Saturday, September 29, 2012

It's been a while, but I'm procrastinating homework.

So you get an update!

Hooray!

This post is going to seem a bit scattered because I've only gotten four hours of sleep last night.

I've actually been busy with school and work so there wasn't much to update about besides "Oh I'm off to work and I still have this this and this to do."

On a different note, I'm getting really sick and tired of some of my friends' shit. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to sit back and allow them to treat me like I'm just an acquaintance. If I wanted that, I'd go and hang out with acquaintances.

Today at work, early in the morning, a young woman came into the C-store, looked me in the eye and asked "Is this place open."

I must admit, the look I gave her wasn't the kindest. To my defense, it was about 7:45 in the morning and the only thing that was running through my mind was "If we weren't open would you have been able to walk through the door? If we weren't open, would you be seeing me, standing here behind the counter, dressed as I am (hat, gray campus dining shirt, apron, nametag, black pants, etc.) staring at you? What do you think?"

Not one of my finer moments. I did feel bad about it after I handed her her drink and watched her walk away. After that I was a lot nicer to my customers.

After work,  I wandered home and happily took a shower.

Now I'm sitting in an empty room in Mackinac. It's the perfect place to do hw because there's no one there and no one else is crazy enough to come to school on the weekend, unless they're language students.

After this blog I'll be productive. I promise.

Actually, the real reason I'm writing is because I'm feeling selfish again and writing about it makes me feel a little better. I'm feeling a little lonely because I talked to my beau and I can't stand the thought that I still have three entire months before I get to touch him again. There are so many times in skype where we talk, I just want to reach through the computer screen and touch his face.

This distance thing is really hard you guys. I don't think I've ever done something so constantly exhausting and heart breaking. I feel selfish for a lot of it too. For whispered wishes in the night that he'd come home and for complaining about all this to you.

Sometimes I wish I were stronger so I could get through this without this aching feeling in the pit of my heart. There are moments when I can push it out of the way and forget about it, but it always grows back.

I'm not sure how I can do this. I guess I'll just have to put myself in God's hands.

*sigh* Letting go like that is really hard though.

Anyways, I do need to get to work.

Thanks for listening.
Love and Peace
Elle

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Mornings

Contrary to popular belief, I really like mornings. The house is quiet because no one is awake or they're gone off to class or work. The sun is shining through the cracks in my curtain with soft rays of gold.

I feel my best in the morning. I also am my happiest in the morning. I'm not yet run down and done with people, school, or my life. I'm content.

You know, until I realize I have a lot of stuff to do, and then that peace turns into a groggy mess.

This weekend has been the epitome of lazy so far. I mean, I'm off to work, but before that, I've been mailing letters, sleeping, and watching Adventure Time.

I'm not looking forward to work today because we're going to be super busy. I mean, busy is good because it makes the time go by a lot faster, but damn. I hate making drinks when there's a line of drinks. I always get flustered and then spill everything or burn myself with the milk wands.

Hopefully the four hours will go by faster and I'll be able to come home and get some chapters of studying done. If there's anything I need to do, it's get caught up in my classes.

Welp, I'm off to the ol' job now!

Love and peace
Elle

Friday, September 21, 2012

Lazy Friday

I got up and talked to my man this morning. It was a really nice beginning, though he was really tired.

The rest of the day was nice and lazy. Exactly what I needed. I went to marshalls and got black pants, legit black pants. Not yoga pants, not black jeans. Black pants. In fact, I think they're a bit like skinny jeans, except for the jeans part. So I feel as if I'm defying the rules a little by wearing them.

Then I went to the fabric store and couldn't find anything that I liked so I came home. Well actually, I ordered a pizza and came home and that was my big meal for the day. Then I watched Adventure Time and promptly passed out for around 4 hours.

It's weird that I've been sleeping so much lately, but I guess that means I really need it. Or the rain is making me sleepy. It might be both. In either case, and in the causes of my slip-ups at work, I've learned that I shouldn't take on so many extra shifts. I'm going to stop that actually and just stick to the schedule. The extra money is nice, but when I don't have enough time for me or to wind down and get my thoughts together, I'm no good to anyone.

In other news, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to write to Neal. I have no idea actually. Maybe I'll just paint a picture and send that to him. But then I don't even know what to paint. I just need to practice more and look at some water color paintings. I think the trick is to use the white paper as much as you use the paints, but I'm just not sure how to do that yet.

It'll all work out.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with a friend and have work, but I also need to get a lot of studying done before the start of the next week. In those classes, I am hopelessly unprepared.

Either way, the rest of tonight is for me.

Love and Peace
Elle

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Ugh. Ughughugh.

So I got another write up today at work. For a small mistake on my cash sheet.

Ugh. It's my second one so if I get another write up for something, small or not, I'm out of there.

The worst part is, they're like stupid little mistakes that I did because I wasn't paying attention. I think I was just so tired and wanting to get out of there that I just rushed through it. It reminds me of a line in a book where the main character runs into a chimney because he's so distracted. That's how I'm feeling right now.

Like I've run into a chimney.

Now I'm super worried that I'm going to make another dumb mistake and lose my job.

I can't lose this job. I need the money to get to Japan.

I just need to keep my head on from now on. I'm just so mad at myself for my lack of meticulousness. I'll get over it and do better next time.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Ugh

I hate not having enough time to talk. It always makes me feel a little lonely and hollow.
Today was pretty good. I was able to sleep in so I don't feel as worn out as I did yesterday. Unfortunately, now I have to go through my psych text and lecture notes because our first test is Monday.

A couple of interesting things that happened today are (1) it hailed and (2) I was stopped by a train with 134 cars! I felt like a little kid as I wiggled in my seat to the radio and counted the cars out loud.

All that's left for today is work from 4-8 and then starting to create psych notes so I can start to prepare for the test.

I know this is a really short post, but I'm running late and don't have much to say anyway.

Love and Peace
Elle

Monday, September 17, 2012

Music

Know how music can change your mood and affect you for the rest of the week? Like how you just listen to one song and then it affects everything you do? Last week was kind of sad. I listened to Rascal Flatts' song Wake Me Up.

It's so good, but it makes me sort of depressed. So now I'm listening to Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band and it's really nice. Sort of springy.

Today started out rough. I have to tell you. I didn't end up going to sleep until 2 or 3 am and then I had to get up again at 7. Sort got a glare from the teacher as I listened to his lecture for the first half hour with my eyes closed. Good thing I can wake up around 10.

Class was great and the quiz we took wasn't that bad. It even let us get out an hour early which was perfect! I headed straight home and slept.

At first I was only going to sleep for an hour, but my room was warm and I was tired so I allowed myself a couple more hours before getting up, doing homework, and now blogging to you. The rest of the day will be taken up with classes. I have a quiz in science, which shouldn't be too bad, and then three hours of psychology where I'll probably write another letter to Neal...

If he gets the others I sent him. This is ridiculous! It's been a while since I've sent him my letters and he still hasn't gotten them.

Anyway, after class tonight, I'm going to go through my composition 2 in french and correct it and add to it if I need to. Maybe I'll do journal 2 if she's posted it yet.

Right now, I'm not caring that particularly much. Maybe it's the fact that I'll probably have trouble falling asleep tonight, as always. Maybe it's the resignation that all my life is consisting of presently is school and work. Maybe it's the fact that I've stressed myself out to the point where I don't care anymore.

Who knows. I guess it's a strange thing, how peace can come from a storm.

Love and Peace
Elle

*UPDATE*

So after science class, where we had a quiz, I was able to have an hour to myself. Since it was so nice out, I went to the arb next to the pond, found a rock to place my bag against and made it my pillow. I was fully intending to read my book, but instead ended up taking another nap before class.

Class was long. I lost heart halfway through so that means a lot of work this weekend for that class seeing as there is a test in there on Monday. I have a week so it'll be fine.

After class it started to rain, but I caught a bus so I didn't get too wet. The lightning was gorgeous though. I watched it as I drove to Family Fare to pick up milk and apples. Half of me wanted to stand outside in the weather in some park just to watch the lighting, but another, probably smarter, half said that it might be better to just hang out in the car.

It was still really pretty, watching that florescent purple light up the sky around bright, white, gashes.

Then I got home and rearranged my room.

I probably have to clean up a lot in order to get the feel I want, but I sort of like it. Now all I need are Adventure Time DVDs and to set my ps2 up and I'll be set for the weekends.


Sunday, September 16, 2012

Morning Time

I'm feeling rather hopeful, as I usually do at the beginning of a new day. Sometimes I feel like I take the journey of Ra. I get up in the morning, shine bright, and then as I cross the horizon into the night, I have to fight a bunch of demons to emerge victorious again.

And somehow, comparing myself to an Egyptian god makes me feel a little bit better.

Today should be pretty low key. Started off my morning right by sleeping in, which was well deserved after my almost full day of working yesterday and sort of rocky night. I realized Neal was on, so I got to talk to him.

Now all that's left is breakfast, homework with Allison, and then work again at four... Sometimes, I wonder why I ever where anything else besides my work uniform. I'm going to have to wear yoga pants until I can find a suitable pair of black pants. Apparently, after a semester in black jeans, I'm not allowed to wear them anymore.

I think, though, the reason that I was told off about this was because the student manager who told me was new. It has been the second time I was told something nit-picky was out of place and it was, both times, by new student managers. I think this is because they want to show that they know what they're doing in a completely new job type and trying to establish their dominance over the gray-shirted commoners. They'll probably calm down in a few weeks when they get into the swing of things.

Even so, I probably should find a pair of black slacks from some brand like Dickies or something. Nothing too expensive because I don't think those black aprons they make us wear, are entirely whipped cream proof.

I guess in all reality, I shouldn't have been working last night. I was way too tired and though it ended in many hilarious instances (ie, knocking a blender slightly off its rotating blades to make the whole back room sound like it was in a saw facility and having the social worker come back to turn off the blender as me and the student manager stared at it to see what it was doing), when I got home I was exhausted to the point of being done with life.

Oh well. I need the money. I know I'll continue to work like this without rest until I'm tucked safely in Neal's arms in Japan. Then I'll sleep all I want.

In other news, I'm probably one of the world's most boring people. It really is true that when you get in college and you choose good grades and sleep over social life, you really don't have a social life. I mean, I work, I study, and when I'm not doing either, I don't want to do anything but read a good book or watch Adventure Time which has easily become my most favorite show. I'm really bummed that I have to miss the new episodes coming out on Mondays due to class. Actually, I also have to miss the new episodes of glee coming out on Thursdays due to class too.

Maybe when I get home, I'll just find them on the tv thing and marathon all of them.

Alright lovelies! I'm off to start my day!

Love and Peace
Elle


Saturday, September 15, 2012

Looking Up

Today I worked for four and a half hours, then for another hour and a half. Now I'm home until 7:30. At that time I'll pick myself off the seating apparatus I've been resting on, put back on my work uniform and then stand in front of a register until 12:30 tomorrow morning. 

It's a good thing that I don't mind what I'm doing or that I have a goal I'm working towards. 

However, between work and school and OWMC, I don't have much of a social life. In fact, I'm becoming rather boring and ornery. Though I do keep having interesting dreams. Last night I had a Harry Potter themed dream that was pretty rad. But now I'm going off topic. 

The title is called "Looking Up" for a reason. That reason being, I feel as if I've hit the very most bottom that I feel right now. Between missing Neal, stressing out over school, worrying about being able to go to Japan, and making sure I do a good job at work I've fallen into a sort of... I'm not sure what to call it. Depression is too much of what I'm feeling. I just feel low.

Like I can pick myself up when I have to go out and be with people, but when it's time for bed or when I'm by myself, holding myself together gets harder and harder. However, there's a bright side to this. I don't think that I can sink any lower. I don't know if things will get any easier, but I know I can get used to this and then use it to bounce back from. 

Until I'm strong enough to do that, I'll just bide my time from the bottom of this chasm and feel the light on my face. Sun or star. Then, when I can, I'll fly. 

Elle 

Friday, September 14, 2012

Drive

I got lost today. Went all the way to Hudsonville.

Today, I was reminded of why I want to live in the country so much. Driving down open roads with the windows down with the clear blue sky above me.

I drove by houses and landscapes that were almost exactly what I wanted to live in when I get my own place. Like, the small houses, pushed back from the road with a little barn and horses behind them.

It was gorgeous and I could just see myself living out in someplace like that.

I can't wait!

A New Day

I'm feeling a mixture of things this friday. 

Yesterday, I got to talk to my old friend C. She's doing really well in her fancy art school and apartment. I really miss that girl, but we'll be getting together soon. She's one of those friends who is really worth it. 


She has also found kittens and has been taking care of them, but they need a home before winter hits. If you're interested or know anyone who's interested, let me know! 


So that makes me happy. 


A small part of me is jealous. Neal facebooked me this morning, well his night, but this morning for me and he was smashed out of his mind. It was actually amusing to read and I could related when he talked about his venture with the white russian. He fell into the trap of them. Because they taste so good, you don't think that there's alcohol in them!


Well, the result of his endeavors was a very long, choppy message with many misspellings. Quite an amusing thing to return to when I came back from my shower. 


Unfortunately, because I'm prone to reading into things too much, jumping to conclusions, and overall being run by my emotions, one line bothered me in his rant. He told me that he thinks other girls were hitting on him, but not to worry because he loves me. 


I'm really glad he loves me, but girls are real bitches and sort of sneaky when it comes to getting men that they want. I just don't want him to fall into their trap and fall out of love with me. 


That sounded really selfish, but I guess I'm a little selfish too.


Anyway, today is looking to be a quiet but nice day. I'll be mailing my letter, doing schoolwork, working out, and then doing more school work before retiring early for work tomorrow. 


So I guess it's a little busy. That's my new motto though, keep busy. And strangely everything I do seems to be for Neal. If I keep my grades up, my step-dad will be more inclined to help me get to Japan this December. If I pick up more shifts at work, I'll have more money for a hotel in Japan. I need to get to Japan to see Neal. 


Now I've made myself a bit sad. See what I mean? If I keep myself busy and concentrated on the tasks of the day, I don't think about the fact that Neal and I are so far apart. 


Unfortunately, keeping busy doesn't really allow me to spend time with my friends. It's not like I've heard from them *coughamandawhoneedstosendmeherschedulesoIcanhearabouthernewboyfriendcough* which is fine because I know they're busy too. 


I'll probably have really good grades this year though. With my only socializing being the people I'll never see again at work as I check them out, and Olde Worlde Music Club, the only thing left to do is study and read, and stay up late to talk to Neal, and work out. 


Also, since I don't have a meal plan, eating on campus is a no-go this year, which means meeting up with people on-campus is going to be a little difficult. I should probably just start packing lunches or dinners if I want to do that....


Oh. Look at that idea right there!!


However, meeting up probably is going to be a rare thing. Or maybe not. We'll just have to see what happens over the year.


Another thing that irks me is that I really need to go horseback riding. Every time I drive by that red barn on Lake MI and see those girls out there on their horses, I get this ache in my heart. I miss it a lot.


I think that's another reason that I have been so snappish with some of my friends. There's little bits of me that are hurting and to try to ease the pain I lash out, which doesn't really help at all. I'm working on getting that under control though. I don't want to hurt other people just because of what's going on inside.


This year is going to be a really hard one. Neal's gone, I really haven't been able to be horseback, schoolwork has gotten harder (as it always does), Midnight is old, and I have no idea how my plans for December are going to work out. 


Hopefully next year will be a lot better. I'm just going to have to put on my brave face and take on the year with both hands and figure out how to reconcile all these whirling emotions inside my chest. 


How do I do that though? God seems oddly silent, or maybe I'm just not listening well enough.  Or maybe I'm not listening because He'll tell me something I'm not going to like, like Neal isn't that "one" for me. 


And readers, I want him to be so bad. 


One thing I think that scares me about the distance is that I'll get bored of our relationship without him constantly there to remind me of it and leave. 


That would be one of the stupidest things I'll ever have done ever. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I don't know how I'd take it if God took him away from me. If that makes sense? 


So I'm scared to put my heart in God's hands. He might break it for the cause of "education" or whatever. But doesn't the fact that I'm willing to work on this relationship, and Neal seems to be willing too count for something? 


I guess the other emotions I've spelled out are fear, sadness, and loneliness?


So there's more negative emotions than positive right now, but hopefully the tables will turn a little bit in the coming days. I'm not counting on that too much though, I'm sort of getting used to feeling like... however I'm feeling. 


Not a good thing, but still, it makes life a little more bearable. 


I need to finish cleaning my room and mail my letter. 


Love and Peace!

Elle

Monday, September 10, 2012

Feeling Better and Dreams

I still feel tetchy and irritable, but instead of feeling victimized by the world, I feel good enough to start fighting back.

I also want to post about the dreams I had last night. They were a lot about civil rights actually.

It was in the 60's in the middle of a rally, and I was an african american guy who got caught in an angry mob. I think I woke up as I was getting the shit kicked out of me.

Then, I was a native american cowgirl living in the old west. I had friends who were african american and we worked on this small... not farm but it sort of was, in the bottom of the canyon. I remember a bit of a conversation between me and one of my friends who had started to give up and just accept that people were always going to treat him badly because of the color of his skin.

He left the area and then something happened, but I don't remember exactly what it was. Anyways, one of my friends, a white cowgirl, ran to me and woke me up in a hurry. She explained that a mob was on its way to get me for interrogations about what happened. When I expressed that it couldn't be that bad because I was american, she looked at me seriously and said "But you're native american too." And I had darker skin and hair.

In the distance shouts were heard and you could see torches. I jumped out of bed and dressed so fast my shirt was put on backwards and ignored. I quickly tacked up my horse, a black fresian looking one, and made plans to meet up with my friend before riding hard out of the canyon.

Then I woke up.

Interesting.

The rest of the day doesn't really compare to that. I have a bit of time where I'll shave my legs and then I have class until 9. I think my dad is coming up tonight too with cake, so it'll be nice to see him.

Love and Peace
Elle

Simplicity

You know when you feel awful, and you want to tell the world, but you don't because you're afraid they'll judge you or not care?


Sunday, September 9, 2012

PMS Post

My roommate T is pmsing and whenever she does, she becomes really mean. This year, I'm not going to be scared of her or take her shit.

G had to separate us because I pointed out that T had an attitude in a tone that was more or less asking for a fight.

So I gathered my shit and went upstairs to work on my homework.

To May, I'm sorry I've been a bit harsh at you. I guess I've always come over at bad times. I love you tons.

I can't wait until I'm done feeling angry all the time. Then innocent people like Neal and May won't have to suffer the wrath of my overreacting and sharp tongue.

....

I better get this homework done.

Love and Peace
Elle

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Tipsy

Some days, like today, I think I can work this relationship out. Like Neal and I have it all covered and we'll be fine.

But there's always a little bit of doubt in my mind. I mean, a lot of things that Linda has said have come true, but I'm not so sure about the relationship bit. Particularly because she has such strong feelings on how people should conduct their dating and relationship experiences.

But right now, I have really positive feelings about this.

I think God has answered my prayers about him. And while things might be difficult, .ie this long distance stuff, we'll be able to work through it. All of it.

And that makes me happy. Really happy. I've finally found him. :)

I'm off to finish Spartacus and then bed.

Love and Peace
Elle

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Heels

I like to wear heels. They make my butt and legs look really good, and I feel really good in them.

However, I draw a lot of attention to myself as I walk across the cement on campus or down the hallways in the school buildings.

At least I look good so I'm not embarrassing myself when eyes are on me. Though I think I look a bit mean.

On another unrelated note. I really think Neal and I can do this. I think we can do this for the long run, even past Japan and whatever life can throw at us.

I have a lot to do this weekend though including notes and homework for Psych, Ed 315 and 337, and also Science. I might as well throw french in there as well. Good thing there's a library at home.

I'm off to get ready for my final class of the week!

Love and Peace
Elle

Monday, September 3, 2012

Slow Day at Work means a Play Day at Work

So, today started off like any normal day. I woke up, showered, made tea, got dressed, made breakfast, and went on my merry way to work.

Of course, since it's labor day weekend, work was almost dead and I had signed up to take care of the pizza area. The only thing is, Pizza is the easiest of all the areas because you sit around and do nothing but put out pizza and breadsticks when they get low.

So a lot of the time I went and hung out with the ladies who were working grill or pretend I was in a gun fight with the student manager working the cash register. My finger gun did nothing against the laser of the check out scanner though.

Anyway. One interesting thought occurred to me as I was absently watching the pizza. But let me give you some background information.

There are six slices of each pizza and two people had taken one from opposite ends so the remaining slices looked like a bow tie...

Back on track, I decided that if one were to put a breadstick in between the wings, it would look like a butterfly. Unfortunately, the social worker who ran pizza was sort of a stickler and wouldn't have liked it if I had created the Pizza Butterfly...

One day I'll do it though.

THEN! As we're all standing around doing nothing, the Cash Student Manager wandered over and after I asked about how he got a bruise on his elbow, I was regaled with many stories of injuries and wall damages due to drunken sexcapades that he has no memory of.

That conversation got awkward fast.

After SM left to go do some more student managing, I hung out with the people at pizza for a bit and was told that I was a pretty chill person.

Which is strange to me because I'm pretty uptight I think. Maybe that's just when I'm stressed out.

Anyways, because nothing was going on, SM told me to go help out at Grill. Which was great because Vron was working grill that day!  It was nice to fall back into the routine that I had with her. Even though I'm glad I'm not working at grill, I know that's someplace I can go back to if people need help or shifts.

Unfortunately, though, SM didn't tell my social worker that he put me on grill, so she chewed him out and then put me back in boring Pizza.

5 minutes of standing around and I was told to go home because there was no reason for my being there! That was a good and a bad thing. Good because I got to come home, go to the bank, and then when I'm done fooling around on the interwebs, I will end up doing some homework.

Oh! I forgot, I've been having really weird dreams lately. The weirdest by far was being Ciel Phantomhive's paid sex friend. That was an interesting one.

Another one was that Neal had come home for a mere 24 hours.

Welp! I'm off!

Love and Peace
Elle

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Firsts!

Today is the fist day that I've actually wanted to work more. Not because work was fun, it was rather slow and boring actually, but because I need the money and work isn't unbearable like it was when I was working grill.

I picked up another shift for tomorrow.

Actually I'm going to be working a lot tomorrow. First at work and then on homework. However, I'll end up catching everything up for my classes and maybe getting a little ahead.

Then today is also the first day that Surprise has visited my house! It was so nice to see her and hang out with her and Cute also missed her. So it was a really nice time.

Finally, I bought my first bottle of wine today. It was chocolate wine and it's perfect because the bottle is dark so it's hard to see what's inside. That means I can put a lot of stuff for Neal's gifts inside of it.

Hooray!!

Well I'm off to do my dishes and pour another glass of wine!

Love and Peace
Elle

Saturday, September 1, 2012

21 Birthday.

Started with a BANG and is now going smoothly and quietly.

Last night, I hung out with May and a big group of people.

Around four, I met up with May and went out to dinner with her parents and brother and fiance. It was really nice to sit and just hang out with them. I was surprised at how much her father was like our friend Kaiser. Just their general dispositions were similar.

Anyway, after we left the bar, May, Fiance, and I went back to May's apartment and we hung out for a long time. Rick came over and we had a dance party while him and May pre-gamed. Alla came over too and we were able to chit chat for a little bit before heading out to the bar.

Mojo's was a bit crowded so our group that went before us went to Stella's instead. Unfortunately, we got there about a half hour too early for me. So we hung out with the bouncer for a half hour. He was really funny and even encouraged other guys to hit on me, May, and Alla.

Alla is so witty though so naturally she attracted all the guys. It was good fun watching her one up them.

OH! I forgot to add, I saw some guy's junk on the way to the bar. He was skateboarding and he fell. And these guys were walking up the sidewalk and sort of laughed at him as he fell and then as he was getting up he lifted up his kilt.

I definitely got a profile of his penis and balls.

Strangely enough it made me feel really uncomfortable.

Anyway, we were FINALLY able to get in the bar and I discovered how much of a lightweight I really am. I got halfway through a white russian before I started feeling "good" and then finished that. The next I had was a 3 wisemen and that finished me off.

I hope wasn't too obnoxious to those watching me.

Anyway, Alla drove me home and I was able to skype with Neal for a good hour before dragging my sorry butt to bed.

After three or so hours of sleep, I woke up and went to work at 7:30 am.

Work was really chill today and someone bought me a snickers bar for my birthday! I learned how to make more drinks and I think I'm starting to finally get the hang of this. I do have work again tonight at 9:00 to 12:30. It's late night, so all it will be is scanning cards and/or running back and forth between register and window with food and food orders.

And money is money. The more I earn, the more I have in Japan. That means a nicer hotel room and meals not entirely made of fish. And of course a lot of time with Neal.

In between now and 9:00, I'm going to just chill out. For example, I'm watching America's Next Top Model. I love this show, but I keep missing the live updates. So I'm taking this time to just do stuff I enjoy. I'll probably going to make more tea and then straighten up my room before a shower and a nap.

Should be a pretty nice birthday. It'd be nicer if Neal were here, but oh well. I'm glad he's enjoying himself in Japan.

I'm off to finish the rest of my day.

Love and Peace
Elle