The Comforts of Geekdom

I've been a bit down lately due to never-ending financial woes (I'm losing track of how many times I've been in the financial aid office over the past week and a half) and the uncertainties of the job market. At times like this I tend to envelop myself in the comforting blanket of my own personal geekdom for a while. This usually means living like a hermit in my apartment reading books and/or watching movies that I enjoy. Ever since I got my new computer over a year ago and high speed DSL, the Internet has become my prime reading and viewing resource. Most especially because I can access international media with the greatest of ease.

So, over the last week I've been chillin' in my pad and trying to recover my typical upbeat bravado while getting into the unexplored terrain of....J-Doramas!

That's right folks. My Japanese pop culture obsession has moved into yet another realm, that of the live action TV drama! Thanks to the glory of DSL and the dedication of fellow fangeeks I can download fansubbed TV shows to my heart's content. And my most exciting find last week was:

Gokusen (*SPOILERS*)

I must start by gushing about the fact that this show is now on my personal list of all time favorites! Incidentally, it came out in 2002 while I was actually living in Japan, but I had no idea. Weird coincidence. Anyway, I stumbled across fansubs for it while downloading some other stuff (to be blogged about at a later date). Intrigued by the plot synopsis I found, I decided to watch the first episode on YouTube to get a feel for the series. Yo, I am practical. I have precious little storage space left on my external media drive and I don't want to waste it on something I don't seriously enjoy--especially as I cannot afford to buy the new glorious 500GB drive of my dreams. (le sigh)

Well, after watching the first episode I was hooked! The story is as wacky as they get, with wonderfully zany humor that had me cackling throughout. It was precisely the kind of narrative I needed to boost my spirits.

The story revolves around Kumiko Yamaguchi (played by the beautiful Yukie Nakama), a recent college graduate seeking to make her way as a high school teacher. Becoming a teacher has been her lifelong dream, but one big obstacle in her path has made things difficult. No ordinary woman, Kumiko is the grandaughter of a famous yakuza (Japanese mafia) boss and next in line to take over the family "business." She still lives at home with her grandfather as the only woman in a house of yakuza men. This provides excellent fodder for moments of hilarity throughout the series as the yakuza underlings try to convince Kumiko to give up teaching and become their next boss.

Kumiko starts her new job at the all boys high school Shiroken Gakuen, only to discover that she has been assigned to 3-D, the troublemaker class full of juvenile delinquents. The group gives her plenty of trouble at first, but quickly realizes that Kumiko is no ordinary teacher and that she won't back down. Eventually she gains their trust and respect. What I love about this show is that it doesn't go down the same trite but well-trodden path of "angelic female teacher comes to the rescue of troubled adolescents and saves them"--yadda, yadda, yadda. Kumiko has no problem with resisting normalcy. In fact, she doesn't dissuade her students from being delinquints, but rather teaches them how to be delinquents with pride! In this respect she teaches them a yakuza-esque system of values (i.e. the difference between an honest fight and cowardly violence, the importance of bonds between friends and family, protecting things important to you, etc.)

Kumiko, who quickly earns the nickname of "Yankumi", is something of an adolescent geek at heart. Much of the comedy of the show revolves around her difficulties keeping her yakuza origins hidden (she dresses like a goofy cross between a teenage girl and a P.E. coach, she slips into hilarious yakuza gangsta' speech mode at inopportune moments, she beats up bad guys, she develops a crush on a man who turns out to be a policeman, etc.). Indeed, she has to keep her family a secret or else she will lose her job. But of course, early in the series one of her students unwittingly discovers her secret.

Enter super hottie Jun Matsumoto as Shin Sawada.


Hot damn. This boy is all kinds of sexy! I know what Monkey will say, but girl, don't hate on the pretty! I mean, look at that gorgeous hair, those pouty lips, those big brown eyes...grrr!

Ahem. But I digress from the narrative.

So, Shin soon develops an interesting rapport with his teacher because of this knowledge. He's the leader of the 3-D delinquents and a quiet, brooding character with troubles of his own. But he gradually starts to come out of his shell and becomes interested in school again now that Yankumi is his teacher. They both help one another out at various points in the series and share similar views on what it means to be a friend to others.

Here's where I'm unclear as to how the TV show differs from the manga on which it's based (which I totally want to read now!). While it is clear to the viewer that Shin starts to develop romantic feelings for Yankumi, she remains pretty oblivious to it all. At the end of the TV show Shin openly admits to Kumiko's yakuza buddies that he plans to pursue her, but the conclusion remains open-ended. (I think the manga is still running, so I'm not sure how it will conclude and if the romantic plot line is evident there or not) But I thought Yankumi and Shin had a cute dynamic.

(He's so purdy!)

All in all, this show is light-hearted feel-good humor that will have you laughing loud enough to scare your neighbors and it will leave you with a smile on your face. I highly recommend it!

Another point of huge excitement for me looms on the horizon. The countdown to Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles is on!

(*does the happy dance*) Starting February 15th, the Naruto anime will end the horrid and seemingly never-ending fillers and take up the second main story arc of the manga! There have been over 100 filler episodes since the first main story arc ended (around episode 136) and the fans have been waiting for the manga to progress enough that the anime could continue with the main storyline (because Naruto is awesome, but the fillers suck hardcore). The second story arc begins two and a half years after the first one, so all of the characters are older and have new looks.
They've also learned new skills and have matured quite a bit (at least as far as they've been depicted in the manga). I will be eagerly awaiting fansubs the day after it comes out in Japan. I don't think it will take loyal fansubbers more than 24-48 hours to get the first episode out for us. Huzzah!

How the Federal Government F*%#@d Me in the New Year

Some of you are already very familiar with the ongoing financial saga of indentured slave (a.k.a humanities grad student) Mademoiselle Sparks. But what better way to start off the new year than to share all the details on how the federal government has already f*%#@d me for 2007!

Let us step back a month in time. In early December I learned, to my very great pleasure, that I had won a competitive dissertation fellowship at my university. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was only able to award 13 of these fellowships to grad students from across all the school's respective programs. I was the only person in my department to get one, and thus I was quite chuffed. The added advantage of this award ($5000) was that I would not have to teach in the spring. Instead, I could focus exclusively on completing my dissertation and graduating. Needless to say, this was almost too good to be true.

And indeed, that quickly proved to be the case.

I was soon informed by the financial aid office that receiving this award would decrease my federal loans. Even though I typically have a teaching assignment each semester I still need to take out loans to supplement my income--because honestly, I don't make enough money to live on. To say I was mildly apprehensive after hearing this news would be an understatement. Nevertheless, I rallied my spirits after speaking with one of the deans in charge of the fellowships who promised to look into reclassifying the award so it would not affect my aid.

Well, as soon as I got home on Sunday, what do I find waiting for me in my mailbox? Why, a letter from the financial aid office indicating not only would I not be receiving any aid this semester, but since I received this fellowship they re-evaluated my "need" and determined that I actually had to PAY THEM BACK MONEY FROM LAST BLOODY SEMESTER! Although this amount was relatively small ($214), I was still irate. I don't have $214 in extra cash just hanging around for these kinds of problems. Not only that, but I soon discovered that my fellowship was going to be taxed (f*%# you IRS!) and distrubuted in incremental payments (more like my standard paycheck).

I felt dirty. I felt like I was taken unawares (from behind I might add) while lying vaguely comatose from all the sugary and fatty comestibles I'd consumed over the holidays and unable to resist.

Of course, I then sent out a frantic email to the dean begging him to give me some final shred of hope to cling to. But alas, there is apparently no way the award can be re-classified that would incline the federal government to give me back my subsidized and unsubsidized loan money.

Now I am looking into either trying to apply for a graduate PLUS loan (which apparently works differently) or a small private loan from my bank. I am actively seeking feedback on these options. What do people recommend? What kind of experiences have you had with either? Are there any other loan alternatives that I'm unaware of?

I'm still reeling from being royally screwed by the Department of Education. Any words of wisdom or comfort would be greatly appreciated.