I made it into the top 20 of the kanji competition! Here is a silly picture of the people in the top 20 who got a diploma. Next to me  in a beige jacket is the principal. If there would have been more time, I would have done even slightly a bit better, but I am actually kind of proud to make it to the top 20 at all! Who would have thought!

♥ discovering music that you had completely forgotten about ♥ waking up in the morning to bright light, even on overcast days ♥ having a full stomach after eating too much sushi ♥ sorting your underwear drawers on a rainy Sunday afternoon ♥ escaping the hangover; waking up after a night of drinking and actually feel completely clear and fresh in the head ♥ realizing that you can actually eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, despite them being in Japanese ♥ the smell of the pavement right after the rain ♥ long slim women in beautiful suits going to work on an overfilled train ♥

♥ smelling her clothes ♥ singing karaoke in front of drunk Japanese women and realizing that you actually do not care as much as before about making a fool out of yourself, because you are having fun ♥ spending several hours talking only Japanese, like a plug that has been pulled and you can finally speak speak speak and make sense ♥ learning new things and actually understanding them and being able to put them into use ♥ spending four hours you do not really have drawing details into mediocre illustrations ♥ discovering that there is actually more coffee left than what you can drink in one morning ♥

Look at what a lucky girl I am!!! I was surprised on Friday with an extra special treat!

She: I bought you a random sparkling wine from the store.
Me: Oh, thanks.
She: Don’t you want to open the box and see what it is?
Me: *opens box* Oh. My. God.

This is not a random bottle. And she knows it is not a random bottle. This was a really nice surprise. Jacques Selosse is probably one of my favorite champagnes in the whole wide world. I have only had it a handful of times, because it has been really hard to come across (and well, hum, kind of pricey to be honest). I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. The taste was absolutely amazing, full and yeasty but yet crisp and clear. The color was a deep yellow and the bubbles were really fine.

She had put it in a Moet-box. I never drink Moet, but this box is really practical and pretty. It keeps the champagne chilled. Later that evening I had a bit of the Nikka 21 year pure malt. I am not a whisky drinker and never have been. I would like to get a bit more into it, but my problem is that once the alcohol goes over a certain percent I am not able to distinguish particular tastes, and a lot of hard liquor just taste similar to me. This one was good in my opinion though, it was easy to drink and smooth. Apart from that, I know nothing about it, and I know very little about how to taste whisky.

& this post is dedicated to my favorite San Fransisco brothers, Joseph (vinosseur.com) and Jonathan (emptywhiskyglass.wordpress.com). Joseph is crazy about wine (especially bio-dynamic/organic), and Jonathan is crazy about whisky. Their blogs are awesome if you are into wine, whisky and high quality alcoholic beverages. Take a look!

A sneak-peak of something I am working on. The final thing will be HUGE! It takes forever to draw the different parts. I lack a daruma, a lucky kitty, gemstones and treasure chest and 5 yen coins… Hopefully I can finish the other parts for this later this week. For now, I have finished the octopus at last.

A week or two ago, I was sitting in the classroom finishing up my work for the day and sorting though my papers, when a teacher and a reporter sort of ambushed me and asked me if it was ok to do an interview. I wasn’t prepared, but I had no idea how to say no, so after finishing my mandatory deer-caught-in-headlight-moment (happens every time someone talks to me in Japanese without me being prepared), I just shook my head in a no-motion, but the words that came out of my mouth was “Yes, of course!”. (Well, in Japanese, but you get the drift.)

The reporter was a very nice man, but he used so much keigo I couldn’t understand much of what he asked me. Just for the record, Japan has a really complicated system of talking depending on who you are talking to. Not only does the grammar change, but the actual words you use change to completely new words. You can use words to put yourself down (humble) and raise the person you are talking to up (polite). Obviously just describing this could make any head hurt. At least mine. These three sentences mean the same:

1. 食べて、食べて！ – tabete, tabete! – please eat (friendly)
2. 食べてください。- tabete kudasai – please eat (little bit more formal)
3. 召し上がってください。- meshiagatte kudasai – please eat (polite)

So, after trying to decipher two questions in keigo (very polite) from the reporter, I told him in Japanese that I was really sorry, but my keigo wasn’t quite up to par for this kind of task, and if he could lower his speaking to a little bit (from number 3 on the list to number 2 on the list above.) Poor man! After that it went a lot better with understanding everything he had to say, but I still find that talking and answering back to people is the most difficult thing, so I kind of stumbled my way through something that felt like about 2.5 hours, but in fact was more like 10 minutes. Anyhow – I made it to the front page of the Asahi Newspaper!

And oh! I have to write about what the interview was about as well! My school has started a multilingual blog, where everyone write in their own language and post whatever they want about life in Tokyo! It is a really cute project, you can see the blog here:

http://www.kaij.jp/gambalog/

(& one more thing – if you click like on the posts from Kirakira, I can win a trip to Disneyland, haha.) But back to the point – if you are interested in Tokyo and daily life, it is a neat blog to follow.

These pictures are not new, but I realize I had never posted them here before. They are taken at the Mori Art Center in Roppongi, a spacious and beautiful observation deck. It is probably one of my favorite places on earth, I could look at all of the little buildings for hours on end.

(Long stoppage in the 365 project, I blame Japanese. Here is another one for now. )

I’ve been having some really ugly weeks lately, no matter what I put on, no matter how I did my makeup I just felt kind of slobby. Yesterday I went and got a haircut, and it worked wonders. I also got some new clothes, was looking for bottoms only right now. I usually only wear black clothes (no, not goth or metal inspired, I just feel like any other color hasn’t suited me for the past years,) but I actually got some skirts and shorts in different colors this time around.

Apparently you can wear the dotted skirt both ways, but I think I prefer it with the dots facing outwards. The other skirt looks a bit conservative, but since the rest of my clothes are not, I think it will be just perfect. I never used to like dark blue garments before, but it is growing on me.

The material of these shorts are half-shiny, and they had some cute details over the side pockets.

Maybe sailor theme is a bit last year, but I never got into it back then, so when I saw these shorts now I thought they were really cute with the little belt and buttons.

I almost, just almost, want to get a helmet like they have in Brødrene Dal, but luckily I can stop that urge and just go with these shorts instead.

I’ve seen so many beautiful flowers lately. One of these days I will buy some and take them home ♥

⁑ ⁂ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ☀ ☁ ☂ ◉ ♣ ♥ ♦ ♠ ✚ ⁑ ⁂ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ☀ ☁ ☂ ◉ ♣ ♥ ♦ ♠ ✚ ⁑ ⁂ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ☀ ☁ ☂ ◉ ♣ ♥ ♦ ♠ ✚ ⁑ ⁂ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ☀ ☁ ☂ ◉ ♣ ♥ ♦ ♠ ✚ ⁑ ⁂ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ☀ ☁ ☂ ◉

I like to keep the blog postive for the most part, but today I just had to enjoy some cheese and whine for breakfast, so here is a short whine-list:

• Today is already Wednesday, I have no idea what happened to Monday and Tuesday.
• Apparently there is a kanji-contest, but we are competing against everyone else in the entire school, from 初級 to 上級, so I will probably have no chance in hell reaching any kind if top-list.
• And then we have two hours of “free talk”, where we talk to Japanese people. This is all fine and dandy and a great offer, but I feel like I have nothing to say to other people, and forced conversation and chitchat just make me feel awkward.
• I saw that a blogger started offer to make design for other blogs for 100 NOK. And in her comment field, people were complaining about how expensive they thought that was. Seriously? (At the design agency I worked for, the average price of a web page was 10 000 NOK and upwards. Sure, a blog is a smaller thing to make, but still, I wouldn’t make blog-designs for 100 NOK.) I realize these kids (who thinks 100 NOK is expensive for a custom design)  probably are in junior high and only spend their parents money because they have no money on their own, but seriously, I bet they spend more money on McDonald’s pr week than a measly 100 NOK. They walk around in jeans that cost 1300 NOK, but 100 NOK on a custom design is expensive? Give me a break.
• My hair in Japan = akjgfljkrøoijgdns = I must wear a hat = skjfkljfs = it is too warm = bah.

Thank you and good day to you sir!

// Wall paintings in Nakano