End of the Summer

Summer is slowly coming to an end, and in a few days I'll be moving back to campus for my sophomore year. Usually at this time and when I do my end-of-summer post I make some comment as to how short and quick it felt; well, this year doesn't quite fit that mold. Surely, it does feel like the past three months were faster than any three months spent at school, but this was definitely a long summer. Given it was about half a month longer than any high school summer it makes sense but even it was shorter it was definitely one of the quietest and smoothest summers I remember.

Today:
Today was my last day at work and let's just say it ended with a bang...not necessarily in a good way, but with some theatrics nonetheless. This morning my tire pressure sensor light came on, and when I got the garage, my front left tire was pretty much flat, great start to the day. Later, after I opened the store, I find out there was some massive accounting/record keeping fail over the weekend and I had to dig up and fax three days worth of receipts and paperwork to home office...I've never sent a fax in my entire life. Later, one of my coworkers forgot he was supposed to come in so I had to do an emergency call to my mom to bring me lunch since I couldn't leave the store. That kid, we'll call him K, is so freaking unreliable and irresponsible sometimes, it's the second day in a week he "forgot" he was scheduled to work *headshake*. Well, I left work early and went to changing the tire, another first for me. It was probably one of the most unpleasant things I've ever had to do, but it was better to do it in the garage rather than on the side of the highway. Me and my mom drove to the tire shop and we left the punctured tire for them to take a look at and see if it can be patched or if it needs to be replaced.

Fast forwarding, I just got back from a late dinner with Dutch and Mads. We got Korean BBQ in Annandale (Koreatown pretty much) and caught up. They were all excited about the "exotic" experience and we talked about plans for the upcoming year. Something that came up again was the surprise that Southern Charm and one of the captains from the crew team were roommates this year. It's surprising because SC is probably one of the most chill people ever and Captain is probably one of the most intense people I know, strange mix. Mads immediately jumped on how she found it suspicious and implied that maybe they had ulterior motives for rooming beyond just being friends from the same high school. Y'all know how I feel about SC, the goofy grinning, adorable, blue-eyed friend who I had a thing for back during my senior year and how I suspected he was gay, a sentiment that now I know both Dutch and Mads share. Captain is more confusing; I'm pretty sure he's straight but I guess you can never be sure. Mads suggested that it may be one-way with SC and Captain which I could see since Captain isn't half bad looking. Ugh, I need to get over that boy; he was just a good friend though it will probably continue to bother be anyways.

After dinner, we drove home with conversation about music and our mutual love for Adele...


Adele - Set Fire to the Rain

Well, a little while after we set off, a freaking deer jumps in front of the car. Mads slammed on the brakes while we all screamed our lungs dry and continued to panic for a few minutes after. It was terrible/exciting/funny/terrifying all at the same time. If this isn't the the "rogue deer running into the road" I've had as part of my blog description for over two years I don't know what is.

Summer in Review:

Work
I completed my first true job! It went pretty well I think; working retail, while getting a bum rap wasn't too bad. Granted, I worked in the kind of store where the clientele are nicer and um....more refined in taste than the average store which could have helped. I got valuable life experience and I think my people skills really improved from interacting with so many people for the past three months. One thing I did learn though is that people can be very egotistical, rude assholes sometimes, despite my prior statement. In addition to developing people skills, I think I've also become hardened against criticisms and person attacks on things I have no control over. My favorite line has become "I will never come back to this store unless you do ____". Advice: if you ever use this line, any retail worker with a modicum of experience is laughing his or her ass off on the inside. While I might try to apologize/explain things, on the inside, we are all thinking "Bitch, please, you're not special and we have countless other clients and it's only growing bigger with each day" on the inside. At least some of the music they play at work helps cheer things up...


Nicole Atkins - Maybe Tonight

I hope to return to my job back during my winter break. In the mean time I'm looking to find a job close to campus for maybe two shifts a week to make some spending money. I got a few applications ready and a few references so hopefully my search will turn out to be fruitful. Plus my resume has some actual work experience on it now!

Relaxing
Having a job for once over the summer ate up most of my otherwise lazy-time, and probably for the better. I did get plenty of relaxation though; the cruise with my mom was really nice and really recharged my batteries. I also enjoyed sleeping in and constantly getting about 8 hours of sleep every night; I'm going to miss it once classes start....

Working Out/Weight Gain
At the beginning of the summer I set the goal ot put on some weight and getting more fit. I've been hitting the gym regularly about 4 days a week, sometimes more if I have the time. I have made progress, I've put on about 8 or so pounds since the end of May, mostly on my upper body - arms, back and chest to an extent. My abs have much more definition than before which I really like and I think with a few more weeks and two more pounds I should be at my goal.

The Coming Year
My sophomore year looks to be pretty interesting. I'm taking another new language, this time the language will be German. I'm taking intro to German this fall semester, and if I like it I'll keep on it; it's non-intensive which is what I'm looking for since I'm not looking for something that will be too time consuming. I'm working on remembering/using French and my two dialects of Chinese as much as I can so my years of work won't be for naught. I'm also in Accounting II, MicroEcon, Management Organizational Behavior, and a philosophy class. I'm looking forward to a good year so cheers to that. As I said, I'm planning to find a job and continue with the clubs I'm already in including tutoring, Pride and helping out Liz with promoting a student-written collection of one-act plays for parent's weekend. I even got myself a new Laptop for the new year - it's another HP but with a Gen 2 Core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM and a 640GB hard drive. It's only 14" but I'm bring both the new one and my old 16" laptop to campus as a backup/stay-in-room computer since I still haven't transferred all my files.


Adele - Turning Tables

Well, I'll be moving back to campus Wednesday and getting settled in slowly. Classes don't start for another week or so but I'm helping the new freshmen move in and so I get to get back early and avoid the crowds. Plus, it gives me an opportunity to deck out my room and make it homey. I'll post pictures when it's done. The weather is finally getting nice; after weeks of 95+ degree weather or storms, it's been in the low-mid 80s and partly cloudy (win!). I'm picking up my keys tomorrow and look forward to enjoying my last day at home, at least until I stop by to visit. I'm planning on enjoying home cooking one last time, dining hall food only gets you so far unfortunately...

Alright guys, I hope things are going well in your neck of the woods. I have some catching up to do regarding reading blogs. I'm going to try commenting more in the future (I know how I love comments and others as well) and keep y'all updated if anything exciting comes up.

All the best,

JP