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Jagainu-kun! Now as a Stylish Hat!

My 13-year-old cousin made this hat for me. I had given her a dvd with 26 eps of “Dogtato-kun” (English translation of the name… It’s a dog! It’s a potato! It’s a dogtato!), an animated kids show in Japan, and she kinda went Jagainu-kun crazy!

Anyways, check out the site, and check out the hat. My arm’s up cause I’m showing off the tail.

Isn’t it かわいい！

127 Hours to go…

I’m in full-force packing mode right now. I’m almost done, and it’s about time to just throw everything that’s unpacked into a box for storage.
This is the second move where I’m only moving with what I can fit in my luggage. It helps that I had been staying at my grandmother’s while waiting to leave for Japan. It’s really nice knowing that I don’t have to deal with the furniture in the room. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

I just received about ten pouches of poutine mix in the mail from my mother in Canada. We all have comfort food. For some, it’s peanut butter (the “peanut cream” you get in Japan is no substitute). For me, it’ll be poutine and kool-aid. For now, at least.

Lo and Behold! The IRS Did Something Rapidly!

I don’t remember if I fully launched into how much of a hassle it was that Form 8802 (US resident for taxpaying purposes) couldn’t be processed until my 1040 went through. It was a hassle because I was leaving in 5 weeks, and it would take the 1040 6 to 8 weeks (I’m not even going to go into the reason why I couldn’t e-file…still annoys me), and THEN the 8802 could be looked at (3-4 weeks).

That’s what they told me. Those lying…*ahem* lovely people from the IRS. I actually received the letter stating that I am a US resident for taxpaying purposes only three weeks after sending everything off. It’s a wierd feeling. I hate them, yet I love them at the same time. …I wanted to insert a witty analogy here, but I couldn’t think of just one. Men, cappuccino, diets, the dentist. They all popped up as a love/hate thing. How can I choose just one?
In truth, it’s a good thing that I went ahead and filed the 1040, cause I’m getting about $200 back from the government. Gotta love that Earned Income tax credit. Now I’ll be able to afford that night out *cry* at Shinjuku while at orientation in Tokyo.

*post note* Apparently the 1040 went through in only a few weeks also! The refund showed up in my bank statement a week ago! What’s up with this?? Craziness! I can’t deal with this right now…I need to sit down.