Quarter Break! Guess what I'm doing...

Well it is quarter break here at my temporary university. Here the semesters are split into two quarters, and in between those two quarters there is a 6 day break! Pretty exciting stuff I know.

I had originally planned on going to Tokyo during this break, but unfortunately my constant begging for donations has proved fruitless and thus I am still too broke to afford a trip to one of the most amazing cities in the world. Sad face.

But do not fret dear reader for I am making great use of my free time. Here is a list of things I have accomplished in the past day.

1) Completed my course registration for my final semester at Texas Tech (Yeahhhhh boiiiiii)
2) Finished 'How I Met Your Mother' on Netflix
3) Am 18 Episodes into the show 'Supernatural' on Netflix
4) Completed my Fafsa thing that I have to do every year for financial aid.
5) Applied for like 6 random scholarships I found on the internet. (They were legit I checked, but thanks for your concern I know the internet can be scary :P )
6) Sent my wonderful sister Rachel a link to a website where she can apply for a pretty funny scholarship herself.
7) Played about 10 minutes of Diablo 3, then decided to revert back to being productive.
8) Read some REALLY interesting articles ( I will link them below)
9) Convinced a nice person that instead of throwing away some of their cooking items, that they should instead give them to me for free. Observe below.

So now I can eat cereal and cook for myself instead of eating at the Cafeteria all the time! Yep, I'm awesome.
10) Now this one is pretty interesting. I decided to set up Google adsense on this blog so that I can maybe make a little bit of money off of it since you're all a bunch of stingy bastards :). I will post a blog entirely dedicated to explaining Google adsense, how it works, why I chose to use it, and how you can use it too if any of you loyal readers decide you want to make your own blog about whatever tickles your fancy.


Okay so here are the links to some pretty useful/cool websites
1) How to feel satisfied with every day. - This is a Lifehacker article showing a pretty cool slide show on how to optimize your day in a way that makes you feel the most productive.
2) Khan Academy - Bookmark this page after you go to it because chances are you will probably want to use it in the future. Khan Academy is a website where you can learn basically anything for free. I expect this site will be quite useful for those of us still in college that have a teacher we can't understand.
3) Code Academy - This website is similar to Khan Academy except that it is specifically tailored towards teaching people how to code. So if you were ever interested in learning how to program. Check out the site, it is geared towards people who know absolutely nothing!

Well that is about all I have to say regarding my exploits the last few days. I think this is probably going to be what my blogs are going to look like from now on.

OH I FORGOT. I had an idea that I've been working out in my head that I wanted to ask all of you about. I've been thinking about interviewing some of my closer friends here in Japan so that everyone in America can find out who I am hanging out with, and what they think about me.

So I am going to ask that you guys post a comment with suggestions on what I should ask these friends of mine. If you don't feel like commenting you can always message me on Facebook, or email my Japanese cellphone at  gpetticrew@softbank.ne.jp


Finally, the song of the day!

Well well well, hellooooo again everyone! It has definitely been quite some time since I have updated this, and I truly do apologize. There are quite a few things to talk about regarding the last 2 months.

*** Sneak Peak!!!  This blog will cover my Birthday, the arrival of my other laptop (the reason I can write this) as well as everything else I have been doing since I last wrote here!***

I will start off with my Birthday. Well that particular day was one every APU student will remember, because that was the day that everyone registered for classes. Now those of you fellow college students from the states can understand the panic and rush of class registration. In America the registration usually starts at 12:00am on the day of the registration and EVERYONE is trying to register at the same time and often times the servers become clogged and the entire process is extremely slow and miserable.

Well at this particular school in Japan things are in some ways quite similar and in other ways quite different. The first main difference is that registration opened at 10:00am, and all Freshman, Exchange students, and transfers were all eligible to register at the SAME time. As everyone reading this SHOULD know...my laptop was not working, so I decided to head to the computer lab early and register from there. Unfortunately when I got to the computer lab every single space was filled. So I figured "Oh well, I'll just check the other computer lab..". That computer lab was also full. Sigh. What an exciting way to start my birthday. I decided to go ask my neighbor if I could use his laptop when he was finished registering. My neighbor is an American from Florida named Nick and in the wonderful hospitality of America, he let me use his laptop after he used it. He also gave me pointers on getting through the system more quickly. SO, thanks to him, I was able to get every class I needed for my schedule!  Props to him, here is a photo cred.

Nice looking guy eh?

Alright so from here I finished my registration like I said which was outstanding, well then I decided to take a short nap before I went out to eat with friends.

After that wonderful nap I met up with several friends and we went downtown to experience some Japanese  conveyer belt Sushi!!

This picture only shows a few of the people that partook in the feasting, so thank you to everyone that came :). We then had the wonderful idea to take a Purikura picture together. Now, before I came to Japan I had no idea what this type of picture was. Well, this type of picture is basically a glamor shot from a photo booth that makes you look like a 12 year old. It makes Japanese look cute and magnificent, but it just made me look like I was in the 6th grade. Observe..

If you can't see it that well don't worry, there will be more pictures of me later on that will do a better job of demonstrating the childlike changes it makes in my face.

Anyway, at this point I had had about enough of downtown so I headed back up to campus to visit some other friends. These particular friends decided to make me a cake as well as a photo collage of our awesomeness! Observe!!

Thank you so much to Misung, Asami, Mai, Chisa, Eri, and Caggiano. Probably one of the cooler presents I've ever received.

Well after eating the cake I proceeded to attend a Nomikai (drinking party) where alcohol was consumed and good times were shared. Another picture ...

Alright that pretty much concluded my 22nd Birthday and I must admit it was quite a good one.


Now since then I have been going to classes every week, and having fun every weekend. A few more photos for your viewing pleasure documenting a few events.

Well I hope that gives you a pretty decent view of the overall theme of my time here so far!

Now that I have a working computer I intend to make more regular updates documenting my shenanigans.


One kind of sad little anecdote though. I'm sort of running low on funds at the moment, so the fun times might have to slow down a bit while I consolidate resources and budget what I have left. There is hope however! Remember there is a donate option to the right towards the top of the page! If you want continuous, regular updates please consider a donation :D.  Anything helps!


Annnd here is the song of the day, enjoy.

Videos!??!

Well I video taped my computer failing. This will probably be one of the last posts I mention it since it is probably becoming quite annoying to hear about.

However, before I share my computer failure video I will share a video I took a few weeks ago of some modern age samurai playing with swords. The swords are REALLY sharp. What they are cutting are really tough straw like material with a bamboo core that is soaked in water to make it as close to cutting through a human body as possible! Intense stuff.

Now on to my computer fail video. Now keep in mind that when I recorded this I was EXTREMELY tired, and completely sober. I actually love Apple as a company I am just extremely frustrated with their inability to adequately fix my computer issue after having taken my machine into their store in Houston a good 5-6 times. Anyway, enjoy my very first Youtube video everrrr.

That is all I really have to report right now other than this hilarious picture I took of my friend from Uzbekistan drinking too much at a Nomihodai :P

Yes observant viewer, he is INDEED passed out UNDER a table.

Too many good times in Japan! And now your song of the day ;P.  I don't think I've thrown any dubstep your way thus far, so enjoy something that doesn't have any Skrillex in it.

My computer is awful, but Japan is awesome.

It has been a very exciting couple of days. My laptop is still a piece of shit and constantly shuts off randomly, so that has been pretty annoying. I am rarely in my room though so the lack of a computer is not really that big of an issue, however I am very concerned that come school time, the lack of a personal computer may hinder my studies. :(

Another issue has been my inability to purchase a prepaid Japanese cell phone. Apparently having my passport, student ID, international health insurance card, AND proof I have applied for alien registration is not enough proof that I can legally purchase a PRE PAID CELL PHONE. Someone explain the F***ing logic behind that. -_-

Anyway, on to more positive things.

School orientation week has been going on in full force. Today I participated in the schools entrance ceremony, which is a HUGE deal in this part of the world. Every male wore suits, and all the girls wore their traditional clothing. Guys...I'm talking eye candy for miiiiiiles. I digress. As far as school goes I am completely on track. I tested into the correct Japanese language level! Wooo, that was the one thing I was most worried about, but I handled it well enough to get into the level I needed.

Outside the entrance ceremony.

Many of you have probably noticed via Facebook that I have been participating in Karaoke quite a bit. Check this out. A night or two ago I went to Karaoke and paid 2300 yen (about $27) and recieved 6 hours of Karaoke time + nomihodai (unlimited alcohol). UNLIMITED ALCOHOL FOR 6 HOURS FOR UNDER 30 DOLLARS!!  There were 13 of us and it was simply amazing.

Enjoy the pictures!

Finally if you want to give me an early birthday present and help me get a new laptop I am going to start a fund called the .  GWANL fund (Garrett wants a new laptop). The paypal link has been moved to the right ----->

 Song of the day. Japanese girls like this band...don't judge me.