Karaoke and Screamo

This first paragraph is going to be a bit of a rant, so feel free to skip to the next one to learn about my on-campus concert experience and first karaoke! People have just been getting to me. I try very hard to be optimistic and open-minded and non-judgemental as much as I can daily, but, unfortunately, I am an imperfect human being so it's impossible to have 100% control over emotions, thoughts, and internal reactions. First, yesterday, I got to try to register for classes in the fall. I say try because only 4 of my 7 went through. Good news, I was able to successfully enroll in both of my honors courses which in the past have been the main factors of stress. However, one class says I cannot enroll in it yet because I have not completed JPN 302...I am currently taking Level 4 JPN (which has been approximated to be above 302) while studying in Japan - so this is frustrating and I have to contract the language department. The other two were mandatory CHEM courses. I was upset but what made it the worst was 7 days before registration, I e-mailed the CHEM department and I joke you not, I received a reply about 5 minutes before my registration time opened saying "you can't enroll in that before taking the test" (which I can't take because I'm out of the country, which I explained). THEN my study abroad office contact, who I asked twice about helping me with this semester's courses, replied two or three days AFTER the final course alteration period ended here (other than the ability to drop courses around midterm with no penalty, but that's not what concerned me). SECOND, people here have been irritating. There are study abroad students who try to prove that they are somehow suffering so much and should be put on a pedestal - "I'm really cutting back on food costs so am so hungry - I spend all my money at arcades on the weekend:" I say "I dropped a course because it was too much for me" They "Oh really, how many credits?" Me "I'm taking 12 courses." They, smile, say "I'm taking 17 (19, 21) credits." Me "I'm taking 16 credits, 12 COURSES." They "...Oh." then proceed to continue talking about how busy they are or going into detail about their problems even though I don't know them (and am usually trying to study). Going on about how boring their life is right now or how they don't really care about anything because that's cool apparently. And trying to makes plans - I won't go into that right now, just say it's pretty darn difficult. Add on some stress of tensions with an old friend and a fight today (with some seemingly unsuccessful after-talks) and I was just so frustrated. This long paragraph of a rant helped a bit though. For those who actually read this whole paragraph - I'm sorry and thank you.

So let's start with the screamo! This week, I worked up the courage to talk with the people next to the manga club room and discovered they were a light music club, right? They are called "Bugs Bunny" and are one of several different bands on campus. They told me that there was going to be a concert above one of the cafeterias during the lunch period. The next, I went, wanting to see how they performed. What I didn't realize was that it was a concert going from lunch period through 4th period. Unfortunately, Bugs Bunny played during 4th period, in which I had class. I didn't realize who was performing until all the lights went out and suddenly there was just guttural screaming from on stage. I kind of thought "Oh...I don't think this is them...well...let's see what happens." I ended up staying all lunch period before going to actually eat and do some homework and it was awesome! Especially since I had a bit of stressful morning concerning fall registration, it was so nice to just yell and jump and head bang (yes, it was glorious). There was so much head banging (though I think I was the only one with long hair) and lots of fist pumps and giving the middle finger (both to and from the audience). Also, they would use English curse words but mispronounce them and I didn't know if I should laugh, head bang, or correct them...but it was neat. AND THEY CROWD SURFED. This was on a COLLEGE CAMPUS, BY COLLEGE STUDENTS OMGS. It was so neat and they were actually really good.

So I kept this in mind when I went to karaoke for the first time with a new group. I'll replace names with letters because my trying to just say "this friend" and "that friend" is getting a bit confusing. We

actually ran into each other on the same train and I spotted them because L was wearing a panda suit. Like one of those PJ type panda suits, not one of those huge mascot kinds. Apparently, his host mother actually suggested he wear it...It was pretty funny. Then we went to a Karaoke place by a train station that was cheaper than I thought it would be. I thought one hour would be like $20, but it was less than $15 for 2 hours, plus free drinks. Speaking of which, I had this uber-green, melon soda that made me feel like I was about to go full-on Hulk. Sadly, it was just a group of us American study abroad students (no Japanese people proficient in the culture of karaoke) but we did sing one Japanese song - Unravel. There was a surprisingly large amount of English songs to choose from. Navigating the Japanese section was a bit difficult, so we stuck mainly with the English this round. It was interesting though, to see whatever random images were in the background, or read the katakana reading above each English word. My first karaoke song was a duet/all 5 of us - Take on Me. Amazing. G and I realized we liked a lot of similar songs and I think we paired up a lot. Turns out 3 of the 5 had pretty good voices (though me and the panda...well...it was fun!). Considering my mood and my earlier experience, I decided to choose "Chop Suey" by System of a Down and it was hysterical. So, in the opening, there's this really nice guitar riff and opening notes, right? And then he just starts screaming before going into the actual singing. Well I went full on. G said he knew it was part of the song, but didn't think I'd actually do it, while C was just frozen in shock, and L was so shocked he was just laughing nonstop (making me laugh and totally mess up the fast opening). It was great! I honestly didn't think karaoke would be so much fun. Some other songs that were just awesome were Phantom of the Opera (sadly no Music of the Night or any Les Mis), Death of a Bachelor, Clocks, Fly Me to the Moon (with ashtrays for fedoras), Super Bass, I'll Make a Man out of You, and I Can Show you the World (amazing falsetto by the panda btw).

Culture note: apparently, it is bamboo root (take no ko) season! This only happens once a year, so dishes incorporating this ginormous root are common. My host parents got one and you boil/soak it for hours before being able to cut and prepare it. That night we had so many different dishes with the root (and we'll be using it in dinners for a few more days probably).

It's difficult to say what it tastes like because, truthfully, each dish with it in it tasted different. I feel like it is akin to a potato in that regard - multi-functional with malleable taste.

Speaking of potatoes - they say that Japan will soon be suffering a shortage of potatoes due to unfavorable weather conditions in Hokkaido (apparently an important potato spot for Japan?) According to this article (http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2017/04/18/japan-suffering-dire-potato-chip-shortage-some-bags-selling-for-14.html) it's mainly affecting potato chips. Also, from what I've noticed, potatoes aren't very essential or common in the Japanese diet. Although any sort of shortage is an issue, it's not like Japan is facing an Irish potato famine situation.




Tonight's dinner was Chinese-food style and since I came home early due to not feeling well emotionally I got to help make dinner this time! There was salad with a variety of sliced vegetables, chicken with onions and roasted nuts and thick sauce, beef/pork mix with take no ko wrapped in lettuce leaf and miso sauce, and leftover take no ko with kinome (the leaf of the Japanese pepper, from my host parents' garden!). So good!

 The first photo I used in the post today is a view from a new shortcut to school my host family showed me (when I returned my first-ever over-due library books). You can see really far on some days. I used this particular picture, focusing on the bright green leaves in the foreground because A. I thought it was pretty and B. how sometimes it's hard to see the bigger picture when there's so many little things taking up your attention at the moment as well as C. how it is important to notice little things and not get too focused on the distant, larger things. This last picture I use is one of the nice little things to not forget - like how organized a little corner of a desk can be, delicious tea at night, and snacks and a calendar from people who care. Nice little things that make the days of life enjoyable.