My brother's girlfriend, Annie, arrived last Monday, one week ago.

She, like my brother, is four years older than my fifteen. She is from San Diego, but has been all over the world, mostly visiting relatives.

Something about her doesn't seem quite right; I suspect it's her habit of wearing low-cut tank tops, coupled with her...natural endowment, shall we say, has the annoying habit of breaking my concentration, no matter what I'm doing.

Apart from that, she's really not that bad. She's somewhat intelligent, from what I can tell (of course, she IS going out with my brother, so a few screws are probably loose...just kidding.) She also uses a PowerBook for her Interior Design classes, and can converse about a number of computer topics (software, mainly, but she's still ahead of the curve there.) For that matter, she is actually rather interesting to talk to; a very refreshing mix of common sense and humor, along with the ability to listen, combine to make Annie very agreeable to be around.

They (Annie and Alex) have been going out of the house for the past four days, to Philadelphia, Longwood Gardens, etc. This has left me listening to music, reading books, and noding; just the way I like it.

As gloomy as it sounds, I actually think I'll look forward to the day she leaves; not due to any grudge against her specfically, but I would, for the moment, prefer to be able to concentrate on noding, uninterrupted by hormones. Bottom line, she's too distracting.

I have been away from E2 since late May, but I think I'm officially back; three somewhat long nodes in the last two days, and now I'm level 2 (voting!). Hopefully I can manage to stay here for more than a month without getting overly distracted.

WOW!

It's been so long since I've written anything on everything 2, that I'm not sure I even remember how to daylog correctly. We'll try anyway.

Today, (Sunday for me still; I haven't slept a wink), I slept until about 4pm. It was nice, except for the fact that I was supposed to meet my friend and co-worker NightShadow at the cafe around 5, to go to work and be there by 6. Upon FINALLY meeting up with him at about 5:40, we head off to that fair land known as Brentwood.

After clocking in, we head upstairs, ready to get started. We had nothing to do until 7pm, but let's skip past that.

NightShadow went on break at about 8 or so, leaving me all by my self to run twenty (nineteen if you count number 18 which had no evening shows) projectors. I, being bored stiff after about 10 minutes of his absence, decide to call the ex-girlfriend. Mind you, we are still friends, and apparently both have strong feelings for each other. We chit-chat for about 10 minutes or so, most of the conversation is me making myself unavailable to her as she has done (on her account, unintentionally) to me for the past couple of weeks, exchange I Love You's, and end the call. This proves to be the highlight of my evening.

Never before had I thought that making myself unavailable to the person I want to spend time with would make me feel good, but it did.

I feel free!
I feel confident.
I feel in control of my life.
I feel ... Wonderful!

I had been letting things like this get to me for the longest time, and I no longer feel burdened by them. I am my own being, and therefore should be in control of my own life, just as she so quite apparently is.

Now I am.

Another day in my saga of getting a full-time job... For those of you that haven't been following my recent daylogs, I interviewd last week, Thursday for a company to do most of the computer work there, network admin and the whole nine yards. So they told me today or tomorrow would be the day I would here back. So I'm waiting....

It is time like this when the rubber meets the road. I believe in a God that has a plan for my life and has everything under control. I know that people here don't believe the same thing so before you reach for that downvote, please let me continue.

As I sit here and wait, the whole situation is out of my control. (In fact, no matter what you believe the situation is out of your control.) I wonder if this job is where I'm supposed to be? Does this job fit into the plan for my life? Is there more I should be doing?

The more I wait, the harder it becomes. If life is out of your control, what part do you play in everything? This is where my faith really is streched, especially if I don't receive this job. I have to trust that things are going to work out no matter what... Patience is such a hard thing to learn.

Ahh. Sweet sixteen at last! Even though I am still unskilled in the precious art of driving, I have, at last, reached my sixteenth birthday! Yay! I thought it impossible, and yet here I am!

I'm so glad that I'm able to write something, and have it deemed worthy by the powers that be. I love chocolate cake, and I love being here with the fellow noders.

It is very rare that a teenage girl's opinion is deemed worth hearing, and Everything 2 is the place to be, with only rudimentary requirements, such as quality writing. Which this daylog, however, is not... ulp! But how can one concentrate when one is so excited at the prospect of getting a lot of new books! Tattered Cover for me today!

Journalistic attempt. I write better on less caffeine.

Eydawn

"Mr. Lars, can we have a moment of your time?"

"Er, I'm in the middle of watching Super Troopers, but I guess."

"Great. Now first of all...wait a minute, Lars, Super Troopers isn't released until tommorow."

"Yeah, I'm priveledged. You should watch the show more often."

"Yes, that's one of things we wished to talk to you about. This summer instead of continuing as a regular on Taza World, you ventured out with your own miniseries set in a new location and with a new cast. How did you like the experience?"

"It was alright."

"That's all you have to say about it?"

"Pretty much. I'm trying to watch a movie here."

"Well, will any of the characters from your miniseries, Planet Lars, be appearing on the upcoming fifth season of Taza World?"

"Probably. You know the big wigs are too cheap to hire more actors, so they'll keep reusing the same characters."

"But you are slated to have new characters for suitemates this year?"

"We're supposed to, but I wouldn't be suprised if the entire PQ gang ended up in there."

"And what of the rumors of the returning cast members this season?"

"Yes, it is confirmed we will have some old cast members around the set, but whether or not they'll play as major of a role as me or J, or a minor one like Fish is yet to be determined."

"In previews for the season premiere of Taza World, and in most season 5 promotional shots, fans have noticed that you are not wearing the trademark necklace you wore throughout your whole miniseries. Care to elaborate?"

"Watch the season finale. That should answer that question."

"Can you name some guest stars we may be seeing this season?"

"Well, undoubtedly a few people like Pownell, Spike, Terd Ferguson, Dunc, and others will show up, as they usually do. She will probably show up to give my character some grief. We're also in negotiations with Kevin Spacey about a guest role as a teacher."

"Really?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, on to our next question. Almost every main cast member from season one of Taza World guest starred on your show. Why did the other three not show up?"

"Contract problems. Although two of them will be around the set next season. We can't find the third though."

"What ever happened to the persistant rumor that someone would die last season?"

"It was just a rumor. Originally the producers were toying around with killing my character off, but I threaten-err...negotiated with them and they decided not too. They then went on and decided to give me my own miniseries."
"Oh. Um. Ok. And the rumor of the major break up?"

"That happened, it was just off camera, and wasn't found out about until very late in the season."

"Anything you'd like to reveal about the coming season?"

"Umm...expect a few suprises. That's about all I can say."

"We've heard rumors to the effects of a new major cast member joining the crew, as well as you shirking your usual pleather jacket for something a little different?"

"I can comment on neither. Do you have many more questions? I'm missing parts of the movie."

"Just one last one, can you give new viewers a quick over view of what Taza World is?"

"Taza World is one of those teenage comedy shows that revolves around a group of people. It is entering it's fifth season where me and my roommate, the Taza, and Fish are starting our sophomore year. We have the usual sitcom cliches, but are slightly more geared toward geeks as computers, anime, and gaming is fairly prominent in the show."

"Well, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. We look forward to Planet Lars finale next week, and Taza World's premeire the following week. Enjoy your movie."

"I don't even know what's going on in the movie now. But whatever, just get out of my apartment."

Get it?

a kinder, gentler week?

weill in japan: day 34

Week five is beginning. The course is rounding the last turn and heading for the home stretch. Today was a day very much like any other, but we were told of incredibly minor changes in the course's direction.

In response to last week's discussion, the new schedule for this week was distributed during the first hour. It looks remarkably similar to the planned schedule, with one big difference: more work. We now have a nightly journal assignment, to be followed by a one-minute speech on any topic the following morning. In an ironic twist, I can't think of anything to write for my first journal assignment in Japanese, despite the fact that I've already written some 35,000 words for the web.

I've never really liked journal assignments, since I always fall behind. Even finding the 30-60 minutes it takes to write one of these articles is getting tougher as my schedule once again heats up this week. My commitments are multiplying as the semester draws closer. Trying to coordinate club meetings, web publications, and the upcoming Weill in Japan topic center will take a long time. All of the club plans have to be finalized by orientation in two weeks' time, while the web stuff can wait for a little longer.

I'm still waiting patiently for the results of the midterm exam. My grade in the course doesn't matter, since I'm already done with my Japanese minor back at Carnegie Mellon. No date has been set for the exam to be returned.

No major events are being planned for the next couple of weeks, so I'm free to make plans on my own. Money just keeps slipping away, so I might have to limit my shopping.

Hobby: Collecting straps for little electronic devices. Most young people have a large clump of trinkets and charms tethered to their mobile phones. Most are given away for free as gifts or are sold in capsule vending machines for ¥100 or ¥200. Some tethers are sold in department stores for as much as ¥1000 ($8.30) or more. I have loops to put straps on my electronic dictionary, my SwanCrystal, my Game Boy Advance, my USB memory device, and my digital camera. The possibilities are limitless and relatively cheap.

Campus was quiet today as it was on Friday, as many students took class trips after their midterm exams. My class (C5) went to Harajuku on Friday, while the C3 folks headed out to Kichijoji today after their exam.

I'm not getting a full night's sleep this week so far, and I definitely need to work on getting my energy up in the morning. I hope this week turns out okay.