あなたが そこに いるだけで

This book, my Hime sent me from Japan for our Anniversary. It's all in Japanese so it's kinda difficult to understand but I had my good friend 隆さん (Ryu) translate it for me.　It roughly means "You're presence is all I need" or "Being with you is all I need" or something along those lines.It's a super pretty book and I really wish I better knew Japanese so I could understand it more clearly. My roommate isn't home right now so maybe later I will put some pictures of it on this blog. Update: And Now they're here! (as you may have already noticed - ありがとう隆さん). This is the bookmark it comes with (even though you don't really need a bookmark because it's short) but the bookmark is also so nice. And in English too. Interesting. (Japanese people really like English) Anyway, I took a picture of one of the pages I like a lot (which is every one but I had to choose one). The Japanese on this page means something like this "When I'm alone, I can't see. When we're together I can see." I know it's a little bit strange but the sentence is backwards - If it was written in English it might say "I can only truly see when we're together". Actually there's another page I really like that says something along the lines of "When we're together all my life's complications are fixed". So pretty >_< . Now I gotta get crackin' on my Japanese study! I know I mentioned it in a previous post - but it never really happened. Well now's the time! I gotta learn enough to be able to understand this book! =D

And for those of you who are curious. Here's a picture of what I got for her. Did you know... sending stuff to Japan is terribly expensive. I talk about things being expensive a lot don't I?　僕は少しけちと思います。 It took me a long time to find a present I thought she'd like and I think she liked it =D I think she liked the card more but it's kinda personal. But I'll post up the cover of it! It sucks we weren't able to actually spend time together this anniversary but there's always next one =D This time next year I should be enjoying my time in Japan! I might have to start a new blog for that... or continue this one - I'm not sure. Either way it's gonna be awesome and I'm super excited.

暗記 (Anki)

This wonderful program I found thanks to Clay on Youtube (profile) has really increased my retention for Japanese. It's called Anki (暗記) which means "Memorization" or "learning from heart" - a very apt name. And the best part about it is it's free! Of course you can donate if you'd like to (which I would suggest if you start using this program regularly) but it is free. As a side note - Watch Clay's FAQ. I've provided a bunch of links but he makes it clear: 'no stalkers' so be forewarned. But back to the subject at hand.

This program is awesome. Download it, use it, donate.

I was not asked to advertise or promote this program. I am doing so solely because this program is good.

1 Year Anniversary

Yesterday was our 1 Year anniversary. Such a long time but seems so short. Time really does go by like that. I still can't put pictures of the present I got her because she hasn't got it yet but there is something I can put on my blog and thats a video I made of us together this past year. It's to the song 大好き (Daisuki) or "I love you" in English. By the singer 広末涼子 "Ryoko Hirosue". I chose this song for a couple reasons... Because my girlfriend used to always sing it in Kareoke and it's also so happy so how could I not choose it right? Well, without further ado, here it is:

If you can't get it working just put your mouse over it and click on the line at the bottom and the controls should appear then just click on the play button on the bottom left. If it's still not working you can also watch it here.

愛してる～

3 More Days

I know I made a post named 3:00 and now this one is 3 more days but whatever. 3 Is a good number is it not? But yeah.. the significance to this 3 is our real one year anniversary. "But you just met her on the 12th!" I know! It just seemed right. It was less than a week actually (6 days for you those of you who aren't good at subtraction). Weird eh?

Right now she's in Japan as you may remember (from an older post) so we can't actually spend our anniversary together sadly but that doesn't stop me from sending a present!! I'd say what that present is buuut.... she also reads this blog so that'll have to wait for another time. Let's just say I'm really happy with what I found (I just hope she likes it >_<) Today wasn't a very eventful day actually. I snagged a PS2 with a mod chip from a guy at work so now I can play import games on my PS2!! I'm kinda excited about that. Also I saw a friend from school on the bus on my way back home after getting the PS2. I haven't talked to her in a really long time and it was nice to chat again ^_^

I started an excel document to record where I'm spending all my money because it seems to disappear pretty quick and I can't have that happen any more. I gotta save!!! If anybody wants a blank copy of this document so they, also, can watch their money, send me a message on MSN and I'll send it over =D (But I think it might be Office 2007 only).

The cute Japanese girl with a tuque

Yesterday I went to Triple O's to call my girlfriend at dinner. Weird you say? Well not entirely. November 12th, 2006 I met hime at Triple O's. At around 6pm to be exact. So that's when I called her. I sat in the same seat she was sitting in when I first met her and reminisced about that day...

It was raining and cold. I used to work at Triple O's so I was going there at the time to see some of the employees and I remember as I walked in I saw this girl sitting at the "bar" table (It's not really a bar, its on the other side of a magazine rack but it only has seats on one side - like a bar). I remember stopping at the door just after entering the store to look at her. I remember thinking "she's beautiful" but I knew it was pointless to think that because, well, I knew it'd be impossible for me to ever be her friend. So I enjoyed the short moment and went to talk to my friends (I didn't want her to notice me and think I was weird).

I talked to the people working there for quite a while but then it got busy and they had to actually start working again so I was waiting around (I had no other plans). But it was busy for too long... And that girl was still there. It looked like she was studying something. "Maybe English," I remember thinking to myself, "she looks Japanese". I had just started really learning Japanese and I was kinda excited to try saying something so.... I went for it. I went for it! I've never talked to a stranger in my life. An absolute stranger and I talked to her. (Well it took me about 10 minutes to get enough courage to say hi but it was totally worth it.. Even though it didn't seem to be at the time.) I remember I said "excuse me?"... no answer.

I was devastated. The first time I had spoken to a stranger and she didn't answer. But wait! She was wearing headphones. Maybe she couldn't hear me? I tried again... "excuse me?" Once again no answer. Well I've gone this far I might as well continue. So I tried a different tact, "sumimasen". (she's gotta know I'm talking to her now). But still! no answer. What should I do. This is the time when my heart started to pound. Should I give up? Keep going? ドキドキ I decided.

I put my hand down slowly on the table, close to her (I knew it was weird) and I inched it towards her. She finally noticed it and looked at me. Our eyes met and my heart stopped. WHAT DO I SAY NOW?! "Are you Japanese?" I think is the first thing that came to mind. She answered smoothly. "Are you studying English?" my thoughts started to blur. Wow, I'm talking to her. I believe she asked me "Do you know Japanese?" and I said "No, not really. Well a little bit" then I said what I had been learning. 「私は・日本語を・勉強しています・でも・まだ・上手じゃありません」 "I'm learning Japanese but I'm not skilled yet". She laughed and laughed and laughed. I had given some kind of impression apparently. It seemed to be good. I was excited.

We talked for hours and hours. We talked for a little over 6 hours. From about 6 to a little after midnight. It was the most exciting and interesting night I've ever had. I believe some people refer to it as "Love at first sight". I wanted to see her again. I had to see her again... but that required that "courage" thing again that I'm not very good with. But hell, I've already faced my fears once and I didn't want to pass up this once in a life time opportunity. I knew I'd never see her again if I didn't act. So I asked for her number, and she gave it to me! I gave her mine also. A little while after that we said goodbye and parted ways. Little did I know that she would be the girl I fell in love with.

Thinking back now... I'm so glad I talked to her. I'm also so glad that I'm kinda persistent. If I wasn't I would have given up trying to say hello and I wouldn't have ever been with the girl of my dreams.

So that's my story of last night. And that's my story of last night - one year ago.

三時

Today I went out with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. I met her in Blenz on the corner of Bute and Davie. なつかしいね、けんじさん？ But yeah... she's had some guy problems recently (quite big problems) and she wanted to go to the clinic to get "checked" I guess is how you'd say it. The past week or so I've been talking to her on the phone quite a bit and she's really worried but she was also too scared to go alone so I said I'd go with her. We had originally planned to go on Friday but we switched it to today because she wanted to get it out of the way. BUT... today it was closed. So we met at about 1:30 and she had to work at 3 and the clinic was closed. Sucks. So we ended up going out for Korean food on Robson at a place called Nor Boo. It's really good and inexpensive also. Actually I had to give her a going away card for a different friend I hadn't spoken with for over a year. So I got that out of the way as well.

After I finish writing this I think I'll go to Konbiniya again to pick up some stuff. Today is the last day of their huge sale they have going on right now so now or never I guess. After that I'm probably going to go to Triple O's to hang out. I haven't been there in a long long time. Then... I guess we'll see! If anything exciting happens maybe I'll post again.

Making Progress

Today was good. I studied a bunch, I got to sleep in and I played games. I also tried out this interesting kind of Japanese energy drink from Konbiniya. They're having this huge sale on now because it's their 14th (i think) Anniversary! So everything is quite cheap there. They're also selling this neat little gadget that lets you watch Japanese TV right here in Canada over the internet or something. It's pretty interesting. They had it on display today.

In 10 minutes it'll have been a year since I met Hime. A year! It totally doesn't seem like its been that long. Time goes by like *that* eh? It's pretty crazy. (It's not REALLY our anniversary per se, it's just the first time we met. First time we talked). It's hard to believe. A year. It's amazing =D

Right now the weather in Vancouver is terrible (but when is it not, right?). Right now its like 10 degrees, the wind is blowing at about 45km/h and its rainy. Beautiful eh? Well yesterday was nice (cold, but nice).

I also found out some interesting information about Japanese Working Holiday Visa too. It is only valid for 6 or 12 months. 悲しい。 But I will get one soon I hope. I will need a Passport first though I guess eh? And a medical exam!? >_< くそ

今日本語勉強しています

That means "Now I'm studying Japanese" because well.. I need to get crackin'. Today I downloaded a flashcard program that will hopefully help me out a lot. I have my own flashcards here at home but they take a while to make and it's hard to test myself with them. This way will hopefully be a lot better.

Here's what I'm using if you're interested:

Flash Card Manager - This flashcard program is awesome. It's super easy to put in all the cards you want and then while you're testing yourself you actually click on what rating you give yourself (like Positive, guessed, fail etc) It's great. If you fail something it will keep showing it to you until you get it right and it tracks your stats too so you know how many you still have to memorize and how many you've memorized so far. Amazing!

JquickTrans - It's got pretty much any word you could imagine. I got it for free when I bought Instant Immersion Japanese Deluxe but It's totally worth the $10 it costs online. Sometimes it's almost too much help because it has so much information. It has romaji also (If you're worried you don't see any romaji in the screenshot)

Instant Immersion Japanese Deluxe - If you're going to buy it DO NOT buy it from Amazon though. I just provided a link there to see the details. In Canada (as you may have noticed) things are extremely expensive compared the United States ($85CAD / $49USD which is about $45 Canadian). So you're paying almost double if you buy it on Amazon. If you want it - Find some way to order it from the states or find a place that will sell it for a decent price. (But with all that aside, it's an awesome program.

Kanji Gold - This is a flashcard program for Kanji. Already pre-set with all the kanji in the different "grades". It works with the JWPce databases so check that out too if you want this. I think this program would be really good for starting to study for the Japanese Proficiency Exam as it goes through the grades as an Elementary student would go through them.

Today I am probably going to study for a long time. I haven't spent too much time studying and I'm really regretting it. Wish me luck!

Shopping on West 4th

As I mentioned in the morning, today I was going shopping with my friends. We left a little bit later than I thought we would but that's because I'm slow. すみませんね。 We took the bus over the bridge to West 5th, then started shopping on West 4th under the bridge. We went into a few stores then finally found one that was giving away free hotdogs and had this minigolf game where you could win stuff. It was pretty interesting... I won a scarf hahaha (I'm terrible at minigolf).

We walked up west 4th into the Kitsalano area before turning around and walking home over the Burrard Bridge. After we were back to the downtown core we went to Daikichi Sushi (I mentioned it in one of my first posts) however, now it's not near as good as it used to be. ほんとに悲しいです。 The service isn't as good and the food isn't as tasty. It's also not very busy any more... I think most of the regulars are probably having the same reaction as me. It's really too bad. I withdraw my recommendation for Daikichi. Musashi on Denman is 100x better. Go there. I love it.

I emailed my friend Kenji yesterday because I hadn't talked to him in soo long. He used to teach me Japanese when he was in Canada. He's a teacher in Japan and he's been teaching so I think he's pretty busy. I'm excited to see him again (even though I won't be able to until after I move to Japan haha).

Long Weekend

Today I'm going to go shopping with my friend フラミンゴさん if you remember who that is :) Actually these nicknames I use are kinda なつかしぃ. But in any case we're going to go look for snowboard gear, I believe. I actually just woke up (it's now 1pm) - I was pretty sleepy but I think I'm good to go now. Tonight I might be going to a friends' birthday party from work. I haven't really decided yet but I don't have any other plans and he's a good guy so I might go.

そして日本にでんわするのは高すぎますね～ちょ高いよ。。でもオケイです。 If my sentences are wrong I apologize (I'm just practicing hehe).

Right now my hime is in Sapporo with her friends so I'm not able to call so much any more (calling a cell phone is really expensive) She'll be home next week and I'll get to talk to her more often then. Luckily I can send emails to her cell phone so we're always in contact やった！

Sunday and Monday I have no plans as of yet. Maybe I'll clean a little bit because I haven't cleaned very much recently.

THAT REMINDS ME. I have a new roommate! But I don't think he has a nickname yet. Maybe I will call him 隆 (リュウ)(Ryu) because he likes Street Fighter so much. He moved in last week so we've only been living together for a week but it's really fun. I'm so happy he is living here now and not our old roommate (who was quite antisocial and messy) He moved in a week after my gf left so it's been good. We play games together all the time. Actually he is kinda otaku like me. Its a good otaku though haha. でも、隆さんはゲーム上手だ。I always lose haha but it's fun.

Okay maybe I will blog again this weekend sometime. Now I have to go get ready to go out. My friends are probably waiting for me >_< またね

Notes for reading this post:
なつかしい (Natsukashii) = A feeling of nostalgia. It kinda translates to "Wow that really brings back some good memories, doesn't it."