Whoooo! Japan!!

Okay, here we go!  I am officially in Tokyo!!!
I am on the Shinkansen as we speak.  I can't connect to the internet though,  so I'm just typing this on the note thing on my Mom's iPad.  I'm hoping it will let me copy and paste it onto my blog once I have Internet.  
It's strange typing on an iPad, but I'm getting used to it.  It would be a major pain if it didn't capitalize and add apostrophes for me.  
so far, the journey has gone amazingly smoothly.  I made it to both of my planes, and I got to watch Les Miserables after the connection flight left from Canada.   Thats one way to get all emotional on the plane.  Heh.  
I arrived in Tokyo and got my train pass, and then hopped on a train to Shinjuku.  Despite an amazing lack of sleep, I was glued to the window, taking in everything about my first views of Japan.  
Although I'm not sure I could explain how it's different from America, I could definitely feel it.  
At first, it was mainly rice fields, bamboo, and big vine covered trees.  It was all so beautiful and green.  Then we started passing some buildings and I started to notice differences in the architecture.  A lot of it was modern, but a lot of it had Japanese twists.  Especially the rooftops.  
I was afraid I'd have trouble finding my hotel because my map sucked.  But the map in the station meant that I had no trouble at all.  Which is awesome because the first day here was making me a bit nervous.  
It's very strange being in a city where no one looks anything like you.  Heheh.  I've been to places like this before.  Little places, like the Asian fair.  But never on this scale.  Even In China, I was surrounded by my classmates the entire time.   So now I am completely immersed in a different country and different culture.  All alone.  Let's see how it goes from here on!   Hopefully getting from here to there will continuei to be as simple as it has been.  
I finally went to bed after 24 hours with no sleep (except for briefly passing out on the plane. ) 
I woke up about 4:30 am and checked out a couple hours later. 
Japanese transportation really is amazing.  We should really try to copy them more.  Their trains are awesome and their stations are easy to find your way around in.  Plus they make it very easy for us poor saps who can't read Japanese and can only speak a little of it.  
The train from Shinjuku to Tokyo was for women only? That's a new one for me. I got to the Tokyo station way early,but that meant that I was able to slip on an earlier Shinkansen.  So, here I am, zooming south on one of the fastest trains in the world, headed for Kyoto.  Whoo!

Aaand I'm in Kyoto now! And once again, I'm exhausted. Stupid jet lag. Hopefully it will go away soon.
Got a bit stuck tryin to get from the Kyoto station to my hotel, but I figured it out. And I spent the rest of the day just walking around downtown. And my feet are ready to fall off. ,
I really should try to speak more Japanese while I'm here. I'm afraid I'll accidentally say something morning, I guess.
Gonna meet Ellen day after tomorrow! I haven't seen her in ages!

Japan

So, Fanime was awesome and fun, as always. I got to spend too much money, and see awesome costumes and art, and hang out with friends, and meet artists I like on DA.
And I found a Twelve Kingdoms print~ First time I've seen something from Twelve Kingdoms there.
I wore my Chihiro outfit again, and carried Haku around.

And Dad and I saw Epic yesterday. The name they gave the movie is stupid, but I liked the movie a lot. It was beautiful to watch. I really liked Queen Tara and Ronin.
This might be the first time I've seen my name in a movie that was actually pronounced the way I say it...
And Dad thought it was hilarious that they used the name Lar for the cab driver, since that's what he often goes by, but no one else really uses "Lar."
I was afraid they were going to kill Ronin, or turn him into a traitor, since that seems to happen often with his character type. But they did neither! Yaay~ He had a great accent. Heheh.

So...

In other news......

I'm getting up very early tomorrow and going to the airport.

To go to Japan.

By myself.

I'll post about it when I get there. Cross your fingers for me!

Graduation~

Whoo! I graduated today!
It was very log and boring. Our department was a little quite island with a few rows of really loud, noisy people in front and behind us. They'd get up and scream and run around, and throw beach balls through the crowd, and be really obnoxious and disrespectful. People were drinking, and we got a whiff of marijuana. I couldn't hear anything they said in the ceremony. It was 30x crazier than high school graduation. Apparently it's pretty normal though?
But the department celebration after the ceremony was fun. We got food and I said bye to a bunch of my classmates and teachers. (I may have found a lead on another grad program, since the last one I found ended up being super expensive. --_--
So, off to Fanime tomorrow. I guess I'll go as Chihiro again, and carry my Haku plushie around. I didn't really do anything new this year. I guess I could have dressed up as Ling, because I finished making his shirt a few days ago. But I didn't feel like spraying my hair black. And I never find guy costumes as interesting when they're worn by girls. So I don't see why I should do it. Although... I might actually do better dressing as a guy. Heh.

Chapter Reading

For the creative writing class last Thursday, we read the first chapter of my Katani story (I guess it's the second chapter, but the first chapter is a prologue. It's the first chapter with Katani in it).
I always feel nervous when I share my fantasy stuff with people, as opposed to non-fantasy stuff. I wonder why that is.
Ugh. Katani still isn't coming out enough! Maan. I think he's better in the later chapters, but it's really important in the first chapter. XP Katani , you are not the type to lurk in the background! Stop avoiding meee!

Whyy, Crystal? For the second time, you write a bunch of stuff on the blog, and then delete it? I didn't even get to read it all this time TT^TT

People Watching

Kind of a response to Tara's rhetorical question and I quote: "But how do you "research" guys hanging out without looking like some weird stalker?"

My only answer? Become a very good stalker.

People watching feels really awkward but you can actually get pretty good at it if you're constantly observing them.

"And here we see the now not so rare occurrence of a person who has no idea what they're talking about. Careful or we might spook 'em"

Ahem. My safari tour guide impression needs work. Moving on.

The best ways to actual observe people in their natural habitat is to ingrain yourself into their natural habitat. What do I mean by that, you ask? The answer is fairly simple, but it's just go make friends.  They don't even have to be your direct friends.  They can be your friend's friends that you would normally never hang out with save for the fact that some how your friend has given this group of people the 'ok'. (Which also may mean you need new friends anyway... but that's a psychology/sociology problem not a writing problem)

Sure they might not exactly be your cup of tea, but it's not like you're inherently obliged to keep in contact with them (barring of course if you actually want to pursue a longer lasting friendship).  You can just be known as the friend of the friend.  That's fine. I'm not asking you to go and literally make friends, but to put yourself in situations to go out into the world and well... experience new things and environments.

"Birds of a feather flock together"

The old adage that still rings true.  Chances are you and your most intimate group of friends have quite a bit in common. Sure, you may not have the same exact tastes, but I'm sure in the grander scheme of things you're more similar than different. If not, then good for you for branching out.  Either way, you're not going to  find any new fish if you keep fishing in the same metaphorical pond.

No friends to pester? No problem. Go join a new club/hobby/extracurricular/what have you.  The more interests you have the more 'ponds' you can choose from.

Now to the actual observation part.  This is probably the hardest thing to do because you need to function like a normal (well as normal as one can get) human being and still be observing them.  The easiest thing I've found is to actually listen rather than talk.  See who is talking and who is listening as well.  The power balance of the group.  Who's the 'leader'? Who's the 'yes man'? Who's the 'lancer'? Who's the whatever? (check tvtropes cause there's a trope for everything)

After you've established the roles of the group see how they deviate from those roles.  When does the person essential break out of their trope or add on a new one? When are they 'out of character'? This will help show that people can break out of their respective roles and surprise you.

And finally the what.  What on earth are they actually talking about? Conversations are actually very fluid and nonsensical, but nobody wants to read about how characters always ask how things are going so book conversations tend to be rather fast paced (especially where plot is involved).  Pacing is a tricky thing, so it's best to just let it go naturally and then go back and remove 'word fluff' (excessive words that don't help the story, although they may not hinder the story either, but there is a time and place for everything).

So let's sum that up real quick cause it's late and I'm kind of tired of typing. Here's my advice:

-Hang out with people that you normally don't or wouldn't hang out with (just once is fine, I do however suggest more.  But please don't hang out with super sketchy people.  Most important rule of human interaction, make sure you are comfortable and safe. If not, get out now)

-Think about how you would categorize actual people into characters (using tvtropes is a great way to get ideas)

-finally what do they talk about? (using real life ideas can help make your conversations more interesting and random. Remember the truth is stranger than fiction)

That's my advice... yup.

Grad Stuff and Completed Fanfic!

I may have found another creative writing grad program to apply to. I asked my creative writing teacher, and there's one pretty close by that I may even be able to get into this fall. I'm waiting for some info to arrive in the mail. It will probably be too late to apply for financial aid, but I still have some loan money from before. So I should be able to get through. It might be kind of expensive though...

Also, last night I finished my 4th Pokémon fanfiction! Whoo! It was a fun one to write. It was also the fanfic where I no longer updated once a week (which I stuck to pretty religiously until recently). So, now I get to start my next fanfic! Moving on to Unova. Heheh. I'm gonna have fun making Cara and N get into fights about stuff. >:3
I also clicked on the number of views my fanfics get. Before, I really only paid attention to who followed and commented on my stuff. But there's a helluvalot of views on my writing. @_@ I had no idea.

Fact of the Day: Birds do something called circular breathing. When humans exhale, we release most, not all, of the air in our lungs. And when we inhale, new air is mixed with the older air.
When birds inhale, the air moves in one direction so that new and old air don't mix. Air comes in and moves out a different way. This helps their bodies work more efficiently so they can do cool stuff like fly.

Meeting+Talking

So, I've been working on the chapter where Katani gets to meet his teammates (or at least 3 of them - Tri, Melly, and Dominic). I've already rewritten it a couple times, and will probably rewrite it again before long. It still doesn't feel great to me. Sigh. It's a tricky part to do. I don't want Katani to immediately become pals with them, but I want him to start to realize that they're not too different from his own friends.
I don't think Melly picks on Tri enough during this scene. But if I try to make it happen more, it seems a bit too ridiculous.
And while Dominic's supposed to not talk much (at first) he's sort of totally absent from the scene. --_-- So I gotta include him better.
Sigh. I'm sure I'll get it right eventually.
Coming up, I'm also going to do a scene with Katani and Tri, where they start to become buddies. In my first draft, my interactions between guys kinda sucked. Considering I'm a girl and therefore take place in either girl-girl interactions, or girl-guy interactions. So I'm gonna have to do a lot better on those too. But how do you "research" guys hanging out without looking like some weird stalker?

Fact of the Day: Lipizzaner are a breed of horse once used in battle, but now often used in dressage. They have been trained to do amazing maneuvers (look them up on Youtube).
Almost all Lipizaners are white. But they're born a dark brown color and don't turn white for a few years.

Acrostic Poem

I think I'll do one more poem outline.
This time the acrostic poem. You're probably seen it before. Because if you take the first letter of each line, it will spell a word. Often a person. And the poem is about that one word.
I guess I should to an example. Hmm. But that means I'd have to think of one.
Maybe later. I waited too late to write this, so my brain is too sleepy to think poetry. Heheh.

I've got four more plushie orders before I leave for Japan. So that's good. I definitely need the money, and I have time to finish all of them before I take off. And someone bought one of the other premade plushies I put on Etsy. I added a couple of my Pokémon plushies that I made a while ago because I have too many plushies, and I need money. @_@ And not just for Japan. I keep having to buy expensive medicine for Alaska. Her abscess tooth isn't getting worse, but in order to keep it that way, she needs to take 2 kinds of medicine. And I had to buy both of them last week. $80. Holy frack. I wonder if her tooth will ever get better. The vet might be able to take it out, but it's not certain that it will fix everything. And it might create other problems. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do anything about it before Japan... so I just home Mom and Dad can take care of her good while I'm gone.
TT^TT poor bunny. It's sad having an old pet, because she has so many problems now.
And Leaf has been stealing my plushie pieces. I think she stole one of the wings. Mom and I looked everywhere, but can't find it. I'll ask Dad in the morning. The wings are really annoying to make, so I hope I can find it.

Trying to figure out my first day in Japan has been really crazy. In many ways. Because originally I thought I'd be able to get off the plane and on a train to Kyoto. But it turns out that there's no way I'd be able to get to the train station on time. So I was stressing about that for a while and finally decided that the only thing to do was stay in Tokyo for the night. So I had to get a hotel room and cancel one night in Kyoto. But I couldn't cancel just one night. I had to re-book the entire thing and then delete my first reservation. Why does it have to be so hard?
But I'm definitely glad I did it. Now I feel a helluvalot better about the trip.