have so much fun there. This morning I wasn't feeling so well either, but when class I forgot about all my worries. While for years I thought I'd never have fun going to school.

I miss my friends very badly as well. I've never asked for a hug but if I could ask someone right now, I would. And then I'd probably start wailing like a baby. ^^;;


Well then, I'm off to bed. I have an English business letter writing test tomorrow. D:

My already nonexistent immune system really crumbled over the last year.

Yup, I managed to catch a cold again, after healing from another one in 3 days last week. It's worse than that one though; my throat hurts and I have a bad cough that hurts my head everytime. It's a miracle I survived a whole day of school (including 3 periods of professional writing/torture) while I got up at 6.

In Japanese class we started on writing the numbers 1 to 10 in kanji, plus 人, 名 and 方. For some people the onyomi and kunyomi readings are still very confusing. I'm glad I tend to understand and pick up things very quickly (plus I have a photographic memory, great help when doing kanji +___+), I'd get worried easily if I took so long to understand simple things like the multiple readings of kanji. What the hell, I need to shut up since I've been in contact with this damned language for about 5 or 6 years, without tutoring, but still, when considering that my level is really NOT that advanced. Who just heard me bragging about picking up things quickly? Nobody, k? -_______-;;;

In that Japan through the looking glass book we have to read for English course, this guy says it takes twelve to thirty years to master Japanese.

Twelve to thirty years.

That's like implying not even the avarage Japanese will be able to master their language without devoting themselves to it; poets and writers for examples. So let alone a foreigner, because if all goes well I will be in this school for only four of that minimum of twelve years.

Well, I'm sure I'll be fed up with kanji by the time I "master" those 1800 (fucking insane number) needed to receive that degree; I'll be able to read a newspaper. At least I know amost half the kanji needed to get through year 1. I forgot the exact number, but we have to learn somewhere between 300 and 400 of the little devils. They really are the characters of the devil; Gackt knows way too many of them.

Tomorrow I have dinner with all Japanese classes and all the teachers at the Kaishuu, I'm looking forward to that~ =D

Shisasu, I had a headache nearly ALL day yesterday. It started begin afternoon and didn't go away until I went to bed in the evening. And just now I woke up with another one of those 'too-deep-sleep-headaches'. My left shoulder also hurts.

Yesterday was Riona's birthday party, and on the way to Heerlen the stupidest thing ever happened to me. I sat waiting for the train and this guy (about my age I think) sits next too me, way closer than I'm comfortable with, and he started talking, but my iPod sound was too loud for me to hear what he was saying and to realize he was talking to me. Then an odd pair of people in fantasy clothing walked by and as I followed them with my gaze I noticed he was talking to me so I took my earpieces out.

"Those people look funny, don't you think? But those clothes you're wearing suit you very nicely."

I was wearing a large belt over a ruffle top and ruffle skirt, with a bolero and shiny leggings, all black. Of course I thanked him, and hoped he left me alone after that. He talked in a sugary sweet voice that reminded me of a pedophile.

Shortly after that the train arrived, and to my dismay he followed me and sat in the double seat behind me. Somewhere between Roermond and Sittard, he comes over and sits opposite me, for a short while saying nothing but then going "Excuse me, I have a problem, I wonder if you could help me?". He told some lame story about him miscalculating in his traveling schedule, that he probably missed his bus in Sittard, and that he needed to be somewhere at strictly 2 'o clock. I suggested he take a taxi and hoped to be done with it, but he went on asking to what kind of music I was listening to. By now in my head I was praying for him to leave me the fuck alone, and answered that it was the kind of music he probably would never have heard of. But he grinned and guessed it was probably Japanese music. Ok, wtf. He went on saying that he was half Japanese and going back to Japan in November for a visit to his parents. I gave in and engaged in a quick conversation with him, telling him I'm a student Japanese. When we arrived in Sittard he had to get out (thank goodness). But..

"At home I have a few books lying around that could maybe be of use to you, I'll give you my e-mail adress."

Hey, wait a minute. >_>

But I accepted it and he told me his name was Conan. I replied with my name and wished him good luck getting to his destination. Getting out he smiled back at me and I waved again.


Shisasu, was I glad he was gone.

---

Riona's party ended up being fun in the end. I'm glad I went even though the atmosphere wasn't really fit for me (loudness, too many different languages (despite my fluentness in written English, I don't like communicating in spoken English and my German is horrible, and I just can't stand drunk people) but it was fun to see everyone again, even though it was hard meeting Lynsey. Not that I said a lot to her, I just didn't know what to say.. or rather, I didn't have anything to say to her. That may sound cold, but.. I really didn't. I think it's ok for me to confess to that. There were some other people I didn't know, but most of them were nice. I just felt a bit out of place because it was me between people I knew and people I never met, and they all conversated amongst each other in different languages, and my headache wasn't helping much either. And some of the conversations had plain embarassing topics that I wouldn't dream talking about. ^^;;
It took me very long before I loosened up a bit and got conversative, but I was fine in the end, thanks to my friends. :)

Too bad I was plagued by that headache all day, I hope I'm not getting sick. I mean, I just had a cold last week already. =/

---

Edit #1:

"Gackt, a former vocalist of Malice Mizer and one of the pioneers of the visual kei movement in Japan, gave one of the most explosive performances of the night. Gackt rocked the festival with his powerful voice, hard-hitting rock tunes, exciting visuals and special effects."

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/09/201_52150.html

Bah, lucky Koreans. :P

Edit #2:



Wow, the drapery. Simply STUNNING. <3

---

Edit#3:

Wow. Our yard is like FULL of butterflies right now. I took pics and I have a few where there's 6 butterflies. O_o



Haha, and they're driving the local predators crazy:




Long entry is long, sorry XD

Remember that tiny construction of Japanese sentences I posted yesterday? Well, today I could try them out for real. LOL.

I had a conversation about my Tokyo trip with my teacher Aoi, after she saw the various purikura stickers on my pencase and asked if they were real ones from Japan. It was the first lengthy conversation I ever did in Japanese with a Japanese and it felt so natural, not strange at all. It just rolled off my tongue.

But I refrained from telling her I went to Gackt lives. XD At least for now. I'd have to get to know Aoi and Kana better to pinpoint their reaction, it'd be rather odd to jump to that subject at first contact. I've heard it's rather unusual for Japanese people to openly admit they like Gackt, because of his image/reputation/behaviour which is rather controversial for many Japanese. The "he has a lot of talent and skill but he's so weird and eccentric" thing. And to be truthful I feel the same way; I never mention him unless I'm asked about what music I like or if the opportunity arises in a conversation about Japanese music.

Do you guys feel like that at times? Reluctant to mention you're a Gackt fan because you're afraid of the impression you'll make?

Because of this, these days I often meet Gackt fans without even knowing it at first, simply because we don't speak up freely about it. Hoing for example, the girl in my class I mentioned earlier.

I guess it's not just his reputation and the reputation of his fans (sigh), but largely just to where he stands, as someone who reached that kind of "untouchable" starstatus while not being as obviously "popular" as the popmusic giants he shares the charts with. Respected and yet frowned upon or even rediculed, he's on his own plateau because he doesn't fit in anywhere, and thus so are we, guilty isolated fools. XD
I see lots of people who like "J-rock" and listen to a wide range of bands that I have zero interest in and can't tell apart from each other in neither sound nor looks. They're so into all that Gazette and Alice nine stuff, and when confronted with Gackt they go.. "Hmm.. yeah.. I heard some of his stuff and it's good but he seems so arrogant to me." or something along the lines of that. I've found it's completely normal for a Gackt fan to listen to Gackt only. This makes it less matter-of-fact for us to make contact with the mass that listens to those J-rock bands, or the mass that listens to J-pop. The avarage Gackt fan also seems a few years older than the avarage J-rock fan. Needless to say the only fandoms we fit in with seemlessly is the MALICE MIZER fandom and the Hyde/L'arc en ciel fandom. ^^;;

Last week or so, when I was in one of my crude humor moods, I called Gackt a "visual kei clown blown out of proportion", prompted by re-reading an interview from 2007 in which he clearly states he considers himself a visual kei artist.


He's a weird one alright. The fact he got so far in a land like Japan just puzzles me to no end, but I'm glad he did. XD

Tomorrow my pc will go back to shop we got it from, and they're going to replace the C drive in the hope that the problems will stop after that. So I spent all evening cleaning up my documents and deleting everything that can be missed in order to get to a bare minimum of about 150 GB, the amount that fits on my external harddisk. Movies, anime I had left and things like that are all gone. Most important is that my music and images will be saved, but I can't help but shake the feeling that I missed stuff. Previously they always transferred my data by loading it onto a new drive directly and it never failed; it always took about a week before I got my pc back but I have data on here that dates from 2004, the year we got a new pc with internet. But this time I have to do it myself, so I can have it back on thursday. There goes another weekend to adjust the thing back into the old state.. I'm getting so tired of it, I already had to do it barely 2 months ago when they attempted to fix those problems which just came back. Harddisk problems? Pff. Seems farfetched if you ask me. This thing is just thoroughly fucked up.

All the fixing they will do is under warranty, and if the problems aren't solved by replacing the harddisk, they will replace other parts one by one. Shisasu, it's like searching for a needle in a heap of straw as the Dutch say. This machine has never functioned properly ever since we got it a year ago and I highly doubt it's just the harddisk that's giving problems. The type of errors I get are those where some programme encounters an error/exception and has to be closed down. Sometimes it's internet explorer, my antivirus, or msn, sometimes even completely random things in the system, but most of the time it's the windows explorer. It happens completely randomly. Things just stop working and shut down, and the only way to get them to work again it is to reboot. At times it works again after that; sometimes I have to reboot several times.

Man, I should've been in bed an hour ago but the transferring still has 20 more minutes to go. *yawns*

Kana test was easy. I was aiming at a perfect score but I managed to make a stupid error in the translating katakana part. XD

How in the 7 hells my brain managed to conjure up the possible meaning of サラダ as being "California", after I had already written down the correct answer ("salad"), is absolutely beyond me. I put my paper upside down and then suddenly remember something special about the translation of "California" in that stupid American-oriented blockbook that teaches you kana in two weeks. (They never developed a Dutch method for that, so we use an American publication which is sometimes confusing. XD There was an excersize with American names and surnames in katakana and people in my class (including me) had some trouble with them because they just never heard of these names XD).
Anyway, I vaguely remembered that it had some special name and it reminded me of the sarada thing. So I turned my paper back faceup, erased "salad", and replaced it with California, giving it the benefit of the doubt, so to speak. I wish I'd just used my brains instead of thinking of possible exceptions or rules, I always make that mistake when practicing a language. In Dutch and English (languages with lots of "rules" and possible grammatical exceptions, Dutch is especially terrible in this aspect) I go by my instinct to sort out grammar problems, and after today I know I should do so too in Japanese. XD

I'm not making a problem of 9,9/10 instead of 10/10. I scored 9,8/10 back in 2007, so I felt that I should get a perfect score after more than a year of more self study and practice. There's only one way of getting through this course, and that is by putting high demands on myself and meeting them.

Nowadays I spend entire trains of thought into thinking of possible Japanese conversations several times a day. Last night I went; "Rokugatsu tsuini tokyo e ikimashita, maa sono ato de, oranda ni kaeru toki ni, 'aa, zettaini dekiru!' da to omoimashita, nihongo o hanasuru koto.. dakara kono daigaku e kaettekimashita."
At those moments I just wish I had a Japanese-speaking person to conversate with. I really, really enjoy conversating in Japanese, even though I'm still very limited. I want to learn, learn learn... XD

So I'm relieved we're finally starting on the Minna no nihongo method now and put the kana business behind us. Yay for vocabulary, speaking, writing, kanji.. and of course Japanese Workshop. <3


Shisasu, I haven't been this motivated to learn something in years. O_o

That rediculous amount of money spent on that trip to Japan really paid off. No matter how I look at it, I fell in love with that country more than I thought was possible just by finally going there.

For our English classes we have to read Japan through the looking glass by Alan Macfarlane, and it's an excellent book. I'm reading it whenever I find time, so I'll have a hard time to decide on what to read when the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown arrives; it was shipped yesterday. ^^;;


Edit: I'm thinking.. when I get in a better financial state next month (when my credit card debt is finally completely gone) I will start saving amounts of money every month on my separate savings account, so I can afford a future Japan trip. I don't know when it will be, it will probably once again depend on Gackt, and depending on the amount of money I save I will combine visits to several places in Japan. I'd really like to visit Kyoto or Nagoya before the internship in the second or third year, as well as other places.
Heh. Me and saving. We'll see how this works out. :P

Got back from my hairdresser and YAY I CAN SEE AGAIN!! 8)

I hate it when she takes a holiday; somehow I always end up with a fringe that hasn't been cut for 5 weeks, and with my hair that's too long. My fringe gets a mind of it's own when it grows to a certain length, so I have to keep it where it just touches my eyebrows. Once it grows past that hairs get stuck in my eyes or lashes and I hate that! XD That's why I visit my hairdresser strictly every 4 weeks. A lot of people I meet think that's often. ^^;;

( School )

( Hyves )

( Gackt blog )

Man... I ate too much. *feels all poofy*

Owner gave me the login for a temporary network; on Thursday a serviceman will come (to install cable internet in all the rooms, I suppose). So I will finally have stable internet; being here for the week just became a lot more easier. XD

I should've checked my school e-mail box during the weekend; I totally missed the news that classes for this afternoon would be cancelled. So I didn't have school at all today; instead I hung out with Milou in Maastricht~


Tomorrow I have 2 ICT and 2 Japanese periods, right after that I'll go home, and return on Wednesday for 2 JKL periods in the late, late afternoon. It's a pity my timetable is so fucked up; I could spend my time much more efficiently. =/
Ahwell, maybe next semester I have more luck. XD


Also, lol, so far all the housemates I've met (I have 4) are male. Male university students. Tidy, polite, articulate, sophisticated, male university students. *gets shot*

Hey, they're one the of the few male demographics on the planet I don't have a negative prejudgement of. :P

Of course the above description of male university students is complete bullshit.



*sips tea*

Me and me notices lately. XD


Anyway, this is an important one.


First, I'm going to do a cut on my friendslist soon. It's nothing huge or anything, but I hate doing things like that because I don't want to hurt people even if they are not my friends, so if you would like clarification as to why you were cut, don't hesitate to ask. I won't explain here, because there's a lot of different reasons for different people. I hope you understand, I just want to keep feeling comfortable with my journal; see below for further explanation.

Second, there's the content of my posts. I'm kindly asking all non-Gackt fans on my f-list to reconsider why they added me, and whether they enjoy reading about my personal life or not. As I mentioned above, I want to feel comfortable about posting what I want to post; I can't do that if there's a possibility I annoy people with my posts. So, if you choose to delete me for whatever reason, I won't hold it against you and I will keep you on my friendslist if you are not included in the cut I just announced, because I do enjoy reading all of your entries!

I kind of thought people were getting the idea my world revolves around Gackt, which isn't true. If you were under that impression, you don't know me well enoughl; the content of my livejournal is simply the content of my livejournal, not the content of my life. There's a lot of stuff I don't write about at all, for various reasons.
So if you want to get to know mé better, I suggest adding me on msn. This goes for everyone btw! My msn is the same adress I use for e-mail; aurora_whitedragon@hotmail.com
So even if you don't use msn, feel free to send me e-mails. :)

For a while I considered keeping two journals; but then I would be doubleposting my personal entries for just a small select group of people, and I want to be considerate, but that's simply too much of a hassle. I want to keep this journal as I like it; full of stuff that keeps me busy, preferably unlocked and unfiltered.

True thing is that now that I go back to school, I'll write more about school and stuff that has to do with my studies. Maybe even interesting essays about the wonders of Japan, WHO KNOWS. XDD
But aside from that nothing will change; I won't get a boyfriend nor will I grow up anytime soon. :PP

This isn't a test in order to get rid of lurkers or non-commenters, because that's stuff I'm worried about least of all, it's merely about me being able to post what I want without guilt. So be honest. <3


This has nothing to do with this, but; the reason why I have internet is because I'm still at home. I missed my train this afternoon because my bus ran VERY late, which would lead to me ending up in my only class for today VERY LATE. So I decided against my conscience and went to stroll around in Eindhoven for a bit and go back tomorrow instead of today. Yes, I have to make the mistake of trusting public transport again and again. XD;;

Edit: Mmm~ I just ordered Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol which comes out on the 15th~ So curious~~~ *____*

So I arrived home this afternoon and finally have internet~ XD

Haha, this week is so weird. The Japanese class for tomorrow is cancelled again because Yamada-sensei is sick; I have to go back to Maastricht for two periods of JKL (Kennis van Land en Volk - Japans / Knowledge of Country and Culture - Japanese) that start at 16:30 and end at 18:00, and on Thursday my classes again start late (14:45). That means, either tomorrow evening I go home and come back again on Thursday, or entertain myself on my room for Wednesday evening and the majority of Thursday. Without internet and with a tv I don't understand. Hm. I guess I'll just stay, finish my homework and go in town to spend money. It's not the cheapest option but I'm already tired of the trains, so.. heh. :P

So far school hasn't been very educative, but that's good; I can focus on the same old "bonding with my new class". I already have a group of people I talk and spend breaks with, and I have very lively and entertaining conversations with them, so I'm a bit proud of myself. I also took the train back to Eindhoven with them today. While we were waiting for it to arrive I was caught by surprise by something. My phone went off because my mother called, and immediately people around me went: "Ah, Gackt!!"; LOST ANGELS is my current ringtone. I thought my classmates didn't know any jmusic at all, but it appears there are people who like Gackt. This chinesish girl, I can't remember her name right now, seemed quite enthousiastic and up-to-date, not your avarage random fangirl. I feel lucky. ^^;;

So heh, today my class had Japanese for the first time. It was fun, I think there's potential in the group. The part of my first lesson from 2 years ago that I remembered, was the group practicing the sound of the Japanese "r", and we did it again today. It's amusing to see people with a very "throaty r" struggle to pronounce it; the Japanese "r" comes from the tip of your tongue. It's difficult for a lot of Dutchies. XD

While people were practicing hiragana I wrote a "considerable amount" of Japanese for the first time in a loooong while, lol. I don't think I ever scanned my writing, so here's my um... effort:

( Eek... :P )

Out of the casual Japanese conversating we start with after the kana ordeal, the only thing that really needs refreshing with me is clockreading. For some reason my brain never liked clockreading, not even in Dutch. I embarassingly screw up sometimes, even in my own language. :PP

I forgot when we're supposed to start on kanji, but that's when my easy life is over. XD

I am SO dead. Curse this hot weather, it wears me out so much. So this update will once again be short and to the point because I want to shower, relax and go to bed. :P

Today I received my timetable and it's not ideal (I have to get up very early on Monday morning so I can be in Maastricht on time) but it could have been worse.

This afternoon Milou and I had to walk all the way to the railway station from my room with our heavy suitcases because the buses in the centre of Maastricht stopped driving after 17:00 due to some event taking place on the Vrijthof. I swear I get stuff like that every time. :P

Introduction overall was ok, we didn't go to Aachen today which is a pity.. ahwell.

My birthday came and went; I didn't realize until sometime this afternoon that it was the 27th and thus my birthday. xD I don't really care a lot.. I mean, I had my party already and when I just came home my grandparents were here for an hour and then left again. Besides them nobody showed up, I think even my brothers forgot. :P
So heh, I'm 19 now, but it doesn't do me anything because I don't look like I'm 19. XDDD A lot of people in my class are still 17, and they just look.. way more mature than me. I don't know what it is.. is it my face, my haircut? I really have no clue. xD

As expected my mother got me stones as a present, just like last year and previous year. :P They're fairly sized pieces of amethyst, mountain crystal and pink quartz. She believes that if I put those three together in my room, they will keep TEH NEGATIV FORCES out. %D

Anyhow, I'm sticking to this table. SHOWER.

... starting today Gackt is my new Japanese sensei. He allowed me to take a picture of his environmentally aware rat dog:





Haha, anyway. XD I'm having fun with Milou (she's already practicing kana as we speak ^^) and other people I know at school, so I already feel right at home. To bad me, Milou and Wendy all ended up in different groups. xD But we'll see each other plenty around the building in breaks and stuff.

My room also looks a lot better now that's.. um well, see for yourself. :P





(Can you tell I have no space left at home for posters? ^^;;)

Azusa-sensei from my first year in 2007 decided to stay, so I wonder if she recognizes me.. Tomorrow we have some surprise activity, but it's supposed to be done by 17:00 so I expect to be home at least by 20:00.

That's all for this post, I just wanted to write that everything's well. :)

I just found out that I received my student financial aid for August yesterday. That's a big relief, but I think I still have to go to the IB Group office in Eindhoven; I should've received a message stating I could pick up my public transport card 2 weeks prior to the date I receive stufi, right?

Well, I haven't heard anything, so I'm afraid something went wrong in their hellish administration OR something worse is going on and I might not receive my card at all.. erkk.. *crosses fingers*

Anyway I'm off to Eindhoven in a few minutes, this evening I will go to Maastricht with larosenocturne because tomorrow and the day after (19th birthday, yayyy~ %D) and I'll be on and off the internet because I have introduction at school. Wish me luck~ I'll be back Thursday evening and on Friday I go see es_chan in Alphen~ <3
So when I'm back I'll either go to Maastricht on Sunday or Monday; it depends on my schedule.

Haha so.. finally my debts are gone, and my life is back. XDD

I just woke up feeling all groggy and heavyheaded again because of a deep, deep sleep. :P Haven't had that in a week.

Seemingly, if I sleep on a normal bed (I sleep on a waterbed at home) my slumber is less deep, I wake up more often at night, and I also have dreams all of a sudden. Last week I had a dream every single night and I could still remember it the day after!! That's so rare. xD

Maybe it had to do with me being "disconnected" from the outside world, but.. haha I actually dreamed about coherent things for once. I remember I dreamed about going back to Japan on at least 3 nights. 3 nights. And all 3 of them included somehow going to a Gackt live again. Oh yes I'm desperate. :P I also dreamed about friends, and the rest I can't remember.

Now I know I rather sleep in my waterbed, all those Japan dreams were driving me crazy with the need to go back, heh.

*EDIT*



Ahhh man... the cattery where we got Phoebus last year has a new Maine Coon litter with the same dad, and there are these beautiful black smoke males among them.. My mother and I want one of them but my dad doesn't look ready to give in... what to do?... ^^;;;

I'm home, finally. :P

Sorry for the unannounced (ok I did mention it) absence; I didn't even have time to turn on the pc on the day we left, and I did take my laptop but that's not much of a help when you're in the middle of nowhere with not a single wireless network floating around.

Texel was nice nevertheless, as always. There's still sand from the beach stuck between my toes. I'll post some pics and a summary later; the non-stop ride home totally killed me (even the boat crossing bored me) and I need to catch up with a lot of stuff first. And pick up my tigers after six, I almost missed them more than I missed the internet, haha.

AND NOW I WANT TO TALK WITH YOU GUYS, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. XDDDDD




Fuck, fuck, FUCK the IB Group, btw. Barely weeks before school start they mail me that I didn't apply for stufi with them yet. YOU BET I FUCKING DID, AND A FUCKING MONTH AGO, YOU BUNCH OF CAPITALIST ASSHATS!!!!!