I Wish I Could Understand The Art-School Interview on Youtube...*sobs*

Really quickly because it's 11, and I need sleep.

I bought a $30 CD today. But it's A Chorus Line IN JAPANESE!!!! And I've gotten such a good deal on other CDs I bought at Book Off that I deserved to splurge on a CD. So that makes it 5 CDs I've bought here. 3 in English. 1 in Japanese. 1 O-Zone (what language do they speak?) CD. I still can't find Art-School CDs, this has just gotten depressing. I mean, I know they're not popular, but HOW MANY CD STORES DO I HAVE TO LOOK IN BEFORE I FIND THEM???? *sobs* I needz meh Art-School. They're my favorite Japanese band and totally magical. youtube "Art-School sub" and you'll find a bunch. My favorite song is "Missing".
I must stop being a music junkie. I must stop being a music junkie. Why does this phrase look familiar? ^-^

We went to the video store today, and I found the first few episodes of that Mary-Kate and Ashley show in 2001 called "So Little Time" (the one where they live with their mom, they're parents are divorced, and they have the Spanish nanny, Manuelo), in JAPANESE!!! Can't WAIT to watch it!!!! I am completely ashamed of myself for this, but it's ok. Because I'm gonna watch "So Little Time" IN JAPANESE!!!!! XD

Saw Mao's ballet recital, and I have to say it was magical. Mao wore a hot pink and gold costume. I question his sexual orientation. ^-^
Rina, Mai, Ai, Emika, Joanna, Tashibu, Kazu, what's-his-face-whose-name-I-never-remember-but-it's-ok-cause-I-don't-really-hang-out-with-him-anyway-and-now-he-has-a-really-long-English-name, and a few teachers went.
Afterwards, Rina, Mai, Ai, Mao, and I hung out for a bit, and then people went home. Mai and I ended up eating Ramen and doing purikura. *smiles*

Wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow. *sighs*

I'm a Musical Fangirl. Yes I am.

You guys deserve an update.

I got up this morning wanting to rant about this, but it has nothing to do with Japan. Please bear with my musical theater fangirling. Thank you.
You know how I need to listen to music or have the TV on constantly? Yeah, because I can't stand it being silent, it drives me INSANE! Anyway, looking for Avenue Q stuff to listen to last week on youtube, I came across Avenue Jew (which has unfortunately been taken down), a crossover between Avenue Q and Fiddler on the Roof. XD I figured since a lot of Jews are reading this blog, you guys would appreciate this.
Some of the best (appropriate) quotes include.

Tevye: "Yes, this is my family. This is mine. This is mine. This is mine. This is...not mine. Who the hell is this kid?"

Brian: "Shalom, you must be new to the neighborhood. I'm Brian, and this is my wife Channukah Eve."
Channukah Eve (Japanese immigrant): "Shalom! I convert for green card."

Brian: "Channukah Eve, do you love me?"
Channukah Eve: "No." *walks away*

Jewish American Princeton: "What do you do with a BA in Yiddish?
Who the hell majors in that?"

I can't remember who said this, but it's magical. And directed to Ben Brantely (Times critic).
"We all eat bagels."
"We all have overbearing mothers."
"And thanks to critics like you, we all feel persecuted."
"So everyone's a little bit Jewish."

XD

And now, back to Japan. Yesterday I went to Sendai City with Leaha, an exchange student from AIIU/JFIE. She lives in Sendai, but is going back to Australia on the 28th (wow! next week!), so we decided to have a shopping fun day in Sendai. I must stop being a music junkie. I must stop being a music junkie. Since I came to Japan, I have bought 4 CDs. None of them in Japanese. wtf? However, I am still DETERMINED to find Art-School CDs and buy ALL of them! Even the ones I have downloaded.....^-^

Leaha says that I am a really good singer and was joking around (kinda, I think?) about me putting out a CD. lol.
Last time I went to karaoke at the sketchy place, I discovered that they have Seasons of Love (Rent), Fame (Fame), America (West Side Story), and You Better Shape Up (Grease) at karaoke. They don't have One (A Chorus Line), which makes me sad, but they have all those others!!! *does happy dance*

Yesterday, Leaha and I were talking about purikura, and the prices. How if you have more people, it's cheaper but you get less pictures. So we decided that people who do purikura by themselves must be the loneliest people ever, with no friends. Which lead me and Leaha to decide to do purikura by ourselves and then trade them. It is magical. So I need to finish my purikura book today. Because I LOVE IT. XD Oh purikura.

And Disney Princesses on Ice IS COMING TO SENDAI!!!!!! I WANT TO GOOOOO!!!! But it's like $60 or something for me. *sobs*

This past week was exam week. I had to take all of them, ugh. I didn't understand them. There were a few classes that made special exams for me. But I don't know. Apparently, I have to get a certain average to stay in the program? I'm not sure about the details, but it would be really bad to get sent back because I didn't understand the exams. But I don't think JFIE would do that, they're a really good program and wouldn't do that to me now. *smiles*

School is not good in general. There's a lot of problems between the exchange students and the teachers, and no art club or class or classroom. I really miss the smell of an art classroom. You guys who love art know what I mean. But Krystal, being awesome, suggested that I ask Rina (the artsy-type student in my class) where I can buy art supplies, because I REALLY want to work on my crafting again. I miss it! ^-^ Thank you Ms. Manzi for getting me OBSESSED with fimo clay!!!!

And to end this entry...CONGRATULATIONS MS. HARVEY ON YOUR PREGNANCY!!! YAYYY!!!!

"I feel the earth move under my feet"

Ok, I`m going to make myself clear about this. I`m sorry if it sounds harsh, but it`s true. I don`t care if there`s another American in Sendai. Yay, someone went to Tohoku High as an exchange student before me. I`m not going to get in contact with you, I am not going to meet up with you or anything. I`m not using this blog to make random connections with people through the internet. That`s sketchy.
I have this blog so that my friends and family back home who don`t have livejournal or facebook can see what`s going on in my life. That is the reason anyone can comment, and that`s the reason anyone can see my blog.
Also, please don`t assume that I`m big into blogspot. Because I`m not. I`m a lj and fb person all the way (livejournal and facebook).

I cannot stop you from reading the blog, but please, I would rather recieve comments from my friends back in America. Thank you.

Ok, here`s a quick update.
I just survived my 4th earthquake. Afterwards, I was watching the news, and it showed the city, etc. during the earthquake, and all I could think was "kakkoi (cool!)! I lived through that!" lol.

We did the Haruhi dance yesterday for the retournees in san nensei, it was AWESOME! oh, and the retournee Japanese girls can crank dat solja boi...I think I want them to teach me so I can say I learned solja boi from Japanese schoolgirls...that would be magical.

Anyway, I`m going to eat something before those who raised me call my gorgeous cell phone.

Kettle Corn is Magical

I know what you`re saying. You`re saying, "I know that manga is pretty much life, liberty, and happiness for you, Erica, but did you REALLY have to buy the first 2 Mars, the 1st Peach Girl, and the first volume in a series of manga that you don`t know but appears to be about vampire childrens?" The answer is, of course, yes. Especially when they were only 105 yen each. You`re also saying, "Erica. You said that you would not buy any CDs unless you found Art-School CDs (which are REALLY hard to find, btw - Book Off does not have them *is sad*), so why did you buy the only Blue album that you didn`t have until a few hours ago? Especially considering that most of the songs are on the Best of Blue album you downloaded before you came to Japan." Because I`m a sucker for anything Blue related, and the manga were ONLY 105 YEN EACH!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I know I went to Sendai today to spend a relaxing day of window shopping with only the intention of buying one of the leftover Keith Haring shirts at Uniglo from last season (there are only a few styles left - the one I REALLY wanted was a small, I`m an extra large in Japan - I tried it on for kicks though. I gave it back to the lady saying "gomenasai! America-jin! XL size!" and she just laughed), but ended up buying the shirt, 4 manga, the Blue CD, kettle corn from the food import store (the one that we always get from Whole Foods with the red bag!!!!!! XD), other food items that were eaten throughout the day, etc.

So here`s my shortened version of British Hills. Pretty much, I`m going back in August for a camp there with the same people (minus Leaha, who is going back to Australia on June 29th) for a longer time. It should be freaking awesome. This was kind of a before the really long vacation one, I think? Anyway, there were 7 exchange students from JFIE (all girls) and an all girls Japanese middle school. We were there to encourage the girls to speak English, and to just have a good time during the weekend.
British Hills is a hotel type place where large groups of people can go. It`s themed like England, and there`s lots of people from England who work there. We got to hear the posh accents and the thick accents (I like the thick ones myself). Pretty much, when we weren`t doing activities with the girls (which mainly involved them practicing their English on us, although we DID teach them Duck Duck Goose and Stuck in the Mud - my knees are all bruised from diving on the floor to free people in Stuck in the Mud!!! oh Lyseth...I wish we had time to play Octopus. I wish I was at Project Grad when everyone played Octopus), I was chilling with Leaha and Ellen, both from Australia. Ironically (and awesomely) Ellen was my roommate during orientation, she was my roommate again! (^_^) We bought SO many familiar snacks from Ye Shoppe (including blow pops, toffee, the chocolate that looks like an orange, and Cadbury chocolate) and Leaha ended up bunking on the ground in between Ellen`s and my beds. I don`t know how long we stayed up till, but it was AWESOME.

Just some side notes.
I never truly appreciated the no smoking in restaraunts law that we have in Maine until today. I was in McDonalds eating my ice cream. I was sitting by the wall, the smoking section was on the OTHER side of the upstairs seating area, and I COULD STILL SMELL THE SMOKE. There was actually a cloud that you could see in the smoking section. No joke. So the next time you guys are in a restaraunt in Maine, just remember how AWESOME it is that we don`t allow smoking in them. Seriously.

Today on the bus ride home, Ami chan and her mom came on!!!! In case you don`t know, Ami chan is Miri`s little 2 year old cousin who lives next door. SHE IS THE CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD!!!! I LOVE HER!!!!! She actually ended up staying with us through dinner and is still here. omg, she`s CUTE!!!!!!