IT HAS BEEN A WEEK SINCE I LAST UPDATED MY BLOG.

I have something I want to write, but I’ll likely save it for when I’m not at work.

Right now, my stomach really hurts. I think I ate too much, too fast. Or maybe just enough, and too fast. The main point of this, is that I think I ate too fast and now I have a stomach ache and it’s incredibly uncomfortable.

I finally went to the bank yesterday. I had stored up five pay cheques, which always makes depositing them feel more rewarding. However, it’s not as appreciated by my bosses…

Fair enough.

Okay, so yesterday. Steve came over to tune my piano (he’s also my boss) because it needed tuning and I always get it done around Christmas time so the Christmas songs sound nice and not really weird. I mean, when you have to play things in octaves, and the notes don’t sound the same, you have a bit of a problem.

Anyways, this isn’t about my piano tuning. While Steve was tuning, we were talking (and I was playing Fire Emblem). So he decided that he would find me a boyfriend, which would therefore make me not want to go to Japan and I would stay here, and continue teaching at the Conservatory. 

…

Doesn’t that sound awfully familiar? Kind of like what Mr. A said?

Steve decides that someone I already know (I’m not mentioning names here) would be perfect. So he’s like I’LL SET YOU UP! HE’S GOING PLACES YOU KNOW! 

I said it’s okay. I mean, I know the guy and he is really nice and all, but I’m really not into being set up. 

It’s flattering to know people don’t want me to leave, and it makes leaving that much harder. But at the same time, I need to go out and do my own thing… and try new things. I’m not saying I’m going away forever and never coming back, or not going to keep in touch with people… but I do need to do my own thing, you know?

Anyways. Yes. 

I need to write about something else later, and even though poor Ailea has already heard it all, I need to vent it all out here so it’s out and cleared from my head. So, that’s it. For now.

Last night Melinda reminded me that I hadn’t really updated my blog in a while.

And, I really haven’t. Not with anything of substance anyways.

But mostly, it’s because there’s not that much to say. Everything has fallen into the same old routine, and while I’m getting quite sick and tired of it, I know I just have to stick it out for a little while longer. I think sometimes I make it sound like I don’t appreciate the job that Jim gave me at the campground, but I do. I really, really do. I think I’d be going batshit insane if I didn’t have anything besides piano teaching.

Not that I don’t love teaching my kids, it’s just that it’s only two nights a week for four or so hours, which, really isn’t that long. Although admittedly, some nights seemmuch longer than others, haha.

I feel lately like I’m being disappointed by a lot of people. Which, really isn’t their fault because I guess I expect too much. So, maybe it’s best not to expect anything at all. Then you’ll never be disappointed and only pleasantly surprised.

Unfortunately, that’s much easier said than done.

A lot of people haven’t been around as of late, for various reasons so it’s kind of lonely sometimes. I’m sure that things will return to normal before I know it, but it’s hard not to dwell on sometimes.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I get extremely uncomfortable messaging or contacting people first. With the exception of about ten or so people, I generally refuse to do it. Despite the reasons. I hate calling places, but I’m okay if someone calls me. I have no idea where I developed this from… It kind of bothers me too, because I do wish I could be more outgoing than I am. I’m just really shy and there’s pretty much no reason or need for it.

Anyways, that’s enough of that.

Aki … drove me absolutely crazy this morning.

To the point where I honestly thought of frying her up in a pan. There’s this … thing, that has four sides, all mirrors, and a bell dangling from it. She sat there for hours just hitting it. Tap tap tap. Ding ding ding. Tap tap tap. Ding ding ding. Tap. Ding. Tap tap. Ding ding.

My god I thought I was going to lose it. So I yelled at her and she stopped for about a minute, them moved to the other toy, which is circular mirrors and continued the same thing. She woke me up at about 7:30am with this.

I was less than impressed.

Work at four today. Nicole didn’t come on Monday, so she’ll be coming today instead. That makes my night almost full, except for half an hour, which really could have been booked yesterday, so who knows. I hope everyone shows up, it makes the night go so much faster.

And started to wonder if I had built you up in my mind, to be someone that you’re not, because that’s who I wanted you to be. So I interpreted what you said and did in such a way that you appeared to be exactly what I was looking for. Anything that didn’t really fit, I just turned a blind eye to, because quite frankly isn’t it just easier that way?

Unfortunately, the more I think about it, the more I flip back and forth. I guess it’s not like I really need to make any sort of ‘decision’ about it, so maybe it just doesn’t matter and I’m putting in far more thought than need be.

In the past, it kind of went up and down anyways. So maybe this is just another down. Then something will happen and this whole post will seem ridculous. I don’t know. It’s never been that… forced. And it was just so forced. Maybe it wasn’t and I’m overreacting, but it felt like that to me. I don’t want to have to try for something so simple, you know?

And there are some things that I don’t know if I could ever compromise.

That’s all I have to say about that.

I’ve decided that ‘ridiculous’ and ’seriously’ are my two favourite words.

Well, maybe not not favourite, but they’re two of the words I use quite frequently.

I also realized that I use I a lot. See, three times in that sentence. Then I started to think that maybe I talk about myself too much. Which made me wonder if I was far too selfish, and I have come to the conlusion that yes, I am. So with that said, I should try to be less selfish and listen to other people more.

For the past few days, I’ve been driving my dad’s car. I love driving it, it makes me feel special or important, haha. I know it doesn’t make me either one, but it just feels nice. And it’s red. Well, my car is red too now that the green one died, but I like red cars. I always listen to my iPod when I’m driving, but because the tape deck in the red car I have now is broken, I had to get one of those things that tunes into a radio station and plays your music over that.

My dad didn’t know that I could just use the tape thing in his car, to hook up to my iPod, so before he left on Thursday (he had to go to London for a funeral) he made sure to take the radio tuner thing out of my car, and put it in his so I could listen to music. That was really sweet of him and I honestly didn’t expect it to be there at all. He also filled my car up with gas — which he often tends to leave empty. It’s only something small, but regardless, I was touched.

Mrs. A brought her blueberry orange muffins into work today. It’s nice to have that for breakfast with a hot cup of earl grey tea (one cream, in sugar) from Timmies.

tep One: Choose a band that you like and are reasonably familiar with.
Step Two: Answer the questions. You can answer them for the band as a whole, or go by individual members.

Band: R指定 (Hopefully that was obvious)

How did you get to know them?
When Nels and I went to Japan the second time just to hang out, I went to Like an Edison and saw this cute pink, polka dotted CD. I liked the way it looked, so I bought it. It took me a few weeks to actually listen to it, and when I did I fell in love with the band. That was when they were going by the name キャサリン (Catheline) so I just kept up with them. I also started translating Mamo’s blog and did a few by each of the other member’s as well which helped me get to know a little more about the guys in my favourite band.

Out of all their songs, which is your favourite?
That’s a really tough call. I love 死んだ春、黒猫、太陽と月、cult life、 under the sun. . . I actually like all of their songs but those ones are probably the ones I listen to most.

What PV of theirs is your favourite?
They don’t have any PVs out yet, but they will in October! I do have their live DVDs though and I can’t remember which one it is, but I like the one where they’re in the white costumes.

If they were a family, who would each member be? Explain your choices!
Mamo: The mischevious middle child who drags his younger brother into everything
Ultra Z: The goofy father
Kaede: The youngest brother
Nanahoshi: .. I hate to say it, but probably the mother. Not just because he looks girly in his costume, but he seems responsible, haha.
Hirotaka: The older brother

What would they be like if they were your classmates?
Haha, that would be one hell of a class. I think that Nanahoshi and Ultra Z would be pretty good, as far as behaviour goes. And I think Mamo would be the kid who’s always talking about anime and writing emo poetry. Kaede would get pulled into whatever antics Mamo or Hirotaka are cooking up. I think Hirotaka would be one of those kids who pulls stuff, but never seems to get in trouble for it.

If you were going to go on a date with one of the members where would you go?
If you know me at all, you know who it would be with. And it doesn’t matter where we go because he’s just so full of awesome that being able to hang out with him would be really cool.

If you and the members worked at the same place what would each member do?
Well I currently have two jobs… one is at a campground and one is teaching piano lessons (at a conservatory so we teach other instruments there as well).
Mamo: He’d be in one of the costumes / work in the recreation department
Ultra Z: Could work at the reservations desk, he seems like he’d be friendly towards customers.
Kaede: Teach guitar. We always need another guitar teacher, and Kaede seems like he’d be so sweet, so he wouldn’t intimidate the children.
Nanahoshi: Work as one of the rec staff. He seems like he’d be good with kids.
Hirotaka: Teaching drums because we need a drum teacher (we only have one right now) and Hirotaka is very cool.

What animal do you feel represents each member of the band?
Mamo: A Boobah. With makeup on, sometimes a lemur.
Ultra Z: When he’s making a screamy face, he looks like a snake or a dinosaur.
Kaede: A puppy.
Nanahoshi: Some kind of happy cartoon rodent.
Hirotaka: Some sort of reptile, or a fox.

If you were giving each member a present, what would you give them?
I don’t give presents very often, unless it’s someone who’s a close friend or a family member… or it’s for some special occasion. I always feel awkward because I get paranoid that the person I’m giving to won’t like the present. :/

So unless I became good friends with anyone, I wouldn’t be giving a present.

Describe what the band represents to you.
R指定 is currently my favourite band. There’s one other band which rivals them for how much they mean to me, but that band is no longer in existence nor are the members still active around the visual scene.

I don’t really know what they represent to me… I love their music and I always enjoy listening to them. They haven’t put out a song yet that has disappointed me. Although Mamo’s lyrics are in general, pretty dark, I think he does a good job with writing them. He also writes most of their music as well, so I really respect him.

I think they also work really well together. They’ve said that Mamo likes to be in control and it’s rare you’d find a group of people that all work well in a creative setting with having one person be in the lead over the others and have most of the creative license.

I don’t really know what I’m talking about anymore, so I’m going to cut to the chase and say that their music makes me happy. I like what I’ve gathered about the member’s personalities and I’ll continue to support them. I really hope they’re one band that stays around for a long time.

From Shattered-Tranquility.net’s Monthly Meme! September 2008 Edition.

I have to start this post by saying that I’m amazed the title actually fits all in one line, haha.

I know automated phone systems are really irritating and you don’t want to have to go through all those steps and listen to all your options. You just want your answer and you want to be done fast. Right?

Well, if people did learn to listen they’d probably end up saving themselves a lot of time. See, we have an automated system that connects campers to various parks around the continent. When you call, it welcomes you and tells you to press one for the United States and two for Canada. It says it very clearly (I know, I’ve called it before).

This is the phone call I get today.

Me: Hello, [campgroundname] in Niagara Falls!
Lady: Hi, my last name is [lastname] and I have a reservation for today for one of your cabins. I just wanted to know what they’re like.
Me: Okay… looking at reservation list to find out which one she’s in, but her last name isn’t on it at all. Sorry, what was the last name again?
Lady: [spells out lastname]
Me: Sorry, but was it the [campgroundname] in Niagara Falls that you reserved at?
Lady: No, I reserved at the one in [some other location in the United States].
Me: Oh I see.
Lady: I PRESSED 205.
Me: Yeah… but when you call the system, it tells you to press 1 for United States or 2 for Canada. And we’re park number 05. So you’ll have to call the 1-800 number back, press 1 for the United States and then park number 205.
Lady: Ooh.
Me: Sorry about that.
Lady: Oh it’s okay. Thank you.

She was really nice about it in the end, but we get that call a lot. If people would just calm down and listen they’d be able to reach the place they were trying to call originally.

It’s like that for so many things though, isn’t it? I mean, people want to ask you tons of questions but don’t want to wait around to hear the answer. It actually drives me crazy. Don’t ask me something if you can’t have the courtesy to listen to the answer to your question.

But hey, people are impatient and there’s not a heck of a lot you can do about it.

If you really were friends with ZOMG ALL THOSE BAND MEMBERS, then you probably wouldn’t be found posting about very publicly on your MySpace page.

Anyone with half a brain knows better than to do that. It’s one thing if it comes up in conversation or if you’re telling your close friends… but it’s something entirely different when you just feel like you can use it as a bragging right.

Especially when it’s not even true.

Seriously, stop being a lame ass and go lock yourself in your basement.

If you remember the entry a few days ago, where I was ecstatic because someone who deserve to get theirs, was finally coming close to getting it?

Well, there’s so much shit on her I can’t believe it. And she’s so full of shit, that I can’t believe it.

The people who are trying to do something about it (and I’m so glad they are) have made this forum, which outlines just some of the crazy ass stuff that she’s done: the link is really long so click here to go there.

So here’s my question.

She seems to constantly complain about not having money. She needs money for surgery and money for food. Money for rent. Money for her dying father and sick sister.

If that’s the case, why are you dragging you fugly ass online every day (or at least often enough to make an impression on people) then? The internet costs money. Computers, cost money. Sell your computer, cancel your internet (or stop going to an internet cafe and wasting your money there) and get a real job to help yourself and your family.

She’s just a scammer, and therefore none of what she’s saying is true, so that’s not going to happen. And maybe this sounds mean, but I have no sympathy for people who try to mooch off of others when they could just as easily get off their ass and do something about it themselves.

I think that in general, I’m an understanding person and I try to be nice to people and give them the benefit of the doubt. I generally don’t actually wish harm on anyone because I don’t think that cool. Even though there are some people who have hurt me directly, I still don’t wish anything bad on them.

But this girl… she’s just ridiculous scum and I would love to see her rot in hell. I have no idea why I feel so strongly about it, but I do. So, if anyone knows anything let’s help the people who are putting this together out.

How can you hurt so many people and feel okay about it? I don’t understand people who think like that. It’s not okay to hurt people, to steal from them, to scam them… It’s not a hard concept to understand, so why are so many people unable to comprehend it?

The only reassuring thoughts that you can have about people like that, are that some day karma will catch up with them and beat their ass. Rightfully so.

I can’t believe people can be this pathetic and stoop this low. When we posted about it on S-T, I was actually surprised at the number of people who replied saying that they’ve been hurt by her. I’m glad that she can’t run and hide forever.

I forgot to add, that the people who are in charge of it e-mailed us to thank us for posting it on S-T! Which makes me really glad that we did. Spread the word～ε=ε=　(ノ￣▽￣)ノ