*fume*

Dear Purolator,

Are you effing retarded?

Regards,
Kaitlin

--------------------------------------------------~

My laptop was picked up by Purolator last Friday to be repaired by Dell while I still have that week left on my warranty. The repairs aren't big, but they're for my keyboard and screen, which could quickly get worse during the school year. The Dell repair place thingy is in Newmarket, Ontario. Keep that in mind.

About a half-hour ago, Dell calls me and asks if I have sent out my laptop yet. I told the man that I did. He asked me if it was through Purolator. Yep, I definitely did. He asked for my tracking number, and I gave it to him. "Oh, there seems to be some sort of discrepancy. I'll call you back if there are any problems."

I never even thought about tracking the shipment, because the laptop should've made it to Newmarket that same day. It's not that far from Toronto, and it was sent by a courier. I assumed that it was being repaired since Monday at the latest, and would've been back to me by Friday.

After I got off the phone with Dell, I went to the Purolator website to check what this "discrepancy" was. I put in my tracking number and this is what it tells me:

PIN	28154568894
Status	Awaiting Connection
Date/Time	JULY 18, 2007 AT 08:34
Depot	EDMONTON (NORTH/NORD), AB
Tracking Phone #	1 888 SHIP-123 or 1-888-744-7123

My laptop is in EDMONTON. How the hell do you get Newmarket and Edmonton mixed up? For one thing, Newmarket is north, Edmonton is west. For another thing, THEY'RE IN DIFFERENT PROVINCES.

So, I call Purolator and inform the lady that my laptop is in the wrong province. He response was effectively, "Woah... WTF?" She had no idea how they mixed that up, and why it was there. She told me that "Awaiting connection" means that it's about to get onto a flight. She told me that she's guessing that it'll be in Newmarket tomorrow morning. If it isn't, I need to call them back.

It's unfortunate that Dell has a partnership with Purolator, because I'm really unimpressed. If I need to ship something, it'll never be through them again. It'll be through FedEx. This is just stupid.

A Rant

Dear potential park visitors,

When I give you information on park rates and fees, don't do that nervous/angry laugh thing and tell me that you can camp/swim/party somewhere cheaper or for free. That's all well and good for you - why don't you just go there? Complaining about our prices won't make me lower them for two reasons:

1. I don't have the ability to do that. Do I look like a manager?
2. You annoy me.

The park isn't some discount grocery store that'll constantly change prices to "match the competitors". These are our prices, and if you don't like them, then go somewhere else. Stop getting angry at me.

Just because you're only going to be in the park for an hour doesn't mean that you can get in for free. You have to pay the full price, just like everyone else. Do you honestly think that I can track you down once that hour is up and kick you out? That just doesn't make sense. See the above list for reasons why I can't do that.

This is a half-decent place to work. Stop making me want to apply to other businesses.

-Kaitlin

Hehe.

Steven says:
Today I worked with white caulk.
I just got bored. It's not as exciting as black caulk.
Once you have black caulk, everything else is just... meh.

June is Hot.

I got contacts two days ago, and I really like them. Being able to see all of the time is fun. Being able to wear whatever sunglasses you want is fun. For a while it felt like I had eyelashes in my eyes, but now I'm getting used to them.

I wrote my last exam yesterday - semester 2 calculus. I think I'm going to be taking that class again. I needed a 54% on the exam to get a 50% in the class. Calc was really, really hard for me. I guess if I need to take it again, there's not much I can do. Oh well.

It's extremely hot and sticky outside and I'm stuck at work. The fan they have in here is the most useless fan in the world. Luckily I have only two hours left on this shift, then I can go back to my nice air conditioned house, and take a shower to get un-sticky. Yuck.

I'm actually starting to get a tan from biking to and from work, and my hair is getting much more blond. Unfortunately, it's a farmer's tan, and my legs are still really white because today it the first day I've been brave enough to ware shorts. (I gained a lot of weight at school, but I'm steadily losing it - I've lost very close to 10lbs. so far.) My birth mark is also getting really dark, and I'm surprised no one has told me that I have "chocolate on my face".

I'd really like to go swimming.

Summer Thus Far

Summer has been nothing exciting. I've been working and playing video games, I guess. I hang out with Steve when our schedules work out and I can beat Erik to the car. I haven't really seen anyone else since Scarlett's party near the beginning of vaction. I attempted to figure out a day with the girls, but when I mentioned it to one, I was basically told "nope, not interested" and I got discouraged.

I know my planning of get-togethers pretty much never happen, but I always want to try. I'll mention it to a few people. Maybe you guys would like to come up to my dad's house on Canada Day. My dad has been fond of creating firework shows lately (he bought $300 worth of fireworks for Victoria Day), and I'd be he'd do it again for Canada day. We could swim in the pool, hang out, eat the mountains of junk food that Lydia always buys, you guys could sleep over if you want... It could be fun. I'm mentioning it now because of work schedules and everything...

I finally worked up the courage to check my marks, only to be incredibly disappointed with myself. I failed Materials. Everyone keeps telling me that it's a really hard class, lots of people fail it, and remind me that it was a third-year course not too long ago, but still. I'm really upset, because I must've totally bombed the final exam. I also hated that class, and I really don't want to go through it again. I somehow managed to pass Algebra, which I had NONE of the high school/university prerequisites for, yet I failed Materials, which I did have all the things I need. I don't know... it just doesn't make sense to me. I'm mad at myself.

I might go to Vietnam next summer.

My grandma died of brain cancer last weekend. I really thought I was okay for a while, and that I could handle it. Today I'm supposed to have my calculus exam at 9:00-12:00, and then leave immediately for the funeral. My studying was going fairly well and I thought that I was managing. I was understanding things I hadn't before.

Then I had a huge breakdown in a realization of what had actually happened. I kept thinking how I had to go to a funeral. I kept thinking of how I'd be thinking about this funeral all through the exam. I don't think I've cried so hard before. I've never lost anyone and I've never been to a funeral. I'm glad that the last thing we said to each other was that we loved each other, even though she had a lot of difficulty saying it.

I called my dad at midnight and told him that I couldn't deal with all of this. He and I decided that it might be best to defer this exam, even if it is last minute. I honestly thought I could do it, but I just can't. My dad and I talked for a while about the things that we remembered and the pictures he's found. He's making some sort of presentation for the funeral, and he said that he's found lots of pictures of her and I together.

I honestly can't believe that this didn't hit me as hard as it did sooner. I don't really understand it. I can't believe the timing that my entire year has had. It's all been really weird and sad. I don't know why I didn't vent as much as I needed to until now.

Once this day is over, I'll be okay. I'll be able to sleep and relax a little. Soon I'll be going home and it'll get better.

I just hope I'm making the right move with this exam. I have mixed feeling about it. But right now I need to sleep and get on with this day.

Japanese Toilet Training for Kids (English Subtitled)

I wish I had cool cartoons to teach me about using the toilet...

I've got nothing.

He knows Vietnamese, and he's a computer genious.

Life is not fair.

I just found out that Ms. Kribbs has ALS. I didn't know what that was, so I looked it up. It sounds absolutely horrible. She was one of my favourite teachers.

I wish my highschool had a music program.

Although they're not perfect and the drums are a little much at times, this is still pretty great. I thought the Double Dragon song was really good. Enjoy. :)

Using MSN Tip #1

If you don't want to be talked to, sign out. It's that simple!

Seriously, don't get mad at someone for trying to initiate a conversation. "Busy" and "Away" don't count as "offline". Those just mean that the person trying to talk to you should not expect a quick reply.

Need it to be done.

I am so stressed right now.

All Shapes and Sizes

Did anyone watch YTV as a kid? Remember these shorts between shows? This one was my favourite. Oh, the memories. :)

GRIPPING!

This is a video that my brother and a few of his friends put together for their English final last year. They had to talk about a reoccuring theme in the three books that they read (Romeo & Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and The Great Gatsby). They picked the theme of revenge. I thought it was pretty well done, and it made me laugh. They've got some interesting humor... especially with the "hidden" dirty references ;) Since we're not in an English class, some parts are boring. Once Heathcliff is introduced, he talks a lot about Wuthering Heights. You can jump to about 5:18 if you want to skip that bit. If you're not into watching the whole 20 minute video, here's some good parts I picked out: Perfume Commercial: 5:20 Constipation Commercial: 7:25 Complementary Weapons: 10:12 The Chase Scene: 12:55 Awkward Beard Touching: 16:33 My Brother's Strip Tease: 18:27 If you can't see the times on this player, check it out here: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=524691305618499212&q=talk+time+S%26S

Windows Sushi

fun
Originally uploaded by 弃天.

Yeah, it's pretty much just amazing. And the little orange stars next to the computer are so cute!

Change

Tomorrow I'm going to give my life a bit of a turnaround. I'm starting to go to the gym. I've completed my sessions with my trainer, so now I know what I'm doing. She'll have my typed plan for me, and I'm picking it up in the evening. I've gained a lot of weight since starting school, and I'm really quiet embarrassed by it. I've always seemed to be very susceptible to weight gain over very small things, and the 'school lifestyle' just kind of... made it a lot worse. But now, I'm going to get back to my old self, and then I'm going to get better than my old self. I'm actually really, really excited about getting into a workout routine. I can't wait to get back into all of my jeans.

And I guess this is a good thing to start since the whole anxiety thing, too. My life could use a couple more turnarounds like this, too. Like, going to bed at a reasonable time... I've fallen into that habit and I'm having a terrible time getting out of it. But I hear that sleep comes a lot more easily with exercise.

I'm super excited about the engineering formal on Saturday. I've discovered that I really love dancing, even though I'm horrible and I have no idea what I'm doing. But it's just way too much fun. (And I've joined ballroom dancing with Steve... it's amazing.) Formals are also just fun in themselves.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to see that counsellor. I know I told my mom that I'd go, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable just walking in and telling her the thousands of things that bother me every day. I'm also not sure I'm comfortable with that fact that she's not officially a counsellor, but a chaplain. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't have problems relating to religion, or want solutions that relate to religion. I guess I need to look into the other counselling services or something.

Anyway, bed is calling... it's been quite the day.

The Last Little Bit...

A few days after I got back to school, I had an anxiety attack. I've never had this before. It was scary. I was having this intense chest pain that would not go away. The on-campus emergency team was called up to my room, and they told me that they couldn't find anything wrong. For some reason, right after they left, I had about an hour of relief. That was around 6:00am - the first sleep I had all night. But then it woke me up again, and it was worse. I went to the clinc, where a nurse couldn't find anything wrong with me that could cause the pain, just like the other people. She started asking how "other" things were, and I couldn't help but cry. She told me that this type of pain was common with anxiety. The doctor looked at me and told me the same thing. I was then sent off to get an EKG (which told the nurse my heart was normal), and x-rays.

I've been trying to get in contact with this chaplain/counsellor that I've had recommended to me, but I haven't gotten a response from her. I suppose it's the alternative to those anti-depressents that there was talk of.

Last night my mom had a second allergic reaction to the anti-sezure medication, and it was worse. Erik took her to the emergency room. They gave her a ton of stuff through IV, I guess... I'm not entirely sure what happened. Erik had to go back around 2:00am to try to pick her up, but I guess that they weren't done with her. She came back a little after 6:00am by taxi. And then went to work. I wish she wouldn't do that. And I wish that I could be there to take care of her. I don't like that my little brother has to do things like this... he's still a kid and should be worried about getting his summative done and going to movies.

But on a happier note, my dad got Facebook. Everyone should add him so that he feels special. :)