Current mood:

optimistic

And so it goes...
There have been ups and downs. For the moment, I feel okay.

I'll get the negative crap out of the way first.

Recently, one of our neighbors in the apartment complex has been a real jackass. The parking situation has been complicated, since Brett's car would currently get towed if on the street, and my brother and I park in the complex to ease on our own health issues. Normally, we only have two spots, but when I moved back, Brett had called the manager and asked if I could park in the spare space near the stairs. While the manager said it was okay, he never bothered notifying anyone of this, and at times people would use the spot and I would have to park in another spot in the lot (much to someone else's dismay). For a time, my brother's car was impounded, and I began parking in the spot he used to have. Once he got his car back, I parked based on whatever the situation turned out to be when I got home. If someone was parked in the spot by the stairs, and my brother wasn't home yet, I took his spot. This led my brother to going ahead and parking behind mine and Brett's cars, while trying to make enough room for people to get around in the lot. The aforementioned jerk neighbor, despite having a small car, insisted that he couldn't park or back out with my brother's car parked there. Amid some arguing that occurred on Friday night (after banging on our door, threatening damage to my brother's car), he proved that he could easily park even with my brother's car parked where it was. He continued to rant and complain that he wouldn't be able to back out, throwing what little remained of his soda at me and storming up to his apartment. The person who had been parked by the stairs was kind enough to move his car, so that my brother could park there instead. I thought that would be the end of it for now.

But no! When Brett and I go in my car to get dinner last night, we come back to find the jackass neighbor purposely parked in the middle of the lot, so that I couldn't park in my brother's spot or get past him to the spot by the stairs. He leans out from his apartment window all smug, and despite some talking from Brett, and some arguing from myself, refused to move his car. After looking at what gap was between the jerk's car and the start of the parking space on one side, I believed I could just barely squeeze through to park by the stairs. Brett guided me from outside as I carefully slid past, and I was able to park without any damage. This seemed to annoy the jerk, and he was talking crap as we went up to our apartment to finally have dinner. Brett considered reporting him, but the guy went down and eventually parked his car properly, proving that his sole intent was to bother me specifically.

Now I won't deny that I wasn't being nice to him. To have him banging on the door and scaring the hell out of me, yelling at me when I answer the door with threats to damage my brother's car, the first thing I could think to say was "Do you want to go to jail?" With him following up with insults on my appearance, he'd lost any reason for me to hold back on being pissed off. And I know a part of it was wanting to take a lot more out on him too... A lot of pent up frustrations... Anyway, I'm sure this isn't over. It would help if the manager were willing to actually talk to all of us together. He's been very avoidant about this situation, and I'm sure it's in part because he made a mistake.

Things with Mr. Z went south in the end. It's sad because there were 2 moments where I thought he was being very mature and understanding about stuff that had happened, only to realize later that he was actually mad at me. He said some very harsh things to me in that state... I wanted to see, after he was done with a project for a panel at a con, if he might realize that he had over-reacted to things. But this weekend it seemed rather evident that he did not want to talk about it, did not want to maintain a relationship. Even though there are things I want to say to him, I'm trying to move on.

And now for some positives.  You don't need me to cut these. =P

I'm glad that Catherine is feeling a bit better about the videos I posted. There's been a lot of positive feedback on both sides of the pond, and I'm hopeful everyone will support her when her debut comes out in the spring. In the meantime, it's possible I'll be getting a translation of the dialog from the videos, and may be able to put up subtitled versions soon.

I got curious about the previous year's winner, Kita Shuhei, while looking up videos on Nico Nico. It's difficult when I don't understand spoken Japanese. I've been trying to read his blog, and from what I can make out, he seems like a fun, sweet guy. =)



I love that video. <3 I went ahead and ordered his cds from CDJapan when it turned out none of the stores in Little Tokyo had them. I hope it makes a difference.

Thanksgiving was nice.  It's funny how it seems to go over better than Christmas.  I got to enjoy the wonderful cooking of my mom's husband, to meet my uncle's new wife and their baby girl, and to see my sister and her baby boy, who I can attest is the cutest baby I have ever seen. =)  I'll try to get some pictures up to share soon.

Despite things going downhill with Mr. Z, a nice form of comfort appeared at just the right time.  When I attended the Masquerade ball for this past Friday's event in Second Life, there was a gentleman cat that offered to dance with me when I sought a partner.  Interestingly enough, he had the same Luskwood tuxedo cat avatar that I had.  We talked a lot in IM and I found myself very comfortable around him.  He was even willing to indulge me when I wanted to take some pictures together.  =D  For the moment, I think things will be okay.

Two nights of Smashing Pumpkins goodness starting tomorrow!!!! <3333