Brandon's Webjournal

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:06:14 GMT

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.

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:26:20 GMT

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.

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:45:02 GMT

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.

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:39:57 GMT

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.

Hewlett-Packard for the lose.

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:08:46 GMT

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.

Sat, 31 May 2008 22:54:58 GMT

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.

Tue, 13 May 2008 20:44:56 GMT

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.

more wandering

Sun, 04 May 2008 02:04:40 GMT

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.

Fri, 02 May 2008 01:58:47 GMT

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.

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:02:16 GMT

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.

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:46:43 GMT

The Japanese test was BRUTAL. I think I did alright though. One more to go...

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:45:22 GMT

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.

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 02:50:08 GMT

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.

woot

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:50:04 GMT

I am in possession of my very own automobile now. I like this idea.

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:57:33 GMT

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...

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:05:13 GMT

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.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:25:36 GMT

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!

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:53:31 GMT

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.

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:00:31 GMT

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.

looking for old NHL games

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:59:23 GMT

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.

grrr (e-bay dealings)

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:01:28 GMT

So I am thinking just maybe I should go complain quite loudly at the post office today. When I pay for 2 - 3 day priority on things. I want them to arrive where they are supposed to within 2 - 3 business days, not 5 to 6. Way to fail, USPS. It wouldn't bother me so much if it weren't for the fact that everything I have ever shipped priority got delivered at least 2 days later than it should.

Almost furthers my beliefs in thinking I should go with Fedex or DHL for everything from now on.

I want my people to get what they pay for.

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:04:47 GMT

I did well on my Japanese exam. Two A sections and a B. No complaints there. I am happy with that.

Accounting really sucked, but it sucked for everyone really. Class average was a 61. I got a C, that is after some extra credit I had laying around that got tacked on made it a little more solid. If you look at it even before the extra credit I still did above class average. I feel better about it thinking about it that way, but I still wish I had done better on the thing. I studied a lot.

I wonder if we will even have school tomorrow. The weather is supposed to get pretty rough here as of right around now (Weather channel said 4ish). My parents are a little worried about what they are saying. They stocked up on fuel for the generator and a few other supplies.

I am off to sleep for a bit.

I hope everyone is having a good day.

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:55:58 GMT

Really good times yesterday. Well after the parking lot thing.

I fell really hard on my arm last night and it felt this morning like I got jump-kicked in the shoulder. Kinda sucked. I was moving around about an hour ago and there was this really gross pop and now it actually feels pretty good. I am guessing I just knocked it out of place. It sorta hurt at first last night but then I went in and got a few drinks in me and forgot about it.

Yeah anyways...

A bunch of us from WCC all got together at this restaurant/bar and had some good times. Probably drank way too much. Tim and I told the waitress to just start bringing the drinks three at a time so we wouldn't finish them before she left the table. I stuck with rum and cokes most of the time, but I am really starting to love vodka. It's good with alot of stuff. With 7-up I like it, and I love black russians. Good stuff.

It was good meeting everyone. Dexter was there and he was a good DD. He made sure Dave, Tim, and I didn't kill ourselves. Barb showed up with her husband and that was my first time meeting him. He was pretty rockin. Bunch of other dudes I have never met before were there too. A lot of people didn't show because of all the snow though. Kinda sad that Mike couldn't make it.

We all hung out there until pretty late and then we got tossed out for closing so we went to the bar next door.

It was a lot of fun. I don't usually do things like that. I haven't been to the bar or anything close to drunk since about last July.

break this week

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:01:32 GMT

I am on winter recess right now, as they call it. Good times. I think I would rather be in school though. I could get out a week earlier come April.

I am using the time to read, mostly. Not much else to do. I am going out with some friends from WCC tomorrow night that I left behind when I graduated. That should be fun. Otherwise... not much is happening.

I wanna go get the next level Japanese book and start studying ahead. I am kinda bored with where we are at in the class. Maybe I will do that tomorrow afternoon or something. Then I will have it all week to mess with.

Pretty boring entry this time I guess.

I hope everyone is doing well.

L'enfer, c'est les autres.

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 05:29:18 GMT

First off, my mom's technological ineptitude spirals into World War 5. She doesn't understand the DVR so then she starts bitching out my dad and I about how we broke it and it's stuck in place so she can't change the channels. Mind you this is because she's not using the inputs properly. Anyhow, she bitched me out, then she erupted on dad, then dad got mad and said a few things and went to the garage, then she took that out on me because shes just so victimized. She then proceeded to figure out it was her own lack of understanding the thing that caused the whole problem, then she got all quiet and then went back to bitching about how we victimize her all the time.

Also, now one of my close friend's immediate family is going apeshit on me for things I didn't even say. They are taking it out on him and he is trying to figure out what I did to cause it all. That all sprouts forth from me meeting his grandma earlier and talking to her. She was kind of pouring her heart out to me and so I stood there respectfully and listened to her. Then his uncle comes up with some stuff I supposedly said about aforementioned immediate family, thus leading to yet another war to deal with.

Great to note that I can be the common-thread catalyst for everyone's personal problems today whilst maintaining absolutely no control over situations at hand.

As if that's not enough, now I have some joyous intestinal infection / possible food poisoning to go along with it all.

I am gonna go try to forget that I exist now.