I have finally come to the realization that I stressed out about college way more than I should have during my senior year, and that I was a pretentious prick about it sometimes.

Thank goodness you only apply to undergrad once.

I hated to be reminded of all that stupid stressing out and obsessing, so I deleted things related to it. Ah. Nice an clean.

U of Puget Sound, here I come! :D

And I need a new account, too. This name bothers me a bit. I have no imagination these days.

me, who roams Japan.

The following are some snapshots of x-mas break and the such. :) All pictures courtesy of Becca and Maura.



This is where all adventures must begin: the ticket booth. I love the Japanese train system.



More Japanes train-system love!



One of the little informational posters on the train. The one with the guy wearing the backpack makes me feel awkward for the little black stick figure guy.



Sagami-ono, which home to one of the best small music stores I have ever seen.



Ebina at night. Gorgeous.



One of the, uh, "escarator" signs in Ebina.



Small stop at starbucks for caffeine re-dosage!



Ferris wheel in Sakuragicho at night. It's the same one from the pictures from below. :)



Sakuragicho, Landmark Tower. It's the tallest tower in Japan.



We must eat! El menu.  (I usually get the meal on the last row, fourth from the menu's right)

 

Amber was just telling me about the cows at UC Davis. Hurrah!



Going home on the bus. Becca is sleepy. I am not.

 

The familiar Torii gate.



Snapshot at MacD's. I wasn't expecting that one.



We weren't really supposed to put the hats on and take pictures-- apparently, there's a sign in Japanese that says so-- but since none of us are really experts are reading Japanese, we kept taking pictures until somebody told us to stop. Oh poo.  (I'm the dinosaur)



It rained the night before: The flightline sometimes-lake. I don't tink any of the ducks are in this one.

 

Flightlining. Can you pronounce that for me?

Those are the days. :)

What is the purpose of senior pictures? REALLY? Because I as sure as hell don't believe it's for that kitschy reason that "AWWW! Dontyouwannarememberyour mostFANTASTICAL yearofhighschool? AWW?"

I think whoever created senior photos was a sick sadist who enjoys watching non-photogenic people (such as yours truly) squirm and suffer under those bajillion-watt lightbulbs and then takes even more pleaseure by simply envisioning the agonizing looks they will have a week later as they stare in horror at the product of a half hour of frying under a magnifying lens and white dots.

Whoever told me that nobody ever looks bad in their senior pictures really needs to fry in a lightbulb, lens-magnified, glaring hell for all eternity.

Okay, I'm kidding, but really.

WHY THE HELL is it that senior pictures cost $200?!? Such a sick, sick scam for sentimental parents who get all teary at the thought of their children leaving the coop. Oh please.



Other than that, life is good. I've jumped on my essays and getting those edited and the such, and also getting stuff signed and written. Joy, joy, joy.

-Krys

I love Japan. Period.
And I'm going to bloody miss it when I am off to the glory that is college next summer... ahh, so far away! I'm torn.
But yes, some shots from my rather rickety video/photo camera from this summer. Lovely stuff followed by corny captions courtesy of Yours Truly.

♥

Bon-o-dori stage at dusk. 


Waiting for the subway train in Sakurogicho's Queen's square station.

Skyline.


The world's freaking longest escalator ride, located in Queen's square.

Inside Queen's square! Whoot whoot.

I love how the Japanese put random words on their clothes and don't really know what they mean... but this might be an exception. :P

Sidewalking in Japan.

One of the world's largest ferris wheels! WHOOT. I've ridden it at least three times already ^__^
 
Landmark Tower from the view of the ferris wheel.
 
The ferris wheel booth tipped over to our side when we crowded to take this picture. We nearly died.
JUST KIDDIN

Queen's square from the walkway bridge.

Chinatown! I think the guy to the right thought I was taking a picture of him. BLEARGH.

Carving at a temple.
 
Does anybody read Chinese...?

PANDA MOUNTAIN!
 
IT'S EATING MY BRAINS! EARGH!

Chinese lanterns.

Enough said.

Down the street in Chinatown...
 

-krys

I just realized something-- I think I may like livejournal more than xanga! *gasp*  In anycase, here: http://www.xanga.com/idiot_savant21

Anywho...
this is a rough draft of something concocted on a particularly pissy day. My ode to The Man, heheh. I haven't touched it in months, but I think it's ready again. Yesuh! I think I stopped at first because I felt I was being too one-sided... but then again, I'm trying to express an opinion, so screw that. The canvas is ready for touchups.
---------------------------

The Importance of Conforming to the High School Mores of Procrastination:

It’s Not a Disease, It’s a Choice


Mind-raped: That is the term that personifies nearly every blank-eyed high school student who is slumped on their couch in a mental torpor after a 6+ hour day of school. We are mechanical-creatures coming home from another day of careful, articulate polishing by the System. Teachers tell us “we have it lucky.” Other unassuming adults tell us “we’ve got it easy.”
What do students of the couch-slumping, blank-eyed type have to say to this? During the couch-slumping stupor, nothing. But what about after we have regained conscious, original thought?
You have no idea.

Going through the process of school is a lot more difficult today than it was in our parent’s time. Although we students of today are blessed with many advancements in comparison to that ancient era of 8-digit calculators and screeching chalkboards, these advancements have also served to place more burdens upon us. Advanced calculators call for more advanced math. Computers that store massive amounts of information available with a single click of a mouse call for much more intense studying and reviewing within shorter periods of time.
All these things are, in a sense, cruelly efficient. Students must be able to calculate equations quickly and efficiently; students must be able to retain large amounts of information obtained in a short period of time; in short, students are being forced to become something they cannot simply be: un-teenager-like.
Let’s admit it: We have short attention spans—what does not catch our fickle, flickering attentions within a millisecond is not worth our notice. We have very little patience to read through pages and pages of two-dimensional paper on cornea-burning computer screens. Most importantly, our bodies can only function with a certain willingness in school for a certain amount of time— we embody the recklessness of disregard for the What Is To Come, but display signs of only caring for The Now. Life is all about Now, and certainly, remembering the four things a congressional committee can do with a piece of proposed legislation is not in the Now. Remembering the differences between monocot plants and dicot plants is not in the Now.
In short, a majority of the time to a majority of teenagers, school is most definitely not in the now.

Oh, but please don’t generalize. Not all teenagers are like that—those who come home blank-eyed are the ones that actually try.
So how do we combat all these advancements made upon us...