don't dress me up

Sometimes I forget how much I like Vox. I'm stting here, finally listening to Radiohead's In Rainbows (which is wonderful) and further contemplating my potential postgraduate studies. This year or next year, that is the question.

I want to go to London, that's indisputable. If I am going to go ahead and do it I want to be in an area that will be easy for me to find a job as well as a possible internship that could turn into a professional job somewhere along the line.

Every time I think about it, I just feel so sure somewhere within me that it's what I should be doing. I have no idea why. The parental units have shaken their head at me; I wish it were only so easy to make a decision. If I waited I could save up some money that would mean less loans later. If I wait, I may not be eligible for a lot of the UK student discounts. At least, I believe I read that somewhere.

I have no idea.

Naofumi is still in Aruba and I have absolutely no obligations to the world today except to visit the co-op. As much as it's a bit lonely with no one else around, I secretly love the time to myself. My plans include a shower, House, books, and hopefully a delicious vegetarian dinner prepared by yours truly. We'll see just how well that last idea goes.

In the meantime, I have a bit of a question. Why do people like to sing along to music? I'm not saying this as an accusation, as I am one of those people who unconsciously do it while consciously trying not to. Does it enhance the experience? Does it elevate the amount of emotion that one feels from it? Naofumi thinks I'm crazy because not only do I listen to music when I study, but I sing along, and the music is often in a different language: i.e singing in French while studying Japanese. It's something I can't help, and it just makes me wonder.

What's your favorite vacation destination?

It depends on where I am at the time. Let's take the three places I've lived in my life and go from there:

New York: If I'm in New York, my favorite vacation destination would have to be what is called in my family "the flats". We own over 100 acres in upstate New York and every August we have a family reunion where everyone camps out for the weekend. It's always so much fun and really relaxing. I Iove looking at the stars up there because I've never seen stars anywhere else like I do there. There's too much light pollution from the city at my house.

Florida: If I'm in Orlando where I've been before and am likely to again be at some time in the future, my favorite sort of hideout space is really not so much of a hideout. I love riding the WDW Railroad (that goes around the perimeter of MK), the blue line (AKA the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority), and the giant golf ball that is Spaceship Earth at EPCOT. When I live in Orlando, the parks are my playground and sometimes it's just so much fun and surprisingly relaxing!

Japan: When I'm in Japan I have lived  - and probably will again - in metropolitan areas so visiting rural areas was always a plus. I also just love riding the train. I could probably happily go up and down the Eizan line a billion times in a row and never get bored. Everything there is beautiful.

Sometimes I sort of forget that I have this. I think it's mainly because it doesn't have Safari support, and I barely use Firefox on my iBook; I'm much more inclined to use it at times on my iMac. Don't ask me why, it doesn't make sense to me, either.

Since I last wrote I've:
- moved back to school
- into my first apartment
- lost and found my glasses
- realised just how much work deciding what dinner is and cooking it
- lost my mind trying to park around here. no. parking. whatsoever.

I'm still waiting for a lot of my textbooks to come in so that I can dive into reading. I bought two more today so that I might be able to at least catch up with my Fifth Century Athens class. I'm not too worried about Japanese (this class is so easy for me so far) except for the vocabulary we're supposed to know. So far I've photocopied it from まの先生's textbook. Hopefully mine will arrive soon; it says online that all the other books are there save that one. Figures.

直史 is here now, well, he's been here for almost a month. Wow. Is it that long already? It seems like he's always been here. He's currently sitting next to me playing Mario Kart DS with someone via wi-fi. (I peeked. He's winning.)

Aside from that, hey. How are you all doing?

To satisfy QotD: I collect PEZ containers. And プリクラ, it seems.

Any other Voxers out there as into Matisyahu as I am? He has such a wonderful, inspirational message that really brings it home. Not to mention this song makes me dance every time I hear it.

What are the 5 words that best describe your life right now?
Question submitted by mojito.

relieved. stressed. excited. motivated. thirsty.

What was the highlight of this past weekend?

An Inconvenient Truth

Finally being able to see An Inconvenient Truth. I've been waiting a long time for this (due to being in Japan). I've been reading a lot of books lately since I've gotten home and now I'm absolutely sure of what I want to do with my life: environmental conservation.

(...for the kanji-impaired, that's "music of summer".)

I'm going to ignore the implied rules in the question, as there's no one CD that I could say sums my  (early)  summer up. But there are a few singles together that could probably do it.

太陽の下

レミオロメン, ever since 粉雪, had me completely at hello. I saw the video on Space and that was it. I braved the insanely high prices of actually buying a CD in Japan rather than just renting it (as I usually do) because I loved that single so much. But, really, that is clearly more a winter song. Their single after that was 太陽の下 and I can I remember one night before Naofumi and I headed off to join friends for karaoke that we sat there with the lyrics and practiced singing this song so that we could later sing it together there.

Keep Tryin'

What would a summer would be without one song by my favorite Japanese artist? I wasn't a big fan of this song at first, but it definitely grew on me. Everything about the lyrics is apt; even the single's cover art hints at what the song will be about. While in Japan this song was something that rang true to me because I could see evidence of the lyrics everywhere. While back in America, it's a sense of nostalgia because it covers so many things that I was used to. All in all, a fun, yet intelligent, song.

A Little Pain

While maybe the other songs have meaning, I think this one may yet be the most poignant. I remember seeing this on TV in Japan and although I never got to hear the full song there, I did once I arrived back here and it's just a sadly beautiful song. The way she just breathes the word 気づいて is just gorgeous. (And, I swear there was a girl on the plane back to America that looks just like her, it was bizarre.) Everything about this song is hauntingly striking and therefore it's been one of my most played songs of the summer.

Other songs that have been rather popular, but lack Amazon pictures are:
福山雅治 『milk tea』：   倖田來未　『恋のつぼみ』：　ケツメイシ　『上がる』

You can find my recent travel day from hell story here. And I thought the flight from Japan would be the worst of it. Boy, was I wrong. : D

僕の腕を掴みながら君は　/『もう少しだけ，もう少しだけ』と僕に君は呟く
holding you in my arms, "just a little longer, just a little longer," you murmur [to me].