I'm going to the gym

So to keep you all informed, just found out today that Amity is not going to hire me. I knew they weren't. Why do they always say stuff like we had a lot of qualified people apply and it was a really tough decision. Clearly I wasn't qualified if you didn't hire me. Anyway, their loss. I'm currently applying to the JET Program again (what Charlie and Ingrid are doing in Japan right now). I've been emailing one of my Japanese and sounds like I have a good chance for JET this year( points for language and culture background, teaching experience. Hopefully. I'm trying to not be negative about this, but maybe I'm not cut out for it. I already had interviews with EPIK (The Korea JET Program) and Amity. Both of them didn't want me. ahhh. whatever.

Well yesterday I went to 24hr fitness and got gym membership. I had this free 7 day trial, and then they suckered me into getting a membership saying that it was the last day of their no initiation fees stuff. then they suckered me into getting personal training sessions because I was saying by not paying the initiation fees. So I've been trying to cancel the training sessions and then the guy is like just try it out. You have a 30day guarantee if I complete the sessions and if your not happy then I can get a refund. They are just trying to get my fucking money. But we'll see if these sessions are worth it. I'm not getting suckered into anymore after that.
This is what I'm gonna look like.

Gah. Back to square 1 again.

Fudge says purr

Hey. I hate life. HATE. Sorry to hear your interview experiences went so shittily patricey! That blows, I'm sorry. I don't know if you should totally write off teaching in Japan because of one bad interview! It's just one, you can learn from it. I am glad that Borders is getting better though! That's progress at least. My job is getting way more annoying. The band loser i HATE at work went to florida (where everyone he knows is) after getting fired from his other job, selling his car w/o buying a new one, and breaking up with his girlfriend. I was hoping he just wouldn't come back. But he did!!!! I am upset about this. There are many more complaints I won't list. I keep seeing people I know and having to explain that yes I did go to college and yes this is where I work now. I hate it. It makes me feel like shit. And then I came home to find out that the super painful gyno procedure I was forced to get 2 months ago is now gonna cost me almost a hundred and fifty bucks. WTF? And Cait's moving away. Suckfest.
Oh well. At least it's almost election time. It will be fun when Shane Gibson wins.

LA Interview with Amity

Sup All,

I'll post about my weekend in LA. Oh man.

Friday 15th: Flight left Honolulu at 6:40am. That was really early.....got into LA around 3:30PMish. Got the free shuttle to the hotel and got settled there. I walked around the area and to the interview building so that I knew where it was. Worked out at the hotel gym and went to bed early.

Saturday 16th: Well I didn't sleep that well because I was nervous. Went to Starbucks and had a banana and coffee. The doors opened at 8am and the Info session was going to start at 8:30, if you are late you weren't allowed to enter. So, I was running a little late because I was having a hard time getting into the building. I had to walk around to get to another entrance. I finally get in and I was telling the security personal what suite I needed to go to, and he said that 2 other people had come just before me asking to go to the same place, but no one was up there. So that office building/complex is closed on the weekends. I was thinking wtf! there is no way that this company is not legit. I was freaking out. So I went back to the hotel because there wasn't anything that I could do there. I kept calling and calling the office. Finally I got in-touch with someone at 12:30pm after they had finished the group interview. I told her what happened, I had confirmed my attendance at the beginning of September. They had actually changed the location because they couldn't fit everyone in the office. And I wasn't notified of the change. Apparently they didn't respond to my confirmation, and then the lady I was talking goes, this is unacceptable, you should have responded back after not hearing from us for a month. Geezes fucking christ lady, how was I supposed to know I was supposed to receive another confirmation. It kind of was my fault, but really bad on their part as well. So she was like, can you come back in December.... ummmm...NO...I came all the way from HAWAII! So she put me on hold, and they let me come in the next day at 9am.
So I chilled at the hotel, she said I was allowed to change my lesson plan for one child, but I really couldn't have.
I didn't sleep well again that night, and I didn't really have an appetite.

Sunday 17th: So went to the 9am interview. Another guy who had showed up to the wrong place as well was there. He didn't even confirm, so I don't even know why they let him in. We had an info session, they basically explained a lot of stuff. Expectations, a video with some teaching demos, what the company is like. I took notes which was really useful because in later in the personal interview she asked me some stuff and I was allowed to use my notes.
We had to do the 5min. teaching demo. I thought it went alright considering there was only one child and it was supposed to be a game for at least 3 kids. After this we took an English test. There was spelling part, fill in the blanks and circling wrong tenses in a sentence. The spelling part was actually really hard for me. My spelling is really bad. But I guess I did alright on the other parts.
So they invited me to the personal interview right after. I waited for like 15mins in the lobby.
At the personal interview we talked about my lesson plan. They were kind of disappointed and it was of low standards.....They told me that I should use more gestures, less wordy words that are unnecessary, being a little more excited, and actually teach. Then they made me do a 10min teaching lesson, they had flashcards prepared and a photo. The vocab cards included words like paper, tape, string, ribbon, glue, paint. The sentence/question grammar that I was supposed to teach was : He/she has some ____. / What does he/she have ____? I had to plan a 30min lesson plan and teach 10mins of it.
So I used gestures for each vocab. I went over the vocab. Somehow during the lesson, I would say the word and then the child (the interviewer) would say the exact same thing. So we went through the cards a few times and the picture, point to things. I was supposed to some how differentiate the difference between He and She as well. Anyway, the 10min lesson just got worse and worse. I don't know why but I even added I and You; I have paper. Yeah....hott mess.
So after the 10mins we discussed how that teaching demo went. She was pissed that I added stuff, and then I realized that I was using the wrong sentence pattern too. I was using He/She has ____, but it was supposed to be He/She has some ____. And then I got kind of lectured why I have to stick to the lesson and not change things, because they also have take home worksheets and stuff, and if I don't teach the correct pattern then they won't know how to do the work. OMG this lady was so fucking bitchy.
She asked lots of questions. What I would do in certain scenarios, etc. I was so nervous....and taking a while to give my answers. I probably didn't really express very clearly what I was trying to say either....but hopefully I said some good stuff that will offset my teaching demo failures.
Its going to take a few weeks for them to respond. Its going to be really hard to say. I will be really surprised it if they hire me, and I can see them not hiring me as well. The whole interview makes me feel really discouraged now. I thought I would like that company because it was specifically for children and stuff, but they seem so rigid. Ah.
So I'm kind of bummed that it went very poorly. It kind of made me want to go back to Borders. Borders is getting a lot better. The GM doesn't yell at me that much anymore. She was off for a week too, so maybe that's why things were starting to feel better. But yeah, I thought I had a lot of pressure from Borders, I feel like I'd be getting even more pressure at this company. Idk. We'll see what happens.

So after I went back to the hotel; the interviews finished around 1:30. I was going to try to meet up with Nick, but actually his dad was in town too. I was surprised because he didn't tell me till then. Had a late lunch and bought one of those JOOSE drinks. That stuff tasted terrible. But after drinking half of it was pretty drunk/sloppy. Then Nick texts me asking if I wanted to go to dinner with them. Like omg....I'm fucking drunk already...and awkward....
Anyway they picked me up, I sobered up, and we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. That was actually the first time I'd like ever talked to his dad. It wasn't that bad and some of the convo was interesting. Went back to the hotel and Nick stated for a few hours. Don't worry, nothing happened. We just watched TV and youtube videos on my laptop. Now that I'm reflecting on this though....I somewhat felt really at ease when I was with him. Kind of felt like I could forget the world. After Nick left I drank the rest of that JOOSE, bad idea. That shit made me hung over and nauseous. NEVER AGAIN will I drink that shit. I was planing to go to the gym but I couldn't.

Monday, flew back to Honolulu. I work tomorrow at 7am.
Not sure how I feel about wanting to teach in Japan anymore. I always thought I wanted to work in Japan, but this interview process like is really turning me off. Maybe its just this company though. I really liked working/teaching the kids at that Japanese camp in Minnesota, but this seems completely different. Starting to wonder if I should go back and try to pursue music any further or figure out what else I can do.

life as i know it

Sorry to hear about the evilness of your gm patricey. my gm is super nice! She doesn't come in that often though. But she was in today. She just comes in to check on us and see if we do it right, so it is intimidating when she's around. And my regular managers are pretty cool too. Don't let her get to you patrice! Just tell yourself it is not a permanent job. If you need to, set a time frame to be out of there so you can count down.
My bday was about a week ago and it was a suck fest. I spent too much time crying. I was so lonely! Lindsay took me out to lunch Saturday, so tht was cool, but I like saved texts cuz i expected my phone to explode. WRONGO. Tiffy called, cait called when I was asleep that night (the dr. had surgery that wknd) and my bro txted. So i was mostly just sad faced. My mom was m, of course, super sweet. But I missed my friends and I'm used to getting some love on my bday. But I did get a bday card and earrings from Jules a week late and cards from cait and tiffy late, so I shouldn't have felt sad so quickly. But every person that forgot me made me sad :( In happier times, cait came to celebrate with me this last weekend! We went out and got free make overs at sephora and went out and it was so fun! It'd been like a month since we had gotten to visit last, so hip hip hooray.
I wish I had some cheese to eat.
My trio played our first wedding together Saturday, and that was pretty fun. We have another one Sunday and that's something to look forward too. Actually, the bride, groom and bride's HOT brother flew out of louisville on sunday. Saw the groom and i was all "did you get married yesterday? I think i played at it..." but the highlight ws totes the hot brother, he recognized ME! I think tht means he's in love.
Funny story. Tiffers and Cait I think both lredy know it, but whatever. So I'm working circa five am. and this HOT australian sex pot is buying some coffee and a danish or something, keeps calling me love. He's wearing a university of connecticut sweatshirt. Chandler" You went to UCONN?" "Nah my girlfriend does" (insert sound of my heart breaking) Chandler"Oh. It's a good school, at least sports wise." hottie "I dunno about tht, but it's definitely a good school in the bedroom" Me ":-o" Chandler" Thanks have a good day!" Chandler didn't hear. He was in shock and all "you should be offended!" I probs wouldve been if he wasnt hot and australian, lol.
Everyone else should write updates now too.

GM HATE!

Hi. So I've been working at Borders and getting more and more used to things, except I really hate/fear the GM. She's a bitch. Maybe she's going through menopause or something, but she sure is really bitchy. So I needed to request off....a responsible thing to do right....and shes like you need to schedule it 2 weeks in advance. No one fucking told me that. So I though I wouldn't be able to get off to work at the Hawaii Primary Election. Fine whatever, so I was really too scared to ask off for my interview at the same time. And then she like makes it seem like I won't get that day off....what does she do....schedule me off. WTF. Make up your mind. So I fill out the form we need to fill out to get off...this is like 5 weeks ahead of time....and then she calls me into the office, "you know....you just started and you are asking off all the time, is this going to be happening every month? we rarely give time off..." well fuck you then. how about being more flexible. I fucking work every damn odd hour you fucking give me (the hours aren't that odd, but still...). So I was like this is a really rare circumstance...I said it was a family weekend thing verses saying that I was going to another interview...but if she doesn't fucking give me off I'm going to quite that job.

This is the first time that someones words pierce my heart. Everything that she says to me is usually very negative (her tone of voice is always very harsh/negative/mean sounding). This has been really bothering me a lot ever since I started working there. I've never been so affected by someones words. They really stick with me and I feel really down all the time. She hasn't said anything about the things I do good or anything. I'm pretty sure I'm doing some stuff that is good....
I wonder if I'm being over-sensitive about this.

Anyway, hope you all are doing well.

conforming

Here's a post for yall. Tips SUCKED today, circa $8.00. and our stupid system kept going down, it was beyond obnoxiuos. and our GM came in yesterday so our manager decided to be totally OCD about all the stupid rules no one follows. Not coolio. I hafta tutor in algebra tonight, not looking forward to it but I do like money.
Life after graduation blows (sorry Kelly, I know you don't like it when people are unhappy). Talking with Cait keeps me from killing myself. This girl got this job I should've gotten and sucks at it. But she is nice.
I'm super lonely and my cat's my best friend.
I canvassed for Shane Gibson (state rep, 72nd district) yesterday in my own neighborhood. That was kind of funny. And Saturday I was canvassing for OFA and got stuck talking to this racist crazy for 43 minutes. It was incredibly entertaining. He had ideas of how to pay for the new bridge (which we've talked about for literally 30 years), and INSISTED i write them down to remember to tell Baron Hill. Teehee. He also pointed out where all the Mexicans live in his neighborhood, but he "doesn't want to feel prejudiced". I mean... you might want to feel it, but you are it Mr. racistpants. I put notes in votebuilder saying that he was crazy. But after all that, he's still gonna vote for Baron and Ellsworth! I'm pretty much a winning canvasser, lol.
k there's your life update. Hope it made yall happy

amy's back!

Tiffypoo, this blog is so cool! I decided to resurrect Amy's picture on some sort of blog in memory of all of our ridiculous posts on Spiegs's blog. So here she is, in all of her crack whore glory.

I spent the summer at Blue Lake, so of course it was a good summer. It was really hard though because I was away from Patrick. Today is our 11 month anniversary so I'm pretty excited that in one month we'll have been together for a year. Weird, right? He came up and visited me at Blue Lake a lot, which was awesome cause we stayed at this really cute bed and breakfast and the couple that owned it was really nice. They are like in their 70s but they had just gotten back from this like 300 mile hike between France and Spain--cray cray. But it was fun.

I was done with camp this past Monday and I drove the 6 hours it took to get to DePauw to visit Patrick. I guess I win the prize for being the first one of us to visit again--even before classes had started, which I think is pretty sad. It was super anticlimactic because I went to the music building with Patrick and instead of most people being like, "Hey Kelly! How are you?" All excited to see me, most people were like, "Oh what are you doing here? Didn't you graduate?" Then I had to explain to everyone why I was there and it was stupid. Because I was just thinking the whole time...where the hell were all of you people when I was dating Patrick all year last year? Duh...why do you think I'm here..." but anyway. I talked to Mr. Smith and Spiegs and Carla Edwards and Mr. Rizner and Maddy Balensuela. They were all really nice though so that was cool. I stayed in Fiji and Dil is Patrick's roomie so of course he was just drinking all the time. I'm kinda over that. But anyway, going there made me really miss all of you guys. And looking at all the little freshman who were trying to make themselves look perfect and fratty and shit made me realize how happy I was to not be there again this year, even though I really miss you guys a lot.

I'm so happy that we have this blog because it's nice to be able to see what all of you guys are doing. Patrice, I love that video of you dancing. It's so cool that you worked at camp and loved it. Now you know how I feel about Blue Lake.

I'm watching wedding shows all day long because I'm home alone until I move to Cincinnati on Sep. 11. This crazy girl from Texas right now is convinced that she's going to wear cowboy boots with her wedding dress...ew. She also wants to only have beer to drink at her wedding. She was tasting wine and she was like "this is so gross!" Hahaha. Anyway, I love you guys and miss you all. More to come later.