Fire Cookies and Hardened Powderpuffs

I'm completely overjoyed to inform you that I have almost nothing to talk about this week. I've pretty much been recovering from the energy expended on the Kyoto trip and praying for Golden Week to start already so I have some damn time to rest and catch up on some things that have been piling up.

On Sunday, Naoko and I went to check out my buddy Dustin's Green Day cover band in Yonago. We were really worried because we got there a bit late, but they started late, so yeah... They were actually really damn good. Lots of energy and some good laughs (Dustin went all out dressing in a french maid outfit for one of the songs) and quality music/singing. Downside is the venue was really small and the music was really loud... we were there for maybe twenty minutes, and we both agreed that it felt like someone was holding pillows over our ears for the next half an hour or so. There's a reason I don't normally go to concerts and the like. In other news, I feel sorry for Naoko whenever she drives me somewhere... I spend pretty much the whole trip staring out the window in silence except for when I mutter about how something I saw is beautiful every half a minute or so. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to stop acting like a tourist here.

Monday was... uneventful. Errands, errands, Japanese class, errands. Oh, Naoko proved that she's freaking amazing again. I'm planning on taking the JLPT this Summer. I thought it was a month later than it is, which means I suddenly found myself with less than a week to meet the application deadline. To apply, you have to buy an application packet from a bookstore. The only one that sells it in Matsue is sold out, and I think they told me that I'd have to go to Izumo or Yonago to get it. With my schedule, there's no way I would make it in time. I mentioned it to Naoko (while she was at work and super busy, mind you), and said I'd probably just have to take the one in Winter. Somehow she found the time while at work to look up the information for the JLPT, find the bookstore in Matsue that sells it, call them, and order a packet that will arrive in time for me to apply. Have I mentioned that I really like this girl?

Random Shit:
1.) Don't recall if I mentioned this last post or not, and I'm too lazy to look. I had to go to the mall where I sometimes buy groceries after work one day earlier in the week to pick something up that I needed for some reason that night. When I entered, there were about 6 or 7 police officers arresting... two of the teenagers who have talked to me a few times. Specifically, the dude who I think is together with the Minny Mouse girl and the guy that first started a conversation with me buy talking about how tall I was. I recall seeing them on the way back from lunch about a week ago yelling at some dude, at which point they told me they were fighting. I thought it was a joke, but I later verified (I think) that that's what got them in trouble. I really thought these kids were just powderpuff gangsters... shows how crappy I am at judging people. I am legitimately worried about how much trouble they got into though. I haven't seen them around since then, and I'm not sure if they were actually arrested. I mean, I didn't see any cuffs, but the cops were holding their arms behind their backs. Hopefully I'll be able to find out what happened if I see any of them again.
2.)

Had an area teacher's meeting in Yonago this week, and saw this at the station. It's made out of water bottles. So awesome.

 3.)

Naoko made these scrapbooks from Kyoto. I won't subject you to more pictures of what you've already seen, but they're freaking amazing. She spent all week working on them, and it really shows.

4.) Another thing I don't know if I mentioned last week: I saw Japanese boy scouts in Kyoto. They were fundraising or something. I'm still enough of a boyscout nerd from when I was a kid to recognize that they were webelos (I think that's how it's spelled, but my spellcheck is disagreeing with me). I... really thought that was just an American thing.

5.) Another AWESOME student mistake: firecookies instead of firecrackers. My favorite mistakes are the ones that make complete and total sense if you think about it for a minute. In that it's entirely understandable how the student came to that mistake, I mean.

Ummm... I think that's all. Excuse me while I put into motion my nefarious plan to sneak attack my bed. Shhhhh....