I <3 Sofia Coppola.
She's such an amazing director. First, I love The Virgin Suicides and now, I love Lost in Translation. Lost in Translation is so well written and directed. The film is serious and dark but extremely hilarious and Scarlett Johansson is a really good actress. After watching this film, I miss Japan because the entire movie was filmed in Japan. The cinematography is just amazing. Japan is such a cool and fun place and yes, you can definitely get really lost if you don't speak the language and the subway there is confusing as hell. But yea, everyone should go check out this movie. I highly recommend it!

My favorite place: the closet
Lately I've been finding myself spending a lot of time in the closet. Ewww! Not what you're thinking! I've been going through my clothes like every day and trading in stuff at Mars and Buffalo Exchange and now my closet is full of second-handed clothes and I'm loving it. The best thing about thrift-shopping is that you can find some real classic and unique stuff that you can't find anywhere else. But thrift-shopping and luck go hand-in-hand. Sometimes, you either hit a jackpot or can't find even one thing. Like today, I traded in $50 worth of clothes at Buffalo Exchange but instead of trading (I couldn't find anything), I took away $35.52 in cash. I almost bought this burgundy velvet coat. It was nice but I wanted a black coat. So, I was walking in front of the mirror, just couldn't make up my mind. Thank God I put it back down at the end cuz the first thing I saw when I walked into Mars was a black velvet coat! Yay! I bought it without having to think about it. And it was small too, exactly how I wanted it. Speaking of Buffalo Exchange, I made friends with this girl who works there. After seeing her a couple of times at the store, I started bumping into her on the bus pretty much every Friday. Now, we say hi whenever we see each other on Telegraph. She seems really sweet and I love her style. Sorry but I'm just gonna talk and talk and talk about fashion today...You know what's the best thing about the return policy? It's that you can return stuff even if you had worn it (as long as they don't know)! :P Yeah, I bought hella stuff at Ross a couple of weeks ago. But recently, I've been putting the tags back on and returning them. I'm sooooo bad. Oh well.

To all my stalkers out there (if there's any):

You can find me every Friday at noon at Lower Sproul on the Berkeley campus watching free shows.




Unlike The Effection's noon time show, I was on time to see Thriving Ivory. I actually have never heard of them before but since I love discovering new music, I went to check them out anyway. It usually takes me more than one performance to really dig a band...but the moment the drummer hit the snare and the keyboardist pounded on the keys, I was blown away. They were sooooo good and for some reasons the sounds at Lower Sproul sounded especially nice and clear yesterday. The singer reminded me of Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20. Oh, and wanna know something funny? The guitarist looked like Justin (Solemite) when he had short hair and the drummer reminded me of Mike...their facial expressions while playing the drums are almost identical! It's crazy. Anyway, I suggest anyone who are into finding new bands to check Thriving Ivory out. www.thrivingivory.com

CONTROL! CONTROL! CONTROL!
Spenting money like Paris Hilton...

In this month of September (only half of September) I spent like $200 already! Bought like 4 cds, 3 magazines, 8 pieces of clothing, a purse, and all those little my "so-called necessary" stuff like bleach and Jamba juice. I'll soon be broke...anyone wanna donate to the Toshiko foundation?

Such an idiot
The following was written yesterday (September 12, 2003):
Watched the last two lines of the last song The Effection performed at Lower Sproul. I had no idea they were playing, otherwise, I'd have gone and watch the entire set. I mean, I was there, but not THERE. I ate lunch with Deborah and then I went to trade in stuff at Mar's and then went to Tower. I was on my way to the library and then I heard music coming from Lower Sproul. I walked over to see who was playing and there they were, finishing up their set. Oh well, not like I can do anything about it now. Though, the guys seemed pretty nice when I went up and complimented on their music. And as a fan of Limp, I was delighted to meet Scott who is a former Limp member.
Yesterday I bought Thrice's album "The Artist in the Ambulence" and today I bought Dashboard Confessional's "A Mark. A Mission. A Brand. A Scar." Yea yea, these are completely opposite kind of music, but I just like all sorta rock. The Thrice's album isn't as good as I thought it would be. I only really like "All That's Left". As for "A Mark. A Mission. A Brand. A Scar.", it's just pretty much the typical melodic emo sound you can expect from Chris Carrabba. It's good if you're into emo. "Hands Down" is so well written...I absolutely love it. The album also comes with a DVD but it's kinda boring. But I do enjoy the "Hey Girl" split screen cuz they only showed Mike Marsh playing the drums which is excellent. Dude! I feel like I just wrote a cd review. Hahaha...
Like I had mentioned earlier, I traded in some stuff at Mar's. I hate how all these thrift stores are so fucking picky. But thank God Mar's wasn't as picky as Buffalo Exchange. Two pairs of shoes, a pair of jeans, and a tee and I got a $36 worth of trade. I could have taken $25 as cash but there were some stuff I wanted anyway. So, that's kinda like $10 more. I just wish they would pay me a little more on those Adidas shoes that I've wore only once. They are so damn new. The girl marked them $28. Anyway, with that $36, I bought this really cute purple/maroon terry clothed shirt which has cool sleeves, a light pink long-sleeved Ramones shirt (it's really cute, by the way), and a pair of sunglasses (yes, the big funky ones of course). So, all I had to pay was the $2.97 tax. Yay! I'm happy! Shopping makes me happy. Hahaha...
I'm going to see the All-American Rejects in October, I hope.

Oh Sh*t!
Oh sh*t! Toshiko once-the-stalker is now being stalked! This boy just won't leave me alone. Ahhh!
Oh sh*t! Today is only Thursday and I already spent like $80 since Monday! Dude! I seriously need to control myself. I am this spendthrift who has turned into a vintage junkie. Oh! And I've been trying to save up money to move out...hmm...doesn't look like it's working. Damnit!

Vintage madness
I bought this really cute green/turquoise shirt at Sharks (you know, that little vintage thrift store on the corner of Dwight and Telegraph) yesterday. You wouldn't think a piece of used clothing smell good, but it does. Hmm...maybe it's just the laundry smell. I wanted these light pink leg warmers. I don't know why I didn't get them...but I can always go back. And today I'm gonna bring a whole bag of clothes to Buffalo Exchange. They are just taking up space in my closet and in fact, I need to save up some cash. Hopefully I get paid a lot.

P-S-Y-C-H-O-B-A-B-B-L-E
My definition for Psychology is a psychotic subject that eats up my brain and gives me the worst headache. I don't like it and it doesn't like me. As much as I try to pay attention to what the professor has to say, I just can't comprehend it. And so, I sit there every Monday and Wednesday turning my head to the clock every five minutes, day dreaming, and thinking what I'm gonna wear the next day. But this only happens in lectures. Discussions are better and I actually understand the stuff we talk about.

Is this the beginning or is this the end?
Second week of school just ended...


but I still don't feel like I'm going to school. I mean, I have homework and stuff. You know, the usual "symbols" of school. I guess it's just the different schedules I have everyday. Sometimes I have one class a day and sometimes I have class at 3 in the afternoon. Deborah's so-called "monsterous" Daniel wore a Paul Frank Canadian shirt yesterday. It was cute...but I still think he looks better with all those trucker hats he has, especially that green "Ladies Wanted" one. I had lunch with Jesse and his friend (I forgot his name) and tried my first pita sandwich after class yesterday. It was really really good. I'll definitely go back and eat some more. After visiting Jesse's dorm, I wanna move out even more. He doesn't stay in the University's dorm. He stays at Telegraph Commons on Channing and Telegraph and it's a non-University owned student housing. It's actually pretty nice, I think. And everyone seems to know everyone in the building which is pretty cool.


Mikey dropped off some cd samplers at my house Thursday night, and so I passed them (along with my Fearless Records samplers) out around Telegraph. I clipped them onto people's doors at Telegraph Commons and I also left a bunch on the front counter at Amoeba's.


Now that I walk on Telegraph every single day, it's not a treat to go there anymore. Shops are there, but I don't go into them. Not that I don't want to or anything. I just know that if I do, I'll be spending like $50 each day until I run out of money. I went to Wicked on Thursday, hoping to say hi to Zack and asked him about this tattoo I wanna get but guess what? He quitted! I was so bumped cuz I really want him to do my next one. At least I have his number, maybe he's just working somewhere else.


You know what's the first thing I'm gonna do when I move out? I'm gonna get my lip pierced the minute I move out. Not right smack in the middle, but off to the left side...just like the one Brody Armstrong has. Speaking of Armstrong, I'm so sad that Brody and Tim got a divorce. And speaking of Brody, I wanna go see The Distillers when they play at The Warfield with Queens of the Stoneage in October. I doubt I'll be able to go though.

School
Doesn't feel like college.

School finally started but it doesn't even feel like I'm in college. Maybe it's because I'm in the Extension program where classes aren't too big. But wait til Spring semester, I'll be lost in the lecture hall. Also, probably because I'm staying at home, so nothing has really changed for me. Man, I wanna live in a dorm sooooo bad! Hopefully I'll get into one in the Spring. It just seems like fun. Anyway, there were only 3 guys in my Calculus Discussion class! I felt like I was back to that whole all-girl thing. Hahaha...There were sooooo many Japanese. They were all talking in their little groups and stuff. I didn't meet a whole lot of people yesterday. I met Bonnie and Maggie from San Fran, Megan from the South Bay, Emily from Pasadena, and Daniel from Toronto. So today I had my College Writing class (that's the only class I have every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:40-6:30PM). Yeah it's long but at least I don't have to get up early in the morning. There are only 12 people in this class. I think I've got everyone's name down but I really only met Divya, Marisel, Jesse, and Junior. After class, Marisel, Junior, and I went to add a book and then went to Starbucks. We were making fun of Junior's "gangster talk" cuz he's from LA and he was making fun of our "hellas". It was funny. Anyway, I feel like I'm slowly getting back into my busy life. Actually, it's pretty quickly. I already have tons of homework! Ahhh!!! Speaking of homework, I gotta do some now. Ok, later!