I'm A Survivor

Finals are over. Amen.

After a pep talk from a friend, I am no longer crying about nor stressing over getting the quintessential “A.” It would be sincerely nice, but at this point… if it didn’t happen… oh well. The end.

I did get to do one fun thing this week that I meant to tell you about. I met the Princess of Japan! Okay, I lie. I didn’t meet her but she was indeed in the same room as little ole me. Tuesday, I went to the Ikebana International Tokyo Chapter meeting with a friend. The event included an Ikebana demonstration by Kosen Naruse, Head Master of Chiko School, and Kobai Naruse, Grand Master of Chiko, but the bonus was that royalty indeed shared the room with me. Sadly, I never got close enough to shake her hand or give her a couple of hundred bows. She was ushered into the room after everyone was already in. We were instructed to stand and clap for her. There was no movement toward her table whatsoever. Possibly it was the fear that you would be considered an assassin and taken out in bloody fashion right in the middle of the floral demonstration. Or perhaps I have been reading one too many history books and the Japanese simply don’t like to get drool on the Princess’s pretty dress. She was ushered out of the room in the same fashion that she had entered. There were also about fifteen ambassadors wives there representing the likes of Kuwait, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Saudi Arabia and many others of which I forget because I forgot to take any notes that day. Anyway, that was my big experience of the week. Whoa.

All the fun starts here though! There is a special little holiday tomorrow which I will refrain from discussing until then, when I can include pictures of a masked man we all know.