Work and Life

Today I discovered the unpredictability of life. My employer, who has been trying to sell his establishment for some time, finally sold his restaurant. Meaning after Saturday night, I will be out of a job. And it's virtually impossible for me to get a job before the middle of June after all the stuff that's going on. I'd actually prefer to work Mother's Day, if it meant that I wouldn't be completely out of a job that I was depending on. So that literally means 6 weeks of absolutely no work. I will try to find other ways to earn money, but it's not like I can work at home doing odd jobs or anything.

I was told by a friend to take the time to relax. But I can't, especially if I get accepted to the program. This flips all my plans upside down. One should be able to combat these situations, but I dunno...I was really depending on the money that I would be making over the summer.

"Kara" among other things

Things are about to get rather busy for me, so I'm not sure if I will update in a timely fashion when I find out about my acceptance/rejection. I have a short paper due Mon, but first I have to visit an art gallery to do it (which is sort of BS, because I'm a believer that field trips should be optional in college as, despite it being free other than transit costs, you do not go as a group). Following that, I have to read two novels by the 10th (shouldn't be too difficult), write a speech by the 3rd and memorize it by the 7th and write a paper on one of the novels by the 10th. On the 12th I have my first exam, the 13th is Mother's Day and despite my having another final the next day (Monday), my employer insisted that I work (it's an important day for restaurants). I shall hope I am able to find enough time to get all my studying done. Final on Mon and then final on Tu, with my last final being Friday (the 18th).

After that, (Saturday the 19th) I head out on surprise over night trip with my boyfriend to celebrate our 5th year together. The date itself isn't until the 27th, but I'm going to Ireland with my dad and brother on that day. The trip will be approximately 10 days long, with our return on the 6th of June. Then, starting the 11th, I have Jury Duty (joy). I was able to differ it, as it would have been this past week originally but I have school that is nonrefundable so I requested to be granted an exception.

On another note entirely, have you seen "Kara"? It's very interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-pF56-ZYkY
I doubt we'll get to this point within a hundred years, but who's to say? As for language, it shouldn't be particularly difficult once we have translating and such down (if you've ever used Google translate, you'll know it has it's flaws). You simply need the signifier (the word) to correlate with the signified (the idea behind the word). For instance, if I say "cat", the signifier is the word "cat" and the signified is the image or idea of a cat that surfaces when the word is said or written.

I don't know what else to say right now, so I'm just going to end it.

Update for the sake of Updating

I hate doing this, but it's been almost two full months of updating. Well, the good news is that I've finally switched back to my old medication and so far things are going great. I don't feel as moody and I'm generally more positive. It's still cheaper than it used to be, but I'm not sure if it's because I'm buying it in the three month packages or not.

The scariest thing is - is the synthetic hormone altering my personality OR am I naturally a calm/pleasant person and the natural hormones destroy my moods? Everyone reacts differently, but in my experience, I have a four day time frame of emotional instability on YAZ (two days before and two days after my cycle starts) as opposed to a constant instability on natural hormones.

BTW, I'm now part of a freelance translation group. I'll post more about it when I have a few chapters out. It's rather tedious, but not as tedious as the project I tried previously (almost no furigana and I don't know nearly enough kanji, so I had look each one up in the dictionary).

I still don't know if I was accepted into the exchange program or not. I have a strong suspicion I'll find out about my scholarship (the Bridging Scholarship, which informs applicants by the end of May) before I find out about the program itself! I've found a rather decent place to live, but the company still hasn't returned my e-mail (it's only been a couple days though, so maybe I'm getting impatient?). I'm just worried I'll get accepted and not be able to afford the cost of living because I can't get into the housing that I need. X/

My friend who had applied to JET is now in limbo - they placed him as an alternate, so as people decline their acceptance, he has a second chance. It just means more waiting, but he seemed fairly optimistic. I hope it all works out for him. If he's able to go, I'll know at least 2 people from my university overthere, maybe 3 if another friend applies for the 2013 summer program. And another is teaching in Korea. Emergency contacts are always good - no matter where you are.

At the end of May, my dad, younger brother and I are going to Ireland! We're still in the air about some of the finer details, but we're likely hitting up Dublin, Limerick and Belfast (yes, Northern Ireland). The Cliffs of Moher, Kilkenny and Bru na Boinne are some of the little side trips we plan on making. Listowel castle in County Kerry is also on the list, mainly because it was raided by a very distant ancestor. >>"""

That's enough for today, I suppose.

Problems

Not that the world needs to know my girly business, but recently (as in about a month and a half ago), I switched oral contraceptives. I was originally on YAZ for polycystic ovaries, which caused a hormone imbalance in me (further causing a variety of problems, such as emotional instability, hirutism, and lack of menstration).

Because of potential life-threatening side effects, my insurance dropped its coverage on that medication. I've switched to a new one, Necon. It's much cheaper, but so far I've come to hate it. Not only do I have terrible mood swings from depression, to anger, to cheerful (but mostly angry and sad), I've gained over 10 pounds since starting this medication AND it unexpectedly shifted my cycle (causing me to have to throw my new sheets in the wash). I also have reason to believe it doesn't prevent cysts from forming on my ovaries (due to several days last month of intense lower back pain and a mild fever).

So my question - I had been on YAZ for 3 years with no real adverse effects. I switch to a new one because of potential long term effects and it doesn't really work. So how long should I wait before asking my doctor for another medication? Another month? 6 months? And if so, what happens when I go to Japan?

Waseda Application

So I've completed my application to Waseda. Now the truly irksome part of waiting for the next 4 months. Hopefully I'll know sooner rather than later, but they say they send acceptance notifications in May.

Accepted

I was accepted (given permission) by the study abroad office to apply to Waseda University. This next part will be long and tedious, but I think I will be okay. The likelihood of Waseda accepting me sounds rather low, but it's best to stay optimistic (and make contingency plans).

That being said, this week will be rather busy. It's doubtful that I'll update again before Friday.

まだ

I still don't know the results of my interview, even though I was under the impression that it was supposed to be "no later than Friday". But alas, that's how things go, right? The consensus of the people I asked (a couple friends and my dad) was to wait until Wed before I shoot my adviser an e-mail.

In somewhat related news, I found out that the likelihood of me getting into Waseda is pretty slim. They only accept about 125 students each time (world wide). I could be mistaken, but...So I've decided to take up a student loan and to also apply to one of the three USAC programs offered for Japan. The only problem is I'm not sure how much the application deposit is refundable, should I actually get into Waseda. X/

I also found out that the Maruman branch of the Yadoya Guest house (the place I had planned on staying) has been closed. I'll check again in a few months, but it sounds like it was due to damage from the Earthquake. I've found a substitute that actually brings the total cost down a bit since I'm not paying for transit - it's within walking distance from the university. It's so close that I walk further when heading to my boyfriend's dorm on campus here. It's not as convenient in terms of what's nearby, but I don't really have much of a choice. I will say that there is a 7-11, Sunkus, Family Mart and AM/PM within 1000 feet, but all of them are in different directions. ><" The closest post office is near the university (post offices are useful for cash).

I've also become quite cold as of late. The past couple days have been terrible. I wonder if maybe I'm getting sick or if it's something else?