Refraction

… a work term report.

So, I walk into a store looking for a DVD of Howl’s Moving Castle and end up buying Vienna Teng’s Warm Strangers album instead. And for significantly less than that time I saw it at HMV. (Sarah, let me know if you want to hear these two live tracks that only came out on the re-release: “Hope on Fire” and “Boy at the Piano”.)

I have also received my new mp3 player (which, so far, is working just fine) and my massive CORE OF SOUL order.

I’ve also been listening to LOVE’s (Fukiko Nakamura, ex-COS) first release and while it’s not bad, it’s not quite all I expected. There’s also an mp3 floating around of one of Song Rui’s (ex-COS guitarist) new collaboration thingies (it’s in Mandarin!) and I almost like that one better. Except for the vocals part.

So I’ve submitted an online support request to the company, and got a canned response telling me to do all the things I did yesterday. The thing is —
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I knew I shouldn’t have picked up that mp3 player from Best Buy, but it was only $50…

Of course, now, two months later, the thing has completely crashed on me and freezes at the startup screen.

I got it to replace my aging (but STILL WORKING [except for the volume button], AND NOT FROZEN) 64 MB player. Now I think I might be going back to that one after all, since, guess what: it plays music.

I’m going to go back to my Samsung players now, kthnxbye.

I am debating whether to go to HMV and buy Jean Leloup’s CD along with Regina Spektor’s for $30. Something tells me HMV will go lower on Jean Leloup. 😛

I can’t sleep–all-you-can-eat sushi is not good for dinner, only lunch T_T

Anyway, I thought I’d share this post since I think a lot of you will relate to it:
Two Phrases that Destroyed American Culture. I wish more people were like this. Then I might actually enjoy working in retail and not turn all bitter about it.

On the other hand EXAMS ARE OVER OMGWTFBBQ! WE ARE KARAOKE!

//edit: Because I *really* can’t sleep. I’ve gotten less sleep tonight than at any time in the past week, and that was because of exams. Anyway, for those of you looking for something wintery, the Kaguya theme is ready for public viewing again. And I am going to make at least one other theme eventually!

Okay, so if you haven’t taken my advice to watch House (or if it’s just not for you) then take a look at Heroes. This show gets even more graphic than House sometimes–okay, often–and I’ve only seen one episode, but I’ve seen enough of it to confidently say that my favourite character is Hiro. He even has a blog! And he’s so cute in a dorky kind of way. A dorky, Clay Aiken kind of way.

Some of these are short-term, others… not so much.

1) Study for inorganic midterm.

2) Study for finals, especially organic.

3) Go drinking.
I think this one requires a bit of an explanation. Surprisingly, I managed to handle living in Quebec in university res while staying completely sober. Not only that, this was in a town where the supermarket downtown had 300 kinds of beer. And where beer was sold at $2 a pint (mercredi soir) at the bar 10 minutes away from uni.

Anyway, as Eric said once, if you’re going to get drunk for the first time, it should be among friends. Soo…..

I’m fairly certain I’m a pretty cheap drunk anyway, so 😀 I don’t expect this to be a very expensive venture.

This is one thing on my ‘to-do’ list before leaving for the big city small town. It’s kind of naive to think I won’t be invited to get drinks one day, eventually, by people I don’t know particularly well (er, well, actually I was invited today to grab at beer at noon–NOON!!!–so…) and I don’t think that would be a good time to make a fool of myself.

4) Go karaoke.
Maybe this could be combined with the drinking 😀

5) Go bubble tea.

6) Find my sanity.

7) Buy a laptop.
This is where I need from laptop-owning people. What features should I look for? What vendors should I avoid? Should I go for an ultra-portable?

8) Buy a music player.
I’m thinking about getting an iPod, but I wonder if a regular mp3 player will do just as well. I’m not fond of iTunes’ interface, but, eh…. Nanos are so CUTE!

9) Go Christmas shopping. For other people.

10) Make up a budget for all this drinking, singing, eating, and technology-buying.

I want to play a Dvorak game, sometime before I leave for my new job (I never see you people anymore!) My exams finish on the 13th, and my start date’s the 2nd (if I should pass the security check), so… sometime in between would be good.

I’m trying to decide whether making up our decks or downloading one would be more fun. I’m thinking our own; unfortunately I’m not a terribly witty person and my cards are bound to be boring. I think I would work Domo-kun into there somehow, though. And French. 😀

I want to test out a new WP plugin that I’ve just installed that lets me password protect parts of posts. Now I can be emo and you DON’T have to read about it!

In this case, though, I’ll just be talking about my new workplace–woo-hoo!

(Password is the three-letter acronym of my high school):

Don’t you love doing things yourself?

*insert emo-angsty-self-pitying blog entry here*

Actually, I suppose it’s more self-pity and less emo and angsty.

I’m so tired. It’s barely a month into school, and I’m already behind and feeling overwhelmed. Add the fact that I keep getting turned down for interviews, and you have a very unhappy Catherine. Plus, due to my insane schedule, I haven’t been able to keep up with my co-op commitments, and I’m really feeling the pressure right now.

I just want this to END.