I promise I'm alive!!

I swear I wasn't accidentally choked or anything like that, I've just been really busy...

The craziness started with New Moon and has basically ended with it as well. The Thursday before it came out I was scheduled to work the midnight, so right after school I rushed to work so that I wasn't late (they already had to push my clock-in time an hour later anyway because of school). We did well over 2000 people for that night alone, but it was somewhat controlled so it wasn't that bad. Friday was a little slow until school got out so I wasn't too busy, and Saturday I was in the back concession so it didn't matter anyway (though we did get out of the back an hour late).

I would have to say that the biggest surprise was how well The Blind Side did. We kept selling out for that one, but I've heard it's really good so not too surprising. I can't wait to see that one ^.^

After the start of the craziness I got a chance to see New Moon, so I went with my mom and sister. Now I haven't read the book at all (I've only read the first one), but I knew the basics from listening to my sister and my mom. I thought that the movie wasn't that bad, some things were much better than the first one. The makeup was definitely better, as were the special effects. The Wolf pack were very good looking (both the actors and the CG wolves), Jacob especially.
My only real complaint is how slow the beginning is, mainly because of Bella's little depression stage. After that though it gets good all because of Jacob.

Thanksgiving was great. I was able to eat and spend time with family before I went to work. I signed up for box, which was okay. I ended up with JH being in the same box which made me feel a little awkward, mainly because I think he likes me and I only see him as a friend from work. Lucky for me he left early so I didn't actually have to close with him.

Black Friday was the worst. After all the sales were done we were swamped so bad you couldn't find room to breathe. Surprisingly though Saturday wasn't that bad. We didn't have a 7 o'clock rush (it was more of an 8:30 rush) but I didn't get to go on break till 9 and I was the last one. We also had a bit of a rush later while we were trying to pre-close. Re did lose her patience with us once because we kept running out of stuff and she had to make multiple trips to the stock room. I finally had to take her keys from her and make the last trip myself up the stairs (which I am suppose to be avoiding) just to get her to stop complaining.

I think my best shift was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. TV had a bunch of stuff he needed to do, so he pulled me out of the stand (I was looking really bored he said) and had me stay at podium tearing tickets. That was even more boring, but it got me out of the odd jobs Jo was handing out at the time. When JH got there at 1 I was able to leave after I stocked my station in the stand (I sold a grand total of 8 things).

My worst was Monday after the holidays. I was the only concessionist, which is how it always is but at least we had an opening usher this time. My GM was leaving for vacation the next day and wanted things cleaned spotless so she didn't have to worry about it. Normally I don't mind cleaning because it gives me something to do, but I was trying to do multiple things at once and it made it so that cleaning was on the back burner. When 4 o'clock rolled around we got another concessionist, so I was hoping I could go home cause KW was coming in at 5 and she cleans a lot better than I do. When I finally found Re to ask her if I could stock she said to clean some more. It made me a little mad, because we didn't need 2 people in the stand when another was coming in less than an hour. I grumbled for a bit, but did go back to cleaning and when KW got there I thought I could go now. The problem was that Re had disappeared. It was finally Ni who said I could leave almost an hour after I was scheduled to get off.

Now that it's December I've got a lot of things to look forward to:

The last day of my last class for the semester is on Thursday and I have no Finals to worry about.
We got our passes back about a week after they were taken away, so now that I have time I can go watch movies again.
Avatar comes out in a few weeks and I am definitely going to go see it.
My dad wants to take us to see The Blind Side soon, so that'll be good.
Bee wants me to take her to The Princess and the Frog cause I didn't take her to Astroboy.
I've worked my schedule so I can have Christmas off, but I have to work Christmas Eve, New Years eve, and New Years day.
I am now on the adult Christmas list in my dad's family, but I have to give to an Uncle and I don't know what his family likes...
Hopefully my next couple paychecks will be big enough that I can pay my tuition payment and buy Christmas.
Boo got tickets to go to the Olympic oval and ice skate so that'll definitely be fun.

Now I just have to see how the Christmas holidays go... Wish me luck!!

Can't say much cause I haven't done much...

October seemed to be the stressful month, what with Anime Banzai and my last tuition payment all within a week of each other. After all that though, everything is kinda quite....

My job is the same for the most part. One of the managers says that I may be getting more box office shifts because of all the new concession people. Alas, in light of this wonderful news came a tragedy... the whole staff has had our passes taken away. Now we can't go watch movies for free until the issue that caused all this is fixed, and with 8 new people that could take a while.

I was lucky though and took my cousins Harry and Chili along with my brother to Astroboy before the passes were swiped. G-bear and Chili i know liked it, but Harry i'm not so sure. Whenever i would ask him what he thought he would just say "it was okay", so i'm kinda unsure here. Amongst all this I have two dear sisters who are mad at me cause i didn't take them to Astro, so now i have to make it up to them somehow...

Astroboy was surprisingly pretty good. They really tried to keep the original style, though from what i've heard the actual story is very different than the movie one. The beginning was kinda dodgy, but the rest makes up for it. They had a lot of great voice talent, but i think that Nicholas Cage was a bad choice for such an important role as Dr. Tenma, the creator of Astro. His voice doesn't really change pitch at all, so you can never really tell if he loves Astro cause he used the same voice to say that he is angry at him. (I don't like NC as an actor anyway, the only good things he's done is National Treasure and Gone in 60 Seconds) Regardless, the movie is a great family movie for all ages with a warm hearted storyline... once you get past the beginning.

Halloween I had to work, but I was in box so I decided to dress up. I went simply as an elf, probably one that lives in Rivendale. I was interesting being in box, luckily we weren't crazy busy and the night went by fast. However, i've now found out how much more you get yelled at in box, mostly about our policy pertaining to R rated movies. I can't issue a ticket until i see an i.d. (unless i can easily tell you are over the age limit), and if you are under 16 you have to have YOUR parent with you, not someone else's. So simple and yet people don't seem to get it and i get yelled at. Oh well....

Now that it's November I feel like everything is going to go by too fast, but i've also got a lot to do as well, so that's not gonna help. I have to finish up school stuff and register for spring and i have to apply for a grant for next fall. I'm praying that Grandma will be willing to have Thanksgiving Dinner early again, that way i can still enjoy it and work later on. That gives me a better chance to have Christmas Day off, especially since i'm willing to work Christmas Eve and New Years Eve as well. I just have to make sure i get in there when they put up the "pick your own shift" schedule up as fast as possible.

I guess i'll just have to take this one day at a time...

BANZAI!!!!

Well I think I have recovered from my first anime convention. It was everything I was expecting it to be and more. The whole time I felt like a complete geek and I loved it! By Monday my voice was very sore for work from all the screaming I did the whole weekend. I was very excited to have my friend stay over, it was nice to catch up even though I felt like I talked way too much.
We've already got plans for next year. lucky for us it's going to be about 15-20 mins away instead of 45 mins. so we can easily drive there and it has a lot of places to eat instead of just a couple. We've all decided that we are going to dress up as characters from Final Fantasy 7 with me being Tifa.
Now while i tried to take pictures and videos it didn't turn out so well... in order to take video I had to hold my hand way above my head in order to get a clear picture and so it shakes really bad. The sound is horrible and the picture is very fuzzy. Also some were cut off because I ran out of memory space, so that sucked.
So the only thing that I can leave you is this video i saw while i was at the con. It won "Best in Show" in the anime music video contest and I fell in love with it.

(I don't own it >.>)

Stress, School, and Stupid

My work here is totally not done...

I'm stressed about the convention my sister and I are going to.
I'm worried that she won't have a way to get there because I'll be heading there before her.
I'm worried that I will mess everything up with my friend who I haven't seen in forever.
I'm worried that I won't have enough money at the end of this thing to pay for school.
I feel bad because I didn't get my head in the game soon enough so I couldn't buy the costumes that I promised my sister.
I have to take a test for one of my classes before tonight or I'm screwed.
I don't know if i'm ready for the test anyway.
Right after school gets out I have to head to work to do a midnight so my co-worker who has school the next day doesn't have to.
I have to get up early the next morning so I can meet up with my friends to ride the train.
I have to write a Process essay by Tuesday inbetween going to the con and work monday.
I'm working basically the whole week except for the days I have school.
And I don't get paid till almost 2 weeks after the con which doesn't help because I'm missing a full weekend anyway so it won't be as much.

*deep breath*

Okay enough of that.

Here is what I do know:

I am really excited to go to this con, we've been planning it for months.
Either I'll come back and get my sister or she'll ride with her friends.
Not only am I meeting with my friend but she is sleeping over as well.
Using my l33t accounting skills I've hopefully worked everything out so I will still have money for my tuition payment and gas for the car.
We've decided to save our money and next year we are dressing up and we want to stay at the hotel where the con is too.
I'm only working 4 hours at most and I have a feeling this midnight will be a bust anyway so no big deal.
I don't have another tuition payment for the rest of the year after this one so whatever money i get from this next paycheck will go to building my account back up.
Work is work and since we hired 8 new people i can use all the work i can get.
I might even get to train a newbie on a till.
The essay is going to be "How to Survive an Anime Convention" so it all works out.
I should do okay on the test because I've learned about europe over and over again.

speak of tests... i should go take that test now.

The first days....

The first days were....well......um......interesting.....maybe? I'm not sure yet...

My English teacher reminds me somewhat of my English teacher i had my senior year. (whom i also was a TA for and was in her creative writing classes) She seems to like to focus more on the creative aspect of English more so than the technical. Her first assignment is a narrative that we have to write, either based on our own life or something we make up. I love the assignment, but i don't like the length.... it can only be 3 pages at most!! I need way more than to feel good about what i write.

My Sociology teacher (the correct name for the class is "People and Places of the Earth" but for sanity sake I'm gonna call it sociology) is a very interesting man. He's done a lot and has been to a lot of places in the world. he's been a teacher for 30 something years and has worked with National Geographic coming up with lesson plans for teachers, the Olympics committee when we wanted them in Utah, and a teacher exchange program (i think) in japan. He's got some unique ideas and likes to involve everyone and make us laugh.

Both classes are going to have their ups and downs, that much is certain. However, I'm so far willing to see where these teachers take me.....


P.S. Our narrative stories aren't technically due until a few weeks from now, but if anyone is interested in reading it when I'm done let me know and I'll find a way to get it to you.

i've got a lot of catching up to do.....

The past couple of weeks have been very enlightening and i've learned quite a few things...(hang on this is gonna be a lengthy one)

1. The amusement park can be fun even if you don't get to ride all the big rides.

We didn't get there till after 11 and even then we had to wait for people to show up cause we had their tickets. My dad gave our extra tickets to my Aunt Steph and her son. They also brought two of my cousins with them cause their brother works for the park. After lunch I tried to hang out with them to ride some of the bigger rides, but i felt too much like a fifth wheel so i ended up leaving them and catching up with my dad. When i finally found him my Aunt Meemer and her family had shown up so i hung around with them.
I had more fun with it being like that cause i could hang around without feeling pressured to ride some of the rides i don't like. My Aunt did take me on the Colossus and afterward we both felt like we blacked out which made me sad cause i use to ride it two or three times in a row. Afterwards I watched the stroller while Big D and D took all the other kids on the rides they wanted and Meemer took Fussy on Pete's Dragon (that was hillarious).
Staying and watching Fussy ride everything was priceless. You couldn't tell if he liked it or not until you tried to get him off of it and he would want to ride it again. As it got later i rode the white coaster with both my dad and meemer, the samurai with big d (really fun in the dark), jetstar with harry, and the spider with d and big d and harry. I think my favorite moment though was when Fussy wanted me so that i could take him to the spaceship ride again. (Mental note: Never ride the tidal wave more than once... not a good idea....)


2. How much of a mountain girl I really am.

I could go on for lengths about how awesome Big D and Meemer are. They had asked us to come up to spend some time with them at their condo in the beautiful mountains. I really miss the mountains... I mean i can still see them, but it isn't the same as being right there in front of them. I'm not much of an outdoorsy person, but i still love them.
It was fun playing games till late at night and getting scolded by harry cause we had stayed up till "24 minutes after monday morning" and that we should get to bed. the swimming pool was fun, but the hot tub is a lot better especially for me. The food was good and there were plenty of sugary treats (that actually was probably a bad thing ^^;), lots of movies to watch even though many of them were kinda silly ("It wasn't me!!"), and plenty of family moments to go around.
I will admit i did have somewhat of a meltdown, but only because i felt like i was being slightly picked on. That was easily fixed with a round of hoops and a disaterious game of Horse with my dad. We ended up staying till Wednsday, so we kinda had to rush me home so i could get to work on time.

3. Closing Box has its moments.

Closing is so easy. You just make sure that things are picked up and that the trash is taken out. It's the rush before that is hard, especially when you are by yourself and the concession stand is also getting swamped so the manager has to be there too. Funny though how a lot of the customers seemed to be more sympathetic towards me and the fact i was by myself.
Waiting for the concessionist is hard. I've gotten most of the list done and they are still very slow. I didn't get out of there till midnight and i had finished mostly everything by myself. I'm still not sure which i like better though...

4. Getting short-shifted sucks.

It's not just the fact that i'm not getting as many shifts, it's the fact that when i do get shifts I get called and told not to come in cause they don't need me. I'm basically down to 2 shifts a week and i need more than that if i'm gonna buy books and clothes for school. It doesn't really affect my tuition unless my paycheck goes under $100 dollars, then i'm in trouble. So far it hasn't been that bad, and hopefully it get's better cause i really don't want to look for another job....




Well that's about it for now my computer is about to die. I'll talk more about school once i start my other class so until then, adeiu! ^.^

Standby in 3... 2... 1...

I am sitting here writing this at 12:30 at night after spending a day at our local amusement park.... and now i'm too tired to fully comprehend what i'm writing so i think it would be safer if i wait and update you when i can actually read stuff without feeling like my head and stomach are missing...