This week’s goal was 75 words a day. I’m supposed to be up to 15 pages a day, but alas…. reading hasn’t found its way into my daily habit. D:

I must admit, writing everyday has made me feel really good, even on days when I’m tired, exhausted, sick, or out of town.

January 15: 112
January 16: 81
January 17: 91
January 18: 88
January 19: 81
January 20: 86
January 21: 89
Total: 628 words

Reading total: 20 pages

Weekly Writing Goal:

628 / 525 words. 120% done!

Yearly Writing Goal:

1562 / 250000 words. 1% done! (OH!!! 1% OooOoOooOo lala, I see color!)

Reading goal:

114 / 4500 pages. 3% done!

Read more »

Completing the week, even though I got a terrible cold, makes me very happy. The goal was at least 50 words a day.

Unfortunately, my reading is lacking. D: I’ll try to make up for it this weekend.

January 8: 62
January 9: 51
January 10: 83
January 11: 100
January 12: 79
January 13: 61
January 14: 79
Total: 515 words

Reading total: 19 pages

Weekly Writing Goal:

515 / 350 words. 147% done!

Yearly Writing Goal:

936 / 250000 words. 0% done!

Reading goal:

94 / 4500 words. 2% done!

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I made it through week one without missing a day, barely. I usually wait until late at night to write, just before I go to bed. As my word count increases, I think I’ll need to change my writing time so that I can actually have time to do it. There was one night where I was completely exhausted, but somehow managed to pull out 29 words. It may not be much, but at least it was something.

Here’s the breakdown:

January 1: 41
January 2: 85
January 3: 65
January 4: 82
January 5: 29
January 6: 68
January 7: 51
Total: 421 words

Reading total: 75 pages

Weekly Writing Goal:

421 / 175 words. 241% done!

Yearly Writing Goal:

421 / 250000 words. 0% done!

Reading goal:

75 / 4500 pages. 2% done!

Read more »

Per usual, it’s been about six months since I’ve updated. Much has happened, including going to see another one of my favorite bands (J), a fantastic summer vacation in California, and my very hard decision to stop my studies in Japan for a variety of reasons.

I may post my J concert report at some time in the future, as well as pictures from both Japan and my California vacation. As for my decision to leave Japan, it’s quite complicated, long, and personal in a lot of ways. The experience was great and I don’t regret going. There were just certain circumstances beyond my control that played a vital role in my decision.

My goals have changed. My future is a bit up in the air, but then again, it always has and always will be. I’m leaning towards primary education. But I’m going to try a few classes here and there to see if there is something else that might spark my interest.

In the meantime, I have a few writing goals that I’ve been working over in my head. With the new year coming soon, I’ve been thinking of things I could do to help me improve my writing skills and habits. I would also like to develop a daily blogging habit. But we have seen what my blogging habits are like.

Well, starting now, I’m going to try hard to blog at least once a week, and slowly build up the momentum to twice a week, three times a week, five times a week, then daily. It’s all about starting slow, right?

In the meantime, I’m going to be moving soon into a nice big apartment, and hopefully I’ll be able to work on my novel much more efficiently. More on that at a later time.

So, for now… ciao.

Not much has really been happening lately. I go to class, come home, take a nap, and then I read, write, study, or a combination of the three.

The creative juices have been flowing lately, which is very good. They’ve been brewing in my head since February, and they’re finally making their way out to my fingertips. It’s a nice feeling. I think in the next week or so, I’ll have some short stories written for my fantastic friends to enjoy.

Classes are starting to get a tad bit harder. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m learning vocabulary I didn’t learn in the states. The format of the class is the same as it was the first week - daily quizzes, dictation, so on and so forth. We watch dorky videos with extremely awkward actors in them. It’s quite fantastic, really. There’s always a guy named “Miller-san” in every Japanese/English textbook, and this Miller-san is extremely KY (in other words, AWKWARD!).

Today marks the start of Golden Week. Golden Week is a week of government holidays that all happen to fall one day after another. Today is… Nature day? It used to the Emperor’s birthday marked the start of Golden Week. Sunday is “Constitution Day” and May 5th is Children’s Day, also known as Boy’s Day.

All governmental business and such shut down for the week, and we get a week off from school. Thursday to next Wedesday, I think, is our little holiday. I plan on using this week to write and see several live shows. Two shows I know I can go to, the third… hm, it’s gonna be tricky.

I can’t remember if I’ve complained about this here or not, but Japan likes to use a lottery system for very popular shows. I signed up through a commonly used vendor, Lawson, but it turns out that they won’t tell you that there’s an error with your method of payment until AFTER the lottery completes and you are NOT picked. Thanks!

Luckily there’s a fantastic thing called ONLINE AUCTIONS, which is how I’m going to be getting my tickets from here on. =B

Here are a few random pictures for you.

Japanese keyboard, and some really bad Engrish! Pictures of FISH GALORE!!, and a few from a park.