bitch queen: a series of rants
Yesterday I was feeling particularly ranty, so I made a list of things to write about (not all rant-induced) but never got around to it because, as always, ever single minute of my day was occupied by some demand from work or school. I'm hoping I can make it the next two weeks without an ounce of free time. In lieu of ranting and instead of going to bed, I ended up being a horrible bitch to Justin on AIM for about an hour and a half. My excuse to myself for not going to sleep? I had to write my kanji homework in order to take it with me this weekend and study it. Gah, I'm not only a terrible bitch, I'm a stupid bitch too!

Living here has given me a superiority complex a mile high. I think a multicultural experience was supposed to leave me humble and tolerant-- and to somet things it has-- but I still spend the good part of many days irritated at the idiocy of the people around me. Let's get something straight. I HATE stupid people. "Hate" may be too strong a word but it's the only one that fits the bill. I hate stupid people, I hate lazy people, I hate weak people and I hate whiners (by that I mean not the kind of whining I'm doing now but the "o woe is me, life is nothing but pain" whining because it reminds me too much of how I used to be and I have no desire to return to that kind of pathetic existance). Unfortunately, I also have a car-crash fascination with stupid people and masochists. This leads me to continue to do things such as wasting huge amounts of time listening to gossip about my friends' overly-dramatic, masochistic lifestyles and reading livejournal communities like "pro_ana" and "sextips," where the posts are some of the stupidest things I've ever seen. My bad.

I also continue to go to the Waseda gym even though I have everyone there but the exception of a few people. The current generation of Japanese youth are a bunch of pencil-necked, stick-thin weaklings and while I applaud their efforts at coming to the Waseda gym, I am frustrated by the percentage of them who are there to do nothing more than play around and take up every bit of space that could be used by people with the intent to actually exercise. I may sound a bit racially biased by saying that but as I've heard the same from Japanese of older generations, I don't feel especially bad expressing my frustration with the lack of muscle mass in most of my peers. Thankfully, Japan is not populated by fat people to the extent that America is, but I won't say it's for a lack of over-indulgence. The things I see people shove into their mouths here with no ill effect both shock me and make me incredibly jealous.

Yesterday, in addition to watching the usual slew of "wish-I-were-a-jock" boys trying to do their lifts so incorrectly they either render them ineffective or risk serious injury, I watched some dumb bitch (a different type of dumb bitch than *I*, of course) try to work out WEARING ONLY SOCKS. I could have strangled her. If you fucking forgot your shoes, GO HOME. Don't take up TREADMILLS and STAIRCLIMBERs so you can putz around on them and giggle about it with your friend. There are far too many people in that gym for you to be screwing around like that, not to MENTION the safety issues. I see people in there all the time lifting in sandals, standing on medicine balls in front of the mirror and trying to work out dressed generally incorrectly. This does not give me hope for the world. And it makes it very hard to work out without developing the burning desire to kill someone violently.

It's a sensitive point, especially when I usually have to wait for said idiots to finish what they're doing to I can use the equipment they've just played with. (And they're always soooo careful to wipe it down even though I've rarely seen a drop of sweat exiting anyone's body in that gym. ugh.)

Yes, and I had another revelation yesterday. Takadanobaba is quite possibly the singly WORST smelling place in Tokyo, and I've been a lot of places. It smells bad in the morning, it smells bad in the evening, it smells bad all year round but is PUTRID in the summer. The air quality is terrible from the asphalt and lack of trees, people toss their cigarettes onto the "don't walk while smoking" campaign signs and the sewer system is either malfunctioning or never functioned well at all. It makes me want to vomit first thing in the morning.

Finally, I HATE Japanese sales clerks. Their tactics are far worse than the constant "can I help you?" by American clerks. At least if you tell them to bug off, they do. I don't know if it's because I'm a foreigner and they're afraid of me but when I go to department stores here, someone always HOVERS right over me, often without saying ANYTHING at all. Sometimes they take a look at what I'm browsing and whine "ikaga desu kaaaa?" (how about it?), like I need fucking encouragement. Excuse me? Don't hold my hand.

It's not like it isn't hard enough to think already with the constant nasal cries of "Irrashaimasseeeeee" (welcome) and "goran kudasaimaseeeee" (please have a looooook) at twice the volume necessary. Shut UP! This is even MORE of an issue in restaurants where I can't manage a normal conversation because my train of thought is constantly cut in half when the ENTIRE RESTAURANT STAFF begins to yell at ever new customer that enters the restaurant. I can't tell you how irritated this makes me. If I can't shop at nice stores or eat at nice restaurants in this country without being irritated, I think it's time to go home.

But going home poses a whole new set of issues. I guess I'll talk about those later as I have to get ready to go to Chiba for the weekend with my classmates. *dryly* Yay.

Thus ends my rant! Please take it only as seriously as you feel necessary.