A Running Start
And I'm off to a running start. Classes are good and interesting thus far. But then, they always are until I learn to hate them. At least I can forsee that I'll be stressed this term, even if I am getting in my workouts and such. I don't know if I'll be able to head over to the counseling center at all, though I probably should try during their open hours this Friday.

I'm enrolled in Japanese 203, Photojournalism, Modern Japanese History and Tai Chi. I'm also going to the gym two hours on MWF and working the rest of my campus hours at the Math Department. Actually, I'm supposed to spend two of those hours in the EMU for Oregon Voice office hours but I'm not sure which are best for me yet. So... I'm just as busy as I was last term but considerably less angsty. Why? Well, because things are just starting again and professors/ the publication aren't being extremely demanding of me... YET. Despite this, I find myself being stressed by the things taxing my pocketbook. Like... taxes.... books... the camera... fees for Waseda. UGH. I still can't believe that my parents are getting a $2000 tax break (not a refund) by claiming me as a dependent when they're not even supposed to any more. They're getting all the slack here and leaving ME to pay $450 in taxes when if I were claimed as an independent I'd get a $200 REFUND. Maybe I should just file as an independent anyway. Like they'd ever audit me. Urgh. It just pisses me off so much that they can hold out on covering my taxes by saying things like "well, we have all these loans out for you and yadda yadda." Yeah, excuse me? I'd LIKE them to be in my name so you could stop nagging me!! I suppose it makes sense... I mean, they ARE paying my insurance and so on. But seriously, $450 for me is proportional to $2000 for them. Yeesh.

OK, enough about taxes. Whatever. I'm still buying the camera. Looks like I'm getting the Canon PowerShot G3 from Best Price Audio Video. It's not the cheapest there is out there, but it's from a reputable source and not some Brooklyn bait-and-switch gig. Theirs is priced at $599 with overnigh shipping. I can get it for less with shittier shipping (2-3 day is still acceptable) but I'd prefer to have it in my hands ASAP lest something happen to it or lest I need it for class next week. If y'all web-savvy searchers can come up with another reputable source besides bestpriceaudiovideo.com, dbuys.com and buydig.com (the three I'm looking at in descending order of "savoriness"), be sure to let me know!

Other than the stress coming from being involved in so many new activities at once, I'm actually feeling pretty well right now. The weather of this weekend did wonders for my mind, though I'm sure the rain will wear me down eventually. Not surprisingly, even though I feel better, I still don't feel social. In fact, I feel remarkably withdrawn and quiet. I rather like it. I'm not looking forward to getting back into writing papers for History and articles for the Voice though; I really would LIKE to put a feature in this issue but I don't feel like writing much at all right now-- hence the lack of type in the blog. But that changes from week-to-week.

Anyway, I'm actually raring to go at my homework tonight while it's still interesting and so I can watch some new sacrelige (South Park) over at Sara and Brad's place. Yahoo!