come quick spring!

this design is so pretty! it's so bright and fun and everything spring-y.

so...a couple big things.

one is the most important and talked about thing around the world right now. the crazy 9.0 (or 8.9) earthquake that hit japan last friday followed by the even more devastating tsunami that washed out most of the coast of sendai and surrounding cities. seriously, the images and videos are insane and it's hard to image something like that could even happen. the earthquake alone would have been fine. i know for a fact japan could have easily survived and handled that huge earthquake. it was the tsunami that did the real damage. it's always the after-effects of large earthquakes, be it fire or tsunami, that causes the trouble.

most of my family in sendai live more inland towards the hills so they were far from the tsunami and weren't affected. but my one uncle apparently lived close enough to the water. we FINALLY got in contact with him today with the help of someone working in our japan office. apparently his house is so water-damaged he can't live there anymore. he's been at a shelter this whole time and he said it's ridiculously cold.

my mom was so relieved to hear from him and be able to talk to him. at the same time, she's really worried because he's at a shelter now and he's had trouble with work and depression before. plus he's one of those stubborn uncles that every family has that doesn't like to talk to family or keep in contact. sigh.

the second bit of news is actually very exciting [for me]. i just found out today that there is a Backstreet Boys Cruise! and this is the second one. i had absolutely no knowledge of the first one. but it takes place in december on the Carnival Destiny ship. it departs from the port of miami and it's for 3 days. OH MY GOD i want to go. i threw the idea out there to my mom to get an initial reaction and she said, "okay." o_o!!!!! i asked her why it was so easy and stressed i'd be going alone [though i'd be matched with a roommate for the ship] and she was like, "you're going to be 22...i can't really say no to everything anymore." holy hell.

with a lot of skimming through information, i'm guessing the total for everything might be around $1000, maybe more. about $700 for the ship [basics], plus the flight to/from miami, plus personal expenses. there was a little video from the boys and apparently last year they only used half the ship but this time they're using the whole ship. it seems like there'll be performances, photo ops, theme nights, beach party, and just partying with a bunch of other bsb fans. how fun would that be?! first off, you would not expect that to be a thing i'd do: go on a crazy party boat with no one i know, by myself. but oh my gosh, i would so do this. i think i could afford it all myself too if i just work until then. even if i can't, i can always pay back my mom. this is one of those things i'm going to be thinking about non-stop for a week or so. then we'll see if i'm serious or if i get over it.

third thing is i dropped my asian studies class. i talked to the teacher and she noticed i hadn't gone to class the past couple weeks and i told her i've been busy with work and that i'm just getting burned out with school, but mostly asian studies in particular. i talked to the head of the american studies department and he was a really cool guy. he explained that it's a very open, flexible major [as opposed to what i'm used to with japanese and asian studies where you have a set list of classes you choose from]. am/st is so broad there are SO many class options. and he said with what i've taken so far, i can easily start this major. i've taken 79 units and most of it is GE [which i only need one more class of] and japanese [which goes towards my certificate for it].

if i do do this, i might start next spring since i still want to be parttime in fall and take that second part of sign language. i might take one am/st class in fall to get the feel of it. but yeah, i feel good that i finally dropped the class and don't have to worry about it and am actually looking at another major option [whether i go with it or not doesn't matter right now, at least i'm looking into things].

okay, that was long. thanks for reading, bye! =]