Wow....It's really been a long time.

So I suppose you should settle in for a long ride. Or not. My time is reduced because I have to get up early in the morning. Damn. I wanted to write an insanely long post, but I ended up reading Questionable Content (Its a webcomic) for most of the day. On the plus side, I should catch up to TJ fairly soon.

Anyway, It's been a while! Sorry! Uh, would it be utterly terrible of me to focus on my body for this post? I guess it would....so I'll do that at the end, where you can skip it if you don't wanna read. *raises brow* Though knowing all of you, you'll read it because you're curious, regardless of whether you really think you wanna know or not. And then regret it, or shrug or something.

Anyway, lately I've been getting plenty of gifts. Not just Christmas, but like, extra jobs, and the monies kinda been coming in rather nicely. I didn't really get very many Christmas gifts, and I don't expect to, but I've received some pretty awesome stuff lately. It makes me feel guilty though, because I don't feel like I deserve them.
I've gotten a Hana-Kanzashi, and I know those are fairly expensive, but the person literally set it on top of some of my bags as I transferring seats, and then ran off before I could look inside and see what it was. I haven't seen them since. But I really wanted one....but they're expensive!! Argh, I'm still conflicted. I don't know what to do about that.
I went shopping with Ikuchin the other day, and she bought me a jacket and some underpants (by that, I really do mean pants for wearing under clothing) for winter as a Christmas gift. I told her it was unnecessary, that I was really just happy to be able to borrow a muffler from her, but....*sigh* She's so scary sometimes....She takes that "Kill with kindness" technique to new levels. I hope I can be half as strong with that type of thing when I get back. Seriously, sometimes I feel like a hen-pecked husband. I had the insane urge to buy flowers and chocolate on my way home from school simply because I skipped my first class that morning (I overslept). Anyways....

I have discovered that if you get in a bath filled with Yuzu (a type of fruit similar to a lemon) and you have scrapes or scratches on any part of your body, it will hurt. It will burn and itch, and turn really red, and you're just kinda like 0_0????. But it was a really nice smelling bath.

Wow. I had no idea I knew all these 80s songs. I'll post them here after I'm done because I'm sure you all know and love them too. I'm not sure how I got onto the 'listen to 80s music' bend.

We're finally finished with school for the next two? weeks. I'm so excited, except that I now am not getting any exercise, and I feel lonely cause I can't talk to anyone but Ikuchin unless I got out somewhere, but even if I go out, all my friends are busy, so I'm kinda lonely lately.....So I think I'll go out running (yes, I said running. Gasp and widen the eyes children) if I don't do anything productive that day. Or if I gained weight the day before. *nods* That'll keep me out of the figurative cookie jar. Sadly, Ikuchin has no cookie jar here.

I've been feeling the insane urge to post some of my more insane thoughts on facebook and AIM, but I realize that's not the best idea, because it may freak out people that don't know me as well as all of you (should) know me. (If you don't know me that well, I'm not sure you should be reading this type of blog. I basically bare my soul here, after all. Or at least my regular happenings and thoughts) So I decided I should post those thoughts on here, but .....yeah, you guessed it. I forget the thoughts a few minutes later. *sigh* I'll try to write them down or something, because I really wanna share them with everyone. 

Can I talk about my body now? Thinking about it makes me a little stressed, so I wanna write it out and see if it's really that bad a few days from now.  Uh, this means skip it if you don't somewhat intimate details. Go straight to the videos if you're not interested. Skip now.

So everyone knows I've been dieting, right? Yay me? Not really. My weight kinda jumps a little. It jumps a little up, and a little down, and Ikuchin gets all excited and I'm like ".....No, really. No cause for excitement..." So my weight fluctuates, but it's been going steadily downward. So that's a good thing.
My body shape however, has changed quite a bit. See, we have a HUGE mirror in the bathroom. So everytime I weigh myself, I also get a great (note the possible sarcasm) look at myself.
My waist has toned down, I can feel the muscles in my stomach. That reminds me: I now totally understand why bf loved to rub my belly. It's so soft and warm. Uhhhh.....Anyway.
I have a bit of the hourglass shape going on until you get to my overly endowed thighs. Those babies are like "BAM!" and they keep my legs from tapering from the hips.
But below the knees, there's practically no fat, and my feet aren't ending up nearly as bruised as they used to from walking and stuff.
My chest seems to have shrunk, and even Ikuchin seems disappointed. She's like "Just lose the stomach! Don't lose any breast! They're great! Lost the stomach and you'll be perfect!!" Heh. I'm relieved to lose a bit of it, really. They like to say 'Hi' a little too much for my comfort.
My chest area below my breasts is getting a little definition now. It's kinda cool.
My arms....meh. I think they might be a bit smaller, but I can't really tell, to be honest.
My jaw-line and neck however: The entire shape has apparently changed and everyone who doesn't see me regularly comments on it. My host family is all "You've become so cute!!!" in a totally not-being-mean way. I just shrug it off. I mean, I'm happy for the compliments, but I'm not fully satisfied yet. There's room for improvement, you know?
Besides, I don't know how to receive a compliment in Japanese. We were strenuously told not to say thank you for them. To point out a fault or something instead. That's hard when you have limited Japanese!
With this, you have a fairly detailed description of the changes in my WAIT! I forgot!!! MY BUTT!!!
Dude, you peeps wouldn't BELIEVE my butt! I'm getting an ass! Like, I can SEE an ass! And it isn't saggy! And it's all curvy!! And it hurts like a F****ER most days. But it's getting some serious definition!!! I'm utterly amazed. Though I admit, I have a chant in the mornings for when I'm going to school by bike. "I don't need an ass! It hurts! I don't need an ass when it hurts!! Damnit! I don't need an ass! It hurts!" It's a cycle of chanting. *nods*  It's very difficult to get to school on bike. I've actually shifted my way slowly all the way up to the 6th gear. You should all be very proud of me, except that I usually end up like @_@ when I finally get to school. Then my skin gets all blotchy and red from the blood flow to new parts of my body, and I have sweat just pouring down my brow.
Speaking of skin, while my skin is somewhat dry, I've had pretty clear skin for a few months now. I really do think Japan agrees with me. Except for Oysters and Natto. *grimace* If you think my body description is bad, ask me about the oysters. Bleeeerph.  Anyway, skin! I don't use anything. I just wash my face pretty often, which contributes to the dryness, but I put lotion on before bed, so it isn't all that bad. I've even gotten compliments on it lately.
My hair however....everyone suggests I just cut it off. If I had a 100yen coin for every time Ikuchin has insinuated that I'd be ultra cute with short hair, I wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of my stay here. If they're not suggesting I cut it, they're saying it looks like a wig, or wow, it's surprisingly soft, or wow, It goes fwah fwah. Yes, literally, they say fuwa fuwa (which sounds like fwah fwah). And that's a description of my hair. Welcome to my world. I'm still debating cutting the stuff off. But not until winter is over. I need the warmth. *nods*
With this, you are know aware of my bodily changes....well, the PG ones anyway. I could go farther, but that's just entirely unnecessary, don't you think? ^.^ G'night!

I got this song as representative of me on a fb quiz. Quality is terrible, so please look it up on youtube. I couldn't embed the good ones: (Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper)