ups & downs

sorry it's a little blurry v_v

*i apologize in advance for the fairly negative entry, but i didn't want to sugarcoat things, or leave out the bad for the sake of keeping up appearances.*

so i don't know what it was about this morning that just made me not in the best of moods... i have reading/writing class on wednesdays (as opposed to language/grammar the rest of the week), and i usually look forward to the change of pace. but as class went on, i found myself less and less willing to participate. my mind had begun to preoccupy itself with something i've worked hard to shelter myself from thinking about. [yes, it's about a guy. and no, chances are, it's not who you're thinking of. or maybe it is, lol ^_^] 

so then class ended, and we received our graded second-draft essays back. i got an A+!  [i really owe a lot to summer school for my writing. out of reading, speaking, listening, etc, i think it's my most improved area by far.] so yay, good grade. but good grade = good mood? ...no, not necessarily. i killed an hour and a half in the akp lounge waiting for lunch with prof. lofgren ~ talking to people, checking email, using nestor as a pillow as i mindlessly watched this japanese film about food, sex, and etiquette... 

anyway, i went out to lunch to café bazaar with resident director/professor lofgren and four other akp students (nestor, elliot, althea, and david) to talk about life in japan so far. [and problems with classes, homestays, etc] it was a good time, for the most part. prof. lofgren told us to just "suck it up"-- in regards to some minor complaints about classes. i was slightly annoyed by that, but i just brushed it off. and then not surprisingly, the whole midd "clique" thing came up.

don't even get me started. i was nice about it earlier, but now i'm just... *grumble* we hang out because we enjoy each other's company. and other people hang out with the people they like too. so what's the problem? well we all happen to be middlebury students, and somehow, that makes it "wrong". we're by no means an exclusive group, and i'm really sick and tired of constantly explaining that to people. furthermore, i always make an effort to acknowledge everyone in the room, not just my close friends. [at least althea notices that >_<] but then someone mentions that the "midd kids" are not exactly on her friends' good sides. normally, i would care. that would bother me. but guess what? it doesn't. why? because if they're that quick to judge us without even trying to get to know us, then i'm not so sure i'd want to be friends with them anyway.

...so on to the ups of today. besides the job well done on the essay, lunch was on akp today :)  i had the "taco rice", which consisted of a fried egg on top of some ground beef with rice on a bed of shredded cheese, lettuce, and diced tomatoes. [tako in japanese means octopus, so that brought some initial confusion lol] i thought it was pretty delicious ^_^ throughout the meal, there were humorous anecdotes from everyone-- and they made me smile, so that's good :)  after lunch, we went back to the lounge, where i saw mia and danielle :)  and they made me smile too ^_^  i adore them sooo much! around 3pm, my friends all left for their landscape gardens class--which i'm not in--so i headed home.  

a crazy, hyper dachshund greeted me at the door. his name is leo. he's about seven years old and belongs to my host sister mari. leo stays with us when her family gets really busy and isn't home much. [leo has separation anxiety?] this little dog reminds me a lot of lei ~ my crazy, hyper black lab back in new hampshire ^_^

playing with lulu and leo definitely lifted my spirits, and i'm expecting to be in a much better mood once i get that sports club membership tonight :)