I can't wait to leave for Japan!!!!! I have started packing and then unpacking and then packing again. I keep packing things that I will need before I leave and having to dig them out again. I was talking to Erin today about having things to look forward to. I think it is important to have things in the short term to look forward to, life becomes monotonous otherwise.

For those of you who love me, here are my addresses in Japan. I won't be living there until the very end of October (I have a week of training in Okyama first). The first address is my office where I can receive packages and then second one is my apartment where I can receive letters. Try not to send packages to my apartment, I'm not sure why, but they told me to have all packages sent to the school, and it doesn't do any good for me to ask for an explanation, so there you go.

Carissa Monfalcone
c/o AEN Fukui Amty
Fukui Pharmacy Bldg. 2F
1-4-17 Chuo
Fukui-shi, Fukui
910-0006
JAPAN

Carissa Monfalcone
202 Shanpanyu 909
10-3 Chome
Tsukumo, Fukui
918-8001
JAPAN

Things I have realized:

1. I don't really like not having a job. I mean I like not working (who doesn't like sleeping in everyday), but I don't like feeling poor. I also find it harder to be productive, which sounds strange, but if I have no motivation I'm not a very productive person.

2. Too much togetherness is a very bad thing.

3. Vegas can be a really great time, but don't drink too much the first night there or you won't feel good enough to do anything the rest of the time. Do peek into windows of expensive stores, you never know when Demi and Ashton might be buying Gucci.

4. Sometimes you get mad at people not because they did something that is a reason to be mad, but because they did something that is uncharacteristic for them. I realize that is a silly reason to be mad, but I'm betting it happens more than I have realized before.

5. I hate Dell.

6. I want to be in Japan right now. http://www.pref.fukui.jp/english/index.html

7. This is probably cool, but I can't see it: http://home.pacbell.net/dyewrks/gendean/genDean2.html

When I leave Reno I always manage to forget how small Reno is (for a city of 350,000 people). Last thursday I went out to coffee with Christy at Denny's. In one corner of Denny's there were 6 people who had graduated with Christy and I from McQueen. What are the chances of that. They weren't particularly people that I liked or really wanted to talk to, but it was funny that we ran into them. One of the girls I had been good friends with in 8th grade has already been married, had a kid, and gotten a divorce. That's a bit scary. Then I was at the park volunteering for a Dean event. I was talking to a little old lady who was also working the event. She not only knows my mother from docenting at the art museum, but I went to school with her granddaughter. I think there were a few more connections in there also. There are a million connections in Reno. It's like Gina's "Who are your parents?" game she always like to play. In some ways it is nice to always be connected, but I was rather use to being anonymous in DC9', and it is hard to go back to strangers walking up to you in the grocery store and telling you how much you look like your mother ("Excuse me, who are you?").

Well I am back home in Reno. It is strange being home again, because I have been away for so long. It was nice seeing Chelsea and Saori before they both left though (Chelsea had two going away parties and I took Saori to Lake Tahoe). Mom and I discovered the coolest hotel in San Francisco when we dropped off Chelsea- it is called The Diva, is across the street from a Jazz bar, around the corner from Biscuits and Blues and only 2 blocks from Union Square. Their soap was shaped like fortune cookies.

I started taking piano lessons again. I'm very excited because Lane is teaching me cord theory and is going to start teaching me jazz progressions (the idea is that someday I should be able to play Jazz). He went to the same music school as Diana Krall and is going to bring over some of her music for me to learn. Yeah!

I went to a Dean meetup last night, the first one in Reno. I think that I like the ones in DC better because they are in bars and the people are younger. However, the one in Reno was better organized. I talked to some of the Dean people and people from the State Democratic Office and I am going to start volunteering for both. I have a month and a half of free time, so why not?

The girl who I am replacing in Japan e-mailed me and has been answering all of my questions. She even sent me pictures of my apartment and some of my students. My apartment is small and I have to sleep on a futon (I was really hoping for a bed), but it looked very nice. Melanie (the girl I am replacing) also seemed very nice and helpful, so it made me a little more comfortable because I know more of what to expect now (and I know the people aren't evil). I've heard the horror stories of people getting to a foreign country and getting trapped in a bad situation, but I don't think this will be one of those horror stories. Melanie also offered to sell me her bicycle and space heater (no central heating for the Japanese). The bicycle has a basket on the front and a little bell I can ring. I am so excited! I can't wait to leave for Japan.

I really can't wait for next week though. I am going to Las Vegas with several friends and we are staying in the Bellagio!