11 posts from June 2009

Had a cold all weekend, and somehow managed to make my capsule an absolute disaster. On the up side, I'm feeling a lot better now. Maybe I'll get some work done tonight.

Part of the preliminary acceptance package for my scholarship includes the (gasp) letters of recommendation two of my professors sent. I didn't get to read them before, and I just glanced through them. They were so kind and encouraging, I was moved to tears. It made me feel like I need to get off my fat ass and really finish off what I need to do, and clinch this scholarship. I've somehow moved the universe to help and support me so far, I just need to keep going with this.
Wearing a yukata at work this week.
Going on a crash diet this week. Just because. It's kind of a crash diet/cleanse thing. Too much junk food lately. That's probably what's made me sick. Plus a customer took me out to eat a whole cow one night. Including but not limited to cow Achilles heel chopped up like fresh onion slices, raw cow liver sprinkled with sesame seeds, cow tongue seared. I literally ate a cow from head to foot to guts -- and I'm actually a vegetarian. Felt pretty gross afterwards, so I think I need a crash diet/cleanse. And I'm writing it here so that I won't back out of it.

I think I'm not number one this week, and guess what? It will be a relief. My goal is to NOT go on a paid date this week. I need to focus on other things.

About a month ago, about 30 immigration officials poured into our club. Of course foreigners all have swine flu, so they were all wearing huge masks on their faces. All of us have proper visas and everything, so there was nothing to be afraid of. But it was just annoying, and it was harassment.

Then two nights ago a bunch of cops piled in. Like 20 of them. Plain clothes. Again, we're all above board so nothing happened, but COME ON!

Today I got an email from a customer asking me if I was okay, because there was a "serious smoke out of illegal foreigners in hostess clubs" last night. So I went online, and apparently somebody named nine hostess clubs and told the police that there were illegal girls working in them. So the obvious thing to do is to send 220 police and immigration officers out to all named clubs. Guess what? It depends on your news source, but three or six people were arrested or detained. Japanese society is much safer, now that two hostesses and one random unemployed Indian guy are off the streets. I bet it was really worth those 220 officers.

So an anonymous tip that there are (gasp) foreigners with dubious visas unleashes the full might of the Japanese police force. That makes me feel really welcome.

From my visit to San Francisco. My aunt setting up her stall at the Berkeley market. She made almost 3,000dollars over two days. Not bad for this economy. That's my uncle in there, looking confused. This was like 8am -- waaaay too early in the morning. No wonder I've been exhausted over the last few weeks.

My mom's cats. There's old man Sam over my shoulder, being a loving gentleman as always. And princess Nori throwing some attitude as usual.
Mom's home cooking. With Osami sitting in the background. Soooooo yummy.

GOT MY INITIAL ACCEPTANCE FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP!!!!

This is only a "preliminary acceptance," and I still need to do a few more things, but I am 95% of the way through, baby! YEAH!!!

Can't give up yet, must follow all the way through, but so far so good. YEAH!

Called up/woke up Baldy by shouting "guess what!!!????" down the phone.

Did the same thing to my best friend.

They both guessed correctly.

Feel motivated for life again.

Thoughts since meeting dear little (even though she's taller than me by quite a bit) Uki in real life, and then working with her, and then partaying with her:

- apparently I smile way too much and I'm like some sort of retarded freak when working
- i LIVE on the internet. So? (btw I read every single entry on textsfromlastnight.com. That was my accomplishment for the weekend)
- she is way more accomplished and cooler than me, and she's basically ten years younger than me
- and she can speak a million languages. why was I such a lazy dumb ass in school? If I had paid attention I'd be able to speak French, German, and Spanish, and possibly Russian, and maybe even Hebrew by now. Guess what? I can't.
- I sometimes have an uncontrollable urge to call her "Uki" in public.
- it's awkward when people ask how we're friends.

okay, thank you Tik! All I've done today is go through that texts from last night website.

and just read these:

(978): Can you send me a pic of you vag, I'm sexting the guy and he wants a pic but I didnt shave
(617): dude are you serious?
(978): I know you already have a pic on your phone

(828): he was so hot that i framed the used condom. it's not trash, it's art.
(479): I'm going to save the lime from my McDonald's salad to use in my Corona later tonight.
(540): Apparently you walked through my house with your dress on your head
(310): if being creepy is wrong, then i don't want to be right.
(216): my tampon string is in my asshole... do you think i can get it out without anyone noticing?
(1-216): i'd get off the bar first.

I NEED TO STOP! Somebody cut me off!

Oh my god!

I went downstairs to go to the convenience store across the street to get some food, when I got bothered by a guy saying "excuse me, can I talk to you for a second?" Of course I ignored him completely and walked on. And then I heard him say, "hello? hello? I'm police." [もしもし、警察ですが。]

My heart dropped but I wasn't about to turn around and see if it was true or show any sign of weakness. So I went into the convenience store and took my time buying my food. Then I saw that the dude was waiting outside for me and staring right at me. He was built, like he worked out, and he looked like he meant business.

But what the fuck, I wasn't doing anything wrong, he didn't have any right to harass me, even if he was a cop. So I walked out, and of course he closed in on me, along with another little guy who literally looked 12 years old. They surrounded me and shoved their police badges in my face, and next thing I knew, the 12 year old was right in front of me, struggling with his English, saying "police, ehhh..." I glared at their badges and asked them (of course in Japanese) if I was doing anything wrong. Then I said I was Japanese, and shoved past them, as the buff guy asked me to show some ID. He didn't want to give up, but I could hear the 12 year old say, "lets just leave it."

A Japanese person isn't required to show ID. Even a foreigner isn't required to show ID unless they're doing something wrong. I was fully expecting them to chase me, and I was planning on running into my building and letting the door with the auto lock close behind me. But they gave up. Don't they have anything better to do?

fuck the police.

The other girls must have been really lazy last week. Either that, or it was just a very dry week. Because even though I just worked for two days, I am still number one.

Hungry. It's 930am and I haven't slept yet. If I don't get to sleep soon, this is going to be one of those days when I forget to sleep, and then wonder why I'm so exhausted later.

good night!

Home!

exhausted.

the flight was really full, I was stuck in a middle seat in between two hefty dudes, the one on my right was old and obese and he kept scratching his balls and shoving his ham arms into my area. well, to be fair he couldn't help it, so he wasn't really actively trying to squash me. poor guy.

anyway, I survived. and I'm home. and my room is a disaster. Last time I was in my room, I was panicking, slightly hungover, printing practice tests and application outlines and notes I wanted to refer to during my interview. Now I'm exhausted and I can't even face the piles of mess that have taken over my capsule. So I'm going to sleep.

not going to work tonight. fuck that. I'll call my boss in half an hour, if I don't pass out before then.

I got my hair cut. how come every time I go back to America, I come back with a hair disaster? it's a weird hairdo. but it'll look alright in a month or so. not sure what I'm going to do until then. And quite frankly, at the moment I don't care. I don't care about anything except sleep.

After that crazy drama between Johnny and G, coming back to this blog seems a bit anticlimactic. Not quite sure what happened there, but oh well. moving on.

My test and interview went as well as I could have hoped, I was prepared and I did the best I could have done. I was a little taken aback when one of the interviewers asked me why I think Haruki Murakami's books are so popular all over the world. I did a quick panic scan of my brain and thought to myself, "did I even mention Murakami in my application?" because I don't think I did, he's not really anything close to what I want to study. I said something about how his storylines are unpredictable and surreal. It really took me off guard. Anyway, it's over, and I'll find out within a week or two whether I am accepted or denied.

Phew.

I came back to my aunt's and slept until the sun went down.

Tomorrow I'm going with her to sell her designs in a market stall in Berkeley -- which is where I spent my early years. It was the first place I thought of as "home." It's always weird to go back. Hopefully she'll sell a lot and make lots of money. She gave me one of the bags she designed. It has a dragon in the middle of the ocean with lightning crashing around it, and the dragon's making an (unintentionally) confused face, with his (unintentionally) weird hand holding that crystal ball dragons are always holding. My mom says I look like an American tourist in Japan with that bag, but who cares.

Getting back to Tokyo is going to be a little weird. I'll have to get right back into the swing of things. My flight arrives at 2pm, and I'm going to work at 8pm. What the fuck was I thinking? I bought omiyage (gifts) for my bosses and friends and customers. I have to give back to everyone that helped me, everyone that supported me, and to the customers that made me number one last week! It will probably never happen again.