I would just like to say, my host mother is made of win. So. Much. Win.
She went to Umeda (the end of the line) today and found my dictionary!
(buying cake or sweets for dinner tonight as a thank you. With the three hundred dollars I now don't have to spend on a new dictionary!)

I had my date yesterday. The date actually went fairly well, despite my anxiety in the hours leading up to it leading me to ponder the benefits of six cats and in-vitro fertilized octuplets. It helped after the two of us actually met and I realized he felt about as awkward as I did. We're meeting up again on Saturday.
The part where it turned to shit would be when I got off the express train, switched to the local, then got off the local at my stop and realized my bag was lighter than it should be. I dug through my bag and realized that at some point on the train, I had lost my electronic dictionary. I went up to a station assistant and explained my situation. He called and checked the train, but by the time it got to the end of the line they were unable to find anything. I was advised to call again today, and tomorrow. My host mother, who goes to the end of the line for the express train once or twice a week, is going there tomorrow to check the lost and found. If it isn't there, I throw in the towel and need to buy a new one.
So, damage:
$200 dollar Japanese-English dictionary. Which these days is closer to $250-$350.
2 to 3 month supply of anti-anxiety meds that was in the case of the dictionary, which I cannot have shipped from the States.
A pass to the aquarium in Osaka my host mother bought for me that I was planning to use today.
A depressingly large amount of anxiety that will come out of me searching for a new dictionary and trying to understand how to use it, especially considering that they no longer make my old model.

On the bright side, at least buying a new one will be easier in Japan than it was in Northampton last year. (sighs)

(stares at several hundred dollar electronic Japanese-English dictionary. At the dictionary that now has cracked plasma smears covering the surface. The dictionary that was buried under papers on her desk so when she leaned on her desk to turn the light off she didn't notice it until there was a sudden cracking noise. On the same day she had one of her worst depressive bouts in a while, owing to it suddenly being warm and sunny outside, her IBS flaring up, and her not exercising enough to counter-act her neurochemistry. The same day she missed her Korean presentation because all she wanted to do was stare blankly at things and thus couldn't work up enough motivation to do anything but read/sleep/binge).
...shit. Just... shit.
( sorry, rant.Collapse )