Fear the Crab

I’m slowly getting used to working a long shift. It’s only been one week since the store switched back to a 7-hour day, but after a year of 4-hour days, it sometimes feels so strange. I think what really helps me get through the day is the fact that I can talk with my friends.

Irene was thinking of returning to bangs for her hairstyle. I remember she used to have arcing bangs, if that’s how to describe them. I’ve never been good at describing hair. George mentioned today that his car is messy, and so he drove one that was “less messy.” Had some cute kids running amok in the store; it’s like a trip to the zoo.

After work I went over to Maile’s house, and we played Animal Crossing for a couple of hours. The game is a lot of fun, and it’s even better when you have other friends you can involve. There’s a lot more one can do when there are other towns to visit.

Today’s word(s):
Ineffable
Infalliable

I haven’t been posting that often, mainly because of the holidays, and also because my brother is visiting and using my computer to while away the time playing games. I also got Animal Crossing for the Gamecube, and it’s a very fun game. I already know two other people that have it: Maile (which is uber cool!) and George (tres bien!). I’ve already visited Maile’s town, and I came to find out that when I got back to my town, someone from my village moved to her town. In that person’s place is someone new, and I’m assuming right now that this person is from Maile’s town, but I won’t know until I confirm.

Work today. Blah.

Irene was acting like a spoiled brat today, which doesn’t really befit her 29-yr old status. What started it was the fact that she “was busy” with work and only took a 5-minute break. Her lunch bag was in the refrigerator in the lounge, and she asked the supervisor, Dean, to get it for her. I don’t know if he forgot, but he didn’t get it, and he locked up the lounge and set the alarm. That meant Irene couldn’t get her bag without tripping the sensors. She started going off like a hot tea kettle, “I want my bag I want my bag I want my bag!” over and over again. I discovered her intent was to irritate Dean to the point that he would go and retrieve her bag. Instead, she succeeded in irritating everybody else, because when she wants to, she can have a very loud and very high-pitched voice. Sort of sounds like Minnie Mouse on ice, or like the barking of a chihuahua. On our way to our cars, Irene mentioned idly that she thought she had Dean “wrapped around her tiny finger.” A bit of arrogance on her part, I believe.

Tried to get the point across that there are greater tragedies in life, and she can’t fret about a bag that will still be there when she returns from her vacation. Don’t know if I succeeded.

Visited Maile after work, and ate some of her leftover dinner. She and her family went to Sushi-Ten, which made me highly jealous because I also like their food. I haven’t been to that restaurant in months. I really like the pocket watch, money clip, shoe polish, and electric toothbrush she got me for Xmas, and it was everything I wanted on my list. Woo!

Maile, George and I joined George at Bucca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant, for his birthday. It was a surprise party, because George had no idea everyone else was going to be there. His girlfriend planned the whole thing. There were other people, too, that were from George’s side of the social circle, and they were pretty cool, what few we managed to talk to. A couple of them reminded us of other people. There was a guy named Stacy (sp?) who reminded me of Reid, and another guy named Ken who reminded me of Richard. It wasn’t really a case of looks, it was more because of their actions, or little movements of body language that just screamed of similarity.

Speaking of screaming, when Maile and I went to pick George up, we idled some time waiting for the guy to finish work. We took a few pictures with my digital camera, and one picture Maile took of me standing next to my truck was.. well, interesting. There were these hazy swirls of white that suddenly appeared in the photo, and it’s not present in any of the others we took before or after. I can’t rightly explain it good enough, but it freaked us out because we can’t explain it. You can kinda see me and my truck through the white swirls, and that is very clear, so the camera wasn’t moving. And it’s a digital camera, so I don’t think there’s a problem with any double exposures. Weird.

After the dinner the three of us went upstairs to Dave & Busters for a drink and a few games. Combined we managed to acquire about 2000 tickets, bringing our running total up to a little over 17k. We actually don’t know what we’ll use those tickets for, but since all the good things are in the 50k and up range, it’ll be a while before we have to think about it.

Maile has a final to take tomorrow, then has to study for another on Thursday. I only have one final on Thursday, but I also plan to wash my truck tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll wake up early enough to get that done, but it’s been raining these past few days, so I’m not sure just how effective my little chore will be.

It was another so-so day at work.

The day started out so well, too. Maile stopped by and dropped off some Xmas presents. I’m tempted to open one, but I know I shouldn’t. That just kills the whole spirit.

At work there were people to talk to, though it was still a long day and the end seemed so far away. I didn’t sell that much, but I don’t care because I’m not really a sales clerk. At least Min and Irene were working the same shift, so that made it better.

Tonight feels like another cold night. I wish I were at Maile’s house.

Forgot to post Thursday. Nothing much happened, though. I spent a good portion of my morning trying to fix my homework assignment, and even went so far as to ask the professor for help. Not that it’s a bad thing to ask the prof for help, after all, that’s what they’re there for. But it was the first time I had to ask the professor for help, and it seemed her answer to my problem was something I had already figured out; I just didn’t know it was the answer until then. Still, it took me until later in the afternoon to fix my homework, but it was very satisfying to get it over with.

Friday started off as an okay day, then it turned lousy, and then it turned better. The lousy part began when I went to work, and there was a major traffic jam on the highway. I left the house at 1715 hours and didn’t get to work until 1900. I spent an hour and 45 minutes on the road in stop-and-go traffic. What sucked is that I was supposed to start at 1830, so I ended up being late and getting into trouble. I found out later that a good portion of Waikiki’s roads were closed because of some silly block party they were having to celebrate the grand opening of a shopping complex. Add to that a traffic accident on one of the freeway off-ramps, a concert at the Waikiki Shell, and the first round of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, and that’s plenty of reason for me to stress out at work.

Thankfully, hanging out with friends and talking on the phone with Maile helped make the day end gracefully. I went to Zippy’s with some co-workers and ate breakfast food. I also drank a lot of coffee, so I’ll probably stay awake for the next four hours. I could use this time to help Maile with her homework, but she wants to do it herself, so she didn’t send me stuff to look at. Her homework is not due until Tuesday, but then she has another assignment due the next day. This is all for the same class. I don’t know what the professor was thinking, or perhaps the professor wasn’t thinking, because I’ve never heard of anyone giving two assignments one after the other and expect them due within a few hours of each other. Hopefully tomorrow or Sunday I can help Maile alleviate some of that work.

I got my Eddie Izzard “Dress to Kill” DVD, and was pleasantly surprised to find some extra material that wasn’t included in the HBO showing. I also got Robin Williams’ Live on Broadway DVD, and I hope that, too, contains extra stuff.

I washed and polished my car today. I don’t know how long it took, but I think it reached roughly the two hour mark. I was about to wash the van, but I started to feel lazy and simply ended up wiping it down with a chamois.

I took a bit of a nap before heading out to dinner with Maile, for her Xmas party. It was at the Oceanarium restaurant at the Pacific Beach Hotel. It was good food, and there were some gift bags. I got a stainless steel cup with a bike attachment device and a backpack clip, which I could use for school. Very nice. There also was a few big prizes available for the employees, and they utilized a very interesting system of doling out those prizes. They pick a name, and whoever is picked gets to reach into a bag containing dozens of plastic eggs. Inside the egg is either some money, or a piece of paper stating which of the three big prizes they won (a DVD player, home stereo, and microwave). Once that person picks an egg, they pick a name. That next person picks an egg and picks another name, and it continues until all the names have been picked. I think an employee has their names read 3 times, and each time they get to take an egg. Maile ended up getting… $35 I think.

There was something else I wanted to post here, but I forget what it was.

Thankfully it wasn’t boring, but that’s only because I was able to talk to Min about trucks and finances, and I was able to talk to Maile on my break. I did get into a bit of an argument with Takashi, who was going off about Christianity imposing itself on other religions, specifically Islam, and the modern-day relations between the US and Israel and why that is damaging the mid east. There were many flaws in his argument, some of which I pointed out to him, but it remains unknown whether or not it sank in. So many flaws, in fact, that I would find it hard to repeat them here with any semblance of clarity, and therefore I won’t do them any justification.

My vacation request for the 23rd was approved, so that means I will be able to accompany Maile to her company Xmas party.

…as usual.

I talked to Maile for a bit on my break, and we made some plans to attend her company’s Christmas party on the 23rd of this month. If it seems early for a party, it is, but it has some practical applications, too. For starters, the company gets 2 weeks vacation towards the end of the year, so no one will be around to have a party. Secondly, Maile’s best friend is due to give birth to her second child near that time, so planning the party for the end of this month is common sense to those in the know. I put in a vacation request so that I can accompany Maile to the party, and hopefully my request will be honored. I don’t know where the party will be, but I remember one year it was at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. I think last year it was at the Waikiki Parc Hotel, but I could be wrong.

I’m still creeped out from The Ring. Every little noise, every little shadow in the house makes me nervous. People will laugh, and have laughed at my condition, and I can laugh, too. But only in the daytime.

I just saw “The Ring” and I am freaked out. The movie scared me so badly I closed my eyes. Maile could tell I was uber nervous because I kept pinching the folds in her jeans. I must say that it was one of the best scary movies made, primarily because it didn’t require any gore or lots of blood to make it horror-rific. Still, I don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. It’s not really because of the story in the movie, rather the images that have been burned into my mind like.. well, like the movie. Damnit!

I’m feeling slightly better, because I’m going to be sleeping over at Maile’s and I will find great comfort in her presence. And, the presence of a 170 lb great dane.

I met James and his new girlfriend Mary tonight, too. They came and saw the movie with us, even though they had already seen it. They were still a bit freaked out by it, but not as badly as myself. In fact, when we went to Anna Miller’s afterward and I was feeling better after a root beer float, James had the bright idea of bringing up a scary nightmare he had the evening after he saw The Ring for the first time.

He said that he was dreaming about something, and then he was woken up by a high-pitched noise, like that of a steaming tea kettle, accompanied by the static of the TV which is now on. He found himself on the floor, and it was broad daylight like the normal times he wakes up, and when he sat up to look at the TV, that “well scene” was playing. So he reaches behind him to get the remote to turn off the TV, and by the time he finds it, SHE’S at the screen. So he shuts off the TV, and everything is cool. Then the door to his bedroom opens up, and SHE’S there again!

He woke up with a scream on his lips.

Bastard.