Wow! Almost a year of not posting - how terrible am I at LJ? I do apologize for my absence. I hope you have all been well!

I have had some incredibly exciting times recently... amidst the exhausting horror of multiple 11-hour days per week. Definitely not out of the woods yet in terms of work, but I will keep at it!

Two weeks ago, I saw the Hoshi-gumi production of Pride & Prejudice (called "The Angel's Ladder"). It wasn't a top star production, but rather had the second ranked star playing the lead. I was struck by what a difference Yuzuki Reon's presence makes on stage. That isn't to say Suzumi Shio is bad at all, but she doesn't have quite the magnetism of Yuzuki Reon. The play itself was okay overall; I am a big Austen fan so I tend to be strict on productions. Normally I don't notice this sort of thing, but the inconsistent dress waisting really got to me (it should be all empire all the time!). It interested me to see how they made Wickham and Lady Catherine a bit more sympathetic, but I did not like how dreamy they made the characters. Talking about meeting your love and having the angel's ladder descend from the heavens - definitely not an Austenian thing.

On Wednesday the 14th I had my long-awaited White Day Special!! I got to leave work and hour and a half early (overtime put me in good graces with my boss) and rushed over to Shinjuku to buy my program and sit vibrating with anticipation until the special began. The entire live action Host Club cast, Nekozawa, the AKB48 girl who was in the movie, and the director were all there! They were all so adorable, and the twins stood on my side of the stage! I waved and called out until they smiled at me (which they totally did!). The cast members did greetings (Kawaguchi Haruna got so nervous that she couldn't remember her speech, which prompted Yamamoto Yuusuke to yell, "Haaaaaaaaruhiiiiiiiii!!" as encouragement), and then did an in-character love confession. The movie itself was darling, and a perfect finale to the Ouran drama (no.... it can never end... /;A;/).

Saturday I went to the Pokemon Center with denkimouse and by total coincidence she happened to check twitter and see that Masuda Junichi, the co-creator of Pokemon and director of every game, tweeted that he was going to be at the Center that day too! We went to Akihabara in search of sentai keychains for me and sped back to the Center to meet him. Gin had met him once before in Touhoku but this was my very first time! He was an utter sweetheart and not only said hi but decided to hold an impromptu autograph/photo session! Outside in the cold and the rain! HE DID NOT HAVE TO DO ANY OF THIS HE IS JUST A SUPER NICE GUY. I babbled at him about how much I love Pokemon and he signed my brand new canvas Victini. Best ever.

Today is spring solstice so I had the day off from work. I went to Nakano Broadway and spent way more money than I should have. I wish I had a million dollars so I could buy all the things for my friends though.

Also, you should all take note that Tokumei Sentai Gobusters is awesome.

Wow, it's been a long time... I hope you all are doing well!

I went to Kansai with my brother for a week after the earthquake, and stayed with my Kyoto host family. I had a really good time, saw the Tsuki-gumi show and had lunch with Jessica, had dinner with Yasmin, and saw my Osaka host family. The little girls remembered me! It made me really happy.

Then I went home for about two weeks, to wait for things to settle down. I'm back in Tokyo now, going to work and busy as a bee. My brother got back about a week ago, just in time for my 24th birthday on Saturday!

My birthday was a lot of fun, even though it rained all day. I met my brother for breakfast at this French brasserie in Shibuya, where I had cocoa and croissants. Then we went across the street to Bunkamura, where they were having a Vermeer & Dutch & Finnish 17th century painting exhibit. It was crowded, but a lot of fun! I do like Dutch paintings a lot - very lovely detail work and photo-realism.

After art we decided to head off for lunch, so we hopped on the bus for Roppongi Hills. We ate at this fancy vegetarian sushi place, which was really yummy. There was a little kid with his mom, and he had a Freitag bag! Tug thinks he is probably the youngest Freitag owner. The waiter was really nice, and wrote Happy Birthday on the dessert plate. XD

We split up after lunch, and I headed off to the Pokemon Center. New pokedolls had just come out that week, so I picked those up, along with some more birthday presents for myself. I got another piece from the Poliwhirl collection from 2007 (sob I'LL LOVE YOU, POLIWHIRL). I only need two more to have the full set! The guy at the register was very friendly, and had Erufuun on his nametag, which I thought was cute. Then I got my birthday Tabunne (wish it was a starter :<).

I took the train to Yuurakucho/Ginza, where I met my brother for tea at this fancy place. We chose the matcha seats (as opposed to the sencha seats), and had koicha, wagashi, and usucha. The ladies were all excited it was my birthday, so they also gave me and Tug free matcha lattes! The space was really cool - very minimalist and modern, with a clear roof overhead where we sat and watched the rain. The lady serving us also let me make my own usucha, since I had taken tea ceremony lessons in Kyoto. They were really friendly and nice there!

We went to a bookstore but I wanted to find a place to sit down and relax, so we ended up going to Nakameguro, where Tug took me to this cute French cafe. I had some mint tea, and it was the perfect late afternoon rest. At around five or so we walked to Alaska, which is in the area, and had delicious vegetarian food. I had a foccacia pizza and some of Tug's veggie curry, with salad and pickles. Then a banana cake for dessert, along with chai tea! We discussed this and that, JGL and vests, and the nature of humor. Tug gave me a magazine introducing lots of fun locations around Tokyo, as well as a really fancy knife for cooking.

All in all, it was a wonderful birthday!

Just got back from the evening performance of Yuki-gumi's Romeo & Juliette. My thoughts beneath the cut.

( Romeo & Juliette )

Things have settled down a bit from the weekend. The aftershocks still continue (we had to stop the train coming home tonight because one hit), but you get used to them? What a thing to say. Trains are slow, delayed, and coming in far fewer numbers than necessary. Fortunately my work is very understanding, so they didn't mind I was an hour and a half late today, and didn't come in on Monday at all. Basically we're trying as hard as we can to get back to normal. Food disappears off the shelves pretty quickly, so I've started buying bread and things in the morning, when it's still in stock.

At work we have most of the lights off during the day, and are trying to limit our power usage. Today was... hard, I'm not going to lie. I felt sick all day, just sitting at my desk. I did manage to get some work done, but it took a lot more effort than I thought it would. It's just hard to focus. But I feel like I can try to draw strength on the performance I saw tonight, on Otozuki Kei and everyone's strength, and work on everything one day at a time, try to get better and try to get back to normal. I realized it's hitting me more than I thought it would, but I will keep trying my hardest.

I am back at my apartment! I spent the night at the office (fortunately there's a Don Quixote across the street so I bought a blanket and some food) and woke up early this morning to catch a train back home. Trains were slow but not very crowded (it being 6 am might have had something to do with this). My apartment survived with only a few things knocked on the floor (but it was kind of messy anyway so it's not that noticeable hahaha). I don't think anything is broken. I am now curled up in bed with a million blankets and likely to stay that way.

I have been able to contact most of my friends and host families and everyone who I've talked with seems okay so far. Which is such a huge relief oh my gosh. I cannot imagine what it must be like for the people further north, which were hit so much harder than we were here in Tokyo. Anything you can do to help, be it thoughts, prayers, or donations, would be so very appreciated.

We're still feeling aftershocks but so far none has been as bad at the initial earthquake yesterday. Most of the pictures on the news will be of places further north, who really got slammed by the quake and the tsunami - where I am things still look pretty normal, with some damage and some train delays, but blue sky and power. So all in all things look pretty good, but I won't deny it was a terrifying experience.

Also, the ignorant fuckwits on Facebook saying that Japan deserved this earthquake because of Pearl Harbor? Yeah, they can go fuck themselves.

I am at work, where we just experienced an earthquake that was 8.9 in magnitude off the coast of Japan. We're still feeling the aftershocks, the elevator isn't working in my building, and all the trains are shut down, but I and my friends and family are physically fine.

I have hope my apartment is not on fire or destroyed!

I don't think I am near any of the areas that art flooding, but it's getting dark here in Ginza from all the smoke from the fires in Odaiba, apparently. I will stay in my work building until it's safe to go outside and use the trains - fortunately there is a hotel on the top floors of the building so I can try to get a room there if necessary tonight.

I am sorry I haven't been around LJ very much but I am fine and will be updating with a less distressing post sometime soon.

Updating my journal twice in one week?! Unheard of!

I went to the Pokemon Center with denkimouse to get Zuruggu goods and oh I guess some Pokedolls or something. ZURUGGUUUUUUUUUUUUUU (yes, gin, I know you hate me)

I played with Mabo when we got back to Gin's place and chatted a bit with half-asleep Bon. Then Gin and I went to lunch at Saizeriya. A+! We are going to get together again after her exams (for the giant Chillarmy and Emonga plush release date) and I will show her the glories of Inception. B)

On Sunday, jess_in_japan came for the day JUST to see me (lies: she was here to go to an ochakai for a Takarasienne). We lazed about in Sangenjaya with my brother all day - went to a little market at klala, saw King Kong help a schoolgirl down from a rooftop, and I almost fell asleep in Cafe Obscura (couch + heat + full of yummy food + late afternoon = sleep). Then I bummed around until Jess came back and fangirled about Takarazuka with me.

This week has been work work work! I do English lessons at work, but I am also learning all about pricing requests! It isn't too difficult to figure out the formulas and things, but it can take a while if you aren't used to the process. T-san is helping me out a TON. We basically spend all day together (today we got distracted and talked about Netflix for a while). He's really nice, and he speaks great English, which is super helpful. He also lives near me! Like, around the corner. XD

This weekend I think I am going with my brother to have lunch at Futako-Tamagawa. I need to watch my finances though because I overspent in January a little, and I have some big purchases/a trip! coming up in February. Of course, today I got a message that I'm invited to a 4500 yen dinner... which will probably be a nomikai, which is usually a waste of money since I don't drink. :/ HMMM.

I KEEP FORGETTING TO UPDATE MY LJ and for that I apologize.

Let's see... I've been busy at work! My younger sister came and visited for New Year's and we went down to Kyoto. We saw Kinkakuji with a New Year's snow, which was beautiful.

This week I changed departments - now I'm working concurrently with global HR and doing calculations for global major accounts. Exciting stuff! But I had to move desks, and I miss my old co-workers. :( Yesterday and today I had a two day seminar that told me more about my company. We got to go to the factory all the way out near Mt. Fuji (though we couldn't see it due to clouds)!

( 100 questions meme )

Winter greeting cards!

I know people love getting mail, and cards at this time of year are the best, be it Christmas cards, New Year's Cards, or just general happy winter cards! Plus I live in Japan now, so there's lots of really pretty cards available!

If anyone would like a card from me, leave your name and address (name being the one you want on the envelope) and I'll send one to you! Probably with lots of stickers on it. Because that's how I roll.

Comments are screened!

Jane and Eric came right to my apartment on Monday morning, so I got to sleep in until 8 or 9. Hooray! We bummed around a bit, and they told me about their trip to Osaka for the Tales event. It sounded like quite an adventure!

We took off from my apartment for Ikebukuro once again. While there, we went to Mandarake to get a wig Jane wanted, as well as to peruse the doujinshi offerings. We generally hung out until it was time for our reservation at Swallowtail, the butler cafe on Otome Road.

Swallowtail was quite the experience! All of the butlers say, "Welcome home, my lady" or just "Welcome home" when you are being shown to your table, and one butler personally waits on you the whole time. Ours was named Kagami, and he had his hair cut to make him look a lot like Sebastian. There was also another butler who looked a lot like Claude... as well as some more boyish looking butlers. Oh, and the one serving the table next to ours had a lovely voice~ And! There were two older men who were the butlers in charge of everything, and one of them reminded us so much of Tanaka-san! So cute~ The food was delicious (but expensive!). I had an Earl Grey scone with strawberry jam and clotted cream, Shiva tea (a mild black tea with hints of coconut), a mini tomato and mozzarella quiche, and the William Tell dessert plate, which was an assortment of apple-themed cakes and ice cream. IT WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOD. We had a lot of fun giggling and eating and watching the butlers. You weren't allowed to pour the tea for yourself - there was a little bell on your table you had to ring to summon your butler and have him pour your tea for you. But "Sebastian" was always too quick for us and we never got to ring our bell. We had a lot of fun, and were sitting right by the electric fireplace and the lovely Christmas tree they had put up recently.

We went to animate after our late lunch and lusted after various figures. They had a Revoltech Woody on display WITH HIS TERRIFYING RAPEFACE ON. Pretty sure the sales lady we kept asking various questions about him though we were crazy people.

After animate, we went all the way to Akihabara (a station called Kanda), where there is an awesome wig store. Jane and Eric lusted after all the wigs and Eric ended up buying one! I've never cosplayed, so I was a little lost, but I had fun touching the wigs like a creeper! I have also been advised to get bangs when I get a haircut next (apart from full wigs, they also had clip in bangs, which I tried on). We took the Yamanote line the rest of the way around (completing a full loop in one day!) and went back to Takatsu, where we made it in time to have okonomiyaki for dinner and listen to the ballin' oldies they played in the restaurant.

Tuesday we didn't get to hang out that much, because I had work, but we did manage to meet up for curry lunch at Shibuya. My co-workers were all very nice that I had to take an extra hour for lunch that day. But my co-workers are always nice~

I had so much fun with Eric and Jane during their trip, and they were so nice and cleaned my apartment before they left, and gave me sweet notes and Milanos (which I will eat now!).

The rest of the week, I did work and went out two nights in a row! Wednesday I went out with other people who have joined my company in the past 3 years, which was a lot of fun. Now I recognize more people on my floor and can at least say hi to them! Thursday, my section went out together to celebrate a new person joining us. We had yummy chicken for dinner and many of my co-workers got hilariously tipsy. After dinner, our boss really wanted to do karaoke (he's been talking about going every day for the past month) so we went! It was hilarious! I got to hear a lot of Japanese oldies, and sang a few songs myself. I didn't get home until 11:30 or so! I felt like I really do work for a Japanese company this week.

Yesterday it rained really hard in the morning, so I was late leaving my apartment. The commute was awful - even though the rain let up, the trains were running late and were jammed full of people. At one point, so many people were in the car that I had to kneel on some poor woman's lap - I couldn't stand upright! Too many people pushing and crowding in. She was very nice about it, though, and told me not to worry when I apologized. Also my umbrella got bent in half! Seriously! I got it at a discount store, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but it still had a metal pole, so I was surprised it suffered so much damage! Oh Den-en-toshi-sen. Why are you so insane. I stayed positive though, and just kept being amused - I had fun showing off my bent umbrella to my co-workers.

Last night I went back to Ikebukuro to pre-order this adorable Ciel doll, and I found Revoltech Woody for sale!! So I got that for Eric but will make him pose hideously with Ciel before I send it to her. It has already begun. I also got A Sex Therapist manga for Tans. So. Productivity!

Today I seriously bummed around until 6 and then dragged myself off to Mizonokuchi to order my Christmas cake and start Christmas shopping and get some dinner. Hopefully my journal entries won't be this impossibly long from here on out. o/

I have been very busy lately!

I took Friday and will be taking Monday off, because on Thursday night, Eric and Jane came to visit!! My brother and I met them at Shibuya, and then we went to Futako-tamagawa to this awesome little izakaya for dinner. Yummy food and not too expensive either! Unfortunately it rained all the way home, so we got pretty wet.

On Friday we woke up bright and early and had breakfast at Denny's. We then went to Ikebukuro, where I introduced them to the pleasures of Otome Road. We spent a long time in K-Books, which I think is the best doujinshi store there. After our shopping, we went to Sunshine City and had lunch at a really delicious tempura donburi place. It was so cheap and so good! I had the vegetable donburi yummy~

In the afternoon, we went to Namja Town, which is like a little attraction within Sunshine City. You pay 300 yen to get in and there are lots of restaurants and little stores inside. We went because they are currently having a Kuroshitsuji food/dessert promotion, with lots of Kuroshitsuji-themed treats. I had a Ciel gelato dessert, which had a grumpy little Ciel face and deco sweets. I also had a Sebastian pudding, but instead of a Sebastian head, he had a deer head. Jane and Eric had an ice cream of the twins from the second series, and then an Alois senbei set. Each treat comes with a postcard from the anime, and all the treats were delicious. There was also a little store with a bunch of art done by the manga artist (well, the art wasn't for sale but it was on display!). We then came back to my apartment and fell asleep by 8:45 ._.

Saturday we woke up and bought some bread for breakfast. We then took the train to the Pokemon Center! I was very happy Eric and Jane wanted to go. We all spent a lot of money buying plush and other adorable things. I kind of love Darumakka now - I bought chopstick rests of him. :3 We got lunch at a yummy curry place where I ate with ktmonkeyj once - I had chicken, egg, spinach curry. You can order curry with spiciness up to 100! Apparently three people have done that and their mouths turned bright red. Needless to say, we did not do that.

After lunch we went to Shinjuku, where we found Okadaya to go fabric shopping. So much fabric - it was overwhelming! Then we got crepes outside and went to Kinokuniya to get some manga. We were pretty tired, so we headed back to hang out at my apartment and watch Soultaker (MST). Then we got dinner at Denny's and went back to Shinjuku so Eric and Jane could catch the overnight bus to Osaka for their Tales event. I caught the last train back to my apartment (my first time riding the last train!). It's amazing to see just how many people are still out and about at midnight. I guess I am not used to living in a city. At least I felt pretty safe with all the people around.

Today I am resting and taking it easy. I will be waking up early tomorrow to meet Eric and Jane when they come back, and then we will go to Akihabara and have a late lunch at a butler cafe in Ikebukuro (I made reservations). Tuesday I have work but we will try to meet up in Ginza for lunch together before the two of them leave for the airport.

I have realized I am very lazy when it comes to doing things! But it's easier when you have friends to inspire you. XD I will try to be more proactive in the future! So if anyone is around in Tokyo, please let me know and we will do stuff!

My first lolcat. And no, I will not cut it. I've had a bad day, and this cheered me up!

Title: Indelible
Series: Sakura-gari
Characters/Pairing: Masataka, memories of Souma/Masataka
Rating: R (uh... masturbation and memories of sex)
Notes: I'M HIDEOUS but no this is for twentystitches because of all the delicious things we write together. This is one that we wouldn't get to see in our writing since it... happens during Masataka's education. This takes place after the events of the manga, so spoilers if you haven't read it!

( Indelible )

Title: Trust
Series: Young Avengers
Characters/Pairing: Billy/Teddy
Rating: PG-13 (teenage boys making out)
Notes: Avengers: Children's Crusade 1 has a certain scene (the opening text comes from that!) that gets epicly cockblocked by Speed (seven (six?) issues to go to rectify this, and that means you, Heinberg and Cheung!). B| So I decided to change that. You can imagine Speed coming in at the end or... later, whatever your preference.

( Trust )

Title: Understanding
Series: Digimon 02
Characters/Pairing: Daisuke/Ken or Ken/Daisuke
Rating: PG (kissing)
Notes: I haven't written Digimon fanfic in so long! Please be gentle. ;; I still need to write fics for yesterday and the day before - but I don't have much work to do so that might be my afternoon. ;; This is very short, but I hope you like it! I like run-on sentences for these two idk.

( Understanding )

Title: Gifts
Series: Yami no Matsuei
Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka
Prompt: 6. “Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is sign on as its accomplice.”
Rating: PG
Notes: Final prompt for the 31nights prompt table for sammywhatammy! It has been... many many years since I started writing this, and I apologize for taking so long to finish, but I thank you for your patience and TsuHi love! :)

( Gifts )

Title: Assumptions
Series: Yami no Matsuei
Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka
Prompt: 28. Naive
Rating: PG-13
Notes: I had a lot of trouble thinking of a fic for this prompt, but I'm happy with how this turned out! For sammywhatammy and NaFiWriMo! Still a bit behind, but I will catch up!

( Assumptions )

Title: Hot & Cold
Series: Yami no Matsuei
Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka
Prompt: 30. Sexual Tension
Rating: PG/PG-13
Notes: Behind again on NaFiWriMo, but the end is in sight for the 31nights table! Just two prompts left, one of which comes tomorrow and the other will come either today or tomorrow. Not sure how well this one fits the prompt, but... I hope you like it, sammywhatammy!

( Hot & Cold )

I went to see my first Takarazuka since this summer today!! Ahh, how I've missed it~ I saw Moon Troupe doing "Der Zigeuner Baron"/"Rhapsodic Moon" - tons of fun! The Gypsy Baron was a really adorable and dorky play, with everything working out so perfectly and lots of pigs. Kiriyan and Aono Yuki are SO CUTE and they sound beautiful together. I love Kiriyan so so much and I really enjoyed Aono Yuki when I saw her in Coimbra, so I'm happy they make a good top combination! I also liked the performances of Ryu Masaki and Asumi Rio - both very cute in their own ways! I'm glad I got to see Moon troupe doing a comedy as opposed to a tragedy - I still think of Moon as a troupe that's suited to comedy, based on the performances I've seen from them, so I'm glad I didn't have to revise my mental image of the troupe. Rhapsodic Moon was very colorful - colored gloves/arm warmers?? I did enjoy the brown/gray/dull colored suits/dresses combination - even though it wasn't as sparkly, I really liked a lot of the styles!

The young woman sitting next to me was going to Takarazuka for the first time, and I think she enjoyed herself. I spoke with her briefly during intermission. Her friend is really into Takarazuka, which is why she was there today. She agreed with me that it's kind of disappointing to see real guys after watching Takarazuka (sorry, gentlemen!). Otoko-yaku are just too cool!

I need to make a happy Takarazuka love icon. Elisabeth is good, but it's a bit at odds when I talk about happy sparkles. XD