Hiromi Usagi!

I was a little bit hang over this morning, although I wasn’t drunk at all last night. Marica, Amos, and I went to Blind Faith Cafe for brunch. It was fun, and we listened to many 80′s music on the way to the restaurant. It was delicious as always. I missed vegetarian food. I felt like I had many junk foods on a road trip. Well, carmel corn nuggets were worth it though. I felt bloated, so I went to 1 1/2 hour long yoga and meditation class today. The class was great! I had a hard time concentrating though. You know, you are supposed to put all of your worries and thoughts on the side during the practice, but it is hard. The more I tried to do so, the more I started thinking about stuff. I am moving very very soon, but I am so not ready. I know, it will be fine. Ultimately, all I need is a passport and myself, right? Thesis! I will finish it soon. soon. That would make me feel well, happy and satisfied.

After the yoga and meditation class, I got so loopy and don’t want to do anything. I am barely writing this blog. I need to move at least my fingers, right? Mark Hayward will stop by our apartment tomorrow morning for a little bit. This will be the last chance that I can see him for a while…sad…

Oh, I am thinking about having my going away party on Fri. This coming Fri. I should plan it soon. No time to get sad…

I came back in town, and I feel so calm, you know when you come home from a trip, you feel very happy to be home. Of course I had a wonderful time in Colorado with Harper and his family. They are my family, although we don’t relate…I feel this way…

I hang out with Dena and Alison who went to the school with me. I love them all. They are smart and fun and very pretty. We started drinking wine talking about many random stuff, of course, we ended up talking about boys! It was very fun. Too bad that I can’t share the conversatin here, you know it’s public.

Again, why didn’t I hang out with them more often? why? But that’s okay. We are hanging out now. I didn’t drink much in the last week, except one margarita yesterday. See how good I am.

I don’t have much time here and when I think about this, I get sad, so I try not to….

precious precious time…

Harper took me and Cole to the mountains for the first time. It was pretty! I really enjoyed it. We took a cable car thing to go higher up and met many Catholic church group people who loved Harper’s yoyo performance. We drove up pretty high and saw some gracier patches and wild animals (elks?). That was fun and very beautiful.

I haven’t worked on my thesis! I will as soon as I get back to Chicago. I am feeling a little weak. I don’t want to get sick at all. It won’t be fun, so I have been taking vitamins. My ears were popping a lot today and my sinus is not happy much, although I have been using a netti pot every single night. I feel like I am hanging on there.

I had a weird dream last night: the boy I liked made out with a girl I used to work with. weird…what does it mean?

oh well, it’s time for dinner now! We made a yummy stuff

We arrived at Greeley, Colorado today. We passed a place called Cheyenne (spell?) which was prettier than other boring free ways. I tried to read the book that I have been reading, but reading a book in a car makes me sick, so instead, I slept, haha. I started feeling sick tonight, so I had a Naked juice, immunity one! I think I just need some rest.

We rode a bike to Wallmart tonight. It was a nice ride. I want to ride a bike more. Harper just bought a i pod, i trip, and a recorder for his mom, because her b-day is tomorrow, and he can’t wait until tomorrow, so he gave them to her. How he did was nice. He left them on her car, and we tried to make her to go to the garage. Cole was like, “Garage is still open, you might want to close it”, but she goes, “why don’t you close it?”, so it didn’t work, but Harper and I said, “you should check your car”, and she found them! Those are very nice gifts. Harper got a job, starting a day after I leave, so he got himself a gift too: PSP, portable playstation thing. Well, I need to find a job in Japan soon. I wonder what I should get for myself once I got a job.

Harper’s family are very nice! They are sort of my family in the states, since I don’t have family here and spent a few Christmas with them.

Tomorrow, we are going to the mountains! I am very excited!

Sweet dreams, everyone

Yesterday, we went to Amana colony, German village, not too far from Mt. Vernon. Oh in the morning I went to Big Creek Market by the college I went to. I used to go there almost every sunday to get a breakfast. They have organic and vegetarian friendly stuff. I had a macademian nut butter with apple butter sandwich and a shot of espresso with soy milk. good breakfast!

Amana colony was a cute little town. We went to a candle store, cheese & wine store, and a chocolate store. I had a very delicious caramel corn nuggets, Amana colony special?. I couldn’t stop eating it, and in fact I finished it by the end of the day….too much sugar…. it was so good though.

So we spent a lot of time in Iowa and didn’t make it far, but it was fun! Harper drove a lot, I mean he has been driving all the way, and we made it west of Lincoln, Nebraska. I was so sleepy and passed out as soon as we checked in the mortel. Now we are getting very close to Colorado, I assume. Harper set up the internet, so I can update my blog while driving. It is amazing, I think.

A lot of snack and staring a straight road…so flat…the clouds are pretty today.

I should have done a road trip eariler…so many things I haven’t done it in the states, but that’s ok.

Yeah! I am on a road trip now, guys. Harper, his mom, his cousin, and I left Chicago this afternoon. We are staying at Mt. Vernon, Iowa where Harper and I went to Cornell College. Nothing much changes since I graduated, and I felt a little sentimental when I actually visited the campus. It is a little cute town. We ate at Lincoln cafe. Everyone was nice there! We had to wait over one hour, and they felt really bad and bought us yummy home made hummos and guacamole for us. I had a great grilled vege sandwich with walnut and pestro sauce. yummm. Oh I spelled a word, ‘sandwich’ sandwitch’ on my flickr photo caption. It is funny, and I thought about leaving it as it is, but I changed it because nobody is a witch on the picture.

It has been 4 years since I graduated. Wow, I can’t believe it! Tomorrow, we are going to do more stuff!

A few days ago, I was reading the news on BBC website and found a news about young unarmed attendants at CzechTek who were seriously beaten, tear gassed, and water cannoned by the police. Immediatly, I emailed Luca who is from Prague and moved back there, just in case, I thought… Today, he emailed me back saying that he was there and hit by the policeman in his mouth and lost two teeth. Luca is very sad that he witnessed the police attacked unarmed people. He said that this was the most horrible thing that he has ever seen. I just can’t even imagine how bad it was. He is a very calm, nice, intelligent person as you know, but he felt very violent and disappointed and now he is traumatized by the incident. I am here very far away and helpless….. I’ve read that there are so many protests against the police and the government.

He got a grant to open a gallery there in Prague and very excited about it. He told me that how great people are there, before he left the Sates. He went to the CzechTek field straight from the airport, and then this incident happened. I hope he is getting healed physically and emotionally. I really do…

Last night, people from Sushiwabi threw a going away party for me at Mas, since I wanted to have mojito. Marica came along and Dena and Melanie from school came to! It was very nice. Jennifer and Scott brought me a vegan chocalate cake and an eggless cook book. Heather gave me a card which most of the wabi people signed and wrote some messages, which moved me a lot… I almost cried. How sweet they are! Heather made a reservation for 20 ppl, and ended up only 10 people showed up, but I have a great time. After Mas, we all went to Good bar where Rosie’s husband’s band was playing. Many people who worked last night came to see me. That was super super nice…Jeff, Peter, Matt, Manny, Shanna, Lisa, Soomi, they were all so sweet….

We ended up going to Funky Buddha for a little bit before they closed. It was a lesbian night and totally a meat market—frightening… There was a pus*y song played at the end, and Julie told DJ to annouce that the song is dedicated to Hiromi, going bakc to Japan. oh Julie..that was funny though.

I will miss sushiwabi people…I still have to see a few other people who couldn’t make it last night. What a great going away party…

I just found a cool website of a zen temple in my home town. http://www.fir.gr.jp/seisyoin/index.html

It is all written in Japanese though. The priest/ monk? writes a short essay by combining Buddhist teachings with our everyday life events. I found this site very interesting, because it is very simply designed and I enjoyed reading those essays. They are not preachy at all, but very convincible. oh…so hippy me….. I am going to visit the temple. I think that I went there before. It is on the hill and has a beautif path to reach the temple.

I just thought that it was worth sharing this info…