My weekend was SO MUCH FUN! I will let the pictures speak for themselves though!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
More pictures of the best weekend ever!!
My weekend was SO MUCH FUN! I will let the pictures speak for themselves though!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
My weekend!
I am at Maria's house right now. It's 2:22 in the morning and I'm tired. But today was a lot of fun and tomorrow, I mean; today, (it's past midnight so it's technically tomorrow,) anyway, we are going to go up to Utsunomiya to go shopping.
Today, my host dad dropped me off at Sano station, and I rode until Tochigi and then I met Maria and Melissa. Then we went to karaoke, and sang for two hours, and then we wandered around aimlessly and found a BEAUTIFUL church. And in the yard in front of the church was an amazing garden/stone thing. So we climbed up it and took some pictures on self timer! This blog is short because I'm cold and don't want to type but wanted to upload my pictures from today.
Today, my host dad dropped me off at Sano station, and I rode until Tochigi and then I met Maria and Melissa. Then we went to karaoke, and sang for two hours, and then we wandered around aimlessly and found a BEAUTIFUL church. And in the yard in front of the church was an amazing garden/stone thing. So we climbed up it and took some pictures on self timer! This blog is short because I'm cold and don't want to type but wanted to upload my pictures from today.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
I did it!
I have finally, finally, decided "what I'm gonna be when I grow up." And for everyone that knows me, this isn't anything new; but for those that know me really well, they know I've been going through a really tough time deciding on my future recently.
I'm going to go into game design, absolutely.
Sorry, Mom! It's been decided. I don't care if I make a pittance and have to have seven part time jobs just to pay for my house, because I will be happy and loving what I do.
I have wanted to design games since the whole "waitress" and "marine biologist" phase died out. Which was about eight years ago. I was incredibly passionate about programming, character design, and CGI when I was thirteen or fourteen, and then it grew until I got to Japan.
When I got here, I suddenly felt dwarfed by the unlimited possibilities the world has to offer me, and although I still wanted to be a game designer, I felt stuck because I felt I didn't really know what I wanted, and I didn't want to be stuck in a career that doesn't make a ton of money if it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do.
That feeling could best be described as feeling your foundation start to crumble, but not wanting to abandon ship because you had no other place to turn to. I wanted to be a game designer for so long, and have put so much studying and effort into it that I didn't want to completely abandon it. And that was coupled with the fact that I had to make a decision FAST, because college choices are fast approaching and I would have to choose my major and the rest of my life. So I was very uneasy.
I hadn't been doing ANYTHING related to games since coming to Japan. I only have my laptop, so I don't have Morrowind Construction Set or anything similar installed. So I had forgotten that feeling I got when I worked on a new script on TESCS, or debugged one of my old ones.
But we had a field trip today in school, where we learned about the inner workings of different jobs, and I went to the game design room, and I remembered. I got fired up again, and now I am dead certain about the field which I am going to go into.
And honestly, I know I will not only suceed but I will thrive. It's not the playing the video games that I like. I mean, it's fun, but so is playing guitar and going on walks and drawing and reading. It's the firing up Morrowind's Construction Set and creating a new object and then attaching a script that makes it say, "Hello!" everytime you walk by if you are wearing the Boots of Blinding Speed. And I am a talented artist, and I recently realized I love, love, LOVE math. Also, my Japanese skills from being here six months are already enough to be a fantastic help, and I still have another five months of living here. I have no illusions about the game design industry. You don't play video games. If that was all you do then I wouldn't want to do that as a job. I want to sit down in my nerded-out office cube in front of hours of bugged code and put ALL my brainpower into it for six hours and come out with a smooth program. I want to take pictures of things with weird textures and then map those textures to 3-D meshes.
I am so excited thinking about it that I actually have butterflies. WOO!
It is the field that I am most passionate about. And I am going to go for it with all my power.
YES!
I am so excited!
It feels so, right. To make a decision, finally, and STICK with it. I have no regrets. I am thrilled.
I'm going to go into game design, absolutely.
Sorry, Mom! It's been decided. I don't care if I make a pittance and have to have seven part time jobs just to pay for my house, because I will be happy and loving what I do.
I have wanted to design games since the whole "waitress" and "marine biologist" phase died out. Which was about eight years ago. I was incredibly passionate about programming, character design, and CGI when I was thirteen or fourteen, and then it grew until I got to Japan.
When I got here, I suddenly felt dwarfed by the unlimited possibilities the world has to offer me, and although I still wanted to be a game designer, I felt stuck because I felt I didn't really know what I wanted, and I didn't want to be stuck in a career that doesn't make a ton of money if it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do.
That feeling could best be described as feeling your foundation start to crumble, but not wanting to abandon ship because you had no other place to turn to. I wanted to be a game designer for so long, and have put so much studying and effort into it that I didn't want to completely abandon it. And that was coupled with the fact that I had to make a decision FAST, because college choices are fast approaching and I would have to choose my major and the rest of my life. So I was very uneasy.
I hadn't been doing ANYTHING related to games since coming to Japan. I only have my laptop, so I don't have Morrowind Construction Set or anything similar installed. So I had forgotten that feeling I got when I worked on a new script on TESCS, or debugged one of my old ones.
But we had a field trip today in school, where we learned about the inner workings of different jobs, and I went to the game design room, and I remembered. I got fired up again, and now I am dead certain about the field which I am going to go into.
And honestly, I know I will not only suceed but I will thrive. It's not the playing the video games that I like. I mean, it's fun, but so is playing guitar and going on walks and drawing and reading. It's the firing up Morrowind's Construction Set and creating a new object and then attaching a script that makes it say, "Hello!" everytime you walk by if you are wearing the Boots of Blinding Speed. And I am a talented artist, and I recently realized I love, love, LOVE math. Also, my Japanese skills from being here six months are already enough to be a fantastic help, and I still have another five months of living here. I have no illusions about the game design industry. You don't play video games. If that was all you do then I wouldn't want to do that as a job. I want to sit down in my nerded-out office cube in front of hours of bugged code and put ALL my brainpower into it for six hours and come out with a smooth program. I want to take pictures of things with weird textures and then map those textures to 3-D meshes.
I am so excited thinking about it that I actually have butterflies. WOO!
It is the field that I am most passionate about. And I am going to go for it with all my power.
YES!
I am so excited!
It feels so, right. To make a decision, finally, and STICK with it. I have no regrets. I am thrilled.
Friday, February 13, 2009
...could it really be?
I am not going to explain my absence. Or the "tomorrow" that never came.
But I am just going to start making blogs more often, starting with the weekly news! (Maybe if I say I'm gonna make blogs more often it will curse it, lol.)
I was given… a love letter… today. I am so incredibly moved by the bravery of this boy. That picture down there is the letter that he wrote for me, but before I translate it for you; I want to provide some background information: I have moved host families now, so I arranged to meet the two Komagata children every Thursday at the public library to spend some quality time together. Well, last week was our first Thursday, so we met at the house and then walked to the public library. After about an hour there, we left the library to walk home. I was the last one out, and just as I was leaving; two Middle-School aged boys sitting in the lobby called over to me. I was surprised, so I turned to look and the one who called was red as a beet. I smiled at him, and he smiled back, and just as I was leaving again he blurted out, “I love you!!!” and then his buddy clapped him on the back. I smiled and looked around awkwardly, and then smiled again and waved and then left.
He is just hitting five feet and I would say maybe thirteen or fourteen years old, and I am ashamed to say I left the library feeling a little flattered and then promptly forgot about him.
Well, that was a week ago, and this week again me and the two Komagata children met at the library, except today it was closed so we all just sat on the steps outside and had a little picnic. Well, as fate, (or maybe a plan) would have it, those same two boys rode by on their bicycles. The one from the other day slowed down dramatically as he rode by, and then stared at me like a deer frozen in the headlights, and I was just kind of watching him a little nonplussed, and then he turned red again; smiled, and furiously pedaled to the library entrance to join his friend. I shrugged and resumed eating. After about fifteen minutes, I looked to the library entrance and realized the boys were still there. They didn’t seem to be doing anything at all. And then as I watched them, they crept around and sat behind this giant bush about fifteen feet away from me and Mich and Ak. I will admit at this point I was genuinely intrigued. It couldn’t have been comfortable behind the bush, and the only people they were shielding themselves from view from were me and Mich and Ak. As I was watching the bush, I see Boy #1 poke his head up tentatively, looking at me, and then upon making eye contact dart back down. I heard giggling.
I decided it was time to leave the library.
As I was walking back to the Komagata house to drop of Mich and Ak, Boy #1’s friend rode by me on his bicycle. He stopped in front of me, and said, (in Japanese but I will translate.)
“Excuse me! …. Ummm. My friend...he…he….wantsmetogiveyouthispleasereadit!” he said, and then thrust a letter into my hand. Taken aback, I was like, “what on Earth is going on? I don’t even know these boys!” And then Boy #1’s friend sped away on his bicycle at full speed. Then I opened the letter and my entire view point on life changed. It said,
“Hello, my name is Okano Ibuki. I am going to enter Seirantaito High School this April. What is your name? The other day, when I was cleaning up the library I saw you! I will wait for your answer. Oh yeah! I forgot to say this: I like you! I will wait for your answer. Please come to the library tomorrow!”
Awwwww. And then as soon as I finished reading that, his friend approached me on his bicycle again, (letter boy disappeared about twenty minutes ago,) and told me that his friend would like me to come to the library tomorrow, if it was okay.
What a precious, precious boy. The courage it must have taken. I can’t even imagine it. That is true, pure bravery right there. I hope he gets a million wonderful girls that right him love letters one day. If only he was five years older and a foot taller and I wasn’t leaving in five months. He really changed my life, by proving that pure courage exists and I know longer have any excuses to back out of things I’m afraid of. Okano Ibuki is the bravest person I know.
I have to do something I really don’t want to have to do, tomorrow. I spent the whole day after school with my host parents writing the nicest but still direct letter I could. I do not want to crush his heart. If I was the one who doused that courage I would never forgive myself. I am going to go to the library tomorrow, and simply tell him the truth. I wrote a letter to him, too. Though it killed me to do it.
“To Okano Ibuki,
Receiving your letter made me so happy, but I am very sorry. I am a foreign exchange student, so I will not always be living in Japan. Actually, I will be going back to America in just a few months. I came to Japan to study, and learn Japanese, and (if I had a boyfriend) I would not be able to focus at all! When you come to Seirantaito in April, I don’t know if we will get to see eachother, but I hope that we do and can become very good friends. By the way, my name is Jaremie Forsman. Hey, good luck and have fun in Seirantaito, kay?
Oh, I feel so terrible. There is no easy way to turn someone down. Especially not a boy so shy and sweet as this one. I tried to be as gentle as possible, and my host mom and host dad helped me write the letter, and told me most of the things to say. I will just go to the library tomorrow, and be gentle but direct and give him my letter and my answer.
Ten years from now, I will look back at my 7 billion page scrapbook on Japan, and find the section about Valentine’s, and find Okano Ibuki’s love letter, and smile. In truth, I am so lucky to receive a love letter from a Japanese boy. It really is rare, and people really don’t write them anymore. I will keep it forever.
But I am just going to start making blogs more often, starting with the weekly news! (Maybe if I say I'm gonna make blogs more often it will curse it, lol.)
I was given… a love letter… today. I am so incredibly moved by the bravery of this boy. That picture down there is the letter that he wrote for me, but before I translate it for you; I want to provide some background information: I have moved host families now, so I arranged to meet the two Komagata children every Thursday at the public library to spend some quality time together. Well, last week was our first Thursday, so we met at the house and then walked to the public library. After about an hour there, we left the library to walk home. I was the last one out, and just as I was leaving; two Middle-School aged boys sitting in the lobby called over to me. I was surprised, so I turned to look and the one who called was red as a beet. I smiled at him, and he smiled back, and just as I was leaving again he blurted out, “I love you!!!” and then his buddy clapped him on the back. I smiled and looked around awkwardly, and then smiled again and waved and then left.
He is just hitting five feet and I would say maybe thirteen or fourteen years old, and I am ashamed to say I left the library feeling a little flattered and then promptly forgot about him.
Well, that was a week ago, and this week again me and the two Komagata children met at the library, except today it was closed so we all just sat on the steps outside and had a little picnic. Well, as fate, (or maybe a plan) would have it, those same two boys rode by on their bicycles. The one from the other day slowed down dramatically as he rode by, and then stared at me like a deer frozen in the headlights, and I was just kind of watching him a little nonplussed, and then he turned red again; smiled, and furiously pedaled to the library entrance to join his friend. I shrugged and resumed eating. After about fifteen minutes, I looked to the library entrance and realized the boys were still there. They didn’t seem to be doing anything at all. And then as I watched them, they crept around and sat behind this giant bush about fifteen feet away from me and Mich and Ak. I will admit at this point I was genuinely intrigued. It couldn’t have been comfortable behind the bush, and the only people they were shielding themselves from view from were me and Mich and Ak. As I was watching the bush, I see Boy #1 poke his head up tentatively, looking at me, and then upon making eye contact dart back down. I heard giggling.
I decided it was time to leave the library.
As I was walking back to the Komagata house to drop of Mich and Ak, Boy #1’s friend rode by me on his bicycle. He stopped in front of me, and said, (in Japanese but I will translate.)
“Excuse me! …. Ummm. My friend...he…he….wantsmetogiveyouthispleasereadit!” he said, and then thrust a letter into my hand. Taken aback, I was like, “what on Earth is going on? I don’t even know these boys!” And then Boy #1’s friend sped away on his bicycle at full speed. Then I opened the letter and my entire view point on life changed. It said,
“Hello, my name is Okano Ibuki. I am going to enter Seirantaito High School this April. What is your name? The other day, when I was cleaning up the library I saw you! I will wait for your answer. Oh yeah! I forgot to say this: I like you! I will wait for your answer. Please come to the library tomorrow!”
Awwwww. And then as soon as I finished reading that, his friend approached me on his bicycle again, (letter boy disappeared about twenty minutes ago,) and told me that his friend would like me to come to the library tomorrow, if it was okay.
What a precious, precious boy. The courage it must have taken. I can’t even imagine it. That is true, pure bravery right there. I hope he gets a million wonderful girls that right him love letters one day. If only he was five years older and a foot taller and I wasn’t leaving in five months. He really changed my life, by proving that pure courage exists and I know longer have any excuses to back out of things I’m afraid of. Okano Ibuki is the bravest person I know.
I have to do something I really don’t want to have to do, tomorrow. I spent the whole day after school with my host parents writing the nicest but still direct letter I could. I do not want to crush his heart. If I was the one who doused that courage I would never forgive myself. I am going to go to the library tomorrow, and simply tell him the truth. I wrote a letter to him, too. Though it killed me to do it.
“To Okano Ibuki,
Receiving your letter made me so happy, but I am very sorry. I am a foreign exchange student, so I will not always be living in Japan. Actually, I will be going back to America in just a few months. I came to Japan to study, and learn Japanese, and (if I had a boyfriend) I would not be able to focus at all! When you come to Seirantaito in April, I don’t know if we will get to see eachother, but I hope that we do and can become very good friends. By the way, my name is Jaremie Forsman. Hey, good luck and have fun in Seirantaito, kay?
Oh, I feel so terrible. There is no easy way to turn someone down. Especially not a boy so shy and sweet as this one. I tried to be as gentle as possible, and my host mom and host dad helped me write the letter, and told me most of the things to say. I will just go to the library tomorrow, and be gentle but direct and give him my letter and my answer.
Ten years from now, I will look back at my 7 billion page scrapbook on Japan, and find the section about Valentine’s, and find Okano Ibuki’s love letter, and smile. In truth, I am so lucky to receive a love letter from a Japanese boy. It really is rare, and people really don’t write them anymore. I will keep it forever.
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