Gah

I really don't mean to put so much time between my posts. It's been over a year since I first made this blog.

My Marine cousin graduated from infantry training last Friday. He'll continue to be at his camp until January. Then he'll be deployed. I'm hoping he gets deployed to Japan or South Korea as an embassy guard, but I think that's a little hopeful. We should get to see him around Thanksgiving, but his girlfriend really likes to absorb all his time. I don't think everyone would be so resentful toward her if she shared his time better.

My mother still hasn't moved out, but it's kind of painful to see stuff that hasn't moved all my life be packed away into a box. I've never moved before and I'll continue to live with my dad, but it still kills me. At least my mother is respectful of the things that are mine and my brother's.

I've been trying to get a jump start on kanji for Japanse next semester. My friend Fix-san is taking my fall courses over the summer so he can graduate in time with a Japanese minor, so he's been e-mailing me the kanji and how they're read. On top of the kanji I learned last semester, I now sort of know about 135 kanji. I'm way shy of the 2000 I need to get by reading manga, but I think it's not too bad for someone who knew 3 kanji in January.

I finished my first year of college with a GPA of 3.066...not too bad for a lazy person like me! I had straight Cs in all my science courses, an A in all the courses I truly enjoyed. Guess that says something about how my brain absorbs information, eh?

My schedule for next semester is as follows:
Japanese 201 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (my only class those days)
Korean 101 on Tuesdays and Thursdays
East Asian Civilization on Tuesdays and Thursdays - my friend Adamson-san says it's a lot of reading, but I should be okay. Our major and minor are the same, so we'll have Korean together. XD
Viking Literature and Culture on Tuesdays and Thursdays too. I'm still on the waitlist, but now I'm first (I was 3rd)...so hopefully someone else'll drop by the end of summer.

Now, someone might call BS and say, "you're only taking 4 classes? Isn't that just 12 credits?" No, it's definitely not. Japanese at my university is 6 credits, making it the most weighted class they offer (other courses weighted so heavily are other intensive language courses, like Russian and Chinese).

I am now employed. I work at a local restaurant as a waitress. I also finally have my license (even though I'm nearly 19...).

Now some delicious side notes:

I plan on studying abroad from Fall 2012 to Spring 2013. A full 11 months in Japan should drastically increase my fluency. I will most likely (95% chance) stay in the place I stayed last time, despite having to share a room. I decided this because most of the time, the room is empty during the day (people exploring or working). Even at night, people don't always come back until the sun comes up. And above all, it's cheap. For the entire year, the only additional costs are my airfare. The deal is, I must pay the difference myself. Being a young teen, I tend to blow money in every which direction, so cheap is good.

I am going to start a bucket list! For those unfamiliar with this term, a bucket list is a list of things you want or plan to do before you die. My best buddy A-chan gave me the idea. Love you, A-chan! http://acosplay.wordpress.com/