It's raining and my umbrella is broken.
Apr. 11th, 2006 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenlingsSo today was the 入学式. It's weird because we don't have one in America (thank God), but it's basically like graduation. They call out all the new students' names (but they just stand up - there's no diplomas or anything).
I just learned that April 1st used to be the start of the new year. So it makes sense that we start a new school year now. It was funny to see the new students with their uniforms all shiny and never washed. From the amorphous blobs the girls tie them in after they've been washed, I never knew the girls' neckties were supposed to look like that - like actual men's thin neckties circa 1986. Hee. I wore my purple suit jacket for the first time, and I didn't feel too dressed up or dressed down so yay me.
Haha, the 一年生 were so cute. And the height disparity among them was amusing. Two boys were standing next to each other, and I swear one boy only came up to the other boy's waist. Such *tiny* children. It was funny too how formal everything was to honor the twelve year olds. Everyone was bowing to other people every two seconds, and the Principal and Vice-Principal kept descending the stage or leaving the microphone and sitting down, only to immediately rise and return again. But it was a "different part" of the ceremony, so each part required them to close and open by descending/ascending. Crazy.
There were many speeches, and of course bad sakura metaphors abounded. (As sakura petals in the wind, these are the days of your 中学校生活.) After all the personal testimonials about how important middle school is from the PTA elementary school president, etc., I got to thinking. You know how in America high school is this crucible of adulthood? Well in Japan I think it's middle school that's the crucible. You go in 12 and you come out 15 and never have to go to school again. You can start working and being an adult. For those headed to high school, middle school is the last time you're with your local childhood friends before you're all scattered to different far away high schools and on career tracks. If you do get into high school all your time is spent preparing for the college entrance exam. From all the dorama and anime about junior high (as many as about high school in America), it seems that middle school, instead of high school, is viewed as "the best years of your life." (The feminine sexual ideal for men is also said to be a junior high school girl in uniform.)
Oh, man, the PE teacher was just fondling the bright pink tie that I assume he had been wearing in the ceremony (as everyone shed their fancy clothes immediately afterwards), and some female teachers were saying "Oh that's so cute. Pink, ne. It's spring, ne." Just. Wow. I love how things that would be unmanly in America, like say wearing women's slip-ons, are perfectly fine for men over here.
Haha, one of the boys at English club was pointing to himself and saying things like "Good balance! Good condition!" I asked if he were healthy, and he said he was. He then pointed to his head. "Good brain!" I fell over laughing. His friend was constantly checking himself out in the LL mirror and rearranging his hair. So I assured him he was beautiful and he shook his head, saying "No, no." Hee. He always looks in the mirror. One time in class we handed out little stickers and he and his friends all crowded round the mirror affixing them in pleasing positions on their faces. LOVE. Healthy boy called his friend "Strange boy!" Then I had to explain what "strange" was to the earnest girl student. The last word of hangman was "important," and healthy boy immediately broke in saying, "My head is important!" to illustrate the meaning of the word. Heehee.
I tried to explain Easter to them. Man, before you've had to explain a holiday to a bunch of Japanese kids, you don't know how *weird* a holiday really is. I think Easter is the worst of the bunch, just because of the unexplained leaps in logic it makes.
Christians >> Jesus Christ >> resurrected >> eggs for...rebirth? >> a bunny...with eggs. ...Whuh?
And then everyone goes to church! To worship the
Also I AM FILLED WITH WOE. Because my headphone jack has come completely detached from the motherboard. I took *everything* apart yesterday because it had been attached to the underside of the board. Now my speakers and mike jack also don't work because of the missing headphone jack. BAH. My computer's still under warranty, but I'd much rather solve the problem myself. Does anyone have any experience with resoldering a headphone jack to the motherboard? Or sending this problem back to Dell?
Yay the new VP is a pushover, so I get to leave school early. I think I'll take my computer apart again and try stuff. Stressful! But I don't trust Dell with my baby.
Reading books is dangerous for me. I get so absorbed in a good fantasy series that I NEVER WANT TO STOP reading. I seriously stayed up ALL NIGHT the last night of Spring Break reading the second Robin Hobb book. WHEEEEE. I took *months* off school in high school fully immersing myself in the Wheel of Time series. I get addicted to fic, it's true, but most of the time it's a... lighter medium. I really like how I can scroll and skim fic. It's more like candy or something, like I don't *need* to be reading it *all the time*, just a significant portion of the time. Or I don't need to be reading one fic or one fandom all the time. I get hooked on fantasy series to the extent that I never want to leave the world. I think that's it. That with fic, I can read other fics in the fandom and watch the source and stuff. There are always going to be more fics in the fandom. I never *do* have to leave the world. So I'm not as attached to reading each fic. Huh. Another danger of books is that while I can pretend to be doing work on my laptop (I wonder what my predecessor did on her laptop all day), and mostly no one will know that I'm reading fantasy or porn, novels looks like novels. And with some of the covers these things have, there's NO MISTAKING that it's very much non-work related. Sigh. So I haven't even been letting myself bring the book out of the house. I'm afraid I'll be UNABLE TO CONTROL MYSELF and fall upon the book like a madwoman.
I was noticing something about my habitual reading style lately. At least in fics, and most of the time in novels too, I usually skip from the first line of each paragraph to the next for like 4 paragraphs or so, skip from line to line of dialogue, line to line of action for like 4 lines, and then go back and read description or whatever. If I don't really care, then I don't go back and read the filler. And even if I know that what I'm reading is good, like I'm rereading something and already know what will happen so I'm not impatient for what happens next, I still find myself reading ahead a bit. I get the biggest emotional impact, feel the punch of emotion in my belly, and then go back and read in more detail, savor the description. I think this is one reason I really like the format of reading on my computer. I can scroll and skim fast with clear paragraph breaks. If only I could scroll with my MIND. (My wrist gets tired.)
...And I like her books, but dude, Robin Hobb's a bitch. And also retarded.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-10 11:59 am (UTC)I never thought about middle school and high school differences in that way. I'll have to save that to think about more later.
OMG, superior mind powers would be so useful!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-10 12:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-10 06:58 pm (UTC)You are so going to hell.
And with some of the covers these things have, there's NO MISTAKING that it's very much non-work related.
If it's a hardcover book, can't you just take the cover off? If a paperback, can't you cover it with some kind of paper, like they sometimes do for you when you buy a book at the Japanese bookstores?
I usually skip from the first line of each paragraph to the next for like 4 paragraphs or so, skip from line to line of dialogue, line to line of action for like 4 lines, and then go back and read description or whatever
I've found that I sometimes do this unintentionally... I get interested enough that I start skipping the non-action parts. Unfortunately, I usually also miss some random important detail and have to re-read, which is somewhat irritating. You must find a solution! I leave it to you.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-10 10:21 pm (UTC)I get interested enough that I start skipping the non-action parts.
Yeah, I want to know what happens! Sometimes I go back and reread because it's good writing, and sometimes I have to go back and reread because I miss something, but I generally don't mind doing so. I like research. So you have to find a solution yourself!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 01:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 10:15 am (UTC)Hahaha. Totally. But even if we're talking gen, her objections are so spurious! Those same exact complaints could be lodged against any literary essay dealing with her books "without her permission" and making a point that she doesn't agree with. (Yay New Criticism! Screw authorial intent!) Does that mean that English Lit. classes should stop writing critical essays just because the essays are by nature derivative and often would be found offensive or "incorrect" by the authors? Hmph.
Also ::huggles you::
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 10:56 am (UTC)