I Made A New Friend!!

Two days ago I went to Kobe to visit my friend who I met from Japanese course class in my hometown. She changed a lot (in a positive way). I still remember how she was during the first several months after she arrived last year, now she has grown into a proper adult with all her Japanese studies and part-time jobs. Not to mention her Japanese skill; I'm very proud of her.

Earlier this month, another student from the Japanese course class came replacing my friend's roommate. She has a friend, a cheerful Aussie-NZ lady who also happen to come at the same period. I saw her from my friend's IG story and somehow I like her. So I planned to go to Kobe on Saturday, and cook something to impress this girl. After that, I will go for Easter mass on the way back home.

I cooked black pepper chicken and potato salad which are my friend's request. Finally I met this pretty lady. Gosh, she talked a lot! Maybe it is just how she is. I learnt that she just broke up with her previous partner several weeks after she arrived in Japan. She yields to be a voice actress (seiyuu) here. She likes anime (so do her brothers) and tries hard to get a grip on the dialects (and of course the Japanese itself).

We walked to a park nearby around 9pm and she talked about how NZ is, parts of her childhood, and how was her school days. After that we went back to my friend's place where I supposed to sleep but we found out there were a lot of tiny cockroaches on the floor! So I decided to crash on this NZ lady's place. I thought I would be sleeping on the floor but something even better happened!

We shared the bed. That was the first time for me spending the whole night sleeping beside a girl who I just met several hours earlier! I woke up every two hours because I couldn't help myself getting excited. Yes I like her, to be honest. Moreover I am really thankful for her to accept me that time.

No. We didn't have sex. I told her what I thought in the morning and she said this: "One night stand only makes me as a woman feel empty even more. It feels like you are loved which is the thing you want, but in fact it is just physical."

That sentence I will always remember. Although to be honest I never had one-night-stand before and never will, that give me a stronger reason not to do it.

I have been thinking about this for a while...
In case eventually we come to a point of realization that we like each other, can I accept her past? Or should I let this go?

A Year in Japan

First of all, this is my 12th month here. Which means that I have lived in Japan for the whole year. Yay. (So what?) It is just the same anywhere. I'm still all by myself.

One greatest sentence I heard earlier this month: "I think you are capable of it."

I also met with an Arabian man (actually he is Syrian but working in UAE for the past 10 years). My senpai (who had just graduated) drove me with another girl from my lab to meet with his childhood friend who is currently working as an elementary school teacher. She is quite nice, not really my type but, just nice. Speaking of this Syrian man, he was trying to apply for graduate studies regarding IT field. He just finished the interview test in my campus in the early afternoon. I got my feeling right, he hadn't done his research about approaching the tests, so as expected, he got rejected.

During the past months I have been coming to the lab late at night and stay until morning. I have my very own reason to do so. First, I want to save electricity which doesn't work that well. Second, I hate the lamps in my lab. Third, I'd like to play music and sing aloud while working.

Last month I exerted all my might to find out why my new generated data didn't produce the same numbers as the old ones with the same input. I don't care anymore. Just go on with this shit and hoping nobody would check it anyway.

Finally the paper submitted. By this time this post is written, I am waiting for my first paper announcement whether it will be accepted or rejected with those hideous comments I will see. Nah. Before that, I should enjoy my second spring here.

I cycled to Sahogawa, 12KM from my place. Once I got there at night, but I went to the wrong spot stupidly and missed the lanterns which only lit the sakura trees fro March 31st to April 8th. I went again for the second time to see the lanterns, but then I realized that it was over just yesterday.

I found a site that enlists several cycling route that I could enjoy sometime later: https://morethanrelo.com/en/the-best-bike-rides-around-kansai/ .

I will go to Canada this summer for poster presentation of my research. Despite of the good news, the reviewers comments were more like a critical hit to me. They easily spotted and clearly describe the fundamental flaws of my research which I've realized it beforehand but decided to ignore it in order to get some results published.

That being said, I already submitted my second paper to a conference with a small chance of acceptance regarding my content and detail quality. I'm not sure if this one will work as well as the previous one. Looking at those comments makes me want to slap myself. "Is this the best you can do?! You call yourself a researcher?!"