This sounds like a Bi-Polar blog but....

If this bitch looks at me one more time I'mma beat her mother fucking ass. Sorry just had to get that out lol. So any of you who actually know me know that when it comes to women I'm the quintessential gentlemen. I'm your southern gentlemen however many of those you know or not thats me. Being chivalrous, always trying to take care of things all that kind of stuff. Number one rule is never hit a woman! But I will say fuck all that good upbringing just to beat this bitch once. She is so annoying from the way that she looks to the way that she thinks, she talks, she acts, and her hair pisses me off so much. Anyway this is the same racist bitch from before and I walk into the student services lady office and they are there and this hoe turns to look at me with an attitude and says what do you want? It took all my will power to say not say not you hoe. I mean all of my being was just wanting to smack this bitch at that very moment. The only thing stopping me was the very nice Japanese lady that is helping me get my tattoo was sitting right there. Yea I just had to tell yall bout that shit cause I swear I'm going to beat this bitch's ass one day and then I'll be back at Carleton lol trying to hop in the term late. (oh and excuse all the cursing lol)

On a happy note (not bi-polar I swear lol) I went out to kyoto and met up with some friends from Carleton. They actually made me realized how much I missed our japanese class at school lol. They are a lot of cool ppl there and how we all get along. It was really cool meeting up with them though and I had a lot of fun. I also got to visit my friend Yusuke who I haven't seen since last summer? He had cancer but he's getting better now. He's been through kemo(sp?) already and everything. His hair is starting to grow back now which is cool. He showed us his scar from where they cut him open it was hhhhuuuggggeeeee much bigger than I thought it was gonna be. The doctors said he could go home for good that Sunday so thats really good we are gonna hang out for Halloween I think him, mee, and me. Mee is another friend I haven't seen since last summer.

I actually did go meet up with another friend that sunday and saw a Geisha!!!! Dude I was way too excited for that lady to just be there lol. I took pictures of her and I got a really good one where she was walking and she looked at the camera. It's like straight out of a movie scene. It was cool after that I went to a vegan restaurant with some the same friend and had a good time. It was interesting to say the least but I don't think I'll be going back to any vegan places any time soon. Vegetarian is ok but Vegan is not lol.

I've been talking to my old host fams and they want to meet up over this holiday we have. I'll probably do that because it would be cheap and I wont have to spend much money. Which brings me to the next point I don't have a job wtf. I've never been in college with a job for like more than the first term my freshmen year. We cant have paying jobs here. No Exceptions! Yea so I'm poor I don't really know how to deal with it lol but Imma sure as hell figure it out soon.

Anyway Classes are good same old same old 3 Japanese classes a day and my other two classes seem really cool. My teacher used my comments from my journal today in class which made me all happy on the nerdy side of my brain lol. I was the only one who he used comments from their journal. I'm going to this big BBQ with some of the college students from shiga dai next saturday so that should be cool. The interviews for internships also start next week which I'm excited for.

Anyway so thats all about my life in Japan for the time being I guess lol so people as always I'll ttyl.

They actually have some cool people here!!!!!

Hahahahaha the title of this post says it all and I'm stupid excited about it. So theres this one kid who is mixed and from new york which is a good combo for my mentality lmao. Hes a real cool dude likes to party likes to go out lol. And theres this chick Amber shes really cool and cant stand the anime only people either. After like 1o mins of anime conversation i'm like yea lets change the subject but these people are like anime only bitch get it right thats what japan is for! lol Gawd hate em so much lol. Needless to say lol all my friends are older than me as usual I dont know why I don't get along with people my own age lol. I gotta figure that ish out someday. Anyway yea these people seem really cool. Now lets get on with the week I'm having so far lol.

Its crazy how different the lives of the students here are. Like I think right now I'm leading a very interesting life going out all over the country meeting new people and doing all kinds of new things. Its a new experience everyday. Some of the other students here barely venture past the map of essential places they gave us lol. Its also crazy how since I don't talk to most the people here no one really knows about my life. I would like other people to come with me to experience these things too but I'm not gonna invite anyone I can't stand anywhere lol. So to each his own and to each his own experience in Japan. I just hope they make something out of it cause no matter how much I dislike someone if they are paying for this I hope they get theirs money worth.

Class is still really boring because we are using the same book as carleton and i've done this ish already but its moving a shit ton faster than carleton so my boredom isn't going to last very long. We are already halfway done with chapter 2 and its the first week lol. We are doing some cool things though that I have never done before and making long ass sentences like real complex sentences by taking what we read about and having to summarize a passage completely in like 1 or 2 sentences and we are learning speed reading which is cool as hell to me. I have never done anything like speed reading so doing that in japanese let along in english is crazy to me. They usually give us a passage thats like a page long that we have to read in 5 mins but first we have to read some questions to help our brain focus on what we are looking for in 1 min. Its really cool actually. So at least i'm not going crazy with boredom in class. And its easy for me to get good grades :P

So today I decided to go out to biwako( lake biwa) and go for a swim and i realized very quickly that swimming in like a huge natural body of water with huge ass waves and shit is a lot different that our pool at carleton lol. I got tangled in sea weeds some times and since I didnt want to go too far out and drown lol I hit the bottom sometimes when i was doing breast stroke. but swimming along side a big ass wave is crazy. I have so much more respect for beach life guards now they must be beastly swimmers. But after my swim I just sat on the beach for a little bit and it was sooooo beautiful. Like I'm not the one who usually is like oh thats so beautiful I just wanna stay here all day or something especially if it deals with nature but this shit was crazy nice. The sun was setting and you could see the orange reddish rays through the clouds and everything. I saw this little lady walking her dogs and everything so much fun. Still cant believe this is like my life now.

I also realized today that I'm really am growing into a man my family can be proud of. I'm not being a bum, taking care of myself in a different country, doing really good work and everything. And I actually want to go to a museum of my own free will LOL. This may not seem like a big deal but I usually think they are the most boring things ever and never want to go but things are changing. I bought a book for myself that isn't a text book (granted its in japanese but I'm still reading it lol) and doing a lot of other things that are very "grown up" lol. So yea tomorrow I'm going visit this museum hopefully with the people I was talking about earlier, checking out this pottery place for something for my grandmother, and visiting a historical ninja house with all kinds of traps and everything. It sells authentic ninja tools too lol maybe i'll come home with a cast iron ninja star lmfao. Anyway folks thats my life at the momment still loving it lol. I know yall are just waiting for the first time I write about my FUCK JAPAN experience lol but it'll just have to wait :P. So with that said I'll ttyl folks have fun with whatever your doing now and keep ya head up if your having any problems.

Still can't get over how happy I am about this

Hey everyone! Been a while right? I got that much more stuff to tell you now lol. So if you know me you know I don't like staying in on the weekends right. So the first weekend I went to osaka and meet up with some friends well now friends lol. I only knew one of them before going out. They were all really cool though so yea. I'm so happy that like I'm not going to be forced to like hang out with the people here or be anti-social because there is no one I really connect with.( I hate being anti-social too yall know that lol) Anyway so in Osaka we went out clubbing and it was fun as hell like crackheaded ass fun lol. We were out from 12-8 in the morning when we got out the last club it was like fuuuuccckkkk is that the sun? lol. I meet some very interesting people like this japanese couple of like a club boy and a dancer chick. Who kept hitting on the girl we were with lol. She gave up using english half way through our convo and just went back to japanese lol. They were cool she gave her number to my friend it was crazy. So yea it was a very good times. If this is any indication of what life is going to be like here I cant wait ppl. Anyway ttyl folks (actually in like 5 mins just didnt want to put these two posts together lol.

First couple of days

So I'm officially in love with this place lol. I only have a bike as my main means of transportation but me and that thing get around lol. The second day here I bought all the stuff i needed for my apartment so now I don't have anything to worry about living wise you know. Which is where I'll start these apts are really nice. So nice I decided to do a home stay for only half the year lol. Granted we cant really use the AC too much cause it will run the bill up and if we go too far over we have to pay the difference. Its a lot cooler than New Orleans though so its easy for me to deal with lol. I do have a roommate he seems ok so far. One of the few people in the program that I don't hate lol. And yes I pre-judged most of them and most of them are turning out to be true so far lol. Anyway back to my apt its got a kitchen and is fully furnished. I still don't know how to use half the stuff in here but I'm getting the hang of it really fast.

So I'll move on to the people in the program so far....... first thing I think I should say is I'm the only black person here lol thats right just me aaaannnndddd racism can hop on a plane too. What I mean is most of the white folks here have brought their stupid racist ideas with them and some even showed out the other day. If I didn't want to get into trouble heads woulda been rolling a few days ago but I'm trying to be nice lol granted its hard for me to do that with these people but I'm trying. There is maybe 4-5 people I could actually see myself talking to outside of class. Whats funny about all this is though I'm one of the people who know the most in the program haha but they wont ask me for help lol. Sucks for them o well. I have some friends that already live here and I'm planning on going visit one of them every other weekend lol. ( as long as funds keeps up) I don't know how happy I am about these field trips cause it kinda sucks being on a field trip with a bunch of people but really by yourself so I might just go hang out with my friends instead of hanging out with this program ppl. Buuutttt enough about them now time for the program.

I realized yesterday that although we are using the same book from Carleton we should be done with that book by the end of the semester (we've only done half of it so far) and level 4 is gonna be crazy lol. There are 3 different japanese classes everyday not like pick one to go to but go to all 3 lol. 50 mins each with a 10 min break in between. We have two teachers but since there are so many students in level 2 the second teacher may not be around as much. Our other classes haven't started yet one of mine starts in oct( i think) and the other is next week or the week after that. I'm looking forward to them too.

So I'm really gonna get my tattoo here its kinda official now lol. My student coordinator is going to help me too lol. How crazy is that the student service leader is helping me get a tattoo. She is really cool though I like her. So anyway I'm going to be setting up an appointment with the tattoo parlor soon so I can get my tattoo. Its going to be a Koi fish in the middle of its transformation into a dragon. Should be tight going to be a half sleeve and maybe go over some of my chest too we'll see though.

Also I'm falling in love with this place getting lost on a bike is way more fun than I ever thought lol. Kinda crazy at night though, I know I shouldnt be doing that but what can you say you only live once and better yet I'm only here for a year lol. My bike looks just like all the others but me and the bike and the little light on it go everywhere lol next week i'm going to go all the way out to this uniqlo( spelling but something like that japanese clothing store) and see if there's any cool things to get lol. Maybe I'll find a book store finally too been looking for way to long just to find a bookstore to start research on tattoos lol. Anyway this is a lot but this is my life from the time I got here til now and I'm loving it :) Sooooooo as always I'll ttyl folks.

Few hours left!!!!!!

Ok so this was my last weekend in the U.S. for a while and I think it was fun. I didn't really do anything friday night but thats cool a day of relaxation was good. Saturday was really fun though kinda crazy ok well really crazy lol. I went out with Temara and Marquita from my school they graduated this year and we went down burbon street. All I can say is yall dont think hand grenade is a baby drink. (yes I know it doesn't sound like a baby drink lol) My shirt was taken out of my pants and I didn't even know it by the time we started walking back to Marquita's apt lmao. I drunk dailed my sister too but she didnt tell me what I said just that I was a mess lol so yea that was fun times. Woke up sunday ALL messed up lol couldnt really function til 4 or 5 and almost bust my ass in the shower cause I was still drunk at like 3p.m. lol.

On a more family oriented note lol went out to dinner with the fam and sung happy b-day to my grandmother. :) She was happy and sad all at the same time I guess thats how everyone is you know, I know I am. Now I'm all done packing pretty much one last load of clothes in the dryer of things that I'm not really taking but need to put up somewhere before I leave. So since this is like the start of something new I did something new I shaved my face like clean shaven for reals no stubble like I usually do but smooth like a baby lol. Got my fresh fit picked out for the first day know you gotta look good especially when you first meet people. Going over things making sure I got everything you know but I think I should be good now. Music and waiting is all there is left to do. Next post will be about the first day in japan so effing crazy lol. Anyway ppl I guess ttyl is how I'm closing these things for real now lol soooooooooooooooooo ttyl :)

So got the list of folks

Hey Everyone :) I'm back again for another update. Its up to 4 days til I leave and I can't wait anymore lol. I've been talking to a few friends who are in japan now and hopefully I can meet up with while I'm over there. I already made a few plans and can't wait to get there and live em out. But in the mean time I finally got the list of the people going on the program with me. There is a lot more people on the program than I expected. In total there is 48 in total and guess what folks....... more than half dont have facebooks! wtf! Lol I'm trying so much not to prejudge people cause I do have a bad habit of that if you know me..... but like if you don't have a facebook come on thats a red flag regardless. Some of the people who do have facebook look cool though so hopefully birds of a feather right?

As for home Moms is planning on actually giving me some money which I was hoping for but not really expecting. We are also gonna go out to dinner Sunday at any restaurant I want to go. I'm excited all my close family is gonna be there so that should be fun. I still need to go get some flip flops which is hard to find believe it or not I know right. I went to like 4 shoe stores and not one had some regular flip flops all they had was those thong things that I pretty much hate lol. I need to get some evils something (where I'll find some ish like that I have no idea if you do let me know) for horitaka-san if I want to try to get my half sleeve done. (even though it might be hard if he is too far away)

Speaking of the tattoo I was trying to figure out what I wanted to get on the sleeve. I was thinking maybe I'd get something with a dragon on it and a symbol in his claw or mouth but I was wondering what that symbol would be. I could go with the same theme as my other one on my back and get the symbol or destiny but the more I think back on my life and where I am now. I see how much I have grown I won't claim to be a fully realized man right now but I'm not anywhere near a child anymore. Which makes me think I might get something that has to deal with growth along the scales of the dragon or something like that you know? I been thinking about it a lot. I was also thinking coy fish but I don't want it to be cliche you know? But it cant really be that cliche if it means a lot to me right? (The kanji right there at the top right is destiny "unmei" and the one on the left is growth "seichou") Anyway thats where I am at right now hopefully I'll figure something out. This is they guy I want to do it. Lets hope that I can actually get him too. (http://www.japanese-tattoo-art.com/vid-horiyoshi3work.html) Anyway ttyl for now folks

time

When I was with my friends and having fun
Time moved as fast as it could and I kept trying to catch it
When I was in a fight and I was raging
Time seemed to pass in an instant
When I was in a state of peace and happy
Time just blew right past me
Now I'm waiting; waiting on a trip

Time has suddenly stalled and is waiting with me

Its funny how the only time time stands still is when your waiting. Doesn't matter what you are waiting for its just that your waiting on something lol. I cant get over how the closer it gets to the day to leave the longer each day seems to stick around. Its a good and bad thing I guess. I get more time in my mind to prepare I guess but also more time to worry. I'm really excited about leaving though and it seems that talking to people about leaving just makes time move all that much slower lol. Oh well I still have to get some presents for people that I will meet and some thank you cards and alot of other errands I need to run. Hopefully I can get everything done before I need to leave. Anyway just wanted to post that cause I can't sleep and needed something to do. I'll ttyl people.

Cool Poem I found around the Internet

I dreamed a dream...
In it I lived in a foreign land, and saw and experienced so
much, all so new...
All of it confused me, and I pondered at it...
I met new friends, and I spoke a language foreign to
me...
It seemed to go on and on, as the turning of a wheel...
Days repeated, weeks repeated...
Then in a moment, I woke up from my dream. I was home,
In my own country. I knew my people, my language, my
customs...
But yet once more, as in my dream, I was confused...
But this time, by my own people, my own language, my
own customs...
And for a while, I longed to go back, back to the foreign

land that I didn`t understand...

Packing!

So its 7 days before I go and with each day I get more and more excited its crazy. And each day closer means more stuff to do lol. I'm in the process of packing all my ish but you can never be too sure everything will fit til the night before when you dont have ANY extra things that are out. I think after making some last min decisions I have finally picked out everything thats coming with me on the trip. Crazy how a year's worth of stuff I'm going to be fitting into 2 suitcases and a duffel bag.

So I've been doing some searching and stuff about Japan and it seems like I'll be having lots of fun on my weekends off lol. We get a ton more vacations than Carleton too. So whats not to like about that. Haircuts and stuff are really expensive but I've been practicing cutting my own hair though and I'm getting pretty good at it well good enough that no one knows if I cut it or not but I'm still scared to line up my back but whatever I'm sure I can get lined up anywhere.

I know I'm all excited about leaving and ish but I'm still gonna miss a lot of my good friends from college. They taught me a lot and I'm still learning with them. So even though I'll be gone for this year you know I'm still thinking bout yall. (especially if this new group of people I'm with turns out to be lames......... lol)

Well as yall can see my ish isn't packed and I have a lot of things to do this last week so I probably should think about finishing that first before I keep posting on here anyway I'll ttyl. (still don't know how your supposed to end these things lol)

Getting Ready

So it is 10 days til I leave the U.S. for Japan for a whole year. Its kinda crazy, exciting, and scary all at the same time. I feel like a freshmen and I'm a junior. So this program I'm going to is JCMU which means Japan Center for Michigan Universities but they don't really give you all that much info on anything lol. I don't know who else is in the program with me they said the were going to be sending out a list today but no list so we'll see next week. Since I'm not in school in Michigan either I didn't get to go to the orientation because it was out of state while I was in school so I didn't get to see who else is in the program. So the biggest thing is they don't tell me who my roommate is til I get there..... Yea.... So that will be interesting lol. I'll write all about the new rommie when I get there and we'll see if I do a host fam after the first two days of having a roommate lol.

One of the best things about this being like freshmen year is school clothes shopping lol. I like getting new things like everybody else lol. Clothes, gadgets, etc. all new for a whole year long stay in Japan. So I'm new to this whole blogging thing but trust me there will be interesting stories to go on here soon. So I'll ttyl