Russian Sushi

In a Japanese animation television series, Durarara!! there is a large Russian man named Simon Brezhnev that is trying to make a living in a sushi restaurant in Ikebukuro, Japan. Throughout the series Simon can be seen passing out flyers to people, or in some rare episodes he actually makes the sushi. Even though Simon is very knowledgeable with the Japanese language, which is funny because only thing you hear him say is,"Eat Russian sushi," or "Sushi good for you."

Yes, the sushi restaurant makes Russian sushi not Japanese--some of the fish they served are pretty weird to Japanese people's point of view. Anyway, due to Simon's tall height, dark skin, and heavy Russian accent he tends to scare potential customers away; people even toss the pamphlets as soon as Simon hands them one. The good news is that Simon isn't treated differently since he's the only other staff in the restaurant, Russia Sushi, aside the current owner--the only thing that seemed harsh for him was that people ignored him whenever he tried to hand someone one of his restaurant's ads. Then again, don't people normally do that anyway?

Who Are You?

On September 20th, our class discuss about a paper written by Leslie Marmon Silko about the police border patrols. In her paper there are certain things that made me grimace: the scene with the German shepherd and the report about the Argentina officers.

No questions ask, that's animal cruelty right that! You don't drag helpless dogs just to get them to do your bidding! How would you like to have a collar on your neck and let people drag you around--squeezing the air out of your lungs? Yeah, it's not nice--so don't do it! You can tell from the German shepherd's lack of enthusiasm to their commands that these officers are just plain awful. Animals asked for nothing more from us than love and affection but it seems this poor dog is far from her wish.

The second thing I read that was disturbing me was the descriptions about the Argentina police and military officers. It seems that humans cannot be trusted with too much of anything, because if we do have something valuable--we tend to abuse its power. For example, if we have too much money who wouldn't have the urge to get more? Well, in this paper--it seems that if we have too much power, we want to express how much power we have over other people. This is what came across my mind when I read how the officers would abducted helpless citizens when there is no more suspects to play with.

It's a scary thought, but it true~

Anyway, moving on! Another topic we covered in class the other day was cultural heritage, when you asked someone, about their heritage how anyone replied,"I'm American?" Huh. Now that I think about it, I haven't got that answer from anyone. Weird? Nope! In fact, not at all--it's because from what I learn in my history class, America is one big melting pot. People from different cultures blend together and we all become one big family that makes up tomorrow's future.

While most people answer with their family's background heritage, there are those that take pride of their culture. For those who have more than one cultural background, I found out that they either know very little of their culture since they've been in America so long. For instance,I remembered a fellow classmate of mine who's Irish but all she knows about her culture is Irish Potatoes. There are even those who can no longer speak their own country's language because they've been used to speaking English for so long and have no one to hold a decent conversation with since they've been here all their life.

Likewise, not everyone who came to America is "Americanize", there are some people that still hold true to their culture despite the fact that they live here. The who take pride in their culture pays no mind over what other people say or the stares that they might receive from other people. For example, the Gods people worship--not everyone is going to pray to Jesus just because they are here in America. Plus the food, how foods are prepared or cooked varies because of the many different cultures here in America--it's no surprise to people that I eat rice every night for dinner, right? Foods that are acceptable and common to one culture might be different than others. Am I the only one that finds fish heads are appetizing? ( ^ ^ ; )a    

What Kind of A Learner Are You?

What is your style of learning? If I recall correctly, I've done a quiz like this in Middle School, however back then I only know that there are three types of learning skills: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. This was the first time we did one specifically for literature.

Actually what surprised me the most was that I'm a pretty balanced learner. It seems the majority of my classmates have at least one trait that stood out than the rest, however I have three types of learning styles instead of just one. So according to the quiz I am a independent, creative, and emotional learner. I was really surprised that I was the only Emotional learner...Lucky me. ( = w = ' )a

The funny thing was that the results didn't really surprised me, aside the fact that I have a more balance learning style instead of a dominate one. To tell you the truth, until now--I never thought that "emotional" is a learning style! So, let's what my results say about my learning style:

-Independent: As much as I love to help other people, I have to make sure that I am getting my own assigments done. I guess that's where the independent part comes in since I tend to work in my own pace. I don't want to slow my fellow peers down or be a burden--thus, I tend to work alone. In addiation to that, I feel that the only way a person can shine is to do the work by yourself. If you do group work, there will be someone doing more work than the other, but the grade will be shared for both of the teammates.

-Creative: Think outside the box!!! That's always been my motto when it comes to writing, give it your all and create something that's out of the ordinary or make people think, "Huh, I never thought of that." So I guess being creative was something I was expecting. There's so much that you can do, but we set limits on ourselves--make sure to obey the rules. Although I'm not going to rob a bank but that doesn't mean that I cannot write or draw an awesome comic about it ( o w < )b Imagination is neverending~

-Emotional: Ha ha, I don't know if I should be embarrassed or happy that I'm honest with myself. Yes, I often based my decisions on what others will think--in a good way people!!!! O( > w < )O Is that so bad? For example, if you go shopping at Shop Rite, is it so wrong to call home asking your little brother if he's in the mood for some pudding cake so my mom doesn't have to make a two way trip to buy some later? I think being an emotional thinker actually helps me write better, the things I write actually have a tone and human feelings. Thus, I'm proud that I'm an emotional learner.

Well everyone, that's me! Miki, the independent, creative, emotional learner!!!

High School V.S. College

Yes! I have survived my first week of college, and just as I predicted it--time is flying by with a blink of an eye. Even though I still think it'd too early to type a compare and contrast entry about the difference between high school and college, I think I should keep a look out for anything that I typed today might have changed in the future.

So, let's reminiscence life in Absegami high school for a bit--starting from the beginning of the day. Well, no doubt about it, college starts at a later time than high school. For me, I remember waking up 6:30 AM, taking 10 minute quick nap on the bus. College on the other hand starts at 8:30 AM--so waking up at 7:30 AM getting dressed, taking my time eating breakfast, and driving my Honda to campus. Another awesome thing about college is that they sell warm breakfast here, unlike Absegami we only had a choice between cereal in a plastic square bowl or a cold bagel with cream cheese...Needless to say the food here is far more superb--however at the same time, more unhealthy. ( _ _ ||| )

Moving along to our classes, walking from class to class stayed the same--except now we can use the elevator without feeling guilty. Back at my high school only those with disabilities and staff members can use the elevators. For Freshmen, we were told that we need a special hall pass to use those-which was nothing more but a joke to fool newcomers. So cruel! However, in Stockton not only everyone is very nice, I've not been mislead by anyone--I think it's probably since this place is so big, people tend to get lose themselves.The class size are a bit bigger than what I'm used to, even the desk that we sit are different--it's not a full flat surface anymore, it's half of that! That means ladies, you gotta put those giant purses on the floor--ha ha!! Ah, I'm kidding--I'm not that mean, but the desk's surface are small, so it's safe to say, they're only meant for taking notes. Not all the desks in my classes are like that, some are long like a display table or some with computers on them, no matter what you have--just make it work and don't let them disrupt you taking notes.

Now for the amount of class assignments in general...Well, the teachers doesn't check homework, with the exception of my W1 and Chinese class. I don't think I've been given any assignments other than taking notes in class and paying attention. There is honestly very little to no homework in college, so maybe taking six classes isn't so bad after all. In addition to the few amount of class, the grading system are a bit more lenient than high school. In Gami, an A+ was 98-100, here I believe it drop back to 94 -100? Also, the amount of classes are very little too--most of my friends only have four classes, while I have six, ha ha what fun~There may be very few homework but I think that's what is so hard about college, you have nothing to use as a review. Likewise, I think the amount of reading skyrocketed for me--I have things to read in my Biology class, W1 class, and my acting class.... ( = w = ' ) Whew~

Next thing on the list, clubs--this is the only that really shocked me, 8PM to 10 PM!!! I guess that I have to make sure to get all my work done on club days because by the time I get back home and finish all my homework it's already 1AM. Unlike high school, clubs and after school activities are usually from 2:30 to 3:30...if I recall correctly. Anyway, because this new club time, one of my friend was unable to attend the first Anime Club meeting since it was so late. Also, on a side not--I think making friends might be a bit hard this year since everyone is so eager to run out of the classroom as soon as the lesson is finished. I think I might need to grab someone's arm and say, "Hey I'm Miki! Let's be friends!"

How Do You Read?

Let's see, reading habits...It depends what am I reading and what's the purpose of reading it? For me, reading a novel is different from reading from reading a manga, Japaneses comic books. Shoeless Joe for instance, it's assigned to me to finish reading before school starts. I take my time reading novels to let everything I read sinks in, I try to get at least five pages per day. Usually when I read a novel, I would like to sit on my living room sofa in the afternoon--right after a nice yummy lunch, a nice cup of tea or plain glass of water near my reach whenever I feel thirsty while reading. It helps me concentrate better if the room I'm reading is in silence, however I tend to get suck into the book once I start reading so noises don't tend to be an issue. The only exception is my mp3 player, I cannot concentrate when my favorite songs are whispering in my ears, my lips just immediately mouth he lyrics out.

As for mangas, it once again depend on the location, because nowadays people can read mangas online. Thus, it really depends if I have a hard copy in my hands or if I'm reading it from my computer screen. "Whenever and wherever" that's the idea of reading mangas--time and place doesn't matter as long as I can find somewhere to sit. Likewise, I don't have to find a place to sit-- leaning on the wall will do just fine, either way I'll just dive into a world filled with wonders and magic. Now as for reading it from a computer, although it saves me money I much rather have the manga in my two hands than using the mouse to scroll down the page and click the arrow button just to wait again for the page to load--and repeat. Somehow, it's the touch of a book that makes all the magic happen...

Hmm, aside from novels and mangas-- I also read a lot of blogs, aside the fact that we have to do blog for school assignments, I read blogs my friends posted about their life. Reading a blog is the same as reading manga online without the pictures. The only difference is that I'm always sitting in front of a computer, wither it's at school or in my bedroom. I quickly glance at it, choose to type a comment or not, re-read what they type because I want to make sure to stay in topic and sometimes I type too much I tend to forget what they typed, and finally I post what I want to say. Mostly when I read blogs I think if there's anything interesting or amusing that I should type-- I know that bloggers love to get comments, so I often take a minute to see how what I've read reflects with my life, and I reply with a comment based on that!   

Stockton Cafeteria

Since this was the first time I ever went into the Stockton Cafeteria it took me a while to make up my mind about what to eat, plus I only brought about $5.00 so that limited my choice even more. The good news was that I can go without drinking water for two days, so drinks was not a priority for me. On the other hand, a lot of shop clerks kept beckoning me to come closer, don't be shy--order up! So that was fun, in the end it was Primo's Pizza that won my hungry tummy.


For some odd reason, I had the urge to eat a slice of spinach pizza. I ate it once when I was sightseeing Canada, in a place called CiCi's Pizza Buffet. Anyway, the pizza cost $1.99 and it took up quite a space on my plastic plate. The man who I assume was the chef told me he gave me an extra big slice since I had to wait for my order to cook in the oven, so it was worth the wait.


After the meal, I glanced around my surrounding and it felt like I was in a newly built section of the Hamilton Mall's cafeteria. It felt like I was in a mall more than in a cafeteria. The seats were very comfortable and it has a nice sense of style. Next time, I'm going to get my friends and we can all hang out there. I'm aiming for a juicy burger the next time I eat there! ( > w <  )O