New Camera

Well when my exchange student left, I sent my camera to be fixed. As as soon as I would put batteries in it, I would only get maybe 5-10 photos before it shut off, saying I needed to change the batteries. This was not the first time I had sent it away either, not long after buying it my focus stopped working properly, so I had to get a new part for it.

Anyways this time it was "uneconomical" to fix it, therefore I was free to get a new one! Yay! I love warranties! The only thing being, was that my ol' Canon A540 was a good two years old, and my replacement was half the price! Ah with new cheaper technology my old $300 camera became worth only $150. Therefore I decided I may as well fork out some bucks to upgrade.

Still being too cheap to go up to an SLR, I went for a megazoom. Although the pickings were rather slim. As I am anti-sony, and pro-Canon. With only one Canon model present, I bought it, and the return lady gave me a bargain (i.e. she gave me my camera free....being $300 approx. the same price as my old one. So I only had to pay for my new warranty and my case.)


So I am officially the new owner of a S5 IS Canon PowerShot. Nothing too spectacular, but I'm pleased with it so far. Although the lensecap is a tad annoying, as it constantly falls off....

Oh and update on Korean lessons, I am now getting Korean lessons, in exchange for teaching Japanese. Fighting! Starts Sunday, will do my best :P.

Jya~ ne Rei! <3

Well today I said good-bye to my exchange student from Japan.
It was sad to see her go, after spending two weeks with her.
Nonetheless I felt no need to shed tears, as I phone over enough,
and hopefully will be returning this year...tabun (maybe)

Top 5 Things I Did w/ my Exchange Student:
1) Talking.
This might seem like a stupid answer, but I really loved talking to her.
We mainly spoke in Japanese, and really talked about a range of topics.
2) Cooking.
Since she doesn't have an oven in Japan, we baked a lot;
Boston Creme Cake, Choc. Cookie Pie, Choc. Chip Cookies,
Banana Choc. Cake, Vanilla Heart Cake, Cream Cheese Tarts, etc.
Which was a delicious time filler.
3) Watching Japanese Television
Thank-you Youtube and various other sources.
We watched Rookies together, although I had to go the last two episodes
w/o subs. As well I am now rather addicted to ShuchiShin's songs, so catchy.
4) Bowling
My Birthday was on the 15th and we had a small party.
The alley had no a/c so we all were dieing of heat,
but the second game was an awful lot of fun. We played crazy bowling,
i.e. bowling through your team's legs, bowling while on your stomach...etc.
5) Going to a Magic Forest (name changed to protect the innocent)
The nature walk was just gorgeous.

It was hard narrowing it down, as we also went swimming, to English lessons,
gave each other manicures, quilted, went to museums, used face-masks, and so much more.
I will miss having my "sister" around. She probably isn't even home quite yet,
as with the lay-overs her trip will probably take about 10 h.

Anyways that is my interesting update.
Oh by the way, I might soon be taking Korean lessons.
Let's hope for the best!

Hmmm I don't feel like going back to gr.8...

Well I just was looking at the average height & weight for teenagers here: http://teens.lovetoknow.com/Average_Height_and_Weight_for_Teenager
I was comparing myself, and thought, "oh man! I'm in such a young range" but then realized I was looking at the boy graph. boy...man ahahaha
So I scrolled a bit further and realized it was still, "oh...maybe I really am short..."
As I fit under the 12-13 year old range.

Now really I'm...muscular and uh...really rather tall, 6'1 at least.... statuesque girl...people even call me muscles at school...I'm sure....
Nonetheless this sorry little spreadsheet says I am only in the range of baby gr. 7-8'ers ;_;.

Boohoo, ah well I keep telling people I still have a foot left, which would bring me up to 7 '1 (or rather in reality 6'1. ). Trust me I can feel it. Just need to start downing the milk. I think the reason I'm short is probably from my time scrunched up sitting in a computer chair. Yeah that's it. Although if shortness is the price to pay for my computer <3 I think I'm pretty close to paying my dues...

V300 Canon Wordtank

Well my import from Japan finally arrived. What was my import you might ask?
In case you forgot to read the title....
Why it was a V300 canon Wordtank,
which means an electronic Japanese-English dictionary.
The main reasons I chose this model was the touch screen/stylus.

No real problems with it, enjoying it, and can't wait to try using it when my
Japanese exchange student comes on Monday.
Only walls I ran into were finding the English part in the manual.
As it wasn't near the back, it was in the middle somewhere.
As well as trying to figure out how to change the menu and
such into English.... Anyways those hurdles were overcome.

Now all I need to discover is why it won't take my SD cards, despite that it should,
as it has a mp3 player. My SD card is even Canon. :O

Well that is the exciting new for 7:38 tonight. (That's right I'm Pacific time, be jealous.)
Perhaps I will have more later.

Doramas...Koramas?

So I watch Japanese television. Who doesn't right? I've watched around 30 series from start to finish...with 12 episodes each (approx.) an hour long...that equals out to....around 360 hours.
I realize it's not that impressive compared to others, but I only started last summer.

Recently I decided I would just, "try" watching a Korean show called, "We Got Married".
To be honest my hopes weren't too high.
I had watched two Korean movies so far, and one was slower then I would of liked, and the other was plain...ungood/dumb.
(am I going to get flamed by Kdrama lovers for saying this? Haha like anyone reads this anyways)
Anyways I am now officially hooked, and currently on episode 10. I started watching them...yesterday if I remember correctly. Even wilder, I watch them with my mom. She thinks the show is hilarious (I think she's become way too attached, she even cried when Alex left....) Love you mom...<3.

So now I am into Korea, south anyways ahaha, and I really want to learn Korean.
It's not as shallow as just because I watched a show though.
I have read a few travel and educational books about Korea, and found it really interesting.
Now watching the show I find myself really liking their culture,
and the language sounds great too.
I'm doing the best I can do on the computer.
Sadly it's not a school course; like I could get it at my school anyways....
So I am stuck trying to either con a Korean person into teaching me, or trying to teach myself.
I don't think I have the dedication for either...

Other then that, nothing new or exciting. Other than that I finally have purchased a Japanese-English dictionary. Canon Wordtank V300, in pink, should be here in a week. ^_^ I'm excited.

Japanese: yes or no?

So I went to Japan, been there, done that, want to do it again.
Now I have a Japanese family, *mochiron ^-^*, from my home stay.
I phone them....I'd say once a month maybe.
I normally ask for the mom, because if I don't this is what my conversation sounds like.
(My questions translated)

Me: So are you good?
Japanese-twin: un
Me: Is the weather good?
Japanese-twin: un
Me: Do you have school today?
Japanese-twin: unUun
Me: So...what are you doing today?
Japanese-twin: ano.....etooooo.......wakarimasen. Betsuni....
*translation: ummm...aaaahhh....I don't know.....nothing.....*
(long pause)
Me: Well...talk to you later
Japanese-twin: un

So here is your Japanese lesson for today, "un" and "unUun" mean "yes" and "no" respectively. "No" is basically "yes" with a warble. It's informal, but that's how much they love me.
Back in Japan, I personally would warble it willy-nilly, just to be a rebel.
So basically head nodding or shaking was essential when I used them.

Hiatus? Not really.

So nothing new as of lately. Still tooting away on the trumpet (fuufuufuu), I can even hit a high C now.

Recently it has been under discussion, my lack of transportation, to and from work;
besides when people give me a ride.

-My mother, (Love you mom...if you can find this...no I'm not talking to stalkers...not I haven't given out my phone number....) is convinced that in our town of 3000 people, at most, that I will get mugged and/or worse. So therefore walking is off of my list of transportation.

-Biking, my family says I'm no good. True words out of my mother's mouth, "well...I could let you bike....if you were any good at it...." (Oh stay my wounded heart)
Now I am an average biker. I can't do anything fancy... like signal, or stand up, and occasionally the kickstand is tricky...but I feel confident in my skill.

-I don't have my license yet, but soon. Though I am faaarrr too cheap to buy a car, or gas, or insurance, and my chances of having the family car all day are slim too. So automobiles are off the list too.

Therefore I am still henceforth dependent upon my parents', and other people's good will. Perhaps someday I can prove to my family that I am not a weakling. Maybe after I finish the 100 push up challenge, I can do about 10 today which was better then 1 a few days ago, helps now that I know how to do them properly.... or perhaps when I finally do a back-flip...or maybe one day when I get back from climbing the Appalachian region of mountains with a group of Yakuza....ah yes one day...