Ugh... Suuuuuuuck

So, I'm going to rant about this while it's still fresh in my mind. Is it so strange that as a Japanese student I despise other Japanese students? Not Japanese in origin, but Americans who study the language? I went to Cold Stone today with my roommates, and as I hand my debit card to the cashier she says, "arigatou gozaimasu."

I reply: "Oh. Nihongo da. Bikurishita. Sugoi na..." ("Oh, Japanese. I was surprised. Awesome.")

The cashier then begins to ramble on in a mixture of poorly structured colloquial and formal Japanese, all of which was done in a very masculine tone. Obviously she had learned the majority of her vocabulary via Japanese cartoons... and I instantly became uncomfortable. The more I think of it, however, the more I realize that I've always felt this way about things that are significant to myself, taking things waaaaaay to personal, never able to recognize that something can be special to someone else. Like in elementary school, I remember arguing with kids about who loved Power Rangers more, or more specifically, who was more obsessed with Kimberlee, the "hott" Power Ranger. Now it seems to have translated into bands and studies for me. For example:

I went into the SUB today and was instantly drawn into the arcade for some reason I could not fathom. It turns out that Dream Theater was playing on the radio, and there were a bunch of kids talking about how "sweet this song was on Guitar Hero." I got really mad, feeling that something sacred was being defiled. Maybe I get way too obsessed with my past times.

Anyway, for today's list. Suddenly, I've been thrown into the bowels of Winter, my least favorite place to be... so, I'm going to give you...

3 Reason Why This Winter Already Sucks
3. It came INSTANTLY
This is something that we're not that used to here in Idaho. Usually the transition from one season to the other is drawn out and annoying, as in Spring snowing three or four times before finally staying green (relatively. This Winter was going just fine for me, staying warm and snow free. Then, out of nowhere, there was about five inches of snow. Oh. Good. I don't know, I may not like snow, but I'd certainly appreciate a little warning before I realize that my sweatshirt is not enough to keep me from dying. Alas, that would be convenient, and we know that convenience is out of the question when it comes to Idaho.

2. I Have to Drive
Now that there's snow and ice everywhere it has become necessary for me to actually drive my butt around town instead of just riding my bike. This poses a few problems, including the fact that I don't have a parking permit, I HATE driving, and people in Boise are idiots. The general Boise population appears to be for the most part genuine, intelligent members of society... but when even a touch of snow hits the road they revert back into their most basic, primal form, acting only on the emotion of panic and basing all of their decisions likely.

"SNOW! SLICK! I FORGOT HOW TO DRIIIIIIIIIVE!"

It may just be where I was raised, what with torrential snow storms and icelandic road systems, but I'm pretty sure that cars can drive on roads, regardless of the fact that there may be a little bit of frost on it. It took no less than an entire half hour to drive down fairview ave., a trip of normally five minutes, people acting in a frenzy, forgetting which side of the road to drive on, what lane they're in, which light to turn on to turn in which direction... it was MADNESS.

1. There's Nothing to Do

With there being no school, I have nothing but a job at a frozen yogurt shop to look forward to. Ryan and Tom are going to be in IF, William works all night so he sleeps all day, and I hate driving myself around (as fore mentioned). Cool? What am I going to do? This Winter seriously sucks...