A break... finally...

Well... not yet actually, I still have about less than a week to go before my vacation starts, but the holiday mood is already in!!

I have many things that I have to do, but the holiday mood is in and I basically spend any free time I have surfing websites about good sushi and ramen, fun places to visit in Japan, and read up about the otaku culture in Ikebukuro (no prizes for guessing where I'm running away to hide for a while :P).

But still I hope that I can cram in some work in the midst of all the procrastination this week before I leave. Boss recently passed me another load of work because that project had been stagnant for a few months, the person-in-charged is on extended MC, the grant's almost up, and Boss discovered (himself!) that it was done wrongly in the first place!! On top of that I've got my on project to take care of, as well as to come up with a draft recommendation and project proposal for my Boss to see. Boss isn't the type to breathe down your neck and tell you to hurry up, but I hope to get the latter done before I leave. orz

Also recently, I learnt that my old boss is going back to Canada where his family is. I dropped by his lab to visit him, and almost cried when he told me himself that he will be leaving. It's just so sad!! I'll miss him when he's gone, but at least I know that everyone will be doing well after they scatter - my old supervisor is already working at the other university commanding a salary that is probably 50% more than what she had when I was working with her, two graduate students are writing their theses and will be graduating soon, the only graduate student still working on his project will be going to Japan(!) to work with a Japanese collaborator of my old boss, and old boss himself will be with his family and working in a lab in Canada. So everyone's happy in the end, I guess.

That aside, graduate school application has started!! Or at least, I started off a little by getting old boss to help me write my recommendations already... he's leaving soon anyway, so I need to get his signatures on the papers before he leaves. I think I'll worry about the rest when I get back from vacation <-- procrastination in action.

So if you still don't know by now, yes, I'm going to Japan (again...) with Mom (again...) and we won't be seeing sakuras (again...). I'm not chasing after bands this time round because I couldn't get the tickets (Emi's quite busy settling down with couz in Canada), so this is purely a fun/shopping/eat-good-stuff vacation. I'm expecting to empty my pockets again; I've changed my money already and I'm so broke!! T^T

We'll be going to extra places this time round, because we'll be in Japan for a slightly longer period than previous. But it isn't enough for me to plan a trip to Hokkaido... orz. So instead, I'm bringing Mom over to Nikko, Hakone (again... because she still hopes to see Mt. Fuji's peak D:), Disneyland (she wants to go, not me...), and Odaiba! We'll be visiting the Fuji TV station in Odaiba... I wonder if I will get to see some actors and actresses? Also, we will be staying at Ikebukuro this time round instead of Shinjuku (budget issues...), but Ikebukuro is such a nice place as well! I can't wait to sink my teeth into the otaku culture and immerse myself in all those comic book stores at Ikebukuro.

So do look forward to new posts and pictures on the (very) stagnant travel blog. XD I'll try to update in Japan itself, but I suppose I'll be too engrossed in watching Japanese late-night TV to blog. XD But new posts will be updated sooner or later... so do visit that page once in a while. =)


Piisu.