Curlgirl64--Lol! Thank you, but I need to tell you that I'm genetically unable to take compliments. 

Angel Spun--Yeah, I don't know how Tokyo peeps can have a whole wardrobe of gothic clothing. I guess they're still living with their parental units and don't need to pay any bills.    I need to find some secondhand clothing stores. I know there's one in Harajuku. I guess I'll go there the next time I go to Tokyo. And thanks for the compliment about the furisode! *embarrassed smile*

Hair--Still growing. I'm only an inch away from my stated goal length, but I think I'll most likely try to grow it to fingertip length. I never thought I'd ever have hair this long and at times it's a bit of a trip to realize I'm at the length I used to fantasize about when I was younger. Okay, enough narcissism. I, um, have lots of little white dots that need to be cut off! There, I feel better. 

Work--This is something funny that happened last week at my junior high school. After lunch the principal and senior teacher were in suits, meaning there was a guest at the school. Well, the principal came into the teachers' office and said for everyone to take a picture. So me and the other teachers who were there went to the front entrance. The lone member of the school's sumo "team" was taking pictures with his mom(?) and this guy. I had no idea why we were going to take a picture so I was just going with the flow of things.

After the group picture, there was lots of bowing as the guy left and I asked one of the teachers who the man was. She replied that it was Takanohana (he's a retired sumo wrestler who made it to yokozuna level--the top level in sumo). But she said some other things so I thought he was Takanohana's agent or something and I was impressed he had come all the way to Aomori and talked to our sumo "team." (Can you have a team if there's only one member?)

Anyway, when one of the other English teachers came to the office, she asked me if I had met Takanohana. I told her I took pictures with a guy and she said that was him. I started laughing because I had been in the same room with a famous wrestler and didn't know it. Also, the whole time I had been thinking, "Okay, why are we taking pictures? Is that guy the kid's dad or something?" My mom laughed so much when I told her what happened. Sadly, this is only one example of how I have no idea what's going on at times.

Thank you very much, ladies!!    I wish you all were here so we could go around the country together. Sorry about such a short entry, but when I started it, I blanked out on what I wanted to say. I guess I should log in to the board right after I come home from work and not wait until an hour before bed.

As for my summer plans, it should be fun, but at the same time leave me poor. My mom's coming to Japan in June and so I have to go to Tokyo to pick her up at the airport. We're going to stay there for a couple of days and then we're going up to Aomori. She's going to stay with me for a couple of weeks before we go back to Hawaii. Since I have to go to work while she's in town, I'm not sure what she's going to do during the day. My mom doesn't speak much Japanese (except for "arigato") so I hope she can get around to do some sightseeing without too many problems.

I haven't been back home since the beginning of August, so I'm really looking forward to spending time with my mom and seeing all my relatives when I go back to Hawaii. My friend since the seventh grade is also getting married and the new Harry Potter movie is coming out during my trip back so my vacation should be pretty exciting. On the other hand, I have to play for my plane fare, train tickets, and take care of tax stuff so I think I'm going to be out about $2000. Ugh. 

Golden Week is starting, but I don't really have any set plans. I have to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I have no idea what I'll do with myself on the other days. I think I'll go to Hirosaki one day to see their cherry blossom festival. Hirosaki (it's famous for its castle and cherry trees) is also in Aomori prefecture so I think round trip train tickets are going to be about 6,000 yen. I also want to go to Kakunodate (a former samurai town) in Akita, but the tickets are going to be about 10,000 yen, but I was also planning to take my mom there. Hmm, maybe I'll just go there with my mom in June.

Hair--Doing fine. Took a progress pic today and found one from April of last year. I'm kind of surprised at how close classic length is.


April 2006  Eww, I can't believe how bad my hair color was. While the bleached parts weren't dried out, the two tone-ness is just....


April 29, 2007 

edit: added a sentence

Ooh, nice pics!  Your hair is gorgeous!