Counting to potatoe in Japanese

It was hot today. Like, really hot. My mom said that it was recommended to stay as much as possible in the shadows and to avoid doing strenuous activities. It was that hot. Didn't stop me from waltzing to the Albert Heijn, our local supermarket, and a post office, though. I desperately needed a pen. I ran out of proper writing materials some days ago and I wanted a notebook for my Japanese studies, so I decided to take a look at this shop that sells office supplies.

First of all, they are really expensive. I wanted to go to a store called the Action, which is like heaven for cheapskates like me, but it's really far away and my steel stag is dead. The back tire is flat with a hole in it with a radius of one centimeter. At least it died quickly without any suffering. Within 10 seconds the tire was completely flat. This happened months ago and I've been to lazy to get it fixed. But to get back on track, the Action was too far away so I decided to take a look in this office supply store. 

After scouting for a good 20 minutes I decided on a simple flat soft cheap soft cover notebook with blocks instead of lines. It helps to keep the characters organized. One character per box. It's a bit tricky to stuff really complex Kanji in one box, but so far so good. I filled a few pages already with information, like the Hiragana chart, Katakana chart, and some Kanji on numerals and how to count. I also bought a black ball pen, which I love. It was 40 cents, I don't know if that is really cheap, but it was cheap enough for me. Desperate times require desperate measures.

I had a breakfast of milk and cookies. After I bought my stuff at the office supply store - I should really take a better look at the name of the store next time - I doubled back and bought milk, chocolate chip cookies and hot pockets from the Albert Heijn. Currently the hot pockets are still laying in the drawer, untouched. I think. The cookies are nearly all gone, only a few survivors are left. That's what happens if I tell my sister that there are milk and cookies. 

My mom got me Fanta and donuts, which I accepted gratefully. I was eating donuts while watching Lost Girl when my mom barged in. She wanted to loan 615 euro's from me to pay for a vacation. It was a bit awkward because my fingers were all sticky from the chocolate donut I was eating and I couldn't touch anything really. This greatly complicated the notion of picking one's laptop up and to pause the video. Me and my first world problems.

So I went downstairs with my mom and we did the transaction. Then I went back to watching Lost Girl. That season finale was tense. I might have cried out during a few particular moments. Later my mom said that she canceled the trip because while it was a vacation, you had to figure out a way to get there yourself. There was no plane included. That's quite inconvenient. She called the enterprise to cancel the vacation, and if all goes well my money should be back tomorrow. I'm probably going to forget to check my bank account tomorrow.

I forgot to wash my work cloths, so now they are still stinky and slightly covered in brushed of flower. Maybe I'm too aggressive with filling the flower shelves, the stuff always goes everywhere, particularly on me. I'll have to spray it with an excessive amount of deodorant to elude my fellow co-workers tomorrow. My 3/4th eaten cake is still laying on my bureau next to the old shoe boxes. I still have two donuts left. I'm going to leave them for tomorrow. Also, I can - in theory -  count to 99 in Japanese now. Go me.
 

Late Night Screenplaying

My sister has been accepted at the Bonifatius College, which my mom so lovely yelled way to early in the morning at around 11. She was calling my name from down the stairs, and first I thought that something was wrong, like a fire. Not such a pleasant way to start the day.

I got dressed, deciding that I was going to work on my Japanese. When I was working on memorizing some more  Hiragana characters my mom got home. Together we took care of some financial business that has everything to do with me turning eighteen in 13 days. We also ordered the school books for next year. Next year  I won't have to borrow the art history book of my teacher anymore.  My mom did most of the stuff, though. The only real thing I did was posting a letter for school.

It was an other hot day today. When I went outside to post that letter I nearly melted. After all that fuss was out of the way I resumed my Japanese. I looked up some Japanese picture books to memorize the characters better and to get a better grip on grammar. I didn't get to the grammar part, but it really helped me with remembering the Hiragana characters and some Katakana characters. There were only a few words on each page, and there weren't that many pages. I loved it. For the rest I watched a few more episodes of Lost Girl which was fun.

When the sun had set I decided to work on some screenplay for my movie. I was inspired by the song 'Marriage D'amour' by George Davidson, which is actually derived from Chopin's 'Spring Waltz'. They are practically identical. It has a beautiful melodies played by the piano. I also found a violin version but I liked the piano versions better. While listening to the music I sketched a scene of a couple sitting around a campfire, and the guy asks the girl to dance. They then dance under the stars to the Spring Waltz. Probably super clichee, but I really like it so far. It might be that Lost Girl is influencing me with all the romance involved in that show.

Today was quite a productive, if only slightly boring day. Nothing besides studying, writing, drawing, and watching Lost Girl. Of course all with music, save for the series watching. I wanted to watch the newest episode of Naruto Shippuden, but it wasn't there. There's supposed to be a new episode every Thursday, which it is, but nope.

I managed to make scrambled eggs without any burnt pieces today. I'm like super proud because normally I always burn eggs when I try to frie them. Once they go black they never go back, unfortunately. I tried to sell my last piece of cake to my sister, but she didn't want to buy it. Now it's sitting on my bureau next to the shoe boxes that I use as targets during knife throwing and archery. 
I really need to wash my work outfit. I have to work again on Saturday, but if I'm quick I could get it dry before that, hopefully.

It’s Teusday evening. And. I. Passed, jay.

Today I had to turn in my books and I received my rapport. My mentor Mr Lier gave me a big wet kiss - on the cheek - when he handed over my list. First I thought I was late, which I actually was - sort of but not entirely - but luckily half my class was still present along with my super awesome mentors.

It's 10:46 and I'm listening to the amazing cover of "Now we are free" by Taylor Davis. I've been binging on the series "Lost Girl" for the past few days and man, am I hooked on that show. To think that they can stuff so much sass in 45 minutes is beyond me, and I love it. I might take a liking to a certain short bartender in the series - which is by no means entirely romantic - and I'm past the halfway mark on season two.

It's bloody hot today, I thought I would melt. I'm actually still thinking that while I'm sitting like a ... bedpotatoe(?) in my bed right now. I would leave my window open for ventilation, but I'm scared of the insects. Mosquitos in particular, those are nasty.

At 14:30 I hooked up with my friend Katinka to go to the local fair. Unfortunately, she also brought her dad and little brother. It was something I wasn't counting on. The best thing about the fair is by most the churros. By a long shot, really. Those things are divine. I didn't get any today, though. I wanted to go for fries with mayo since it just hit me like 'I want fries with mayo...' that I wanted to march to the local snackbar the moment me and my friend parted ways. Instead I went home, asking if my mom wanted fries too as the good person I can be - my sister wasn't home - but to my great horror she said that all the snack bars are closed today. Later I found out that they aren't but then I had already stuffed my face with lasagna. Not complaining about that, though.

A lot has happened lately, I think. My brains are a bit fuzzy, and I might have found out why that is. The nasty little shit called B12 deficiency. Apparently you can go blind from it get dementia. That might explain my difficulties in remembering past events. Hell, I don't even know what I did last week and I'm mixing things up. Thinking that something that was said today was said yesterday, or a week ago. It's pretty messed up. That is why I'm getting back to writing this little journal. To document my memories so they won't be lost forever.

The whole concern really started when I actually forgot that I had turned in a practical assignment for computer science. I had turned it in, but it was never received by my teacher, so he filled in an F. All this time I had forgotten that I turned it in after all, causing me a great deal of shit. I remembered because of the word 'Struktograaf' while I was taking a shower, completely with the whole widening of the eyes and gaping mouth. It must have looked hilarious. It felt like when Dory in 'Finding Nemo' remembered all her lost memories after she had forgotten about them, completely with the flashbacks and all. Most of all, I felt stupid, and perhaps a bit concerned that I forgot something so important in the first place. It doesn't matter anymore now, though. I passed and even after I told my teacher that I did make it and send the file to him, he wouldn't change the mark because I didn't make the accompanying assignments that went with the end project. Oh well.

I have been practicing my knife throwing, and now I can hit something from like three meters with the no spin technique. The spin technique isn't something for me. My floor is a mess. There's rubble everywhere and chipped pieces of wood from the wooden board I've been using as a target. Today I sneaked the bow and arrow from behind my mom's television in her room and mended the bend arrow points. I bought that old thing a few years back on Queens day and it had been collecting dust all this time behind my mom's television. She hid it for me, saying it's dangerous. I tried a few shots with it and discovered that my aim is terrible. I accidentally embedded an arrow five centimeters in the wall. And the chair. And other stuff. Besides knife throwing and archery I've also been trying my luck at trying to learn Japanese. The language itself seems easy enough, it's the writing that's been killing me. There are like 2000 Kanji characters. 2000. I think that one of these days I'm going to cry because of that. Luckily I can procrastinate on the Kanji characters for a while. First I'm going to learn Hiragana, which has like 48 characters and Katakana. Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji are the three major writing systems in Japan. I even bought a traditional Japanese book. Backwards and all!

Last Sunday was Braderie. It's like a market day with little shops - mostly commercial - placed along a very long street that begins at the supermarket 30 meters from my house, and ends at around the local theater; the Schouwburg. The night before I had been binging on Lost Girl till four in the morning, so I was practically comatose till around 2 PM. I had totally forgotten there was braderie that day. I got the information from my neighbors when I was overhearing their conversation from below my window. I had opened it for some fresh air. I quickly got dressed and in the process dragged my sister with me to check out the stalls. That's where I got the Japanese book.

There was this old guy who was selling this holy mother load of books. They were all mighty expensive, but I threw in my womanly charms and innocence to sway him in giving us a discount. 17.50 was the price we agreed on for three books. First the guy wanted like 25 Euros. My sister and I were like 'Hell naaaaw'. Luckily we had a win win situation. She bought two books on medical stuff. After that we got a family bag of churros which we ate all by ourselves. I certainly felt slightly vile after that. Worth it, though.

For my scription next year I'm going to make a movie. This is possible because I have the subject Art in my schedule, which is totally awesome. I know that one other kid from my art class is also going to make a movie, so I'll have to talk to him after the holiday is over. To see what he got. I asked him before, but he didn't know what kind of movie he was going to make back then. I, on the other hand, do. I'm going to make a movie about a student who failed her 4th year in high school, and in her exam year she is going to take revenge on everybody who fucked her. That's it in big lines. I was greatly inspired by the movie Kill Bill. Kill Bill is a master piece. I already started on a script and screenplay. It'll be epic. I am concerned though and full of doubts. Sometimes I think that I won't be able to pull it off. That I don't have enough time, or the necessary recourses. I even considered changing to a completely different plan, like studying the Japanese writing arts. For now I am going to go on. I really want to do this thing. If only to prove that I can.

The last couple of days I've found a lot of cool new soundtracks and songs that I have added to my collection. I also found back something that I thought I lost. There was this video of a cover of a Naruto Shippuden soundtrack by the name "Obito Death Theme". It was basically a metal cover of the song with several improvisations and the most beautiful piano opening. One day when I wanted to listen to it again on Youtube, it was gone. The user who uploaded the video had ended his Youtube account. I searched and searched. I even contacted a band that had the same username as the guy on Facebook, but to no success. I made a Twitter account just to stalk the actual guy when I found him, but he hasn't replied back yet, probably never will. When I thought all hope was lost, I found the bloody cover in my play list. Apparently I had saved it to my computer after all, but I had forgotten I had. It was a pleasant surprise. I might upload it myself now. Such a beautiful cover should not be lost to the world. Mr Van der Kamp made me go to the gym, saying that I had to work out for three hours if I wanted to pass. There had to be a photo as proof. I did go to a gym, yes, and I did get a photo. And then I left after 10 minutes. But he doesn't need to know that. Apparently my evil plan worked.

On July 12 I witnessed the super moon. I saw it from my window late in the evening, noticing it was slightly bigger than normal. Then I remembered there was supposed to be a super moon that very night. I thought about getting my telescope but I was afraid that bugs would fly in if I would leave my window wide open for too long. According to Wikipedia there is an other super moon this year on August 10. I think it's pretty cool, just like a red moon, or a blue moon. Shit's so fancy I'd need a second monocle.

I've been collecting quotes and other little somethings on my phone and a bit on my computer from Facebook. Right now I've got around 350 pictures of stuff. You know what they say; educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. Today the summer vacation officially started. 

Let's make the best of it.