From the Mid-west to the East.

Well, I am back in Japan. And I have a serious lot of backlog in terms of not posting for the last three weeks. Take pity on me; I have been in transit.
The week before I came back to Japan was very good. I stayed at an old friend's house and slept on her couch. We watched a lot of "Heroes" and I got to experience the warm and comfortable feeling of being around people who have known you almost as long as there has been a "you". As well as the almost-as-good warm and cozy feeling of eating a lot of seven-layer bean dip. Ending the relative isolation of my first stint in Japan was a very good thing, and I feel like I am still kind of riding on the wave of good-feeling and going-home a week later.

I even made new friends, to an extent, while visiting old ones. One of my dear-olds lives in one of the co-ops in Ann Arbor, and I spent an evening with his home crew during someone's going-away party. Coincidentally, the person moving away was going to L.A., so I was able to offer a bit of the hook-up on Angelino life. I also got to eat tons and tons of delicious vegetarian food, all of which was so amazing that my stomach still rumbles when I think about it. What was I doing all those college years, living in "apartments" and eating popcorn and raw tofu for dinner? In retrospect, I would definitely trade in on some of my privacy for a chore list and a crowd of awesome hippies, gays and weirdos to live amongst. But, you know, hindsight and all that.

So, thank you good people from home, for existing. I hope I can see you again soon, as well as all the people who have scattered to other places that I didn't get to see. I will save my ducats for all that future airfare.

But, right, now I'm back in Japan, and classes (mostly) have started, and I am living alone again. First-off, though, I will only be living here alone for another four days or so, until my houseguest makes it to Japan and sets up residence in the loft. I think I'll be glad to have a temporary roommate, even though it will cut down severely on some of the best parts of living alone: extended periods of no-pants time, dancing in front of the mirror when a really good song comes up on iTunes, not having to clean up the mess til I goddamned feel like it. But, seeing as this journal is a very good record of the negative effects isolation has on me, I think this will work out for the better rather than the worse. I have the extra space, I like company, and someone pitching in to help with things like rent and remembering to buy groceries will be a good thing.

Also, I have to say, this is the best apartment by far I have ever lived in. The kitchen is a little small and wonky, but the living space is huge, there is more than enough closet space for even the biggest hoarders, the windows are big and light comes in all day. I'm very close to my subway stop and even closer to the supermarket, and the neighborhood is quiet and residential. There's even a park nearby; out my window there's a sign reminding drivers to be careful because children are out playing. I wish I could take this apartment back with me to Los Angeles at the end of the year. I mean, I have a secret loft-cubbyhole room, with a ladder! Tell me with a straight face that you don't want to live in a place like that.

I think school is going to go better this time around as well, adding to the general "high on life" thing I have going on now. I have been put through the ringer the last couple of days over placement testing, which is especially cruel since I have no real problem with starting out again in the bottom class. Learning the basics right at last will be a lot more helpful than the ego boost of not being the dumbest person around would be. But other than that, I have introduced myself to a few people, all of whom seem like worthwhile folk and perhaps potential new friends. The ratio of men to women in the class this year is something like 3 to 1, which is odd, but sort of nice since I am used to my classes being female-dominated. Mixes things up a bit. And now that testing is over, I have a lot of down time for the next two days. This gives me the opportunity to do things like finish my alien registration, get a cell phone and a bank account, pay my new rent and pay off my old rent, and all sorts of other useful things. Or, to update my online journal! Both are obviously equally useful, right?

As a final thought, I have gotten ahold of a lot of new music lately. Thanks to my stepdad, I have an impressive chunk of post-Beatles solo work to listen to now, which I like even though it tends to display a lot of 70s-era overproduction. And thanks to the Guardian, I have some new British neo-folk artists to listen to (you all should try out Bat for Lashes; she's like Joanna Newsom but without a voice that makes your ears bleed). Mice Parade, which I acquired after seeing the CD in the "post-rock" section of a Japanese CD and DVD rental place, is also pretty amazing. Turns out, "post-rock" is a very good way to describe 90% of my musical taste. Thank you for that knowledge, Japan.