MILES to GO || before I sleep

Ah, what a day. I woke up this morning feeling like crap, namely because of the mini-migraine that had been plaguing me since the night before. It probably wasn't a good idea to eat popcorn and sugar stars (the latter being a gift from the Tokiwa High School students when we went earlier in the evening) as I watched a 5-hour "Kimi wa Petto" marathon. (And yes, it was very good. I successfully managed to burn all 10 episodes to one DVD, too, so that makes me quite happy. I don't understand why one can't make a Video-DVD -as in, pop it into your DVD player- from *.avis, but whatever.)

I ended up skipping both Japanese and Religious Studies, the latter being a bad idea just because that class is actually TWO classes, and I think this week's class was the last part of the Religious segment, and next week, we change teachers and begin the Modern Japan segment. I just wish we'd gotten to learn more about Buddhism.

I managed to get up, eat, and shower in time for Pop Culture, where we watched part of Totoro, Nausicaa, and a documentary called "Polluted Japan." Today's class was actually quite interesting, because it pointed out some of the things that may have inspired Hayao Miyazaki's stories. Totoro was probably my first anime (I didn't even know it until recently), and I'd never even seen ANY of Nausicaa before today's class. Even better, the teacher lent out all of the shows he'd shown us thus far, so maybe later I can watch the rest of the apocalyptic movie "Dragonhead."

I'm hoping both my teachers will be understanding about my missing class earlier. Winter is the season for people getting sick, and I certainly wasn't feeling WELL today. Thankfully Wednesday's not a class-heavy day; I have EC with Christine and by myself (but we're going to watch a movie in the EC with Christine), and my kanji packet due; I think that's about it.

I really want to get my butt to work on my project-- that is, the "book" talking about the Women Writers of Japan. I can either do a whole lot of focus on one aspect (writers vs. manga-ka, men vs. women, now vs. historical times, Japan vs. USA) or focus a bit on all of them. Above all else, I want it to read "easily," and not like some boring book. So I'm going to revise my proposal outline, get a "hypothesis" or "thesis" statement working, and maybe spend some time tomorrow at the International Center library, looking for resources. I guess this need to get that done coincides with my boredom... my want to read some BOOKS. Not fanfics (sorry), but BOOKS. I was thinking of buying some things off Amazon.com or Amazon.co.jp, so if you have any suggestions for fiction, non-fiction, whatever-- let me know. This is especially true if you think of any books that can help me with my research. I already know about some of Gilles Poitras' and Susan Napier's, though.

Finally, Scott emailed me tonight! Actually, I was looking at a Borders email when HIS email came, and I realized he must be online. Since I had Adium already turned on, I opened up my buddy list to see if he was there-- and he was! So despite Turkmenistan having bad connections and such, we were still able to IM each other for a few minutes, which made me feel very happy. It's true that I can't see him, hear his voice, or hold him, but... I know I will someday soon. :) I have to stay positive in that respect, and keep on learning and growing on my own. He said he sent me an *EIGHT* PAGE letter, so I'm really looking forward to that. In fact, I think I'll go check my mailbox now... just in case.