Let this blog be an example of how I suck at keeping an updated blog. It's February. One month and a couple of weeks since my grand adventure in London ended. It feels like a different life. A dream. I look at the pictures and think, "did that really happen?" "was that for real" Yep! It all was and I have the pictures to prove it. By the way, if you wanna see the adventure I had, simply look at my pictures posted on Facebook. Most of the pictures are the there.

Now, I'm at home and helping my parents with everything! They have so much on their plate and I feel so bad because they seem so stressed sometimes. I mean they're at an age where one should be thinking about retirement. Me going to school is one of the big reasons why my Dad is still working. Sheesh...I am blessed. I sometimes wonder why me? Why am I so fortunate, but I must thank God. He's really looking out for me and for that I always be thankful.

I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish while I'm at home. Slowly, they're being check off. Let's see. I wanted to further my comic book knowledge. So far I've read one manga and it was pretty good. And yah, that's pretty much it on that. Secondly, I wanted to learn more Japanese. I'm doing pretty well with that so far. I'm teaching myself Hiragana and Katakana. I'm halfway through learning Hiragana and I'll start Katakana soon. I've also been using audio books. Unsuccessfully I should add. Haha! I have little time though! Japan is almost a month away!

Another thing on my list, I wanted to see more art. For example, going to art galleries and seeing new artists and their works. That's been going pretty well so far. I never knew Riverside had such an artsy side. Every first Thursday of the months artists put their works on display and downtown just fills up with an energy I wouldn't expect to see in Riverside. People are so chill! A lot of the work is just amazing. You look at it and wonder, "who has the mind to come up with this?" What's the matter with my find. I wanna make nothing look like something and have it tell a story at the same time. One guy was making a mural with a sharpie on the spot. He didn't even sketch anything first. The image was already in his head. I tell ya, it was amazing. AMAZING!

I want to turn in my Diversity paper- the one I wrote for Personal Essay last year. Greta read it in London and fully supports me in publishing it. So, I finally took up the pen and unleashed a fury of editing. I haven't changed much. Mostly adding stuff or fixing bad grammar. I'm nervous about distributing it on campus. Since I'm not there right now, I don't know the flow of everything back on the home front. Also, I hope the administration doesn't go berserk and suspend my ass. Hey, I'm just stating the truth. Once I feel confident I'm going to e-mail it to Greta, who will then send it on to other professors. I'm nervous for what they might say.

Lastly I've been getting ready for Japan. It's down to the point where I'm still very excited, but now nervous. I have so many worries! If my housing is with a host family, will they like me? Will I be able to speak to them? Will they hate for not having enough Japanese to communicate? What if they have little kids and it turns out they have annoying little kids? Should I have even chosen a homestay?! Wouldn't the dorms be better? Damn! I DON'T KNOW!!! Those are my main concerns. What will Japan be like? I don't want to compare it to London at all. I want to keep them as two very different experiences with different circumstances. London turned out to be more amazing than thought it would be, but I don't want it to shadow Japan. I've waited for this for so long and I've worked to go here. I pulled two extra stressful semesters to go to this country. I'm so caught up with classes I could graduate this year if I really wanted to, but I don't want to.

Well, this became longer than I intended. Let's see if I can keep up this blogging. So, that's what's up. Till next time!