Thursday 18 March 2010

Going to England Tomorrow!

The title says it all. Good thing I'm going tomorrow instead of the day after, because BA is going on a strike.
I won't be posting anything until April 4th but I may write stuff in my notebook if I have time. I'll be very busy!!!

Monday 15 March 2010

Discrimination

Today's morning listening was about "being right handed or left handed." There was only one person in my class who raised their hand when the teacher asked who is left handed but I guess some can use both... That would be useful!! He told us that left handed people were discriminated against only 200 years ago. I imagine there must have been many people who were discriminated against for various reasons and some discrimination have disappeared, some still exists. Even if you think it has disappeared, it might be still hiding deep down your heart... I think it's nearly impossible to completely change the way you think about something.
I don't know why but my friend likes to talk about countries. Sometimes (quite often, actually!), I think he's being racist. But when I stop and think "what is the border between being racist and just talking about a country?", I can't be confident enough to tell him he's being racist.

As I am a transgender and also bisexual myself, I would like to bring up LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) discrimination. I haven't experienced a BIG discrimination like hate crimes but little ones... Plenty! I don't even remember all of them. The biggest one I have experienced was this.
When it was time for me to apply for high school, I told my teacher that I want to go to high school as a male student (I was a tom boy at that time). So the teacher contacted Joso High School to ask if that would be OK. The reply was "Only if she (me) gets a doctor's prescription that she's really a transgender." So, during the summer holidays, I had to go to 2 hospitals to get the paper. It took a lot of time. After I got it and submitted it to JHS, they said, "Only boys are boys. Girls are girls." ............WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how mad I was!!! So, I had to apply for another high school - the one that I'm going to now. They were (and still are) very supportive of me. Also, my class mates are very accepting and nice. I'm really glad that I didn't go to that stupid JHS.
This is the biggest and most influential discrimination I have experienced. But there are loads of people who were murdered or committed suicide because of being "different." Find out more here.
The movie "Boys Don't Cry" is based on a true story. Brandon Teena was raped and murdered after his friends found out that he was a transgender. His girlfriend and another friend of his was also murdered for no reason whatsoever. The movie made me angry. No one has the right to kill anyone for being who they are. (I sometimes get worried that I would be the next one...)
Forbidding same sex marriage is also discrimination. I hear many states in the US are working hard to make it legal. I listen to the "Big Gay News" podcast which tells me what's going on in the world about LGBT. I very rarely hear what's going on in Japan. Yes, I know the guy doing the podcast lives in the US so the news is mainly what's going on there. But I don't think much is being done here...

I have written about a part of discrimination but there must be more that I will ever know about. I want to be a person who is accepting and kind. Stop looking, Start SEEING.

Sunday 14 March 2010

Dance Recital

Today I went to a dance recital because some people I know were participating. It was mostly ballet which isn't my cup of tea but I watched it till the end.
....OK I have to admit that it was awesome!!! Watching hot chicks flying around the stage for free is a great deal!!!! I'm glad I went!! The costumes were a bit ridiculous though. And an earthquake occurred during the dance and it was paused for a minute.

Another thing I wanted to put here... As I was browsing my computer, I found a video I took in 2008 of Brutus. Check it out!

Thursday 11 March 2010

Happy B-Day!!

Yesterday was my dad's 20th birthday.

...Well...he's not really 20 years old! He's in fact 56 but claims to be 20. I sang him the birthday song when he called via skype. Too bad he can't have the cake mum made today! We'll hopefully have a party when we go to England.

Also, my cousin in London is going to be 22(?) next week so I made her a birthday card. I hope she likes it! :-)

I love my back stabber!!!

I was living in England for 5 months in 2003. Me and my family were staying in our house in Bath where one of my neighbors had a big black dog. I LOVE dogs so I asked her (the neighbor) if I could take him for a walk and she said yes. Everyday after school, I took him for a walk. Guess what the dog's name is! BRUTUS! He's a very friendly dog but barks at anyone he sees!

This is a picture taken in 2008 when I went there again to see him. It looks like I'm strangling him to death in this photo but I'M NOT! He never wants to look at the camera! I hope I will be able to see him again when I go next week.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Shin Reveals His Name!!!!

Today, I checked out what everyone was up to on myspace and OMG Shin revealed his real name!!!!!!! MARCEL GOTHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited because I was just wondering about it the other day!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!
I wish I could understand German.... And Russian. There are so many Russian Cinema Bizarre fans! Most of the comments on shin's myspace fan pages' are in Russian! And Google translate sucks. The translation doesn't make sense! It would be better if they stop teaching English at school and teach those two languages instead! (jk

Friday 5 March 2010

Kindergarten Memories Part 1 [Aobadai]

I went to 2 kindergartens. First to Aobadai and then to Azuma. I think I have more memories of when I was in Aobadai.


I can't be sure if it's true but it's what I remember so here goes...


I remember sitting on a chair alone in the room. I've always felt uncomfortable going to a toilet outside my house and still do (a bit). I sat there until the teacher came to drag me to the toilet. I often peed in my pants - I once even peed in the bus coming back! Because of not going to the toilet so often, I gained the skill of not having to go to the toilet so often. I know it's not healthy but it's a useful skill.

I remember breaking a swing. I really like(d) playing on the swings. I once somehow undid the connecting part(see photo below) of the swing.



I don't remember getting into any troudle...But I probably did!!

Biography

I made this blog to write random stuff, but also I want to write my biography too. I really want to, but I don't know where to begin... I will start from the beginning but when does "the beginning" start?? Maybe from kindergarten....

Sorry

Sometimes I get really irritated about little things people say in Japanese. One is "gomen" which means sorry. Sometimes my friends say "gomen, arigato." when somebody does a favor for them. I don't get it. Why apologize if someone is nice to you?
Another thing is the word for "husband" in Japanese. There are various ways to say it but the most common, I think, is "shujin." This word also means "master." Are wives slaves in Japan?

Thursday 4 March 2010

Course change

I'm completely freaked out about the course changing issue. The teacher said i have a chance of getting into Tokyo Univ if I study world history etc like mad but I'M NOT AIMING FOR TOKYO UNIV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not supposed to tell anyone at school because if the teachers knew about this, I might get kicked out of the class I'm in which is a class for students aiming for Tokyo Univ. If I'm not aiming for T.U., where do I want to go? Well, I'm going to the UK from 19th this month to see:
University of York
University of Bath
University of Exeter.
These are all universities famous for psychology. I'm hoping to go to one of those universities.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

About The Plastic Man Photo Above

The big man on the top of this page is actually a tiny man standing on my desk. It's made of dental plasticine from when I had braces. I was supposed to put it to cover the braces when I have stomatitis. You can see the dust on the little man, which I should have brushed off before taking the picture.

I bet you can't spot him on my messy desk lol. (He's above the red can.)

Tuesday 2 March 2010

Course Changing...

Today my teacher told me that I'm really not doing well in maths and physics and chemistry that I would do better if I'm in the arts course. I'm now in the science course so flunking those subjects is a big problem. If I change to the arts course, I'll have to study geography and world history very hard to catch up with the other students who takes the arts course. Considering that I want to study psychology in university, the teacher is right... I'll probably be in the arts course next year.

Change Of Title

I changed the title of this blog yesterday from "Whatever" to "Stop looking, start seeing." It's taken from a song title by Papa Roach. I thought it fitted what kind of person I want to (need to) be.

Who is Rosetta Brown???

Honestly, Shin's got to make up his mind! He described Rosetta Brown as his "sister." Jeez... your sister can't have the same tattoo as you! Guess it's one of his hobbies to cross dress. Well, at least he's enjoying himself :-)

I love you Shin/Mr. Hangover/Rosetta Brown. x

Monday 1 March 2010

My Obsession #3

I just came up with another of my favorites.

7, Genealogy

I started to make my family tree online because of a special book I have. A very old nursery rhyme book has been on my book shelf for a long time. My grandma gave it to me a long time ago and I've always known that it's VERY old but I wasn't really interested until recently. There's a small note on the front pages that says who was given the book. The first person who was given it died when she was 3 or 4 years old. This got me interested in genealogy. My online family tree has now more than 100 people!!