Most Excellent Weekend

Well, that was a pretty awesome little party on Saturday.

Bill and Susan showed up around 1:00... gave us enough time to get a game of Thurin and Taxis in (which was a lot of fun... Susan beat Andy by a point!). Dave, Chantal and Gabe showed up shortly afterwards... at which point games of Super Smash, Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero, Ticket to Ride, Hive, Citadels, Soul Caliber III, and Burnout Revenge were all played. Not all at once, of course.

Andy had a bit of a rough patch near the middle, but overall she did extremely well... she spent a good chunk of time speaking with Chantal about stuff. I'm really proud of her... I know she's not as much of a group-dynamic person as I am, but she had fun, took time away from people when she needed, and helped out a HUGE amount with the food and cleanup. She rocks.

Gabe played WH40K by himself for a bit, which I admit sorta bothered me... but whatever. Everyone had fun, near as I can tell, and that's the important bit!

Anyway, back at work today... but at least it's payday! Thank Heavens for small miracles.

New Hakama!

Well, my new tetron hakama showed up... yay! It cost Andy $21 in shipping charges to get it... which both blows AND sucks, but whatever. So that means I owe her... well, let's see. $15 for Susan's present, $21 for the hakama, $50 for Chantal's present, and $5 for today's lunch... about $90. Yeesh.

Add to that the $45 I owe Harry, the $400 in bills, $750 in rent, and the $5,100 in debt... and I'm pretty freakin' broke.

Whatever. I'm only really worried about the $90 to Andy for now... I don't want to seem like I'm mooching off her too much. I hate being broke... I really, really hate it.

Stupid Money

I hate having to think about money. I hate it. I hate how it dictates so much of what I can and can't do. I hate the fact that it's on my mind so frequently these days... that it consumes so much of my waking time. I hate having to be extremely careful on what I buy. I hate having to pass by deals and things I need because I can't afford them. I hate having Andy buy me things because I can't pay for them myself without going further in debt. I hate it.

[sigh]

Nothing I can do about it for now... I'm making more at this job than I'll probably make at my next one... although by then hopefully Andy will be working so that'll help. I just... I'm so sick of being broke while surrounded by people that, almost without effort, could help me NOT be broke but won't for whatever reason. I won't ask... it's not my place... by it would be nice if they offered. Oh well... one step at a time.

One of THOSE Days...

I'm wet.
I'm cold.
I'm at work.

This is gonna be a rotten day.

Good Weekend!

Well, the trips to all the various parties went very well... the novelty of owning a car (well, of ANDY ownin' a car) certainly hasn't worn off yet. There were some very nice drives through the country-side... the highways weren't as much fun. But whatever. Good times!

The going-away party for Liz was dull but pleasant... one of Andy's professors approves of me (which is nice!) and told me to take good care of her. I'm gonna do my best.

The birthday "party" for my father involved me digging holes for some new trees he bought. I didn't even complain (I'm such the prodigal son)... dull, but short.

Lastly, the party at Paul and Christine's was very enjoyable... not many people I knew but I got along with enough of the random people that it was okay. Worst night of sleep I've had in a long time... and Andy and I may have had a little bit of sex in the morning (don't tell Paul or Christine!). Which was pretty awesome. Then we drove back to London.

And Sunday was beautiful... spent an hour outside spray-painting and then painting some Blood Bowl minitures (that brought back some memories!)... Andy suntanned and read. After that there was some Katamari, some food, lots of snuggling (I'm a sucker, I know)... and then suddenly it was today. Bleh. Mondays aren't much fun.

Busy Weekend, Yo.

It's gonna be a busy weekend.
Tonight I have Kendo after work, followed by making dinner for Andy and one of her friends (Liz... she's cool people, but she's moving up north... like, Whitehorse north. More power to her, but I could never do that). Tomorrow we have a going away party for the same Liz, followed by a trip to my parent's for my dad's birthday (no idea what I'm gonna get him), followed by an evening in Waterloo with Paul and Christine for Christine's birthday. And then Sunday we drive home.

Like I said... busy.

I really hope we get another day to do Kendo, though... once a week is just not going to cut it.

First Rides...

Well, two news items of note:

First, Andy has a car! Yay! It's a very pretty deep blue colour... I likes it. A VW Golf... diesel, manual transmission, et al... cost her $30,000, but she could afford it and she got a really good price on insurance, so I hope it won't be too much of a problem. And I do like the thought of having wheels... of course, now I'm gonna have to figure out how to fix it if it ever breaks (which I'll hope it won't).

Secondly, rode my bike into work today... yay! Cold as all get-out, but I made it in 30 minutes... not a bad first ride (considering my first ride last year took over an hour!). The route is still second nature, thankfully... and I'm hoping it gets warmer in the mornings. Still, it'll be nice to be doing a variety of exercising again, especially until we get a few more practices for Kendo up and running. Only once a week just isn't enough!

I Don't Wanna Be Here...

I hate coming to work... hate it. I was so tempted to call in sick today... but that's really just a temporary fix.

Maybe I can get Friday off... that'd be nice. Especially after such a sweet weekend... it's hard getting back to doing this crap.

Tournament

For the record, the tournament went pretty well... I lost my first "Individuals" match to a vastly inferior opponent due to my lack of mobility. We showed up a little late so I didn't get enough time to properly warm up, but even so I'm still a bit slow on my feet and I tend to wait for my opponent too much. The sad thing is that this guy was slow... predictable, lumbering, clumsy... if you push an opponent out of the ring (legally), they get a penalty, and two penalties result in a point (so if I managed to check him out of the ring twice, I get a point). The match started with him getting an ugly point on me, but I immediately saw a pattern... he would swing for my head and then lumber slowly past me, I'd turn and watch him go by, and the second he turned I'd do a slow, easily blocked swing to his head and then body-check him out of the ring. I managed to knock him out 3 times but on the way to the 4th he managed to hit me with a sloppy, sloppy hit that the judges awarded him and I lost. It was ugly Kendo, but I learned a lot from it.

Next we had "Teams" matches... We won our first two rounds 4-1 (against Battle Creek... I think in Michigan) and 4-0-1 (against a club from DC)... I lost my first Team match 1-0 by again doing too much waiting... but I managed to get a few clean hits and started to "get" how to move properly, not tire myself out and to goad my opponent into making an opening. I tied my second match against a 4th degree black belt (!!)... I got a beautiful nuki-men point, which she managed to get back on a quick little hit to my "do". It wasn't a clean hit, but she was much smaller than me and the judges tend to go easier on smaller opponents.

My first tournament point! Go me!

Anyway, we ended up tied 1-1, so also my first tournament tie (and my first tournament not-loss!). Sadly, our third match was against an extremely strong team from Toronto (the Japanese-Canadian Cultural Club... JCCC) which we lost 0-4-1... I lost my match, but my opponent was much, much better than me (faster, more experienced, stronger) so I feel no shame at that. Overall I'm very happy with the results. Many of my fellow kendo-ka didn't earn their first tournament point for 3 or 4 tournaments (Jeff Yu didn't get his first point until his 6th tournament), and I earned my first point on my 2nd! Go me!

Now I just have to work on getting my first tournament win... there are tournaments in Toronto and Waterloo over the summer, so I'm hoping to do even better at them!

Wish Me Luck!

Today we leave for Cleveland! Woo! Wish me luck with the tournament!

I just hope I get a point... I hope that's not too unreasonable. I guess we'll see when we get there!

Birthdays. Woo.

I don't like birthdays. I really don't. I'm trying... lord knows I'm trying... but they're just not my thing.

Granted, Andy did get me some pretty nice birthday presents... a set of "How to Draw" books (real-world ones... portraits, landscapes, hands... that sorta stuff) and a new Japanese flag to replace my old (and politically incorrect) Imperial Japanese flag... which is pretty sweet. And she made me breakfast... that was nice (I think it may be the first time I've been in bed longer than she has been!).

But then I got to work and my mom sang happy birthday to me, and it was all downhill from there. I hate being the center of attention for something so stupid... I just want to scream "Yes, it's my birthday, can we drop it now!?"

Argh. Stupid birthdays. I don't want to be here... oh well. Only a few more months... I really should start looking for work seriously.

It's Been Good...

Well, last night was pretty good... Andy and I went out for dinner with my parents (which was... how shall I say it... straining, but acceptable), where I got my bike pump from my mom and a pledge for $5,000 for whenever I get around to buying a car... which is very nice, but I'm going to have to ask if I can weasel that $5,000 out sooner. I'm not buying a car until I'm out of debt, and that would just do that perfectly. Imagine... I could be debt-free next week. Heck, if my brother decides to send money (unlikely, of course), then I could actually be in the black for the first time in decades. Go me! But I doubt it'll happen... my father can be remarkably stubborn like that.

Anyway, after dinner I was feeling pretty down (you know... post-parent-stress syndrome), but Andy managed to cheer me up... then we had sex (which was utterly awesome, for the record), and then we watched anime: an episode of Cowboy Bebop (Honky Tonk Women), and an episode of Ouran Host Club... Andy said both were good (and I agree!).

My girlfriend watches anime with me... yay!
I haven't figured out how to play Sumomo mo Momo yet... apparently I don't have the right Codec for it... I'll have to look into that. But that's okay... I certainly don't mind watching Ouran again, and after that I can still introduce her to Full Metal Panic! Yay!

And lastly... tomorrow is my birthday (bleh)... I am curious to see what Andy got me. And I have a tournament in Cleveland on Friday... I just realized that I'm the "adult" going. How freaky is that?

Really? That was LONG?

Apparently that was a long weekend. So I'm told, at least.
Friday was spent almost exclusively moving Andy into our apartment... only took 2 trips (and we spent some time chillin' at Williams between the first and second trip), and we managed to have almost everything into the apartment by 5:30. Then we started throwing things out, reorganizing, unpacking, moving stuff... didn't really "finish" until yesterday (and we're still not quite 100% done). A good day.
Saturday we went car shopping... Andy was disappointed to find out that they don't make or have any new diesel VW Beetles left. She might just buy a Golf (diesel) for the next couple years and then trade it for a Bettle when they make the new ones in 2009. I can't even imagine what it's like to have $20,000 kicking around for a car... I can't scrape together $4,000 to pay off my stupid Visa! Oh well... she's from a better-off family and she's extremely careful with her money, she deserves it!
Then we dropped off a pair of her pants at "Stitch It"... gotta remember to pick those up on the way home tomorrow (which means I have to remember to grab the receipt later today!). Then we went home and chilled.
Sunday I had a Kendo practice at 3... Andy and I drove there, but then the car wouldn't start to go back! Had to call my parents to come fix it... which my father did (just needed a jump, apparently)... sadly, I didn't think to bring Andy inside while she was waiting for my parents, but apparently it wasn't too bad. Still, sorta thoughtless of me (I was scattered at the time! I was holding up practice!)... I feel bad, but Andy doesn't seem to mind too much. So everything worked out okay in the end. And I saw the van across the street this morning, so apparently it's working again.
And then last night we watched 2 episodes of Cowboy Bebop (Andy's not sure she likes it), an episode of Dr. Who (I'm starting to like the show), and an episode of Midori No Hibi (which Andy laughed at but says is a bit weird for her tastes... which I respect).
And then we went to sleep. Woke up, came to work, bleh.

Long Weekend. Huzzah.

Too tired to be terribly excited yet... maybe after I get some sleep tonight.

And it's snowing. What the hell is up with that. It was 20 earlier in the month, and it's SNOWING. Colour me unimpressed.

Oh well. Andy seems to be feeling okay, which is good... and all in all, things are alright. Don't know why I'm feeling down, really... but hopefully I'll snap out of it soon. I don't like feeling down.

On the good news front: Chantal made it into Teacher's College! Go her! That's pretty awesome... I'm very happy for her! It's nice that my friends are following their dreams... I think she'll make an awesome teacher. And it basically cements that Dave and her are going to be well-off and happy for the rest of their lives... which is pretty awesome.

And the current "Happy Something Everybody" roster sits at 7... maybe bulging up to 15! I have no idea what I'd do with 15 people in our apartment... but hopefully we'll figure something out!

Last Practice!

Well, this is the last official practice for the next 2 weeks... no more UWO practices until after exams, no Friday practice this week (Good Friday), and then next week's Friday Practice I have to miss because I'm going to the Cleveland Tournament.

Should be an interesting practice... it'll be a bunch of the senior-senpai's last practice, so I'm guessing Mori-sensei will have something special planned. Maybe we'll go out afterwards... if so I'm going to try and convince Andy to come... or maybe not. I really am very broke... I want to buy Puzzle Quest, but I don't know if I can afford the $30 it costs. Yeah, I'm that broke... oh well. We'll see. Woulda been nice today... missed my bus (stupid thing left early again!).

Anyway, gotta get to work. I hate this job.

Interesting... and Educational!

So the weekend was pretty good... Friday's Kendo was solid (although exhausting), Saturday was exhausting but productive (basically got Andy completely packed up and ready to move... I figure 2, maybe 3 van rides if we pack well, 4 if we don't...), and Sunday was enjoyable and educational.

Kendo on Sunday wasn't going to happen at first... the gym had been closed for intermurals (and they didn't bother to tell the club, sadly), but we decided to stick around and have practice in the racketball court. Good thing, too... best turn-out we've had for a Sunday practice in months... at least 12 people. Miyagawa-sensei led class (Mori-sensei was told we weren't having practice back when we believed we weren't having practice, but he did come and watch from the gallery... which was kinda cool... I hope he was happy with how practice went)... it was intense but not nearly as exhausting as our normal Sunday practices. Still, I feel pretty good about how practice went... I just wish that I wasn't so slow... anyway, whatever. Practice was good, and I got to wait with Sujan and Jin for the bus, which was kinda nice. Good kids.

Got home just in time to catch a call from Shauna saying she'd be swinging through London on her way to Sarnia... went out, grabbed groceries, started cooking, met up with Shauna, went back to cooking.
Turns out Andy was rather upset that Shauna wouldn't come upstairs to say hello... which is completely understandable. My bad for not explaining the situation very well to her... I'm kinda thoughtless sometimes. Anyway, we hashed out the details last night after she'd blown off some steam... she told me how she felt, I tried to explain the situation while being sympathetic to her (justified) concerns. All in all, I think it went rather well (although I'm once again exhausted...).

Other than that, not much to say... a good weekend! I gotta go ask my mother what the plan for tonight (when we start moving Andy) is... and then let Andy know.

I'm moving in with my girlfriend! Go me!