2 down, 2 to go.

I'm back in Chicago. It's been an interesting past two days.

Saying goodbye to everyone was a little less sad than I was expecting. Knowing how I sometimes get, I thought I was gonna start bawling, but I didn't. Lord knows I came close once DHB popped up right before I was about to head off and the two of us said goodbye. :(

My going abroad next year changes a lot of things for me. Some of my friends are seniors who are graduating this year, but by the time I'm back from abroad, my junior year friends will have graduated as well. Coupled with the fact that there is a good chance that two of my closest friends from my year will transfer, there really won't be very many of my friends left once I'm a senior.

I certainly don't regret my decision to go abroad. But I'm a little sad about it, too, and a little bit anxious. When saying goodbye to certain people, I realized how good of a hand I was dealt in terms of the relationships I was able to form at Kenyon. I got to know a lot of really interesting people, and I found myself wondering if I will be so lucky in the coming years. When it comes to friendships, there's no guarantee really. :(

I'm especially sad about the seniors. I only recently started to become close to a couple of them, and lately, I've been kicking myself over the head for not becoming closer to them sooner. I know that friendships can't be forced or rushed, but still. I wish I had had more time to get to know them. And since they're graduating, who knows when I'll next see them. It's not like we all have the same hometowns. They're just... gone. :(

But even so, thinking of DHB and how much I'll miss him next year saddens me the most. I took a walk with him early in the morning when the sun was just peeking out and the campus was still asleep. We talked about movies and video games and all of the other mundane things we always talk about, but he also reflected on how much he thinks he's grown this past year and how amazing it is that he feels so content now when he was so worried at the onset of the school year. When we got back, I started to doze off almost immediately. But DHB kept talking to me and trying to keep me up as long as possible, as if he didn't want the moment to end. At one point he prodded me and said something like, "Wow, you're not going to be back to Kenyon for a summer. Then a whole semester. Then another semester. Then a summer." As if we could just feel how much time that is and how much will change between now and then. :(

Bah, I'm tearing up again. I don't think what I'm feeling can be called sadness because sadness implies some negative event. But I don't think what I'm feeling is bad. I'm feeling this way because I've met a lot of great people and because I'll miss one person in particular who I've grown to love so, so much.

So here's to the end of my sophomore year. I've changed a lot this past school year, in ways that are less visible in comparison to last year, but the changes are important nonetheless. I've learned a lot about relationships, about my friends, and about myself. Tomorrow is the start of ACen, so... let's hope I cheer up a bit. :)

DRRR! 18

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

And yes, I mean episode eighteen. Just look at that preview! That kid's finally gonna start kicking some ass.

Even though Izaya is the one doing all the behind-the-scenes ass-kicking in this show and probably has Kida wrapped around his little finger. But still! Kiiida! <33

And I love Miyano Mamoru so, so much. Kida could just be a disembodied voice and I would still fangirl him. <33

But anyway. Something I've somehow forgotten to mention the past week: against my expectations, I'm gonna be able to attend ACen after all. I'll have to pay full registration, but oh wells. :)

Chinese Dialogue

For some reason, this took most of last night to write:

How was your summer break?
我的暑假还可以。我会去芝加哥。
When did you get back to campus?
我是昨天晚上回来的。
今年我们已经四年级的大学生。毕业就快了。毕业以后，我听说有的同学上研究所，有的同学找工作.
What are you planning to do after graduation?
我还不知道。研究所平常太贵了，我给这个大学付了很多钱。再说，我父母想我找工作。可是什么工作我都不在乎。
Really? What is your major?
我的专业是艺术。我喜欢是喜欢画画儿，可是我可能没找到工作。
You won’t necessarily have difficulty finding a job. For example…(example of successful artist)
但是我父母不让我画画儿。
Why?
我父母所以不让我画画儿是因为他们想我赚很多钱。我姑父是一个诗人了，可是他不能赚钱。他没上大学，所以他不能找别的工作。他家庭觉得很丢人，去年他自杀了。
Your parents’ point of view is too one-sided.
我告诉我父母，“如果将来你当了美国的最伟大的画画儿人之一，你的钱比医生的更多。反正，画画儿的人跟诗人不一样。”但是无论我赚的钱多不多，我父母说不定想我不当画画儿人。
Then, what other interests do you have?
我每天喜欢看报纸，特别是美国政治的新闻。
Do you like to study politics?
对，我在这个大学上了几节政治课。我政治课的成绩都很好。
Then, you should move to Washington and work in the White House.
那个工作有很多担子。我不太可靠，连我的家务自己都不做完。再说，我没有地位。
But you are smart. You only need to use your brain.
你说的话没有道理。我还需要钱。还有，在政治方面，美国人还歧视妇女。为什么连一个女的总统美国都没有？
You don’t need to become President. You can do other things. Do you like to travel?
我很喜欢。
Then, you can study international politics and work in a foreign country.
我喜欢旅行，可是我不想在外国工作。我是美国人，所以我想在美国工作。
You could go abroad and teach English for a year or two.
你的建议好是好，可是我觉得教英文很难。我不想太难的工作。
All jobs are a little difficult! Ai, I can’t take it! Nevermind, nevermind! You should find a rich man and marry him!

The bits in Chinese were my parts of the dialogue and the bits in English are DHB's. I originally wrote this whole thing in Chinese, but then DHB decided that he preferred to not memorize the dialogue and just wing the translation during the actual performance earlier today. Because he's just that much better at Chinese than me. >_>;;

In other news, I introduced one of my gay friends to Skip Beat! last night. We skipped around to different episodes, and in the episodes where Kyoko and Ren first start to become friendly with each other, he said, "One day, those two will have fabulous sex."

Fabulous indeed. :P

Restricted Yaoi & Tshirt Travels

Life has been kinda weird lately. A good kind of weird.

Like how I spent hourrrsss talking to DHB last night, and a good chunk of the conversation revolved around yaoi. I don't know why. It just turned out that way. At one point, I talked to him about how the first volume of the Finder Series was restricted in Germany and read aloud a translation of an article about it:

"Depicted on page 24 is a tied up penis on that the gangster is performing oral sex" says Petra Meier in a calm manner and looks inquiringly at the lawyer. "Afterwards a film container is inserted into [his] anus." The lawyer hesitates. The drawings were "stylised", violent acts were not being depicted as sexually stimulating. [Meier] counters: "But the volume ends with the quotation 'It hurts really bad, so why do I enjoy it so much?'"

Me: LOL
Him: Oh my god.
Me: LOLOL
Him: That is terrible.

So yeah. Things have been pretty good on my end. My grades could be a little better, but eh. They're not terrible, so I should stop thinking that they are. And I haven't talked about him all year, but I loooove my mentor. I've been hanging out with him a lot recently, more than ever, and he makes everything fun and happy. <3333

This wonderful documentary was one the topics of greater consequence that DHB & I discussed last night. It first focuses on how donated clothing ends up being sold on the streets of Africa, and how this second-hand clothing business is more detrimental to African economies than it is helpful. It then broadens its focus to the detrimental effects of "aid" in general, as well as the failed policies implemented by the World Bank within poor African countries. It's a relatively quick, interesting look into the unintended consequences of actions taken by Western organizations with the intent of improving the state of African countries. Things such as "foreign aid" or "modernization plans" might look good on paper, but oftentimes, in practice it turns out to be a different story.

If you want the meat of the info quick and dirty, I recommend skipping to 28:25. :)

Friggin Melted Popsicles!

My roommate's freezer isn't cold enough to store popsicles, apparently. My whole box of creamsicles melted! :(

Quick real-life stuff:
- I'm sooooo laaaze. It's a combination of not having as big of a workload as usual, not being terribly interested in any of my classes (lecture courses are not my thing, but I've had to take so many this year!), and abroad-itis. At this point, I'm too preoccupied with this upcoming summer and my junior year to care too much about what I'm doing right now. >_>;
- I haven't really been talking about real-life drama as of late and that's because, for the most part, there hasn't been any. My problems haven't completely gone away or anything, but somehow, I just... got over a lot of the things I was stressing out over. It's not like I don't care anymore. I've long since realized that I'll always care. But I was so insecure about my friendships, and was acting very desperately and irrationally because of it. And I now understand that I shouldn't be so insecure, since the people around me (who matter, at least) have honestly given me no reason to worry; it was my own jealousy and paranoia that was making me miserable.

So yeah. Here's to future adventures, I guess. :)