Too Tired to Think up A Cool Japanese Title...

So This Is All You Get

Well it took a random e-mail from my mom to remind me that I haven't updated in over a week. Go figure. :S
Anyway, yes tourist season is in full swing, busy, busy, busy at the hotel! I was supposed to be off today but at about 11:30pm last night Crystal came home from an extremely long day at work and asked if I could go into work at about 7AM today to do some luggage handling. Gotta love last minute scheduling. :S It was actually fun though. I enjoyed it quite a bit. After sweating off about 5 pounds hauling about 40 pieces of luggage myself and another front desk agent, Manon, continued on at our own suggestion and stripped the empty rooms for the housekeepers. I'm sore as hell now after only 3 hours (intense!) of work, but I'd rather do that any day then deal with the customers sometimes. It's gonna be a long summer, so I may get my chance to sweat off a few more pounds if I'm lucky.
Well besides the being busy at work I'm really not doing much else but sleeping. I haven't even watched a good Asian movie lately! Blasphemy! Oh well, I just have to focus my energy to getting through the summer, busses, luggage, strikers and all, and making it to my vacation in September. We'll see how that works out.

As of right now, I'm asleep sitting up so I might as well sign off and not worry about grammatical and spelling errors until...never...ha.

And so it continues this thing called Blog...

A Quiet Night

しずか な 夜 Shizuka na yoru

Okay, so I’m kind of stretching when it comes to these Japanese subtitles to my blog titles. Maybe it’s because I’m using my VERY limited vocabulary or grasp on how exactly sentences are put together properly. Okay, it’s probably a bit of both. Nevertheless, the meaning is there even if the sentences are poorly put together right? :)

Shizuka = Quiet

Yoru = Night

Anyway it’s Thursday night now, I’ve been here since 2PM and it’s now coming up on 7PM. I miss the winter months when the sun went down at 5PM and the strikers were long gone by now. But no, the sun is out and so are the fools on the sidewalk (oops…did I say that?), so my quiet night is quiet save for the sporadic yells and names or taunts I receive through the window. Oh how I wish it were already midnight…10 hour shifts are not pleasant, but thankfully I get my next two shifts cut to 7 each! Whoo! :)

Fast forward to 10:50PM. Wow…this night is long…it may be the added 2 hours but it’s quite quiet nonetheless. 40 minutes until my replacement comes in! YAY! I started watching a movie this afternoon then was called in early and so I was just able to finish watching it now. It’s called Daisy, just came out this year (a Korean movie) except unfortunately what I was able to get my hands on was a subbed version (in Chinese of all things which threw me off a bit) with VERY, VERY poorly written English subtitles. Whoever did the subtitles had a very slim knowledge of how to piece together English sentences. The way it was subtitled was as if the person took each spoken word gave it its English equivalent and plopped it down on the screen. For anyone that knows a bit about Asian languages you know first, yes, how hard it can be to translate to English because sentence structure is completely reversed and they do drop many inconsequential words that we like to fluff up our language with. Secondly, how indirect the languages seem to be to make them so polite, this is confusing to the point where you simply must scratch your head. This point may be why I’m struggling with learning Japanese! Damn our useless words, we English folk need to get to the point already!

Yesterday (or the day before I can’t remember) I watched (yet another Korean one) movie called “Windstruck”. Cried my eyes out like you wouldn’t believe!! So touching, so moving, I just can’t seem to get over how great Korean’s are at telling a drama story.

So on that note here’s a little list of Korean movies watched lately and a brief on what it was and how good I thought it was.

A Moment to Remember: AMAZING! First Korean film I watched and was NOT disappointed. Typical love story where 2 people from different statures in life shouldn’t be together but can’t help but fall in love with each other. The twist is that the woman has Alzheimer’s disease and is rapidly forgetting her short-term memories. Enter an ex-boyfriend from 2 years before who doesn’t know she has Alzheimer’s, and the struggle to make her remember each and every day the love of her life…sniff…I can’t go on! I’ll break all over again!

4 ½ out of 5 *’s

The Classic (AKA Love Story): Not my favorite so far but it may be because I was slightly distracted with thoughts and concerns about something else while watching this. I will reserve mentioning anything on this movie until I am able to re-watch it. However something that stands out are the images, beautiful setting from what I recall.

Reserve judgment until a re-viewing can be had.

Once Upon A Time in High School (AKA the Spirit of Jeet Kun Do): It was interesting to say the least. Still not too sure how so much violence could take place in a military school without more action being taken. Then again, I should reserve judgment on that since it was set in the 60’s or so in Korea, a time I know NOTHING about. Nevertheless, I kept watching which is always a good sign; the movie was decent.

3 out of 5 *’s

Daisy: Despite what was mentioned about it above, from what was understood of the storyline (yes, sometimes it WAS that hard to understand) the plot was good. It was wonderfully shot and that counts for about 90% of the movie for me.

Reserve judgment until a proper version is watched.

Il Mare: This is the original to the new Hollywood movie “The Lake House” with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. This story was amazing, the imagery was a little lost on me, because where Il Mare (the lake house) stood was spoken as beautiful and majestic, but I thought it was quite awkward looking. Although the stairs were cool. I hope still that Hollywood does it justice, because it was nevertheless breathtaking at moments.

3 ½ out of 5 *’s

Windsturck: 49 days is not long enough…beautiful imagery beautiful story! I was taken back by all of the pinwheels and even thought to myself as she was making them (not being told what they were for) that I would have done exactly that. Amazing story line, dramatic and touching like the rest. This one I will definitely watch repeatedly.

4 ½ out of 5 *’s

My Sassy Girl: Jeong Ji-Hyun at her best. A well-written drama/comedy that literally has you laughing the entire way through. With a heart-wrenching “Goodbye” to the tear-filled ending. Beautiful, another repeat viewing movie, guaranteed. I heard that there were talks about this one being remade in Hollywood as well. That would make me happy!

5 out of 5 *’s

Well that was my little Ebert & Roeper moment. Hope you enjoyed it or, well, if you didn’t…too bad to you!

Security starts tomorrow at the Hotel, which will be a GREAT RELIEF! So even if it’s quiet again tomorrow night, time will go by fast enough with less concern and distraction from the strikers.

I’ll try to remember to update this one when I wake up tomorrow morning because I’m uploading a different already written entry tonight. If I don’t I’m sure I’ll remember after work tomorrow night as I’m staying up (or at least attempting) until early morning so as to jump back on a 12am-8am schedule! We’ll see how that works out! Ha!

And so we continue a little more enlightened on Korean cinema…

I am Jennifer. It’s a pleasure to meet you. (annnnnnd…we bow!)

Watashi wa Jennifer desu. Dozou Yoroshiku.

It’s occurred to me that I haven’t really done anything in the way of a formal introduction in my blog. Pity. So here, today, one time only, we’ll get to the bottom of it (uh…me). I did a mini-intro to the world that is mine in my first entry but here I’ll spill all the details (that I can actually come up with) for the world to see. Let’s start with one of those e-mail fwd type deals.

Favorites:

Color - Red

Food – Nicole’s potato casserole and ham

Drink – Pepsi(trying really hard not to) or just plain old fruit juice.

Movie – Current is A Moment to Remember (Korean), or My Sassy Girl (Korean also). All-time would probably be Princess Bride (awww) or Labyrinth.

Song – Currently most listened to are: YUI – Tokyo (Japanese, it calms me :) ), Dixie Chicks – Not Ready To Make Nice, Teagan & Sara – Where Does The Good Go, YUI – Feel My Soul, and well otherwise anything really.

Book – Angels & Demons by Dan Brown or the Harry Potter Series

Pass time – Watching movies, writing, reading, whatever

About Me:

Hair: Long light brown (it’s not mousy!)

Eyes: Grayish-blue

Height: about 5 foot 7

Age: 23

Occupation: Front Desk Receptionist/Night Auditor at a Hotel (hence my pale skin and dark eye circles)

Status: Single :(

Animals: A dog Angel and a Beta fish Gabriel

Family: 2 brothers (1 by blood) and 1 sister. Mother lives in USA and Dad and Step-mom live here. I live on my own now with a roommate and her 3 cats, 1 dog and 2 beta fish. It’s a zoo, I swear.

How I spend my time:

I watch a ton of movies having recently discovered how amazing Asian cinema really is. Korean’s know their dramas! I’m trying to learn Japanese right now through my obsession with a live action series called Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (don’t ask…no, I said don’t…fine, go ahead…yes…yes…no…ugh, never mind) which is long, hard but oddly fun. This summer I will not exist, as I will be focused on helping the Hotel through the strike, as I’m sure I’ve stated before, and pretty much nothing else.

Well I don’t know what else to say about myself so if anyone has any questions uh…leave a comment! :)

If not well then my blog will continue without it…

New Dog

犬 あらた Inu arata

Or is itあらた Arata inu ...hmmm still have no clue in word order, forgive me! (済みませんsumimasen!)

It’s only 7:00pm and I’m already yawning…I’m so sleeeeeeeeeepy! I’m on a 4-12 schedule right now so it’s kind of odd that I’m already tired, but well…it happens I guess. Only 5 more hours to go before I get to go home!!! Tomorrow night will be worse though, not only do we have a bus coming in (they are all Chinese! Too bad it wasn’t Japanese… :)) but I’m also going to be attempting a change over to a 12-8 shift. So after my 4-12 shift tomorrow night I’ll attempt to stay up all night and only go to sleep after 8am so I can get a proper sleep and not have to worry about being too tired when I go in at midnight on Sunday. But wait, it gets worse, right after that one 12-8 shift I have to do yet another shift change BACK to 4-12. So that means that I’ll be trying to stay up alllllllll day Monday so that I can go to sleep after midnight so I can (again) get my proper sleep so when Wednesday comes I’ll be able go through my 4-12 shift without being asleep at the desk. But I’m not complaining! Oh no! But I would like to say this: Ugh…that’s it, that’s all I wanted to say…ugh.

Anyway, enough bitching and moaning, it’s been about a week since I last updated so I guess we should get down to business so-to-speak. Things are well, as well as can be expected which is great. Crystal got herself a new dog yesterday from the animal shelter. His name’s Quincy, he’s a mutt of some sort, Crystal took pity on him because apparently he was brought back a few times. Angel’s NOT getting along with him as well as I would have hoped. Now, anyone that knows my dog, and has ever seen my dog around other animals (especially other dogs) knows EXACTLY what I mean. Angel is very possessive of me, I’m her mommy and that’s that. So they’ve chased each other a few times, barked and growled and sniffed each other’s butt’s a bit. It’s only been two days but I really hope they both calm down with each other soon. Otherwise, I’ll need a new bottle of Advil VERY soon. Unfortunately though, the cats are not taking to Quincy so well, if you can call how Angel’s behaving “well”. That’s a sin, because I know if Crystal thinks long and hard about it, she’ll end up having to give away the dog. Her cats are just about everything to her now. Poor Quincy doesn’t deserve to be taken from one home to another, he needs a permanent home…Enough of that too now, I’ll start to feel heartsick.

Well, to be quite honest not much else is new lately besides the new addition to the apartment. So I think I’ll leave this as-is tonight, upload the entry when I get home after work and try to remember to update more frequently. Ah, and as requested check on the roommate’s clothes in the dryer, must not forget!

Well, for now, it looks like the blog goes on…

Second Year

だいに ねんかん Daini Nenkan

We’re now a few days into the second year of the strike and with a long (busy) summer ahead of us I’m psyching and gearing myself up for it. I’ll actually this summer be able to go outside a couple of times and help with the buses which should be an interesting experience. I have a base already with dealing with the strikers face-to-face since I was front and center for many of the labor board hearings that have taken place since last September. With that under my belt, I can already expect to be biting my tongue (hard) because I know they will try their hardest to get under our skin. It was extremely difficult at the labor board holding my comments to myself when what I heard 95% or the time were blatant lies/half truths/twisted stories. With the strong sense I was instilled with growing up and the common sense I’ve gained through the last 8 years and now with the amount of growing up I’ve done in the last year alone I can say that I’m ready for pretty much anything.

With my brave stupidity in place, the summer will be a breeze. Yes, I’ve named it. It’s what I’ve gained (my own personal curse) working at the Hotel, brave stupidity. I know now (as my GM so openly pointed out to me) that I’ll jump into pretty much any situation if I need to, deal with it and then find the nearest corner and maybe cry a bit about it. Nevertheless, that’s okay, I can deal with that, put on the brave face, come face-to-face with their childish yelling and taunting and do my job. Besides, I know damn well what’s to come when all this is over with and by God, I’ll stick it out to see it happen. That and of course I want to run outside and dance on the front step the day it’s all over. (Cause that would be fun :) )

And as for my twitch (This is for you mom) I’ve been dealing with it since I found out I’d be going to the labor board (and for what reason) probably at the end of August, early September last year. I’m really not that nervous anymore, it just sorta comes back on those days (or weeks) that are a bit more involved, or hectic, or stressful. It’s all good though, because it could be so much worse huh? I just have to watch that my heart doesn’t start palpitating or my blood pressure gets too high, cause…yeah…that’s bad. So a twitch, I can deal with.

Enough of that tonight, I don’t want the twitch to return. It’s Friday night anyway, so that gives me enough tension. It's a quiet enough night though thankfully so tension will drop again and i'll be fast asleep warm and cozy in my bed soon enough. :)

*****

Ah, I'm home now, off tonight which is always a good thing. Angel's fast asleep next to me signaling once again that I should be snoring along side her (I DO NOT SNORE!) So off I go to finish up a conversation with my favorite sister (poet-in-training) in the world (Ha) then straight to the pillow.

Until later I'm sure...

Tension

テンション Tenshon

Tension level = MAX

It’s just a minute or two before midnight and my tension levels have skyrocketed just now. I realized that it was just before midnight on the eve of the Hotel being on strike for one year. The reason of all the tension would have to be all the thoughts and ideas that run through my head of what may happen, what the strikers may do or what some overzealous citizens may cook-up. With every flash of light in the window of a passing car to each moving shadow of a tree or each creak inside this old hotel my heart skips a beat and my eyes dart up to see what isn’t really there. Ah…where’s my ghost when I need him. I can handle many things here at work, hell I do handle many weird things here at work but sometimes my mind gets the better of me as it races.

Okay…12:01AM…not bad, the minutes are still passing, that is always a good sign. I think it would have been easier tonight to come in at midnight and have Crystal here with me for a few minutes longer, I may have procrastinated a bit, keeping her here longer but I think she would have seen or guessed my tension and played the good friend in comforting me somewhat. Alternatively, maybe she would have been more inclined to be telling me not to worry so damn much and pull myself together. Either one would have been welcomed, trust me. However that wasn’t able to happen as the girl for tomorrow’s morning shift called in to cancel so Crystal being the ever vigilant front desk manager extraordinary (cough, cough) so graciously accepted the morning shift so I came in (perhaps a little begrudgingly but I came in nonetheless) a couple hours early to replace her. At least this way I’m sure to be replaced in the morning (I’ll be calling if you sleep in!!) and Crystal gets at least SOME sleep tonight. So it’s all good. We want so badly for this hotel to succeed now that I think we’d pretty much kill ourselves over it anyway, so this is nothing. (Now Crystal’s about ready to kill me for that comment, hoping that no one else from work reads this :P) It’s all good, right? :)

Okay tension level is dropping….slowly….minutes still thankfully passing. It’s now half past midnight, and all is still quiet. However, unfortunately the twitch is back... (Yes, my eye twitches from time-to-time.) They probably all had their fill for the night what with their party at the union hall (yes…the strikers had a party) to celebrate (?) their one year anniversary. (How is that right, please, anyone?) And, their driving by the Hotel (twice was it Crystal?) beeping their horns and hollering like hillbilly maniacs. (Heh, no offense mom, really :) ) If that is the worse, they do tonight, well good on them, and for me.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings what with their much-advertised press conference in front of the Hotel in the morning. (Too bad I’ll be sleeping… hopefully…by the time that rolls around) Ah, speaking of the press, the Northern Light (our weekly paper here) had a WONDERFUL article in it, actually two articles in it, about the strike. One article from the strikers and their union (bleh) reps perspectives (I’m sorry but I/we will NOT forget what they’ve done/said as they state it’ll be all easily forgotten when they walk back in the front doors), and the other from our and the owner here’s perspectives. I hope that all of the city will read this and finally get SOME sort of clue as to what’s really going on here, and stop being so damn naïve. I guess not everyone is born with a spec (at least) of common sense, ah such is life. So here I am, 23 years old living through an experience that not many people get to share (be thankful) and growing closer and closer with the people I work side-by-side with as no one gets the chance to really in life. I wouldn’t trade that for anything as it has forced me to grow profoundly, and appreciate a bit more my attributes, and qualities. (Ah common sense, where would I be without you?) I will carry this experience with me for my entire life, along with it, the bond I’ve gained with those wonderful (yes, you too Crystal…) people inside those large glass paned doors of the Hotel. So I guess, tension aside (as unpredictability of the night-shift scares me from time-to-time) I can honestly say that I’ve done right by my morals and values in crossing that picket line for the first time on June 1^st, 2005. One of these days, when the ridiculousness of this strike is over with and they’ve all gone home with their tail’s between their legs, my God will this Hotel be jumping! I kinda can’t wait…

Well, I guess that’s enough for now, I may however write more later (if I feel like it :) ) because this really is only going to be posted in the morning when I get home anyway. Moreover, considering it’s still fairly early, I have a long night ahead of me, which means I will get bored.

Ah, and so my rambling continues...