So it looks like it's currently 112 yen to 1 dollar, approximately. I forget exactly what it was when I came over here, but it was more like 103-105 then. Why couldn't it have been 112 then and 103 now?! 190,000 yen will become like $1,700... that makes me a bit sad. Oh well. (Not that I can complain about that much money... it's really great ( Read more... )

Today I got everything done except closing my bank account. That'll be tomorrow. Also, I think I'm going to get off with even more money than I thought in my most recent calculation... because I'm only going to have to pay about 2,500 yen for the health insurance, well less than the 10,000 or so I was expecting from some bill-looking things I got ( Read more... )

I had a terrible time going to sleep last night... checked the clock one time and it was 4 am already. I guess I'm feeling nervous, imagine that. In any case, my mind was certainly racing ( Read more... )

So, it was really raining today. I got quite wet while out, despite having an umbrella. (See aside on my umbrellas) Apparently there's a typhoon about here... sure enough, looking at the radar it looks like the typhoon is right on top of us. Pretty weak... good amount of rain, although nothing spectacular, and a little wind. Fortunately, seems that ( Read more... )

A new computer is ordered! In an amazing stroke of luck, on some forum I found the code for a Dell 40% off coupon for Inspiron notebooks good this weekend only, just when I had been looking for a new computer. So...

( Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2 - specs )

So, just experienced the strongest (or at least what seemed the strongest) earthquake since I've been here. Actually, all the other times I've been inside when they happened, and I felt the floor shake some, which is certainly suprising. This time, I had gone out sometime a little after 4 to get lunch or something like that, and after having my ( Read more... )

Thinking to myself "two weeks from today I'll be back in America", I just can't imagine it. It's going to be so strange, even after only 4.5 months (at this point it does seem like "only" 4.5 months, rather than "a whole" 4.5 months like it seemed at first) here... I've gotten used to living here to some extent, and to some of the conveniences and ( Read more... )

Ok, complete edit of this post. So yesterday I bought a hard drive that I thought was pretty much exactly the same as the broken one (same brand, type, speed, etc) at Akihabara for about 6500 yen. Got home later and discovered that the place where it connects is different from the broken hard drive's, so I couldn't use it. Early afternoon today I ( Read more... )

Well, first of all I had a great weekend. Hung out with Priss, saw Star Wars, went to Hikone castle, got to relax and be in the (relative) country instead of Tokyo. It was really nice ( Read more... )

It's 6 AM and I've been up since 3:40. On the train home yesterday afternoon I nearly fell asleep standing up for the first time in my life... several times. Fell asleep about 4 PM and pretty much the next thing I knew it was 3:40... so I'm doing laundry now and trying to study a little for my kanji final today, but not really caring about it too ( Read more... )