MILES to GO || before I sleep

23 days left before I go back to the U.S.
Woke up 5 hours late today, so now I don't know what to do for breakfast
Have 3-5 papers to worry about throughout the next 2 months
Have only ¥700 in my pocket to buy food with; if I do, I can't go anywhere today unless I borrow money from Bonnie...
Who went out on her own because I slept in so late (^^;)
But I had 1 horrid headache, at least 3 weird dreams, and there's only about an hour and a half left of 2006 in Pacific Time!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S 2007!

...to all my friends, family, and people I know out in the Pacific Standard Time Zone. :)

And now, my New Year's Resolutions. I hope I stick to them.
(1) Finish what I start.
* I want to finish "What Doesn't Kill You" in 2007, and get at least 3 chapters of "Circle of Seven" out, as well. By "finishing" it, I mean uploading everything, including edits, the changelogs, reference logs, fanart, and anything else. Maybe even that Téa KiSS doll I wanted to do.

* I want to finish all my long-term assignments. I'm a notorious procrastinator, but I've usually been pretty good at making a last-minute comeback, and finishing things when the pressure's at its highest. But I don't want to --or rather, can't-- do that for everything, namely extremely important things that don't involve "just a grade" or things like that, like my scholarship paper. I want to stick to my guns and prove that I deserved that scholarship, and write that damn book.

(2) Think before I speak, and when I speak, say what I mean.
It's funny, because while I can say I enjoy a good debate or argument at times, I don't realy enjoy being yelled AT, laughed AT, mocked, made an ass out of, and so on. I don't like confrontations, because they often lead to hurt. I have a very bad habit of remembering all the worst things I've said and done, and how humiliating they are in retrospect, even if things have changed, for better or for worse. Much of the time in my relationships with other people, I expect them to understand what bothers or upsets me, and they don't- so when they do "another thing" to piss me off, they don't understand why I'm blowing up. It's true that I have my own personal squicks and such, but I shouldn't force them on others, nor be condescending/patronizing in explaining them to others. I don't like being seen as a bossy, know-it-all bitch-- but I also don't like it when people are just pushovers and put me ("let" me?) in the position of being in charge/the leader, just because no one else would. I like being a leader, I like speaking, I like taking charge-- just not all the time. I want to learn to be better at being a team player, and the core of that is in how I speak to others.

(3) Take better care of myself.
It's not that I'm an unhealthy person, but I could certainly stand to expand my palette (of food), eat healthier things, try cooking more things, and of course, exercising more. I should also try taking better care of myself appearance-wise: I complain about having zits, but I know when I pop them I'm doing something I shouldn't. I know when I "forget" to wash my face or brush my teeth one night, I'm doing damage to myself. So I want to stop doing that.

(4) Graduate, graduate, graduate.
Okay, so this technically isn't possible until 2008, but I want to make sure I stick to my plans and graduate on time. I still don't know what I want to do after I graduate, and I'm trying not to worry about it too much RIGHT NOW... but I now I should definitely be thinking about it, given that I have only a year and a half left of school, if I stick to my plans. I want to consider all the options, and put myself in a position to be seen, heard, and sought after by... whatever company or organization I deign to work for.

(5) Save, save, save.
If nothing, this time in Japan has taught me how to be responsible with my money. I've had to live with smaller meals that are repetitive (two things about food which I typically DETEST), a lack of my favorite foods -even if they're just rare, special treats- and not being able to buy the things I want at the drop of a hat. Well, I couldn't ever really do the last one when I was in the States either, but here in Japan, there are a LOT more things that I do want (obviously), and when I see them, I have to genuinely consider "Do I need it? Is there something I NEED more, like money for transportation or food?" I need to be more responsible with my money. Even though I've been paying for food and transportation on my own, I still live a pretty posh life, not having to pay rent. This trip to Tokyo opened my eyes to that, because I did the right thing by paying for the hotel and hostel up-front. If I'd tried to pay later, I probably would have been out of money and unable to pay, and in even WORSE trouble than before-- because I would have spent the money that should have been relegated to those important things. I hate the feeling of being pathetic, and nothing makes me feel more pathetic than needing to ask for financial help. I want to EARN my money, not beg for it, or expect it from someone or something. One of the best feelings for me is that of feeling "Yeah! I did this! I accomplished it on my own!" Or even if I finished something with the help and input of others, I want the knowledge of knowing I didn't give up halfway, quit, or get lazy. I can't stand that in others, so I shouldn't tolerate it for myself. Getting paid "only" once a month should be a good thing-- not an excuse for a once-a-month shoppng spree, but an excuse to stretch my money for as long as I can, and save as much as I can for those rare times in a whole YEAR when I want to buy something REALLY nice, instead of something simple that has a very short pleasure effect (i.e. some rare food, some new CD or DVD... you get the idea).

Well, I figure it's better to have a list of five BIG things rather than 20 small things, so I'm going to call it there. I think I should put some socks on and go get some more food at FamilyMart (the toast I bought from the hostel really wasn't enough...) and then come back here to work on my Mass Media paper for Kawashima-sensei's class.

Greetings from the lobby/lounge area of the Sakura Hostel in Asakusa, Tokyo. Today was a challenge, being that we had to be up around 4:30am to get a bus to the Hong Kong airport only to wait around for a few hours and sit on a mostly-empty plane back here to Japan. But we made it! And I got to see "The Lake House," which, while horribly predictably and totally paradoxical, was romantic-squishy-fun for me.

Also, I am screwed for money (again). I'm honestly trying to figure out exactly where I went wrong, and the only thing I can genuinely think of is: food. Plus country-hopping does horrid things to my money, because you're stuck using an exchange rate and the buy-sell rate of various banks in airports. And today, Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ at Narita refused to take my coin money (all of $12.40 HKD, which isn't much), so I have to try and change it somewhere else or be stuck with Monopoly money that I can't spend (pretty much).

I think part of it is also that I ended up getting gifts where I initially didn't budget for them: I got more things for my Mom and Dad, even though I had already bought (and sent, for a lot of money, because EMS is expensive!) because I found things that "fit," and I also ended up getting omiyage for my tutors and roommates. And I also bought myself a few things here and there --a Mulan picture frame, some nice Disney Princess stickers, a Space Mountain photo, and a few random other things... some gifts for other people, too, but every time I calculated it out in my head, it never seemed much (in USD, anyway). But after paying for the hostel (I did it all at once, so as to not be broke and have to ask Bonnie for money), I have something like ¥2000 left. I am making a transfer from my PayPal (the money from the PayPerPost entries), and I transferred funds between Savings and Checking to help out... what's killing me is the $108 bill I have to pay on 1/10. I don't think the Exchange Students are getting paid on the 5th, the next Friday after we get back, which WOULD be our payday if we hadn't had vacation and that wasn't the first day back after the break. Hopefully the 12th, since we'll have another week of EC plus the pre-break EC sessions to get paid for. But until the 23rd when I leave, that's it.

I feel horrible, because Dad, Baba & Grandpa all pooled together and gave me that great and generous Hanukkah gift, and here I am wondering wtf it all went. I can blame part of it on being responsible-- paying bills and not just going crazy and buying totally POINTLESS things... mostly. :( Also, there are fees for every damn thing-- part of the reason why my bill is so high. I just hope I don't have any issues with the next NTT/Yahoo! BB bills I'm going to get. I don't know what I'll do if I can't scrounge up the money. I HATE (and I use that word SPARINGLY, to give you an idea of how much I don't usually "hate") asking people for money, especially if they've been exceedingly generous in the past.

I can't wait to get back to the States where there'll be a job and a big, fat financial aid check waiting for me. I do have to pay Mom back immediately (for helping me out with the phone bill, not to mention all the packages she sent), and there is no way in hell I'm just going to slack off and not EARN that damn scholarship; if anything, this is the wake-up call not to spend so much money. The Seishun 18 Kippu will help with transportation money (so it's good I planned out what days to use it and what days to not), but generally I think I'm going to have to be very wise and cautious. I'll use the time I might normally spend shopping working on my paper instead. I don't want to disappoint anyone.

I can deal. :)

...I hope. I suppose later on, I'll post a whole "trip retrospective" and give more details on everything, but other than the fundage issue, I'm well, Bonnie's well, and so far I'm having fun. I hope I get to see the Dali exhibit tomorrow, because it's the one thing I DO want to see, regardless of funds. I already bought the Disney tickets, so I can't get out of that, but I can make sure I minimalize for everything else possible without being a stinking cheat.

I'm sorry, but "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"...? What kind of title is that? I know JKR said she was juggling between two really GOOD titles, but this title... er, well... it's just not as catchy. Not as interesting. What the heck is a "deathly hallow" anyway?

I actually bothered to check out the JKR site last night (in both my browsers), but all the tricks I kept reading about -you know, stirring the teacup, or picking up these potion ingredients- I couldn't do them. I thought maybe it was my browser, since my Flash is up to date, but even when I had Safari imitate IE 6.0, it didn't work. Maybe the tricks are limited? But if that's so, why keep the same things (the teacup, the pen you can break, the picture of the lightning bolt that Peeves reveals when he blows through) in the room, if you can't do anything with them? That bums me out. I hate IE-only compliant pages, even if that wasn't the case.

Anyway, I *JUST* got back from the Intl. Center, where I spent the last SEVERAL hours making Nengajou, or New Year's Cards. I had to make 7 for my tutors and roommates, plus one for the Umegaoka Elementary school. Writing all that kanji, designing the card drawings, painting everything... it took a while. And earlier today, I ended up choosing between "shower" or "breakfast" (bad idea; I'd rather go to class smelly than starving), so now I'm hungry as hell, having not eaten anything today except some cookies Misato (one of my tutors) made and a small Hershey's cookies and cream thing Christine gave me.

So I'm going to try making a quick lunch, starting a load of laundry (including my current pair of pants...), and then head out to the post office to mail things. Then at Mito Eki, I'm going to buy the Disney Passports for Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea for baine and I... AND THEN when I get back I will pack, and finish planning the rest of the Tokyo time (figuring out how much I need for where, and so on).

Busy, busy, busy...

Okay, so today was essentially a good day. Holly made me silver dollar pancakes topped with a cute strawberry, as promised, and we took the earliest bus/train possible from Akatsuka to Nippori, and then the Yamanote Line trains in Tokyo to Shinjuku first, then Hamamatsucho (to the Ryutsu Center via the monorail), and then back to Shibuya. We accidentally took the "long route" to Shinjuku, so we got our time messed up a little, but we had fun-- as soon as we exited the station, we looked for a place to eat, so we decided on this small cafe/restaurant that had apparently JUST opened that day (it was pretty busy, and there was a "GRAND OPEN!" flyer on the cashier) called "Ducky Duck." I had a Foccacia pizza and a blueberry bagel (with blueberry cream cheese), the latter of which I got at the train station because I was so ravenous, and the former with a thoroughly lemon-soaked Coke.

After that, we wandered around Marui Young looking at the Gothic Lolita clothes; we'd gone there for a few minutes before Ducky Duck, but I was so hungry I convinced Holly to get grub so we could do some power shopping. While I find the various Lolita styles interesting, I can't really see myself wearing anything except maybe the most tasteful and plain (i.e. as few bows and hearts as possible) dresses. I saw one gorgeous Santa-inspired red coat with white fur trim, but it was over $315! Yeah, WAY out of my budget. But Holly found lots of things she liked, and we found out that if you spend over 10,000 or so yen at Marui Young and are a foreign visitor, you can get the consumption tax (5%) back! So we did that, and then went to look for Okadaya, a craft store.

We finally found it after some wandering, but it was a bit of a disappointment to me-- floors 4-6 were mostly about sewing, with things like rick-rack, buttons, small bolts of fabric, yarn, and the like everywhere. Not my cup of tea, to be honest. Floor 7 had some magazines and books, but they were all over-priced; floor 3 had some cool makeup and wigs, so I bought some nice cheap nail polish and some Victorian-style scrapbook stickers. I also bought some things from the other floors for Baba and Joyce. Floors 1 and 2 were all about beading, and while I was totally tempted to get some things, they were way expensive, too. I might have been reading the signs wrong, but I'm pretty sure the signs had a price "per bead."

Next up we headed to Hamamatsucho; the monorail was a very interesting ride, and it took us through Tennozu Isle, the same place that inspired Infinity Island in Sailor Moon S. I even saw the building that inspired Infinity Academy! :D I just read about it the other day in one of my new books: Warriors of Legend: Reflections of Japan in Sailor Moon, so it was pretty cool actually seeing it in person, even if it was just for a few moments.

The antique fair was pretty easy to find, and it was nice that it was all indoors (I thought it might be outdoors based on the description and warnings from the PaperLantern.net page). But everything was so expensive! I was hoping I would find things for both my Dad and Scott (and maybe Grandpa), but of all the incredible things I saw, only one thing "called" to me as being perfect, and that was a present I snagged for Dad. The guy I bought it from even gave me a small discount! I think he was just surprised that I was being so picky and interested in what he had to offer. I thought about getting Scott a Buddha statuette, or maybe some Japanese ukiyoe art, but with prices running in the low thousands for STAINED stuff, I said no. Besides, nothing "called" to me as being perfect for him. I'm hoping I think of something soon, or see something in Hong Kong. I feel kind of guilty having not gotten him anything for his birthday or Christmas yet, save the one small-ish, kind of silly thing I already bought (which I hope to mail this week, along with the other boxes and cards).

Holly and I split up through most of the fair, and even though the exhibition hall was large, we found our way through the whole place pretty quickly. It was mostly housewares (plates) and genuinely antique-y stuff like samurai armor, swords, prints, toys, and things like that. EVERYTHING was very expensive. One Buddha statuette I looked at was 10,300 yen (over $90 USD, about)! And it was barely the size of my palm!

We ended up leaving before the fair actually ended, and we headed back to the monorail to go to Shibuya. I wanted to go to the NANA 2 museum and cafe "Lotus and Strawberry," but we didn't have a whole lot of time; we were also hungry, so we stopped at a Royal Host and had dinner (I had Mexican tacos along with some honey & wild berry ice cream). After that, we tried to find our way to the Jewish Community Center, but because we weren't coming directly from the station, the directions we had (and the lousy map) weren't very useful. We asked for directions at a koban (police box), and managed to make our way there, but only after TONS of walking. And according to the hours, they were closed on Saturdays! I found that hard to believe, given that synagogues and the like are usually OPEN on the high holidays, and the front door was open, too. Another guy came up and asked us if we were there to see the movie; we said no, we just wanted to see the place, we'd come from Mito, etc., and sooner than later, a guy working for the JCC came and let us in. I saw they had a table of goodies set up-- alas, the dreidels (glass) were too expensive, so I ended up buying matzoh and coconut macaroons instead. YAY! :D :D :D MATZOH! IN JAPAN! :D :D

But all that walking took so much time, so we had to run to catch a bus (flat rate of 170 yen, how cheap!) and get back to Shibuya so we could take our train to Nippori and then back to Mito. But my stomach started hurting on the bus, so at Nippori I found a bathroom and stayed sick for a good half hour. :( My stomach was still finicky when we finally boarded a train, but thankfully it was a Rapid train, so there was a bathroom (which was surprisingly clean). I'd taken a Pepto from Holly back at Nippori, so my stomach started to feel a bit better... but I think the fake Mexican tacos did that to me. :( I'm still feeling kind of queasy.

The guys at the JCC told me about a Hanukkah party going on tomorrow at some Otani Hotel, but there are LOTS of Otani Hotels in Tokyo, and I can't remember which one/where they said it was! I want to go, since the whole point of me trying to find the JCC was to do something Hanukkah-y, and plus you get free food and a free menorah! But since I'm not feeling well *AND* since it costs extra money (plus even if I use another day from my Seishun 18 ticket, I'd have to buy another one for use with Bonnie when we're in Tokyo! It's totally worth it, since it pays for itself if you spend more than 2500 yen or so in a single day, which I do just coming from Mito, though), I might not go. I'm waiting to see if anyone emails me back with the exact address, or there's no point.

I also want to try and start writing more for my scholarship paper/the book. It occurred to me that there are LOTS of books on anime, but not very many on manga, it seems. Mine wouldn't be the first, and perhaps not even the first to explore the connections and dissimilarities between manga and Japanese novel writing, but I'd like to give it a shot.

Anyway, since my tongue is brown and my head is achey, I think I'll get to sleep now.

Greetings from Japan (again). My 'Net in my room still isn't hooked up yet, but I did get the complicated application sent out; hopefully work won't be necessary (I think the phone jack is round), but they have yet to email me with the status of my application.

I apologize for not having any pictures or anything up yet, but I can't really MySpace, IM, Google, or much of anything on these school-networked computers, and that includes uploading things to my LJ Scrapbook. Actually what I'm considering doing is creating a new subdomain on my site that includes pictures and journal entries I've created in iWeb when I haven't had genuine Net access to update here.

On Saturday, all the exchange students went out with their tutors (3 to each person, so 8-9 people per group). We got off our bus in Ueno, then took the train to Asakusa, the historical/nostalgic suburb. We went to the famous temple with the 'Thunder Gate' that everyone sees in pictures; we got our fortunes told and then I offered a quick prayer to one of the local Daibutsu for Scott's safe trip to Turkmenistan later this week.

Then we went to have some Okonomiyaki- I got the idea when I searched for videos and I stumbled across my Ranma collection (amazingly still on my HD). I thought of Ukyou, and how I'd never tried Okonomiyaki, and an idea was born. We went to this small place (can't remember where, but it's common for there to be great shops and things down small, narrow alleys), and we had two orders- I shared a grill with my tutor Hiroyasu. The first was an okonomiyaki of my choice, with beef and lots of vegetables. It was SO delicious, and everyone was impressed with my l33t pancake-flipping skills. I can work even without an 'American' spatula! Ukyou-sama would be proud of me (if she existed)! The second okonomiyaki was one with more liquid; you're supposed to dump the semi-dry ingredients on the oiled-up grill, make it into a donut, pour the liquid in the middle, and then fold and flatten it over and over until it's all cooked. We sprinkled cheese (Parmesean or Mozarella, I think) on top and then ate it right off the grill! It was so tasty- as was the special okonomiyaki sauce (by the way, writing messages in that stuff is HARD!).

After that we headed to Kanda and then took a short shinkansen ride to Akihabara (which the locals call 'Akiba'). The original plan was to go to a maid cafe, but we got a little turned around, so we had to stop and ask for directions at an AU kddi cell phone shop. Then when we finally got to the cafe (Japanese elevators are small!), there was a 2 hour wait, so that was out. Actually, I think that was the case for everyone who tried to go to a maid cafe, except a few people got 'maid fortunes' told by maids. Still, we saw lots of maids, cat-maids, and anime cosplayers advertising their cafes.

We went to Taito Amusement Tower, where I'd been with Pop! Japan Travel the last time I came to Japan and Akiba, but this time I had much more fun-- I got a giant Toro stuffed cat from one of the UFO catchers, and he's my new bedroom mascot slash pillow. I have the matching Pez back home in Los Angeles, and Mom has his Pez buddy, Kuro the black cat. We were going to take 'purikura' (print club) pictures; at Taito, you can also cosplay before you take pictures, but there was a super-long wait for that, too. 'Dame datta!' After that we went to Try Amusement Tower, a small hole-in-the-wall game center with something like 7 stories- I think I'd been there before and thought it was dinky, but I didn't know about the upstairs! They had a floor solely dedicated to Bemani games- including DDR 9th Mix, SuperNova! Dez was right in saying that the scoring is a lot tighter. Aside from trying to find songs I liked (I guess organization bv game isn't available anymore), it was pretty fun, and my tutors all thought I was good-- of course, until a Japanese guy came along and pwned me by playing things like Maxx 3000 and so on. :P But I still had great fun, and it was only 100 yen a play!

Most everyone else then went to a discount store, but one of my tutors went with me to Animate (I wanted to go to Tora no Ana, but we were short on time). Apparently 'for ladies' is synonymous with yaoi/shonen-ai, which, as you know, I'm not into. So I guess I'll have to go to the so-called men's store for my smutty romance fix. Actually I wouldn't mind finding some plain old GEN doujinshi...

Interesting thing I found out- yaoi is not a native Japanese word. It looks and sounds like it is, but it's not, and the average Japanese will not associate it with the abbreviation which most fans know it by: 「山なし落ちなし意味なし」 or yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi - usually translated as 'no peak, no point, no meaning.' But it can be translated other ways- like 'nothing mountain, nothing needle, nothing meant.' Thus, you get YAma nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi and then yaoi. They do that sort of abbreviating with other words, but not those words. The joke version of the abbreviation is 'YAmete, Oshiri ga Itai!' or 'Stop it, my ass hurts!' Both of these so-called meanings make sense, but the first one only in English, and the Japanese aren't crude enough to use the second one. The term they used at all the stores I went to was Boys' Love, which encompasses shonen-ai and male smut.

I have no clue about 'yuri' (lily) though and how that came to be associated with female smut.

And that is your Japan update for today... in a few minutes I have to meet with one of my Japanese teachers to plan for the campus open house, and what we (myself, Todd, and Daniel, all of us from CSUN) will be doing to help out.

Though 9am is hardly early, and 10am isn't exactly the earliest morning class I've ever had, something tells me I'm going to be exhausted when I wake up later... today. I haven't gone to bed yet because various things (finding the cheapest price for legit copies of Creative Suite 2 and Studio MX 2004 or Studio 8; downloading Google Talk and talking to staplerx; finding out ANY info about Comiket Dec. 2005) have kept me distracted. Oh yeah, and "Secret Indulgences," an updated chapter to an amusing SxA fic I'm reading.

Today, I learned there is someone at my work I hate. Well, dislike. "Hate" is such a strong word, hm? *tight smile* We shall call her K, but don't mistake her for the super-nice K I actually kind of LIKED over at #111, the one who goes to CSUN (though I haven't seen her yet). This K is BOSSY, CONDESCENDING, and FAT. The fat part doesn't matter to me at all, except when we have such limited space in the store as it is, and she rams me all the time with her giant ass. And sorry is supposed to make the bruise on my abdomen go away? -_- Grr.

I've also been thinking about going legit with my laptop, since Windows Vista (out in Fall 2006) is supposed to be the uber-checker for all things pirated. So I could shell out $249 for Studio 8 if I buy within the next week or so (then it goes up to $299), $359 for Creative Suite 2, and the $180ish dollars I've already planned to shell out on XP Pro and Office 2003 Student Edition. The question is, is it worth it? I have CS1 and Studio MX (Dreameaver is 2004) on this computer, and I could just copy them onto a CD and install them there. But... >_> I don't know, someone convince me either way. I can blow a lot of money and feel good about it being legal and all, or I could just copy and paste what I have here, making do with what I have and saving that money for another trip to Japan.

And truthfully, I don't even use ALL the software in either of those packages. I use Photoshop and Dreamweaver the most, but I'm one of those types that sees it as good to have the whole package, especially where the CS2 package is involved. Someday, I'd like to know how to work GoLive and InDesign. And I know SOME Flash, but not enough to get by. So... where to stand, what to do?

If I did save the money, it would hopefully go toward going to Tokyo in December for New Year's and Comiket Winter 2005 (which is Comiket 69. Hehe). True, I was freezing enough as it was LAST time (in March), but a) Winter is my favorite season; b) I have experience, and could thus be prepared; c) There MIGHT be another Pop Japan Travel tour, which would save effort on my part for a lot... i.e. food, lodging expenses, JR Rail Pass) and probably a bunch I'm not thinking of. But I would like to do Tokyo on my own too-- maybe with some friends. Anyone interested? "Wanna buy wanna buy wanna buy... a Rayearth doujinshi?"

Creative Writing teacher-- well, he looks a bit like those statues on Easter Island, except he's Latino-looking (or is Latino, maybe? His last name is Lopez). He doesn't seem too evil or too friendly either way, so I guess I'll have to wait and see. One of my classmates totally legitimized fanfiction though, so I'll have at least ONE person to talk to! ^_^;

Did I neglect to mention earlier (yesterday) that Scott had to do an introduction today in Japanese, and... once again, he didn't get it. :P I'm sure he studies really well on his own (I'm positive he's already got several hiragana down. If he hasn't memorized them or how to say them, at least he knows how to write them!) but in a classroom environment, I guess things change. And I was so self-conscious today, I screwed up a few times too! I get all talkative and red-faced when I'm nervous... then again, I also didn't have breakfast, so I was running on fumes.

After Japanese, Scott and I hung out at the Matador Complex, where I had a bagel from the Freudian Sip (it's no Western Bagel, let me tell you that. I couldn't finish it, but I didn't throw it away) and some chocolate milk-- my new addiction. It's better than iced tea, right? So Scott finally found a place near this private elementary school, near Sherman Way. He says it's a nice place and all, and he's planning to officially move in with this co-worker and former CSUN Art student friend of his, Marlene. Yes, it's a girl, but whatever, I can't be bothered by it. I am so not the girlfriend anymore!

After CW class (we got out early) I headed to the Career Center, found out CSUN's no longer using MonsterTrak, and so I registered for their new service through their website, called Simplicity. Not that I need or even can work a job right now (no car, so it has to be local), but I thought I'd just get prepped for it. Come October, I want to land that job at Red Robin, anyway.

Anyway, Scott was going to come over tonight and try to take apart his desk, but he decided he needed tools, so he went to visit Brett and Derek in Burbank. Since I couldn't get a ride home from him after I went to work (they surprised me with a 4hr:45min shift today, which got my jeans soaking wet and covered in something slimy), I called Grandpa, and... here I am.

I watched "Prince Charming" this sappy take on the "Frog Prince" story, on the Hallmark Channel. Christina Applegate actually looked quite cool in that, and Bernadette Peters is always one of my favorites (I was an "Into the Woods" fangirl). Alas, no one falls in love in 5 days, let alone gets married. No one with real smarts and common sense in today's world mind you. >_> Maybe 1 in a million.

*yawn* Anyway, regardless of 8 hours of sleep being enough, I am sore and tired, so I might as well sleep. Tomorrow will probably be the longest day ever, especially if Salido decides to keep us for all 3 hours of our night class! X_X