the first day of the 11th month

kombanwa!

this is a entry from my journal that i wrote this morning. it gives you a run down.　today, my overall mood is:bleck. but alas. i signed my contract and met my other boss. it was raining earlier. i also lost 20,000 yen, which is like, $230. yikes.

Today is my first official day of work. it is accompanied by a headache and gut rot. ive showered and taken advil to quell the achy head. i need to eat soon. so, the cause of the aches and rot, you guessed it! a night out on the town. oh yeah. welcoming party for me. jason and two friends and i went to an izakaye and drank a lot and ate a lot. so, 11 beers, 15 dishes (dimsum-like), including a healthy dose of sushi and sashimi. 1 bottle of red wine, and 4 cover charges = 12,000 yen. not bad.

the food that was new for me; deep fried edamame, and unagi and cheese tempura.

so after that we walked to another part of town to go to this bar, rough roll. we went in and they were playing !!! and had pj harvey, yeahyeahyeahs, franz ferdinand, etc. on the wall. so great!!!

whilst there i met these two girls who were with their friends. very sharp, beautiful, etc. one of the girls was just married and this was her celebration among her and her husbands friends. suits abounded. so, i talked about fashion and makeup with the girls (supposedly i can get mac in sendai--1 hour from here! yippee!) anyway, at this point yoko (jason:s friend) says that we were going to karaoke (also with other friends) ...

shit, i:m tired and we:re going to leave soon, so this is cut here.

basically, im having fun, and i like the food, etc. its hard to describe it when im not really in the mood. i miss you all so fucking much it hurts.

xoxo di.

so stressed.

this seems to be a recurring theme with me: stress. I am so stressed that I'm beginning to break out in hives. also, i was bitten by a mosquito or something and it is making me freak out. any bug bite makes me freak out (re: bed bugs, yuck!) and it's not a bed bug bite, so fuck! i need to relax. maybe when i eat some pizza and drink tension tamer tea, i'll relax. i hope so.

this is my last entry before i leave for nihon. i'll probably enter some data in a few days. i love you all. xoxo di.

now it's my teeth!

so, i have this problem that my jaw is small, and thus all of my little (coffee-stained) teeth cannot fit on the bottom set. so they cram. and they've been cramming for years. so, awh, about15 years back, the dentist took out two of my adult bottom teeth. add that to my wisdoms that were also removed a few years back and presto! my bottom jaw is four teeth short! and it still hurts like hell. i should get braces. but, it seems that going to japan in 1.5 days (!) doesn't help matters.

i'm tired. caitlin and i went and saw the motorcycle diaries. it was so beautiful. and now i'm full of popcorn, and damn, that Gael García Bernal, who plays "che" himself, looks so much like freddie prinze junior, it's discusting. but the scenery, it made the movie so worth it.

i miss those i love already. i've had to say goodbye to so many already. tomorrow will be the hardest.
xoxo di.

my foundation is full.

hey kids. it's only 10pm, and i'm exhausted. jeff, becca and i just went for din din at foundation. it was good, but you know what? it's really really overrated. funny "vegetarian" jokes on the menu (the grain fed spinach one was the best, ha ha), too many hip people, makes us, well me at least, feel not so hip. so, i'm going to work on my course a little more and then probably go to bed. jeff got me wanting to watch overboard , so i might. but, i already watched the princess diaries today, so we'll see. ha ha.

today i got my work visa and it's all ready to go, i'm so close. but i can't write anymore. i will miss you people so much. xoxo

traveler's sickness

is traveler's sickness like home sickness? well, the diarrhea aside, ha ha. i lost my point. basically, i'm homesick. but i am now my home. i feel sick to my stomach all the time. all i want to do is sleep. depressed maybe? i think that the greatest thing i will learn about my trip is how i function and relate to other people.

i see japan as this: a bicycle, a old-school typewriter, and a sewing machine. paper arts. in Japan it is supposedly the thing to pass out business cards, so i'm handmaking some before i go.

lunch tomorrow with rika; party hard with 'becca; nanaimo on saturday/sunday. lunch with graham/mike, and bad teen poetry. i can't wait. a few days to go.

xoxo di.

make the stress stop, puhlease!

kids, i have not been this stressed in a long time. you know how you get stressed out, and then you begin to create more stress. and right now i have a tummy ache, too many rich foods i presume. am i doing the right thing? am i letting people down? am i going to be successful at my job? will I make my employer happy? will i even make it to yamagata? my god, why am i asking so many questions?? ha ha.

last night we went to celebrities to dance our faces off. it was fun, i was in the mood to drink and dance to the likes of djfrigid and my!gay!husband! ohmygod (blasphemy!), todd kearns was there. probably b/c djfrigid spins mostly retro-industrial. good stuff. i'm so fucking in love with todd kearns, it should be a problem, wait, i think it is a problem. anyway, there were all these unattractive rock chicks hanging on him (i didn't even know rock chicks went to celebrities). i'm not saying this to gloat about my attractivness (i'm so stressed, i feel REALLY unattractive, being single does really suck in that regard. i mean, no one wants to snuggle with me). maybe i need a motorcycle just like brie...

alas, i have an actual plane ticket now, i'm going to try and get my visa tomorrow, and my traveller's cheques. i have so much to do, i'm going to run. keep in touch my lovelies.
xoxo di.

my jaw hurts!

why is it that things are never easy. i mean, my life is always this big catastrophe. will it ever be any easier? everyone says, "well, hon, this is real life". but, come on, there are people out there that must have it better? and i'm not saying that my life is terrible. things are pretty good. last night i went on a hot date with cam, to i heart huckabees . it was so funny, and endearing, and sweet. while we were there we saw jeff's doppleganger, which is pretty funny i think (he was even wearing checkered vans, ha ha). and we saw colin (what a pretty face) outside of the theatre. and then, i came home and made soup. my grades for my tesol course are also great. and i slept well, so why am i complaining?

well, this morning i went to the dentist to get "required" fillings before my trip. I get there, and the receptionist had shortened my appointment b/c she couldn't get a hold of me to confirm my appointment, so she basically thought i wouldn't show. ha ha. then, i have the pain of getting a filling. and then i come out to, i don't know, book my next appointment to finish the job and she asks me, "so, how are you going to pay?" well, it turns out my medical has been bunk for the last 19 days. i am not covered. god hope i don't get in a car accident! shocked i ask her to call blue cross, yep, still bunk. so, i have to go in later this week and pay the fucking $172.33 because i thought that i had medical!!!

GRRR. and then, i go and book my plane ticket. those people at travel cuts on granville island are so nice! i get it reserved and then find out that my boss cannot pay by foreign issued credit. yikes. so, right now, i'm out $172.33 and still possibly don't have a plane ticket. egads!!!

other than that, i'm going dancing tonight. celebrities. it will be fun.

xoxo di.

it's really late and my hair is so wet!

i wish i was sleeping right now, but i'm full of nervousness and excitement and a need to get things done! so, i'm procrastinating instead. i had a warm bath and washed my hair with this gross smelling shampoo from the body shop. bleck. but it makes my hair so soft i cannot complain more. alas. ooh, and i was reading coupland's 'miss wyoming', one of my favourites. 'shampoo planet' is my favourite though.

the greatest canadian show was actually quite predictable, except mr. leonard cohen is low on the list and he was beat by miss avril lavigne?? what's that about.. AND, there were only 6 women on the list, the highest ranking being shania twain. egads. other than that, it was mildly entertaining. and, during the commercials amanda likes to channel surf (just like me!) and we saw a movie with liza manelli and dudley moore. i don't know what it is called though jeff told me! but liza in that movie is so pretty. i want to be like her in that movie. yes!

so, it turns out i may be leaving a few days later for nihon. if anyone knows of really cheap plane tickets, let me know. i'm poor.

ooh, and on the bus ride home, waiting at random bus stops I started singing, and i've been singing on transit all day, sorry! it's been julie doiron (best thing for me, long winter, will you still) and s. harmer (coffee stain) and eric's trip (allergic to love).. so, i decided rather than singing other people's songs, i'd try to write a song, and i came up with an electro-clash-ish song to go along with r.brautigan's "xerox candy bar" i might record it this week, we'll see.

sadly, i think my crushes are ending.

xoxo di.

adverbs

right now i'm sitting in PC STATION in station square (burnaby.) there is this awful awful techno playing. this is definitely not my scene, but it's cheap to use the computer's here and it's giving me a chance to plug away on my course. and it's working. while I may be confused about what an adverb is, or a preposition, i've mastered the art of the adjective and perhaps the noun. (ha ha).

i love being back in vancouver. i leave this country on this forthcoming sunday and the nervousness has definitely set in. but it's exciting that i get to spend my last week in this rainy city with my wonderful friends. last night caitlin and i went to see julie doiron at the media club . the show was incredible. brie didn't get into a second night of tom waits, so she came to meet us just as julie was starting. Julie would ramble about her life and problems and show great sides of low self esteem. but everyone there was entralled with her humbleness and beauty. (we love julie doiron!) and, i was able to buy the julie/wooden stars disc which i have been looking for like crazy. i love it. then caitlin, brie and i went for beer and some bagels at benny's (also so we could visit wonderful jamie).

egads, so much more to share and i have to go. i'm going to meet amanda to watch the cbc's greatest canadian kick off. i hope that we eat popcorn and drink tea to kill this october rain.

xoxo di

oh so mod.

i'm sitting in eden's dorm room again eating a croissant (again) and trying to battle a slight hangover. I have so much to do today, it's ridiculous. I finished a huge part of my course yesterday and I am inching towards the finish line. Last night I went to brie and jesse's and we had all this yummy yummy food and watched bridget jones diary. so sad, it was so painful and hard to watch. if my life ever...

but alas, we drank wine, cuddled and decided at the last minute to go dancing. Brie, jordan and i jumped on bikes (i had jesse's heavy granny bike) and went down to Hugo's in Victoria. Mod Night! No cover, expensive (well, sorta reasonable) martinis, 50s and 60s rock, kids smoking pot around the corner, and when we went back inside I danced like a maniac to franz ferdinand, the smiths, the cure, the strokes, etc, etc. And Roy, oh sweet Roy. The new love of my life. The puma-wearing dance machine. so fun!

okay, i'm off away from this victoria-place that I fantasize about moving to. we'll see. it's all worth it just for the bike rides. yes!

what you waiting for?

oh my oh my! the new gwen stefani single "what you waiting for?" is incredible. you can hear it at her website . you can also watch the beatufiul video at this place . you may have to install an aol plugin but you don't actually have to become an aol member or anything like that, pretty simple. OR you can just download it from limewire, or do all of it, like i did. ha ha ha.

mix tape

this is the mix i made for kieran.
1. skye sweetname - heart of glass
2. missy elliot - gossip folks feat. ludicris
3. fefe dobson - don't go (girls & boys)
4. le tigre - deceptacon (dfa remix)
5. the magnetic fields - i thought you were my boyfriend
6. frou frou - breathe in
7. manitoba - dundas, ontario
8. the postal service - such great heights
9. bjork - who is it (carry my joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)
10. blonde redhead - in particular
11. broken social scene - stars and sons
12. modest mouse - float on
13. billy talent - river below
14. franz ferdinand - take me out
15. limblifter - jumbo jet headache
16. the shins - young pilgrims
17. sarah harmer - lodestar
18. iron and wine - such great heights

the decline of.

today was fun. i'm starting to get into this blogging stuff and i am telling you it won't happen often. i started and finished a whole unit of my t.e.s.o.l. course today, very exciting. i actually feel quite accomplished. (i'm in victoria, by the way). my dad was here today too so we went to the royal b.c. museum then, we went to this chinese restaurant in china town, went to some really smelly little shops, i pray every day that i won't have to smell that smell for the next year. it smells like mothballs and rotten fish. it drives me crazy. but hey, some people hate the smell of coconut, what am i to do?

What else? my friend, Sarah de Leeuw, from WAY back, Terrace Women's Centre days, just had her first book published "Unmarked Landscapes Along Highway 16". For more information go here . Or order it from chapters.ca

ooh, another shout out, kalin, my wonderful friend is living in nottingham and has her own blog too. it's very cool. she's all high-tech with the pictures and stuff. you can see that homemade flavour here

okay, so that's enough shout outs, i'm done for now. stay tuned. if you're lucky in a few months you'll get a zine from me. and if you want to be shouted about. send me a note with the info.

xoxo di.

This is my favourite piece of art. "yellow body" by robert rauschenberg. he's the man.