Today's lesson: The commercialism of Christmas sucks ass.

Yeah, my biggest complaint about life at the moment is that my ENTIRE Thanksgiving break will be spent in retail. Guh. I need a new job. I only have two days of classes this week, but for the following FIVE days, I'll be in the Electronics department again. Suck a nut. What's more, on those five days, I'll work 37 hours. Good for money, but definitely NOT what I want to be doing over Thanksgiving break! I'll have no time to do anything! And I'll completely miss our yearly gettogether in Clarksville with my relatives. None of my grandma's finest fixin's... *sigh* This sucks so horribly bad. You know where I'm gonna eat on Thanksgiving? Same as usual; either fast food, or if none of THOSE places are even open, then the junk in the K-Mart cafe. Now, I have little against the store in general, but they could do a little better in the food department. *shivers* Anyway, my weekend is totally screwed, which is depressing since I'm certain that a friend of mine in Fayetteville and I were gonna get together and watch some anime, maybe even finish off Chobits, since I haven't seen the last three episodes yet.

Not like I haven't been watching anime anyway, though...

I'm really really tired right now, despite it being midday. My sleeping habits are so beyond screwed up that I'll need a week to recover. I'm gonna have to cut back on the extra activities I participate in, especially rummaging for fanfics online, 'cause that cuts the most time out of my daily schedule that could best be used for snoozing. I guess that means I'll have to go to bed early this week... And I should probably actually do some of my homework at HOME instead of in class, too. That's on the schedule for this afternoon, at least.

And, I suppose I don't have much more to add at the moment. Everything's going more-or-less alright. Maybe I coast too much for my own good, or maybe I don't have a clear impression about how much I'm killing my future by my current laid-back attitude. ;)

Anyway, ja.

- JR

Today's lesson: Watching "Monsters Inc.," "Spiderman," "Oliver & Company," and "Chicken Run" while on the time clock does not result in extremely good performance reviews in an electronics department...

Heh. Got reviewed today at work today, a requirement after one year of employment. (Wow, that long already?) Made above average, but not good enough to qualify for the best raise. I don't really mind; after all, I made the decision to save some money on purchasing and rental fees and just watch stuff on about 6+ screens or so (unless one of the bratty little customers felt like watching something really stupid at an insanely high volume... heaven knows why some programs were ever made in the first place. God damn customers... sometimes...) Heh. Maybe I didn't deserve a really big raise anyway. It's not like I always worked for that check every other week.

But the money would have been nice, because my trip to Japan is fast approaching. What, didn't I tell anyone? "Of course not, John. You haven't touched this thing in weeks." True. Anyway, yeah, I'm participating in an exchange program between ATU and Komazawa. Personally, I'm surprised a university our size even HAS an exchange program with a Japanese university. Oh well. Not worth pondering over. Basically, I'm headed over there at the end of March 2003 with two of my friends, and the three of us are staying in a dorm on the corner of an olympic-sized park right next to campus. (Woot! Finally, I'll get some exercise! I won't be thinking this while I'm over there, though...) I'm debating whether it's better that I'm in a dorm instead of someone else's home -- perhaps the experience would be more enriching if I actually lived in a family environment or something. Then again, I'll have my hands full merely learning the dang language, much less trying to absorb lots of cultural information. That'll be either for my last semester there, or on a return trip. ;)

As for anything else, I dunno. Digital logic bores me something awful; I could never see myself toying and creating circuits for a living. I'm becoming more and more faced with the prospect of teaching for a living. At the college level, of course. Don't wanna deal with kids, nor do I want to put up with snotty high school students or crazy Asian chicks who make occasional passes at their math instructors. (Heh. Yeah, they know who I'm referring to... And, ah... hmm. Well... I guess, take that last part back...) Anyway, I'd be teaching high level math, engineering, or physics classes; I'd pretty much have to be a college professor. I know I'll be one eventually; I couldn't stand doing a single career for 40+ years before retirement, and I do get a lot of enjoyment out of teaching and helping other people understand... apart from the oft times I sadistically torment those same people... yeah, I'd make a REALLY good teacher. >:) Gotta weed the casual students from the ones who really want to learn, you know...

I'm dreading next week. You wanna know why? First off, K-Mart's Thanksgiving Day sale. Yeah, you read it right -- Thanksgiving Day. And hardly ANY employee, INCLUDING the managers, escapes some shift that day, namely 'cause the store's packed to bursting with customers. You know why else the store is packed to bursting? Wal-Mart -- nay, practically every department store, or store in general -- is closed on Thanksgiving. That means that all the people who have no family and yet still desperately need to shop (or else, would rather shop than spend time with family) has only one outlet for their shopping mentality. And likely, we'll run out of the bargain merchandise quickly, and then get yelled at by all the "less fortunate" who couldn't move their rumps fast enough to get to the store earlier. (Now, I ain't saying that we often don't HAVE sales merchandise; that's one peeve I have with my own place of employment. But dammit, if we run out of some of this sales merchandise in under an hour, I'll simply have to shake my head and say that the customer is out of luck.

Really though, that's the only real speed bump in the week (apart from having to work Wednesday as well, which is my first day of Thanksgiving break.) I'll get to splurge on anime on Tuesday night (maybe even Friday, if I'm not swamped for duty on Black Friday), visit family (provided I either work an early shift on Thanksgiving, or else, don't work Friday), and find out who else other than my grandparents are against me going overseas. (Sorry granny, gramps, but I'm going whether or not I get your approval. Just because you don't want me out of the country for that long isn't going to keep me from participating in this exchange program.)

That's about all I've got to chat about. If anyone's interested in giving advice for my trip overseas (or demanding either souvenirs or an extra seat on the plane and a space in the dorm) or just shooting the breeze about the whole thing, don't hesitate to email me about it. I might be busy and quickly sidetracked by anime and stuff, but I ALWAYS try to answer my mail. Unless Hotmail eats it. Guh... I just might need to change mail servers, or else, get a connection more reliable than dial-up... Yeah, yeah, I talked about getting cable a while back, but I gotta save up for the trip!

And now, for all that stuff you haven't been waiting for...

What Kind of Anime Character Are You?
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*laughs* I always knew I'd never be the hero or the sexy cast member, and probably not the one with the connections either. Yeah, I'd be the oddball, only 'cause no one else bothers to muster enough energy to keep the group continuously happy (or at least, agitated. At least they're not depressed, then! Right? *^_^*)

What Final Fantasy summon are you?
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You are Odin! You appear entirely at random to assist those whom you deem worthy. Though this makes you somewhat unreliable, the ability to cut almost any enemy in half makes you worth having around.

Woot! Slice 'n' dice! I even chop wasabi!

Anime Quiz - Which Evil Anime Badass Are You?
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A-heh... um... no, I'm not gonna kill everyone... a-heh...

And that's that. Be seein' ya.

- JR