Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Brandon's LiveJournal:

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Monday, November 9th, 2009
9:55 pm	So now I am a department store employee. It... has its ups and downs. I sometimes don't know exactly how to feel about it. Sometimes my customers suck when we don't have stock. They yell at me and tell me its all my fault I don't have whatever product they want as if I am directly responsible for the manufacture, shipping, and unpacking end of things too. I mean I do stock and replenishment. I have no control over what I get, only what I do with what I get. Some people just can't understand that though. Some of my customers have been awesome though. So it's not horrible. Its a learning experience. So I work 6 straight days this week. Nothing out of the ordinary since summer. I was used to 10-14hr shifts 4 - 6 days a week, with no degree of regularity. I'm sure I can deal. Maybe I'll get scheduled in something OTHER than shoes though. That'd be different. I'm gonna go watch Castle and play videogames now. Current Mood: hopeful (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
1:07 am	I sometimes wonder if it would be a blessing to be blind and deaf. Sometimes I think it would be better not to know the truth. Life keeps finding ways to slip in a swift kick in the balls. One of these days i'm gonna sucker punch it in the throat and get things all in line where they need to be. That's not to say I don't have a lot of blessings, but I have a lot of bad I can and need to weed out. A few things happened today that I really can't talk about. Mostly I am not allowed to speak of them in public forum. Some of you know, some of you don't. If you don't you probably would rather not know so don't feel bad if you aren't on the inside loop. I did get to go to dinner with Amy though for a healthy diversion. It got my mind off of the unmentionable things and onto better things. I am actively seeking a new job. I decided that I really can't go to an "on call" snow removal job, with no real guarantee of sleep at any given time, and I might as well not prolong the inevitable. My job is seasonal and so I wanna jump things before the holidays seriously hit and start shotgunning apps out for jobs. Once I get something stable, I hope to move out of my parent's lair and on to something a little healthier for all of us. I'm 24 and I need space. There it is. Not to mention that I am 24 and it's more than time to GTFO just on principal of the matter. (Comment on this)
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
6:36 pm	So I got off work today to find Amy was at my house and had dinner ready for me! Unexpected and a pleasant surprise. She made stir-fry and it was delicious. I hadn't really expected to see her tonight. Figured I was gonna come home and bored but she was here waiting. It cheered me up quite a bit. She just left for work though, and I won't see her until Wednesday which kinda sucks, but at least I got to spend the weekend with her. I have another coming. We are hanging out up north with grandma this weekend and that should be fun. Gonna go up north after I get off work on Thursday provided that works out. They still haven't bothered to get back with me on if I will be off so I asked questions. I put in for it over three weeks ago, but what can you do? I was assured it will be fine, and hopefully it will. In other news, since we usually have nothing better to do with our minds at work, we come up with outrageous shit almost everyday. Today it was the necessity of the "Horticopter". Speculating that it could air drop us on job sites, bring us food and drinks, potentially drop some of our mexican workers in to speed things along in desperate times (they are known for being wicked fast), and above that double as a hedge trimmer. Good times... now only if we can get our budget out of the red and get our boss to sign off on it. In the meantime though I am just damn happy with my recently acquired driving clearance. Current Mood: chipper Current Music: B-52's - Dance This Mess Around (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
9:34 am	I am alive! After more than a year. It was moreso just I didn't have any urge to post here. Alot has happened in the last year. I have a job now, I have an amazing girlfriend I hope to make my fiancee and then wife, and school is coming along nicely with the fact that I just got accepted for grants. I got my operators license, my carnie certification (haha), and a chauffeurs license and DOT. I started training for a CDL Class A. I got hit by a woman and lost a car and then a month later managed to replace it. I got into the higher level Japanese program successfully. I didn't fail out like so many people do. I haven't moved out yet but that is hopefully coming soon. There is probably 50 pages of stuff I could write, but I will spare everyone of that. I hope all is well in the LJ world and has been. Current Mood: bouncy (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
9:06 am	Hewlett-Packard for the lose. So the AC adapter for my notebook went bad and I needed to get it replaced. Fortunately, still being under warranty I can get a free replacement. So I email HP and say hey, this is what I have and I need a replacement. I even emailed them the replace with spare # off the top of the damn adapter. They sent me the wrong one. This is two weeks ago. After agreeing with me and saying they would ship the correct one, they proceeded to ship another one of the same one they already sent me that doesn't work. I have been in contact with them by email and the customer service reps on the phone. Now they are trying to saying that the one they have sent me twice now, the one that doesn't even have the right power output and is a completely different size, is the compatible adapter and I have no idea what I am talking about. IT DOESN'T EVEN FIT. They don't seem to understand that the one the notebook shipped with is the right adapter... It seems kind of odd to me that they don't even know what the proper parts are for their own freaking product. So after two weeks I am right back where I started. WTF... So at anyrate. Screw HP. Maybe I'll by Asus or Toshiba or just say screw the whole lot of them and go MAC. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
6:48 pm	I thought maybe I should log in and post something, but there's really nothing I have to say. I'm kinda empty right now and just kinda sitting here wondering what I am doing with my life. The last couple of weeks have been alright I suppose. No worse than usual. Seattle was a good time, mostly. There were some things that sucked about it, but it was ok really. I liked my living arrangements and the conference was alright. There were some good people there. Going up north sucked because my grandma played her bullshit games to take advantage of my mom and basically I get dragged along with that shit, so that was a weekend wasted in my opinion. Did nothing but get yelled at the whole time about how I am just like my dad. I can't handle that. My dad is the one person I have strived for my whole life to not turn out like. For someone to tell me I am just like him cuts deep. I've had that stuck on my mind for most of the time since I got back late Sunday. I need to not dwell on those things but the harder I try not to the deeper I fall into it. I kinda wanna just escape from it all, but that's not really an answer either. I don't know what I am doing anymore. Current Mood: blah (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
4:39 pm	Back at last. Somehow we actually made it back alive. My dad is freaking psycho when he gets behind the wheel. We didn't go a hair under 80 the whole way if going under that was to be avoided in the least. He only cut off about 298 people and nearly caused a ton of accidents. My mom got car sick last night because of it and she is still having problems today. It'll be too soon if I ever ride with him down there again. I don't think I ever want to go back to Florida unless it involves flying to Tampa or Orlando and renting a car or getting picked up from there. Current Mood: aggravated (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
9:49 pm	more wandering So I went wandering around the area again today and found a number of things. Four feral cats, a couple of deer, a raccoon, an armadillo, and I think the count is up to five alligators. I found a black widow spider too. First one of those I have ever seen that wasn't on TV or in a book somewhere. There were some fairly large otters playing in the river too. Not really much else to do here, but woods walks are fun. I should be photographing this stuff, but my digital camera is suck right now. I dunno whats wrong with it. Everything comes out blurry no matter what I do with it. I'd like to get a new one with good optical zoom, but I don't know enough about cameras to know what to get. I think I might walk back out tonight and see if I can find some more alligators. If you shine a light down across the water their eyes glow red like some kind of demon. Pretty easy to spot at night, and they actually get out in the water and do stuff. Not really much else to report. I am in kind of a depressed mood right now. Maybe I got too much sun or something. I just feel weird. I probably sound weird too. Current Mood: depressed (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
9:37 pm	I am in Dunnellon, FL right now at the Rainbow Rivers Club. Oddly enough they have wifi and the internet is really pretty fast here, even though it's in the woods in the middle of freaking nowhere. I went out earlier and I found and trailed an armadillo on the footpath. I had no idea those things were so slow. There was an alligator down in the river too and that was kind of amusing. Maybe I will find some more stuff to look at tomorrow. I will try to take pics and post them. It's actually somewhat of a relief to be over here, but not much of one. My grandma has gotten a thousand times worse since I was here last. She walks around crapping herself all the time and trying to eat her hands for some reason and she comes looking for me and bothers me at least every 20 minutes. Dad is being weird and him and mom keep getting into it, then she takes it out on me. For about the last week it has been such an annoyance that I have broken out from being so aggravated most of the time. I got really sick on Tuesday because of it. I try my best to deal with it all but it doesn't mean it doesn't get to me. I have spent most of my time either attempting to study Japanese, or reading up on some of Brian Greene's stuff. I have The Elegant Universe, which I am mostly done with, and The Fabric of the Cosmos. They are really interesting reads. I also have been reading Glen Cook's The Black Company trilogy collection. That's some collection of the first three books in the series that came out a few months ago. There is another one due out this month that has three and four. I am starting to like Neil Diamond, and I guess I need to blame Jason Castro for that. Even though American Idol kind of sucks in a way, I do enjoy some of the performances. I really don't like some of the stuff they put on there. I think some people get put on especially to embarrass themselves. I don't do the guilty pleasure crap. Anyways... I thought Castro's cover of Forever In Blue Jeans was pretty impressive. I don't remember the second song so much, but I remember the first because I hear it on the radio a lot. I think Castro's version is better. I kinda hope he wins it. I like his vocal range, and I think his guitar playing is a cut above most. On the Neil Diamond bit, I went through my crap load of music on my hard drive here and I found some tucked away in there. I'll have to swap some of it onto my Sansa later. My grades kinda made me a little depressed earlier. I got a 3.04. I had two B's, a B-, and an A. I really want to do better than that because I want to sign up for a bunch of internships. 3.0 is bare minimum for the one I had wanted to sign up for, but a 3.04 is hardly competitive. I will probably never get it and I shouldn't even try is how I feel right now. I need to get out of the funk on that and start working towards and looking into a few more things. The only thing about my grades that really had me kind of excited is that I got a B in Accounting. I still have no clue how, but I got a B in there. It's not like I really know, or at this point even remember, any of the material. Accounting sucks, and I am glad I never have to see any of it ever again. The replacement teacher, Mr. Lewis, was a great guy though. In that the class was better than it could have been. I am gonna go back to reading now. I hope everyone is having a good one. Current Mood: blah (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 26th, 2008
8:49 pm	The accounting exam was laughable. I finished it in about 20 minutes. So with that done, no more school until August sometime. As for right now? I am somewhere in Georgia. It's kinda boring. I spent most of the trip down this far playing Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible on Game Gear. I beat that and then I started watching the Dexter season one dvd set on my laptop. I found that the battery lasts a really long time in dvd mode. Apparently someone at my church is feeding my number to people to have me mow their lawns and take care of all their grunt work. I only got about 18 calls within a 3 hour period this morning. I just shut my phone off and forgot about it. Given that I won't even really be home until May 21st, that's pretty much not happening. For about the next 3 and 1/2 weeks I will be anywhere from 1000 to 3000+ miles away, and even after that probably won't have any time free until June. I kinda want a REAL job anyways. I probably won't be on here for a few. Internet access is iffy where I am headed... At any rate, I hope everyone is having good times with the end of school and whatever else. Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
12:45 pm	The Japanese test was BRUTAL. I think I did alright though. One more to go... Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
11:12 pm	2 more days. @_@ I have a Japanese final here tomorrow morning at 9, and then Accounting on Friday at 1pm. Then I am done for the summer because stupid EMU doesn't have JPNE211 then. I suppose I can use the time to self study, and start putting money away for that crazy study abroad program. I think I want to just go to school though, no breaks. Not a whole lot I can do though. Anyways, I hope my GPA is up to stuff and I can apply for some internships!! *crosses fingers* I know I have an A in business, and I am pretty sure I have an A in marketing. I am doing pretty alright in my other classes. I am not gonna worry about it though. Grades only get me stressed out. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 4th, 2008
10:42 pm	Aaron's 17th bday party tonight. Went up there for some questionably good times. Mostly we hung around playing Pool, MK and myself. Dad hopped in a little too. Half the games were lost by sinking the 8-ball. It doesn't really feel like a win when your opponent does that. It feels like the games over and you have to reset the balls. When you do it, its more like losing to yourself as I see it. I lost to myself probably 3 or 4 times. Watching kids tomorrow night for a bit should be fun. I really enjoy them. The two I will be watching are pretty rockin'. They are easy to keep happy and its really no work at all to deal with them. It's almost like... getting paid to have fun. I hope everyone is having a good one today. (Comment on this)
3:49 pm	woot I am in possession of my very own automobile now. I like this idea.  (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
5:54 pm	I need to come up with a plan for Fall semester. So far I am registered for Intermediate Japanese (JPNE211) and Culture of Japan (ANTH385).  I am thinking maybe another marketing course, or another international business thing. I wanna take ASL but they don't seem to have any classes on that. They have a class called "Non-verbal communication" that I think might be enjoyable. What to do... Current Mood: contemplative (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
4:56 pm	Not enough updates. It's been a little while. In the meantime, I rocked the last Accounting test. I will stop now for to thank mkendora and his older brother for hanging out with me and helping me study and what not. Richard knows this stuff a bit and MK isn't too shabby either. I welcome their assistance. As for my grade, I managed an 86. I did well above the class average too. I just need to keep riding this out and doing well and I should be able to up my grades quite a bit. I should have a car by the end of the week. Just gotta call Keith and tell him I am good for the money. I don't really like the car to any great degree, but for $500 I can make a few exceptions. First owner and with all the maintenance done, it's an ok deal. I don't need anything elaborate. 'Least I got something. Got one month left of school here and then its out until fall. I just hope my GPA is high enough to sign up for a bunch of internships come getting my grades next month. I am doing fairly well as of yet to the best of my knowledge. I try to keep on top of my grades. I should come out looking good on the 24th. Anyone got any ideas for jobs or stuff to do over the summer? Lemme know. I hope everyone is having a good one.  I am gonna go back to my marketing project now. Current Mood: exanimate (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 17th, 2008
10:22 pm	Happy St. Patrick's Day!! So I went out between classes today, since Pub 13 is right next to the school. Green beer and Irish car bombs on the cheap. Doesn't get much better than that. Also, I would like to wish my bro and his wife a happy first anniversary! I hope everyone else had a great day today too! Current Mood: cheerful (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
10:35 am	Marketing got a bit more interesting on Monday though. Some girl missed the exam because "she was at work" and the teacher all kinds of went off on her. It's the second time shes missed an exam and used that excuse. He went off in front of the whole class and was all like "So you are telling me that you make more commitments than you can keep because you have poor time management skills and I am supposed to sort it all out for you?". Then it all escalated from there and ended up in the hallway. I thought it was pretty funny. I wonder what'll happen today. We have about 5 weeks of classes left and then its ... well no school for me until Fall. JPNE 211 isn't being offered over the summer apparently. I already bought the book for the end of 211 / all of 222 so I am gonna self study and try to get way ahead over the coming months. In other news, I might bail on the Michigan Center for Japanese Studies and go to Kansai Gaidai instead. That is pending review with an adviser and seeing if that is academically a good idea for me. A few of my friends from 122 are planning that and we are all thinking go at the same time. I might be able to room with one of them and I would kinda like that. I think Kansai Gaidai is in Hirakata, and that puts it pretty much inbetween Kyoto and Osaka, and also not too far from Nara. Not a bad location, as I would hope to hit any of those three on weekends or during a break. Maybe it seems backwards to plan outings for while I will be studying abroad, but its all historical research on my part. I study Japanese history on my own just about daily. Current Mood: chipper (Comment on this)
Friday, March 7th, 2008
4:37 pm	Ganbare Goemon 2 is awesome. It's this old konami game I am playing right now that is loosely based on Ishikawa Goemon. In Japanese folklore there are some varying statements based on him. They tend to agree on that he was all of what we think about Robin Hood in our culture. Stealing from the rich nobles and samurai houses and what not and giving to the poor. At any rate, many of the accounts were during the time near to the climax of the Sengoku Jidai and thats when Hideyoshi held a considerable amount of power. Goemon reportedly died, or was executed rather, in 1594 which would have been just after Hideyoshi's first (failed) attempt to go through Korea and capture China. Goemon was supposedly trying to assassinate Hideyoshi and there are varying accounts of how he was captured and then boiled alive in oil. Anyway... I will quit with the history lesson and go back to the game.The first boss in there looks like every bit of the artwork I have seen done of Hideyoshi towards the end of his life, though he is riding this mech with some kinda grenade launcher on it. I thought it was pretty funny. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
5:55 pm	looking for old NHL games I am wondering if anyone on my friends list might happen to have any of the old EA Sports NHL games and would consider getting rid of or selling them. I'll spring for just about anything. I want the old PC ones especially. I have NHL '97, '98, '99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 for PC, and I am looking for pretty much everything other than that including console versions for systems like SNES and Genesis. Let me know. (edit) To clear things up a bit, on the consoles... I am looking for things 4th gen and earlier. That is to say SNES and Genesis and everything before that. For the PC, ideally I want all of them but I am most actively seeking the ones prior to '97. If you have '06, '07, or '08 and want to get rid of it, still let me know. Current Mood: cheerful (2 Comments |Comment on this)