| | i haven't been feeling very posty lately, but i just uploaded a bunch of pictures and am in the long process of uploading videos from the past month and a half to facebook. check 'em out! (they're friends-only, so if you want on let me know) | comments: leave a comment   |
| | due to issues with the roommate, some friends have graciously offered to host my going-away party! note that this is a change both in date & location!
details to follow in a friends-only post. if you can't see it and think you should, please let me know. | | comments: leave a comment |
| | i was planning on being in vermont this weekend to help build the bug for firefly, but because of the forecast i'm going to postpone my trip. since i thought i wouldn't be here, i haven't made any plans and haven't been paying much attention to what's going on. so what is going on? who's going to machine saturday? anyone want to get together?
then again, i really should start packing. or any of a kajillion other things i have to do. | | comments: leave a comment |
| | since i'm going to be a schoolteacher soon, i'm going to make my journal friends-only shortly. comment if you want on & you're not already! | | comments: read 16 comments or leave a comment |
| | apparently i'll be living in saga city! yay!
most people in my position are replacing someone... which means that they'll move into the same home and work at the same schools as their predecessors. unfortunately, it looks like i don't have a predecessor, because my board of education (a.k.a. my employer) is in the process of arranging an apartment for me and doesn't yet know what schools i'll be teaching at (though i'll most likely be at two or three different high schools). so rather than have someone who knows pretty much everything about the situation i'm getting into, i'm just going to have to wing it. which makes it more of an adventure, heh. the suck is that i'll probably have to pay more when i first arrive, because i won't be able to inherit any furniture or appliances (including a stove and fridge, since japanese apartments usually don't come with them). poo. | | comments: read 6 comments or leave a comment |
| | hrmm. also corteo will be in osaka and then tokyo!
i just got my first official email from the saga board of education. still no info on where exactly i'll be living and teaching, but it's a step closer to finding out. :) | | comments: leave a comment |
| | for those wondering, at best i will be about a 4 hour train ride from kyoto and a 7 hour train ride from tokyo (or a 5 hour flight). | | comments: read 1 comment or leave a comment |
| | (not in my apartment, i'm doing a favor for a friend.) 1 room available asap (july 1st is also an option) in a 3-bedroom apartment in malden for $500/month. very close to the orange line. first/last/security. | | comments: leave a comment |
| | speaking to people in forums, it appears as though i will be living either in imari or saga city (click for photos). i'm hoping for the latter, as it's more centrally located for traveling to larger cities (apparently saga only has one or two places to go clubbing), but what little information i have seems to point towards the former. | | comments: read 1 comment or leave a comment |
| last saturday i helped out at a sumo robot competition at the museum of science for work. there were over 40 robots, which i helped inspect most of, about 80 kids, and i refereed over 20 matches (each of which consisted of 2-7 rounds). it was hectic and at one point i completely lost track of who was winning (in a neck & neck match with many rounds and many distractions), so i just guessed and apparently i guessed right because no one complained. phew. but interesting!
saturday night was yummy dinner at the friendly toast, an awesome tribal bellydance show (including ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) the_laa), dancing at heroes, and then lots of cuddles. yay! i've always wanted a friend i can platonicly snuggle with and over the last few months chris and i seem to have that down. in the afternoon i went off to feed my peanut-butter-chocolate-cookie addiction at trader joe's (along with some dark-chocolate-covered ginger to bring to the bbq) and randomly found a tranquil pond in arlington besides which i stuffed my face and caught up on the phone with mickey_muder. then to silas7's bbq, where i hung out for a few hours before i came home to crash.
monday morning i procrastinated on going to the weird job and bought yoga pants instead. i discovered my butt looks damn good in them. :) then work, which wasn't as bad as i was fearing. i don't like it but i have to keep in mind that it's usually not as bad as i think it's going to be and i'm probably only going to be there for another month anyway. ceremony was fun too; it was good to see some folks out that i haven't seen in a while.
tuesday i had off of work so i went to my usual boot camp class and skipped zumba in favor of attending syprina's bellydance class. it was fun and paced well (i didn't feel lost much, and i tend to be really uncoordinated when it comes to dancing/martial arts), and also really cool to be in a class full of friends. and we got to stare at syprina's butt. :)
wednesday i was trucking along at work and making progress for about half the day, but then came to a grinding halt because of computer issues. wasted most of the day today too trying to fix it. seems like there's a hardware issue with the usb ports on my work machine. poo. started using another computer late today and made a little more progress.
i've been jonesing for a swim for about a week (it's been quite a while since i swam), so tonight i got into the pool and 1/4 of the way through my usual 1.25-mile workout i aggravated an old injury and sprained a muscle in my calf doing butterfly. :( so i didn't really get the swim i wanted, and now i can't do zumba in the morning either (i haven't been since before montreal). also possibly no psyforia on satuday, since i might not be able to dance. fortunately it's not a serious injury, and doesn't really hurt much, but i have to take it easy for a while since once it's sprained it's really easy for me to re-injure it.
i've been emailing an alt (assistant language teacher) in saga, and although he's not my predecessor he told me that because i'm a prefectural alt i'll most likely be teaching high school in one of the major cities in saga (not like saga has any really large cities though). some posts i've seen online also seem to indicate that prefectural alts tend to get more paid time off than regular city/town alts, but the rule of thumb for the jet program is "every situation is different". so who knows, but things are looking pretty good. i'll be attending a social event with other incoming jets and alumni tomorrow night.
woah, i just noticed that saga gets utterly insane amounts of rain in the summer! (compare to boston.) i've been meaning to make a raincoat forever; guess i need to get on that asap! | | comments: leave a comment |
| | i'm most likely moving to japan in two months. unless machine science manages to figure out a way to hire me full-time without getting grants... i told them at the end of the day and we're to discuss it more tomorrow.
today i found out roughly where i'll be living if i go: saga prefecture. it's on the northwest coast of the main southern island of japan (i.e. not on the same island at tokyo and kyoto), and warm! temperatures range from lows of just above freezing in the january (yay!) to highs of about 90 in august (hot, but bearable). unfortunately i don't know anything more than the prefecture yet, so i have no idea if i'll be in a city or someplace rural or what grades i'll be teaching. hopefully i'll be able to track down the person i'm replacing soon to get more details.
honestly i'm pretty nervous about the prospect of going... i'm sure i'll miss being around people who speak english. once i'm there i know i'll be fine though. eep! | | comments: read 17 comments or leave a comment |
| | i need to get a physical, x-ray, and urinalysis done for the jet program asap. however, thanks to getting a job, my unemployment-sponsored health insurance has gone away. i'm applying for commonwealth care but who knows how long it'll take for it to pass through the massachusetts bureaucracy so i have insurance again. does anyone know where i might be able to get taken care of by a physician for free/cheap? | | comments: leave a comment |
| | woo! just booked my tickets for kinetik! that and cirque du soleil will be my splurges. the rest i hope to do as cheaply as possible.
so, last call for cirque tickets! if you're interested, let me know asap if you want in, and if there's any of the following show times you do not want to go to: thursday, friday, saturday @ 4pm, sunday @ 1pm & 5pm. which show we end up going to will likely be the one that i can get the best non-premium seats for, which'll cost about $100canadian each. i'll probably put the tickets on my credit card tomorrow (wednesday) and y'all can give me cash or paypal. | | comments: leave a comment |
| | i got into the jet program!
this doesn't mean i'm moving to japan -- they want me to, but this year i'm not sure i want to go. it'll depend on whether machine science gets the grants to hire me full-time, and where in japan i'll be assigned to live (i won't find out until late may or june). if i do move to japan i'll be departing august 1st and be away for at least a year.
but still, yay! this means that no matter what, i'll have full-time work that i'll enjoy within a few months. now that an end is in sight, i can finally relax and enjoy the intervening time. :) | | comments: read 21 comments or leave a comment |
| As of 12:30pm, the Iron Pour is still going on tonight, despite the chance of rain. If that status changes, I'll post again. In the event of light rain it'll probably still go on -- bring an umbrella just in case!
MassArt Iron Pour
bands, firespinning, molten metal!
(If you haven't been to an iron pour before you don't want to miss this!)
Friday April 10th in the courtyard
Probably 7-10pm (things usually get started around sunset, and last for about three hours thereafter)
Free!
621 Huntington Ave., Boston
Longwood stop on the E line (remember E as there's another Longwood stop on the D line, don't get confused!)
To get to the courtyard, find the South building (the second one from the corner of Huntington & Longwood), walk in and straight down the hall in front of you. After you pass the admissions office and another set of double doors, there's a door on the left that opens into the courtyard. | | comments: leave a comment |
| | i just found out that cirque du soleil has a new show that will be in montreal while kinetik is happening! so i am leaning towards going. time to figure out logistics -- does anyone have space for me & a big suitcase of my stuff in their car? anyone interested in sharing a hotel room or other sleeping arrangements? and, presuming those details are taken care of -- does anyone want to go see cirque du soleil with me? | | comments: read 4 comments or leave a comment |
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