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Tracy desu yo, pessimist and world’s worst procrastinator. Uni student with still a lot of things to learn. Interests include otome games, Naruto and Japanese.

: Loves pink, food, ice-cream.
Summer is my eternal love.

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So I finally finished those two awful assignments and now I'm free... JOKES lol what is freedom with assignments still due in the mid-sem break and like two more every week until the end of semester ¬__¬

End result
Ecology essay: 7 pages, 3 of which were references
Genetics essay: 8 pages, 3 of which were references

Those references take me a solid 40 mins I swear > > Would have also written more if not for word limits.

And lol at ecology for saying they're using our essays as examples of both good AND bad for future cohorts and to say explicitly if we don't allow them to so naturally:

So I finally finished my ecology essay but it's so bad, and the markers are so mean especially since when she gave us the assignment a mere two weeks ago, she just went on and on about how a pass would be good and that you shouldn't be upset because it means you've done everything they've asked for. Everyone reading in between the lines: Oh so that means we're all just going to get a pass, max then?

Aaaaaaaaaaand I'm only on page 2/5 for my genetics essay due Friday sigh.

When you're on word 500/1500 on essay 1 and you still have no idea what the point you're trying to make is or what you're meant to write about:

So... how do I write two essays in five days?

Ah.. so screwed.

Applying for Honours Projects is scary and :/ I feel so average as a person I don't even know what to say.

Anyway it's been a tough week (and more to come next week) but even though it was a filler ep this week, this scene was really good (sorry for LQ screenshot):
I loved it when it was a manga chapter cover, can't believe they turned it into anime too.

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Side story #4 - Partway through our karaoke (refer to post here) where I was singing Naruto openings and endings (since why not take advantage of the wider array of Japanese songs available? If you're going to do all English, do it back in Australia where there is a wider selection):
Rosemary: *to Hiroshi* So how's her Japanese?
Hiroshi: It's pretty good!
Me: ha..ha.. :'D

And later while Rosemary and I are doing Love The Way You Lie
*Eminem's Rap*
Rosemary: ............
Me: *doing the rap*
Hiroshi and Rosemary: wtf do you even breathe when you do that
Me: lol 

Went to bed around 1:40 I think. Woke at 7..... We had to leave at 7:55 to meet at 9 and bought another miruku churro for breakfast :D Legit thanks to rosemary who didn't wake up when I told her to she left me only one min to buy breakfast just so we could make our scheduled 8:09 train ==

Anyway we caught the women only carriage lel and basically made it to universal station gate at 9 and we walked over to ticket entrance and Ling found us. Went inside approx 9:30 at opening. Rides we went on were jaws, then spiderman which rocks a lot and cool stuff sprays on you when the water monster gets hit. Also there's one thrilling part where you "drop" from a tall tower but spider man catches you in his net. And at the end of the ride he drops down from his web and says はい！チーズ！(hai! chi-zu! = Okay, say cheese!) and takes a pic lol.

Afterwards I think we lined up for biohazard timed tickets, then we split up to meet at 12 cause Rosemary and Ling had express passes for more rides. I went to the kiddy area and looked at hello kitty shop and rode the merry go round which goes round exactly 4 times. Also note that weather was really hot, humid and sunny but clouds were rolling in gradually over the day. Note, all the park staff are literally always super happy and nice and smiley it's scary.

We then went to biohazard which is kinda scary cause I don't like zombies chasing but the arm bands and "google glass" kind of glasses was cool. Then, we went to terminator which was a "show" with 3D glasses but it was cool cause the actors would "run" into the stage and then the screen would continue the action and vice versa. 

Afterwards, we then rode space fantasy twice. It was really good actually, the thing rotates and goes up and down like an inside roller coaster and one "room" in particular at the end has super bright flashes to emulate the sun. 

Then after that Rosemary and Ling went on teacup ride and by then it started to rain sigh. We got on elmo's skateboard and it was seriously pouring hard that even though wearing a poncho (which is futile, it just clings to your body) shoes and bag once again got soaked (and feet will turn white, and sock is wet til ankles). Afterwards went to harry potter world with rosemar cause Ling got an express timed ticket and we wandered the shops and I had butter beer which is qutie nice but thick and heavy. Foam tastes like caramel and the soda itself tastes very sweet and the flavour is hard to describe. 

Then we got in line as no timed ticket needed but wait was said to be 50 mins but took more like 30 mins. The ride was pretty cool, it shakes a lot more than spiderman but "scary" stuff comes out but idk cause I don't watch harry potter haha. Also there's a dragon which breathes fire and you seriously feel warm. Also the ride flies so fast and dangerously and always makes you feel like you will hit the wall but at last second you don't. 

After that we didn't do much as it was already 6:30 or so. Went on spiderman again. After that we did back to the future which is like spiderman and harry potter but it SHAKES SO MUCH I got thrown forward and backward in my seat many times and it hurt. Back to the future has lots of lava, dinosaurs and chasing for some reason through city sky (btw, note that all rides are narrated in Japanese.... obviously).

Next we went to souvenir shop cause Ling had to buy stuff then left at 8 (closing time). Went to get takoyaki for dinner at the Takoyaki Museum. Rosemary and I bought the box of 16 (4 ソース, 4 ねぎソース, 4 しょうゆ, 4 ねぎポン = 4 sauce, 4 onion + sauce, 4 soy sauce, 4 onion + ponzu sauce). Was seriously good. We then left for home but when we had to transfer at osaka station Ling decided to show us the top of the station where you can look down at trains. Also tried to go to pokemon centre but it was closed.

Said goodbye at the station since she catches a different train. Probs got home 10-10:30 and I had to shower to warm up my stupid wet, white shrivelled feet and went to do coin laundry. When we got home, it was funny cause we got into elevator then a guy came running so I left it open for him but then it started to close as his friend came running and he did nothing (and obvs we didn't either as we were at back of elevator and also expected his friend to save him). They were korean as his friend said "너무 (neomu) xxxxx" which I think he meant "aren't you too much?" Seriously us three laughed (us and the first friend) when he got stuck cause why did no one help...

Anyway yeah it's now midnight and still got things to do.

ps. The rain today was really not nice, especially cause my feet got soaked YET again, poncho gets wet and clings to legs (was wearing shorts) and also cause we got really wet as we were riding the balloon ride and skateboard as it rained

pps. I don't know what it is but my shoulders, my upper arms, thighs and calves just hurt SO much today, especially the shoulders and when bag straps go over them. Maybe after effects of yesterday's heaviness and travelling? 

ppps. Second rainy day of soaked shoes + socks = shrivelled, white wet feet. Ugh.

End note: Also sorry my descriptions of the rides were crap, it's just hard to describe those sorts of experiences and you need to actually feel it.

Ugh, submitted my marine report half an hour ago (it's due tomorrow 4:30pm). I'm really unsatisfied with it but I've worked on it and stared it for countless days and I just can't make it work. And I know I probably can't even scrape a credit this time, after the way they decimated everyone's reports last time, even though it was only worth 8% (and this one is 25% ugh).

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Fun fact: Our itinerary/plan for Korea and Japan totaled 64 pages. And actually that's not our complete file, because we did extra (more thorough) research during our trip (which is in a separate file) because our last few days weren't as detailed as we'd liked. I wouldn't be surprised if the time spent on our research totaled 48 hours, if not more. 

(only slept at like 1:30 something so only got 4 ish hours of sleep)

Woke up at 5:35 cause we had to leave at 6:45 to get a 8:03 shinkansen. Got up and packed, then we left the house officially at about 6:48 cause it took us a couple of mins to go down and take the rubbish out first. Walked to akasaka mitsuke and got there at basically 7. WE WERE SO LUCKY THAT WE COULD GET A SEAT AND HARDLY PEOPLE ON THE TRAIN COMPARED TO YESTERDAY WHEN WE HAD TO GO TO SHINJUKU IT WAS FREAKING SARDINES (8:30pm) AND I WAS LEGIT SCARED FOR THIS MORNING (and yes, caps was necessary for this).

Caught the shinkansen from Tokyo, and slept basically the whole way ever since 8:23 and periodically waking up with rosemary awake on her ipad. 

When we got off, osaka aunt (another acquaintance of Rosemary's dad) met us on the platform. She said her train got delayed and that she was worried she'd be too late to get us. We made our way to our hotel and pretty sure we got there maybe 11:45 or so (quite fast) and we had to pay and get the key.

Sussed out the place and tried to get wifi to work but it didn't (though it'll miraculously work for me when we return later in the night). Rosemary shocked herself when she plugged in the air con and didn't even get medical attention when appropriate which is to go now while we're in the city (you'll understand the problem later).

We then headed to tempozan food market but it's barely 1-ish and rosemary keeps complaining it hurts and wants something for it and we spent a good half hour asking people but turns out there are no pharmacies around that area and in the end we have to go back one station on the train to find medical help. By then I was pretty hungry and it was super hot (32°C?) and I was like screw it so Rosemary went with Osaka aunt while I went back to tempozan and chilled at Seria. Bought some cooking molds! Finished at like 2:20 lel and sat on a bench and played on my phone til they returned (around 3) cause that was the meeting point we had set so I didn't want to wander around and miss them. 

In the end, they came back with cooling bandages (which can be bought from any conbini) which is what I told Rosemary to use all along but she refused == I mean numbing from the inside can't be treated easily anyway (and Osaka aunt agreed).

We then went to eat okonomiyaki and ate til like 4:30-5 or something (eternally having late lunch). I got normal buta with modanyaki, rosemary had egg with green onion (not sure what meat), while Osaka aunt had yakisoba in hers with egg on top. We left and rosemary went to the one piece shop and they actually had a couple of naruto pins there o_o 

Afterwards, wandered the place a little more then left and went to ATC for some reason cause apparently Osaka aunt went there a long time ago. Went inside but strangely really empty and nothing really interesting, more food and clothes places.

Went to Cosmo Tower and it was probs like 5:30-6. It was still bright but sun starting to set. We found nice chairs within a booth but then decided to go back down to Lawson's to buy snacks and drinks lol.... Came back up and it was nearly 7 and unfortunately an obnoxious couple took our spots in the booth (there are only two) so we went in anyway and took the other seats haha..). Drank my kirin citrus alcohol (Osaka aunt totally encouraged us to drink LOL, and in a public place too omg) and we ate shio jagabee which is pretty good actually. Also ate these 100 yen miruku churro which are SO GOOD OMG like why can't we have $1 churros here??

We ended up being there til like 8:20 watching things go dark lol. Couple next to us were being super kimoi, and I tried to be polite and ignore them but their sounds were nope. Also even though it was quite dark by the end, one time I accidentally turned around and I swear I saw some kabedon going on. Nope nope nope. 

We talked with Osaka aunt about random stuff like hiroshi and his mum (cause they all know each other, and she was asking us how they were doing), our exhausting swan paddling and more. Also she said she got married at 20 omg after only a month hmm..

After that we went downstairs to a tonkatsu place where I got the teishoku and it came with sesame you can grind yourself lol. Osaka aunt said she regretted not being able to take us to better places like at shinsaibashi and that area etc (but ofc everything would be closed cause it's super late since we spent so long watching the sunset). Left just at about 9, took the ニュートラム (Nyūtoramu = "new tram") back to Awaza, where she said goodbye to us as we transferred for our own train to go home.

Got home 10:05 and it's now 11:17. Still gotta shower and do random things bye


ps. we started drinking the day rosemary's parents came (9th) and have been doing so everyday up to now... meaning we've been doing it for 7 days already... Osaka aunt heavily encouraged us to have a drink during lunch even, and by that I mean she asked us like 10 times and we had to persistently refuse. But then we just ended up drinking at Cosmo Tower OTL

pps. Osaka aunt is super directionally challenged (even more so than I am, and THAT'S saying something). Like she was meant to guide us to our hotel (but ofc I had the directions too) and really, she ended up taking exactly the way my file said (preparation ftw) except she took the long way within Osaka station and Rosemary and I followed blindly cause we thought she knew a shortcut.

And numerous times after that she'd be like like "let's go to xx!" and then head off in the wrong direction while Rosemary and I would be like:
And then we'd say "but it's this way.." LOL. She even came out of the bathroom and we were meant to head back the way we came and she went the WRONG way!! Who does that xD And I was scared at first cause earlier in the day Rosemary seemed like she was just getting generally fed up but thankfully both of us really warmed up to her like halfway through the day :D

Yesterday:

Alex: Hey do you guys want adult colouring books I can get you some for a discounted price (he works at dymocks)
Rest of my friends: yes get me the tropical one, the cat one, the marine one etc.
Me: I ain't got no time for that, plus I'm too lazy so no
Alex: there's a japan one
Me: ..........


Me: Why you gotta do this

※ Note: Best read in conjunction with the album photos.
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Tip #9 - Most shopping centres don't open until 10 or 10:30 so plan accordingly. 

Procrastinating on my marine bio 25% report......... Also got two essays due next week, lab report and some other junk all before mid-sem break which is just (y) Also a lot more to do when we get back from break too ugh.

Anyway I don't know why but the back of my hands are breaking out into a gross rash, as well as my shins and legs. I always hate it when this happens (and for no reason too, changing seasons??) because it brings back horrible memories of when I was younger and half my body would be covered in this...... Why am I always at war with my own body, really, why?

Nutrition 30% mid-sem tomorrow ha...ha..

Wish me luck.

Me: "Mum would you let me go sit on our roof?"
Mum: "What do you want to do that for?"
Me: "I don't know, I've been feeling like it lately. Would you let me?"
Mum: "Yeah, just get your dad to bring the ladder around."

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Tip #8 - Do you need portable wi-fi? Honestly, no. I survived both times in Japan (and this time in Korea too) quite well without it. If you plan well and are willing to occasionally ask locals/police boxes for help when you need it, that's all you need. I mean 10 years ago when internet wasn't as popular, that's how people did it right? 

Side note: The free wi-fi network is a lot more extensive than it is here in Australia. In Korea and Japan, you'll find them at train/metro stations and at major shopping centres. Also you'll find them in the more typical tourist spots usually listed as "Tokyo wi-fi", "Kyoto wi-fi", "Nara wi-fi" and so on.

Yesterday we went red faced again cause we drank more of our home umeshu.

Only finished packing and got into bed at 3am but had to wake up at 6:15 so only got like 3 hours of sleep and it was very painful for rest of day.  Woke up and finished packing and we left at 7:20 and went to our nearby yoshinoya for breakfast. I had the same as last night, the gyudon with salad and rosemar got galbi but with miso soup and potato salad.

We ate slowly since we had time and left at 8. Walked to akasaka mitsuke which we'd never been to before then went to shinjuku. Trains in that direction are super packed in the morning and rosemar said she even saw some poor guy get doors closed on his back cause he stuck out a little. 

Got to shinjuku super early at 8:30 (only 10 min ride). Waited til 8:55-ish before Hiroshi and his mum showed up. Since the Shinkansen wasn't til 9:30 we went to reserve our Osaka Shinkansen.

Got on our shinkansen and rode it for an hour which rosemar and I fell asleep so easily on since we got such minimal sleep. Hiroshi woke us up but since rosemar hadn't woken up yet I had to shake her and we got off the train. 

Pointless side story #3
*Later on*
Us to Hiroshi: So when you woke us up.... did we like, you know, look bad?
Hiroshi: ......Uhhh......
Rosemary: He hestiated!! He definitely hesitated!!

We then took a local train towards our destination of Kawaguchi. Took an hour again so got there about 12 or something. On the train I fell asleep again cause so tired lol but woke up periodically to people taking pictures of mt Fuji. 

When we arrived to kawaguchi we shoved our stuff in a coin locker since we had so much to carry for our stay and there were only a couple of the smallest 300 coin lockers left and rosemar worked her magic in fitting everything in as the Chinese lady who was unpacking stuff on the floor stared at us (astonished). 

We took the bus up to the 5th station and took pictures and stared at Mt. Fuji, went to the shrine, looked at the souvenir shop which had cookies and cream and ichimi kit kats. Went "climbing" up the path then caught the bus back down at 4:10 but unfortunately there were a lot of people and I almost fell over multiple times as I was extremely tired and kept falling asleep while standing.

ps. so many Europeans and Chinese etc tourists at the stop and 5th station. 

Got off and took 5 min ride in a minibus (with 4 other Chinese people) to the ryokan. Put down our stuff and chilled til our 6:15 giant kaiseki ryori dinner. Had umeshu again lol and Hiroshi's mum says I don't go red easily?? But obviously she hasn't seen me properly when I drink LOL.

After that we went outside to play with our fail fireworks cause they take forever to light up and the flame kept blowing out (strong winds). Honestly, for every one minute spent playing it, it probs took 5 mins to get it lit. Reception were nice and let us play them near the water/lake and gave us a water bucket to put out our waste and flame. 

Came back inside and our futon had already been laid out by some kind soul and also we borrowed sewing kit from front desk cause strap of my backpack was coming off from always carrying a lot of heavy stuff. Team effort where we both sewed and reinforced a strap each.

Went outside with hiroshi (9pm) to play the rest of fireworks we set aside for him cause he was busy before. Was harder to light as wind blowing harder and lighter fluid running out. We went to the onsen about 10 and didn't leave til 11:25 but Hiroshi's mum left really early. 

There were nice baskets to keep your clothes in, "booths" ie. walls between the shower places and one big bath. Also a bath outside where you can see past the balcony and look up at the sky. When Hiroshi's mum left it was just us two left lol (guess no one else takes late baths)

Went outside and almost fell down the stairs since I was concentrating so hard on the usagi banner marking the women's entrance. Came back and drank a suntory melon sparkling water umeshu which Hiroshi's mum bought us and went red faced again lol. She also bought us squid snacks and some caramel rice-ish snack and cheese sticks.


Anyway it's nice in the ryokan yukata. It's now 12:35 and I'm preparing to sleep bye

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Tip #7 - For the love of all that is good, Tokyo and Kyoto are two syllables. TOH-kyo and not "toe-key-yo" and similarly, KYOH-toh and not "key-yo-toe." Please! (And this way maybe the natives will think you are less obviously foreign hah...)


Headed to Akihabara first to sofmap to look for rice cooker. Spent short while there before we went outside and for some reason the main road was blocked off for something (though no performances happened or anything like that) and the roads were walkable on and you didn't have to wait for traffic light to be able to cross. For some reason this guy came up to us and asked to take our photo on the road with his dslr?? So weird, I don't know why.

Anyway yeah he also had a friend and he asked where we were from and stuff (in half japanese, half english) and he said he had a daughter that studied in Australia (at University of Wollongong) for a year. We went on our way and stopped by donki which we happened to spot. Didn't get anything and we continued down the road and were about to go into a ramen place for lunch (cause we hadn't had breakfast that morning) and literally just before we finish crossing the road to it the same man from before came again!!!!!! And he wanted more pictures.... And then he was telling us there was a free concert and that we should go and we ended up going and not having lunch.....

So the concert was at about 3pm and took like an hour. The fanboys on the lower floor were super intense (greatly shocking Rosemary and I). They knew all the lyrics and fanchants, and even had different coloured lightsticks for each subgroup and were always singing along and doing even the hand gestures of the dance.

After it ended it was super late (like 4:30) and we still hadn't had lunch OR breakfast... Went to the honey toast cafe, I ordered the honey toast pudding and caramel (honey toast with a pudding flavoured ice cream) and Rosemary got choco banana which came with honey dip on the side. Despite being super hungry, I really struggled with the end. Ate all the insides (just barely) but couldn't eat the "walls" though I'm not sure if you're meant to lol.

After that (about 6?) we had to go all the way back to animate for rosemar to get her opal card sticker and she got all pissy when she couldn't find the place but anyone with common sense would look it up the night before if you knew you wanted to go back(?). Also she thought it was in my file but it never was and plus I deleted old things off it to stop retarded scrolling. I mean it's like why did you expect me to research for you where it was when you were the one who decided you wanted to go (back)? o.O If there's something I want to do I don't expect others to figure it out for me, I thought it was common sense I would do it for myself whut x_x

Anyway of course in the end I'm the one who finds it cause I wasn't being all pissy and I used the logic of backtracking our steps cause the one she wanted to go to was near mandarake. Anyway after that we also went back to mandarake cause rosemary wanted stuff x_x Left after 7 and we went to sega to take 2 purikura before leaving at 8-ish to kamiyacho to go see Tokyo Tower. Walked towards it from a distance and it was lit up and really beautiful.

Probs left it about 10 or so and had dinner at yoshinoya near the station at 10:20 and left 10:50. It was so nice and quiet in there, only like 4-5 people including us total. The guy serving is a ninja, literally pulls out already filled water cups (from under the bench) as you sit down and not after, and also when people start forking out money onto the table he is already rushing to you so you can pay (you don't even have to call him). Also you order and literally less than 2 mins later you have your meal. Across from every seat in the horse shoe formation of the shop is a cash register so it's efficient as the cashier doesn't have to keep walking back to one cash register with your money but can process it there right there and then.

Got home about 11:20 or so? It's now 12:53 and I still have to pack for the trip tomorrow.

Also I laugh at how Rosemary gave no emotion whatsoever and was extremely uninterested every time I pointed out a yoshinoya on our trip thus far (cause I quite liked it last time I came in 2013) but tonight she fell in love with it.

Funny lecturer *about vitamin B12 supplements* - "Vegans might want to consider taking these since you really only get vitamin B12 from animal products. The great thing is the synthetic supplements are produced by fermentation of bacteria. Unless you're against eating bacteria too. In that case, I don't know because I don't understand vegans."

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Although I hate nutrition with a passion (because of our lecturer's annoying ways about things and the tonne of work we have PLUS extra online lectures that need to be done), I will just say that this one guest lecturer is our saving grace (and I wish we had him for more than one lecture).

Highlights:

*Talking about B6 antagonists* - Since oral contraceptives are antagonists, girls, if you're taking the pill you might want to consider supplements. And guys, if you're taking the pill, well....... you might want to stop doing that.

*Talking about vitamin D supplements* - Maybe because I'm Asian, but I don't understand paying for something I can get for free. 

He also makes simpsons references, so I'm sold (Y) 

Also, marine bio you got no chill. As if fail isn't bad enough, apparently they've made "catastrophic fail" a category:

Although none of my uni friends chose to do marine bio with me, I think it's quite an interesting subject. We've got fortnightly pracs at the beach, and what's more is I was absolutely surprised that what feels like at least 20% (if not more) of the students in this subject are actually exchange students o_o In last week's prac half the students in my group were students from the US. I had fun asking them if it's typical for people to know all 50 states LOL. Downsides of marine bio though is the amount of reports we have to write... two of which are worth 25%. FUN. (No, it's really not). And you only get two weeks to write them. Also I'm not sure how people who've never taken stats or didn't choose to take the elective survive because marine bio relies on stats knowledge heavily, and you need to run your own analysis on your results to use them in your report so...

Anyway yesterday I came across this and I thought what they wrote was pretty interesting. You don't have to be interested in translating Japanese to read this, an interest in any language will do, or even if you're not it could still be a good read!

Click --> here!

"In translation you may have a deadline but no one is timing you. Dictionaries, online resources, and everything you can get your hands on are at your disposal. Researching while translating is key. Finding the voice of the author, mulling over the right way to express something in your native language, that’s what you need to be able to do if you want to be a literary translator. None of these skills are tested by the JLPT. Someone can pass the JLPT and be a horrible translator while someone who couldn’t pass them could be a great translator."

^ Pretty accurate. Also according to them what I'm doing is localisation and not translating but I'd like to think it's both xD (I'm talking about me being on a translation team for an English patch of a game). Totally agree on the part about trying to make sure the voice comes through (it's not about literal translations only).

Also this one was pretty interesting too: click!

"In every other language where records exist, the bee’s buzz is represented by a Z or an S. In Japanese, however, a bee makes the noise boon boon. Similarly, a cat’s mewing begins with an M in every language except Japanese, where the meow is nya(n), nya(n)."

In year 7 when we started to learn some basic Japanese onomatopoeia I was pretty surprised by how "inaccurate" they sounded to me (since English onomatopoeia is our basis) but I've since come a long way and I'm pretty comfortable at recognising them now, and knowing their English equivalent :) The article was pretty interesting because it really shows how something as simple as a sound can be perceived so differently in each language.

Lastly, I want to finish with something that I found strange and my mum keeps saying it a lot recently. She says that I'm the type who is "good at languages" and I'm like how?? I mean just look at my poor chinese for example HAH! But she said it's something about how it sticks for me, and that I can get the accent right or something but I really don't know what exactly she means by all that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway it was raining yet again today sigh, but I wore my black sleeveless with cherry blossom tights, cardigan on top and sandals (cause maybe socks + boots would aggravate the rash which development on my foot thanks to wet shoes and socks). We stopped at a couple of ufo catcher places. Eventually we went to tokyu hands and wandered the levels, we skipped so many and stayed forever on the cooking floor (got there like 1 or so and only left for cat place at 2:30-ish). Bought freeze dried strawberries, black food colouring, cat onigiri mold, rilakkuma curry rice mold and more.

Went to nekobukuro and there's also a pet shop selling a lot of cat merch, as well as rats, echidnas and rabbits (but no photography of the pets was allowed). The cat cafe had quite a lot of people and the cats generally didn't like people touching them unless they were asleep, and one was even snoring haha (the cute one with a red bandanna). Another cat woke up and wheezed and coughed a lot :(

Was there for like an hour, then we left (at about 3:50) and by then I was hungry so we wandered a side street to sunshine city landmark. Found a place with sashimi on rice and we went inside. Ordered the salmon sashimi with ikura don and also got a yuzu hachimitsu sour highball (orange honey soda and shochu). TASTED SO GOOD. Anyway yeah we only ordered one to "share" cause we didn't want to be red-faced when we saw Rosemary's parents but when Rosemary sipped it she decided it was so good we needed one each lul x_x

Anyway yeah we spent forever drinking it and talking about our face going red and we left about 5:15. It was a seriously good meal also the place is opened 24 hours and the guy behind rosemary was SUPER RED LIKE BEET RED 
IN THE FACE AND NECK AND YET HE KEPT ORDERING DRINKS WHUT.

We made it to the station about 5:30 to meet Hiroshi's mum at the same station gate at Shinjuku as yesterday. We found her, then met up with Rosemary's parents. Lol when we met them they commented on our "flushed" faces and wondered if we ran there or something........ Took a train for one stop and went to a tempura restaurant because Hiroshi's mum was treating us all to dinner. 

Courses were: some sort of shoyu-ish flavoured jelly with beans, corn and shrimp inside, plate of tempura prawns, tempura oyster + something like a scallop and "standing fish" (Rosemary called it that), then tempura beans, pumpkin, and eggplant. Unfortunately by the third course of tempura vegetables my late lunch caught up with me and I seriously struggled to finish without wanting to vomit cause mix of feeling full and alcohol. Left 1 pumpkin and half eggplant. Anyway yeah, 3 of us had umeshu and 3 of us (including me) had 生ビール (nama bi-ru, draught beer) but then Hiroshi's mum also ordered sake which I had one cup of. To make matters worse, when I was so full and couldn't finish the vegetables, ochazuke (with pickle side dishes) came out next and I barely ate two mouthfuls in total.....

Next course was tomato soup and then lastly dessert which I actually finished lol. Also got served some black coffee which makes for a lot of liquids tonight o_o We left afterwards and we got home at 9:33.

ps. the restaurant was on the 53rd floor, so when we got there when it was just getting dark, you could see a nice view outside the window but then at the end it was dark and you could see night lights.

It's 11:30 now, not sure when we're going to sleep cause lots to do bye

So I finally finished those two awful assignments and now I'm free... JOKES lol what is freedom with assignments still due in the mid-sem break and like two more every week until the end of semester ¬__¬

End result
Ecology essay: 7 pages, 3 of which were references
Genetics essay: 8 pages, 3 of which were references

Those references take me a solid 40 mins I swear > > Would have also written more if not for word limits.

And lol at ecology for saying they're using our essays as examples of both good AND bad for future cohorts and to say explicitly if we don't allow them to so naturally:

So I finally finished my ecology essay but it's so bad, and the markers are so mean especially since when she gave us the assignment a mere two weeks ago, she just went on and on about how a pass would be good and that you shouldn't be upset because it means you've done everything they've asked for. Everyone reading in between the lines: Oh so that means we're all just going to get a pass, max then?

Aaaaaaaaaaand I'm only on page 2/5 for my genetics essay due Friday sigh.

When you're on word 500/1500 on essay 1 and you still have no idea what the point you're trying to make is or what you're meant to write about:

So... how do I write two essays in five days?

Ah.. so screwed.

Applying for Honours Projects is scary and :/ I feel so average as a person I don't even know what to say.

Anyway it's been a tough week (and more to come next week) but even though it was a filler ep this week, this scene was really good (sorry for LQ screenshot):
I loved it when it was a manga chapter cover, can't believe they turned it into anime too.

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Side story #4 - Partway through our karaoke (refer to post here) where I was singing Naruto openings and endings (since why not take advantage of the wider array of Japanese songs available? If you're going to do all English, do it back in Australia where there is a wider selection):
Rosemary: *to Hiroshi* So how's her Japanese?
Hiroshi: It's pretty good!
Me: ha..ha.. :'D

And later while Rosemary and I are doing Love The Way You Lie
*Eminem's Rap*
Rosemary: ............
Me: *doing the rap*
Hiroshi and Rosemary: wtf do you even breathe when you do that
Me: lol 

Went to bed around 1:40 I think. Woke at 7..... We had to leave at 7:55 to meet at 9 and bought another miruku churro for breakfast :D Legit thanks to rosemary who didn't wake up when I told her to she left me only one min to buy breakfast just so we could make our scheduled 8:09 train ==

Anyway we caught the women only carriage lel and basically made it to universal station gate at 9 and we walked over to ticket entrance and Ling found us. Went inside approx 9:30 at opening. Rides we went on were jaws, then spiderman which rocks a lot and cool stuff sprays on you when the water monster gets hit. Also there's one thrilling part where you "drop" from a tall tower but spider man catches you in his net. And at the end of the ride he drops down from his web and says はい！チーズ！(hai! chi-zu! = Okay, say cheese!) and takes a pic lol.

Afterwards I think we lined up for biohazard timed tickets, then we split up to meet at 12 cause Rosemary and Ling had express passes for more rides. I went to the kiddy area and looked at hello kitty shop and rode the merry go round which goes round exactly 4 times. Also note that weather was really hot, humid and sunny but clouds were rolling in gradually over the day. Note, all the park staff are literally always super happy and nice and smiley it's scary.

We then went to biohazard which is kinda scary cause I don't like zombies chasing but the arm bands and "google glass" kind of glasses was cool. Then, we went to terminator which was a "show" with 3D glasses but it was cool cause the actors would "run" into the stage and then the screen would continue the action and vice versa. 

Afterwards, we then rode space fantasy twice. It was really good actually, the thing rotates and goes up and down like an inside roller coaster and one "room" in particular at the end has super bright flashes to emulate the sun. 

Then after that Rosemary and Ling went on teacup ride and by then it started to rain sigh. We got on elmo's skateboard and it was seriously pouring hard that even though wearing a poncho (which is futile, it just clings to your body) shoes and bag once again got soaked (and feet will turn white, and sock is wet til ankles). Afterwards went to harry potter world with rosemar cause Ling got an express timed ticket and we wandered the shops and I had butter beer which is qutie nice but thick and heavy. Foam tastes like caramel and the soda itself tastes very sweet and the flavour is hard to describe. 

Then we got in line as no timed ticket needed but wait was said to be 50 mins but took more like 30 mins. The ride was pretty cool, it shakes a lot more than spiderman but "scary" stuff comes out but idk cause I don't watch harry potter haha. Also there's a dragon which breathes fire and you seriously feel warm. Also the ride flies so fast and dangerously and always makes you feel like you will hit the wall but at last second you don't. 

After that we didn't do much as it was already 6:30 or so. Went on spiderman again. After that we did back to the future which is like spiderman and harry potter but it SHAKES SO MUCH I got thrown forward and backward in my seat many times and it hurt. Back to the future has lots of lava, dinosaurs and chasing for some reason through city sky (btw, note that all rides are narrated in Japanese.... obviously).

Next we went to souvenir shop cause Ling had to buy stuff then left at 8 (closing time). Went to get takoyaki for dinner at the Takoyaki Museum. Rosemary and I bought the box of 16 (4 ソース, 4 ねぎソース, 4 しょうゆ, 4 ねぎポン = 4 sauce, 4 onion + sauce, 4 soy sauce, 4 onion + ponzu sauce). Was seriously good. We then left for home but when we had to transfer at osaka station Ling decided to show us the top of the station where you can look down at trains. Also tried to go to pokemon centre but it was closed.

Said goodbye at the station since she catches a different train. Probs got home 10-10:30 and I had to shower to warm up my stupid wet, white shrivelled feet and went to do coin laundry. When we got home, it was funny cause we got into elevator then a guy came running so I left it open for him but then it started to close as his friend came running and he did nothing (and obvs we didn't either as we were at back of elevator and also expected his friend to save him). They were korean as his friend said "너무 (neomu) xxxxx" which I think he meant "aren't you too much?" Seriously us three laughed (us and the first friend) when he got stuck cause why did no one help...

Anyway yeah it's now midnight and still got things to do.

ps. The rain today was really not nice, especially cause my feet got soaked YET again, poncho gets wet and clings to legs (was wearing shorts) and also cause we got really wet as we were riding the balloon ride and skateboard as it rained

pps. I don't know what it is but my shoulders, my upper arms, thighs and calves just hurt SO much today, especially the shoulders and when bag straps go over them. Maybe after effects of yesterday's heaviness and travelling? 

ppps. Second rainy day of soaked shoes + socks = shrivelled, white wet feet. Ugh.

End note: Also sorry my descriptions of the rides were crap, it's just hard to describe those sorts of experiences and you need to actually feel it.

Ugh, submitted my marine report half an hour ago (it's due tomorrow 4:30pm). I'm really unsatisfied with it but I've worked on it and stared it for countless days and I just can't make it work. And I know I probably can't even scrape a credit this time, after the way they decimated everyone's reports last time, even though it was only worth 8% (and this one is 25% ugh).

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Fun fact: Our itinerary/plan for Korea and Japan totaled 64 pages. And actually that's not our complete file, because we did extra (more thorough) research during our trip (which is in a separate file) because our last few days weren't as detailed as we'd liked. I wouldn't be surprised if the time spent on our research totaled 48 hours, if not more. 

(only slept at like 1:30 something so only got 4 ish hours of sleep)

Woke up at 5:35 cause we had to leave at 6:45 to get a 8:03 shinkansen. Got up and packed, then we left the house officially at about 6:48 cause it took us a couple of mins to go down and take the rubbish out first. Walked to akasaka mitsuke and got there at basically 7. WE WERE SO LUCKY THAT WE COULD GET A SEAT AND HARDLY PEOPLE ON THE TRAIN COMPARED TO YESTERDAY WHEN WE HAD TO GO TO SHINJUKU IT WAS FREAKING SARDINES (8:30pm) AND I WAS LEGIT SCARED FOR THIS MORNING (and yes, caps was necessary for this).

Caught the shinkansen from Tokyo, and slept basically the whole way ever since 8:23 and periodically waking up with rosemary awake on her ipad. 

When we got off, osaka aunt (another acquaintance of Rosemary's dad) met us on the platform. She said her train got delayed and that she was worried she'd be too late to get us. We made our way to our hotel and pretty sure we got there maybe 11:45 or so (quite fast) and we had to pay and get the key.

Sussed out the place and tried to get wifi to work but it didn't (though it'll miraculously work for me when we return later in the night). Rosemary shocked herself when she plugged in the air con and didn't even get medical attention when appropriate which is to go now while we're in the city (you'll understand the problem later).

We then headed to tempozan food market but it's barely 1-ish and rosemary keeps complaining it hurts and wants something for it and we spent a good half hour asking people but turns out there are no pharmacies around that area and in the end we have to go back one station on the train to find medical help. By then I was pretty hungry and it was super hot (32°C?) and I was like screw it so Rosemary went with Osaka aunt while I went back to tempozan and chilled at Seria. Bought some cooking molds! Finished at like 2:20 lel and sat on a bench and played on my phone til they returned (around 3) cause that was the meeting point we had set so I didn't want to wander around and miss them. 

In the end, they came back with cooling bandages (which can be bought from any conbini) which is what I told Rosemary to use all along but she refused == I mean numbing from the inside can't be treated easily anyway (and Osaka aunt agreed).

We then went to eat okonomiyaki and ate til like 4:30-5 or something (eternally having late lunch). I got normal buta with modanyaki, rosemary had egg with green onion (not sure what meat), while Osaka aunt had yakisoba in hers with egg on top. We left and rosemary went to the one piece shop and they actually had a couple of naruto pins there o_o 

Afterwards, wandered the place a little more then left and went to ATC for some reason cause apparently Osaka aunt went there a long time ago. Went inside but strangely really empty and nothing really interesting, more food and clothes places.

Went to Cosmo Tower and it was probs like 5:30-6. It was still bright but sun starting to set. We found nice chairs within a booth but then decided to go back down to Lawson's to buy snacks and drinks lol.... Came back up and it was nearly 7 and unfortunately an obnoxious couple took our spots in the booth (there are only two) so we went in anyway and took the other seats haha..). Drank my kirin citrus alcohol (Osaka aunt totally encouraged us to drink LOL, and in a public place too omg) and we ate shio jagabee which is pretty good actually. Also ate these 100 yen miruku churro which are SO GOOD OMG like why can't we have $1 churros here??

We ended up being there til like 8:20 watching things go dark lol. Couple next to us were being super kimoi, and I tried to be polite and ignore them but their sounds were nope. Also even though it was quite dark by the end, one time I accidentally turned around and I swear I saw some kabedon going on. Nope nope nope. 

We talked with Osaka aunt about random stuff like hiroshi and his mum (cause they all know each other, and she was asking us how they were doing), our exhausting swan paddling and more. Also she said she got married at 20 omg after only a month hmm..

After that we went downstairs to a tonkatsu place where I got the teishoku and it came with sesame you can grind yourself lol. Osaka aunt said she regretted not being able to take us to better places like at shinsaibashi and that area etc (but ofc everything would be closed cause it's super late since we spent so long watching the sunset). Left just at about 9, took the ニュートラム (Nyūtoramu = "new tram") back to Awaza, where she said goodbye to us as we transferred for our own train to go home.

Got home 10:05 and it's now 11:17. Still gotta shower and do random things bye


ps. we started drinking the day rosemary's parents came (9th) and have been doing so everyday up to now... meaning we've been doing it for 7 days already... Osaka aunt heavily encouraged us to have a drink during lunch even, and by that I mean she asked us like 10 times and we had to persistently refuse. But then we just ended up drinking at Cosmo Tower OTL

pps. Osaka aunt is super directionally challenged (even more so than I am, and THAT'S saying something). Like she was meant to guide us to our hotel (but ofc I had the directions too) and really, she ended up taking exactly the way my file said (preparation ftw) except she took the long way within Osaka station and Rosemary and I followed blindly cause we thought she knew a shortcut.

And numerous times after that she'd be like like "let's go to xx!" and then head off in the wrong direction while Rosemary and I would be like:
And then we'd say "but it's this way.." LOL. She even came out of the bathroom and we were meant to head back the way we came and she went the WRONG way!! Who does that xD And I was scared at first cause earlier in the day Rosemary seemed like she was just getting generally fed up but thankfully both of us really warmed up to her like halfway through the day :D

Yesterday:

Alex: Hey do you guys want adult colouring books I can get you some for a discounted price (he works at dymocks)
Rest of my friends: yes get me the tropical one, the cat one, the marine one etc.
Me: I ain't got no time for that, plus I'm too lazy so no
Alex: there's a japan one
Me: ..........


Me: Why you gotta do this

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Tip #9 - Most shopping centres don't open until 10 or 10:30 so plan accordingly. 

Procrastinating on my marine bio 25% report......... Also got two essays due next week, lab report and some other junk all before mid-sem break which is just (y) Also a lot more to do when we get back from break too ugh.

Anyway I don't know why but the back of my hands are breaking out into a gross rash, as well as my shins and legs. I always hate it when this happens (and for no reason too, changing seasons??) because it brings back horrible memories of when I was younger and half my body would be covered in this...... Why am I always at war with my own body, really, why?

Nutrition 30% mid-sem tomorrow ha...ha..

Wish me luck.

Me: "Mum would you let me go sit on our roof?"
Mum: "What do you want to do that for?"
Me: "I don't know, I've been feeling like it lately. Would you let me?"
Mum: "Yeah, just get your dad to bring the ladder around."

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Tip #8 - Do you need portable wi-fi? Honestly, no. I survived both times in Japan (and this time in Korea too) quite well without it. If you plan well and are willing to occasionally ask locals/police boxes for help when you need it, that's all you need. I mean 10 years ago when internet wasn't as popular, that's how people did it right? 

Side note: The free wi-fi network is a lot more extensive than it is here in Australia. In Korea and Japan, you'll find them at train/metro stations and at major shopping centres. Also you'll find them in the more typical tourist spots usually listed as "Tokyo wi-fi", "Kyoto wi-fi", "Nara wi-fi" and so on.

Yesterday we went red faced again cause we drank more of our home umeshu.

Only finished packing and got into bed at 3am but had to wake up at 6:15 so only got like 3 hours of sleep and it was very painful for rest of day.  Woke up and finished packing and we left at 7:20 and went to our nearby yoshinoya for breakfast. I had the same as last night, the gyudon with salad and rosemar got galbi but with miso soup and potato salad.

We ate slowly since we had time and left at 8. Walked to akasaka mitsuke which we'd never been to before then went to shinjuku. Trains in that direction are super packed in the morning and rosemar said she even saw some poor guy get doors closed on his back cause he stuck out a little. 

Got to shinjuku super early at 8:30 (only 10 min ride). Waited til 8:55-ish before Hiroshi and his mum showed up. Since the Shinkansen wasn't til 9:30 we went to reserve our Osaka Shinkansen.

Got on our shinkansen and rode it for an hour which rosemar and I fell asleep so easily on since we got such minimal sleep. Hiroshi woke us up but since rosemar hadn't woken up yet I had to shake her and we got off the train. 

Pointless side story #3
*Later on*
Us to Hiroshi: So when you woke us up.... did we like, you know, look bad?
Hiroshi: ......Uhhh......
Rosemary: He hestiated!! He definitely hesitated!!

We then took a local train towards our destination of Kawaguchi. Took an hour again so got there about 12 or something. On the train I fell asleep again cause so tired lol but woke up periodically to people taking pictures of mt Fuji. 

When we arrived to kawaguchi we shoved our stuff in a coin locker since we had so much to carry for our stay and there were only a couple of the smallest 300 coin lockers left and rosemar worked her magic in fitting everything in as the Chinese lady who was unpacking stuff on the floor stared at us (astonished). 

We took the bus up to the 5th station and took pictures and stared at Mt. Fuji, went to the shrine, looked at the souvenir shop which had cookies and cream and ichimi kit kats. Went "climbing" up the path then caught the bus back down at 4:10 but unfortunately there were a lot of people and I almost fell over multiple times as I was extremely tired and kept falling asleep while standing.

ps. so many Europeans and Chinese etc tourists at the stop and 5th station. 

Got off and took 5 min ride in a minibus (with 4 other Chinese people) to the ryokan. Put down our stuff and chilled til our 6:15 giant kaiseki ryori dinner. Had umeshu again lol and Hiroshi's mum says I don't go red easily?? But obviously she hasn't seen me properly when I drink LOL.

After that we went outside to play with our fail fireworks cause they take forever to light up and the flame kept blowing out (strong winds). Honestly, for every one minute spent playing it, it probs took 5 mins to get it lit. Reception were nice and let us play them near the water/lake and gave us a water bucket to put out our waste and flame. 

Came back inside and our futon had already been laid out by some kind soul and also we borrowed sewing kit from front desk cause strap of my backpack was coming off from always carrying a lot of heavy stuff. Team effort where we both sewed and reinforced a strap each.

Went outside with hiroshi (9pm) to play the rest of fireworks we set aside for him cause he was busy before. Was harder to light as wind blowing harder and lighter fluid running out. We went to the onsen about 10 and didn't leave til 11:25 but Hiroshi's mum left really early. 

There were nice baskets to keep your clothes in, "booths" ie. walls between the shower places and one big bath. Also a bath outside where you can see past the balcony and look up at the sky. When Hiroshi's mum left it was just us two left lol (guess no one else takes late baths)

Went outside and almost fell down the stairs since I was concentrating so hard on the usagi banner marking the women's entrance. Came back and drank a suntory melon sparkling water umeshu which Hiroshi's mum bought us and went red faced again lol. She also bought us squid snacks and some caramel rice-ish snack and cheese sticks.


Anyway it's nice in the ryokan yukata. It's now 12:35 and I'm preparing to sleep bye

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Tip #7 - For the love of all that is good, Tokyo and Kyoto are two syllables. TOH-kyo and not "toe-key-yo" and similarly, KYOH-toh and not "key-yo-toe." Please! (And this way maybe the natives will think you are less obviously foreign hah...)


Headed to Akihabara first to sofmap to look for rice cooker. Spent short while there before we went outside and for some reason the main road was blocked off for something (though no performances happened or anything like that) and the roads were walkable on and you didn't have to wait for traffic light to be able to cross. For some reason this guy came up to us and asked to take our photo on the road with his dslr?? So weird, I don't know why.

Anyway yeah he also had a friend and he asked where we were from and stuff (in half japanese, half english) and he said he had a daughter that studied in Australia (at University of Wollongong) for a year. We went on our way and stopped by donki which we happened to spot. Didn't get anything and we continued down the road and were about to go into a ramen place for lunch (cause we hadn't had breakfast that morning) and literally just before we finish crossing the road to it the same man from before came again!!!!!! And he wanted more pictures.... And then he was telling us there was a free concert and that we should go and we ended up going and not having lunch.....

So the concert was at about 3pm and took like an hour. The fanboys on the lower floor were super intense (greatly shocking Rosemary and I). They knew all the lyrics and fanchants, and even had different coloured lightsticks for each subgroup and were always singing along and doing even the hand gestures of the dance.

After it ended it was super late (like 4:30) and we still hadn't had lunch OR breakfast... Went to the honey toast cafe, I ordered the honey toast pudding and caramel (honey toast with a pudding flavoured ice cream) and Rosemary got choco banana which came with honey dip on the side. Despite being super hungry, I really struggled with the end. Ate all the insides (just barely) but couldn't eat the "walls" though I'm not sure if you're meant to lol.

After that (about 6?) we had to go all the way back to animate for rosemar to get her opal card sticker and she got all pissy when she couldn't find the place but anyone with common sense would look it up the night before if you knew you wanted to go back(?). Also she thought it was in my file but it never was and plus I deleted old things off it to stop retarded scrolling. I mean it's like why did you expect me to research for you where it was when you were the one who decided you wanted to go (back)? o.O If there's something I want to do I don't expect others to figure it out for me, I thought it was common sense I would do it for myself whut x_x

Anyway of course in the end I'm the one who finds it cause I wasn't being all pissy and I used the logic of backtracking our steps cause the one she wanted to go to was near mandarake. Anyway after that we also went back to mandarake cause rosemary wanted stuff x_x Left after 7 and we went to sega to take 2 purikura before leaving at 8-ish to kamiyacho to go see Tokyo Tower. Walked towards it from a distance and it was lit up and really beautiful.

Probs left it about 10 or so and had dinner at yoshinoya near the station at 10:20 and left 10:50. It was so nice and quiet in there, only like 4-5 people including us total. The guy serving is a ninja, literally pulls out already filled water cups (from under the bench) as you sit down and not after, and also when people start forking out money onto the table he is already rushing to you so you can pay (you don't even have to call him). Also you order and literally less than 2 mins later you have your meal. Across from every seat in the horse shoe formation of the shop is a cash register so it's efficient as the cashier doesn't have to keep walking back to one cash register with your money but can process it there right there and then.

Got home about 11:20 or so? It's now 12:53 and I still have to pack for the trip tomorrow.

Also I laugh at how Rosemary gave no emotion whatsoever and was extremely uninterested every time I pointed out a yoshinoya on our trip thus far (cause I quite liked it last time I came in 2013) but tonight she fell in love with it.

Funny lecturer *about vitamin B12 supplements* - "Vegans might want to consider taking these since you really only get vitamin B12 from animal products. The great thing is the synthetic supplements are produced by fermentation of bacteria. Unless you're against eating bacteria too. In that case, I don't know because I don't understand vegans."

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Although I hate nutrition with a passion (because of our lecturer's annoying ways about things and the tonne of work we have PLUS extra online lectures that need to be done), I will just say that this one guest lecturer is our saving grace (and I wish we had him for more than one lecture).

Highlights:

*Talking about B6 antagonists* - Since oral contraceptives are antagonists, girls, if you're taking the pill you might want to consider supplements. And guys, if you're taking the pill, well....... you might want to stop doing that.

*Talking about vitamin D supplements* - Maybe because I'm Asian, but I don't understand paying for something I can get for free. 

He also makes simpsons references, so I'm sold (Y) 

Also, marine bio you got no chill. As if fail isn't bad enough, apparently they've made "catastrophic fail" a category:

Although none of my uni friends chose to do marine bio with me, I think it's quite an interesting subject. We've got fortnightly pracs at the beach, and what's more is I was absolutely surprised that what feels like at least 20% (if not more) of the students in this subject are actually exchange students o_o In last week's prac half the students in my group were students from the US. I had fun asking them if it's typical for people to know all 50 states LOL. Downsides of marine bio though is the amount of reports we have to write... two of which are worth 25%. FUN. (No, it's really not). And you only get two weeks to write them. Also I'm not sure how people who've never taken stats or didn't choose to take the elective survive because marine bio relies on stats knowledge heavily, and you need to run your own analysis on your results to use them in your report so...

Anyway yesterday I came across this and I thought what they wrote was pretty interesting. You don't have to be interested in translating Japanese to read this, an interest in any language will do, or even if you're not it could still be a good read!

Click --> here!

"In translation you may have a deadline but no one is timing you. Dictionaries, online resources, and everything you can get your hands on are at your disposal. Researching while translating is key. Finding the voice of the author, mulling over the right way to express something in your native language, that’s what you need to be able to do if you want to be a literary translator. None of these skills are tested by the JLPT. Someone can pass the JLPT and be a horrible translator while someone who couldn’t pass them could be a great translator."

^ Pretty accurate. Also according to them what I'm doing is localisation and not translating but I'd like to think it's both xD (I'm talking about me being on a translation team for an English patch of a game). Totally agree on the part about trying to make sure the voice comes through (it's not about literal translations only).

Also this one was pretty interesting too: click!

"In every other language where records exist, the bee’s buzz is represented by a Z or an S. In Japanese, however, a bee makes the noise boon boon. Similarly, a cat’s mewing begins with an M in every language except Japanese, where the meow is nya(n), nya(n)."

In year 7 when we started to learn some basic Japanese onomatopoeia I was pretty surprised by how "inaccurate" they sounded to me (since English onomatopoeia is our basis) but I've since come a long way and I'm pretty comfortable at recognising them now, and knowing their English equivalent :) The article was pretty interesting because it really shows how something as simple as a sound can be perceived so differently in each language.

Lastly, I want to finish with something that I found strange and my mum keeps saying it a lot recently. She says that I'm the type who is "good at languages" and I'm like how?? I mean just look at my poor chinese for example HAH! But she said it's something about how it sticks for me, and that I can get the accent right or something but I really don't know what exactly she means by all that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway it was raining yet again today sigh, but I wore my black sleeveless with cherry blossom tights, cardigan on top and sandals (cause maybe socks + boots would aggravate the rash which development on my foot thanks to wet shoes and socks). We stopped at a couple of ufo catcher places. Eventually we went to tokyu hands and wandered the levels, we skipped so many and stayed forever on the cooking floor (got there like 1 or so and only left for cat place at 2:30-ish). Bought freeze dried strawberries, black food colouring, cat onigiri mold, rilakkuma curry rice mold and more.

Went to nekobukuro and there's also a pet shop selling a lot of cat merch, as well as rats, echidnas and rabbits (but no photography of the pets was allowed). The cat cafe had quite a lot of people and the cats generally didn't like people touching them unless they were asleep, and one was even snoring haha (the cute one with a red bandanna). Another cat woke up and wheezed and coughed a lot :(

Was there for like an hour, then we left (at about 3:50) and by then I was hungry so we wandered a side street to sunshine city landmark. Found a place with sashimi on rice and we went inside. Ordered the salmon sashimi with ikura don and also got a yuzu hachimitsu sour highball (orange honey soda and shochu). TASTED SO GOOD. Anyway yeah we only ordered one to "share" cause we didn't want to be red-faced when we saw Rosemary's parents but when Rosemary sipped it she decided it was so good we needed one each lul x_x

Anyway yeah we spent forever drinking it and talking about our face going red and we left about 5:15. It was a seriously good meal also the place is opened 24 hours and the guy behind rosemary was SUPER RED LIKE BEET RED 
IN THE FACE AND NECK AND YET HE KEPT ORDERING DRINKS WHUT.

We made it to the station about 5:30 to meet Hiroshi's mum at the same station gate at Shinjuku as yesterday. We found her, then met up with Rosemary's parents. Lol when we met them they commented on our "flushed" faces and wondered if we ran there or something........ Took a train for one stop and went to a tempura restaurant because Hiroshi's mum was treating us all to dinner. 

Courses were: some sort of shoyu-ish flavoured jelly with beans, corn and shrimp inside, plate of tempura prawns, tempura oyster + something like a scallop and "standing fish" (Rosemary called it that), then tempura beans, pumpkin, and eggplant. Unfortunately by the third course of tempura vegetables my late lunch caught up with me and I seriously struggled to finish without wanting to vomit cause mix of feeling full and alcohol. Left 1 pumpkin and half eggplant. Anyway yeah, 3 of us had umeshu and 3 of us (including me) had 生ビール (nama bi-ru, draught beer) but then Hiroshi's mum also ordered sake which I had one cup of. To make matters worse, when I was so full and couldn't finish the vegetables, ochazuke (with pickle side dishes) came out next and I barely ate two mouthfuls in total.....

Next course was tomato soup and then lastly dessert which I actually finished lol. Also got served some black coffee which makes for a lot of liquids tonight o_o We left afterwards and we got home at 9:33.

ps. the restaurant was on the 53rd floor, so when we got there when it was just getting dark, you could see a nice view outside the window but then at the end it was dark and you could see night lights.

It's 11:30 now, not sure when we're going to sleep cause lots to do bye

 Mini Guide and Tips for Japan (and Korea) - 500th post! 
 June 29th - Sydney to Seoul 
 June 30th - Myeong-dong and Jung-gu 
 July 1st - Itaewon and Jung-gu (again) 
 July 2nd - Apgujeong Rodeo, Gangnam, Yongsan 
 July 3rd - Hongdae, D-Cube City and Yongsan 
 July 4th - last day in Korea. Dongdaemun Markets, Doota and back to our beloved Myeongdong 
 /post break/ What to buy from each Korean brand 
 July 5th - Leaving Seoul for Tokyo (Akihabara) 
 July 6th - Harajuku 
 July 7th - Ginza, Tokyo Station and Marunouchi 
 July 8th – Shinjuku 
 July 9th - Ikebukuro (Sunshine City) and Shinjuku 
 July 10th - Shibuya and Asakusa 
 July 11th - Shinjuku and Odaiba 
 July 12th - Akihabara and Roppongi/Minato 
 July 13th - Mt. Fuji and Kawaguchi 
 July 14th - Kawaguchiko and Harajuku 
 July 15th - Osaka and Tempozan 
 July 16th - Universal Studios Japan 
 July 17th - Namba (Dōtonbori), Shinsaibashi, Tennōji Park then all the way to Kyoto (Gion) 
 July 18th (last day in Osaka) - Osaka Castle, Spa World, Umeda 
 July 19th - Hiroshima and Miyajima 
 July 20th - Hiroshima --> Kyoto 
 July 21st - Arashiyama Area and North-west Kyoto (Ryōan-ji and Kinkaku-ji) 
 July 22nd - Kyoto -> Nara and Osaka (NARUTO EXHIBITION!!) 
 July 23rd - Kyoto back to Tokyo 
 July 24th - Yokohama (Minato Mirai 21)  
 July 25th and 26th (END) - Tokyo -> Seoul -> HOME 

✮ Foster kittens
✮ Clean out closet
✮ Make LOTS of ice-cream
✮ Bake + Cook (and use the molds and kits I bought from Japan)
✮ Study Japanese (JLPT N2 level)
✮ Learn basic Korean sentence structures
✮ Play Dousei Kareshi (~50 hours right there, what with my slow Japanese reading speed)
✮ Finishing playing Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
✮ Buy Naruto -The Last- Movie DVD and then rewatch it
✮ Start applying for things……..
✮ Invite people over to drink the endless amounts of tea I have
✮ Make things with the alcohol and liquor stash I have (lol)

links exchanged opened! just tag me but link me first