wow - & i don't mean the game...
Ok, I'm gonna warn you guys, this entry is gonna be a loooooong one.
Firstly, I'm sure you all are wondering about the details to my trip to Japan. Let me tell you the story...
One day, around 2 weeks ago, Brandon sent me an e-mail containing info on some tickets to Japan that were on sale. He didn't think much of them, except to show me that he's never seen them so low in the 6 or so years that he's been looking. I looked at the e-mail and it showed the tix going for $400/person roundtrip. Normally, these tickets go for about $800-$1000. As I stared at this extremely discounted price, I started wondering if I could actually pull it off. Brandon says, "Well, I just wanted to show you that before it went bye-bye." & he started walking out of the room. I turned to him as he was almost out the office door & said, "You know, we can go." & he just kind'a looked at me funny & proceded to walk out. He comes back in & then it starts to sink in that yes, I was getting a check from financial aid. We could go, if we got the tickets cheap enough. So we then embarked on the most stressfull days of our exsistance. Everyday I waited for my check to arrive, while everyday checking online to make sure the offer still stood. Then, 4 days after we saw the e-mail (this was a Friday), I got my check. We were so excited, we raced to the bank. Luck, however, was not on our side (or so that's how it felt at the time). Since my mail arrives at 3pm, I could not do same day deposit. My check would go through sometime Monday night. Monday night?! How could I wait another 3 days until i could buy my tix?! What if they sold out? AHHH! So, all we can do is wait. At this point, Brandon has stopped looking online an the prices, & basically just tried not to get too excited about anything. Then, Monday night comes. I'm at the computer from midnight, waiting, refreshing my bank page, to see the $$ go though. Finally, it's 4 something in the morning. I can barely keep my eyes open. B's already fallen asleep. I have class at 8am. I ask Ale to check my bank for me, since she's up cleaning (bless her little cleaning soul). I get to bed. Not 20 mins pass before my cell is ringing. "Dude, I think your money's in the bank," she says. "What? Ok, I'm going to the computer!" Sure enough, there it was.$2117.00. ::sigh:: Wonderful. Now, blind due to lack of contacts, I peer into the monitor & punch dates and locations into various travel companies online & voila! There it is, on Orbitz. I press the "buy" button.... I wait, & bam! The tickets are mine! The total for each ticket was $548. Not too shabby. I run into the bedroom, turn on the light & starts yelling, "We're going to Japan!, we're going to Japan!" B is, of course, dead asleep. He wakes up long enough to kind'a smile, & then falls back alseep. It won't sink in until later. So, excited, I go to bed, miss class in the morning, and proceed to tell anyone who'll listen that we're going to the other side of the world. Oh, yea, we're going to Georgia on the 12th of March, staying with B's mom overnight & then she's driving us to Atlanta Airport in the morning. Our flight leaves at 10am, to Detroit, then on to Osaka. We'll arrive something like 14 hours later. Ugh. We'll stay the night in Osaka, then take the bullet train to Tokyo, where we'll stay for 4 nights. Somewhere along those days in Tokyo we're gonna go to Nagano, where I'll get to see & bathe with, the Japanese Macaques, who're famous for keeping warm in the natural hot springs, just like the humans do. Then, we'll go back down to Kyoto, where we'll stay the last 2 nights, and then back to Osaka, where the airport is. Ooooo, excitement. I've been learning lots of Japanese. Phrases such as, "Please speak more slowly," & "Does anyone speak English?" are already commited to memory, along with, "Where is the toilet?" and "Where is the train station?" I booked our hostels a few days ago, so we've got our places to stay. B's mom is giving us $800 which will pay for our Japan Rail Pass (ride any train/bus/subway with this pass for 1 week) and our hostels. Then, we just need $ for food and souveniers. We're both trying to get second jobs, him more than me since I'm also in school, so we can afford the rest of our trip and that leads me to my next topic....
Moving! Brandon decided that he's ready to move in with me full-time, and ready to get rid of his apartment. We were freaking out wondering how we were gonna find someone to sublease from him. Then, at work, Harriet came along. She's looking for a place, and she works 2 jobs and goes to school right around the block from where B lives, so it all works out. She went to the apartment yesterday to fill out the application, now she just needs her guarantor paper signed, which she'll do today or t'morrow, and then the place'll be hers! Yesterday, Danny helped us move his TV & fridge, which were the heaviest things he had left to move. Now he's just got small stuff, like his computer & PS2 left. After he moved out, we were planning on moving into this place we found called Barrington Apts. It's right up the road from where I live (Tower Rd, I mean) but it's so much closer to the mall & I-75 and I won't have to pass that annoying school zone anymore. The rent is $660/mo & they're ok with my pets. The place is so roomy! But, now the only thing standing in my way is...
I got called for an interview for Miami Metrozoo today! It was so unexpected. I was at the shoe store, looking for some new sneakers for the trip, when my phone rang. I looked at the 305 area code and though, "Hmm. I wonder if mom's calling me from somewhere different." I picked up an the woman told me who she was & I freaked! She said we'll do a phone interview on Friday at 2pm and if all goes well fromt here I'll have to come down for a walk-in interview. Ahhh! So now, if I get this job, I'll have to move down to Miami. I told Brandon while he was at work this morning and he told me to go for it. Hopefully, that means he'll come down with me if I move. Just when I thought the stress was over...
So, that's all the excitment from this side of the world. I don't write much in Livejournal cuz normally there's nothing exciting to write about. But I guess this all constitutes as exciting.
Oh, and if anyone would like to donate $ to the "Christina/Brandon Japan Trip" let me know. We'll bring you back a cool souvenier.
Firstly, I'm sure you all are wondering about the details to my trip to Japan. Let me tell you the story...
One day, around 2 weeks ago, Brandon sent me an e-mail containing info on some tickets to Japan that were on sale. He didn't think much of them, except to show me that he's never seen them so low in the 6 or so years that he's been looking. I looked at the e-mail and it showed the tix going for $400/person roundtrip. Normally, these tickets go for about $800-$1000. As I stared at this extremely discounted price, I started wondering if I could actually pull it off. Brandon says, "Well, I just wanted to show you that before it went bye-bye." & he started walking out of the room. I turned to him as he was almost out the office door & said, "You know, we can go." & he just kind'a looked at me funny & proceded to walk out. He comes back in & then it starts to sink in that yes, I was getting a check from financial aid. We could go, if we got the tickets cheap enough. So we then embarked on the most stressfull days of our exsistance. Everyday I waited for my check to arrive, while everyday checking online to make sure the offer still stood. Then, 4 days after we saw the e-mail (this was a Friday), I got my check. We were so excited, we raced to the bank. Luck, however, was not on our side (or so that's how it felt at the time). Since my mail arrives at 3pm, I could not do same day deposit. My check would go through sometime Monday night. Monday night?! How could I wait another 3 days until i could buy my tix?! What if they sold out? AHHH! So, all we can do is wait. At this point, Brandon has stopped looking online an the prices, & basically just tried not to get too excited about anything. Then, Monday night comes. I'm at the computer from midnight, waiting, refreshing my bank page, to see the $$ go though. Finally, it's 4 something in the morning. I can barely keep my eyes open. B's already fallen asleep. I have class at 8am. I ask Ale to check my bank for me, since she's up cleaning (bless her little cleaning soul). I get to bed. Not 20 mins pass before my cell is ringing. "Dude, I think your money's in the bank," she says. "What? Ok, I'm going to the computer!" Sure enough, there it was.$2117.00. ::sigh:: Wonderful. Now, blind due to lack of contacts, I peer into the monitor & punch dates and locations into various travel companies online & voila! There it is, on Orbitz. I press the "buy" button.... I wait, & bam! The tickets are mine! The total for each ticket was $548. Not too shabby. I run into the bedroom, turn on the light & starts yelling, "We're going to Japan!, we're going to Japan!" B is, of course, dead asleep. He wakes up long enough to kind'a smile, & then falls back alseep. It won't sink in until later. So, excited, I go to bed, miss class in the morning, and proceed to tell anyone who'll listen that we're going to the other side of the world. Oh, yea, we're going to Georgia on the 12th of March, staying with B's mom overnight & then she's driving us to Atlanta Airport in the morning. Our flight leaves at 10am, to Detroit, then on to Osaka. We'll arrive something like 14 hours later. Ugh. We'll stay the night in Osaka, then take the bullet train to Tokyo, where we'll stay for 4 nights. Somewhere along those days in Tokyo we're gonna go to Nagano, where I'll get to see & bathe with, the Japanese Macaques, who're famous for keeping warm in the natural hot springs, just like the humans do. Then, we'll go back down to Kyoto, where we'll stay the last 2 nights, and then back to Osaka, where the airport is. Ooooo, excitement. I've been learning lots of Japanese. Phrases such as, "Please speak more slowly," & "Does anyone speak English?" are already commited to memory, along with, "Where is the toilet?" and "Where is the train station?" I booked our hostels a few days ago, so we've got our places to stay. B's mom is giving us $800 which will pay for our Japan Rail Pass (ride any train/bus/subway with this pass for 1 week) and our hostels. Then, we just need $ for food and souveniers. We're both trying to get second jobs, him more than me since I'm also in school, so we can afford the rest of our trip and that leads me to my next topic....
Moving! Brandon decided that he's ready to move in with me full-time, and ready to get rid of his apartment. We were freaking out wondering how we were gonna find someone to sublease from him. Then, at work, Harriet came along. She's looking for a place, and she works 2 jobs and goes to school right around the block from where B lives, so it all works out. She went to the apartment yesterday to fill out the application, now she just needs her guarantor paper signed, which she'll do today or t'morrow, and then the place'll be hers! Yesterday, Danny helped us move his TV & fridge, which were the heaviest things he had left to move. Now he's just got small stuff, like his computer & PS2 left. After he moved out, we were planning on moving into this place we found called Barrington Apts. It's right up the road from where I live (Tower Rd, I mean) but it's so much closer to the mall & I-75 and I won't have to pass that annoying school zone anymore. The rent is $660/mo & they're ok with my pets. The place is so roomy! But, now the only thing standing in my way is...
I got called for an interview for Miami Metrozoo today! It was so unexpected. I was at the shoe store, looking for some new sneakers for the trip, when my phone rang. I looked at the 305 area code and though, "Hmm. I wonder if mom's calling me from somewhere different." I picked up an the woman told me who she was & I freaked! She said we'll do a phone interview on Friday at 2pm and if all goes well fromt here I'll have to come down for a walk-in interview. Ahhh! So now, if I get this job, I'll have to move down to Miami. I told Brandon while he was at work this morning and he told me to go for it. Hopefully, that means he'll come down with me if I move. Just when I thought the stress was over...
So, that's all the excitment from this side of the world. I don't write much in Livejournal cuz normally there's nothing exciting to write about. But I guess this all constitutes as exciting.
Oh, and if anyone would like to donate $ to the "Christina/Brandon Japan Trip" let me know. We'll bring you back a cool souvenier.