At last, I get some decent answers.
So, my doctor's been bugging me for a while about my cholesterol. Apparently, he considers my cholesterol level too high; each time I go see him, he refers me to go get my blood drawn and tested and later gives me a lenghtly lecture about heart disease. A couple weeks ago, he was also yabbering to me about how I had small red blood cells and too many of them. He then referred me to go see a hematologist--I didn't know that such a profession existed!
Today, at 2pm was my appointment. The office looked like it was in some concealed corner of the building, and the reception desk's window was closed with tainted glass. Not exactly the most inviting of places.
When I ended up speaking with the secretary and nurses, however, I got a whole different light. The nurse who helped me to my room and chatted with me (and then undressed and spanked... err.. no no--naughty thoughts!) was very personable--and also an SFSU alumni! We had quite a long talk, but alas, the doctor eventually arrived.
The doctor, however, was also an interesting cat. He kept on cracking wry jokes, and he'd make comments once in a while that I wasn't sure were supposed to be funny or not.
Of course, he did end up telling me important things too. He told me not to worry about my cholesterol since my LDL/HDL ratio is below average; I knew my other doctor was a paranoid freak! Here's the big news, though: it turns out that I've got Thalassemia--I've got Alpha thal trait, to be more exact (I'm clueless about these big words!). He told me that I shouldn't worry about it since my hemoglobin level is good and I'm not anemic. This seems to be a common occurance in Asian blood. Also, he told me to not listen to people telling me to take more iron because of my small blood cells; also, to not take Vitamin C supplements. Ho-ho, I like this guy.
All-in-all, nothing to worry about. He did give me some good advice, though. I asked him if this Alpha-theta-whatnot was bad news. He warned me not to marry another person with Alpha thal trait since it could potentially make for broken babies. He also told me that when I meet girls to ask them two questions: "Do you have HIV?" and "Do you have Alpha thal trait?" and to just be safe and only see girls with blond hair and blue eyes.
Ah, nothing like some good medical care to keep you informed.
Now that the semester's completely done with, I've got myself a crapload of free time on my hands. The plan right now is to work four days a week at IMP, which will be at night, and spend the daytime goofing off. Recently, I waddled into my old cafe at Barnes & Noble, and they want to hire me for a few days here and there. That sounds like a great way to pop in a few extra bucks without too much scheduling commitment. Also, I'm consdering taking summer school to fulfill some of those Gen. Ed. requirements.
Other than that, I'm a studious bastard as usual, continuing my reading of Flaubert's Parrot and probably picking up some other books along the way. I want to read back up on some American History. Also, general drunken goofing off also sounds good.
So, I woke up checked my email yesterday morning, and I noticed an email from the Office of International Programs. I glance at the subject containing the words "Acceptance Status" and quickly open the email. It's an email from Kyoto University of Foreign Studies to SFSU's Office of International Programs My eye scans through the message, and it notices the words "I am afraid" and I freak out. I then read it more thoroughly and the sentence says "I am afraid I haven't email you anything about acceptance status of your students" and I damn them for tricking me into thinking I got rejected. The next sentence reads: "We are very pleased to accept all students applying to KUFS."
I'm going to Japan! I'm going to Japan! I'm going to Japan!
I'm fucking ecstatic!
HUM530 Chinese Civilization, Mary Scott - I love Professor Scott! I took her Japanese Culture class my first semester at SFSU, and that played a large part in helping me decide to change my major to Japanese. That class was awesome, and so was this one. She has obvious enthusiasm for the material, and I find it contagious. She brings in slides that are immensely helpful to understanding the material. When she says she likes a book, it makes me want to read it. I often visited her for office hours, and we would ramble on about not only China but also my unyielding interest in Japan. One problem, though, is that she's always trying to do too much. The end of her classes always seem rushed as we try to squeeze the last juices of time out of the semester before it ends. Her classes have a lot of reading material (well, not that much compared to how much I had to read when I was in high school), but she has only a few short writing assignments which she is very generous with in terms of grading. I could go on and on about her and her class. Hip and cheery, Prof. Scott always gets a thumbs up from me!
JAPN250 Intensive Study of Kanji, Takamatsu - This was my second semester taking Kanji. I think I'm supposed to know around 1000 now... hmm, in actuality, it's probably more like 200. No surprises for this class. Just memorize the stuff, and try to use it so that it'll stick in the head. Takamatsu-sensei is a fun teacher; however, she's never available for office hours, and she basically leaves everything up to you to do (she just checks your work). I really feel like I'm remembering the Kanji better now, though. I think that I've done some much
Kanji memorizing that my brain has gotten used to retaining the information. Also, I like to think of the Kanji class as the course that brings the varying levels of Japanese studying students together since it consists of 3 (or 4) groups of varying Kanji levels. It's like the melting pot of the Japanese department.
JAPN301 Japanese Conversation, Sato - Sato-sensei is so cheerful all the time. Whenever she came to class, there'd be a smile on her face. She's always patient with students, explaining very carefully and making sure that we understood what she was saying--even when she was using relatively simple vocabulary. We'd go step-by-step through everything and she'd answer all my nit-picky questions. The listening assignments were difficult, but she'd pretty much hand-hold us through that too. Also, we got to do skits in class, which I
always find refreshing. What other language major lets you goof off in weird scenarios in front of class? Classes like this remind me how fun learning Japanese is.
JAPN302 Japanese Reading/Grammar, Mori - If 301 was a big cheerball of a class, 302 would be the opposite--well, at least with Mori-sensei. I really didn't think Mori-sensei had a sense of the concerns of students in the class, what level they were at, or that she even cared that much. I could never get time to schedule office hours with her since I had 301 during her hours! Her explainations in class were inadequate (for example, she didn't fully explain to us toori) and many times difficult to understand. The class was taught almost completely in Japanese, which was difficult for students coming straight
from 103 but not completely impossible--just taxing on the brain. It's interesting, however, that I've talked with other students who have taken classes other than 302 with her, and they've found Mori-sensei to be a likeable instructor. That may be so, but I don't recommend taking her 302 class. I really don't feel like I've gained substantial proficiency from taking her class like I did when I took 103 (and also 301). Maybe because hers is a reading/grammer course, and I've been mainly focusing on conversational Japanese.
Finals, finals, everyone loves finals--especially all those seniors graduationg! Word up to these folks:
Dave (that is... pre-Doctor Dave),
Jen (at long last!),
Janet (well, Jen did it so I guess you had to too),
Joyce (omedetto!),
Krystal (ooh, finishing grad school and being all smart, huh!),
Shin (you chikushou-mei!),
Yamamoto-sensei (wow!),
Nonaka-sensei (^_^),
and Kaori-sensei (well, at least I think you are...).
You folks are all glok-shocking rockers. Keep the dream alive!
So, Doc, where are the words? Well, gee golly, Mister, I've been busy. But, Doc, I need your incessant bantering to fulfill my daily appetite for useless dribble and incomprehensible fibber-fabber. Really, Mister, I can't be troubled with your needs; I've gotta work hard for the sake of humanity! Doc, you disappoint me; here I am needing your help and all you can think about is helping humanity. Mister, that's all I can do right now; there's a whole world out there of brunching shuttlecocks, hanging monkeys, and shiny objects that needs me to be there for it. I don't know, Doc, that all sounds all confusing to me. Well, trust me, Mister, I'm working hard and doing my best to do what I can for the things that need me; maybe you'll understand someday. Hmm, you're a strange guy, Doc. Well, I'm an even stranger guy than you think, Mister. Doc, what do you mean? Mister, I mean what I mean, now get outta here; I got stuff that needs to be done!
