Getting this out of the way

I'm awful at studying, especially a lot at once. I don't generally think to study a little at a time. The term "I'll do it later" is very predominant in my vocabulary when it comes to studying. Oops.

SO! Procrastination. And I don't think I'll be able to to much more this time around. I'm tired of rote memorization. I always forget it. It doesn't help me. So I will probably fail my second (of many) German test. But after that, things will change.

So yeah. Meme for now. I'm finishing it up today cause I would (for some non-understandable reason) feel guilty if I didn't finish it when I said I would.

Day 23- Something you crave for a lot.

Hm... Peanut butter. I crave peanut butter and... Chinese food. And sleep. HOLY CRAP sleep. I needs it.

Day 24- A letter to your parents.

Ah... This is a little too personal for me. Things aren't always as shiny as I'd like for them to be, especially with one of them in particular. With the other, things just sort of come and go. I prefer it that way. :) I love my parents, even when/if they drive me crazy. They done raised me good.

Day 25- What I would find in your bag.

I guess that depends on what bag you mean. Since the one closest to me is my school bag, I'll use that one XD (sorry for relatively poor image quality. Taking it with my phone was a lot simpler than taking it with my amazing-quality camera, which I don't have on hand XD lol)

1. Notebooks

2. File folder thingy (purple thing)

3. French Text Book (pink one)

4. Pencil Case

5. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (which is due back at the library today... hm...)

6. Planner/organizer (today's pages are kinda empty looking...)

7. Post-it notes (not shown?)

8. Chap Stick

9. Wallet (brown, bottom right) and check book (under pencil case)

10. KEYS (not shown, but the keychain is huge! There's so much on it XD But that's the way I like it lol)

11. Draußen vor der Tür by Wolfgang Borchert

12. Loose change?

13. Water bottle

14. Cell phone (not shown since it took the picture lol)

15. A cord of some kind....

16. Essential Medication (not shown I think?)

17. French/English dictionary (electronic)

Day 26- What you think about your friends.

HAHA. What kind of question is THAT?! My friends are awesome. Nuff said. ♥

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge.

I don't know. Because I was bored, I suppose. It seemed like a good idea when I started it. Not that it took 30 days or anything... or that I really cared about it at all at the end. I just finished it because I started it. XD Good reasoning, you say? I rather thought so too, thank you.

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Well, they're already up. The one on the main page is from last year, and the last time I posted a "recent" picture, it was taken the week before I posted it. So how am I different?

Well... I suppose I'm more obnoxious now. I'm louder and generally more upfront/blunt with people. My hair is short and instead of redish brown it's now purple, though it looks black in dim light and red in sunlight. And there's a blond streak on the right side (though it used to be green haha).

I speak quite a bit of German now, and I've been to many places I hadn't been at the time.

I'm a double major, which I wasn't before. I have a solid job and way too much to do. When the picture last year was taken, I had dropped out of school due to medical problems and wasn't able to do very much at all with my life. Now that I have a TON to do, I wish I could find a better balance.

I have more friends, some different some the same. I have really good days and really bad ones like always, but I don't try to hide it too much.

I love my room mates - all of them. That's a definite first.

That's about all I've got.

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned.

I've learned quite a bit over the month. Do you mean about myself? Cause that answer is short. Not much. And certainly not because of this meme. It was more to tell other people about me than to tell ME about me. THAT'S just silly.

Day 30- Who are you?

Who am I? 24601. (My name is Jean Valjean).

Technology Adventures and der Berliner Mauer

Well! Interesting past couple of days. Conference was awesome. The weekend was... kwatch.

My computer broke. Literally. And the hard drive is crashing. AGAIN. So I have a brand new computer! Courtesy of my daddy and my upcoming 21st birthday. (It's on Sunday! =D I'm excited)

Pretty much everything was saved, so no hard feelings? I guess? This one is a lot sturdier than that one and I've been having problems with the last one for over a year now. It's had to be reformatted twice and I needed a new hard drive just a few short months ago. I don't wanna deal with that any more. And now I don't have to!

I taught my first mini-lesson on Friday. I don't think I talked about that yet. I did it in Japanese. It was super fun! My Japanese isn't very good since I haven't taken a class in a year now, but still. I knew enough to teach a couple family members and talk incessantly for 15ish minutes haha. It was an adventure. And it made me feel SO much better about the idea of being a teacher in a couple of years. If I can handle it in Japanese, then I can definitely handle it in French, German, or English, all of which are WAY better than my Japanese. ♥

Yesterday was Germany reunification day! And Emily and I forgot XD Oops. So we decided to post a blank "Berliner Mauer" (Berlin Wall) on our kitchen wall! We and our friends will cover it in graffiti for the next month and then, on November 9th, we will tear it down and eat Jelly Doughnuts. I'm so excited! Haha.

What else happened?

I got in a fight with my brother. We're having breakfast over here tomorrow, so hopefully we can work things out. My mom... I love her to death, but she needs to stay out of things like this. I should have known better than to ask her advice. You'd think after 21 years I would have learned, but I haven't apparently. Oh well.

Tomorrow is going to be crazy. One of those days when it's painfully evident that I'm a double major haha.

Here's the schedule:

5 - wach auf! (Get up!)

5:3o or 6 - 7:30 - WORK (for my job I mean... which means research and stuff. Thankfully in English!! Yay!)

7:30 - Breakfast with my brother

8:10 - leave to pick up Laura

8:20 - Drive to Highland

[I don't know how long our high school observation will last tomorrow so I'm leaving this time blank]

11ish? - Study and eat lunch

12-1:15 - French Civ class

BREAK (in which I study some more XD )

2-3 Writings of Isaiah class

3-4 Study

4 - TAKE FRENCH CIV EXAM

[I'm being very optimistic in hoping that it will only take an hour. Last exam was 18 questions... so yeah...]

5 - Eat dinner and take a legit break

6-when I drop dead - Study for my German exam

I'm not doing nearly as much as I should be. I got sick again today and I'm so tired... probably on account of my sickness. Anyway I should get to bed. It's getting late... and I still have to shower.

Stupid hygiene.

Once my life calms down a little I'll be more interesting haha. More pictures will be posted and my life will seem shiny once more.

Bis später. ♥

"Little Big Berlin" ♥

My friend Jimmy posted this on facebook today. It nearly made me cry. I miss Berlin SO much. It seems more my hometown now than anything, since it's the one place I would love to go back to more than anything.

It's a rather long video, but I love every second of it.

This was stated by the maker of this short video:

"I dedicate this film to Berlin where I have been living for 19 years now. While the architecture of Berlin is stunningly beautiful, only its inhabitants make Berlin the unique city that it is. In every corner there is something new to discover. And the best thing to do is to film it."

I doubt many people would take the trouble to go read that when the video is simply embedded, but still. I thought it deserved to be shared.

Ich liebe dich, Deutschland. ♥

Obama's Idea of Better

This makes me very angry.

I don't understand why it's so hard to listen to people who actually know what they're talking about. Hiring new math and science teachers and pushing "test scores" harder isn't going to fix the problems that public school systems have. Simply admitting there's a problem won't fix it either.

I keep hoping things will get better, but it just seems like they're getting worse. And it doesn't seem like we (as present and future teachers) can do anything about it. We can't make them understand what real, good teaching requires.

Teaching new teaching methods is all well and good, but if the students don't care, it hardly matters. I wish they would stop blaming teachers for the number of drop-outs. The best teachers in the world can't MAKE students want to learn.

Students will still get pregnant, need jobs to support families, run away, or any other manner of things. Did you know suicide counts as dropping out? How messed up is that?

This country has no idea what it's doing. And I admit, I'm still a student. But it doesn't take an idiot to see that it's not going well and things need to change. I'm not an idiot, so I think it's safe to say this "reform" is a joke.

If you want good results, talk to the people who know the field. Don't just make something up and throw in some big words and the phrase "it's what's best for the children" and think that will pass. It won't.

Rawr.

More Meme Stuff (mostly nicknames haha)

Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them.

Ok nicknames... Holy crap I have a ton. Let's see... Let's go with the 3 most used and most recent. I've had over 30 in my life (most of which I have obtained since starting high school... but then again that was 7 years ago haha).

1. Matt

This one is the one that was used more than any other in high school. It comes from this guy:

His name is Mail (pronounced "Mile") Jeevas, aka Matt. He's a character from Deathnote.

I cosplayed him in high school. I used to be really in to that. So my "Mello," my counterpart in this role, started calling me Matt all the time. Then a few more friends started doing it too until it finally just stuck. Here's what I look like when cosplaying him:

So there's the first one.

Second one is "Kaoru."

At a convention, I met several other people cosplaying Matt (above). One such person is now my adopted twin. However, since all his friends call him Matt and my friends call me Matt, we decided new nicknames were necessary. So we named ourselves after twins from Ouran High School Host Club and their names are Kaoru and Hikaru. We never cosplayed them, but the names stuck anyway.

And last, but certainly not least, is Shiro/Hitsugaya Taicho (meaning Captain Hitsugaya).

One of my best friends (nicknamed Matsumoto) is really in to Bleach and got me in to it as well. One day we were deciding which Bleach character we were most like, and she decided I was most like him. I have to say I agree. He's also my favorite haha. But that's pretty common. Lots of people love him. I am very like him in many, many ways.

Here are my two favorite pictures of him:

He has ice powers, so showing a shot of him in the snow seems fitting.

This one is of him and his Vice Captain, Matsumoto.

So that's it for the nicknames! Yay! =D Lol. So what's next?

Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/ being with in the future.

Oh goodness. THAT'S not something I want posted all over the internet haha. For all intents and purposes, I have no expectations of anything happening to change my non-existent love life. And it's probably better that way anyway, right? Too much to do.

Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy.

Many things make me happy. Hm... I don't really know what to post for that one. All the pictures I take make me happy... German makes me happy. French makes me happy. Music makes me happy... Japan makes me happy... my friends make me happy. I don't know. Too many things to choose from!! ^^;; haha

Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else.

What makes me different from everyone else?

I'm me. And they're not.

Considerations

Oh MAN! SO much is going on that I need to consider! Gah!

I wish I had more time on my hands.

Ok, so here's the list:

1. Banzai.

Do I go or not? It would be fun, sure. But worth it? I don't know. If Saki and Engel haven't worked things out by then, I REALLY don't want to go cause that's NOT what I want to deal with. Plus it's expensive. But it's also something I miss a lot. And there are people there that I haven't seen in 2 years now... including one of my "adopted" younger sisters. But I also don't know if I can get the car from my brother anyway... Rawr. Plus it's the weekend of my 21st birthday. I don't know if that's really how I want to spend it.

2. My Birthday

Besides the above, there are other things to consider. Do I want to celebrate it at all? Or just let it go peacefully by? I can't decide. I'm really tempted to ask for a sewing machine for my birthday. I know it's big, but I also don't care if it comes out of my Christmas gifts. It's the only thing I really want. I MISS sewing. And I'm good at it, so why let it go by? I need to talk to my dad about it. Also... I'm worried someone very important to me (who I won't name online just now) will forget my birthday because of certain distractions that have, lately, seemed more important than anything else in his/her life. I don't want to say anything. Maybe my worries will be unfounded... If ANYONE else forgot I wouldn't care. It happens. But... anyway. Moving on.

3. NaNoWriMo (link for those who don't know what it is)

I didn't get to do it last year because I was sick. But I want to. This year I have a good idea - very undeveloped, but I like it anyway. But what with school and work, I don't know if I'll have time and energy. Of course, my education class will be over by then so I'll have more time, but I get the sinking feeling that I'll need it for other things haha. So we'll see. Maybe if I can get one or more of my friends to do it with me... Emily can't this year due to school and other obligations. Megan is always busy so I don't know if she will. Carolyn might... we keep trying to get that to work. We'll see.

4. My Sister

(If you're reading this, just know it's on my mind, not a problem)

She's coming out here in January! Yay! It's finally official!! Which I really do think is awesome.

However, the place I've found for her to stay is in my own apartment (one of my room mates is getting married in December! Yay Jessica!!). And as much fun as it sounds, it could really create some problems. I REALLY want her to live in this building with me and our brother, but it makes me nervous living in the same apartment. I'm just afraid of a clash of personalities and habits. I mean... Kristen and Jessica get along very well and they're sisters. It's just been a while since she and I lived in the same place. And I get anxious about most things. So blah.

5. My Brother

I love him to death! He's the best brother I could have ever asked for... usually. It used to be ALWAYS, hands down, but lately it's been harder. What with his girlfriend leaving soon, he's acting a LOT different. And I can't blame him at all - I'm sure I would be the same in some respects - but it's still hard. He's hurting himself more by doing... everything he's doing and I don't like to see it. And I don't ever get to see him or borrow the car - even to get groceries. It's been a frustrating month. And once she's gone, he'll be extremely depressed. He's even planning on being so BEFORE she leaves. Yes, I did say "planning." I don't get it. And I guess I don't have to. But it's always at the back of my mind, nagging me. -sigh-

6. School

I don't feel like I'm trying hard enough, but I don't have the time or energy right now to try any harder. I'm sick and tired enough as it is and I can't push myself any harder. I'll only get sick. So what do I do? Stick it out, I guess? Well whatever. I just want to learn.

I'm allowed to keep both my majors, did I say that? And the minor I have and add on the one that I wanted to. Yay!!! (I know it sounds crazy, but once all the paper-work is taken care of I'll explain).

Anyway it's late now and I've whined enough. I need to shower and get some serious sleep. I'm exhausted.

Sorry there's nothing amusing in this entry. And no pictures. I know it makes blogs less interesting to everyone. But I'm too tired to really care right now.

OH! One good note.

4 more German CDs have been acquired by yours truly. All of LaFee's stuff. I'm still listening to it for the first time, but I really like it all so far. =D Yay German music! I like it a lot better than American/English music XD (as stated before)

Oh yeah... meme... I'll do it later. Sorry all.

Night!! Sleep is ♥ And yet, sadly, I don't get nearly enough of it. Oh the life of a student~

This is Bound to Be EPIC!

Jamie posted this on her LJ. I decided I had to share. I was going to teach in Japan this past summer, but due to illness, I missed the last interview and couldn't go. Instead, I went to Berlin and had the time of my life.

Maybe one day I'll still get to teach in Japan. Wouldn't that be awesome?! But for now, I can only dream.

In the mean time, here is this drama. Hopefully more to come soon!