To You

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up 
like a raisin in the sun? 
Or fester like a sore-- 
And then run? 
Does it stink like rotten meat? 
Or crust and sugar over-- 
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags 
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Just One More Thing

The nacho cheese was delicious. It was a perfect creamy texture. It tasted cheesy. It was not too think or too thick. It was too perfect. I had to add something to it. So I added taco meat. Then, I was scooping cups of water/grease out of it. Why does this always happen?

The chicken soup was good. Then I added lemon juice.

The pineapple upside down cake was good. Then I added pineapple juice.

The mashed potatoes were good. Then I added milk.

The list goes on and on. If I could just stop before the last addition, I would be a great *cough* cook :)

Japanese-Man Angel

Thanks, Japanese-Man Angel. 

I am pretty sure that's what you were. 

Stopping to help two stranded girls at 10 pm in the middle of a dark lonely road. 

What were you thinking? We could have been dangerous...Ok, ok. Maybe not. But still, you didn't have to. 

Did you know that you came 5 minutes after Alex ran out of gas? 

I know you saw our white splattered clothes outlined by headlights and wondered if we just jumped out of a trashcan. 

But since you're an angel, you probably knew that we just finished making a whale pinata.

 

You dashed off on angel wings, hidden by a car, and gave a gas present to us within 10 minutes. Afterwards, you filled the car and promptly refused anything from us, even gratitude. I was too shocked for words, Angel, I didn't even know what to say.

It was over before we even knew what happened. Before we decided to do something not so smart.  Before Ken could make it over with his fish tank tube to siphon gas out of his car since we thought all gas stations were closed. Before we ended up starting things on fire.

This is for you Japanese-Man Angel, wherever you are. 

I hope you know how I feel.

Honto ni, Arigato.

English is hard.

Why doesn't English make sense? Think about it from their point of view.  

Student: "Are you sick?" 

Me: No, I am not. 

Student:"Well, are you influenza?"

Me: I play baseball.  Student: "I play soccerball." 

Me: I play volleyball. Student: "I play tennisball."

Me: I killed the other team in the soccergame! 

Student: "I went to Nara to kill the team in the soccergame."

Me: "I like to play games at home." 

Student: "I like to play rollercoasters at Universal Studios."

Me: "I like to go to the mall." 

Student: "I like to go to home."

The Test

I sat down to take the test, thinking I was confident about it. I mean, I wasn’t stressed out studying the night before like everyone else. I was drinking chu-hai (think Zima) and making sure the 4 lbs Cheddar cheese I bought was full of ice and safe for my joint birthday party this week. I entered the 100-ish person room and was directed to the number taped on a desk towards the back of the room. Phew, good. As I sat down, I tried to think of the word in Japanese for WIN. But all I saw in my mind’s eye was MAKETA. I quickly tried to shove LOSE out of my mind and replace it with the real word for WIN…but I couldn’t remember it. Then directions started, so I tried to shake my mind free from MAKETA, holding tightly onto my mind unbidden. I looked at the clock on the wall waiting for the countdown til the test. No opening yet or I would get a yellow card warning. I was disoriented since the clock on the wall was about half an hour fast. How long did I have!? I need a clock, my mind screamed. But when I heard hajimemasu, like a shotgun I raced with my pencil across the test. After this first round of Vocabulary and Writing, I remembered the word for win; Katsu. Too late. Sigh. After a 40minute break, the second round of testing, Listening, began. Again I tried to envision Katsu, which came to my mind weakly. At the end of the test, I saw a roach crawling across the desk and into this girl’s long hair. The girl behind her shooed it away, I don’t know what I would do. Maybe stand up and scream, earning me the red card that would get me kicked out. For the 1-hour lunch break, a dozen or so of us Westerners (most people were Chinese, Korean or Philipino) ate lunch together and discussed the roach-infested room, of which about half of us saw roaches in various places skittering around the room. After eating pizza and looking for non-existent vending machines (ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS!) the last round was about to begin. This was the nikujyaga of the test, the meat and potatoes that is worth the most: 70 minutes of pure, unadulterated Reading and Grammar. I studied this the most, so I was looking forward to seeing what I knew. I didn’t envision katsu or maketa but I felt relaxed. The Alice-in-Wonderland-esque clock in the room, the crawling roaches and MAKETA makes me disoriented about how I did. I truly can’t tell…but we will know in February. Iyada. However, even if I don’t pass, I am glad I did it. If I hadn’t committed to this test, I wouldn’t have pushed myself so hard or learned so much, and that makes me happy. I shot for the moon, and hopefully I will end up somewhere among the stars. Or at least out of Earth's atmosphere and in outer space somewhere. KATSU!

Fun in a Mask

I stayed home sick on Monday (just a cold), so on Tuesday when I walked into school, everyone looked shocked. They thought I was going to be gone all week, because instead of plain sick, all they heard was possible INFLUENZA. But, they let me stay since I don’t have the flu, and I am glad because I want to teach! So I gave in today and decided to wear a mask at school, since I am sick and I want to give everyone peace of mind. Everyone is freaking out about the influenza. At first it feels like everything is muffled and unclear. After adjusting it incessantly for 2 hours, I think I finally got the feeling of it on my face. I think I like it. No one knows what I am thinking, because half my expressions are covered by the mask. I can talk to myself and no one knows that my lips are moving. I wore it in my car today and I can sing and no one knows that I am singing!  I even wore it home; I feel like I am being stealth; who am I? Oh, that’s right you don’t know. For you all you know, I could be Japanese! So cool, everyone should wear a mask sometimes. It would be cool to decorate them too. Like you can draw Twizzler lips on it, or an alien mouth, or perhaps use it as a halloween costume. I think I will have a decorate-a-mask-and-rock-it party for my birthday coming up soon! ;)