Well, it doesn't look like I'm going to be finishing my NaNoWriMo project this year - maybe next year. These past 5 days of holiday time have been spent hosting visitors and visiting people in a whirlwind of cooking and eating - not to mention shopping. A friend talked me into braving Black Friday with her so we got to Target at 4:30 in the morning, waited in line for half an hour before the doors opened, spent another half hour grabbing the deals we wanted - and then spent two hours in checkout!

The real downpoint was when we went to Best Buy. I didn't end up getting anything though my friend bought a 40 inch flatscreen and blu-ray player. And we had a car accident right as we were pulling out of the parking lot! No one was injured but it did leave us rattled and my friend was freaking out as waited for a cop to come so we could do an accident report and then we tried to find an autoshop that was open to get an estimate on the damages. Of course, we couldn't find one that was open during the Thanksgiving holidays which apparently Black Friday counts.

Anyway, after our nerves settled we proceeded to continue with our shopping for the rest of the day and probably hit about 10 stores in all although. Spent Saturday shopping sales with her too and topped it off with seeing New Moon at night in which I found the characters of Bella and Edward only slightly less annoying than how they are in the books.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and reorganizing so I could make room for the new stuff I bought. Most of it will be X-mas presents for friends and family but that means I had to find hiding places where no one will stumble across them for the next month.

I think next year I'll just stick to accident-free online shopping.

Happy holidays to everyone on my f-list! I am still alive and deeply apologize to everyone that's tried to email me or otherwise try to contact my sailorpanda persona. I have separate accounts set up for fun/fandom and personal/business and haven't had much time at all to devote to the fandom side of things so I've neglected a lot of things as I haven't checked those accounts in a long, long while.

I do miss it, and the people I've met here and elsewhere. I hope to get back into things, though only time will tell. This month will probably be taken up with NaNoWriMo which I'm determined to meet the goal this year since I didn't make it last year. Then maybe I'll have time to play around with my dusty old fanfics.

Any updated may still take a while though.

I've had very minimal time to work on any fanfics as it's been a rough year - it's sad how many funerals I've had to attend this year, how many people I care about that have passed away. I've got though bouts of depression that left me not wanting to do anything but just appreciate time with those I care about. Losing so many people in such a short span of time brings to home how fleeting life is and how the people you love that are with you today may not be there tomorrow. So, when I've had free time from the several jobs I'm still currently working, I've been spending what time I've had this past year with family and friends just hanging out and making memories.

It's been a mix of ups and downs and new experiences which do have good points apart from the prior mentioned bad as I've made new friends and been introduced to trivia nights, wine tastings (used to detest wine) and taking lots of trips here and there. Tried speed-dating (which was a highly scary experience), been found by lots of people I hadn't spoken to in a decade or more on Facebook, taking in plays and comedy shows (Jerry Seinfeld, yeah!) and now trying to make plans and save money for a 10 day tour of Italy I'll be taking in May next year with a friend.

This year's almost over and, despite the emotional upheavals, I'm already missing it.

You never know what turns life is going to take. Obama was inaugurated yesterday and today a very close friend of mine passed away in the early morning. It feels surreal. I'm sad that she's gone, but relieved she's finally free from pain.

She was battling cancer for the past two years, went through rigorous treatments, and finally gave up and decided to discontinue the treatments. Her tumor was inoperable and, rather than continuing treatments that would extend her life a little bit longer as well as the pain, she had decided to let things be and let it run its course. She wanted to get it over with. I think, if I were in her position, I might have made the same decision. I'm just glad that her brother was with her in her final hours so she wasn't alone.

It's such a difficult thing to go through and I really admire the people that have to endure something so painful with a time limit placed on how long there is left to live and still have the inner strength to smile and bring laughter to others. She was such a wonderful person and she will be sorely missed by me and my family. At least now she's in a better place.

God bless her.

Well, these past few months have been kicking my ass what with work, training for work, friends having babies, other friends getting married, and a steady stream of relatives stopping by since Thanksgiving until now. I've got several parties to attend and more relatives that are supposed to come in tonight. I anticipate getting very little sleep tonight and tomorrow. Good thing I don't get hangovers no matter how much I drink - though I suppose there's always a first time.

Though I haven't been able to keep up with LJ, I hope everyone on my f-list and beyond have fun saying good-bye to 2008 and welcoming 2009.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

I don't know what to feel anymore.

My emotions have been all over the place lately.  I started out excited and happy because I got to go up to Chicago this past weekend and see one of my friends who I hadn't seen in three years.  I got to see her parents and how changed she is with her firstborn due next month.  I was happy to see her happy, and sad that she's facing financial difficulties with being a single parent and juggling her last year of med school. 

But then I had to head back and find that on the very night I make it back home, a very dear and old friend of the family passed away that very same night.  Then I got depressed and have been wandering in a partial daze since.

Then I became pissed.

God, I can't believe my mother sometimes!  I find out that the funeral for her was today and my mother didn't see fit to tell me beforehand because she didn't want to "bother" me and have me distracted by trying to take time off from work.  On the one hand, I can understand since I've had several meetings and training sessions I'm scheduled to attend throughout the week but the major part of me is upset that I wasn't able to say goodbye to someone so important to me. 

At the moment, I"m not speaking to my mother.  She's upset, but I don't care.  I hate that she takes decisions like this from me.  It's just like when my dad passed away during the week and I was still in college and she didn't tell me that he was gone until I made it back home that weekend.  She told me he was gone the very same morning that his funeral was scheduled!  Just remembering it makes me feel the same frustration, anger, shock, and depression I felt back then. 

I love my mother, because she really is a wonderful person.  But sometimes I can't help but hate her too.

It's amazing how much you miss when you lose touch with someone. I'm bad when it comes to keeping in touch with people via email, internet, phone, etc. So when I spoke to one of my old college roommates, who was also one of my old middle and high school friends, after several months of non-contact - I found out she's pregnant and her baby's due next month! She's excited about the baby and I'm happy that she's happy. I just wish I lived closer to her so I can visit and see how she's doing personally.

I miss her!

Between work and class, I've managed to acquire some recent addictions in the past month: Bones (the fox TV series) and Starbucks green tea frappacino (w/o the melon syrup) - yum! Plus, I've recently renewed my acquaintance with Facebook after a discussion about it at work and decided to hop on over to it after nearly a year to find out I'd been friended by a ton of people that I hadn't spoken to up to 10 years ago! It's interesting running across people I haven't contact with for so long so I just may have to Facebook a little more often...we'll see.

Meanwhile, this week after the weekend is over, I'll have to start officially applying the new progams I've learned this past month in training class to work. I'm nervous because I don't remember all the different screens properly. I'll have to study the two notebooks full of notes I took during training class sometime after I get off of work at my other job. There goes my weekend!

Ugh. Colds should not be caught in summer. Thanks to a bunch of people who had colds at my workplace, I'm now in the grip of recovering from illness. I don't know what it is about colds, but I always get the craving for chicken soup and orange juice, both of which I seem to have been downing by the gallon for the past few days. I've also been dowsing myself with cold meds and pushing myself though workdays. I know the stress is only slowing my recovery but I figure I'll suffer through it. I can either be miserable and sick and get paid, or be miserable and sick and not get paid. It's better to be paid. Besides, I'm trying not to use what's left of my paid vacation days this year so I can roll them over to the next year - that way I'll get a whole month's worth of paid vacation time starting in 2009.

Fortunately, I do feel better now. Good thing too since my job has me requiring additional two month training starting tomorrow. Definitely hitting the sack early tonight so I can be well rested for tomorrow. Apparently, I'm going back to class. Eep!

I love my relatives, even the ones I've never met. But having had an infux of them constantly through my house this past month makes me glad they're gone so I can get a breather. At least of the next two weeks...

Then they come back!

Wow, I can't believe it's been months since the last time I posted or been on LJ! So much has been going on with working three jobs, finished up classes, dealing with busted AC/heating systems, dealing with pregnant friends and getting married brides, and even earthquakes!

Highlight for this week is the green tea Miyoko-san sent me from Japan - plus a pic of her and her hubby. I wish her the best with her pregnancy. I want to send her something too for the baby. Just need to figure out something that I can send comfortably to Japan that won't cost and arm and a leg.

Gah, so busy! I've only been getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep daily for the past couple weeks. Training at the new job has great benefits but it's exhausting as they try and cram as much info as possible into our little brains so they can get us 'offcial' ASAP. And my other two part-time jobs have been calling me up asking me to pick up more hours so I've been very busy working and keeping up to date on my classes.

I do like my new job though as it pays on a weekly basis instead of every other week. It's nice to have money! XD

There seems to be an abnormal heat streak for January - our high today is 62 degrees! Maybe it's because of the sudden temperature change, but I'm feeling kinda sick with hot/cold flashes and nausea. It only started late last night and I'm hoping it'll pass before I start my new job on Wednesday.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

My cousin came to visit again a few days ago and brought me lots of Korean an Japanese drama. I've been watching a Korean drama called Full House and I love it! It's so melodramatic with love quadrangles, but it's got a lot of cute funny moments too. Only problem is, I spent so much time watching it that I neglected my sleep; I only managed about 2 hours last night though part of it was all the rain coming down that kept waking me up. Good thing work is so slow today.

Now, if I can just keep from falling asleep on my feet!

Okay, I finally found out my schedule for work this week and it turns out that I'll be working all day and night on New Year's Eve and day. So I'll be ringing in the new year...with work. The hotel is practically booked full up with people who bought the New Year's Eve package so, between the hotel's party and the First Night festivities taking place downtown, my boss warned me to be prepared for utter chaos. Apparently last year involved things being broken, drunken brawls, and furniture being tossed out of windows.

Joy.

Hopefully, I won't be called upon to assert authority over the disorderly because it's rather difficult for my petite self to try and intimidate burly six-feet tall, linebacker-built and totally wasted drunks. Knowing my boss, he'd probably sit back and laugh while enjoying the show.

But, since I'll be otherwise occupied as the new year rolls in, I thought I'd pop in with early felicity. Hopefully, you all have better plans to open the new year with.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas. At the moment, I'm completely stuffed from Christmas lunch at my uncle's. I don't know how I'm going to make room for the dinner! Anyhow, I better get back to my relatives. Just wanted to pop in and say 'hi' to everyone on my f-list.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

Well, it turns out that I'm working New Year's Eve and Day at the hotel. I just found out today. Apparently, the hotel is pretty much sold out for the New Year's Eve bash being held and the big bosses want only reliable people working during that time to deal with all the drunks and utter chaos. Ack! It's so tough being the reliable one sometimes. On the bright side, I do get holiday pay in addition to the hours I work. Double the money - yay!

And it turns out that some relatives will be coming from out of town to celebrate Christmas so we're all getting together for a big dinner. I didn't think anyone would be able to come, but it's a nice change. It'll be great to see everyone again...though it does get rather loud when we're all together.

Better bring earplugs!

Chocolate from Europe is the best. One of the girls I work with is from Poland and she let me try some chocolate her mother sent her. You can really taste the cocoa and it's not too sweet. Yum! For me, the darker chocolate is, the better. Milk chocolate just isn't real cholate to me.

I know, I'm weird. =p

Woo-hoo! I've got a new job that pays about $5 more per hour than I'm getting at my current job. They just let me know yesterday. I'm excited because I get to work for the same number of hours only I get more money for it! I start on Jan. 10, though my boss at the hotel asked me to stay on part-time. I told him I would if they really need me - extra money is extra money after all, though this means I now have three jobs... =_=

Ugh, got to take a drug screen test tomorrow for a potential new job. I've never had to take one before but it look like I have to stop by the office and fill out some kind of form before they'll tell me the location of where the actual drug screening will be performed. It's a lot of driving for one little test and I still have to take another test after I pass this one. Not that I'm worried. Never got into drugs and I hardly even drink alcohol unless I have people to drink with. But I've been too busy to even indulge in that.

Then I have to study because I have my last final on Tuesday. Woo-hoo! I'll be glad when that's over so I can get a break until the new semester starts next year. Maybe I'll celebrate by watching some of the anime I've accumulated from various people since the beginning of the year but still haven't gotten around to viewing yet. Nana, Ghost Hunt, La Corda D'Oro, and Aria are the ones I'm the most eager to watch!

Of course, I don't have any choice since the snow keeps coming down. It's pretty as long as I'm inside. Hey, I'm just grateful it's not ice. But it's so coooooold!

*shivers*

Mmm, methinks I want some hot cider. Yum!