yes it's true... i do eventually get back to things

ok so after our beautiful sleep me and melody went down for breakfast. jacob did not join us... he wa sleepy. it was about 7:30 am. after breakfast i went back up stairs to rest a little bit. i was hoping jacob would leave to use the bathroom or something so i could change, but he didn't. instead he started talking on the phone to shayna. some of the things he said were very hurtful so i got angry and stormed out. leaving the door wide open(which was one of the things he had complained about... yeah i know i'm a jerk)
anyway after collecting all our stuff... and a serious of not so friendly exchanges we were able to check out. but it was a little too late so we had to pay a fee... grrr.
i went upstairs to put my contacts in... (God told me i wouldn't get them in till i apologized to Jacob....) so i went down and apologized and got them in relatively fast after that.  melody decided to stay at the hotel for a while. we were allowed to leave our luggage there till 6pm so we got a few things and headed out. i took my purse to put it in a coin locker. we found out that we could get a half day lift ticket for cheap. so we decided on the later half(which we had to purchase later) we walked up the mountain, about half way (which was painful in the ski boots.... stupid ski boots!!) we did some practice skiing and stopping for about an hour, then we went to meet melody for lunch.... i crashed a few times before... and with jacob's coaching i went down the main track to ummm yeah i guess practice... well what ended up happening was i ran into two girls... who were just sitting on the track. not very bright if you ask me... but oh well. hit them in the back with my skis. i apologized stored my skis and waited for jacob. we made a plan to go to a ramen shop for lunch. so i went there and waited and jacob went to get melody.... i sat in the snowbank making snowballs... preparing for an ambush... it was alot of fun. many people looked at me like i was a loon, but i'm pretty used to that. so no big. anyway. God told me to move down the hill because it was dangerous... so i did... but apparently not enough, because he told me again and again. which is perfectly fine with me. i eventually got up and went to retrieve my purse to get my phone. to find out where they were. i called and jacob was on his way and melody was coming from a different direction. jacob got there and i asked if he wanted to go inside the store (where the coin lockers were so he could look at the hats.)  seconds before we went in. i showed him where i had been sitting and a huge waft of snow fell from the roof of the building and landed exactly where i had been sitting... yet more proof it's not good to question God. gleef. we finally meet up with everyone and decided to go to lunch at the same place as before. jacob after hearing my plan to make snowballs was inclined to pick up the small snow ball war that had started the day before. i came around the corner and ended up in an arm lock battle for balance. i lost... and ended up in the snow bank. which he then continues to plummet snow upon me... yes a traditional minnesota water baptism. melody got some great pictures. i hope i can get them up soon. anyway soaking wet i ate lunch. after lunch me and jacob hit the slopes for real. buying our lift passes and got our gear on and went up... i insisted on having the bar down... now mind you i'm not afraid of heights, but falling from them is not one of my favorite things to do.

i had to get help getting off the ramp... i think the panic in my eyes is what coasted him to help me. moving on. i went down the hill... practicing on the smaller hill to see if i could stop.. while still standing... i had the falling down stop pretty well in my grasp. i went down the whole hill stopping from time to time to wait for jacob. he was having a hard time stopping. i got to the bottom with no real problems. it was a lot of fun... though i found out later i looked petrified and very unnatural... but that makes sense because i was...
when jacob came down he couldn't stop and he fell.... and a little boy ran into him. the kid was totally scared, but not really hurt. so he cried alot. we went back up and did it again. the second time i did fall two times. one i was on snow that was too fresh and i had trouble controlling my skis. so i did a splits crash landing between two of the lift poles. people over head laughed and i just hammed it up and enjoyed the extra attention. *cough* not that i would do that. jacob caught up with me and asked if i was ok. yeah so i got up and went down the big part. i thought it looked easier on the bigger half of the mountain... it's good that i can admit when i'm wrong... there were a lot of bumps and drops and such. even a few trees in the middle of the course. i tried to slow down before i approached the bottom, but had trouble doing so. so i veered towards the side with the trees. i couldn't really stop... so i slowly slid into the tree... i mostly hit branches and was able to avoid getting hit in the eye... which i think is always good.

ok i'll finish this later... i almost lost it all due to a computer shut down... unhappy.

well it almost 6:30 am... now i know those of you that know me are thinking... JONI what are you doing up that early. well the truth is i haven't actually gone to sleep yet... and no this time it was not doing something i wasn't supposed to... in fact let me tell you the highlights of my little tale.

it began late friday night. the day after Christmas, when the plan that we had set came to fruition. me jacob and melody met at the jr shukugawa station. we rode the train to shin osaka and got off... turns out it was the wrong station. so we took a taxi to the other station... he showed us two, but ended up bringing us to the wrong one. we walked back to the other station, got some food at a conbini and waited. i was somewhat panicky because the slip i had said there were only 2 people going.
anyway we rode the bus for about 2 hours and changed buses in a big hulabaloo. it was interesting anyway. 2nd bus!!! ok so we left the 2nd station at about 11pm or so... at 1am i noticed we were at a dead stop. it was interesting i didn't think too much of it. at about 2:30 we still hadn't moved and some of the girls from the back asked to get out to use the bathroom. so they started letting everyone out. apparently to pick them up at the next rest stop(which i found out later) now i didn't need to go, but i've ridden on too many plane so i don't like to sit still. i got up with melody and we walked around outside. it was beautiful and the weather was(well in my mind) perfect!
we had a lot of fun. the bus finally moved again at about 4am. we arrived in hakuba at about 11. found our hotel and left our stuff there since we couldn't check in till 3pm. we grabbed some food. delish. and found the rental shop to get out gear. we then took everything back to the hotel to wait for check in. we played some chess and i put in my contacts... it was great.
after we set out stuff in our room and changed we went to find the slopes. we found out that the lift closed at 5 so it seemed silly to get the two day pass for so short a time (about 78 dollars). we just walked up quite a ways and got on the gear. oh by the by. i got skis with melody and jacob got a snowboard. it was a great two hours of practicing how to fall. XD i think i fell about 8 to 10 times.... it was pretty funny. the first time. i was going down one of the main hills... thought i was going too fast and couldn't slow down... so i just layed back... i hit the ground and did a one eighty. i so wish i could have seen it. it didn't really hurt, but it was a lot of fun.... some of my other more notable crashes from saturday were into a large snowbolder and also off the path and into a small ditch area by the snowboard racks... luckily no one had any boards there. it was so much fun. and i think because i fell so much i wasn't as scared the next day. we got back to the hotel stored our gear and went out for a quick combini run. just grabbing some soda in my case and checking out the souveniors. lots of food. we went back and ate dinner. after dinner me and melody went to the onsen (hot spring) to take a bath. it was a little ways away but not too bad. we rented towels and went in. it was too hot for my taste, but still nice. there was also an outdoor one with snow all around. we went out there too. i thought that one was much nicer. on the way in melody decided it would be funny to hit me with a snowball... right in the tooki... very cold... brrr. after the onsen we got  a yoguart drink and sat in massage chairs. so nice. the day ended with us back at the hotel going to sleep.

ok that's the first two days. i'm going to use another journal to write the rest or it will be unbearably long.

it's my birthday, it's my birthday, it's my birthday!!! yeah it's my birthday woo hoo!!! it's my birthday. it's my birthday. it's my birthday. it's my birthday. (yes i am chanting out loud when i'm typing this) it's my birthday yeah it's my birthday (the chant continues as she is pulled away from the computer)...

well i had quite the week... i know what you're thinking... joni you always say that... well it's true.
so here's the rundown of my week.

sunday. we had the potluck in which i made 3 dishes. one for myself, one for daniel, and one for becca. all because i offered of course and the few were very hmmm interesting. potatoe salad, a three leaf orange chicken salad, and what i call vegetable melody.  any way it all worked out pretty well. i did get compliments.. but it was still weird. i'd like to make one big meal for my family using all the different foods i've learn to make in japan. so far it would be at least a 3 course meal. (grin)
monday-meet a friend and went to a place that has a halfpike. (skateboard ramp) and i skated... for about 1hour or so... i guess i wasn't bad for my first time, but i was sore. i had to sign a waver and everything. but i really enjoyed it. i also played basketball after that... well more like got coached on how to play basketball... then i watched half a movie
tues... woke up went to the beach. long walk, which was fine. hmmm we played keep away. ate soba, played football, ultimate football, 500 and took a whole lot of posed pictures... it was a lot of fun, but i was already really sore. so i ran really slow... no really... very slow. ...
during the football game i tried to stop daniel (which i did) but the top of his head ended up having a collision with my jaw.... it's a miracle my teeth aren't broken... i felt dizzy and everything was spinning for a while, but i didn't make a big deal of it because i wanted to keep playing. eventually the spinning stopped so i assumed i was a ok. he he. sorry. i did have some sweet catches though. good stuff. and well even more drops.  later we went to one of the church members' house and destroyed their family alter. with their permission of course. anyway a very busy day. so tired.... that's the bulk of it. those of you that are members and what not should get a little juicer highlight...till then good night!

ok so it's not nearly as bad as it sounds. but i think it's funny to make it should bad. i love toilet humor... ok to an extent.
anyway the jist of it is. our toilet seat was cracked... so we asked how we can get a new one... pastor asked if we wanted an electric one. we thought he meant a whole toilet... nope... just the seat. so we just got it today. so now we have nice new electric toilet. it's really nice.. but there is one down fall... it's gotta be plugged in... and there is no outlet in the bathroom. so it has to be plugged into my room... so now my door doesn't shut all the way. i'm felling my privacy slip even more... and quite frankly. i don't like it. but i'm a stubborn enough individual i think i'll come up with another solution that doesn't sacrifice everything i hold dear. ok that's it. thanks!

i bought a shrimp today! he's so cute!! i named him fred! fredrick takaguchi actually. and the two little moss balls in there are named billy and milly (milly is the smaller one.) he's so cute!! i love him

yes.... i deleted the original entry for this one... why because a comment was left that was hurtful and embarrassing. whether it was meant that way. is not the point. i didn't think that was something i need to leave up.

so what happened... and you get the short version... because.

instead of handing out fliers i ended up drawing pictures of people at the trainstation trying to help advertise for the school.
only a few people did it. but i sat on a stool and drew. a lot of people watched, but not many stopped.

the first man loved his picture so much he bought me some cookies and brought them back.
a few others got one and liked it. in between picture i was just doing quick sketches of sakura. now.... one man came up and when i asked if he wanted his picture drawn... he responded "if i want my picture drawn i can do it myself. he immediately began to tear into me. asking me what i thought i was drawing. what kind of flower i thought i was trying to draw. if it was a sakura, then i had no idea what they even looked like. in fact i probably never even saw one before. he continued to insult me for several more minutes. (all in japanese mind you.... wish i didn't understand that...) until finally he told me if was going to draw japanese art... i need to study more. i said i understand and thank you. and he left. we packed up shortly after that and left. i was so angry and hurt... i'm having enough issues with my self-esteem and feeling loved i didn't need him to stample on me. anyway. i really hope there isn't an opporutunity to go again. luckily it's a two man job, so i can't do it alone. but right now i'm really not feeling emotionally up to that kind of service. i'm feeling a little fragile... but anyone i tell... i just become a constant complaining annoyance. i just want a hug so bad. but there is no one i can ask to get a sincere one from. sigh

so hanami literally means to flower sight. or as we translate it. flower viewing... as in we i mean me. i think they put the W and the M too close together on the keyboard... that's why i always get them confused... yeah that's it. heh heh... cough.
so anyway today me and the staff (teachers and office staff) went out to see the sakura (cherry blossoms) for lunch today. i made the lunches. and well they looked pretty good if i say so. i have some pictures that i'll upload in a bit... or so. there is a small island in the middle of the river. we sat there and had out lunch. it was really great. everyone said they liked the lunch, but if nothing else they looked good. mitsuko-san (yukari's mother) one of the new office staff came with, and she seemed very impressed. saying yukari can't make these. so that made me feel special. i really enjoy cooking.... but it's boring if it's only for one person. so i made a total of 8 lunch boxes. and still had enough left overs for dinner tonight. anyway thought i'd fill you in. i'll give you the skinny on all the teachers in the next few... but you better sign up. hehehe

yup! my sister was right again. she told me i should go away for my vacation or i would end up working...well my big travel plans fell thru and i did work most of the week. here are the highlights

mon- went to the takarazuka revue with lainey and her dad, who is really cool (it's a play with all women by the way) very good
          - watched a movie at the boys apartment
tues- went to the glico factory (chocolate) with youko-san. lot of fun.
          -started more serious work on the scrapbook
          -watched a movie at the boys apartment
wed- went to see two movies in umeda (missed mine so they both got pushed back.) first was a japanese film called kurosagi very good, with some awesome previous of movies for this summer... and the other one i saw with jacob, the golden compass.... which i didn't really like.
       -worked on the scrapbook
thurs- took becca and jacob to umeda saw a few sights and what not.... my social battery was practically drained so i'm sure i wasn't a lot of fun...
          -took jacob to kobe (becca was tired)
          -went to a baseball game with udou family and company. it was so much fun!!! i was so hoping to see some baseball this break and it was the most refreshing exciting thing i did all week. i guess some of the ladies said i was more interesting to watch than the game.... but the seats were great. right behind the plate... true they were the second to the back row in the stadium, but you could still see the line of the pitch, and i was doing pretty good at calling them before the umpire. i wonder if i love baseball even more now, because it always reminds me of joe. hmm interesting.
          -worked on the scrapbook till 3-4am
fri- got up at 3 pm.
          -clean up my closet for church school, me and youko-san did.
          -worked on the scrapbook till 5 am...
          -burned a bunch of cds off my computer (all pictures)
sat-worked on the scrapbook
          -met daniel at the shukugawa (river) to see the cherry blossoms. beautiful.
          -worked on the scrapbook
          -returned late videos, got last minute pages
          -finshed the scrapbook
          -finally cleaned up my room just a little.... so i don't feel as stir crazy anymore

so yeah. good stuff in there... but little to no time to myself... i'm just exhausted... emotionally, spiritually, the whole bit.. and tomorrow we get to have a good bye party for tammy and javi and i get to meet christie

well that's all you get for now... i'm skyping... so i must flee -j

so i'm losing so many students this year. and i'm really sad about it. but they aren't leaving  because of me. mostly because they are moving or having a baby or something uncontrollable. i'm really going to miss them. some i never really got to say good bye to.
but it's fun that they still email from time to time... i guess what i learned from all this is that i really need to cherish the people i know while they are still here. because most of them have reject Jesus, which makes me even sadder. but i'll keep praying for them. it's funny how you can grow to be attached to people so quickly. i really love the people here. truly. from the bottom of my heart. i don't want to lose a single person. and it hurts when they leave.

so i recently had a revelation... yes i spelt it differently in both places. that's i've been acting by my junior high self.... no wonder the people think i'm immature... so now i'm trying to find a balance. with some people it's easier to get to that balance. with others it's more difficult to not sound standoffish... despite what i believe. i can be a mature person. and i feel bad for the people that have never seen that side of myself. but i know that there is a balance and i just need to find it. i'm praying and God is helping me thru this. i would like to thank for my sister for helping me thru it though. it scares me sometime how much wisdom she's got. but first things first... i gotta stop talking about myself and what not. i want to learn more about the people around me and get to know them. acting a little crazy from time to time is ok. i think so. but only at appropriate times with the right people. yesterday i was asked if i wanted to lead the worship on sunday morning. i accepted... but umm... maybe i'm not ready yet. jump in i guess. i want to prove to people that i can be a good leader and that i'm more than just fun and games and stupid jokes. but i still want to be able to laugh out loud at jokes and enjoy the people i'm around. when i act too serious. it's more difficult to do that. i just have to think of the times i'm with my family or jess. or with my cj girls when i felt comfortable and didn't have my guard up all the time. i think that will help me find that balance. sorry for yammering too much. love you all.
-j

ok. i know there are"joni fell off the face of the earth" well golly no that ain't true. only feel about half way. moving on. this week's been super busy(last week is included in that sum up) and both of the new teachers are here. and they both seem really nice.... though jacob has already asked me why i'm melodramatic about everything.... and told me i can't call him jake... grrr. rebecca is really similar to me and i think we will get along really well. she's even born in may too. she said i can call her becca. so that's cool. anyway that's your mini update. don't worry i'm fine. and i had a great time with laura, mary, jeffery and micheal when they came. it was like a breath of fresh air!! so needed. already miss them. sigh. oh well that's all you get.

so this week is gonna rock and stink at the same time... a lot of good things are happening... but kinda all at once. so there is a very good chance it will be too much for me and overwhelm me.  plus i'm fighting back some bits of depression. not to worry it's the usual stuff... yah know... i'm not as great as i think i am... i'm constantly failing in what i do. i'll never be able to complete what i've been sent here for. that kind of stuff.. but don't worry it hasn't won. when i think of God and how much he loves me it gives me nothing but peace. and with my family and friends encouraging me to fight on. there's no way i'm gonna let that jerk satan get me depressed. man do i have some words i'll like to call him and his norf mongers that work for him..... grah! anyway. i'm doing ok, just a lot of little things. please pray for me. i get the feeling these next few weeks of major transition are gonna be really tough. i love you guys, and don't worry i'll keep fighting!!

ps... pray i don't fall too hard for anyone over here. no way i'm not coming back home.

i think "random thought" journals are




a. interesting
b. informative
c. funny
d. boring
e. annoying
f. too random to understand (why aren't the numbers in order?)
g. easy to follow...(why does she bother callin it random...)
h. ingenious, wish i'd thought of it first
i. (your own answer here)


MULTIPLY ANSWERS ARE ACCEPTED
all votes should be cast asap.... feel free to vote anonymously, but vote!!! hipnotoad commands you!!!!
(those that get the reference get 10 pts)

nothing ventured nothing gained... so put it all on the table and let it ride XD

ok this is just an idea.... and i'd like some feedback.
japan does not have a large abundance of english books especially
Christian ones....  so my idea was... if you had (meaning already own..... not going out to buy) a book on my list. if you sent it to japan as a temp loan.... i would sent it back with fun things from japan. of course paperback is best because it's the lightest... i don't want anyone paying more than 7 dollars for shipping... so what do you think?

hiyall!! so i'm well sick... full blown. no fever though. finally gone. (yesterday it kept going up and down... it was really wierd)
but my voice is completely gone. was yesterday too.... some of the people i know were WAY too happy about that... it's frustrated when you get teased and you can't say anything  back. gleef!! yeah so i went to the doctor. last night i felt horrible. no nauscia (can't spell) but i almost threw up because i was coughing so hard... so yeah i went to the doctor. which if you know me is pretty drastic... anyway he said it was a cold, no influensa that's good. i should eat rice porage (which has less taste and texture than oatmeal...) stay warm and get rest.. i also got a blood test... is it sad that i really hope they'll tell me what my blood type is? i'm in the middle of being sick and i still want to know that... joni joni... so sad. anyway. since i'm stuck inside i thought i'd give you the downlow. yes... i should be sleeping... but it's so early!!! my mind won't let me do it. sigh. oh well night!

So with the help of livejournal i now have the ability to create a wishlist of things i want from america. since this is a new feature i figured it was a great opportunity to take advantage of it. at the first of each month a new post will be made that can be referenced for entirety of that month. the post will be update when i think of new things. and what not. now remember.... this is not a "oh joni's asking for stuff. i need to go out and buy it because she starving... or deprived or what not..." that's not true... i've already been lectured i'm eating enough.. no worries. i'm just taking advantage of this excellent new feature. anyone would right? right! so i am

(no numbers... because there isn't a level of importance)

-single sliced spam packets
-pringles LITE potatoe chips.
-flavor blasted goldfish(dangerous but delicious)
-cute hair clips...(my hair is really short)
-max pads... (make great packing material XD)



movie list...
(now i know no one would ever pay more than 5 dollars for a movie right?)
(dvds can be send in envelopes...)
dr. doolittle- (original w/ rex harrington)
swiss family robinson
robin hood men in tights



will add more later...now remember i don't want you to send me anything!!!! grrrgrrr. (puts on intimidating face) nothing! see no address mwhhahahahahaha (you have to ask my mom if you want it. *evil grin*)

ok so this isn't as random as it seems... (if you read the post right before this one... that is)

ok i'm going to list a few of the hollywood crushes i've had.... if you can detect a pattern post. and you'll get a prize (if you're first and right)
only i know what the prize is so don't ask each other...

luke skywalker- mark hamill
indiana jones- harrison ford
huck finn- elijah woods
marty mcfly- micheal j fox
sam beckett- scott bakula
julian bashir-(doctor from star trek deep space nine... don't remember name sorry)
mad dog murdock- dwight schultz
maxwell smart- don adams
Steve Zissou and Wallace Ritchie- bill murray
izumi sano- oguri shun (newest member)
jackie chan
 
golly there are so many others.

so can you see a pattern?
can you identify all the shows or movies? there is a seperate prize for that... but don't cheat. some how i'll know... mwhahahaha
(you don't have to get shun's i'm pretty sure you don't know that one. all right! go!

Warning: Content below is both long and gripping. if you don't have hours to dedicate, you may want to come back. It's so wonderful you won't be able to eat, sleep, or work until you're done. you've been warned. now it's on you.
(she says before even writing it XD)

i've recently discover the source of one of my little... hmmm quirks? i think that's a good word for it.
first we'll describe the quirk, then the cause, and at last what can be done about it. (sorry outline if me..... )
ever since i could remember i have always had a hollywood crush on some actor. (yes this is the quirk....if you know me at all... you'ver heard me talk about it) the first hollywood crush i can remember was harrison ford and mark hamill in star wars. both we so cute and dreamy. (i still like hamill though) i soon jumped to micheal j fox ( i think because his name said fox... but who am i to say) back to hamill. on to elijah woods, to boy after boy after boy... i'm always adding guys to my hollywood crush list.... now the reason i choose them is not what will be discussed here... in fact... that would take too many pages and i know some of you need to get to work. (but i did warn you) we are going to discuss why i choose them at all. now after i chose a new guy to like. i would go thru and watch all the movies i could find with them in it. (i saw some pretty bad movies on the way) and after a certain age i would try to collect memorabilia of the actors and what not. so it was pretty bad. i have an obsessive personalility by nature... and if you add money? golly it can get bad...
moving on. i looked back thru my history of crushes and noticed that the only time i wasn't obsessing over a hollywood crush, was when i didn't have anyone i was interested in, in the real world. or it was unhealthy to be interested in them(example... maybe my friend liked them... or they did something to remind me of someone. etc) that was usually when the holly wood crushes got worse or became more visable.
ok so here's the discovery. i've discovered i'm the type of person who always needs to be interested in a guy... don't ask me why on that one because i don't know. may be somewhere in my genetics or something don't know. but looking back i think it's true. now i don't know if this is true for all women, because well... as luck has it. i only get to be one woman... anyway. the crushes never really leave the lovey dovey, puppy dog stage... even in the guys i know in real life... now that is a whole nother issue for another day, but i guess i think it's interesting that i know i need to have a crush on some guy, now my guess is somehow this is not entirely healthy.... but i do know i do it in self-defense. if i didn't have a hollywood crush on some guy i can never reach. then i'll have one on a guy i can reach.. and well in the situation i'm in right now... that's not a good thing. and more than just hurt feelings kinda way. so yeah. interesting huh? do i think i'm gonna work hard to change that? honestly no. but now that i'm aware of it i can control it better and prevent it from becoming a problem or annoyance to anyone else. (oh sidenote hollywood crushes are easier to have, because you can tell anyone... and noone you know is involved directly)

all right that was it. riviting huh? (never promised you spell check sorry) long and tedious read. yes i know you've all learned more about me than you ever wanted to know.... sorry, but it just proves i would be an awesome character in a comic book!!!
so there! XP