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Name: Daniel
Birthday: 6/29/1988
Gender: Male
Interests: Primarily studying the Japanese language, but i also enjoy acrobatics, drinking TEA, and hanging out with the right sorts of people.
Expertise: [why is this even here?]
Message: message me
Member Since:
6/6/2005
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| Hey there.
How's it going? Long time no anything, yeah?
Alot's changed about xanga since then, and i don't really like that, but i'm wanting to try my hand at this thing again. It'll take me a while to get used to operating this now though.
I though about making a "sorry it's been so long i'm back so everybody get excited!" entry but i thought it was really boring so instead i'll just try to keep you entertained with a more or less regular entry. I have been very busy since my last update (over a year ago!) going to school, tutoring English for hire (もうちょっと英語を勉強したいなら、どうぞ電話してね！ケンタキ州のレクシングトン市にいるよ) , joining and eventually quitting an acrobatics team, continuing my language study independent from my school studies, cooking and eating food, watching movies, driving places, reading, working a summer job at Time Warner Cable, maintaining international relations of the personal nature, wrecking one car and getting another, delivering things, and sometimes looking for new shoes.
I have not been ice skating or skiing, fishing, selling or buying insurance, updating xanga, doing any significant travelling, listening to much music, practicing much piano, learning new instruments, painting, planting trees, downloading things, hijacking vehicles, volunteering, sick, seriously injured, getting famous, combing my hair, or ever buying new shoes.
So i obviously haven't been doing nearly as much as i haven't been doing, if you follow me. And my newest pair of shoes is going on three years without replacement. If you didn't know, i've been going to school in Kentucky this past year! It is pretty okay, as you can see from this picture:
I'm majoring in philosophy. I like it, but i don't think it's very likely that i'll use it in my future career all that much. It sort of comes naturally to me, but i just haven't educated myself about it nearly enough. I'm feeling lately that you are supposed to prepare for your major some before actually getting to college. Oh well.
Overall i'm enjoying my experience though. But i'm sorry to report that despite the summer job, it was a rather expensive summer for me, as my complimentary ipod, my antiquated laptop, and my beloved lil' camera have all been lost to me in different ways.  First the screen of my camera was cracked while i was riding the Expedition Everest roller coaster at Disney World. Here is a picture: 
That's probably right when it happened. See how happy i look, gleefully unaware of the tragedy occuring in my very pocket! (yeah, i realize that wasn't the greatest place to keep it now. )
Then my complimentary ipod was stolen right out of my car the night before i was going to drive back up to school. Then after this past Thanksgiving break, my super out of date laptop (i mean 8+ years old) was freezing up exactly when i was about to send an important email -- three times in a row. I punched it in anger, and thus produced my second electronic item that is functional except for the screen. So that last one was my fault... but the first two weren't.
Anyway, it was fortunate that i made some decent money this summer to cover all that stuff.
Seriously though, besides those incidents i've been doing very well (if anyone cares to know).
Now it's finals week, and i need to work on my exam papers! Wuhu!
I guess that'll do for this one.
If anyone actually reads this post i'll be very pleasantly surprised. THE END D.S. | | |
| Well i finally have a computron with which to upload pictures! So what better way to utilize this newfound ability than to provide a bit of an update of my time in Japan this summer!
When i was there last year, i remember being amused at the different flavors of Kit-Kat chocolate bars they have in Japan. I thought it was strange that they had so few other kinds of American candy, but that Kit-Kat had multiple editions. So this year i decided to take pictures so i could show you myself.
I believe i mentioned melon Kit-Kat last year. Well this year my curiosity was satisfied as i got to actually try melon flavored! It was pretty good. I don't care for Kit-Kat bars, but i did enjoy the melon taste.
Next we have 'Kit-Kat Little.' This is like the Kit-Kat equivalent of Butterfinger BBs. While i realize that this isn't really another flavor, it is nonetheless a variation of the candy which we lack in America, and has been for this reason included in my gallery.
Next we have Kit-Kat Kiwi , which -- though i don't recall seeing last year -- was possibly the most frequently seen variation this summer.
...Perhaps followed by Pineapple. That was also pretty common.
I only found Lemon in 'mini' form. Weather or not it exists otherwise, i cannot say.
The last flavor i discovered this year was Banana. Also only found in 'mini' form.
And in an exclusively Japanese manner, we find even milk-macha flavor.
So there you have it. Like i said, i'm no fan of Kit-Kat bars, but i thought it was a point of interest. Hope you feel the same on the subject -- otherwise i could have saved a bit of time by not posting these.
...
Oh yes, were any of you able to find the blue-shirted man at the Biltmore House?
He is indeed very small, and i'm afraid with this yellow outline his shirt doesn't look very blue. Nevertheless here he is.
Trust me, you can see him on the original photograph.
THE END
D.S.
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| Well due to my lack of camera-friendly computrons and lack of time for thinking and typing out probing speculations, updates have been pretty lackluster lately. That's right, i'll not deny it.
So i thought for a change i would take a little time to share with you a recent tale from my recent life in Kentucky.
I am surprisingly busy, but i must say that my class schedule is rather ideal. I rarely have need to rouse myself until around 8:45!  This is in contrast to my roommate, who has to leave earlier than i pretty much every day. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, i usually spend about 45 minutes in the library (of which i shall one day provide a photograph for illustration), checking em-ails and or reading (Economist magazine is a good choice). Chapel starts at ten o'clock but for some reason the librarians always seem to think that i need five minutes to walk from the library to Hughes Auditorium, which is right next door. So they when tell me "we're closing for chapel." i generally think "alright then, i have five more minutes." Most of the librarians leave me to my own devises, figuring that it is up to me to get there on time, but today a librarian came back to me and asked "are you not going to chapel?" This caught me off guard a bit. She had only two minutes ago told me that they were going to close for chapel, and there was a clock on the wall plainly displaying 9:57. I could not comprehend this jump to the conclusion that i was shunning chapel by not rushing off to sit in an uncomfortable wooden seat for three minutes rather than sitting in a leather chair. I replied "yes i am." and she, "well they're starting right now." It is the case, as i believe i have pointed out, that chapel starts at ten o'clock in the morning. But in any case she seemed to be adamant about it so i just left and spent the remaining two minutes waiting around in my chapel seat.
So i was lied to by my community librarian!  What a travesty.
In other news, i have quite a load ahead of me this month. Two history classes with the same professor, which amounts to a total of 1095 pages to be read by the end of this month. So far i've read thirty -- not bad! A mere 1065 more to go!  And of course there's the mandatory Old Testament class with it's additional 147 pages of text book and multiple chapters from the Old testament (i'd estimate around the thirty-ish range) and seven maps. In addition, i have to work out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a friend's fitness training project, i tutor every Tuesday and Thursday night, i play intermural soccer, and the tumbling team wants me to join them.
Yes, i'm keeping busy and trying to excel. The problem is, however, that i have not an even mildly clear idea of why. This is the one thing that keeps tormenting me -- i am improving my physical condition and acquiring knowledge, but i'm hardly any closer to succeeding in life than i was a year ago. None of my classes are related to a desired major, and i'm not entirely sure what my major should be yet. And i have too much 'work' to adequately investigate majors this month. It's rather discouraging. The very worst thing is to think that my classes hold no bearing over my future other than the potential to damage its prospects. At best i can gain some 'elective' and 'general' credits (which i hardly need), and on the other hand i have great potential for damaging my overall GPA.
I can think of few times when i felt as concerned for my current situation as i do now. It simply does not appear that i have made wise or productive choices in this process. So i'm a little discontent and anxious.
However, on the bright side my being here has provided me with some valuable contacts that i think will perhaps serve to benefit me in the future, and i am for the most part rather enjoying myself when i don't think about the "applicability" or "efficiency" of the knowledge i'm gaining.
I do have a small dilemma concerning summer plans, but there is plenty of time for that, and all of my options have good 'pros', with the only 'cons' being that i would have to forgo the 'pros' of the other options. So if i am to have a decision to make such is, i believe, ideal.
I am hoping to provide a visual tour of my schedule, but i am still not sure how to upload photographs effectively and within my time constraints, so it will have to wait. I am pleased to say that every single one of my teachers is a PhD though. How many else of you can say that?
I must say that i am very pleased (and even proud) of the academic standards here. I do feel that i am being forced to exercise my mind in areas that have been long dormant. I just am concerned in the most mercenary sort of way -- about how i will achieve my lifelong aspiration of becoming a nobleman. I am not entirely convinced that this is quite the best place in that regard. Also, it offers next to no stimulation for my linguistic study, and i have been forced to do what i can on my own through independent study and conversation alone. (I miss my sensei.) And thus i am wondering if UK would be a better fit for me. At least i would be in the same area.
Comparison Inquiry:
1). How many of you have such a large amount to read for school?
2). How many of you have all PhD teachers?
3). For how many of you is getting all As this semester appearing to be a literal impossibility?
And a final piece of good news: It just occurred to me this saturday that i can use the regular-sized cups for tea (rather than the minuscule teacups) so now i have tasty yet not unhealthy beverages with my meals! Hooray!
THE END
(Oh yes, that is becoming quite a trademark of mine. My friends always wait for me to declare "done!" or "the end!" at the end of meal times. How 'bout that?)
D.S.
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| More pics for now! On the trip i experimented more with the "macro" feature of my camera.
HERE ARE SOME PLANTS. 
I thought these flowers looked pretty cool.
And these ones remound [previously 'reminded' -- i'm changing english grammar!] me of dragons for some reason.
And these ones were simply unique.
I liked how this tiny yet amazing-colored new branch is growing out of the side of the massive mainbody trunk of this tree.
We may have already established that i like Japanese Maple Trees.
...And here is the aged fellow from whence the previous picture came.
The delay for this entry lies mostly in the fact that i was hoping to crop and inlarge the Picture from last time to show you where the Blue shirted man is, but i cannot figure out how to do this.
In any case, i'm ready to get through the pictures of Summer so that i can start making entries about college life (which will be more fresh in my mind), so i pray that you might settle for this frugal entry for now. Things are going decently up here. I'm not thrilled, but things are well enough.
D.S.
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