Short Circuit.

So yeah, it's been about three weeks since my last login.

A lot's happened, amigos. School started, met someone, cleaned out my closet for monthly Salvation Army drop off... I might have lied to you before, but I'm ready to admit now that I'm not made of steel.

I need to move out of my condo too because my mortgage company has been hounding me to refinance. I did it about 4 years ago and have been skating by paying pennies since (got in before this horrible economic downtown) Anyway, my loan is due to reset next year so my mortgage will double unless I move out. I've been toying with moving in the last few months, but now I need to get the ball rolling.

I never thought this would come out of my mouth, but I think I'm scared of change. Or maybe more I don't want to make my life any more difficult, so I've been acceptant of the status quo. This is the year I finally do it. I've been talking so much bull about leaving here, but this is the year it'll actually happen. I can feel it. I need to remind myself not to be scared of change, but to embrace it. Easier said than done.

Uploaded some more videos from my Japan trip; still not done. This vid is from the top of the Floating Garden building in Osaka. I was there on my last day, just a few hours before heading to Kansai to come home.



I think I can find those chairs at Ikea. I hope so anyway.

Here's a shot of the outside of the building. Took a little over 10 minutes to get to the top.

Made some new Hello Kitty listings. I got this one at the site of the Great Buddha in Nara (see below). This one I think I'll keep. I'm not much of a Hello Kitty fan, but I couldn't think of a price point I'd be comfortable selling at... not to mention I find it ironic and mildly blasphemous :)

Gotta get back to school work. I have to go to a testing lab tomorrow because my Biology teacher is a Julian-calendar-using-I'll-give-you-3-days-to-do-a-16-page-lab-and-I-don't-care-if-you-work-10-hour-days-you-have-6-tests-a-week sadist.

M <3

Day 2 Tokyo: Meiji Shrine, Imperial Forest, Tea Ceremony, Asakusa Kannon Temple

Just another morning video :)



I'm doing this on borrowed time. I finally realized that I'm not a travel blogger so my videos will do most of the speaking. This video is upon entry to Meiji Shrine:





Calligraphy class (this is the instructor writing a haiku):



The city:



Tatsumiya Resutoran:




The staff here was very nice and the beer was very good. I ate solo because I wanted to see what the city had to offer besides KFC and Starbucks. The menu was entirely in Japanese (I brought a Kanji book with me to help with the unfamiliar symbols. I did fine) As I was paying, I said "Gochisosama Deshita" ("Thank you for the treat")  and for it I got a very polite bow and a compliment on my knowledge of the language. It's always nice to hear that from a native :)

Anyway, I'm about to head out to the streets of Tokyo and cause a ruckus :))))

Peace!

M.