I am the worst blogger ever. But its why I have facebook :)

So, on Wednesday it was my three month anniversary in Japan. Which is a bit crazy.
I should be sleeping. Or writing on a textbook. Or something. Buts its not even 2AM on a Saturday, and in Japan that means I should be out and about and having fun. Except, I am at home. With streaming j-pop internet radio, and my laptop. Yay.

1. I have started making friends. Some that I knew from the internet and various things. Some local. But mostly its people I meet when I am out at bars near my apartment, since that seems to be where most the community happenings are. BUT, since I recently found a church I have been embraced by all sorts of super wonderful warm happy people. Which makes me happy. For many reasons. But after leaving LA and having a very warm, very caring environment there I was worried that I wouldnt be able to find something like that in Japan. I seem to be wrong. I mean, I have met people who went to university in SA. Crazy.

2. I have started kinds sorta Japanese lessons. I started doing a language exchange with someone Japanese<-->English over coffee for free. But we both kinda suck at communication so that hasn't happened for the last two weeks. I need to sign up for lessons. But since payday is happening, and that sets me finally on the road to kinda sorta stable as opposed to what the heck, i am poooooooooooooor and have no things. And getting settled takes time and I know that. But there are group lessons for 2.5 hours Sunday morning for 1000JPY, which is cheap! And they offer one free, so next weekend I will try that, and see what happens. Since I need to start leaning to speak Japanese.

3. But some of y bar friends are helping teach me. We are staring with menu kanji and things, but they teach the SUPER casual Japanese, and I need to learn formal as well. Since I cant talk to work people in casual yo whats up Japanese.

4. The apartment is still 90% unfurnished, since moving to a new country is hard, and expensive, and I wont have the budget to really furnish it until them. But at that point to go with my purple bedding will be a yellow mirror. and turquoise IKEA expedit shelves. and a hot pinkish magenta bookcase. And I need heavy winter curtains, since my futon is near the window and coooooold. Maybe the kotatsu futon? 

5. I have walked a TON. Lost about 12.5ish kilos (at least). Which is about 27 lbs? I am not sure of my exact starting weight. But I am losing weight. Which is good. I just need to get down about 20 more kilos to be at a good healthy weight for my build. But it is a work in progress. The nightly/late night at least half hour wandering of the neighborhood helps I think. At least when it was warmer. But its cold now, so I go walking less. I need to figure out what to do about this.  But so does a diet with exponentially less sugar, and less processed sugar. Though I eat a lot of carbs. A LOT. And I do go out. And i drink. When I have money. But still, huge progress.

6. I still love Japanese pop culture. Am rediscovering my love for SMAP, whom a friend had introduced me to years ago when we first got into Rurouni Kenshin and Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yuugi and all things Japan. So Bz and Spitz and SMAP and Mr. Children and X-Japan are all things that make me happy, since it is nostalgic. And I might adore Nakai from SMAP. For all his awkward off key singing and questionable dancing skills he is adorable and all over the TV. And sometimes I can even understand what he is saying. But that also means that my enjoyment of Japanese pop culture increases. And there are more bands that I like ^^*.

7. Work had me traveling all over to the prefectures out Tokyo (Kanagawa, Yokohama, Shizuoka) as well as as far as Kyoto for the moment. There are so many places that I want to go and I want to see BUT financial stability, furnish my apartment, and paying off credit cards and loans comes first. Then with the extra money I can do fun things. But I am planning Disney over Christmas, and Hakone with a friend after christmas, and koyo viewing in Kamakura/Enoshima late this month/early December, so I am doing things. :) 

8. It is really weird to not be working 70 hours a week, with no days off. Now I work 70-120 hours a MONTH. It is kinda amazing. BUT it also means that I have more free time that I know what to do with. And days off. But I do spend a lot of time on the train, since I travel a lot for work. Which means I was a hermit for a while. Caught up on ALLLLLL the sleep I missed in grad school. 

9. Im lonely. And I miss people. And I miss hugs, and physical contact. While I have met awesome awesome people here like they live far enough away that seeing them is intermittent. But this is what happens when you go from living in a sharehouse with some amazing and awesome people to living in a small 1LK in Tokyo.

10. I get hit on 3958498768259 more than I ever got hit on at home. But thats usually at the bars. usually by married or taken men. Since thats apparently a thing here. IDEK. I also acquired a pushy admirer in an expat who keeps suggesting we go places. By car. Alone. Puts me on edge a little. But he is only pushy when he is SUPER drunk, and has backed off. But that has been inserting, since I never seemed to get any attention when I was back in the states. And I don't know how to deal with it well. 

But all that is to say that i like my job. And I am happy. And I enjoy life again. I don't dream every moment of every day. I don't look for anything that will get me out of there. While I probably needed to be in LA for the two years that I was there, this is a good new start for me, and I regret nothing. 

This next week I get paid, and get to go furniture shopping!! Some of it is mail order, so I dont know when it will arrive for sure, but when I have pic of the apartment with stuff in it, i will post them. And try and post more as a whole. 

Love you all!!