Rest in Peace Bice

Just a few minutes ago I learned about the death of a very important person in my life. Bice was a composer that created some of the greatest sounds and most influential pieces. Although she may not have become world famous, there's a bittersweet feeling as I see Twitter being flooded with shock of her death. There have been too many nights that I couldn't sleep and thought to myself I'd listen to the soothing melody of Bice (aka Anne). I'm having trouble reading her name exactly, but it appears to be Yuuko Raishima. Without a doubt, it was the beauty of Mahoraba that made me all that I am today, and hearing about the death of Bice is extremely upsetting. I wanted to pay tribute to her here. Perhaps, her best song (and with the strangest name) Like a for a longtime stone transfer is her most replicated song online. The beautiful slow melody is what gave her the ability to persuade me in so many ways. I would really like to learn a little more about the funeral service, I would greatly like to visit and pay respect to a woman that will never know all that she contributed in this world. Below is her official notice from her website as well as a video from one of her latest posts. Everyone in the online community agrees, she looked so happy and lively in a post made just days before her untimely passing.

Once again, thank you very much Yuuko, you did more in this world than you may ever know. I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for you. I write this message with a pain in my heart and tearing eyes. May you rest in peace. ご冥福をお祈りします。。。

Visas and customs (with my advice)

Hey all,

I'm trying to update a little more frequently. I figure if I do this, I might get a few views. I finally etched out the details of my plane trip, and I'm confirmed to leave September 14th from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and arrive at San Francisco International (SFO) before taking off and making my final arrival at Narita (NRT). My foremost suggestion to all those traveling is to prepare for this. Tickets to Japan aren't cheap and only get more expensive by the day. Prices and deals appear, but can disappear in the flick of an eye. However, before rushing the gun and buying the first ticket you can find, be sure to research all your options. Think about frequent flier miles, consider friends or family who can offer standby tickets at lower costs (if you have a little flexibility and patience). Tickets may run over $1000 a piece now, but I found trips that were half that, and there are tons of opportunities. Having been on several international flights before I had accumulated enough frequent flier miles for a free trip, and that was something I had never considered immediately.

In other news, I received an email concerning my visa. This is another thing that shouldn't be put off. Submitting a visa (especially for year long programs) takes a while to process. While I don't know the entailments of receiving a visa, I know it's a lengthy waiting period. It looks like my processed one will be picked up within a few days by my school, and sent to me. This is also not a new procedure to me. While the idea of sending in for a year is unique, visas and international can be rather frustrating at times (especially customs!!). If I ever have an international reader that plans to come to the US, I'll let you know that the United States has some of the craziest customs. Even coming from a friendly country such as England can take hours if it's a busy day. I have fond memories of sitting in long lines, extremely jetlagged from hours in the air, and being dogged around by the TSA. What I learned: Be as professional as you can, and try to get whatever you can done in advance, but don't be upset if you still end up sitting in line for a while. By the way, Ireland had some of the friendliest customs agents (maybe I was just too jetlagged and tired and found extremely serious policemen with accents a bit amusing). Anyway, that's my word of the while, and I hope I can get some readers eventually!

Thanks to the people at the Bridging Scholarship

Yesterday I made it out to the bank to finally cash my scholarship from the very generous at the Bridging Scholarship Foundation. This was the first scholarship I ever received and I was extremely grateful and excited to receive it. After temporarily having it misplaced in the mess at the house, I finally sorted everything out. I was so proud of the moment I took a few pictures. Since I'm funding nearly all my expenses while my mom it out traveling, I drained about half my savings for Japan. This scholarship gave me the literally quadruple my current savings. At the expense of giving too much information out about my life, I'll blur out most of the pictures.
I'll also add a few pictures from my recent excursion to Anime Expo 2010. I didn't take as my photos as I had in the past, but nonetheless I had just as good a time as any. One experience included camping in line for about 7 hours total in hopes of getting a signature. It was definitely a great experience, and it will go down as one of the better days of the year.

Also, I have a confirmed date of leaving for Japan (more or less due to some complications that hopefully won't arise). The date should be September 14th 2010. This was made possible by the kindness of my good friend Nick. If I had some more readers I'd give a better shout-out, but I suppose we'll stick with this for now.
I guess I haven't been updating AS much as I'd like to, but at least I'm still putting things up on the web for a few readers out there. I'll see what I can do to raise my popularity in the upcoming months.

Once again, many things to the very generous people

at the Bridging Foundation. Without this, my experience
would be only a fraction of what it can be today.

This is dinner I made last night. It's a grilled swordfish

using the a few ingredients I used to marinate it in.
Although delicious, I'm not sure if it can ever be replicated
due to my improvisation.

This is an autograph I received after about 7 hours
of waiting. The voice actresses name is 堀江由衣 or
Yui Horie in English. She was very sweet.