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Here are the names from Spring and Summer at IES. I might not know all of them…wait I probably do. Oh, and I’m only including NEW nicknames since last fall, meaning I won’t write Shadow Eyes, etc again. Add any ones I forget in comments.

Spring IES
Ass man/luggage/Friar Tuck; Balding; Bilbo Baggins; the Triad; Gunner/battle stress; 野獣/wild beast; Ugly boyfriend; DT/Defensive Tackle/that bitch is HUGE; Pete/lip ring; no nickname but Andy is sweet; Megane-ecchi; Drug/Skateboard

Summer IES
Japanese name (sucks); Jabba; National Disgrace; Molestache 2; Monkey/Gorilla/Bigfoot; Asian fetish; Goon; Wedgie/Douchie-blue; typical Korean kid; AC Slater; Smiley 2; Bitchtits; Budo; Punch you in the face/anus/naguru zo; Clingy

You know, this is probably a bad idea, but I’m doin’ it anyway. Here folks, is the complete list of the IES 2004 Fall nicknames, coined by the A-Team. I’m only including the ones I can rememeber, or that actually lasted more than a day or two (ie, Aniki is not listed for Derek; it didn’t stick) Guys: if I happened to leave one out (esp the Bekkas), feel free to Comment and add it.

IES Students:

Starey; Fat Albert/Jeff Goldblum; Shadow Eyes; Russian; Hermoine/Ugly Shadow Eyes; Otouto; Goose/FOB/Geoffrey/Giraffe/FOBulous; Dark Seth; 3-Seater/San-Seki; NL/Naughty Librarian; Kindergarten Teacher/Ari’s Ex; Fabulous/Hot Pants/Fab; 80’s Business Man; Miss Piggy/Muppet/Fluffy; Hirose’s Daughter; Kaicho/Oyabun; Terminator; Side of Beef/SOB/Gyuukaku; Googgly/Googles; Alb/Albino; Mangina; Molestache; Smithers; Uncle Hokuro/Hokuro Jiisan/Hokuro-kun/Moley; KakkoWarui Ben; Gut; Squirrly Joe; Southern Gentleman/Southern Comfort/SoCo; Smilie-kun; Harry Potter/Dirty Harry; German; Hippy Graham; Dirty Hippy/Hippy Girl; Crazy Ass Bitch; Hobbit; Splinter; Arnold; Potato Boy

(This doesn’t include people who don’t have nicknames, but still suck)

Bekkas:

The 3 Ks; Ostrich; Jafar; Urkel; T-Rex; Froggy; Antonio Banderas; Other Caleb

I’m home now (in St. Louis). Actually, I had written a fairly good post before I left Japan, but for some reason it got erased or something. Nevertheless, I’ll try to remember most of it and assimilate it into this post. Originally I wanted to put some closure to the semester. I’ll do that with this too.

This past fall really has been one of the best semesters ever. If it weren’t for the people and friends I met there, it would have been totally different and definitely not as fun (go A-Team!). It sounds really stupid, but when I first found out I was going to go to Japan for a semester and stuff, one of my main worries was the people I’d be going with. I knew that there would be a lot of social inepts, a lot of huge anime freaks, and a lot of the type of people that I just in general don’t like. Oh, and I was right. However, aside from these, I also found a good group of people who were just as twisted as I am, and thus the A-Team was formed and life was good. We took the place over (both figuratively and symbolically; need I mention the Nagano Bus, meals at the ryokans, and Y’s bar/Sayonara party). Yeah, we were just that awesome.

I definitely want to go back to Japan sometime soon. Maybe after graduating and finding a job that will send me over there. I’m pretty certain that I don’t want to do JET, but something else, peferrably marketing or business would be great. Willing to relocate? Definitely, at least for a few years. Actually, if I can find an internship or some kind of paid thing to go there next May, then I’ll do that also. Seth and Ari will still be there, so it will be fun times. I’m interested to see what kind of people those guys get for the spring IES semester. Most likely, it will be a bunch of scabes and a few good guys.

I’ll be posting the final set(s) of IES Japan pictures within the next day or two. I also have a feeling that more people from IES are probably reading this Blog one way or another. Good or bad, I don’t care. Actually, I’m thinking of posting a full list of nicknames. Maybe just the nicknames, and not the real names. I don’t think I’d get any slack for that, bwahahahaha. Ari, Seth, Bryan, Mikey: what do you think?

I really got used to living in Japan. The whole living part isn’t really as different as you would think. Maybe it’s because my Japanese is semi-usable, but other than that, it’s just like moving to any new city. Sure there are trains rather than cars, stuff is more expensive, food is smaller and tastes strange sometimes, but living is living. That really didn’t strike me as hard or different. I think I’m happy and capable of living in the US or in Japan. They really are about the same to me. Too bad I have friends and all of that in both; I can’t BE in both places, so I might have to spend my life as a traveler. Doesn’t sound bad, if I could make some money.

When I flew back into Dallas this morning before my connecting flight back to St. Louis, it really didn’t seem like it’s been that long since the morning when I took off. Man it really has been a long time though. A lot has happened, a lot has changed. I guess I’m still the exact same as I always have been. Studying abroad is supposed to be a life-changing experience. Yeah I guess kinda. But there’s also supposed to be all that “culture shock” BS that they talk about, and I don’t go through any of that. Probably because I’ve been here and back 5 times. Either way, it’s been a blast.

Now it’s time for Christmas with the family, my birthday (turning 21), and a few days hanging out at home before I have to pack up and haul out to IU and my new apartment. I have a feeling that this spring at IU is going to be one of the best semesters ever also. Maybe I’m just getting to the point where I can enjoy life more. OK nevermind, that sounds retarded. I think it’s going to be a good semester just because I’m awesome. Yeah, I think this post turned out better than the original that I wrote and lost. It’s certainly a lot longer. From now on the blog posts will be a bit more mundane, more full of complaints and weird observations, and will probably be less frequent. Oh, and I’ll set the timezone back to Indiana time now…

Well, it’s over. Officially. The semester finished up today, following my second straight day of sitting in front of a computer at the SALC, carrying 2 heavy bags with me everywhere, and in general stressing about everything. After the 2 worst days of the semester, it ended with one of the best nights.

Yeah, almost everyone is leaving tomorrow, but that’s not horrible. It will be weird, of course. No A-Team assembling, no sitting at SALC computers doing nothing, no sitting at Y’s, Saize, or IES making fun of the scabies around us. For that, it’s a little sad. Not like I’m never going to see these people ever again. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll see a bunch of them sometime later.

Technically I’m not done with all my school work, although I sure wish I was. Stress level definitely plummeted though, which is good otherwise I would have had to jump in front of a train. I need to go to school on Tuesday to finch up some video editing (not really editing, I need to make CDs of the class videos, blah); also I still need to finish writing my History final paper sometime soon and e-mail it to the Prof. Didn’t finish it today, nor go to class since I was in the video comp lab. Ah well, the Prof didn’t seem that mad.

I was going to write a whole bunch more here. Thought about it all the way walking home from the station. I was going to mention about how I don’t think I’ve ever been able to “enjoy” a going away party, a final party, a graduation, etc… I’m always busy with something, like videos, computers, running errands, etc. Even tonight, after the IES Video was shown, then Spiderman, it felt like such a rush for me to walk around, say goodbye to some people, and leave. I thought to myself that maybe I’ll be able to sit back and enjoy my retirement in around 30 years, but even that is doubtful.

I’m going to get some sleep now. I haven’t been doing that much these last few days. Tomorrow I have to wake up reasonably early to go see some people off at the airport. Even if I didn’t go, I guess it wouldn’t be horrible, but I suppose it would be nice. Bryan, Ari, Mikey: you guys might be reading this in a day or two after you get home. I’ll probably write more tomorrow also. It was a great semester. I really did meet a lot of awesome people (I honestly think that was my biggest worry before coming here, a bunch of dorks etc). And now it’s over. It will definitely be strange to leave here in a week.

Tonight a bunch of us went to Bikkuri Ramen. Originally, tonight was going to be a huge eventful night, but since we’re all getting slammed pretty hard with final exams and papers, we ended up just going for Bikkuri. However, this wasn’t completely uneventful, as me, Bryan, Mikey, Seth, and Derek were there to do the long-awaited gyoza (pot stickers) eating contest. Mii and Isoroku were there too, but not competing. Anyways, Seth got a good second place with 1 bowl of ramen and 6 plates of gyoza. Me and Bryan tied for King with 1 bowl of ramen and 7 plates of gyoza. Nevermind the fact that we both felt so full we had to puke.

Between the 7 of us, I think we ate around 145 gyoza. Man they’re good. And cheap!

In other news, this has been by far my busiest week in Japan, especially when you consider it’s all for school/school-related work. Tomorrow’s my day off, but I’ll be spending all day at Kanda working on videos (Spiderman movie and also an IES video for the Sayonara party). For some reason, this reminds me of the end of senior year of high school. And also the end of freshman year at IU. I always tend to pick up video projects or something when it comes down the last minute…

…to a place like Y’s. It’s 2500 yen nomihoudai/tabehoudai will be forever remembered by the A-Team, familiars, and probably even a few scabes. We’ll be there next week for the Sayonara Party, but it won’t be the same. Maybe I can get in sometime when Blanchard and Kieran are here.