Fear the Crab

Christopher’s 1st birthday party was decent enough. There was a lot of food for a lunchtime party, enough to make one believe it was a dinner. Three types of salads, jello, cheeses, fruits, chicken, fish and smoked fish, shrimp, crab legs, and prime rib. In addition, there was a dessert table with mousses, tarts, eclairs, and other goodies. One person at our table filled her plate with nothing but desserts.

Frank DeLima made an appearance. His act was pretty good, though it was very tame compared to his other works. It’s natural, of course, considering that this was a children’s party and he really couldn’t let loose. Maile and I left shortly after Frank’s act, because we were tired and I had to work later in the evening. Actually, we both didn’t want to go, but because it was at the Hale Koa and Henry paid by guest, we would have felt really bad if we didn’t attend. I’d say it was worth it.

At work, however, I began to wish I had taken a nap. It was really slow, and that only made me feel more tired. My feet began to hurt and the rest of my body felt tight, as though I could crack every bone. I barely made it home, and I think I drifted onto the shoulder twice while driving.

Tonight and tomorrow I will help Maile with some of her history notes.

…as is the usual. I was in the duty free section tonight, and made a few sales, but nothing spectacular.

I’m going to sleep over at Maile’s house. Tomorrow we’re going to a birthday party for one of her co-worker’s child.

The interview went well. They asked questions, I answered them clearly and precisely. I think I made a good impression.

The test was dubious, at best. The multiple choice questions were all based on what is public knowledge of the department’s operation. For example, the tax year for real property is July 1st to June 30th. Real appraisals are conducted as of October 1st. You can file an appeal by January 15th. Stuff like that. I totally bombed that part.

There was a bit of math in the test, but only two questions. The first dealt with statistics. I had to find the median, mode, and mean of nine numbers. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what a mode was, so I got that part wrong. The second question was simply finding the area of the different parts of a house.

So the test has me worried about my chances of getting this job. I don’t know how much weight the test holds, so there’s a possibility that no matter what kind of impression I made, my score on the test would be the ultimate factor to decide whether or not I’m hired. If there’s one silver lining to this cloud, it’s that I told the interview panel that I am easily trainable and a quick learner, and I cited my experience at duty free when I first started (I hardly knew Japanese, and I didn’t know anything about duty free regulations). It is my hope that they will take that into consideration should they look at my test score.

In other news, Maile’s mom finally gave Keoni a choice. He can go to a rehab center and clean up, or he can live on the street. The mom will basically drive down to the psychologist’s office with Keoni and ask what options the idiot has. He’s been acting really weird, and it’s very likely he’s back on drugs. We suspect he even stole a Macy’s gift card we bought for a friend. So this development has put Maile more at ease, because now it seems like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Basically he’s going to be out of the house (which is all she really wants), and he should be getting the help he needs. The rest of the family is sick and tired of helping him out; even the grandmother is beginning to get irritated.

A part of me wonders if Keoni will actually go through with rehab. Ideally he would, and clean himself up and live a peaceful life. Unfortunately, the pessimist (or realist) in me highly doubts he’d go through with it, because he has a problem with rules and with authority. Namely, he can’t handle it. However, regardless of whether or not he goes through with rehab, Keoni will not be at Maile’s house giving her stress, and when it all boils down, that’s the bottom line.

I’ve found that doing the homework assignments immediately after covering the material in class greatly helps my understanding of it. Of course, that’s probably a given to many studious types. Still, it bodes well for my hopes of passing the class. Right now I am .02 points below 50, and according to the professor, anything below 50 means I’m in trouble. Hopefully I will do well in my assignments and have some modicum of success with my exams. The material we are covering now seems a bit more straightforward than previously encountered, so I don’t know if that’s the only reason why it seems I’m doing okay.

Tomorrow is the big interview with the City. According to some inside sources, the interview part will likely consist of questions pertaining to the office’s function of property assessment, such as tax rates and basic exemptions due to age, disability and low income. I understand all of that for the most part, though technical aspects (like the exact amounts) are unknown to me at this time. The written test may possibly involve some basic math and blueprint sketches. The math I’m not too worried about, since it deals primarily with geometry and areas. I know how to read blueprints, though if you were to ask me about details I wouldn’t know oak from redwood and the differences between a house built tongue-in-groove versus otherwise. Aside from the test and office knowledge, the rest is pretty much up to me and what I answer. So long as I give the impression that I’m a hard worker, easily trainable, and willing to learn and work well with others, I have a shot at getting this job.

My dad says they may also ask me which softball team I want to play in. I’m shooting for team A, because I already know a lot of the guys there, and my dad says they’re pretty cool when it comes to playing badly (ie they laugh at you instead of yelling).

The Kikaida DVD is set for release on Oct 15. It will have episodes 1 through 5, and if I get it from Costco I can look to spend about $20 for each. The 15th is a Tuesday, which means I can pick up the DVD after school. I’ll likely buy three if I can get away with it; one for George, one for my brother, and one for me. This also means that I no longer have to worry about taping the darn episodes and missing any, but it also means that my brother will likely have to wait longer for the entire collection. I’m sure he can handle it, though.

Spent the day studying for my math and programming exams. Took my parents to the airport, and was a bit nervous driving the van back home and parking it in the garage, but it turned out okay. The City called me and scheduled an interview for the 11th, which is a Friday, at 0830. They first wanted me to go in on the 10th at 1030, but that’s when I’m at school. They want me to bring a simple four-function calculator because I’ll be taking a written test. I don’t know what kind of test, but if it involves a calculator it’s gotta be something math-like. Perhaps it’s more geometry.

I have decided to donate to the Aloha United Way (AUW). Every year our company holds a fund-raising drive to give monies to AUW. Aside from the huli-huli chicken sales, baked goods and other commodes, they give us a little authorization form to deduct a specific amount of monies from our paychecks. We can either have them take out one big lump sum, or take out each paycheck.

I have decided to donate a penny. $0.01. And I will request that this penny be removed only once, from my February 28th paycheck. That’s correct, I’m giving one huge penny as a one-time donation to AUW. And it won’t even be a penny that I’ll physically have up my ass, or wherever it is one keeps their pennies. No, it’s going to be a virtual penny that exists in cyberworld, to be removed from a cyborg paycheck that deposits directly into my bank (the amount, not the actual paycheck).

My reasoning is because I haven’t gotten any raise in the past two years, whereas before I was satisfied with even a nickel increase in my hourly wages. My hours have been reduced, from 40 to 38 to 35 to 19 hours per week. I try and scrape by while our glorious Mr Brennan makes 35-minute videos where he probably flaunts his bling-bling, all the while telling us to gear up for another year of economic hardship (I haven’t seen it yet). Ol’ Mr DiLessio tells us that he doesn’t care about shoplifters, because our profits can cover those losses. So, on behalf of Mr Brennan and Mr DiLessio, I am donating one penny. They can cover the rest.

I almost forgot to post today. I spent most of my time trying to study for my math exam, but since I was at work it was tough to concentrate. I did manage to make some progress towards further, if not better, understanding of the material, though I’m still a long way from claiming omnipotent knowledge.

One of the watch bay doors fell and cracked the mirrored glass. It broke so hard that the lock came off. It is my suspicion that the sales clerk just wasn’t paying attention to the door and let it drop down to hit against the drawers. Either that or she misjudged the weight of it (which isn’t very heavy). This isn’t the first time it’s happened.

I went over to Maile’s house after work for some dinner. Instead of studying, we watched some Rurouni Kenshin and a bit of the special features on the Monsters Inc DVD.

When I pulled into her driveway, I noticed that her mom’s car was gone. Maile’s mom had gone to Vegas eariler in the week, so I thought that she had come home already and was either out or hadn’t returned from work. However, I found out that Keoni had taken the car. It seems that the mom gave Keoni permission to use the car only during specific conditions. First, he could use it if he had an appointment such as for the doctor, or a job interview (yeah right). Second, the grandmother had to accompany him. I thought these were more than reasonable terms for some bastard who’s about as trustworthy as the DFS vice president. Yet it seems the grandmother did not accompany Keoni, and he did not have any such appointments scheduled. Though he denies it, we highly suspect he went over to Josephine’s house (the “first woman”) because he came home with a gigantic hickey on the side of his neck. Maile was, understandably, annoyed and angry, but I think that will pale in comparison to how the mom will feel when she finds out.

Came home and watched some of the UH football game on delayed broadcast. During that time I worked on my coding assignment and made rather significant progress. There are stilll a few bugs, and in my current state of mind I can’t seem to comprehend what it is I’m doing wrong. Perhaps tomorrow will hold greater success in my endeavors, but if that fails, I can always email the professor or TAs.

We got slammed today at work. It was as busy as we had been in years past, but I have to take into consideration that back then we had a lot more people on staff. Perhaps it was simply because we are short-handed that it felt busier. After all, in the duty free section there used to be 4 people working any given night; now it’s just 2.

Maile called me after work. She had some trouble falling asleep, so we talked for a good hour, even after I finally reached home. Having insomnia sucks eggs, especially if one has to wake up early the next day. Maile usually has an early run on Saturdays, and often wakes up at 5 to get in to the lab. I hope she’s all right tomorrow.

George won’t be working tomorrow. I found that out when I saw him tonight as I started and he was leaving. I don’t know if he has vacation or switched a day off, but it doesn’t really matter to me because it’s his time off. He’s not one to normally take a day off just because he feels like it. Tomoko made some kind of wisecrack about calling him in to work, saying that I was going to call in sick. After she said that, the thought briefly occurred to me that I, too, could use a day off. I have two exams next Thursday, one of which is the dreaded Discrete Math. Top that with the homework assignments that I have due for both classes, and that doesn’t leave much time to get any studying done. The 211 homework can actually substitute for studying, because the coding itself will be similar to what I’ll have to do in that exam. That doesn’t mean I can rest easily, however, because a lot of my programming is done through heavy references to my notes and materials.

Speaking of notes, for both classes I will be allowed to bring in one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with whatever notes I want, and use it in the exams. I wanted to use my time tonight to jot some things for the 241 test, but as mentioned before, work was too busy to even take a glimpse at my current pile of notes. I also need to consider how I’m going to format my “cheat sheet.” I plan to use both sides of the paper (it’s allowed), but I haven’t decided if I’m going to write all my notes or use the tiniest legible font on my computer. The problems with doing it by hand are that I may not recognize my own writing, there won’t be much organization, and I may lose efficient space. The problem with doing it on the computer is the risk that a special symbol may be lacking, forcing me to leave some space to fill it in by hand.

Forgot to mention in previous entries that my mom’s painting was shown in the local paper. There’s an article about an art fund raiser for the REHAB hospital, and the sole painting displayed is the one made by my mom. The only time I ever had my name in the paper was when I was on the high school bowling team and scored a 222. Coincidentally, that was the only game we had ever won, and it was against Iolani. My name was written in the sports section (obviously) in the tiniest font possible. I think someone clipped that statistic article, but I have no idea where it is after 12 years. Anyway, I’m currently trying to find a way to either scan or digitize her painting, so I can post it on the web page.

Blah. Work was blah. At least I sold a Bvlgari watch. It was only $945, but that’s more than what I have in my bank accounts.

Visited Maile for a couple of hours after work. I ate two grilled cheese sandwiches and some bacon. I first felt like eating fried rice, but easily changed my mind to grilled cheese. I’m easy to please, that way. The bacon was thrown in because it was offered, and I am not one to turn down food.

I’m feeling rather awake right now, which is bad, because it’s another school night.

Woke up early and went down the street to vote. Stupidly enough, there was a chicken sale going on at the same time at the same location, so the parking lot was jammed full of people trying to pick up their chicken and trying to vote.

I bought some socks and shorts at Sports Authority, afterward. I ended up getting women’s socks because they had no men’s socks in my size. I wanted some lightweight hiking socks, the kind that wick away moisture or whatever it is they are supposed to do, and the women’s socks were the only ones in my size. So long as they fit, there’s no problem, and it’s not like the fashion police will come breaking down my door. I think.

I then went to the DFS car wash. I figured that soon, that car will be traded in, so it wouldn’t hurt to get it cleaned up, at least on the outside. Oddly enough, when I left my car didn’t look any different.

Work was dreadfully dreadfully slow. I think were it not for the toothpick in my mouth I would have gone insane.

On a happy note, I finished my applet program. There are a few bugs left, and there are probably a million ways I could have made it more effective, but those things can wait until I return to class and ask questions.