I have not failed

update from Japan, & silly photo

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:37:17 GMT

Over the past three days I have been really sick with a fever and a hacking cough. What with the entire Japanese population panicking over swine flu, my supervisor urged me to go see a doctor, which resulted in my waiting for over 3 hours at a local clinic for my turn. The doctor did a nasal swab (those things felt surprisingly invasive!) and tested for the presence of the influenza virus.

Luckily, I don't have swine flu, but I feel as if I might as well have it, since I felt crappy anyway and it seems more justifiable to feel this crap if it was because of swine flu.
Anyway because of this I have had to take three days off, and I'm really hoping these days are part of my sick-leave days rather than nen-kyuu (paid holidays), as I know it is common practice for Japanese workers to use their nen-kyuu for sick days. I'm prepared to fight tooth and nail if my nen-kyuu gets deducted!!

Right now it is lovely autumn time in Japan, with the air fresh and crisp, and trees starting to turn red-gold. I have been given a glimpse of how cold winter is going to be - some mornings have been really freezing, and getting up at 6am was such a daunting task. Since I was only allowed 20kg of baggage to Japan, I have no winter clothes whatsoever. Zero. Not even a hoodie. So I feel as though I'm on a race against time to buy winter gear. Unfortunately all the shops have just stocked on autumn fashion so everything is ridiculously expensive, and I haven't been quite able to bring myself to buy any. I dare say once winter really kicks in, survival will force me to spend money on a coat.

Over Halloween, the other alts and I each bought a kigurumi and dressed up in it to go clubbing in Tokyo (entrance fee is halved if you turn up in full-body costume). Due to a certain crazy American girl's idea, we decided to wear it on the train to Tokyo, which turned out to be possibly one of the most painfully embarrassing thing I've ever done so far. People stared, did double-takes, smiled to themselves, or downright laughed. It was mortifying. The worst moment was when I was left alone by the station cos the others needed to use the toilet. It was also when a new train had just arrived so hordes of people came rushing down the stairs, right where I was waiting for my friends! Ooooh god I still cringe when I think about the startled and confused looks I got.

But I had lots of fun and feel that my dignity has sufficiently returned for me to laugh about it now

Photographic evidence of my halloween craziness. I'm Tigger :) I remember the whole evening I was thinking 'please don't let me bump into my students' over and over in my head.

update

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:23:39 GMT

Helloo! Just writing to say that I'm very much alive and kicking in Japan. I've been here for 2 months now, and have just finished teaching at my first school. There was a farewell assembly for me, where I had to give a speech (scary), then the students presented me with a huge bouquet and lined up to form a 'corridor' that led from the hall all the way to the staff room and clapped the whole time I walked through it. I guess that's coming as close to feeling like a celebrity on the red carpet. I'm going to really miss that school. It's unique in that it is very small, therefore all the students are rather innocent and sheltered. My next school is not so innocent - apparently it has gangs and recently some students smashed the side-mirror of some teacher's car...

I'm settling in nicely in Japan, though! Between earthquakes, swine-flu outbreaks, and typhoons, I'm faring rather well. I've also started getting urges to draw again, which, for me, is always a sign of mental well-being.

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:21:30 GMT

Can someone explain to me why anime air-times in Japan are always so late (e.g. 2.15am)?! How the heck am I supposed to watch them?
Pandora Hearts and Requiem for the Phantom are both, like, 2 in the morning. I mean, yes, I can watch them online later on, but since I'm now in Japan, I would like to be able to watch shows live for once.

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:58:59 GMT

I'm watching the latest Naruto Shippuuden film in cinema in Japan tomorrow. I'm so ridiculously excited about this!

Go friend Elspeth's Japanese travel journal!

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:22:24 GMT

I has the internet at fucking last!!!

Hello everyone! I have been living in Japan for 27 days exactly. So much has happened that I haven't had the time to write it all down. I just created another journal, exclusively for posts about my experiences in Japan. It's called sore_wa_chotto and as from next week, it will be friends locked because I will be using real names in it.

Feel free to friend it if you are interested in reading about:

* scary flooding and earthquakes
* my fellow ALTs (assistant language teacher) and what I think about them
* my first task as an ALT - conducting interviews for future JTEs, and how I nearly made a candidate cry
* the mighty war between Western and Japanese work ethics
* acting as a judge for the annual prefectural public speaking contest
* how I have to give a lot of speeches in general and how my lovely supervisors don't inform me of this until the actual day itself
* lots and lots of photos of Japan

I will be making posts about these once I finish writing about them. They should be up in a couple of days time.

The first post I made on that journal is a collection of Engrish words that I've found. That will also be friends locked after a week.

See Engrish here

Byee!

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:37:46 GMT

Okay, it's late, and I'm exhausted, but just wanted to say that I'm off to Japan tomorrow, and (at best) will be able to be online again in 3 weeks time. I was actually planning on a longer and more thoughtful post than this, but I need to sleep more.
Wish me luck, and till then!

Hetalia fanart dump #2

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:39:44 GMT

Well, not really enough pictures to constitue a 'dump' but these are some of the art that I've done in the past few days, kind of as a farewell to using Photoshop :(((

Characters: Drunk!England, Germany&South Italy, Germany/North Italy, Spain&South Italy, France

  Inspired by England's chracter song. We all know he's only seeing fairies because he's drunk off his head :P

Germany and a sulky South Italy. Romano has called Germany 'Jagaimo-yaro' one too many times...

Germany and North Italy

Spain and South Italy

France, and the crappiest rose I've ever seen

Previous hetalia art post here

Japanese Huntsman Spiders (can I just stay in the UK now, please...?)

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:15:55 GMT

Help! To those on my f'list who is living or have lived in Japan, how common are these ~~fucking hug~~e ~~monsters~~ spiders found in the city?

It is less than two weeks before I leave for Japan, and I was feeling reasonably pleased with the way preparation was going, and all geared up for the year ahead ... that is until I happened to visit the JET forum and click on the 'bugs/roaches' discussion thread, which more or less left my skin crawling and reduced me to a quivering heap on the kitchen floor.

According to the thread, these spiders are commonly found in houses in Japan (I would assume more common in the countryside), usually hiding behind furniture or cracks in the wall. They span, including legs, 10 cm or more (more), are not dangerous to humans but do bite if provoked. Because they prey on other insects like cockroaches (also common in Japan) people normally leave them alone for their beneficial effects.

Frankly I'd rather have cockroaches running about my house than have these things creeping on the wall. Really, this has seriously scared the crap out of me. It's actually a strong enough factor to make me not want to go anymore. Well, maybe not that bad, but it has seriously put a dampener on my mood.

For those interested, here's a true story about one man's battle with huntsman spiders during his stay in Japan. It's actually simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. Worth a read but, oh god, I'm going to be jumpy as hell in my new house.

Not sure what I think about my new MacBook...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:20:43 GMT

My MacBook Pro Aluminium arrived yesterday and I have been religiously fiddling with it ever since. It looks great, although I'm yet to become used to the keypad, but because I haven't had the chance to transfer everything from my old windows laptop (iTunes library transfer, such a hassle omg), it feels more like 'a laptop' rather than 'my laptop' at the moment. For me a laptop is a very personal thing and my previous one had my personality stamped all over it, so the new Mac is feeling very alien to me. Plus, trying to work out all the Mac-equivalent commands is a pain.

I don't know why (nor do my hard-core Mac friend) but its taking me a while to warm towards it, especially since there was nothing really wrong with my old laptop (other than the fact that a Mac is more flexible to use for when I'm in Japan). I guess I'm mostly gutted by the fact that I won't have Photoshop CS4 anymore, since I don't own the original copy. I don't know how I'm going to get hold of another copy, other than fishing out some £100+ to buy one, which isn't really going to happen any time soon. If only I could transfer programs between PCs...

Okay, I really didn't mean to sound so negative about it. All things considered, it's a pretty damn cool laptop that my parents just bought for me, and I feel a bit guilty for not really gushing over it. I think I will feel much better once I familiarize myself to it and once more programs have been installed so that it's actually functionable.

It's now less than a month before I head out for Japan. I keep going through cyclical phases of being very excited and oh, it's going to be a blast and an adventure, to freaking-out about the kids and/or staffs not liking me, or unintentionally breaking some etiquette and offending people because I crossed my legs when I sat, and other tiny things like that.

I swear I had more things to write but my brain is crying out for sleep.

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:48:36 GMT

Jetting off to sunny Greece (Crete & Santorini) for a week. See you all soon!

Massive Hetalia fanart post

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:41:00 GMT

Huurah! Now that I'm free from finals, I can draw as much as I want. Here are some Hetalia character drawings that I've done over the past week.

Characters include (in order): Prussia, Italy, China, England, Germany, Austria, Russia

Prussia

Italy

China



England

Germany

Austria

Russia

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:11:01 GMT

Aaaah, my oral examination is tomorrow. I think I will feel like a right idiot standing in front of the panel in my sub fusc. It just occured to me that I may need a carnation, but I don't think I will bother.
Let's hope I don't panic and forget what my grant proposal is about!

Living in Japan

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:46:30 GMT

I got the acceptance letter from JET yesterday so it looks like I will be living in Japan for the next year!
After initial excitement, I am now trying to weigh out the pros and cons of accepting the offer. On the one hand, I will have employment with good pay straight after I graduate for the next year, which gives me more time to think about careers options, develope as a person, and improve my Japanese. On the other hand, I will be technically doing something unrelated to what I want to do in life (which, currently, is science), so I'm worried that taking this year out will affect my chances of getting on a PhD course/grad school when I come back. But then again whilst I'm in Japan I may discover that I want to do something totally unrelated to science after all, so all in all things look more favourable in going.

I keep daydreaming of the food that I can eat in Japan! And shopping! And I'm amused by the fact that now I can follow shows on tv in Japan, instead of a day later on the internet.

The departure date doesn't give me much time to enjoy summer after my finals exam. Since I live in Oxford and go to Oxford uni, I've never really been away from home before. It'll be a big adventure/challenge, I think :)

Hetalia character song

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:04:03 GMT

For Hetalia fans, I am ridiculously fixated with South Italy's character song: 'The Delicious Tomato Song'
The tune is hilarious and irritating and I can't seem to stop playing it over and over! (which, by the way, is terrible for revision)

I've uploaded it here, for anyone interested. The Delicious Tomato Song

Warning: other people in your household may hate you. My poor suffering mum...

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:24:56 GMT

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Three things that make Elspeth happy:

1. Her project is finished and bound and sent off to Exam School
2. Her interview at the Embassy of Japan is OVER!!!
3. Someone nominated her picture of Ron for the Ron and Harry Best Mate Award. Thank you so very much <3

Glum

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:59:57 GMT

Sometimes I really think I caught the wrong time-bus for life. The year I finished middle school they renovated the whole site, the year I left sixth form our common room got brand new sofas, the year I started uni there was the increase in tuition fee, and now - 2009, what a lovely time to be graduating.

*sigh*

Mind Fuck (rec and fanart)

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:11:12 GMT

Here's something I drew after reading Mind Fuck by Manna Francis, which is an excellent story, has a great plot, kinky as hell, and can be found online here.

NSFW: semi-nakedness, collars and manacles

Toreth and Warrick

I don't normally rec things but I thought I ought to for this story because I thoroughly enjoyed it and think more people should read it too.
To quote the summary:

"There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys.

One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world where torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the Investigation and Interrogation Division.

One of the better guys is Kier Warrick, a corporate director. His small coporation, SimTech, is developing a 'sim' system which places users in a fully-immersive vitual reality.

Their world is the dark future dystopia of New London, where Europe is controlled by a totalitarian bureaucracy, which shares political power with powerful corporations.The oppressive government uses torture, violence and the various Divisions of the feared Department of Internal Security to maintain power. The corporations fight amongst themselves, using lethal force under the euphemism of 'corporate sabotage', uniting only to resist attempts by the Administration to extend its control over them.

The series follows Warrick and Toreth, and their families, friends and enemies as they struggle to survive and hope to prosper.

Oh, yes—and there is sex, and violence, and other things that upset the people who rate films.."

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:20:49 GMT

Clearly the transition from 2008 to 2009 is not something my electrical appliances agree with. First our boiler breaks down (at the end of December), then it was our fridge-freezer, and now the toaster and kettle have also decided to snuff it. Lame, guys. LAME!

2008 Art Meme

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:53:35 GMT

This meme is always so much fun to do! I haven't drawn much in 2008 compared to 2007, but I have started drawing art from a variety of new fandoms: Vampire Knight, Prince of Tennis, Fullmetal Alchemist to name a few.

IMAGE HEAVY!

1. My favourite:
In terms of technique and effort, this picture doesn't amount to much, but I love it to bits! I love Sanzo's expression and the atmosphere of the piece

2. My Best

Hands down, it has to be this commissioned piece from Shari. I was quite nervous because this was my first art commission using natural media but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, and SO thrilled that Shari liked it <3

3. Art most underappreciated
I guess maybe this one, although truthfully I wasn't expecting much attention for this piece because he's a character from a relatively unknown fandom (Len Tsukimori, Kiniro no Corda) Personally I'm quite attached to this one, mainly because in most of my art I barely give much attention to details of the clothing and I specially made an effort with this one.

Also perhaps this picture of Kiryuu Ichiru from Vamprie knight

4. Most fun to draw
This one is easy! It has to be this picture of Kuran Kaname from Vampire Knight. I drew this during my 6-week project in Salisbury this summer, and I remember I was going slightly crazy from lack of social contact (I lived in a youth hostel in the middle of nowhere and there was no internect connection) so I really needed to de-stress. I did feel so much better after I drew this (although I suspect my roommate was slightly disturbed) Thank God I had a roommate, or I really would have gone mad!

5. Biggest disappointment
It's funny how my favourite piece and my biggest disappointment piece has the same subject (Sanzo from Saiyuki) I don't' like this one because it didn't turn out the way I had it laid out in my head. I don't like the composition of this piece, and the colouring looks like I had lost interest in it half way (which I kind of did)

6. Sexiest art
I haven't really done many of these this year. I'm tempted to chose one of my Prince of Tennis pairings, but I think I'm going to stick with good old Sirius/Remus OTP <3

I also found this one I did for Christmas kinda sexy. Heehee, Sanzo stars again. I'm not obsessed with the bad-mouthed, gun-wielding monk, really!

Goals for 2009? If I can find the energy and time, I'd love to draw some Goku/Sanzo art, Ciel and Sebastian from Kuroshitsuji, Albus and/or Scorpius from HP.

Meh, the lj-cut system is annoying. I prefer the older version :(

Kin'iro no Corda, anyone?

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:26:49 GMT

.

Is anyone familiar with Kin'iro no Corda?
Because I was re-watching the series yesterday and was (once again) sucked in to all of its bishie, shoujo glory. I had quite forgotten how much I fangirled Tsukimori the last time I watched. As always when I get into an anime, I want to draw someone from it.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:49:55 GMT

I hope everyone will have a merry and festive time!

Yay!

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:03:06 GMT

Eeeee! More Christmas cards for me :D Thank you so much remeciel</lj> , ubiquitous_girl</lj> , treanz</lj> , and aidara</lj> for your lovely cards that I received in my post yesterday.
And thank you sam_by_night</lj> (durian cream candies!! I ate them. It was interesting ;)) and noneedofcrepe</lj> (Aieeee! Your card is adorable and your message so lovely, THANK YOU!!!) for your cards, which I got this morning.

Fanart: Ichiru Kiryuu

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:50:02 GMT

Oh tablet and Photoshop how I missed you <3

Ichiru, contemplating what he is about to do when he visits Zero. I am so ridiculously excited about the next episode tomorrow! *jumps up and down*

In other news: our boiler broke down today so there's no heating! *cries* Why? WHYY? Right before frigging Christmas as well when everyone will be off on holiday.

Reasons why I shouldn't bother getting up early in mornings...

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:17:52 GMT

.

1. I am not a morning person. Getting up early (I count anything before 10am as early) makes me cranky

2. Getting up early requires me to set alarm at least an hour before the time I need to get up. Hitting the snooze continually for an hour is tiring, and pisses off household members

3. Getting up early does not guarantee that I will do more work/be more productive. For example I got up at 9.30am but did not work till 3pm

4. I am more alert during evening time and I think/write much better

Sooo, a nice long lie-in tomorrow?

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:24:08 GMT

Instead of working on my discussion I watched half of the docu-film, 'Nanking', which wasn't a clever idea because now I feel too distressed to concentrate on anything.

On a much lighter note, I received christmas cards today, hooray! Thank you so much star54kar and argentum_luna for your lovely cards :)