SO WHO'S WITH ME in cramming in Hot Topic on Thursday to meet Cory Monteith, Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Dianna Agron and Mark Salling?!?!

The only thing that could make this better is if Jane Lynch was on the tour too...



( For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about: Promo and info under this cut )

My friend Ernie is making his own fight stick for the 360, and offered to make one for me as well. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

I managed to find a wired controller off Amazon at a great price. There are a lot of different panel layouts to choose from, depending on the game, and feel. I finally decided on the Astro City / Blast City layout. :D



I have pictures to share that Ernie has sent of the work done so far. MOAR pictures here.

I forgot to mention I have started using Twitter.

Last Friday my friend Susie let me borrow the book Trans-Sister Radio. I took it with me when I went to stay with sneskid for the weekend. Saturday we met up with Angelique at Tysons to have lunch and see Coraline in 3-D.

The only thing I'll get at the food court there is Bulgogi from Taka Grille. Granted I always think of blackjackie999 teasing edokun and me but yours is still the best :) IF ANYONE knows where I can find Korean food locally I will be very happy. Google "Bulgogi in Staunton VA" without quotes and this journal is the second link. orz... I think maybe Harrisonburg or Charlottesville will be my best bets..

Back to the point. The three of us are walking into B&N when I see a special events poster saying that Chris Bohjalian will talk about Skeletons at the Feast on 2/11 at 7pm. I stare thinking the name is SO familiar, finally I find his books and Trans-Sister Radio is right there staring back saying, "UH DUH." At this point a series of events are being put into motion in my mind.. I called work to check my hours. 5:30a-11:30a Wednesday and back in at 10:30a Thursday.

Yes I drove to Tysons and back in one day to get a man's autograph. Chris is a really nice guy. I messaged him on Facebook to tell him how Susie received it and he friended me before sending a modest reply.

Totally worth it to see Susie's reaction when I met her at the Visualite to see Milk this past Saturday. Yes I know that was Valentine's day, and no it wasn't a date.

Uncle Howie will be closing 300 more Starbucks stores. 200 of those will be in the US. Too bad he doesn't give a time line other then FY09 OR explain what under performing equals. I can tell you right now I have a feeling my store will die, because we've never made a profit and we cost the company just staying open.

I know I haven't explained what's been going on at my store, but I kinda wish it'll happen so I have an easy way out...

Things just haven't been the same.

So I should have been at work hours ago... But I said FORGET it when I saw all the ice.

I'm just lucky at how my driveway is setup.

Do you see where I parked my car yesterday?? The emergency brake is on...

Typealizer

A Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for blogs, journals, etc. :D You guys should totally check it out and see if your writing style matches your personality. Mine.... kinda.. Although it's still in BETA status.

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don't like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Now, whenever I actually take the test I end up with ISFJ. Same results every time. For years...

ISFJ - The Nurturers

The quiet, devoted and sympathetic type. They are especially attuned to the present moment, the details of the task at hand and the people involved. They are not big-picture people and tend to be suspicious of future possibilities. They tend to trust history MUCH more than the future. The Nurturers enjoy safe and harmonic work places with few surprises and clear goals. Because they are so nice and generous people may have to look out not to be taken advantage of. It might be important for them to learn to speak up for themselves.

My family moved here 6 years ago. o.O;

My mother's father died on June 27th, 2005. Roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes before his 96th birthday. The last time I saw him alive was his 95th birthday. That's what this LJ tells me if I check the tags, but I can only remember anything as recent as his 94th birthday.



The last time should have been the 2005 Battle of Lewisburg Living History and Reenactment that was held in his honor but that ended up being the same weekend I was put into Crossroads for the first time.

Right now I just wanted to repost the tributes.

Dad and I went to see a preview of Twelfth Night at Blackfriars tonight. It's my favorite of all of Shakespeare's works and I am so much more in love with it now because of the cast and the energy. I cannot even begin to think of what to say right now. So much love. <3

I've read it many times before, the most recent being this past Tuesday night. That was actually the night of the first preview, but I had to attend a mandatory meeting at work. That's ok. I have every showing marked on the calendar. I plan on going to the final preview this Saturday as well as the opening night next Friday. The last show will be December 5th.

I didn't think much of it at first but we sat in the Lords Chairs seating. Right next to the stage, stage right even, without actually sitting on the stage. Which you can do as well. L 3 and 4 on this chart. My favorite movie adaption has to be this one with Imogen Stubbs as Viola and Helena Bonham Carter. I fell in love with her as Olivia. I know I have forced many folks to watch it with me in the past. So I'll tell you this now. I'll gladly take anyone to see it up close and personal. So much better experiencing the experience that is Blackfriars. And I promise that you'll have deal with me bouncing off the walls though :D

I also want to add that I can't wait until Starbucks is open in the morning so I can gush to Chelsea about it!!

What does it mean to you to be authentic?

I love making the joke of always keeping it Riel, staying TRU(e), etc. I would like to hope that I never come off as being fake. I want people to be able to put their trust and faith in me and I want the same of others.

To me if anything a show of being authentic is the testament of all my friends that I have known for years and kept up with via the internet. I've been blessed with the fact that many times I've gone out on a limb and met some amazing people. I am happy that my parents have supported me in my adventures and I have been once again blessed that I have never had any scary encounters of meeting someone who was not what they portray in the virtual sense. I've known my people like Jason and Mike since I was 15 and I can't say that I could just as easily find that kind of resilience as easily now. Even with the distance between us it's one of the strongest bonds and I can't say that I've ever really found that in these recent years..

I took advantage of this and got the DVD in the mail yesterday. I watched it tonight and while I have no intention of ever becoming a bartender it is educational and highly amusing. For example the bar spoon that is shown and used in this DVD is the same spoon we use at Starbucks to stir Green Tea Lattes. :D

Tomorrow I'm heading to Richmond for an open forum. Sue, Violet and I are riding with another SM in our DM's car. Should be entertaining. I will be recording the Q&A like I did with the one at the Mid-Atlantic Regional office in Vienna when Howard Behar was the speaker.

I applied for the Warhammer Online Beta and Newsletter exactly ONE YEAR AGO. o.O;

I have been sitting on this icon for way too long.. heh heh eheheh.

I went on VACATION. To NC to visit Jason, D and Jen. GPS told me to take 501, that was a lot of fun. Slow, but curvy. hmm curves. it was AWESOME.

Link to TRIP ROUTE

We didn't even go sight seeing. And no we didn't go to the beach. Fuck the beach. Hell I didn't even go to Starbucks until I drove home today. Yesterday, whatever. Sunday. I hate allergies... Also I never know what to do around dogs.. and small children. D and Jen have 2 dogs. no kids..... This was also the first time that I met Jen, but damn she and D are so well matched/suited. Speaking of matched...... Crystal is getting married on September 13th. CRAZY.

Who is going to play WARHAMMER ONLINE? I tried to read through the lore this weekend and watch J and D play a game but I couldn't follow it..... The bickering was soothing though. Always a comfort to hear those two argue. I used to go to sleep listening to them on Ventrillo when we were playing WoW and DAoC. So yeah we're all going to play WAR online and I have no idea what to play really.... I was thinking Chaos Zealot and High Elf White Lion... I just want my beloved Dragoon and Bard without playing FFXI again because that would mean I'd be alone even with Komet by my side. :'(

I am officially insured, after 3 years.. Actually better off than I was at Blockbuster, but that's the case in every little detail. Now I just have to basically keep 20 hours a week to keep it.

That's only a little bit harder since I started assessment at WWRC on January 14th. I'm there from 8am tli 3:30pm. For the most part its going well. I like the students in my class, they're nice. There's still a major sense of isolation for me, I feel out of place as a day student. Its a trade up though. While I miss most of what goes on at WWRC and the students staying on campus, I am not on lock down like they are. We all follow the same rules only more apply to them, then myself.. While when we had that snow, they were able to go to class for at least half the day and I couldn't at all. I was also at a disadvantage in that everyone in my class started a week before me. My counselor felt I didn't need that orientation, which I guess might be true..

So here's what's been going on in 'class.' Everything is self paced. Textbook work on Word and Excel 2k3.. Then this online customer service training from National Seminars Training called Through the Customer's Eyes. It is a little cheesy but I really liked it, a lot of the same principles are ingrained and taught at Starbucks. It was nice to see a different perspective, and I end up getting certified in the process. I took notes of course. So I'll have a certificate and something flashy to put on my resume. There's also Keyboarding and then Study Skills.

In Study Skills we basically have to show that we're proficient in Englsih and Math, etc and know how to study and manage time.. We're taking these standardized 7th grade POS type tests that I've taken a few times here before. I felt like I was being treated like a kid, having 3rd grade English for homework.. But it wasn't really that bad and I misunderstood the teachers attitude at first, Mrs. Gold is actually alright. :) I need to really look back on my DBTs and mindfulness....

Today during work Lisa gave me my first pin. A Moves of Uncommon Greatness (M.U.G.) Award. I was totally surprised.
The M.U.G. Award allows partners to recognize co-workers for “Moves of Uncommon Greatness” that help them achieve their goals. It’s a way of saying “Thanks for helping me out, I couldn’t have done it without you!”

We have a "coffee passport" that must be completed by January 16th. Basically its a little book that has a small blurb about every coffee, and you take notes and put a stamp for the coffees you've tasted. At bare minimum that's 25 different coffees.

These little books barely tell you about the coffees and we have so many different resources that can tell you so much more. Only no one takes the time to read the manuals and any other stuff we have to help you understand the coffees, like the Aroma Kit.

I've spent weeks studying the coffee and tea resource manual. Taking notes, and copying everything I can, as well as any info I can find online. I've been making documents that put all the information together in one place instead of 3 or whatever. I'm doing this for myself, but of course people notice when you practically live in the store with your nose in a book. On more than one occasion I have been at work from open till close.

Since I'm already doing all this work I've been convinced by Sue, Candess and Lisa to work on becoming a Coffee Master. This basically would give me recognition and easily point out that I'm the go-to person for anything coffee related. They get to wear a special Black Apron instead of the standard green apron. There's more to it, but once I can actually start officially training, I'll let you in on it.

Back to the MUG Award.. I've made a store copy of what i have about the coffees . I didn't feel it was fair to not share all this info with the rest of the store. The others need to know this info as well, and a part of being a CM is making sure your store is well informed as well.

Also I am generally working on Drive-Thru (DT) and one customer had this playing in his car when he came up to the window.. It was stuck in my head for the rest of the shift. :)

This one is gonna be all over the place. The past couple of days have been a real roller coaster.. Finding out that it was this weekend that Cappy is leaving, and me having to work. I didn't think I'd get to see her at all. But at the last minute Kevin was a doll and he let me switch with him so that I could see Cappy off. I seriously owe him one. I was supposed to open today.

Last night I drove to Fairfax and picked up Angelique before heading out to Hard Times where we met up with everyone else to have a few drinks. Lots and lots of pictures were taken on Cappy's camera. :) When it was closing time I dropped off Angelique and headed off to Kate's. This whole night was deja vu. The scramble to pack / getting things to fit and make it out the door.. All of it was just like last time. Very much a feeling of "here we go again."

Amanda, Kate and I went with her to Dulles. I gave Cappy one of my famous hugs before she went thru security, and we all watched her till we couldn't see her anymore before heading home.. but I don't think it's set in for me yet. Even with Kate bawling, like last time. There's nothing we could do though really, only Cappy could have fixed that. I'm not sure what is more heartbreaking. Seeing those two trying not to cry for each others sake, or seeing them fall apart when they break away. Even as emotional as it was I do think it was on a good note. I don't think she got on that plane holding any anger.

I was crying to Cappy on the phone a few nights ago because I didn't think I could get off work. The prospect then of upsetting her and not even having the chance to see her one last time seemed to affect me more in the moment then watching her fade away into the crowd.. possibly gone for good. The last time I didn't cry at the airport but ended up sobbing all the way home. It was the realization that I'm going home to nothing, away from everyone that I love (aside from family) was what finalized it then.

I punched the wall on the way to the car in frustration. Thats what I feel so far, just frustrated with this situation. I just want to hit stuff since I can't seem to physically react otherwise.. but I think some point soon I'm going to fall apart. I just don't know what the trigger is. All I thought about on the way home was that she's gone now.. I even wore a bunch of pink for her. It's her favorite color.

Cappy likes this song as well. Sometimes it's hard to stay mindful.