I went to the funeral today. My grandma died couple days ago, so today was her funeral. I went to my grandma's house with my brother because my parents were already there from yesterday to help my uncle to set up the funeral. The last time I saw my grandma was over 10 years ago and I wasn't really close to my grandma. So, I had no feeling about her death. Oh and she was pretty old, so I really think she lived enough. In Japanese funeral, there are some interesting points. First, we have pre-funeral, funeral, post-funeral, and post-post funeral. Pre-funeral is happened the day or the day after the person dies. Funeral is one day after the pre-funeral. At the funeral, the body will be cremated and stay in the house until post-funeral. Post-funeral is seven days after the funeral. In the post-funeral, cremated body which keeps in the vase will be buried in the ground. After 49 days from the funeral, there is post-post funeral. Every ceremony, the priest from the temple will chant sutra to condescend the person. However, I hated when the priest was chanting sutra today because it was pretty long and I had to do "Seiza" sitting. I hate seiza sitting because it's like sitting on your feet. Everyone was telling me I was lucky because I could see both wedding and funeral while I am staying in Japan. Well, I guess so!!

I was really tired today. I think that's because I went to the funeral on Sunday and worked all day yesterday. Especially, I was working at the storage room all day yesterday to check incoming boxes and cleaning up the mess. There were more than 10 boxes to check, but, I had to do it all by myself....yuck.

I think I am not going to be able to join in the gym here because I have no money!! I hate having no money!! I have been working really hard, but I gotta give money back to my dad, so I won't be able to have any money! Suuuuuuux!! I hate real world.

I have Friday and Saturday off in this week! Yaaaay!! But, I have no plans because I couldn't think of anything but work during the week. I realized that the store isn't really organized in the efficient way. I was surprised that we had a visitor (I think he works at other Murasaki Sports or used to work there) who was drunk! He was carrying beer with him and just came in the store yesterday. The staffs seemed to know him very well, so they were just talking and laughing really loud even though there were other customers. Also, there are usually several high school students who are just hanging out in the store. I think they do skateboarding and seem to know some staff members, but I don’t know why the manager lets them to hang out in the store. I don't know, I just think the store became just hanging out space for regular people who don't buy anything! Oh well, the store is closing, so I don't care!

I think I am gonna send application for my student visa within next couple days. I had to write a statement, so I asked Ryan to revise my statement. I have to say to Ryan, yes I do make some money from my other site, but it's not a lot! You should save up some money, so we get to go to Alaska!!

I woke up kinda late today because I didn't have to go to work!! Yaaaay!! I had no plan, but my friend called me to see if I wanted to go to dinner with them. Of course, I said yes! We couldn't get in the first restaurant we went because all seats were booked. So, I called my dad and asked if we could go to one of his restaurants. He said that was fine for him, so we went there. I asked my dad to give us extra stuff, so he gave us free sashimi (row fish) which was super good! After we finished dinner, we went to the arcade to play DDR. Well, I wanted to play DDR, so I forced them to drive to the arcade! Then, we drove down to somewhere I don't know to see fireflies. It was kinda cool, but I had seen lots of fireflies in Bloomington, so it wasn't that cool.

I was gonna go to Hiroshima city today, but I didn't because I started playing video game and couldn't stop playing it. Instead of going to Hiroshima city, I went to somewhere far from my home to buy vegetables with my parents. I wasn't sure why my parents drive that far to just get vegetables, but according to my mom, their veggies are fresher and cheaper than regular grocery stores in town. Well, okay mom. I asked my dad to stop by Yamada Denki. Yamada Denki is like BestBuy, but bigger and have more stuff. Right now, I am thinking to buy Sony's NetMD walkman. But, I wanna buy NetMD mini stereo set and just MD walkman (no recording capability) because I wanna buy MZ-E10.. MZ-E10 is super ultra thin!! I will buy everything I wanna buy in Japan!!!!

Coming back to the work after two days off wasn’t that fun. Sunday is usually busy like a mug, so I was helping customers all day today. I don't think I like helping customers because they are pretty selfish creatures. I asked a middle aged couple if they wanted me to bring the shoes for them because they were looking for shoes (which were on sale). I asked them, me: "Would you want me to bring your size?" fucked up couple: ".............(said nothing, but giggling)." I just didn't understand that why they didn't say anything!! If you are asked by someone, you usually answer to the question. But, this fucking couple didn't say anything!! I was pissed off and thought "I am not going to bring your size idiot!!" Also, there was a guy who kept unfolding stack of t-shirts for 20 minutes! He was checking and unfolding all t-shirts we have!! He unfolded t-shirts, so I folded and put back to the stack, then he came back and unfolded t-shirts I just folded again!! I was super ultra pissed because his behavior didn't make sense at all!! Why he had to unfold the t-shirts which I just folded. Was his short term memory working?? Life isn't easy!!

FYI, Andrew, you can come with us if you want!

For some reasons, I was super tired all day today. It was my preciuos day off, but I didn't wanna do anything, but sleeping. So, I just slept. I had to finish my visa application because that's why I am in Japan right now! I think I can send my application tomorrow morning. Yaaaay! Well, gotta go to the bed!

I was playing video games all day today. I started from Xenosaga and continued to Unlimited Saga, Ace Combat 4, and Virtua Fighter 4. I didn't like Unlimited Saga when I played for the first time because I couldn't understand game system at all. But, I played it for two hours and started liking the game. I also liked Ace Combat 4 even though the game made me super dizzy. I have bought lots of Dreamcast games, but I cannot play them right now because I didn't bring back my Dreamcast. I really think I should take my Dreamcast too.... Oh well.

I~~~~ feel so aliiiiivvvve. Yes, I feel so alive today. I think doing nothing in the past couple days made me very happy like a mug! The store was pretty busy, but I like when the store is busy because time goes really fast. Also, I kinda like when customer thanks me. But, of course, I still don't like working in the retail.

In Japan, we have raining season, and yes, it is raining season right now!! It's gonna be raining all day until the end of July.... Ugh!! Humidity is super high, and it just feels awful. I miss Chicago!! I was sad today because of this weather. So, I went to the store and did some shopping. I got new backpack. Yaaaaay!

For some reasons, I couldn't sleep last night. I was just in the bed thinking "Geee, I cannot sleep." I was super tired in the morning, but I had to go to the work. At work, I was more tired and sleepy like a mug! I was just thinking "tomorrow will be day off, tomorrow will be day off." There was no single customer between 6pm to 7pm, but after 7pm, people started coming in. I still don't understand that we close store at 8pm, but people come in just before the store close. There were customers who didn't leave the store until 8:30pm! They started trying on the swimsuits 5 minutes before 8:00pm! They were girls, so it took lots of looooooots of time to decide which swimsuits they wanted to buy. I was like "Who the fuck do you think you are bitch!" This is why I should work at retail store...

Tomorrow, I am going to Nara prefecture to see the biggest Buddha statue in Japan. Nara has lots of old temples (really really old), and I love old Japanese temples, so I decided to go to Nara tomorrow. I am going there with one of my co-workers. I don't think he is really my friend, well, actually, he always gets my nerve. My other co-workers worry about us because we always fight (well, he always pisses me off). Soooo, we will visit old temples and search for the enlightenment why we don't get along even though he is a nice guy, and I am a nice guy too.

I went to Nara to visit old temples yesterday. We got there around 11:30am, but it was already super hot! We tried to go to Todaiji temple because it has the biggest Buddha statue in Japan. On the way to Todaji temple, we passed Kofukuji temple, so we stopped by there and took pictures! Yay! Kofukji temple had really cool tower which we called "gojyu-no-tou." It just means five roofs tower. When we got to Todaiji, there were so many people visiting. I was impressed by The Buddha statue because it was super ultra big, and I wondered how the hell ancient people put this statue into the temple!! After we saw the statue, we went back to Kofukuji temple because I wanted to see the exhibit there. Many national treasures such as old Buddha sculptures belong to Kofukuji, and they were shown there. It was really cool to see these sculptures because I used to see their pictures in Japanese history books. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures or even sketches. After that, we went to Horyuji temple which is the oldest wooden architecture in the world! I think this temple is 1400 years old! It was just unbelievable to be there because I was at the temple which has been the same for over 1400 years! I really liked Horyji temple more than Todaiji temple because the temple was quiet and peaceful. When I was at Horyuji temple, I felt I was really happy to be Japanese because if I were from America or some foreign countries, I couldn't understand the serenity of this temple. Nara rocks! I wanna go to Kyoto for the next trip!

I think I am losing my English!! I was thinking in English before I came back to Japan, but now, I am thinking in Japanese! I didn't really notice until I had a dream in Japanese last night. I hadn't had such a dream for a long time, so I was pretty upset. Ugh!!!

I wonder how many people like their jobs. Well, I don't. I think my work is really boring like a mug. I am sick of saying "welcome to the store!" or "thank you!" I am also sick of helping stupid customers or listening to my fucking stupid boss. I have just worked there for a month, but I see lots of problems this store has. Well, I guess that's why this store is closing! Ha ha ha ha. I am really glad that I will have a happy life at Chicago after this store is closed because everyone except me doesn't know what to do!

Zzzzzzzzz. I was sleeping all day today. I did play a video game for a while, but I felt asleep during I was playing video game....no good! In this evening, my uncle and aunt came to the city to congratulate me for getting in the graduate school. We had a dinner together, and they gave me money! Ooooooooooooh!!! I did expect that because that's Japanese thing which giving money in every occasion, but they gave me really lots of money! I mean the way more than I expected!! I am glad I came back to Japan!!

I do not like Japan. I just hate it. Staying with my parents is okay, and my work is ok too, but I really want to go back to the States. I might quit my job as soon as I get a visa. Oh well, I don't know....

I was helping shoes section all day today. I usually work at clothes section (we call "marine"), but there was only one person who usually work at shoes section, so I helped him out. I kinda like working at shoes section because I feel like I am helping customers because they cannot get shoes they want until I help them. Usually, shoes are in the stocking room, so customers have to ask me to bring shoes for them. I did sell lots of shoes today, so I was happy.

I realized that why I am not really having fun with working at Murasaki Sports. I think that's because I am not taking anything out of it. Well, I guess I did learn being "patient"......

I am glad I will have Satuday and Sunday off!!!

I went camping with my friends over the weekend. I was really glad the weather was really nice even though we are in the raining season. The camping was fun, well, it wasn't really camping because we rented the lodge. But but, we did cook ourselves, so it was kinda camping! When we got there, we had some drinks. Then, we cooked and had more dinks. Because we didn't bring any entertainment, we kept drinking. Mmm, I guess I kept drinking! Then, when we woke up, we had morning drink which was very nice. We had to check out by 11am, but didn't have anything to do, so we had last drinks.

I was really tired from the camping (maybe drinking), but my parents took me to Shimane prefecture as soon as I got back because they wanted to get mountain water there. We drove for two hours to just get fucking water!! Well, water is actually pretty good. But, but, I was so tired, and I had to work today!! We stopped by Yamada Denki on the way home because I wanted to buy Sony's net MD walkman. Of course, I did buy it and it made me really happy!