Happy 35th Birthday to the man who taught me how to live.

My life has been a roller coaster for the past six months, and I've barely had time to think about what I want for dinner, much less Green Day - but that's the great part about them. Billie Joe doesn't demand my time or attention or focus; he's always there in the backdrop of my life, the cornerstone of my adolescence and adulthood, supporting the intricate structure of what has become my life has become. Billie, Mike and Tre are my Constants, my Foundations, the X and Y axises by which I plot and measure the rest of the points in my life. They are the heros of my childhood, who've grown up right along with me, and become Heros for the World with all the amazing things they've been doing for the environment and for human rights.

Today, I will wear one of my many Green Day tee shirts with pride. I will go about my business on this day, which will be Just Another Day for most of the world, keeping in mind every minute that on this day, 35 years ago, my Hero was born into this world. On this day, 35 years ago, the life that has impacted mine more than I have the words to describe, started by humble means in a hospital in Oakland, California, USA, Earth.

And 35 years later, on this day, I will don my Green Day tee shirt as a 60 year old woman, and celebrate Billie Joe Armstrong's 70th birthday. And I will love him as much then as I do today, as I always have. No matter what happens, I will love him, and Mike, and Tre. I will respect them. I will look to them as the example of how to live my life. They've never let me down before, and I doubt that they ever will.

Happy 35th Birthday, Billie Joe - here's wishing you 35 more wonderful birthdays and then some :)

Love Always,
Sheena

Tonight, at Daddy's Shoes, there were white candles burning in the ashtrays; I watched them burn, over my beer - small, dancing flames against a neon background, mouring those of us who have loved the place, and will not return.

Japan is my once and future home. I'll be returning, in four hours, to America, and there I'll stay for only a month. I'll be back here in Hirakatashi next semester, and I'll live out most of my life in Tokyo. I have no reason to mourn for this country, for I will never really lose it. Japan and I have a rich future together. Until last night, I didn't feel the slightest sense of loss at the prospect of going back to New York for the holidays.

But when I watched Kat walk away, last night, away down the familiar stretch of sidewalk - that's when it hit me.

I'm not leaving - not for long, and certainly not for good.

But there are people here that I have grown to love, in such a short time, that will never be back.

Tonight, before I left for Daddys, I hugged Yuki and Jacqui goodbye; and for the first time, I cried. I will never again live with them. We won't make pancakes on Sunday morning, anymore, or laugh over dinner, or watch Dawson's Creek for lack of anything better to do. Our lives together, as roommates, are over.

So many of our lives together are over.

There's facebook, of course, and email, and phone calls. There's the prospect of future visits - traversing the globe to reunite, and reminisce about our time here. There's the memories that we will carry and treasure for the rest of our lives, wherever we live them.

But there will never be another Fall 2006 semester. Things will never be the same.

Jessie left today, with Patrick, solemn and somber, to guide her to the airport. Tomorrow morning, Ethan will follow me to KIX only hours behind. Christy will fly home to San Diego two days from now, and Matt will be soon after her, headed back to West Virginia. So many of us won't be here come January. Daddy's Shoes will never be the same. And it saddens me, to think that these people - these former strangers, whom I have grown to care for so deeply in a mere three and a half months - will scatter across the globe once more, never again to spend our days together, to share our lives.

I saw Kat for the last time, tonight, in a dark side street. I hugged her, and kissed her, and cried on her shoulder. And I realized, with my arms around her, the full magnitude of what I am losing; my new, short life in Hirakata is scattering like ashes into the wind, slipping through my fingers like grains of sand, washed away in the tides of life.

But I'm lucky, truly lucky, to feel the pain of this loss - for if it didn't hurt, it wouldn't truly have been worth it. We only cry for the things that we have loved - and love is what turns this world, when all is said and done. Love is all we have to live for.

I will miss them, every one of them. Kat, and Matt, and Jessie - Christy and Jacqui, Yuki and Ethan, and Dave. Even Jason, I'll miss, in a strange way.

But the memories of what we have shared will stay with me forever.

* you are confused, upon your vacation to the states, by the lack of ATMs at the post office.
* while driving an American-made car, you flip your windshield wipers on instead of your turn signal.
* you will eat unidentified meat without questioning it's origin.
* you expect the pizza boy to call your cellphone rather than knock on your door.
* you view bikes with baskets attached to the handlebars as convienant, not dorky.
* you can sleep like a log on the train, and somehow always manage to wake up precisely 30 seconds before your stop.
* there is no bacon, there is only ham.
* turkeys surprise you more than raccoon-dogs.
* you would gladly sever a finger for a decent taco.
* you forget, in the States, that you cannot smoke in the bank.
* all the liquids you consume in a day come directly from vending machines.
* you can maneuver a full-sized motor vehicle through roads approximately as wide as a shoelace without cringing.
* when in doubt, sleep it off at a manga cafe.
* you expect all your food with mayonaise, whether or not you like the aforementioned condiment.
* the fact that garbage trucks do not play music in your native country is something of a shame.
* the loudspeaker trucks no longer wake you up in the morning.
* you can find your way anywhere in the country using nothing but kanji radicals as a guide.
* you've forgotten how to tip people.

Poll #883604
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 13

Whaddya think Green Day's doing right now? (because they're obviously paying no attention to us fans)

今日､私は起きた時病気です。だめですよ。あたまがいたい。今日の夜私は私の彼のコンサートに行きなくちゃいけない。彼は病気になりたくない。

…だれもは日本語を読める？

Oh well...

インタネットによつと､American Idiot の映画はおわったですか？

The Challenge : Inspire me to write something. Anything. Do this in any way you think will work - whether it be music, fiction, or photography.

The Prize : I will copy for you, and mail to you, a copy of my 1992 Green Day concert in which Billie kicks an audience member's ass, admits to being drunk and sleep deprived, and does some other great shit. It's brilliant. It's rare. And it's all yours, free of charge, if you can gimme something - ANYTHING - to inspire me enough to write something that I consider decent.

The Deadline : Three weeks from today, I will announce the winner, if there is a winner.

Hook me up, guys - I'm dyin' here.

しんだいよ！！ほんと、日本語ができへん。やめている。

~sings~ I think I'm failing Japanese, I think I'm failing Japanese, I really think so!

Or should I say, Watashi wa nihongo no jyugyou o shipai shite iru to omou, nihongo no jyugyou o shipai shite ire to omou, hontou ni omou yo!

But seriously; this language is killing me. Unless I use words, I forget them - and I can't possibly use all the vocabulary that they hand me, so naturally, I forget lots of it. And then suddenly it's test time, and I'm like "SHIT! What the hell does *this* mean?!" And I fail. Or rather, I get a C.

...I am a straight A student, usually. C's make me wanna commit seppuku.

I've got a test tomorrow morning, and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get all this grammar under my belt. I remember one thing, and forget three. Then I review those three things, and forget two more, including the shit I remembered two minutes ago. I never know whether I'm supposed to be using te form, te iru form, plain form or formal. Is english this hard to learn for non-english speakers?

Oh, Billie Joe, why don't you write some music in Japanese for me? I've learned half of what I know about life from you - if you were my teacher, I'm sure I'd have this down pat by now. As it is I've got Naito sensei, who explains things by saying "Look on page so-and-so of the textbook." Great. That helps. Chances are I've read page so-and-so six billion times already.

Guh. Back to the books. Someone send me cyanide laced cookies, please? You can direct the package to:

Sheena
Room 3334
Kansai Gaidai International Seminar House 3
5-18 Katahoko Higashimachi
Hirakata City
Osaka, 573-1156, Japan

Arigatou ne -.-

Because I have absolutely nothing else to say, here's how my day went :)

First, I got up. I took a shower. As soon as I was all nekkid and actually in the shower, I realized 'hey, I'm outta shampoo'. So I washed my hair with body wash. Good times.

Then, I went to class. It rained. I have no car here in Hirakatashi, just a bike. I got wet. I was pissed.

Then, I went to the post office. No mishaps.

Then, I went to Lawson and payed my 300 dollar phone bill. I call the states WAY too much. Listen real hard. ....Hear that? That's my bank account, screaming in agony.

THEN, I came home. And I studied. And it started raining again, so I said to myself, "Oh, fuck going back to class." So I didn't. XD.

When it stopped raining, I went to the grocery store and got some shampoo, as well as a bunch of mochi and gyoza and some bacon. And some blueberry juice. Blueberry juice is the fucking life force.

Then I came home. I put my groceries away. I did some laundry. I wrote a speech for my class, studied kanji until my eyes bled, did my homework. I ate some gyoza somewhere in there, too.

Then my friend Jessie, from New Orleans, came downstairs and brought me jambalaya. YAY JESSIE! This was the highlight of my entire day.

Now, I am sitting here, eating said jambalaya and preparing to study kanji until my eyes bleed yet again.

And just for the hell of it, here's my day in Japanese:

今日私起きました。シァワを浴びました、でもシァンプがなかった。せっかんでかみをあらった。よっかったです。

後で、じゅぎょぅに行った。雨がふりました。ここに車がないー自転車だけ。しめったになりました。

後で、りょうに帰りました。かんじを勉強した。

後でスーパーに行って、シァンプとぎょうざとブルーベリージュースを買いました。ブルーベリージュース = <3333

後で、Ｊｅｓｓｉｅ は私にジァンバラヤを持ってくれた。Ｊｅｓｓｉｅ、大好きだよ！

今ジァンバラヤを食べている。後で、もう勉強するつもりです。

- 終わり。-

I've got no motivation.
Where is my motivation?
No time for motivation.
Smoking my inspiration...

...No, I take that back; I've barely smoked a thing lately.

No Green Day + no weed = wicked writer's block.

I'm torn between putting my head through the wall, and drinking until I puke.

Wow, look! My LJ! Oh, how I've missed thee.

I've been busy as hell for the past few months; I'm back in school and back in Japan, and have very little time for anything besides homework. Just wanted to let all y'all know that I wasn't dead!

( One H&R Block Employees Defense Of Her Company )

Last night's game was SPECTACULAR - we beat Oakland 15 to one, and A-Rod became the fourth Yankee in history to hit a grand slam home run on opening night. Hideki hit a beautiful triple. Everyone got a hit except my Georgie-baby, who got hit with two pitches and didn't really have a *chance* to hit the baseball. All in all, it was glorious - I laughed at the silly bobbled play between A-Rod and Giambi made in the first inning, bit my lip in disappointment when Giambi struck out for the second time, and squealed like a teenager front row at an N'SYNC show when A-Rod went downtown :) For the first time ever, I cheered for Johnny Damon! I jumped and screamed and grinned ear to ear for three and a half hours, watching my Boys of Summer work their magic again. It was everything I've been expecting all winter, and more :)

In other news, my friend Mayu told me this morning that Green Day was voted Most Popular Foreign Artist in a reader's poll of a prominant Japanese music magazine :) Three cheers for our boys and their global popularity!

In exactly two hours, I will be doing something that I have waited nearly six months to do.

In exactly two hours, Spring will officially begin.

In exactly two hours, I will be watching the New York Yankees play baseball.

I've grown up in New York. Both my grandfathers were Yankees fans. My Dad is a Yankees fan. My Mom is a Yankees fan. And I have been a Yankees fan ever since I could say the word "baseball".

Understand that I am not, by nature, a sports person; other than the Olympics, when I'll watch anything from skiing to curling, I'm really not in to sports as a whole.

But I am a baseball fan. More accurately, I am a Yankees fan. I was born into it, raised on it, and it's been part of my life ever since I could remember. All winter long, I follow our training schedule and trade list online. I read the biographies and stats of all our new players. I keep track of who's injured and who's smokin', and who's having trouble in batting practice. In Japan, I watch the games live on the web, and read the newspapers the next day when I miss one. I am a Yankees fan 365 days a year, whether we're winning it all or at the bottom of the league.

And each winter, I dream about baseball season - about sitting in my parent's livingroom on a scorching summer afternoon, or in the humid July twilight, eating food off the grill with the windows wide open and a warm breeze pouring in, cheering and swearing and rooting on the Boys of Summer. I dream about the Cathedral in february; Yankee stadium, green and glowing and packed to the gills, hot dog vendors traversing the sticky concrete stairways of the stands, Jim Kaat and Michael Kay and Kenny Singleton calling the game on the YES network two seconds behind my Dad, who could have been a sports announcer. I brush snow off my car and I dream about pinstripes, and the way that Hideki spins his bat to keep the three stripes facing him before every pitch. April can never come quickly enough.

And now, finally, it's here again - opening day of the MLB season, with the Yankees lined up against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland. the game starts at 10:05 EST.

Just two more hours, and the Boys of Summer are back :)

Well, its a brand new month, and as part of my spring cleaning effort, I am wiping the mold off my LJ!

March was insane - an entire month full of tests and paperwork and too many hours at H&R Block. March was cold and blustery and rushed. March was impatient. March was frustrating and superfluous and unnecessary. I wouldn't have minded skipping March, this year.

But April has always been one of my favorite months, and so I remain hopefull for it. Good things always happen in April. Spring... well, springs. Baseball season starts. The weather gets nicer, and so do the teachers. In April, I hope to start writing Green Day fiction again - I've barely had any time, and so I've been dedicating every spare minute that I have to my book. I just haven't had a chance to write anything on the side. It's been a month since I checked out CC, but fear not! One of these fine days in the near future, I shall return with a vengeance.

For now, though, its back to work on the book!


PS - Did I mention what a bitch daylight savings time is?