December 01. 2004 00:13

Happy things, frustrating things and scary things

There was the weirdest earthquake ever just now. Or at least I think it was an earthquake. It was just one really strong "wave" through the house, and that's it. Almost like what you'd get if a small aeroplane crash right next to the house, or something ^_^ There haven't been any earthquakes since the last ones I wrote about in September and it's strange to hear that my friend in Finland have been really worried about me every time they hear about an earthquake in Japan. If they all affected here, I don't think there'd be anyone living in Kyoto O_o No, really, there hasn't been anything even remotely life-threatening here. Hell, there aren't even thieves.

Even though I had to work on that annoying wagashi manga all day again, a lot of happy things happened today. I ate delicious minced meat for dinner (I love meat!) and fresh pineapple later at night (I love that too!) and got a package from Mum, containing a small present to be opened on each advent ^_^ The first one contained a Dumle lollipop and a christmas calendar. Mum has a tradition of giving us a lottery calendar every year...*

Wow. That was damn scary O_O My writing was interrupted by another earthquake wave, as strong as the previous one but three times as long O_O I hope there aren't coming more. This starts to be the caliber that worries me. One of the girls just stopped by and asked if I was okay, and told me to come downstairs if it continues. Wow, this is probably the most interesting diary entry I've ever written O_o (The second time there's an earthquake right when I'm writing, what's with that?) I bet everyone in Finland will be worried sick after reading this... But if this is online I must be okay then ^_^ And maybe they can try and comfort themselves with the fact that this is only the fourth earthquake since I've arrived... Even if it sounds scary, it's not always like this.

So back to the calendar... It's one of those lottery calendars, you scratch a figure out every day and if you get a certain amount of the same kind, you win money. Mum has a tradition of giving one of them to everyone in the family every year and it'd make the days before christmas fundamentally different if I didn't have one. It arrived just on the right day, too ^_^ The other presents are now waiting in the closet, but there was a list of the contents of the package in the bottom (required by the post, I think), so I actually got a glance of what's inside... I only remember what it said about the first and the last present, though, and I've already opened the first and could guess what's in the last anyway ^_^ (It's some book ^_^)

I had one really bad disappointment today, though. I asked Heidi if she'd have a farewell party and she said she didn't, but her friends arranged her one for yesterday. She sent me a Sky mail about it, but my mobile had died and I always forget to load it, so I only got the message when I was going to bed in the middle of the night. I would've so loved to be there... But at least I can see her at lunch one more time before I'm left as the only Finnish person at Kyoto Seika.

Our Network art teacher is really difficult to understand, by the way... I bet I've said so earlier. I returned my report today and inspired by that he talked for an hour about some events that are coming next year, and directed most of it probably to me. The thing is, I couldn't understand one full sentence of what he was saying. (Well, maybe one.) I got several words here and there, but somehow the way he talks is so unclear. I just tried to guess when I was supposed to look interested and for the rest of the time tried hard not to drif to my own world... He seems like one of those teachers who talk a lot but say nothing in general, though... He always end up sidetracking for at least half an hour before he gets to the actual content of the lesson. I'm so not getting anything from this course. Thankfully the other one, Media art, is giving enough to fill for this boring course, too. (If I tried to explain the details of what's interesting it'd take quite a lot of space, though, so I'm saving it for the exchange period report.)

Ah midnight. I should get to bed. I got the page planning for the wagashi manga done, for most part, though the "story" of the manga is still just a detailed tutorial of how to make wagashi... Maybe that'll be okay, though. Now I need to do a rought translation of the text so I can estimate how much space I need for it, and then I'll start drawing. Counting with the numbers I got from how fast I worked with the NaNoManga, it'll take 20 hours to finish the drawings, and as I should add tones and do the editing (of the text) properly this time, too, I assume it'll be 35 hours altogether before I'm finished. If I'm working with the children's story on Monday and Tuesday is the deadline, I'd have to work 9 hours a day to get it ready... I'm probably not gonna be finished on Tuesday. I hope I'll get really far, though, so I'll get it over with during next week. I really don't want this dragging on and ruining my days for any longer.

Well, now I really should get some sleep. Need to get up a bit earlier tomorrow and I've been sleep depriving again anyway. Again, entry dated on the 1st even though it's past midnight. The reason should be clear by now.

P.S. The earthquake didn't continue. I'm happy about that.