righteous indignation
today has been a day of not speaking up enough.  in the first incident, i stopped for lunch at quizno's to enjoy a yummy grilled sandwich.  i love quizno's.  i fell in love with quizno's in college, as there was one in town.  but i digress.  when i got there there were two people in front of me in line.  the first guy was taking a long time to order.  i couldn't hear what they were talking about but i think he was just really particular about his order.  i got kind of annoyed, but it was only a minute.  not long to wait, but something one is unaccustomed to in a fast-food type situation.  when the same guy went to pay, the cashier, who i think was also the manager, asked for 99 cents more because the sandwich somehow required "extra meat".  the customer was kind of making a fuss, not understanding why he was being charged extra.  but the cashier dude was really obnoxious.  he was essentially loudly berating the customer in front of a crowded store.  do you want the sandwich?  no?  then he took it away and put it behind him and the customer was confused because he did want the sandwich.  i felt sooooo bad for him because he was really being embarassed.  it only occured to me later as i was "enjoying" my own lunch at a table next to this customer that i should have gone up to the cashier and asked him if it brought him satisfaction to embarass this guy in front of the whole store.  because that's essentially what he was doing.  he wasn't trying to make a point that the customer was mistaken or anything.  the cashier just wanted to belittle the guy, and what the fuck is that about?

in situation number two, i went to ikea.  during the checkout, i was wrapping some glass items i bought in plastic so i wasn't supervising the cashier.  but i did notice him ask the people behind me if we were together.  we weren't.  when he told me the total, i thought it was a little high but didn't say anything because i can easily go into stores like ikea and target and spend more than i intended.  but after i paid, as i was walking away, i looked at the receipt and noticed some items that really didn't seem like mine because they were more expensive than anything i had bought.  after taking inventory, i realized that they really weren't mine, so i went back to the cashier and asked him about the items.  he looked and within a few seconds explained that they were items of the customers behind me.  he finished the transaction he was in the middle of, then asked me if i could wait five minutes while he rang up the next few customers in line.  i said no.  first of all, when was he going to stop and take care of me if the whole concept of checkout lines is that when one person is finished, another usually takes his place.  second of all, it wasn't my mistake, i wasn't making an unnecessary fuss so i refused to wait.  all i said, though, was no, i want to go home.  but do you realize what happened?  this guy scanned two items that were on the conveyor belt, asked the two guys if we were together, they said no, didn't cancel the items on my receipt, and then scanned the items again so the people behind me could pay for them!!  and how do i know this, because i asked if i had paid for their stuff and he said no.  so after taking my credit card, he turned around scanned the exact same items again and was going to let me walk out paying $50 more for stuff that i never bought.  i mean, really, what nerve!!!!!!!!!!!!! it isn't THAT difficult to void an item or two.  i know because i've worked at target as a cashier and it's just a few keystrokes.  he just thought i wasn't going to notice or something?! grr!

more politics
just watched clinton's speech at the democratic national convention.  he was far less slimy than i remember him being when i watched one of his state of the union addresses.  but then on the news, the reporter said that george w. bush "scraped his knee" after falling off his bike at his ranch.  two things.  one: yet again, bush is at his ranch.  b: isn't this the second time he's fallen off his bike?!  do we really want a guy who can't ride a freaking bicycle to be president?!!??!!! 

speaking of bicycles, i just bought a new one today (with help from dad, thanks!).  i was really interested in the trek navigator 300 because it rides so smoothly and comfortably.  but a guy at another bike shop said, uhh, well, i usually sell those to "older" customers.  you're young, he continued, so i went with a more rugged bike.  today, when i went to pick my lovely shiny new blue bike up, there was an "older" woman picking up her navigator 300 from a tune-up...

 

a moment in history
is this a turning point in american politics, where people are no longer disillusioned or apathetic?  here's an article in the new york times about politics dividing familes and igniting lunch counters everywhere (or at least in new jersey).  will this result in a higher voter turnout?  not in my family, because i'm going to do everything in my power to keep my parents from voting for the first time in their lives.  because they want to vote for bush.  i know, i'm evil. 

e-bola
i woke up this morning with the aches and pains of someone with the flu.  i think i have e-bola, or maybe it's motaba.  either way, today was one of the hardest days of my life, as i still had to do 6 hours of day camp with 6 crazy kids, one of which was snotnosed and gave me this disease.  oooh tomorrow is friday and i am so joyful!

grass is greener part the 4th
i can't wait until i have nothing dramatic to talk about in my life.  no crap from work, no crap from my family.  just the mundane study stuff of law school.  HA!  fat chance. 

today, my boss' brother-in-law passed away after a long illness.  i feel badly, but for me, this meant having to teach some afternoon classes, after a long day of daycamp.  thankfully, the kids were remarkably well-behaved.  it made my heart hurt.  i love how excited the little kids get about learning taekwondo. 

so i missed sleepaway camp.  it finished this past saturday.  but a friend who worked for a week told me a story of a little girl named taylor.  she's a lovely, sweet girl, but has some emotional issues.  she started coming about 3 or 4 years ago, when i was still a lifeguard.  taylor absolutely hated the water.  she was petrified of it, actually.  if took all summer to get her just to jump into the water, and as soon as she did she somehow managed to paddle so hard as to levitate herself right back out.  last summer, i remember her being able to talk herself into the lake.  it was totally mind-over-matter.  the fish will go away as soon as you jump in, scared by the splash, and will leave you alone if you keep moving.  these were the lies we gave the girls to get them to swim.  just like water snakes won't bite you in the water because they'll drown if they open their mouths.  anyways, my friend told me that this summer, taylor was talking other girls into the water, telling them the same encouragements we told her.  my heart burst with love as soon as i heard the story.  it's for moments like that that i love camp so much, although they get lost in all the bullshit and drama of 50 girls stuck in the woods together. 

...but who's counting?
two down, three to go -- taekwondo day camp.
one and a half down, one and a half to go -- day camp in general.
four -- nights left to work at the club.

tub o lard
i think i'm getting back into some bad habits, like the ones i had before i went on my trip to new zealand in march.  i'm eating a lot, watching a lot of tv, eating a lot, spending money, being anti-social.  it's really gross.  i put on a lot of weight before i went on holiday, and i was also really depressed.  there's just a lot of shit getting to me right now, i think.  in the winter, i was really run down from working six or seven days a week, and sick all the time from the germs from the kids.  now i'm a bit stressed from my upcoming move, slightly financially stressed, and my parents are putting me in the middle of their manipulative games again.  and all this working for some reason day camp is sooo much more tiring than sleepaway.  maybe because at sleepaway camp i had the support and pleasure of some really good friends and being in the woods.  here, it's hot, humid and gross.  blech.
 

so tired
i've been getting up at 6:30 am every day this week to get to day camp in time to prepare and set-up.  i almost feel like i'm jet-lagged.  and i just took a little nap and i feel great but it was literally for like 5 minutes! argh!
 

BLEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHH
this has been an absolutely horrible day. i got a speeding ticket on the way to daycamp, even tho' i was TOTALLY going with the flow of traffic. two incidents of public embarassemnt: i tripped up the escalator at the mall and it took me three times to parallel park at the post office -- it was really really bad. and then i overdrew my checking account. man, what a waste of money. i'm going to take a nap and pretend that when i wake up, it's a new day.

calves
i learned something from my master at practice on tuesday night. he was saying that all the good taekwondo guys have giant calves. their thighs might be small, but their calves are ginormous because every motion in taekwondo depends on the calf, even just standing still practically, because you should always be loaded, and to be loaded, your knee is bent, flexing the calf.

so in short, taekwondo isn't going to make my calves any smaller, but at least it means i *could* be good at taekwondo.