Friday, September 17, 2010

Trip Delayed

Hi all, I haven't been keeping you up to date sorry. We ended up not going to the States and probably wont be going anytime soon. So our vacation consisted of going to a terminal for 4-5 days and staying home for a few more days with family playing Diablo II, playing Left 4 Dead on the Xbox 360. Fixing computers and getting ready to continue our normal lives again. (getting ready to get back to work)

On the bright side, while on the other base (where the terminal was held) we got some more neat games and got to eat some Americanized food. The base we are stationed at doesn't have that great of stuff. Eating Pizza Hut tasted like gourmet pizza. The other base seems like heaven with how much stuff they have. We all agreed that the people living there don't know how to go without stuff since they had almost anything you could want.

I also got two new books from the terminal that I thought would be nice to read on the plane or even in spare time at home if I didn't get to it on the plane. Which since we didn't go anywhere I will be reading it at home. The names are; "Warrior" by Marie Brennan, and "Witch" by Marie Brennan which is the sequel to Warrior. I haven't yet gotten to them but have read the following:

"Fire" by Kristin Cashore
Which I enjoyed reading. It was interesting and a little hard to predict in some parts. The one its based off of, is a girl whose name is Fire and who has powers over minds, being that she is part monster. The book has a few really sad parts in it as well and other parts that may make you want to throw the book across the room. Overall, however, it was a good one and I would read it again in the future.

"Graceling" by Kristin Cashore
I think this book was suppose to be read before Fire but I didn't know that Fire had one before or after it. It is of a Girl who has a grace, which is sort of like a special power, it is mistaken for the grace of killing rather than what it really is. She is forced to do the dirty work for the king till a very strange person comes and changes her views on what she must do versus what she can choose to do. I liked the book and would read it again. I would almost say it was better then Fire though I think I would have to read them both again in order to say for sure. Seeing as they were library books, though I don't see that I will be reading them sometime in the near future since I have to finish all these other books I have at the house alone.

I am currently reading "Fallen" by Lauren Kate
So far I like it but I am not very far in it at all. Only in chapter 4 I believe so I will have to tell you if I like it once I get farther or perhaps just after I finish it I can say if I liked it. That way you'll know for sure and come back to find that I didn't like it after all.

I am still working on getting a new computer and I am a little closer. I will need to redo my calculations to see if I will reach my goal in October like some of my other paper work says I will.(I had misplaced my paperwork and just found them yesterday.) I have been working on my bowling too. I seem to average closer to the hundred mark which for me is a good thing. If I was able to play bowling more often I am sure my progress would go higher faster, but everything good comes to those who wait, right?
Thursday, July 22, 2010

Books, games, an update to keep up.

Well I finished the book "Witch & Wizard" and started on and finished "Beautiful Creatures" by: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl. Witch & Wizard was a nice book though it leaves you hanging more than I like. I like Beautiful Creatures it was nice long at 563 pages but nice none the less. I was a little disappointed with the ending but it is nothing when reviewing the book as a whole.

I found Sly 2 Band of Thieves and Sly Cooper and the Thieves Racconus on eBay but was outbid so will need to wait for another deal to come up. I have finally received Kameo: Elements of Power just two days ago. I started playing it a little bit yesterday though can't do it often since it is on the Tv downstairs. Its the family Tv so it gets used often. I enjoyed playing what I got to of it. While I am still on the subject about games, I have beat two more games. The Bouncer PS2, it was a pretty fast game to beat if you are only playing one of the people. Only took a day to beat (not the complete 24 hours). I am sure it will take about as long if not longer to beat it with the other characters. I Also beat my bros. game Meet the Robinsons. Yes it was easy for me to play and beat but I was bored with my games so I figured I would give it a try. That one didn't take long for me to finish either.

We are making final preparations for going to the states don't know exact date that we will be leaving coming back etc. since we can get bumped. Well That is all I can think of to type about right now. Just keeping you up to date a little bit considering its been so long since I wrote anything to ya'll. Laters, hope everything is going well with ya'll.
Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July!

Hi Rose here, hope everyone has been enjoying my posts and if not I am sorry but you don't have to read them and I am sure you will find a blog that you do like reading. Enjoy!

I finished my class I was working on and passed. I am currently reading a book called "Witch & Wizard" by: James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet from the Library for an event they are holding. I will finish reading the book and by my understanding I will then write a book report, basically, on it of what I thought and if I would recommend the book. My goal is to finish it before this Thursday so when we go to the Library on Thursday I can turn it in and start on another book I want to see if I can read all 10 before I leave back to the states. Oh I haven't mentioned that yet. Well we will be going back to the states to visit family/friends and for a wedding. Then we will come back to Japan.

I got "Dark Cloud" from the second hand store it's a Ps2 game(no I am not shy about buying used stuff, make fun of me all ya want but look around every penny counts) and I have played it here and there and so far I like it. I have only defeated one boss so I am not that far on it.
I am looking on eBay to see if I can find the games "Sly Cooper and the Thieves Raccoonus" and "Sly 2 Band of Thieves". I want them both on Ps2, I already have Sly 3 Honor Among Thieves. I got Sly 3 first as a gift. It is also Ps2 and was nice to play though I wasn't all that thrilled with the ending cause the gang is no more. At least it was a happy ending for them though.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! Hope you all enjoy and celebrate. We went to the base for the celebration they had a little sorta like a petting zoo there. Though you couldn't touch all the animals. It was hot and a lot of them were panting and wanting water. There was ponies, (not horses, ponies, I am not saying it just cause I am a girl) sheep, goat, calf, dog, mice, (one got out of its cage. Cute little thing I hope they put him back though, there wasn't much water around outside of his cage unless he wanted to go to the ducks and geese.) rabbits, raccoon, chipmunk, birds, chickens, and I think a few others but you get the idea. I liked a few of the fireworks probably because I hadn't seen them before. We went bowling while we waited for night to fall. I did ok better then I normally do. 116 first game I believe and then 97 on second if I remember correctly. Well type later. Have fun!
Saturday, June 19, 2010

Long days not much happened.

June 15th, 2010
Hey, it's been awhile I know, sorry. I started a blog post but my computer decided to shut off so I lost what I had typed down. I hadn't saved it yet and forgot what I had put down. (I am typing now though. June 20, 2010.)

Lets see my mom gave me till Monday June 14th 2010 for my nausea to go away or I would have to go back to the Doctor for some tests (dealing with needles most likely) and to be X-Rayed. Now I am just going to come right out and say I hate needles. I'd rather get punched or swallow pills than get a needle stuck in me. Luckily for me the nausea went away all except for when I would get hungry, which I think is pretty normal. Now my Mom says I will still need to go to the doctor for a check up after my pills and stuff are all gone. Understandable I think, no? Just as long as the Doctor doesn't want to use any needles I think it will be fine.

Lets see what else? I rearranged my room last weekend but still have more work to do. Bunch of paper work and stuff that I need to file. I like where I placed my bed at. I sleep lots better so far. It turns out that the north pole and south pole magnetic pull and the magnetic pull of our bodies effect how you sleep. I didn't know that till my Mom told me. Neat info to know. Now I know when I can't sleep real well after moving to a new place (we move often) that I just need to turn my bed to the direction I sleep best at and I should see improvement, well in theory.

June 17, 2010
Now, I would of posted this earlier than now but haven't had the time to go on my computer cause of this class I am taking. Wait, strike that, that's a lie, I had time once or twice but instead decided to do chores (I have to do anyway) and study like I am suppose to do. I think that is more important, no offense intended. Sorry if you take offense to it. I still didn't get all my chores done. Luckily for me my parents are kind and are ok with me missing a little bit of chores I will just have to make up for it later is all. Lets see today I wrote whats above (for June 17, 2010) on a sheet of paper and studied.

June 18, 2010
I went to class came back home and watched Ella Enchanted to relax then went straight to bed for I have another day of class tomorrow. So I didn't sit down to type on my computer.

June 19, 2010
I went to class came home and decided to be lazy and push my post to today (June 20, 2010) I watched Legend of the Bog which was an ok movie kinda slow. Not really horror in my opinion, sure it showed blood and sure the people are being basically hunted but it wasn't something to strike horror in you. Well unless maybe you don't watch much horror and cant stand blood. I guess what I am saying is there are other horror movies that are better then this one though you will always have that I guess. Just depends who you are and what your likes or dislikes are.

June 20, 2010
Not to much to report. Happy Father's day to all the fathers out there. Oh I forgot on June 17, 2010 I got some new books. It will take me a while to read all of them along with all the other books that I need to read. I guess it would help if I would actually pick up the book and read it instead of stacking them up and reading here and there hehe. Well Type later!
Saturday, June 5, 2010

Update!

May 31, 2010
Today our Japanese friend came by and brought us some gifts. Mine below.



The CD is for size reference, (like a key) the CD I didn't receive from her but got on my trip to the second hand store.

June 1, 2010
My bro and I went exploring a bit last night to see where some of the streets would take us and it turns out that we ended up going in a semi circle and if we would've continued (which we didn't get to since he had to go to the bathroom) then we would've come on a familiar and straight shot road back to our house.

June 2, 2010
Hey, not much is up today but I figured I would give another update on how things are going. My nausea is back, so I have it off and on once again, I haven't stopped eating the yogurt though so safe bet to say it didn't help or rather it wasn't what stopped it for that short amount of time. My mom thinks it may be my soap so we are going to get rid of it and test out that theory. On June 7th @ 10:00am our Japanese friend will be taking us (My bro, mom and I) out shopping to get some REAL Japan made items since there aren't very many out there and she knows where to go to get some good quality ones.

June 3,2010
We went to the doctor again and now I have medicine to take for my nausea. He is still stumped but is thinking it may be acid reflux. My mom thinks it may be that as well. We went to Washi and my mom and I now have a job to make our Washi teacher some sample Washi products.

June 4,2010
Today I played Kya again and as I was getting ready for bed I noticed a blackish spot (basically something that didn't belong caught my eye) on my wall toward the ceiling, above my TV, which I had been playing on. I went to get my father considering I am to short to get it and didn't know what type of insect it was other then the fact that it looked like it could fly. Which made it even more pressing not to try to get it if I wasn't sure I could. Don't want it flying somewhere else in the house and hurt anyone. My dad came in and said it was either some type of wasp or Queen Ant. My response was sarcastic, "Oh, great". The last thing I wanted was an ant colony in my room, outside is fine but in my room NO! He left to get Windex to coat it so it would fall down. Once it fell my dad had me fetch some toilet paper. I did and handed it to him. He picked up the creature looked at it for a moment, closed up the toilet paper and said yup it's some type of wasp it's trying to sting me. He flushed it down the toilet. I moved the TV back and Thanked my dad and said goodnight. Then quickly got some paper and wrote what happened so I could type it to y'all.

June 5,2010
Happy Birthday to my dad! We went to Outback steak house to celebrate. I finished Kya again too.

June 6,2010
Today I am updating my worksheets and trying to get steam to work. So far I am not having any luck with it and I cant figure out why I am having so much trouble. All well though sooner or later I will get to play again I rather sooner then later but I will take what I can get.
Look at this:


That there is a half frozen egg that my mom tried to crack open after taking it out of the fridge, only one that was like that. My mom thinks it was harvested a little late too.
Sunday, May 30, 2010

Keeping you posted!

Hi there! Lets see where to start lol. On May 26, 2010 (Wednesday) I went to the doctor to see what was wrong with me, since I have been nauseated for a long time now. After going through a peeing test to be sure I wasn't pregnant (which of course I wasn't but there are some people that go in and turn out to be pregnant so they have to test every time a female says she is nauseated.) and after going through a painful process he (the doctor) couldn't determine what was wrong but suggested that I eat some yogurt everyday, one that helps with digestion. Well I don't know if the yogurt is what helped or not but today (May 29, 2010) I haven't had any nausea.

On May 27, 2010 (Thursday) we went to the bank and I am now even closer to getting a new computer. We also went to the second hand store and I got some music for cheap and saved an approximate of $20, give or take of course.

May 29, 2010 (Saturday) today I beat another one of my games. Eragon for my PS2 it was rather easy to beat and I did it in less then a day of play time. If I had to guess on how long I played it for I would say 2-3 hours. I have started Kya again and I am 1/4 of the way done only played it for about 2 hours so far (including the breaks I took in between, which happened to be quite a few, I was drinking tea again :P hehe).

May 30,2010 (Friday) today I started a game that is new to me called Pool of Radiance Ruins of Myth Drannor so far its ok but haven't played it much only 30 mins. approximately, but will continue playing after I finish this post.

Some more things about me:
I like to draw for fun but I am not really good and it takes forever for me to figure out what to draw, which in turn makes me give up and pick up a book, play video games, or sometimes do work. I have played a flute, a baritone, a drum, a recorder, and a metallophone. The metallophone was old and I held it up with one side on my leg and the other in the air with my hand keeping it stable. Unfortunately it was pretty beat up and I would have to put it together every time I would go to use it and the piece I had to have on my leg was sharp and was painful to keep there and play. I currently do not play any instruments.

Things I would like:
I want to be able to swim with Dolphins even if its just once (preferably wild ones where they come to me and let me know its ok to swim with them). I want to go ice skating, yes I am a weirdo and yes I will probably fall on my bottom since I cant even skate on a, straight 4 wheel, street skate. I don't really mind though I just want to do it. I also want to go horseback riding again, I did it when I was really little but can't remember it now.

Random:
Knowledge can come from unexpected places.
Friday, May 21, 2010

Fuji sightseeing, late I know.

Saturday May 15, 2010
My dad decided to play Mario Party with me and he has trouble with a bunch of buttons. (Even though between you and me there aren’t many buttons on the Wii remote, less then a PS2 anyways.) If you have played before then you know about some of the mini games in there that come after every round when playing four players. The ice one, 3 Vs. 1, Where one person has to knock the other three off the roof. We played that one and I was the one trying to knock them off. My dad, thinking there was a force field or something on the game that would push him back on the roof if he jumped toward the side, decided to do just that and fell off. He was saying, "Why didn't you tell me you couldn't do that?!" Which, until then, I had no idea! I mean I just kinda thought it was common sense and didn't bother giving it a try. Just stay on the roof, I would think that jumping off would make you fall but never tested the idea. Now I know! Hee hee. Unfortunately I was laughing so much I couldn't aim and so they (the 2 computer players and Dad) won anyways. My father is Super funny! I ended up having to rush to the bathroom before I peed my pants, I was laughing so hard. I ended up winning the final part of the game I had the most stars and a bunch of coins too.

Sunday May 16, 2010
We went on another tour. My opinion, it wasn't as good as the first one we went on but not all of them can or will be really good. We had to wake up really early since the bus left at 6:30 AM. We finally made it home around 9:00PM. We went to Shiba Sakura Festival (took about 2 hours driving in the bus to get there) where about 700,000 moss phlox plants are at the foot of Mt. Fuji.



The smell of the flowers was odd and if any of you have had ferrets before then you will know what I mean when I say it smelled like when you go to clean the ferret’s cage. Didnt make the food that was being served there seem all that appetizing to me and I was hungry since I didn’t get to eat breakfast. These below are ones that were there off to the side of the other foods, not as crowded over in that direction so go pictures of them.



Basically the smell was one that reminded me of urine and poo mixed with a little bit of wet animal.


I love the water and this one is very nice with the reflection of the flowers and the colors.
The yellow flower below is basically a weed and throughout the whole place there is a few here and there. My dad took a picture of it since it is a loner in the mix of all the pink and purple flowers. I liked the way it looks where it is basically all alone next to unknown flowers that aren’t the same as it is. Reminds me of how I used to be, before I started not caring what others thought about me.




Water, Water with a fish in it nice picture if you ask me since the wind was blowing and the water wasn’t really clear. I just love water!

Then we hopped into the bus again and went to eat Lunch. We ate here at picture below.


I had rice didn’t really feel like eating anything else. Have had an upset stomach here and there ever since the last time we went on a tour. Just coincidence, I am sure, but still, that is when it started. Anyways after that we went to Sengen Shrine “which rests beneath the aegis of Mt. Fuji in a wooded area covering 99,000 sq. meters”. You go through a big gate too. (Below)


The shrine is dedicated to the official Shinto goddess of Mt. Fuji, and “has a lengthy history and continues to serve as an important place in the affection for Japan's highest mountain”. This tree was struck by lightening so they repaired it since it is a special symbol in there culture.


There were also animals here but they were in a fenced in area. There was 2 ducks and a rabbit or two in there too but couldn’t get them too well.




Then we went to Oshino Village located at the northern foot of Mt. Fuji, the Yamanaka lakeside, is a basin in the altitude 940 meters where it is well known as beautiful water village. The most famous in this village are eight ponds, the term Oshino Hakkai. In 800, huge lake Utsu (yute sue) was cut into Yamanaka Lake and Oshino Lake, present Oshino area, by Mt. Fuji's eruption. Oshino Lake dried up 1,200 years ago, what has been left is eight ponds which water gushes out from.


This wheel was being pushed from the water in one pond going to another pond. Its gears and how they work.


1. Waku-ike - "Waku" means gush. Most beautiful pond in Oshino Hakkai.
2. Nigori-ike - "Nigori-ike" means muddy pond, but this pond is clear. (Weird, no?)
3. Kagami-ike - "Kagami" means Mirror. Mt. Fuji is on the water screen when the day has no wind.
4. Syobu-ike - Named Iris pond.
5. Choshi-ike - This name came from local legend a bride who broke wind at own wedding threw herself with embarrassment into this pond as holding "choshi", cup for Nihonsyu. (Now to all ladies reading this, don’t go getting embarrassed at something that happens like let’s say your wedding that is just one thing that makes your wedding special. People may laugh at you, depending on what happens, for a little bit, but the best thing you can do is laugh with them and continue life. Not the end of the world to get embarrassed and if that were the case then the world would have ended a long time ago.)
6. Sokonuke-ike - "Sokonuke" means no bottom, but this pond is shallow. Used to be used for washing dishes or vegetables. (Another weird one, it’s so deep that I can stand in it without it passing my hips, to think there are more things out there, even in America that have names that don’t really fit. Like Indians would be one example I guess. Columbus, thinking he was in India, called the ones he saw there Indians and the name stuck even though America isn’t India. This isn’t one that is a big problem like muddy pond that is clean or deep pond that is shallow but it still is a case where the name was mistaken.)
7. Okama-ike - Water comes out looks like boiling hard. (I really don’t know what that means but that is the information given to me didn’t see the lake myself to be honest.)
8. Degucji-ike - "Deguchi" means exit. Located at the exit of Oshino Hakkai. (Didn’t get to go to that one either it was too far away for us to walk being under a time limit and all.)
We ended up getting ice cream before we left since we had plenty of time before the bus was due to leave. My mom got Grape and my bro and I got Chocolate. My dad didn’t want any. My mom bought err should I say my dad bought, since my mom gave him the money, dried strawberries yes you read that right dried strawberries and dried raisins. My mom, dad and bro said they were good, I didn’t have any myself or at least not yet. My bro liked the raisins the best. I liked the ice cream hehe. The ice cream here in Japan is WAY WAY WAY better then the ice cream in the states. It’s all creamy and rich and not only the chocolate either, other flavors are just as good. Of course I prefer chocolate though hehe.

Then we went to Fuji Peace Park in which a guy spent his WHOLE fortune on creating it. My dad pointed out that he did it and then Japan turned around and went to war. I kinda feel bad for the guy he did that and its like no one listened and they still went to war. It was nice there. Toward the very top were marble stairs.






There was a different picture on each side. So I put each one up from the order we came across them. When looking up at the temple after you climb some stairs go left and the order you see the pictures are as seen here. As long as you go full circle.

After we finished there, we started the, about 2 hour, bus ride back to the cars (aka where the bus picked us up from). We watched Mr. Beans holiday in the bus, though I rather wanted to read but couldn’t from how loud the show was. It wasn’t deafeningly loud, but loud enough to disturb my concentration. Oh and (some of you may not want to read this part and read at your own risk hehe and if that is the case you can continue safely at next paragraph thank you!) I went to the bathroom on the bus in which I didn’t last time since I didn’t need to go till we were eating supper in which I got up 4 times or so. I was drinking tea which makes me need to pee a lot. I can tell you its kinda weird to pee on a moving bus but it is also kinda cool. The first time can be a shock but by the second time it was kinda cool. Like on a boat ride just enough to get moved around a bit but not where you are getting zipped all over the place. Kinda soothing to just sit there and do your thing with a little bit of a rocking feeling to it like when your mom tries to get you to go to sleep and she rocks you back and forth. Or for you a little bit older people who have forgotten what that may feel like it’s like swinging on a swing lightly or go about mid way and stop swinging just to sit there. If you haven’t been on a swing in a while and don’t know the feeling well then go find a swing and test it out who cares what anyone else thinks and if you really don’t want anyone to know you are going to swing then go to a park that isn’t being used or to a completely different area so the people that may see you probably wont see you again and therefore it wont matter none. Though be careful when you go to get out of the bus bathroom sometimes the door will try to keep you in hehe.

Well we were the guinea pig class that day, so I am sure there will be some upgrades to it where it will be better next time, or at least I hope so.
Some more pictures from our time out there:



Big flower!(Below, real human hand right next to flower.)


Saturday May 22, 2010
Yes I know it’s been a while since I have posted anything and now I am posting this and its super long with three days of posting in it...well not really but still. I apologize I didn’t get on my computer past few days I took a break from it. So instead I played my PS2 and ended up beating my Kya Dark Lineage game. I was trying to save it till I got my other game for the XBOX 360, Kameo, but it was so easy for me to play that even with the messin around and suicides I still beat it really fast, I really wish they would have continued with Kya 2 but no, the funding was cut for some other game. :'( well enough of boo hooing I got to get going I will try to post something soon and I will do the best I can so it wont take as long this time. BYE!