¡Sarah!

How weird that the year I wasn't really feeling the Christmas spirit turned out to be the year where I got some of the bestest presents evarrr! ( First world materialism, go! )

And I feel like I've said this about a million times already, but I have also been LOVING the fandom card exchange I took part in. You guys are amazing and I'm glad to have been able to share a little bit of the holidays with you. <3 :D

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean off my desk so I actually have somewhere to put all this stuff when I leave for work in two hours. :P

Just finished playing Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. I think I liked it better than its prequel, although it felt shorter, even with all the new mini-games. I definitely had this issue where the puzzles were either way too hard for me and took hours to figure out, or they were way too easy and I could solve them right away. But in the end I found and solved 110 puzzles out of 138, so I guess that's not too shabby?

Next I have the new Kingdom Hearts game (apparently this is how much of a KH fan I am: I can't even remember the title) to tackle, although I have very little interest in Organization XIII and also I've heard the gameplay is really frustrating, so I'm not as excited about playing it as I once was.

haha, I only get this into video games when there is nothing else going on in my life. :P I am looking forward to going out and doing things again.

The CliffsNotes version of my life right now:

· Disney World doesn't want me to work for them so I am going to Japan! I have no idea how to plan a trip so despite the fact that I am leaving in early January I still have pretty well no idea what I'm going to do when I get there (besides turn twenty-two in Tokyo Disneyland! xD; ). AWESOME! xD

· As soon as I had to start thinking about the one essay I have to write this semester, all the love I had for school completely disappeared. Okay well mainly I am stupidly annoyed because this essay is for my Greek Epic class, and the prof doesn't want me to write about the topic I thought up because it's "not very original." I am frustrated by this twofold: one, I have no idea how I'm supposed to come up with something original to say about a super famous three-thousand-year-old piece of literature that people spend their entire careers analyzing. (Maybe I should act my major and write an essay comparing the Iliad to Genji?) Two, what does it matter if this topic isn't original? It's not like I'll be making attempts to publish it. Shouldn't essays be about researching and learning about stuff you want to learn about? GOD it drives me bonkers that my HATRED of writing essays is threatening to completely destroy the love I've had for this semester so far. D:<

· I have just now beaten Level 2 of my favourite Nintendo DS game, Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu. This is sorta pathetic because Level 2 is Grade 2, as in elementary school, but I STILL FEEL ACCOMPLISHED! xD;

· I quit my job at the movie theatre today, something I seriously should have done back in May, and yet somehow I don't feel happy about this ... ?! I mean I'm seriously so tired of the job (it's a great job but there's only so many times you can answer THE EXACT SAME QUESTIONS, you know?), so I'll be glad to be free of it, but at the same time I adore almost all of my co-workers, and I'll definitely miss them. :( Oh and also I have seriously no idea what kind of job I want to look for now, a problem which is quite nicely contributing some anxiety to this whole issue. :P (Oh, and also my main manager doesn't know yet that I quit. So ... this could be exciting!! -_-; )

· I haven't really been doing NaNo, but I've definitely been writing this month! :D I plan to spend December hardcore working on my novel in order to finish a sorta kinda readable first draft by Christmas. Which is ... only a month away. But that's okay, I have faith in me. xD;

1) I want to play The Sims 2 but the disc is upstairs and due to my eight-hour shift today my feet hurt so much that I am dreading walking up to get it.

LIFE IS HARD

2) Here is a line that I honest to goodness said to a guest today, after he'd commented on my Aladdinlicious nametag and informed me that his childhood favourite movie was The Little Mermaid (how man of him to own up to that!): "The Little Mermaid used to be my favourite movie. Then I matured."

OH GOD I GET WITTIER EVERY DAY

3) There is a new box office girl and today I was sorta kinda put in charge of training her. I apparently know my job well enough to teach it to other people?! WHO KNEW. I think I am a really horrid trainer, though, to be quite honest. I am not very good at explaining things and I stumble over my words a lot. MAN I HATE THAT I STUMBLE OVER WORDS ALL THE TIME. I just have to pretend that it is a) my mouth struggling to catch up with my genius brain, and b) an endearing trait.

And if I get comments to this entry that run along the lines of "Oh Sarah, I never noticed that you stumble over words all the time," I am going to hate myself for bringing it up.

4) I was thinking the other day that maybe I should feel some more loyalty towards my brother with regards to all the drama that surrounds him all the time, in particular his breaking up with K in December, but at the same time, let's look at how my Wednesday went. I was having a spectacularly slow day at work, and when K arrived early for her shift, she stood(!) by box office and chatted with me for a full hour(!!), and we made plans to hang out on Monday if she can get rid of the on call shift she has that day(!!!).

Then I came home and my brother let me talk at him for about a minute before he kicked me out of his room.

GEE I WONDER WHY I LIKE HER BEST

5) I watched Bringing Up Baby last night. :D When my mom passed through the room she was all, "This again??" but I don't watch it THAT much!! :p Man I kinda think that movie is the movie that convinced me that black and white movies could be watchable. So I was totally amused when I learned that my grandmother had changed the channel on it because the characters talk over each other all the time. xDD But that's what makes it so funny!! xD

6) The Oscars are on tomorrow night!! I plan to watch them, really just for Jon Stewart (saw him on Larry King tonight, hahaha so funny xD ) and Alan Menken and any PotC that might manage to get itself included, but who knows, I might just give up ten minutes in. I read an article the other day about how Alan's worried the three Enchanted songs will split the vote in a way that will prevent him from winning. Man that would suck so bad!! I hope that doesn't happen. I really want "That's How You Know" to win. :((

I want to write an entry but I'm also pretty sleepy. haha. ^^;

( stuffffffs )

Oh wait, I remembered one more thing to say. xD; Today this woman came to buy her sons tickets for AVP:R (rated 18A), only these kids were too young to go in by themselves, so she asked if they could see I Am Legend (rated 14A) by themselves, and I said if they're both fourteen or older, and she said "They'll be fourteen in March," and when I said that wasn't good enough she went all angst on me. Well, okay, admittedly she was very nice compared to other customers to whom I have the pleasure of explaining these rules, but you know what bugs me most of all?

THAT THESE PEOPLE DON'T JUST LIE.

Because if she had just told me that these kids were fourteen, then who am I to call her on it? It's not like I'm gonna ask for ID, what fourteen-year-old carries ID? I hate that I get complained at because people don't have the gall to lie. :P

hahaha just wait till I'm a parent. IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!
(who am I kidding. my kid isn't gonna be allowed to see a 14A movie till he's twenty. xDDD )

So I had totally forgotten how overwhelming the first day at a new job is, oh my gosh my brain. I hope it gets easier ... I mean, I know it will, it's just hard to believe that when it's your first day and your head is exploding with all this crazy new information. The girl who was training me said I was learning faster than most people, hahaha, which is a LOVELY change of pace from my old job, when all my co-workers thought I was way slow. ^_^; Haha, it's weird, though, because this job is in the same mall as my last job, and so while there's all this new stuff to deal with, there's also the same faulty fire alarm, and the same closing announcements, and all that. It's kind of like "Welcome back, Sarah!" but at the same time it's like "HERE MEMORIZE THESE NUMBERS HAVE YOU MEMORIZED THEM YET OKAY HAVE FUN!!!" @_@ And being sick doesn't exactly help, hahaha. I am stupidly proud of myself for not calling in, this is how much of a wuss I usually am. For realz.

Man, as always, I intended to make this a much shorter entry. ^^; Now I think I shall go play some Harvest Moon: Magical Melody. I am madly in love with this game and it cracks me up, because last summer I was obsessed with it, and then I barely thought about it all school year, and then as soon as I started feeling like it was summer again I was like, all righty! Time to plant some crops! XD (Although when I left the game it was midwinter, so now I'm on Winter 23 and am getting way antsy for it to be spring, waaaugh.) After long and terrible shifts last summer I would always play this game as a way to forget about work before doing more productive things, and so as a result it was often the highlight of my day. I think it's kind of awesome that even now whenever I turn it on I think, "Woohoo! My terrible shift is over and I no longer smell of tacos and life is beautiful again!!" Like, for me, this game is so strongly connected to the rush of finishing work for the day. It reminds me of stuff we learned in Psychology 11, hahaha ... XD

I will end this entry with a link to Morning Musume's latest PV, "Kanashimi Twilight." Be grateful I am posting this when I am too tired to spill fangirl all over this entry. XD Most of the time I feel like if you want to critique or criticize MoMusu, as much as I adore them, I can usually see where you're coming from, and sometimes I'll even agree. (Like if you were to come up to me one day and be like, "Hey Sarah, did you know that Sayumi can't sing? Hur hur hur," I'd probably just be like, "Yeah, and I don't think anyone's pretending she can." Well, haha, to be fair, she's a lot better now than she used to be.) But if you have anything against this song or its PV, we are just going to have to agree to disagree. I think the last MoMusu single I was this obsessed with was like, "Osaka Koi no Uta," which I HEART. XD

I found it!! hahahaha!! Someone made a video combining Kingdom Hearts and Hikaru Utada's "Hotel Lobby" and it made such an impression on me that I mentioned it in a previous entry even though I couldn't find it at the time, haha. Man, I feel like the meanest person in the world when I criticize fan videos. I mean, I like Kingdom Hearts all right, and "Hotel Lobby" is my favourite song off of Exodus, and the progression of clips in the video is actually pretty good, I think ... but the combination kills me! Hahahaha!! Because "Hotel Lobby" is pretty blantantly about prostitution (unless I am having another stupid moment), and so the idea that someone combined it with Kingdom Hearts, ah, it just amuses me so. I mean, the song isn't even in Japanese! There's not even any excuse! XD;;;

But then, I shouldn't be surprised ... you can find Kingdom Hearts videos to practically anything. XD (Including the Escaflowne opening and a cover of the Escaflowne ending! And the fact that someone actually made a cover of "Mystic Eyes" amuses me even more than the "Hotel Lobby" thing does, hahaha, excellent. XD )

I am still annoyed that I never got that FMV of Riku that all these videos use, that one where he's got the blindfold on and is hardcore fighting all those Heartless. But I didn't finish the game 100%, so I suspect that's why I never saw it. I don't actually care enough to investigate further into the matter ... hahaha ... XD

I seem to have immersed myself in fandom-y goodness this winter break. Which I do enjoy, but at the same time it does have a tendency to throw me off-balance and make me all OCD and frustrated with regards to my future. (Besides the montage, the part of Treasure Planet that hit me the most when I first watched it on DVD was when Jim's mother tells him to think of his future and he says, "What future?" I may not be on my way to juvenile hall, but still I feel like that sometimes, too.) So perhaps for this entry I shall talk about things that neither H!P nor fictional. XD;

Well, allow me one thing. ^^; ( watching the 'Treasure Planet' audio commentary + writing )

( being productive )

( watching anime )

( cutting up T-shirts )

( writing a novel )

Anyway. I had no intention of making this entry so long, but at least I only wasted an hour writing it. My today was not so proudly productive (besides the beating of KH2, if that counts, hahahaha!!), but that's okay, I guess I can live with it. ;) Now I shall leave you with a link to my current favourite H!P performance: Morning Musume's "Yah! Ai Shitai!" from their fall 2006 concert. ( being a fangirl )

Ahaha, sorry that my plan for this entry failed and I still ended up talking about H!P and fiction. XD!!!

( being excited for disneyland!!!!!! )

Haha, I just woke my mom up because I was walking through the living room in the dark and I slammed my toes into a box of books and my yelps of pain woke her up ... hahahaha ... I'm the worst daughter ever but man! It still hurts!!

But what I was really going to write this entry (haha, first I wrote "essay") about is how sometimes with school I don't feel like I'm really learning anything, or I feel like what I'm learning is so much less substantial than what other people in other departments are learning. Just because I hear people talking on the bus or in the hall about their classes and it always sounds like they've learned so much stuff at university and I always feel like I could never talk in very much detail about anything I'm supposed to have learned. (Like it would be beautiful if I could remember all the names in Tale of Genji, but alas.) But this year I am taking my Indonesian lit. class and in my PACI class we've started a unit on Indonesian economy and it's kind of stupid but this makes me feel so much smarter than before! I mean, back in August I couldn't have told you a thing about Indonesia and now I know all kinds of things! Although most of them I only know in a rather vague and general sort of way ... :p

But what I was going to write this entry about before that was how my brother is a jerk. You don't want to go through this again, though, right? Right. Moving on.

What I was going to write this entry about before THAT is how I didn't go to PACI on Tuesday because I am sick and a bad student but mostly just sick, and today I pulled the week's question sheet off of WebCT but of course the day I skipped is the day he didn't write on the sheet which questions he wants us to answer for the weekly response, and so I posted panicked questions on both the WebCT discussion board and, figuring no one actually ever looks there, on LJ, and in two hours I had three responses telling me which questions to write about. To which I say: Maclean's can go on as much as it wants about how the Internet supposedly sucks, but if you ask me, the Internet is a freaking lifesaver. And those three people are now my favourites. :3

And what was I going to write before that ... oh right! leaf_green may well have figured this out before me, but last year in Japanese we had a guest speaker that we had to interview in order to guess his profession, and I recall asking several questions but the only one I actually remember is 「カラオケが好きですか。」 because it was the day after karaoke, and in the Japanese class I'm in now we are reading this essay by 平田オリザ (hirata ORIZA), and today I was looking at it and I thought, "Hm, that name looks familiar," and I looked him up on Google Images and I think that's the guy! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Here are my two reactions: 1) I feel like I have met a Japanese celebrity and isn't that awesome I don't remember if he likes karaoke or not!! 2) I think it is rather fantastic that our prof is bold enough to stick her friend's essay in our course pack and hope we wouldn't notice. XD!!!!!

I have been rather slacking off this week with the excuse that I am sick. :( So today I played The Sims and made a family of seven people and made some of them mean and some of them nice and cheated so I could buy the mansion and I haven't been intervening that much. So far it's more interesting and less bothersome than the way I was playing before, where I was actually trying to keep everyone happy, but still I do find this game a bit of a disappointment ... just because there's no goal, so you play for hours and hours and never achieve anything. At least with Katamari Damacy you can pretend you feel you've been productive!! XD

Sigh ... I'm kind of sad about tomorrow because I have to work on a project during the time that I usually spend with my friend. :( And I wonder if we'll be able to do something this weekend, last weekend when we went out and about her car was threatening to die on us. :( :( Oh well ... at least I get to sleep in a bit, for once. :)