As much as I love to make themed posts, I’d like to take a bit of time to make a two month update address. Today marked the start of the final one third of my stay in Japan. It’s amazing how much has changed since I came here almost three months ago.

I’ve been studying for the GMAT every morning, unlike my failed attempts at Japanese-book study. It’s shocking to me how little I know about the English language. Engineering has dulled my ability to read in any way beyond methodical, and I can’t grasp the reading comprehension practice whatsoever. It’s amazing how overly simple the questions are, “what does the author infer about increasing national debt as a means to finance military actions,” or something of that sort. What the hell does that mean? The author could be inferring anything. It says that all answers can be found in the passage, but if this answer can be found in the passage, then it’s not a bloody inference is it? I’m not saying I’m a fan of scientific writing by any means, but I’m so used to seeing direct introduction and conclusion that these pseudo-scientific GMAT passages are miserable to read. In the world of the concrete, a world that I’ve had to live in for four years now, I’m ill prepared to handle the abstract. I still find it rather dumb that a “scientific” paper would have one infer anything; it should be the job of a paper to convince, not to lead one down the rabbit hole. If the test makers, in their infinite wisdom, desire to know if I can detect an inference, then give me a piece of literature that is worth examining, something with depth that I can actually draw an inference from. Of course, this idea would defeat the purpose of the test, to see if I can clear an arbitrary bar that somehow magically determines if I’m capable enough to go to business school. In the end, I know I can train myself to find the right answer, not by feeling but by elimination or methodology. It just makes me wonder what the purpose of taking this test is, if it can be defeated by mere trickery.

Moving on from my apparent inability to read, this and next week are vacation weeks! I went to ?? with my friend Nonchan. I met his family and even his infamous cat Chocco. I’ll post more on this later. Speaking of cats, my parents had to put mine to sleep a few weeks ago. It’s amazing that I’ve had her for 13 years and she tuckers out during the 6 months that I’m away. I’m sure my house will seem empty without the wailing beast that was Alley.

This weekend, I’ll be heading out to visit my Japanese teacher in Ehime for my week-long summer vacation. By the time all of the vacations are over, I’ll only have three weeks left. I’m extremely excited about the vacations; there’s been a two month dry spell, and work is a tad bit boring. I can only hope that our fluids lab this fall uses Fluent and Gambit, because it’s literally all that I’ve done since I’ve been here. Fortunately, I’m learning a lot about the software, but I just can’t see this knowledge being useful after my final fluids lab this fall, if even then. Although desk jobs are definitely not for me, I’ve learned more practical information this quarter than any other; I just wished that things were a bit more animated around here, or that I could experience any aspects of Japanese business, or perhaps even see the physical representation of what I’m modeling. It’s amazing how little I interact with anyone on a daily basis, and sometimes it’s even quite comical. The other day for instance, I was sitting at my desk when every single person in the room, about 50 people, literally got up and left, without saying a word to me. Was it the nuclear apocalypse and everyone was just going home to be with their families? I’m sure it was a meeting, and I couldn’t help but laugh at how clueless I felt. Fortunately I’ve been given the task of creating a presentation concerning what I’ve been working on for the past three months. Having to make a presentation in Japanese about technical subjects is perhaps one of the most terrifying things that I could ever imagine doing. I’m not the kind of person who’s afraid of skydiving or anything like that, just speaking in front of people concerning things that I’m not confident about. This is a double wammy, due to the aerodynamic presentation and the Japanese language, but I’ll take it over sitting at a desk any day. I should probably mention that the presentation in question has a recommended length of one hour, which is a length that I’ve never even surpassed in English: it’s apparent that my company is an avid fan of meetings and presentations.

I was finally able to see Toy Story, after a frantic search for a theater with an English language track. My Japanese isn’t quite up to the task of watching a movie with no English representation, plus I don’t think that I could stand watching Toy Story without the familiar voices. The movie was amazing, and it felt like my childhood came to a close when it ended. It’s shocking to think that the original movie premiered 15 years ago. The final movie looked amazing, and the objects and surfaces looked so real. I do wish they’d drop this gimmicky 3D; it added nothing to the film, and it only served to dull the brilliant colors and crisp images. It’s amazing what companies will do to prevent bootlegging and to make an extra buck.

All in all things are going well. I’m still having fun in ?? and Japan in general, despite some dull workdays. I can’t wait to go to Ehime this weekend, but the 12 hour bus ride sounds tiring already. They’ll be lots of things to do in Ehime, and I can’t wait to meet with my teacher. I just hope that my language skills have improved enough to earn her satisfaction:). Being in the country for a weekend has made me realize just how tiring Tokyo is; however, I’m hoping to kick into overdrive in order to squeeze as much fun out of the remaining time as I can.