Man, I’m so sleepy. It’s hard out here for a  bear.

Oh! It also must go on the record that I’ve been in touch with some friends I hadn’t seen or spoken to in like 6 or 7 years.  The first is Chase– this nuggah just fell off the face of the planet. I saw him at David’s birthday party back in November.  The next is Ariel. The former BFF and I are on happy terms again as of a couple of months ago. Lastly there’s Lance, Kyle, Angel and David (Bravo). After all the drama with David its surprising that we were able to hang out even in a group situation, but we’ve both grown up. It’s been 7 years and I’d recently decided to be over the craziness anyway. Oddly enough, I’m happy to see everyone, but I’m still cautious. At the same time, it’ll be nice to FINALLY have people who actually want to do the things I’m interested in doing.

He is saying a few things, but understands more. If we tell him to get the ball or Munko (any of his monkeys), come here, etc– he does it. If you ask where Dora/dog/cat/elephant/monkey/baby is, he will point to its picture in his book.
This is what he says

Words
Z-Zay Z-Zay = Leave it to us to give him a hard name.
Mum Mum
DaDa or sometimes screams DayDa
NaNa = banana
Ahh (while waving) = Hi.  *okay I guess that one counts more as communication in general and not so much as verbal.
Eh-deh-deh = Elephant.

His top sentence is:
MumMum/DaDa, ZayZay nana [insert tongue clicking/smacking].

• I went to Key West, FL with Erik, Xav and my in-laws. It was great and I was sad to leave. I think that’s the perfect place for us.
• I’ve been in touch with my old BFF Ariel and it’s been great.
• Item number two has shown me how much I miss other people (only a few) and that’s kind of sad because I never stopped talking to them. People just drift apart.
•  I’ve finally cleared out enough soap stock that I can make some more. I’m happy about this.
• I have my sewing machine back and have started to crochet again.
• My hair is braided again. Purple in the front makes me happy.
• I have always fiddled with bellydancing, esp since I dance mostly from my hips, but now I’ve been encouraged to get out of the damned house and take a class. So I will. I start Saturday.
•  I got a B in Creative Writing last semester. My teacher said I’m really great at writing dialogue and making good characters.She reccommended I take fiction and screenwriting courses and I think I’ll listen throughout my next few semesters.
• Today starts Spring semester. I’m taking another English (non-creative), World Religion (!), CIS class I need to test out of, and I can’t remember the fourth class again. WTF?!
• I have a super fun photoshoot on 1/31 and cant wait to get back in the studio!
• Lastly, I’m really happy with life in general and glad I didn’t number this list. I will not go back and check to see how many bullets I have. I’m fighting my odd/even OCD.

Apple Bread - Quick and Easy!

1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
2 cups sifted unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 cup raisins
2 large apples finely chopped (Use good baking apples)
1/2 cup walnuts chopped - optional

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/applebread.htm

I’m really excited about everything. Well I’m pretty nervous, too, but whatever. It’ll be ok. I’m determined to succeed. I want to teach so I will teach. I want good grades, so I will have them. It’ll be a long 15 weeks though. But at least there’s creative writing. And the Human Geography course will help with my novel. So hooray for that right?

I will say this: I’m gonna miss having people to speak Japanese with. My classmates were pretty cool and Mori-sensei was great. She’s really sweet and funny, too. I’m gonna miss it. We went to Shofuso for our last day of class. I took plenty of pictures, but they’ll have to be uploaded when I’m not dead tired.

<3

So first thing’s first: School

This semester I’ve only been taking Japanese and save for next week’s multiple finals (written, oral interview, hearing/interpretation, and A/V Presentation) I’m almost done. lol It’s a lot to cram into three days and I am SERIOUSLY nervous. I will perservere.

Next semester I will take four courses because this time I am using financial aid. I’ll be taking:

• Creative Writing
• Human Geography
• Psychology
• Math

I’m not looking forward to Math or Psych, but maybe they won’t bore the piss out of me. I’m hopeful. I predict an A in all but the Math and Psych. I might get an A in Math, but I think I’ll definitely get a B in that and Psych.
I’m really excited about Creative Writing because– well, duh! Human Geography is just interesting to me. I love learning about people– culture and history.

Oh and note that I’ll be taking these courses online. Yep, even Math. This is so I can be home with Xav and give mi madre a break from baby-sitting. Because of this, I’ll be implementing a strict schedule for both of us. I’ll be offline as much as possible to make sure I don’t get sucked into Make Up Geek and web games.

Onto make-up… I have a decent bit of stuff. Some MAC, NARS, Becca, Smashbox and of course NYX. I swear by Maybelline for liquid liner and mascara. I always use Revlon Softflex liquid foundation under my MAC Studio Fix Powder when I want flawless skin.  I am currently awaiting my BeautyFactory 120 Eyeshadow palette from Hong Kong. It should be here by Monday ( I think). When it comes, I reckon I’ll do a photo/video review by the end of the week since class will be over after Wednesday. I’ve joined MakeUpGeek.com because it’s fun to share tips and tricks with other people. I’m excited about doing my version of a Peacock or Rainbow eye once my palette arrives.

Okay, kiddos, it’s late and I wanna cuddle the hubby so adios!

I’ve only got 2.5 weeks of Japanese 102 left. Then I take four online courses in September. I’ll be on my super-focused mode at that point. One of my classes is ENG 205 - Creative Writing. That should be hard but enjoyable. Thank god it’s online. I can’t read my own writing in front of people. I’d cry– or something equally lame.

In other news, I love this kid:
(video)
(more…)

This is my last week of Japanese 101. I get a 2-week break, then I start JAPN102. Those are all the language credits I need, but I may use my grant money in the future to take JAPN201 and 202 at a later time. It just helps to have met people in class to speak with on a regula basis. I was great at teaching myself before, but didn’t speak enough. This time should be different. Best part: I’m either getting an A or a B+. Those 2 katakana quizzes were my only bad grades.  I hope they don’t lower my grade to a B. I know I aced the written final and my spoken final is tomorrow– which I will RAWK. I gotta quit it with the -awk in place of -ock… I’m a grown ass woman.

I’m at the halfway point in my Japanese language course. It’s going well. I suck at katakana, but that quiz is over. I’m getting better at it as we go on. My hiragana is great, so that’s noproblem. We get on with the kanji next week. Urasai! The radicals and all will make me nuts. Luckily, I already know a bit. I just get jumbled up when looking at a paragraph or whole page of it. I’m studying it early to get a head start. Going line by line helps. Hooray for particles being in hiragana.

Anyway, back to Buffy.