Sometimes stuff is problematic

So apparently nobody can figure out the shortened words.  Here, have some hints:
pasokon, meruado, and kopipe are all words having to do with computers
kaanabi and rimokon are both electronics
furima and infure are words you will most commonly hear in economics
shinse and santora both have to do with music
ama is the opposite of puro
YAY, now you will definitely be able to figure them out, right?  Right?  Right?

Other exciting news!  On Friday night we had our dorm's dance party, which went better than the Halloween party, but has convinced me that even if I have friends at them, I am just not into parties!
Additionally, I discovered that when I put on a dress, dudes apparently become really interested in flirting with me.  It's awkward, 'cause some of them were dudes who have never bothered to talk to me before and suddenly they were all, "Man, you are HAWT in a dress," and then ogled me awkwardly, and I was all, "OH MAN, IS THAT SOMEONE WHO DESPERATELY NEEDS MY HELP FAR ACROSS THE ROOM I GOTTA GO."  On the other hand, I had a bunch of actually good/interesting conversations with people who had things to remark on other than my hawtness in a dress/lack of hawtness the rest of the time.

Oh, on a totally unrelated note, several days ago, Ashley recognized my dorky Hitchhiker's shirt for what it is,* which led to SO MUCH GEEKY BONDING, as if we weren't already buddies because of our shared bronyism** and disturbing enthusiasm for Gurren Lagann (it is the best and if you disagree YOU ARE WRONG).

In other news, I have begun to realize exactly how right Alyssa's Law of Anthropology is.  Alyssa (who is the anthropologist Fulbrighter in Fukuoka) was saying at the conference that anthropologists like to spend a lot of time talking about how "problematic" everything is.  And recently I've been doing a lot of reading that has driven that point home.  Of course, sometimes labeling something as problematic makes sense, especially if it's a translated word.  For example, could you call a kami a god?  Maybe.  But that could be, ahem, problematic, because it might make your readers think that you're talking about the Western concept, with the gods existing in a different world/level than humanity.  It gets even more complicated when you're using words that also exist in Chinese, or words that exist across cultures, like "Buddha."  In Japanese, there's a phrase "to become a buddha," which is basically synonymous with "to die."  Except that's not how becoming a Buddha works in any other kind of Buddhism.  So it's pretty understandable if you have to put a disclaimer on that sort of thing.
...and then there are people who think pretty much everything is problematic.  This especially becomes a problem when you're talking about Shinto between 1868 and 1945, because everybody argues over whether it was a state cult or not and whether it was a religion or not and whether it was a state teaching or not and whether etc. etc. etc.  And it's fine to recognize that there's a lot of debate surrounding a lot of terms, but apparently some people feel the need to write a disclaimer EVERY.  TIME.  THE TERM.  APPEARS.  Yes, I got it the first time!  It's problematic!  I know!

On a final note, I asked Itou-san about finding a female priest who went through seminary as a college student (because both she and Nakano-san did the crazy summer crash courses), and she is amazing and knows a bunch of people and said she would introduce me and YES.  SO EXCITED.

...and on an actually final note, people have found my blog through the keywords "euphemisms for chest hair."
What.
The.
Fork.

*So many people have told me that my "whale shirt" is "cute," and then I wait for them to continue and they just stop there and I am sad.

**Season 2 ended today and it was amazing and I just, wow, you guys, wow.
I WISH I HAD A BBBFF.  OR A PFF.  OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.
ALSO, PONIES + OPERA WHY IS THIS SO GOOD
[obligatory spazzing]
Ahahaha, you probably all think I'm insane but I DON'T CARE BECAUSE PONIES.