School Troubles. Again.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been busy with work, and with not much to say. I do, however, have a massive rant today! And guess what, it's about registering for classes. Again.

I don't know what is wrong with Kwantlen. But every time I try to register for classes with them, something is wrong. This time, it doesn't seem to be registering any of my transferred credits from my previous college. That means I can't even get into a second year English course. The only pre-recs I need for any second level English course is two first year courses. I have four now, but only one is from Kwantlen. I've been able to get into a third year English course before at Kwantlen, so I know this is a recent problem.

But I'm not too concerned about English. I can take those courses whenever. It's the problems with my Creative Writing courses that will set me back another year if I don't get them solved soon. I talked to an academic adviser about a month ago. We went through everything together. I contacted the people I needed to, and she e-mailed the people she needed to. And once again, they let me down. I'm able to get into a forth level Poetry class because the one person I had to contact pulled through for me. Everything went smoothly for that.

But apparently the person my adviser contacted (and she did, I was there to watch it), didn't pull through. In fact, they seemed to mess something up. Because now apparently I have no credits from my last college. Even though I'm looking at them right now...

So I have a headache. I hate registering for classes. This system is horrible. And I have no faith that it will ever get better. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm jinxed and every time I try to register, something just has to go wrong. That must be it. If everyone was having this much trouble, then I'm sure they would have fixed it by now.


Right?

Okay, probably not. No faith. None at all. Stupid system.


UPDATE: I was able to get into one of the third year courses I wanted. Now I'm even more confused. So the block transfer went through, but only for one class? I still can't get into the second year English courses though... I really hope someone actually replies to my e-mails. This is just so messed up.

School Update

It's been nearly two weeks since finishing with my semester, and I've only gotten two grades back.

I manged to get a B- in my business of writing class. I was expecting at least a B, but I guess I kind of messed up near the end and forgot to add a couple things to my portfolio. I got the most important things handed in, but I didn't do as well as I hoped. However, this class was less about the grade and more about what I learned.

The Poetry class I took was far more important to the rest of my schooling. And I got an A-! I'm really proud of that. It's far better than I expected. I believe I needed a B or a B+ to continue into the fourth year, so I'm set for next semester!

And I'm stilling waiting on my grade for my English class. I'm not too worried about it. It's another class where the grade isn't essential, especially considering I was taking it for my minor, not my major. However, I believe I'll get somewhere in the B range.

Business of Writing: The End (Almost)

It's getting to the end of the semester, and I'm supposed to be looking back at what I've learned, and how I've changed. A think a list is the simplest way to answer this.

1) Don't procrastinate. You do NOT have time to finish off a list of fifty things in the last three weeks of class, even if you do have things planned out.

2) Learn to do taxes. You won't have your mom or dad around forever to do them for you.

3) Learn what and how to write things off.

4) Homework is more important than Youtube, or Reddit, or Facebook...

5) Perhaps this blog is more important than you think. Maybe, just maybe, people are actually reading this...

6) Approach people, because they will not approach you. People don't bite... most of the time.

7) Don't compare yourself to your favorite author. You'll only feel bad afterward. Sure, aim to be as good as they are, but never compare.

8) Your CV will never get better until you stop moping about it and actually do something about it. Not all, if any, magazines will care about your current CV, so don't think it reflects your skill, or how they will view your work.

9) If you write something, it means something to you. Even if it's a fantasy piece that has absolutely nothing to do with this world, it still means something to you. Make sure people know that.

10) Even if it's just to bring joy and happiness to people, your work means something. (Note: I hate and struggle against the idea that speculative fiction is not real literature, or not real writing. Just because it doesn't always hold a message, or relate to real life situations, doesn't mean that it's not worth reading and writing, nor is it the easy form of writing.)

11) Learn to talk! If you can't speak up in a class of ten peers, how will you speak in front of an audience of strangers?

Lots and lots of words

I've been getting behind on my Business of Writing updates, so I'm going to try and catch up now.

I mentioned earlier about a conference I went to, and I should elaborate on that. It was a literary conference, comprised of multiple panels. Unfortunately, I missed the first one, because it was located a fair distance away, and my friend was driving me, so I didn't want to ask her to wake up super early to get me out there. The first panel that I was present for was rather dry. Everyone was reading essays, or papers, or sections from books. They were all accounts of epistolary stories, or histories. The subjects were rather interesting, but I have to admit that I zoned out quite a bit during the second one, and can barely remember what it was about. The third one from that panel was the most interesting, because it was about a certain sweater that is made by a First Nation group, and how it was incorrectly recreated without permission from the group, for the Olympics.

It was a good presentation to end that panel on, because after lunch, the next panel was by three First Nations presenters. And they were all so interesting, because they were talking to the audience, not reading off a piece of paper. They were telling personal stories, not research. There was even some singing and rapping. It was by far the most interesting panel that I was able to attend that day.

Of course, that's not saying much, considering I had to leave after that one. My friend had to be home by 4:30, and it was an hour drive back to her house, so we left at 3. I heard the next panel had to do with food, so I really regret not staying for that one, but there wasn't much I could do.

After that, we started learning about grants and CVs (Curriculum vites? I can't spell it). The grants weren't too challenging, we just had to go into more detail about our porject. And not just the plot synopsis, but details that we probably never really thought about until now, at least for me. The point of a grant is to convince a council to give you money to work on a project. We were told to talk about why we're writing out project, why it's important to ourselves and the community. Why people have to read it, and why it has to be written. Unfortunately, as a speculative fiction writer, I write for fun. Although I try to include deeper meaning into my work, it's generally for fun. I like to write what I like to read, and what I read is fantasy, dragons, magic, knights, kings, queens, grand wars and the fall of kingdoms. Now this really isn't important. It's not a tragic history of my life, and how I became the person I am today through great struggle and overcoming challenges.

So although I found writing about my project was fairly easy, I don't feel like it'll be earning me grant money any time soon... or ever.

It's the CV that got me, and I'm pretty sure most other people, worried and rather self conscious. A CV is basically a writing resume. It includes all schooling, publications, awards and interests. Just to get mine to a full page, I had to include a suspicious amount of line breaks and some small things that otherwise would not be on a regular CV, such as magazines I've submitted to (but not been accepted in). I thought my two little publications in my old colleges anthology were pretty good... Until I looked at some other CVs just from my class. I really need to get my butt in gear and get more actual publications.

Today we had a presentation on reviews. This was particularly interesting to me, since I have actually done several reviews on this blog. None of them have been for money, or even for the public, so I never considered them to really matter. I was doing them for whoever might stumble upon them, or maybe for any google searches. In fact, if I look at my traffic sources, I have a few people that found this blog because of a review I did on "A Murderous Procession". It's been a while since I've done a review, but I have read several books since my last one, so I should get back to them. Maybe I'll do one on Tuesday.

And now what I have planned for the next few weeks. I mentioned Fan Expo a few posts ago. I am definitely going to this. Just for one day, since ticket prices start getting expensive for more than one day, and my poor boyfriend can't afford much. And since I don't have much time to go out and do things, what with school and work, I'm hoping to get a lot of points for my List through online research and sharing. I've found a great resource through Reddit, which has a lot of publishes authors and editors, who constantly posts links to other websites that help to improve writing, or help to get published. It also constantly has AMAs (Ask Me Anything), with writers, editors, publishers and so on. While doing my research on Brandon Sanderson, I realized these are far more than just questions on the author's books or home life, but also on their jobs, and how they deal with the problems that all writers, or editors or publishers, face.

So that was a big update, sorry. I feel like I owed it, after all the other days I've missed. I'll try to update more on schedule from now on!

Three Weeks Left

Almost done with the majority of my projects! After today, I'll have both my presentations done for my poetry class. I have one, maybe two more essays for my English class. And a mock grant form due for my Business of Writing class. So close!

I've decided that I won't take a class in the summer, because I'm not completely sure if the only fourth year English class offered in the summer is one that I need. So I'll take to an academic adviser when I can actually get an appointment. At this point, I could only go for a walk-in, and I don't want to risk a major line.

Besides, it'll give me time to get a new job, and get some experience before I go back to school. I would absolutely love a job at Mind Games. Chapters would be great too, but I would be going from one major company to another. I kind of want to try a small company, and Mind Games seems perfect. One of the people working there already recognizes my boyfriend and me when we come in... She said that working in the summer is best, because it's less stressful.

Sapphics, the Unknown Form

So, I'm a little stressed right now. I kind of procrastinated on getting my presentation for my poetry class ready. It's due next week. I thought I would have enough time. Until I found out that apparently the sapphic is not a popular enough poetic form to be in any of the major poetry books. But a spoonerism is!

The very fact that my spellcheck thinks that sapphic is spelled wrong, but is totally okay with spoonerism, kind of tells you something...

And I have to make this presentation half an hour long... I have a feeling I'm not going to do very well on it. But tomorrow I'll go to my school library and check out the few books that might help. I'm crossing my fingers that they might even mention sapphics, let alone go into details with them. Even our class text book, which we can use but not include as a resource, just mentions it in passing. I have no idea how I'll get this done. Apparently no one cares about this form.

Anyway, back to research.

Lots of School

And another week without an update. Sorry guys! But nothing too much to report anyway.

I've been working on that list of tasks for my Business of Writing class. I got a few points from attending a conference, which I have to thank my wonderful friend for driving me to (I really need to get my N...). After I went to the museum that my mom is the curator of, and used it as an opportunity to fill in the 'go to an archive' task. Technically I have to go for research purposes, but I helped my mom do some archiving on clothing, so I learned a few things there... such as what a cotton apron looks like, and how to spell the work crochet. (Which I now just proceeded to spell incorrectly... Thank spell check!) I talked to my professor today, and he gave me some more suggestions, such as researching more authors, magazines and publishers. I'll do the best I can with my internet connection.

What I'm most excited about it Fan Expo. I was told that'll be worth about three points if I go all day, which I definitely plan on doing. I really want to check out the indie press corner, and the sci-fi/fantasy author, whoever that may be.

And on another subject, I got an A on my midterm portfolio for poetry! I thought I was going to get a B, maximum. I really don't have too much confidence in my poetry, but it seems to be better than I thought. I was even told to tweak a few poems, and submit them. I think I'll do that, and gain a few more points for my list.

And finally, I've decided that I will take one course this summer. I really want it just to get my U-pass, but I also don't want to be taking a fourth year English course while also taking multiple other classes. The course I'm planning on taking is only once a week, and at a decent time, so I figured I'll get it over with. The information on it is very vague, so I'm hoping I luck out and like the subject. It's based all on what the professor chooses to teach. The last time I had a course like this, I really didn't enjoy the readings, partly because they all seemed to centre around males... But my professor this time is a female, so hopefully it'll be different. It'll also be my second to last English course! Yay! And the final one I have to take is actually a second year course. It's required, and I wanted to take it this semester, but because my grades for the prerequisite had not been submitted yet, it said I had not finished it. And unfortunately that class isn't offered in the summer...

Last Minute Procrastination

Just a quick post tonight, partly because I'm working on an essay (that's kind of due tomorrow...), and because I don't think my internet will last much longer.

I managed to finish my portfolio for class today, then proceeded to forget to print out multiple copies of my workshop poem. So I learned how to use the library printers at school. I have to say, they're less confusing than I thought. I managed to get back to class four minutes after it started. And I wasn't even the last person in. That being said, we got out early, because none of us were in school mode yet. That's what happens after reading break.

And that's my first day back at school. Now back to the essay that I should have started much, much sooner...

Sestinas...

Reading breaks are fabulous... I should really be doing more reading...

I actually only have three days off this reading break, because I was working on Monday, and I work Friday and Saturday... And I kind of wasted those three days off. I did do homework. I'm working on my poems, and all but one are coming along very well. I really hate sestinas. I really, really do. I just cannot get a nice flowing poem when I'm forced to reuse words. I cannot get a narrative without it sounding choppy and repetitive. And I'm having a lot of trouble just fitting imagery in, though the form isn't completely to blame for that.

And I still have an essay to write. I'm struggling over that even more. Poem has too much structure and form, but English doesn't have enough. The guidelines for the essay is to write an essay on a poem we've talked about. I know this is fairly normal for higher level courses, so be able to see a theme and write an essay around it. But we're not supposed to use outside sources, and I'm assuming it has to be on one poem, not a poet or a collection of poems. Ugh. Poetry. It'll be the death of me.

So I'll try and get at least the sestina done by Tuesday. What I have so far is already better than my previous one, but I know it's just going to crumble as I struggle to come up with new things to say... I never thought I would miss free verse so much.

Time for a Change?

I am FINALLY starting my third year in creative writing and English. I've finished off all my extra courses, so now I'm concentrating everything on English and Creative Writing. By the end of this year, I hope to be done with English too.

I'm only taking three classes this semester, though I wanted to take four. The fourth one I couldn't get into, because the deadline to pay for classes was before our grades were in front the fall semester. Unfortunately, one of the classes I needed as a pre-req was in the fall, and it had not been counted as completed by the deadline. So... I guess I'm taking the next class in the summer or fall.

What I am taking is Advanced Poetry Forms, Romantic Poetry, and Business of Writing. All the classes have amazing professors, and I think I'm really going to enjoy them.

The one problem is that the Business of Writing class is going to take up a lot of my time outside of school. I already told my manager that I'm going to need weekends off, but of course, I've been scheduled for every single Saturday for the next three weeks. The catch? She rarely ever works a Saturday or Sunday. She only ever works them when there's inventory or a promotion set up. And she's normally off doing something else for most of the day, so she's really not working in the kiosk... I guess I have to remind her. She also scheduled me for a Thursday shift in a few weeks, which I definitely need off, because of school.

On a happier note, I'm looking for a new job! Anyone hiring?

Couple Weeks of Relaxation

And I am done! For the year, at least. I had my one and only final for the semester today. I never realized how much it was taking up my thoughts. Even now I keep thinking that I should be studying. But now I can relax and concentrate on Christmas and other fun stuff.

Except I really don't like shopping... Even for just myself. And when Christmas comes, the mall is just twice as bad. And everyone brings their kids to the mall. It's horrible. Never have I hated kids more. (Except for one time at work when it felt like a kid's screaming would burst my ear drum). I wish human kids were more like baby animals. But nope, we're stuck with the poopy, whiny, crying monsters. Ugh.

But Christmas! Yay! I'm nearly done with all my shopping. I keep finding things people would like, or thinking of other people I should get presents for. It seems like the shopping with never end... And Christmas is only a week away now. There's no snow where I am, so it really only feels like a cold fall day. Rather disappointing, actually...

But now back to working on Christmas presents. There's a certain one that I'll be working on until the day before Christmas... it's a lot of work...

Christmas and Movies and Finals

Wow, times goes fast. I though I had posted something on Tuesday... Apparently not. Anyway, have a Friday post instead!

But hey, twelve more days 'till Christmas! This year I'll be spending Christmas Eve with my boyfriend's family, since my family has decided not to get together this year. It should be fun. I have to work until 6:30, but oh well. I took several days off for Christmas last year, so I guess this makes up for it. And I don't have to work on Christmas day, so that's even better. Then, to top it off, I get paid time and a half on Boxing day. Yay! I'll have some money stashed away before I cut my hours to nearly nothing... I really should have spent less on Christmas presents... Oh well.

In other news, the final Hobbit movie comes out on Wednesday! I'm determined to see it on Thursday.... And maybe again several times after. I'm a little excited.

However, I have one final before I can really get into the Christmas or movie spirit. I should be studying... But it's on Tuesday. I have time...

Choices are Hard

I did it again, I'm sorry. I didn't even turn my laptop on on Tuesday, then I just kind of forgot. Not to mention whenever I get ready to post something, my internet decides to crash.

So anyway, one more week of school for me! It seems like everyone else is done this week, or next Monday. But I have an extra week, plus an extra Monday. Yay! Oh well, I can't complain. I only have one midterm, so at least I'm basically done after next week.

So now I just need to make a choice. I'm going to school for three classes in the spring, so I'll be at school three days a week. This means I could probably still work without much trouble. The problem is that one of my classes will require a flexible schedule, at least for the weekends. I feel like if I stay, I'll just request to work Monday and Friday. That way when I have to go to a book reading or something else for class, I won't have to worry about taking the day off of work at the last minute. I would also step down as assistant, since I feel like I wouldn't be doing enough to earn that position.

The other problem is that I just get so grumpy at work. For the first four hours, I absolutely hate everything and everyone. Of course I never show it. Even when I'm incredibly to the point of wanting to break something, I still feel guilty if I'm rude to someone (unless they're rude to me first). No matter how bad of a mood I'm in, it's not fair to take it out on someone else, since it'll probably make their day pretty bad too.
After the first four hours though, I reach the halfway point, and I actually get into a pretty good mood. This is especially the case when I open. I have to wake up at five to get to work, so you can imagine that I'm not in the best of moods in the morning. But at least the shifts go by quickly.

So yeah, that's the update for the week. I figure I'll tell my manager that I might be willing to stay with limited hours. If I say Monday and Friday, I'm sure she'll be happy, because that's when we need people the most. I suppose I'll keep the weekend open, just for emergencies.

School and no work?

Everyone who has read most of my blog posts should probably know by now that I'm not the most organized person. So of course, when I tried to sign up for classes, I found out that the ones for fiction and non-fiction needed some classes that were only offered this semester.

No big deal though, I was told I could get into the poetry class, and while talking to the head of the creative writing department today, to suggested another class. The Business of writing. It sounds hard, gruelingly hard, with a lot of homework and some future headaches. But, it's exactly what I need. I can write (or at least I like to think I can), but it's the organization, the part that comes after the writing that I'm stuck on. So this class will definitely help me out. Hopefully...

However, like I said, it will have a lot of homework. I'm also hoping to get into a third year English class, so in total, three third year classes. So, I've made a choice. Before next semester starts, I'm going to be quitting my job. I'm really not working much right now as it is. I work Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and the very rare Sunday or Monday morning. Either way, my role as assistant manager is pretty limited now, as I don't work any of the important days (order day or delivery day). I'm going to give my manager, and the store manager, a lot of warning. I think they already know that I'll be stepping down, but I'm sure they're forgotten by now. I guess I should look up how to write a letter of resignation...

So that's the big update for now! Looks like school will be getting harder, but hopefully I'll have more time to concentrate on it, while having a bit of a social life still. The funny thing is, even with no job, I'll still probably be the richest one of all my friends... It's probably a good thing; we'll be more likely to do cheap things when we get together.

Publication Number Two!

Good news, everybody! A while back I mentioned that I had a short story that was supposed to be published in my college's anthology, but because of a miscommunication, it never got in. Well guess what! They have room in this years anthology, so it's getting in!

I'm no longer attending the college where it's being published, but if I'm not working on going to school, I might attend the reading night for it. I haven't actually gone to one of them yet, despite being published before. It might be fun, and a hear there's free food.

So that's been my highlight of the week so far. Let's see if it can get any better. I have Friday off work, which is pretty rare, so it's turning out pretty well.

Transit Rant!

Time for another rant about transit! I find myself doing these around the beginning of each school year. This was definitely my worst day transit wise though.

I give myself two hours to get to school, and I normally get there with about twenty minutes to spare, sometimes half an hour on a good day. Tuesday was not a good day. The bus that I normally would catch is the 188. I have to walk up a small hill to catch it, but it takes me directly to a bus loop where I would then catch a bus (i69) that takes me directly to the skytrain (a sort of above ground metro, for anyone who doesn't know). However, since school has started, the 188 has been very full. On my first day taking it, I got lucky and was allowed on. Not so luck this previous time. The first bus passed me by, so I decided to just take a bit of a walk and go catch a different bus (C28) that will bring me to the same bus loop. I waited for about half an hour, in which time another 188 passed by, also full. When the C28 arrived (fie minutes late), it was full also. I've never seen the C28 full! By this point there was no chance that I was getting to school on time. If I risked waiting for a 188 or C28 that wasn't full, I would still be waiting for half an hour.

So I walked pretty much back to my house, which is about a ten minute walk from where I had ended up. I caught the C38, which would take me to a different bus (159) that would eventually get me to the skytrain, but using a route that takes twice as long. I very nearly didn't catch the 159, but my first bit of luck that day decided to shine, and the 159 was a couple minutes late.

So I got to the skytrain station, an hour later that I would normally get there. That meant that my class had pretty much started by that point. Since it was a three hour class though, I decided to just keep going and arrive late.

But of course, the very first skytrain that arrived was out of order. I had to wait another ten or fifteen minutes for the next one. Once off the skytrain, the bus I needed (319) arrived instantly, which was my second, and last piece of good luck for the day. Because when I was getting close to the university, thinking that I might be only 45 minutes late, there was construction.

I arrived at class bang on an hour late. My professor was pretty chill about it, so I guess technically I had three bits of good luck. My ride home was, thankfully, much less eventful, and my dad was even willing to pick me up from the bus loop. Once home, I sent a complaint to the transit company, so hopefully something will be done. I don't want to have to leave two and a half hours before my class, just to get there right on time, because I have to take the longest route possible just to get on a bus.

Day Number Two

Second day of school for this semester, and I still haven't gotten lost... At least, not much. While trying to find my class, I definitely walked right past it. The problem is that my class is 1015, and any of the classrooms after mine are suddenly up in the 1050's. It was confusing. But after a circuit of the building, I found it pretty much right at the main doors. At least it'll be easy to get to next week.

I also found out that I bought the wrong book. About a month ago I had my whole rant about having to switch English classes. I had printed out the book list before switching though, and apparently didn't throw the wrong book list away. So when I was rushing to leave on Tuesday, I guess I grabbed the wrong one. So now on Monday I'll have to return the wrong book and get two new ones. Hopefully I'll get all my money back, since I haven't even opened the book.

It was also super busy on the transit this morning. Lots of kids everywhere... I'm hoping it'll calm down once the school year get underway.

And that's it. Not much today, and I'm really tired, so just a boring update. I'll probably have a review for Tuesday.

I Didn't Get Lost!

It's always a good day when nothing goes wrong. Especially if it's the first day of school.

This is my second semester at my university, and I haven't been there since April, so I was pretty worried that I would have no idea where I was going anymore. Luckily, the bus stop was still in the same spot, there were still signs pointing to the right building, and I somehow managed to stumble across my class half an hour before it even started.

Good day.

Of course, it was pouring with rain, and I had to get a blood test done this morning. That meant I couldn't eat anything until after the test was done, and while waiting, the computer system at the clinic went down, so that added nearly half an hour to our wait. But at least breakfast was all the better when we got it.

In the end, my feet are wet and my bank account is two hundred dollars lighter (from books), but I didn't get lost, I didn't fall asleep on the bus, I made it to class on time, my arm is not sore, and I got myself a Upass. I would say the good heavily outweigh the bad.

Now I can look forward to one long day at work, another day at school, then my staycation! I can't wait to actually explore my home town. I never actually get to do any of the popular attractions around here.

An Anecdote with a Lesson

So I decided to pay my tuition today. That went easily, no complications (except I forgot to print my receipt...) It wasn't until after that I started looking through my schedule to confirm all the days that I would have to go in that I noticed something odd.

My online class has a class in a city that is NOT the one I wanted it in.

I go to a university that has four campuses (for privacy sake, I'm calling them A, B, C and D), all of which are pretty far away from me, but only one (A) that has an easy and direct route. That is the one that I have been going to. That is the one that I made sure all my classes are at. And that is not the one that this specific class had me going to. This class has me going to city B.

So I decided to take a look at the list of classes to try and figure out what went wrong. First off, the professor that I have for that class doesn't teach anywhere but in city C. Looking harder, I realized that I might have made a mistake and not looked at the city when I signed up, thinking that 'hey, it's an online course, I won't have to leave my house'. Of course, there's a mid term, so I would have to go somewhere at some point. But considering this class that I signed up for said city C, it should NOT be sending me to city B. There is not an ounce of logic in that.

I got really confused at this point, and went to see if there were even any online classes that sent me to city B. There aren't. So yeah, an online class in city C is sending me to city B for the ONE in-class test. No sense!

Finally I just dropped that class, as I saw a pretty convenient one right before another class I have on Monday. Unfortunately, after all this time trying to figure out what went wrong, someone had taken the last spot in that class. And in the next best class. Jerks. So I have now signed up for a class that is actually part in-class and part online, which is pretty cool. The only downside is that now I need to take another day off of work, and I will actually be spending more time in my round trip to and from the campus, than in the actual class. I'll need to stock up on some new music or something.

The moral of the story? Get your shit in order before starting post secondary. You hear that high schoolers? It's not the actual university classes that are hard, but just getting registered for them. Talk to a counselor! Let someone else do it! I have a headache, just from spending half an hour figuring it out. Imagine having to do this every semester. We seriously need a class just to learn how to get into classes.

Generation Rant #2

I feel like I need a catch phrase for the beginning of every post... I'll come up with something later.

For now, I am exhausted! I really shouldn't be whining about this, but I've worked four days in a row, and I still have to work tomorrow. I don't normally work on Thursdays, since I still have that day 'unavailable' for school, even though that ended in April. I just don't want to change it until I start school again in the fall. Even then, it looks like I'll have class on Thursday again. Anyway, we had someone coming in to talk to my manager for a bit today, and she wanted someone pretty experienced on to help out while she was busy. Neither of us realized that everybody would be coming to Starbucks today. There is a teacher's strike going on (again), so it seems like everybody is taking the time off of work to hang out with their kids and go to Starbucks. It's ridiculous how many families came by today. If everyone is working shift work (not a set Monday to Friday work week), then I'm really concerned, because shift work is considered the underpaid and un-glamorous that teenagers work. There should not be this many adults with kids who work shift jobs! So I'm just reasoning that they're just lazy and taking the day off work because their kids have the day off school.

And of course, because of the strike, the school system just kind of gave up and let the kids out a week or two early from school. This generation is going to crap. The students aren't even given the option to finish their last couple weeks of school. Technically they're done with school, but really, they're still missing education. It's a terrible example. Not to mention the teachers are asking for more money and less work. If everyone wanted that, nothing would ever get done. Everyone would be striking everywhere and the world would crumble.

I may be in a touch of a bad mood. I need sleep. And a break. But it's my friend's birthday party on Saturday, so look forward to that update on Tuesday! Now, off to sleep.