Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Reintegration
Greetings All! It’s been a full two weeks since I made my grand reentry into the States. I easily fell back into the rhythm of things here. I took it easy for the first few days after my return so as to give my body some time to adjust after the grueling trip across the Pacific. My recovery from jet lag in the early part of last week officially ended the trip for me, for it seems my life abruptly returned to normal after that. I resumed work at the ice cream shop last Thursday and start summer classes at a local college today. From the outside it would appear that nothing in my life has changed since the trip. I guess that is a good thing, though. A return to the norm is the best thing for me right now. I am about to enter my last semester of college and I need to work hard to raise my GPA. So, for now I shall settle with the norm, but if there is one thing that this trip has taught me it’s that I am simply not satisfied with the norm. I want something more from my life and I’m not sure what that is yet. But, with this being my last semester, my life will be changing greatly as of December, 20th. So, we’ll all have to see where my life takes me. It should be fun. Scary… but fun. ^_^

Monday, June 23rd and Tuesday, June 24th - El Reingreso Grande
My farewell to the wonderful folks at NLL was a brief one. As I said in the previous post, I thought my flight was a day later than it actually was. So, the morning of Monday, June 23rd, was a frantic one. I informed Iwaoka-san of my revised departure time, he informed the troops, and they all gave me a wonderful send-off in the chapel a couple hours later. I did my best to finish the last of the activity book before I had to leave, but that simply didn’t happen. I have been working these past couple weeks to complete my activity book through email correspondence.

As a special treat, the design team presented me with farewell gifts. They gave me four pairs of chopsticks (one for me and the rest were for my family), a wooden fan, some beautiful postcards featuring images by a popular Japanese Christian artist, a bottle of sakura scented room mist, and some green tea. I liked it all and was very grateful. I wish I had something to give them, but I didn’t. They’ll be receiving some gifts in the mail though. ^_^

The trip back to the States was a doozy. It would have been nice if it had just been one or two flights, but instead it was four flights that took more than 24 hours to complete. The first flight was the most pleasant of them all. It was the transpacific flight. I sat next to a Taiwanese family that had clearly not been on many planes if any at all. The poor elderly gentleman couldn’t find his seat, didn’t know how to use his light, fan, television, or audio system, and he disturbed everybody within his immediate vicinity every time he wanted to get up for any reason. But, like I said, it was still a pleasant trip and sitting near him only added a bit of humor to the experience.

Upon landing in Los Angeles I went through customs and did my best to find my way to my connecting gate. I was in no rush, though. I had a full nine hours of layover time. I landed at a little after 11 AM and didn’t leave until 8:30 PM. My layover was anything but boring though. My mother was irritated that I was having to stay in L.A. for so long so she asked if I would go to the ticket counter and try to get on an earlier, more direct flight. Of course I wasn’t asked to do this until after I had gone through security and made it to my gate. So, to go to the ticket counter I had to leave the gate area. I did this and stood in two lines before I finally found the right line to be in. I sat in that line for three hours before I gave up and went back through security for the third time.

Now, you’re wondering why I went though security three times instead of just two. That’s because I went to the wrong terminal. I was directed to terminal one by the baggage handler who took my bag to be checked through to Chattanooga. After crossing to the opposite end of the airport from terminal seven, I went through security at terminal one. Three people looked at my boarding pass before I made it into the gate area. When I made it into the gate area and couldn’t find my flight listed on the boards, I went to the help desk to make sure I was in the right place, which of course I wasn’t. The gentleman at the help desk told me to go back to terminal seven where I had just come from. One would figure one of the three people who looked at my boarding pass would have noticed that the airline I was traveling on was not being served in terminal one, but no.

After I finally made it to my gate for the last time I found lunch. I called a friend of mine and chatted for a few hours while I ate my pizza and waited for my plane. That was nice and relaxing. I then typed out a little more of my Kyoto post before finally boarding my plane which took me on a short hour-long flight to Tucson, Arizona.

This plane flight was by far the most irritating one of the entire trip. As I boarded the plane I discovered that the seat I had been assigned was being occupied by a Latino woman and her son who could not speak any English. The stewardess could not communicate to them to tell them to move to their assigned seats, so she told me to find an open seat and sit down. I went across the aisle. Not only did these two Latinos not sit in the right place, they also brought too much baggage for our flight and would not allow the stewardess to take their bags to check them. Frustrated, the stewardess allowed them to store their bags anywhere they could. They stored their bags above my new seat, leaving me no room to store my own piece of carry-on, my backpack. The stewardess told me to store it under my seat instead, since I was on the front row and didn’t have any place else to store it. As I went to store it under my seat, I the man behind me, who also happened to be Latino, looked at me and said in a very harsh tone, “I got no damn leg room.” At this point I’m getting very frustrated, and fought the urge to tell the guy to shut up and deal with it like an adult. Instead I courteously took my bag, walked three or four rows back to the first open storage space I could find, and stored it. I didn’t like having my bag that far out of sight, it had my tea set and laptop in it, but what else was I to do? Thankfully, my bag and its contents emerged from the flight unharmed and in one piece.

In Tucson I had two hours to kill. I spent that time talking on the phone and munching on cookies to try to keep from falling asleep like I so wanted to do. I feared that if I fell asleep in Tucson I would not wake up to make it onto my next flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. I managed to stay awake long enough to make it onto the plane and to my seat, but I was asleep before we even left the ground. I woke up when we landed. In Charlotte I only had about 45 minutes or so of waiting before my last flight to Chattanooga. At this point it was 6 AM on Tuesday, June 24th and I’ve been traveling for more than a day. I thought about snagging some food before getting on my flight, but I didn’t have time. The last flight was a quick one, I enjoyed the flight, and I made it back to Chattanooga safely.

My mother met me at the airport. We exchanged hugs and talked as we strolled down to the baggage claim area. I was thankful when my bag was actually the first one off the plane. No waiting. From the airport my mother took me straight out to breakfast. I needed energy badly if I was going to make it through the day so as to work my body onto the new time schedule. Breakfast, and the two cups of coffee I drank, gave me enough energy to make it through until about 2 PM or so. After that it was all will power. At 3 PM, my mother and I went to see the movie Kung Fu Panda. Movies are one of the things that I can always stay awake through, so that was a good plan. It was a fun movie. As I had requested, we went out for Mexican food after the movie. My dad met us there. I wasn’t completely coherent through the meal, but I managed. In fact, I managed to stay awake all the way until 9 PM or so with the help of television and the encouragement of my parents. I slept wonderfully the entire night.

Scooping Again
As I said at the beginning of the post, I am back working at the ice cream store. I haven’t pulled a shift there since early August and I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t remember how everything worked. They weren’t going to train me for a second time, so I was on my own. On my third day back in the States I went downtown to see a movie and drop by the store to reacquaint myself with its workings. All went smoothly, and it all came back to me like I had never been away. My worry was for naught and I couldn’t be more happy about that.

I started work again on July 4th. This had me worried at first (what’s new) but I feel back into the swing of things so easily that it was no problem at all. It wasn’t even that busy of a day. The busiest day of this whole week so far has been Sunday. We got slammed by a couple youth groups. I hate youth groups because they’re large, noisy, messy, and they don’t tip. They’re more work than they’re worth. Bur, for the most part that’s the only downside of being back. The only other downside about being back is having to deal with this one girl. I was hoping she wouldn’t still be working at the shop this summer, but she is. She’s the sister of one of the managers who is apparently not working there anymore. She irritates me because she’s critical (always corrects me no matter what slight mistake I make), irritable, and acts like she runs the joint. There was one night last summer when I got stuck closing with her and her sister. I was so irritated by the end of the night I actually went to the bar next door and had a drink. That’s not normal. I hope I don’t work with her much, but there’s not much I can really do about it. I’m not going to request not to work with her. They’re already doing me a favor by letting me start work so late in the summer. I’ll just suffer if I have to. Let’s just pray I don’t have to suffer too much.

Well, that’s all I have for now. My posts shall become shorter in the future. So, no more twelve page posts that you have to read. ^_^ YAY! Well, thanks for you continuing to read my posts despite their length and I hope you all have a wonderful day! Ciao!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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