teasmartgarden.com

Testing Testing 1 2…

I just updated my Wordpress theme eight times to get it up and current with the modern folk, and am now feeling like my grandmother when looking at the new Dashboard. Perhaps this thing that I’m typing in is like a teensy quick window for blogging. Possibly to fit in better with the recent trend in throwing out little tidbits of information ala Twitter and Facebook. But you know me. I like my posts epic (well, “liked”, since the last real one was practically half a year ago). And epic doesn’t happen when you’re typing in an area the size of the Facebook status update box.

A Hobby for Profit?

Seeing as my favorite hobby of bookbinding is an uncommon one, I have recently been tossing around the idea of whether or not to try selling them.  I mean, seriously.  If I made jewelry I could always wear it, but how many blank books do I really need?

Here are some pics of the most recent (and largest) book I made:

As you can tell, I made the book to be a picture diary.  I created it to write my Japanese journal in because, just in case I write a bunch of Japanese garble, the picture will put some meaning to it.  This was motivated by the intensive intermediate Japanese class I’m taking right now.  The teacher assigned the weekend homework to be journal writing.  And so…the book was made!

The only problem with it is that the teacher made such a big deal about it that I was highly embarrassed.  I never could remember how to deflect compliments in Japanese.

E-mail is Up Again

While you probably didn’t know, or care, that my e-mail was experiencing technical difficulties, I have now not only set it up again, but have my iPhone set up to receive incoming mail (trust me when I say that setting up anything that falls under the “other” category involves deep magic for me *or a video tutorial from my web hosting serice*).

Anyways, it would be doubley lovely if I could get an e-mail or three from my reading public (to test out everything, of course).

Once again, the address is charity (at) teasmartgarden (dot) com.

And bon voyage to my horrible track record of checking my account every couple of months!

Wee~!

Before I’m Thirty: THE SEQUEL!!!

Alright.  So via Kristen’s request I am now adding Visit Hawaii (to See Kristen), and Visit Wherever Emily Happens To Be (Probably Chicago) to my list of things.

I’m also going to add Surf.  Rather, Try To Surf But Instead Just Get Eaten By A Shark.

Does anyone else have any good ideas for things to do?  Realistically, hopefully.  For instance, as much as I want to eat at a yatai (food stall) in Fukuoka City, it’s just not going to happen.

I’m pushing it already with Hawaii, Kristen!

…

Unless you’re paying, of course.  I’ll leave that decision up to you, friend!

Before I’m Thirty

I’m going to make a list of things I want to do before I turn 30.  I appreciate that there’s no reason to dread turning 30 so much as just adding another year to my vita, but hey, why not make a list anyways!

I’m also going to make this into a tab on my site so that I may add to it, and mark off anything I accomplish (or delete anything I realize is a bit too lofty).

Don’t judge some of my items (even though I, myself, am)!  I must do what makes me happy, and not base it off of what other people expect from me.

OK.  Here goes!

• Start my next summer with no incompletes
• Work through the げんき (genki) II Japanese book and workbook
• cook at least one item from each of my cookbooks
• Read through book 1 and 3 of １０分で読めるお話 (stories that can be read in 10 minutes)
• Get to 165 pounds
• Go hiking
• Go fishing
• Go horseback riding
• Fly a kite
• Camp
• Make S’mores
• Attend the 2010 NCPH (National Council on Public History) Conference in Portland, OR
• Go to an anime convention as event staff (the best way to go solo!)
• Get memberships to different Public History/Museum groups
• Have a 3.5 GPA (I wish, but hey, I’ll put it here anyways!)
• Make my own udon or soba noodles
• Set up my restaurant (kitchen bar with menu and seats…it will ROCK)
• Cook with vegetables I grew
• Sign up for the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) level 2
• Go to Atlanta
• Go to Washington, D.C.
• Go to Las Vegas
• Choose my bad-ass internship, then GET IT!
• Continue going to the gym for the duration of my contract (that’s a year, folks)
• Get 1,000 comments on my site (over 900 so far!)

These sound like a nice little bit to start with.  I’ll add more here and there, expecially if I finish a lot of them soon.  Because I’m so awesome like that.

My 29th Birthday in The Big Easy

I’m one year older and spending it in New Orleans with my lovely boyfriend. So far, so good. Today has been nice, and having such a fun town only 3 hours away from Pensacola has made for a super impulse trip.

I have grand expectations for my last year of being a twenty-something. This year had better rock!

And now I must go. My food’s here and there’s only so much length you want your post to be when it’s being typed on an iPhone!

Gyms are Made of DOOM

Alright, so obviously I have been going to a gym recently.

I signed up at a women’s gym that is in the shopping district next to my apartment complex about a week ago.  I went through two different training sessions, including a run-in with a measuring tape.  I was glad the numbers were high (even for me), because it gave me a guaranteed improvement range.  As to whether it goes below the average…I have high hopes and low expectations *siiiiigh*.

So yeah, today is the first day that I am going of my own free will.  Ooh….

And thank goodness, too, because I love running in place and hurtful bizarro ab crunches *sarcasm*.

I love lower body workouts, though *not sarcasm*.

Good thing today is upper body *sarcasm*!

I’m outta here to run in place, be hurtful to my abs, and do some upper body workout!  Woo!!  My secret weapon for motivation is that after I’m done with all that nonsense, there is a belly dancing cardio class.  I love dance classes (if you follow me on Facebook, “learning hip-hop” was one of my top five things I wanted to do)!  It will probably be too hard for me (in regards to my stupid lower back), but it’s hard to deny that it strengthens the core, so I’ll try it out at least once.  If I can’t walk the next day, I’ll wait a bit before trying it out again.

I’m off to get buff like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2!

OMG THINGS (I now have in my possession)

OMG!  I am the proud owner of things!!!

Things very important to Charity.

I will make a list of them, because they make me happy.

• My own place

Well, ok, so I technically rent it! It’s lovely. My own little cave; a place where I don’t have to worry about the dress code (the whole “needing to wear pants” thing gets old), and no total strangers randomly appearing in the living room. And I can cook with onions again (my last roommate was allergic to their smell or something)!

• VGA cable

Connects the tv to the computer and…voila!!!  Japanese drama on my flatscreen!  It’s so beautiful I could cry…  Also nice for the instant Netflix movies you can watch directly on the comp.

• INTERNETTSSSS

YESSSSS!!! I just got THIS ONE today! About an hour ago four hours ago (writing these entries is a laborious process of love)! Which is why I’m blogging!

• Mattress!!!zOMG!!!1!!!

Since January I had been sleeping on an air mattress. I’ve had my new Serta for a little over a week now, and wow this is what wonderful feels like?!? I had forgotten!! (even in Japan, I slept on a teensy, hard, mattress with a futon on top).

• KNIVES (and other kitchen doodads)

I moved into my new place with nothing of culinary use…not even dishes! But because my mother loves me, I now have pretty dishes and silverware. I also have pretty glasses and knives. Very pretty knives (no, I’m not being dark, they are colorful Kai Pure Komachi 2 blades!).  If you go to the website, I have the tomato/cheese (red), santoku (pink), and  paring (green) knives.  I was already enamored with Shun knives (Kai is either a distributor of Shun, or the more affordable version of Shun…not sure), and that I could find its colorful series at Target (and cheaper than what’s on the website), I was all “yes, please!”.  I’ll be back for more.

• Moleskine notebook (storyboard type)

I have wanted the storyboard style for years and years and YEARS. And now it’s mine! And now, to figure out what to put in it…  Monumental things, no doubt.

• iPhone

I’ve actually had it for a few months, but it is still made of win and love and dreams.

• Gym membership

I’m about as excited about this one as I am about giving up drinking (which I have been doing for several weeks, even through a trip with my mommy to New Orleans). While it’s going to be great for my body and I will not fail in life if I keep up with it, for the short-term it will be something I do because it’s gotta be done. I’ll work on the upbeat attitude later (that’s what the medication is supposed to fix anyways, harhar).

Alright.  Enough of lists.  Now to something completely off-topic.

So, I was driving in downtown Pensacola and noticed one of those scrolling advertisements for tickets for a professional fight in Biloxi, Missouri.  And who were on the ticket?  Normally, I wouldn’t care, because I don’t follow that stuff.  HOWEVER!  One name caught my attention.

Bob Sapp

ANYONE who has been living in Japan somewhat recently should know this name, though perhaps as

ボブ・サップ (Bobu Sappu)

He is THE stereotypical big black wrestler dude for allll of Japan.  And he plays it up in a somewhat embarrassing way.  But then again, doesn’t anyone who doesn’t want to fade away there?  I have collected a few examples of Sapp in true Japan-induced form (does he act this way in the US also?  anyone?):

A bizarro Pucchyo candy commercial:

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Here’s a great Pizza La commercial!

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And the mother of all fights…Bob Sapp versus Hard Gay!  I admit, though I knew they were both wrestlers, I had never actually seen them fighting.  HG’s signature moves are soooo…his own.  This fight (and HG’s crotch attacks) cracked me up!

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And that’s my contribution for the night.  I hope to make this blog, once more, a bit more up-to-date.  What with all this personal growth time I’m having right now, perhaps it will be.  Blah.

The Trouble With Financial Aid

Oh man!

Grad school is kicking my ASS!  It’s the third week into summer classes for me, and with it come two incompletes from the last (also my first) semester.  My incompletes are all related to papers I haven’t yet completed.  For my grand excuse, however, I have neither taken any introductory history methods class, nor did I, even once, have to write a paper for my concentration when an undergrad.  I’m still only knowledgable of the “intro, three main parts, conclusion” method of writing.  Hopefully these few 15-page papers are down with that format.  A paragraph every three pages?  Let’s DO THIS!!

My anxiety is at an all-time high right now, and I’m doing what I do to deal with it.  Which would be counseling, my old constant.  They’re also having me try out medication to see if anything works out for me.  I, too, would like to know.

And financial aid dares hold my loans until I complete those papers!!!

I would be more upset if I wasn’t taking a placating History of Motion Pictures class, where we watch old black and white films.  I have now become a huge Charlie Chaplin fan.

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Adorable with the little bread-feet-dancing!

Well, once again I’m off to the library.  My new carrel is pretty pimp, with a larger desk and three times the walking space.

I’ve gotta get this stuff done!

めんどくさ～い!

Dudes

As I was researching a dead guy (for a St. Michael’s Cemetary project), I ran across a Pensacola history book that had this fine example of some hometown athletic badassness.

Pensacola’s baseball team, the Dudes, in the 1890’s

I need to get a better copy of this pic.  For my wall, yo!