Sunday, May 27, 2012

NEWS FLASH

AWWWW YEAH, look at this not-really-article.

HERE, PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF:


SEE, THE SCREEN IS THE SAME.
WE WERE THERE.
AW YEAH.
(Picture totally stolen from Sara.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I just have to go cough up a lung.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

I have now occupied the same room as the emperor of Japan. It's probably all downhill from here.

Hey, guys!  Guess who's still sick! YEP, IT'S ME.  I...feel really bad for everyone I have come in contact with, because I sound like I'm dying of some horrible wasting disease (I actually only have a cold that's being aggravated by my asthma).  I just want to apologize to everyone, but that would probably be weird.
Also, I forgot to bring my camera card converter, so even though I have pictures I can't upload any of them BAH.

Anyway, yesterday I headed up to Tokyo, dumped all my stuff at the hostel, changed into ~CLASSY CLOTHING~ and then took the subway to the Imperial Hotel.  Good grief, that hotel is CLASSY.  It is probably the classiest hotel I have ever been in, and potentially the classiest hotel I will ever be in.  Anyway, I met up with Karen and Sara there (they were the only two other Fellows who came), and Sara schmoozed like a pro (to be fair, she IS studying political science) while Karen and I stood around awkwardly.  It probably doesn't help that people usually flee (well, suddenly remember that they have someone else they URGENTLY need to talk to) when I tell them what I'm studying...and people just nod awkwardly and run out of things to say when Karen tells them what she's studying (zebra fish!  I know so much about zebra fish and sectioning zebra fish now; I even know how to correctly pantomime sectioning a zebra fish!).
Also, it was weird but they made a huge deal about how INCREDIBLY TIGHT security would be, and how we would have to present our invitations and some form of official ID, but, uh, they just let us in.  I don't even know.  And then we were all given name tags with ribbons on them, and we spent the entire evening trying to figure out what the ribbons meant and finally asked someone and she didn't know so I guess it will haunt me to the grave why I had a yellow ribbon but Karen and Sara had pink ones.
...also, we weren't allowed to take pictures because we didn't have press passes; SORRY, KIM AND LOUKI.

ANYWAY, the imperial couple came about thirty minutes after the reception started and stayed for about an hour, so I can now say that I have been in the same room as the emperor of Japan.  I didn't actually get to talk to either of them, although I could have tried to fight through crazy crowds of people to do so.  I'm not sure what I would have said, and I'm also fairly sure I would have screwed up my honorifics, so perhaps it is for the best?
Anyway, there were a bunch of SPEECHES about FRIENDSHIP and CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION and also the ambassador to Japan was there and Senator Fulbright's widow and a bunch of other important people, which is maybe why almost everyone ignored us (the Fellows) the whole night.
Although, I did have a couple of people make incredibly odd assumptions about me, including:
- I am a professor at Nanzan University.  (WHAT.)
- Despite doing research in Japan about a subject that is particular to Japan, I don't speak any Japanese.  (WHAT.)  Oh, and Karen and Sara don't speak any Japanese either.  (WHAT.)
But I did meet a cool history professor from Alaska, which was exciting!

So, yeah, that was the reception.  The food was INSANELY GOOD, and it was nice to catch up with Karen and Sara, especially since Karen might be leaving for the States in mid-June.
Also, as we were leaving the reception, we decided to politician-entourage around Sara.  It makes more sense in context, I swear, but it was kind of great.

Today I tried to buy tickets for the Ghibli Museum ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT THEY ARE CLOSED UNTIL JUNE FIRST SO THEY CAN PUT A NEW EXHIBIT IN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  Seriously, this is now the fourth time I have been prevented from visiting this friggin' museum: the first time the tickets were sold out, the second time I had no time because of the Fulbright orientation, the third time I got insanely sick with allergies, and this time the FRIGGIN' MUSEUM IS CLOSED FRIG.  FRIG FRIG FRIG FRIGGIN' FRIG.
So, yeah, that was disappointing.
I guess I will just have to come up a day early for my exit interview so I can VISIT THE FRIGGIN' MUSEUM.

So instead I went to visit some shrines Nakano-san recommended: Hiei Shrine and Yushima Tenmanguu.  By a stroke of luck, Yushima Tenmanguu was having a festival today, so I got to see some mikoshi and taiko drumming and flute players and had Showa-era vanilla ice cream.  It was pretty cool!  Pictures coming when I have my card reader.

And then I went to Yoyogi Park, 'cause I'd never been before, but everyone talks about it all the time.  It was really nice!  Definitely one of my favorite spots in Tokyo, and not just because of the sheer number of random people there doing dance routines and that dude who was waving around a SPEAR.  Okay, maybe that was slightly related.  But it is a nice park!

So then I headed back in the direction of my hostel, grabbed dinner at the really cheap tempura place, and now I'm back here writing up this post and feeling pretty exhausted, so hopefully tonight I won't have trouble getting to sleep.  (I think I finally fell asleep around 3 a.m. last night...)

Anyway, I have one more day in Tokyo, and I have to figure out something to do because I was planning on going to the Ghibli Museum, but that's not gonna happen APPARENTLY.  I guess I will go bug Geoff for suggestions...or maybe I'll hit that history museum in Ueno...  The problem with Tokyo is the opposite problem with Nagoya--there are TOO MANY OPTIONS.  Oh well.  I'll figure it out.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Going on an adventure!

Just wanted to remind everyone that I'll be gone in Tokyo/Okinawa for the next week, so updates shall be fairly infrequent if they exist at all.  Current schedule looks like this:
Friday: Fulbright reception!  Be in the same room as the imperial couple!
Saturday - Sunday: Bum around Tokyo!  I have shrine recommendations from Nakano-san, and I might hit the Ghibli Museum because DANG IT I WANT TO GO.
Monday: Fly to Naha.
Tuesday - Wednesday: Bum around Naha with other Fulbrighters.
Thursday: Fly back to Nagoya.

In other news, I am sick with the cold to destroy all colds.  I wasn't aware that the human body could contain so much mucus.  I am hoping that I feel significantly better tomorrow, because walking onto campus to pay my rent kind of killed me, and I wound up skipping my Japanese class 'cause I felt like death warmed over.
UGH, HATE BEING SICK.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Giant update dump of DOOM

Okay, let's try to go for a real update this time.

First off, in case you thought I was kidding about Dutch licorice, the internet has once again proven me right.  I especially like the Japanese guy's reaction.

Anyway, dang, so much to write about.  This is going to be kind of brief because I have a lot of catch up on, and I've already visited basically everywhere in this post a bunch of times, so you can go back to previous posts to find pictures.

Let's see...

So last week on Wednesday I went with Kim and Louki to Ise, because they wanted to see Ise and I am always okay with visiting Ise.  It was pretty exciting, but since it was my fourth time at Ise I will not really write much here.
...also, Kim and Louki got a bunch of my friends from the dorm to make a little book for me with pictures (INCLUDING A PICTURE HALI DREW OF ALL OF US AS OUR RESPECTIVE PONIES IT IS NOW CANON) and little letters and I might have cried a little but you can't prove it and Kim definitely doesn't have photographic evidence shhhhh.  It was basically one of the nicest things anyone has ever done from me and oh my gosh yes.  I will treasure it forever.

On Thursday morning I helped out at the tsukinamisai at Susanoo Shrine, at which there was much excitement that I shall not write about but it involved someone nearly passing out, and then afterwards I got FREE LUNCH and also got to listen to a long and complicated discussion about the shrine's finances and their relationship with a couple of important neighborhood organizations.  Basically, it was good stuff all around.
Thursday evening I went to pick up my dad from the airport, and managed to get him food without killing him* and got him to his hotel.

On Friday morning I met up with my dad, showed him around some sites near my dorm, like Koushouji and Gosha Shrine and the super awesome bakery in the Valor.  I also filled out some paperwork so that he could come up into my room and look around, and I am sure he will tell you how COMPLETELY SPOTLESS and NOT DISORGANIZED my room is.  Right, Dad?  Anyway, he also got to meet Louki and Grace, which was cool.
...aaaaand then I had to run away to class.
But after class we met up with Itou-san, who came by in her car to pick us up!  We were going to go to Nagoya Castle, but the traffic was really bad, so we wound up getting there right before they closed.  We decided to save the castle for another day, and we walked around Meijo Park and the castle moat instead.  I would just like to note that the koi in the castle moat are INCREDIBLY CREEPY and I am pretty sure I am going to have nightmares about their creepy mouths.
ANYWAY, after that we drove past the City Archives, which are housed in this building that looks like it belongs on the Harvard campus. Not even kidding.
And then we went to Kawahara Shrine to see adorable baby turtles and definitely not to show my dad the shrine or anything.
And then we went to dinner at a really good Chinese restaurant, and Itou-san made endless fun of my dad for eating less than me.  And then Itou-san totally stole the check and SOMEDAY I WILL WIN AND PAY FOR A MEAL.  I am planning.  PLANNING, I SAY.
Anyway, it was all around a very nice day!

Saturday, Dad and I went to Inuyama to see the castle and the other stuff in Inuyama.  The castle was much warmer than it was when I went with Nick, but the stairs were still as terrifying.  We also went to this cool little puppet museum that is just outside of the castle grounds.  And then I introduced my dad to soft cream (it's like the much better version of American soft serve), which may have been a mistake because he might be mildly addicted to it now oops.  Anyway, after that we went to the temples on the mountain, and met this Buddhist priest who showed us around a tiny recreation of the Shikoku pilgrimage.  The Shikoku pilgrimage is a route of 88 temples located around the entire island of Shikoku, which takes approximately a month to complete on foot.  There are hundreds of recreations of the pilgrimage, usually which employ sand or dirt from each site and some sort of sacred object from each site.  This particular recreation had little pots of sand below the floor and a scroll from each temple.  Anyway, I got a pretty long explanation from the priest, because he was pretty excited that I understood what he was talking about.  So that was cool.
After that we were going to go over and check out the Monkey Park, except it turned out to be an amusement park?  A really expensive amusement park?  I dunno.  So instead we headed back to Nagoya, bummed around Osu Kannon and bought AMAZING MEAT BUNS, and then went over to Kanayama to grab curry for dinner.
So that was Saturday!

Sunday, Dad came to my dorm to drop off his bags for the day, and then we went to Nagoya Castle and actually managed to get inside this time.  We also visited the Tokugawa Art Museum later that day, which had a big collection of popular books from the 18th century, including, weirdly enough, a bunch of guides to the red light district.  I don't even know.  There was also a new exhibit on the possessions of the merchant class, which was pretty cool, although I don't know why I would want a tea bowl that cost that much if I were a merchant.
Then we went to the Tokugawa Gardens, which were significantly greener than they were last time I visited, but also had fewer flowers, weirdly enough.
We grabbed dinner at Pastel, aka that weird restaurant that only sells cake and pasta, and then I took my dad to Nagoya Station and said bye.
Upon returning to the dormitory, I discovered that Abbie had spent the entire semester saving one yen coins so she could go to the Lawson (convenience store) and buy a teriyaki burger using only one yen coins (one hundred five of them, to be exact).  It was potentially the most epic and trollish thing to ever occur in a convenience store.  The cashier at our register managed to get through the entire thing with a perfectly straight face, although the other cashier looked like he was going to die from holding in his laughter.  He was turning bright red, not even kidding.
ALSO, Ashley bought cell phone charms for all the pony girls and THEY ARE THE COLORS OF OUR PONIES AND WHY IS THIS SO GREAT.  Anyway, I have a tiny bell with a ribbon hanging from my cell phone now, and it is in Twilight Sparkle's colors and it is great.

Monday morning I woke up at an ungodly early hour to say goodbye to Meredith and Hali and Ashley, all of whom were leaving for the airport.  Then I saw an annullar eclipse, or, really, I tried to take pictures of it, failed, and then spotted the people across the street who actually had sun filters, and asked them politely if I could share.  Thank you, nice people across the street!  Anyway, it was amazing cool and I will be incredibly disappointed if I don't develop super powers.  And then after that I collapsed into bed and slept for a while, because I was running on four hours of sleep.

Tuesday was Kim and Louki's last day in the dorm, and due to a long and complicated blood pact, Kim had to watch an episode of Sherlock with me, so we (Abbie and Kim and Louki and I) did that.  And apparently I spent the entire episode grinning like an idiot, but, HEY, IT'S SHERLOCK AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME.
Then we went to Mountain, which is a sort of infamous restaurant by the dorm.  It is infamous because A. it has the largest serving sizes you have ever seen and B. it has the weirdest pasta you have ever seen, like green tea and red bean.  Yeah.  But I got a parfait so all was well!  Although my chocolate parfait had a prune in it, which was...odd.
And then we had a Roommate Dinner, which turned out to be more like a Roommate Plus a Whole Other Chunk of the Dorm Dinner, which was fine, because it meant that we got to hear about why not to be a politician in India and how the Netherlands doesn't have a government right now and other exciting things.

Today I woke up at an ungodly early hour to take Kim and Louki to Nagoya Station with Dheeraj and Grace, which was exciting even though all of us were sort of falling asleep.  (Okay, Grace was literally falling asleep.)  Once we saw them off, we fought through the sea of people who decided to ride the subway at rush hour (IT WAS AWFUL I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE AUGH) and somehow managed to get back to the dorm without being crushed to death.
Also, I apologize if this post is more incoherent than usual 'cause I think I'm running on roughly three or four hours of sleep.  I'm coming down with something, which means that it feels like someone's been sandpapering my throat, so I kept waking up in the middle of the night and thus got lousy sleep.  Ugh.
Anyway, yeah, that's what I've been up to, basically.  I'm gonna go collapse and drink some more tea now.  Oh, and eat more of these crazy plum cough drops, which are the greatest thing I have ever found.

*My dad is allergic to shellfish, which is...problematic, if you live in a port town like Nagoya.

Friday, May 18, 2012

I'm bad at updating; what else is new?

Hey, guys.

This is not a real update, but rather just saying HI I AM ALIVE AND MY DAD IS VISITING AND I HAVE TO WRITE A THING FOR THE CHUBU FULBRIGHT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WHICH IS EITHER SEVERAL SENTENCES OR A FEW PAGES* AND I SPENT TWO HOURS GOING OVER SUSANOO SHRINE'S FINANCES YESTERDAY** WHICH WAS UNEXPECTED BUT NOT BAD*** AND ALSO I AM REALLY TIRED BUT HANDBOOK UGH COHERENT SENTENCES GONE sklalkreakjreau

Real updates coming when real updates come.

*I asked for clarification and the clarification made it even less clear than it originally was, if that's possible.

**Apparently, at some point when I wasn't paying attention, I went from being "that weird kid who keeps hanging out at the shrine and asking weird questions" to "that weird kid who is competent enough to allow to help out" to "that weird kid who knows what she is doing and we are relying on her to actually be a member of this community and we are okay with her seeing our financial records and talking about serious stuff in front of her."  I am...actually pretty okay with this.  I am more concerned about other people not being okay with me.

***Actually it was really good, 'cause I had a bunch of questions about stuff having to do with the neighborhood association, and I didn't even have to ask them because they all came up.  YES, serendipity.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

In which I eat even more Dutch food and nearly give myself a heart attack by drinking tea

...so today I managed to overdose on caffeine.  It was really bad.  Apparently my caffeine tolerance is completely shot, because two cups of Earl Grey (with A LOT of milk) was enough to make my heart start racing and my brain feel like it had someone running a whole lot of very scratchy scarves through it.  (I don't know how else to describe it; it was really scary.)  On the upside, while I was busy languishing in caffeine death, Louki and Kim made poffertjes, which are like the world's tiniest pancakes.  You eat them with enough butter and powdered sugar to kill you; if you can't feel your arteries clogging as you eat them, you are probably doing it wrong.  Anyway, they are delicious! Also I am convinced that Dutch people eat pancakes of some kind for dinner every day, but Louki assures me that it's usually only about once a month.  Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

WHICH REMINDS ME, Abbie totally reminded me that you can get stroopwafels at Brown via Rip Van Wafels (which are sold in all the places that sell things...you know what I mean, I hope).  So if you are on College Hill you should go get some stroopwafels RIGHT NOW.  And then you should EAT THEM.

In other news, Louki is Pinkie Pie and you will never be able to convince me otherwise because last night she randomly emerged from her room with a bunch of streamers and balloons and proceeded to turn our room into a party room.  I will not be surprised if she starts sneezing confetti.

In other other news, remember when I wrote that article for The Fulbrighter a million years ago?  Well, I FINALLY got my copy of the magazine (only two months late!), and hopefully the electronic version will be posted online sometime soon so I can link to it.  I wrote the most ridiculous article by far--everyone else wrote about their FEELINGS and How They Had Grown as People and The Magical Fulbright Experience, and I wrote about the dangers of being bludgeoned by mochi.  OH WELL.

Otherwise, nothing too exciting going on.  On Friday I went to a lecture at the Nanzan Institute for Religious Studies about Agonshu's use of satellite broadcasting, which was really good.  It was given in English too, which was nice, although I didn't have trouble following the discussion (in Japanese) afterwards.  I'm frustrated at the library for not having the books written by the lecturer, though.  GUH.
Otherwise I've just been bumming around and reading stuff for class.  It was pretty hard to read this afternoon while I was busy being overdosed on caffeine, which means that I should get back to reading now that I can focus my eyes without feeling like my head will explode.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

By the end of this trip, I will know everything there is to know about the Japanese health care system

Guess who spent four hours at the hospital with her roommate today!
Hint: it was the person who writes this blog.
Fortunately, Louki does not need to have her foot amputated, but she DOES need to sit down and stop walking so much and TAKE CARE OF HERSELF.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, LOUKI.*

On a random note, Kim gave me stroopwafels, and I am PRETTY PLEASED because stroopwafels are amazing.  OM NOM NOM.  If you don't know what stroopwafels are, well, obviously you don't have Dutch friends who feed you.  Maybe you should fix that!

Otherwise, not all that much going on over here, other than me working on my paper, threatening the other Fulbrighters with alligators,** trying to figure out where to take my dad when he visits next week,*** fangirling at Julia and Ellie (sorry), trying to work out the logistics for my speech in June (for the Chubu Fulbright Alumni Association), planning my trip to Tokyo for the Fulbright 60th anniversary reception,**** fangirling at Julia and Ellie some more (SORRY), planning my trip to Okinawa with a bunch of the other Fellows after that, etc. etc. etc. etc.
Basically, exciting stuff coming up in the next few weeks, but right now, not that much excitement! Sorry.

*I totally know that you occasionally read this blog, Louki, and also that you apparently haven't bothered to save the url and search for it through Google, which seems kind of weird to me, but WHATEVS--I have too many bookmarks.  And if you want to know how I know this, it is either my MAD PSYCHIC POWERS or my DEDUCTIVE PROWESS.  Or maybe BOTH.
...also, I think when they asked on the form if you were living with someone they meant in a relationship OOPS.  They should have been clearer.

**This makes sense in context, and has to do with our wretched handbook.

***I literally just got off the phone with Itou-san, and she said, and I quote, "There is nothing anyone would want to see in Nagoya."  Although then she amended that by saying that there's the castle and the aquarium, but neither is all that interesting.
...by the way, my dad is visiting me next week.  Guess I should have mentioned that earlier.

****Where I might be meeting the emperor.  Yes, the emperor of Japan.  I keep forgetting to write about things on this blog.  I am quite bad at remembering to write about things.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

I am a pony

Welp, I guess the gig is up.  During another one of our Louki-randomly-drags-everyone-out-for-cheese-naan-or-if-not-everyone-then-at-least-she's-dragging-Dana-and-everyone-else-is-going-somewhat-willingly adventures, Ashley realized that the six of us going out to dinner were eerily similar to the Mane Six from MLP:FiM.  ...and of course I was Twilight Sparkle, because, let's face it, if we're being assigned ponies, obviously I'm going to be the one who nearly destroys a city over a potentially tardy assignment.  (Also, Louki is Pinkie Pie...which makes me mildly concerned about my rooming with her?  Will she be putting alligators in my bathtub?  Will she randomly burst into song?  Actually, she already does that...hmm...)  Anyway, thanks to some well-timed product placement, we've now convinced yet another person to watch ponies (she SAYS she only wanted to see which character we matched her up with...but then she watched more...and kept staring meaningfully at Louki and I when our associated ponies were on screen...we are ONTO YOU).
What, is this supposed to be a blog about my Fulbright year?  NO, THIS IS A BLOG ABOUT PONIES.  Because I am a pony.

Also, while we were all at dinner, there was an earthquake.  Which everyone except me failed to notice.  So I said, "EARTHQUAKE," really loudly.  And they still didn't notice.  Even though EVERYTHING WAS SHAKING.  And then I said, "EARTHQUAKE" a bunch more times and was trying to scoot out my chair so I could get under the table, and then SUDDENLY everyone else realized that, hey, normally not everything is shaking!  And then the earthquake stopped and everybody started high-fiving each other* and I'm pretty sure the restaurant manager thought we were all insane** OH WELL.  Man, it's a good thing we had that three-hour disaster training, 'cause if we hadn't...absolutely everything would have been the same!

...and then afterwards we went to a playground because we are ADULTS.

Speaking of natural disasters, we were supposed to have thunderstorms and waterspouts today, which actually meant that it rained for about an hour and there were maybe two bolts of lightning.  Laaaaaaaaaaaame.  There were real thunderstorms and waterspouts elsewhere.  I am becoming increasingly convinced that interesting weather phenomenon just avoid everywhere I live.  Either that or Providence and Nagoya are both surrounded by some sort of interesting-weather-repellent force field.

...and I should get back to preparing for my Japanese class on Tuesday, in which I'll be bringing in an editorial arguing that the aging population in Japan isn't as terrible as everyone is making it out to be.  Basically, it is my hope that if I bring in a more exciting topic than automated check-out kiosks in supermarkets (what we read about last week), maybe people will participate and have opinions and debate and challenge each other to Agni Kai...maybe this is just wishful thinking.  OH WELL, I CAN TRY.

Edit: For anyone who's interested, here's the article I'm bringing into class.

*Because this was the first earthquake experience for everyone except Hali, and it was Hali's first earthquake in Japan (she grew up in Southern California).

**This is assuming that he didn't already believe we were insane for ordering as much cheese naan as we did...

Friday, May 4, 2012

ER (again), Golden Week, and text-based adventures

...and I'm bad at updating.  May the fourth be with you, and all that.*  I would like to say that I have been so insanely busy I haven't had time to update, but it's more that I haven't had stuff to write about.  It's been Golden Week, and as I found out on Monday, during Golden Week, everything is TOO CROWDED.  I went with some of the other girls from the dorm to Osu Kannon to find shoes and other necessary articles of clothing, and it was like everyone in Nagoya had suddenly decided that day that the BEST POSSIBLE THING to do was to go to Osu Kannon.  So, yeah, that wasn't fun.  So I've been avoiding going out, 'cause I don't really feel like fighting through crowds of people.  Also, since it's Golden Week, I only had class on Tuesday night, and all my regular activities (i.e. penmanship class and/or anything else related to shrines) are on hold because everyone else is off reveling in the yellow color of this week.  (I genuinely have no idea why it's called Golden Week.  If you know, please tell me.)  So I've spent a lot of time reading.  A LOT of time reading.  And it's not very interesting to write about me reading.

One of the few exciting things that has happened this week is that I got to take Louki to the ER because she sprained her foot and may or may not have additionally infected it.  It was basically very exciting, because I got to be a medical translator, a job which I have no qualifications for whatsoever! Also, I have no idea why Japanese doctors are incapable of using language normal human beings can understand.  They could just say, "You sprained your foot and it might be infected," but instead they have to use words longer than I am, that obviously I can't understand in Japanese and then I have to translate the Japanese words to English and then the English words to real English.  VERY FRUSTRATING.  It has given me great respect for the American doctors who just tell you what is wrong without using insanely complicated words.

The weather here has been alternating between gorgeous but so humid you feel gross again the minute you're out of the shower and rainy/miserable.  It's too bad that the actually decent weather at the beginning of April only lasted about two weeks...  Perhaps I am spoiled by California's weather (okay, I am spoiled, but that's beside the point), but I kind of like my seasons to be, you know, SEASONS.  In Japan it feels like fall lasted for about three or four weeks and spring-ish weather will last for maybe a month total, if you count the gross humidity as spring-ish.  That means you have TWO MONTHS of nice weather, and the rest of the time it's too cold or it's oh gods I wish I could strip my skin off hot.  (I am really not looking forward to summer.  At all.  AT ALL.)  UNACCEPTABLE.

On a final and completely unrelated note, I screamed at worked myself into a tizzy over played an aggravating weirdly fun badly coded interesting Doctor Who text-based adventure game that some demonic person someone made.  It's basically Ellie's fault, and she was far too gleeful about me trying multiple times to sonic the stupid hinges on the gate trying to convince the game that the floor existed trying to bribe the constable playing it.  But, in the end, I was able to kiss the villain play the entire game whilst** naked and apparently none of the other characters noticed or cared sonic ALL THE THINGS meet Sherlock Holmes*** finish the darned thing.  I now feel compelled to link to the game, simply because as far as I can tell, your enjoyment of the game exponentially increases with each person you watch suffer through it.****  Also, if you don't enjoy suffering, I wrote up a list of all the bugs in the game and how to get around them, so you can just pester me for those.

YAY, THIS IS SUCH AN EXCITING UPDATE.

*If for some reason you are unaware of the implications of May fourth, well...click here.

**Is "whilst" a word real people use anymore?  According to certain people, chunks of my vocabulary can only be found in 1960's sitcoms.  I don't think "whilst" is a 1960's sitcom word, though.

***I am not a fangirl.


****I'm currently at 2.  Shannon somehow managed to pick up the TARDIS and carry it around.  Don't ask me how she managed this.  I think she's secretly a Timelord.*****

*****What do you mean "Timelord" and "TARDIS" aren't words, spell check????