I hate dealing with STUPID ASSHOLES.

RRRRRGGHHH. Visa Complication Part 2:

Good News First: There's apparently a decent chance that I will eventually receive the important package that may or may not be lost in the mail. Assuming the latter, things will probably turn out all right.

Rant: The person who I have to deal with in order to sort this all out PISSES ME OFF. Seriously, a few emails was enough for me to determine that this person is both rude AND incompetent.

So the issue is that this woman sent out an email a few weeks back asking us to update them on where we want our visa information sent. I saw the email, but only read the first paragraph (which just said that they received the packages from China). The email header didn't say anything like "IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ" or anything like that, and since they already had our home and school addresses on file, I assumed that first paragraph was all I needed to read. I mean, they sent it in the middle of the week, when I'm bombarded with classes and schoolwork here at Midd, so I just sort of filter everything else out. ^^;;

BUT ENOUGH WITH MY EXCUSES. In any case, I fucked up and only ended up finding out that I needed to give them an address a few days later, which happened to be the day after the packages were already sent out. I was told that I did have a "Visa Info Address" on file, but that it was the PO Box number of my school address and the zip code of my home address... and nothing else. I still don't know how the hell that happened. This woman who is responsible for handling this stuff sent me an email admonishing me about messing up, but I DID mess up, so I couldn't complain. Since the Visa Address they had on file was wrong, I figured they OBVIOUSLY would have enough sense to send it to my home address. They explicitly told me they couldn't send the package to a PO Box number, which automatically rules out my school address as well as the obviously incorrect non-address they had on file for the visa info.

But over two weeks have passed, and my mom told me she still hasn't received my package. After several emails and calls, today I got this email:

Me: I updated my visa address with the correct address, but it was the day after the packages were already sent out. At the time the packages were sent out, all that was written in my visa address tab was my school PO Box number and a zip code.

Her: That doesn't do much good if you updated the address after the packages were sent out. Please follow directions next time. Your package will probably be returned to us.

I know the difference between my being sensitive and someone just being flat-out condescending. But the words "That doesn't do much good if you updated the address after the packages were sent out" are most DEFINITELY condescending. Well maybe you people SHOULD HAVE SOME COMMON SENSE AND NOT SEND PACKAGES TO AN INCORRECT ADDRESS. They explicitly told me that they KNEW the PO Box number was for Ohio and that the zip code was for Illinois. SO WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY USE IT???

Of course, my response was perfectly civil and all I said was that I wish to be informed when the package does arrive in their office because: "I just want to know as early as possible that the package isn't permanently lost in the mail SINCE YOU STUPID BITCHES SENT IT TO AN ADDRESS YOU KNEW WAS WRONG WHEN YOU ALREADY HAD MY HOME ADDRESS ON FILE."

Seriously, who the FUCK would send out a package using only a PO Box # and a zip code, especially when YOU ALREADY HAVE A WAY MORE RELIABLE ADDRESS ON FILE. WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT?? Yeah, I definitely made a mistake by not updating my shit on time, BUT HAVE SOME FUCKING SENSE, PEOPLE.

Quick Updates

I think up all these things I could write, then when it comes time to actually write it all, I forget everything. xD

• I'VE SPENT SO MUCH MONEY OMG.
• It's possible I might have some trouble obtaining my visa for China. I really, really hope this isn't the case. But for now, it's a wait-and-see thing. :(
• Talking with professors is usually more interesting than nerve-wracking nowadays. Though it still depends on the professor. The head professor of my level is super intimidating, even though she's not particularly harsh or anything. She's just... intimidating. I'm still scared of talking with her. >_>;
• Two years of learning Chinese and I'm only now starting to get this 'tonal language' thing, lol. Still a long way to go, but hey, at least I can actually distinguish tones by ear now. Seriously, I'm starting to think I may have been slightly tone deaf during freshman year.
• I watched Inception last Friday! It was good. The last half hour was less good than the rest of the movie, but I'd say it's worth seeing for the premise alone.
• Then last Sat, a few friends and I went to Burlington and watched Twilight, lol. I actually thought it was fun. The male characters are so pig-headed though, especially Jacob. What a patronizing love interest!

But this guy says everything that needs to be said:

I am the luckiest S.O.B. ever.

OMG. So I had my oral midterm today. They gave us two topics and told us that we had to choose one of these topics right before our oral, then deliver it to a couple of the professors. I prepared both topics, but I only really focused on one of them. I mean, they said that we would get to choose the topic we perform, so I thought that meant we only really needed to choose one...

But at the same time, I felt like something had to be wrong with my thinking. Why would the professors say to prepare both topics if we got to choose which topic to perform? It didn't make sense. BUT once I got to the exam site, I found out what they meant by 'choose our own topics.' The professors gave me two folded slips of paper and the paper I 'chose' would be my topic.

I seriously started FREAKING THE FUCK OUT omg. If I got the topic I didn't spend much time preparing, my brain would have just died on the spot. But thankfully, I chose the topic that I actually prepared. omg. Seriously, you don't know how badly I was freaking out on the inside when they told me to choose one of the slips of paper. It took me a couple minutes just to calm down, lol. Otherwise, I think the oral midterm went okay... it wasn't great or anything, but it turned out a lot better than it would have had I chosen the other topic! x___x

These two finally leveled. <3

Apparently, you can't use characters in the titles. :(

最近我很喜欢看super junior m的节目。 ：）

^我觉得很有意思。他们一边吃一边说话，有的人说韩语，有的人说中文，有的人说日文。比方说，henry用了中文解释怎么说一个很简单的韩语句子，还有siwon用了韩语解释一个很简单的中文的句子。siwon解释了怎么说‘停一下。’siwon说的时候，一个人（他大概是ryeowook）很高兴地说了，“TING！”可是她说错了，LOL。他用了一声，可是他应该用了二声。^^;

他们的中文话比较简单，所以我常常听得懂他们的意思。还有，我看得懂很多日的字，因为日文的字跟中文的简体字很相似。

我现在才发现了super junior m有一个新member，他是中国人，叫周觅（zhou mi）。他听起来好像会说韩语。他说了她觉得用手吃蟹太麻烦。（可是我可能听错了，lol。）我同意他的看法！小的时候，我让我外婆把蟹break open。（打开？掰？ lol，我不知道。）

除了han geng和zhou mi和henry，他们一般都说了别的语言。我觉得henry说中文说得很不错！但是，哎呀。。。我很想han geng。他的‘跳舞的蟹’很可爱。^^;;

Rough trans: Lately, I've been watching a lot of Super Junior M's videos. The above vid is pretty interesting. They have a conversation while eating, except they're all randomly using Chinese, Korean, and Japanese at the same time! In one instance, Henry uses Chinese to explain how to say a simple Korean sentence and Siwon uses Korean to explain a Chinese phrase. Siwon was explaining how to say, '停一下' (ting yi xia) when someone (sounded like Ryeowook) shouted, "TING!" ...Except he used the wrong tone, LOL. The 'ting' he said means 'to listen,' but he meant to say 'to stop.' (Not that I can blame him, tones are hard!) ^^;

The language they were using was fairly simple, so I was able to understand a lot of it (except for the Korean). And I was able to read a lot of the Japanese text, since simplified characters and traditional are more similar than one would think...

Before watching this, I didn't realize SuJu M got a new Chinese member (Zhou Mi). Seems like he can speak Korean well, too. I think I heard him say, in Chinese, that eating crab is really a chore. (Though I could've heard wrong, lol.) I definitely agree! When I was small, I would ask my grandma to break open the crabs for me. ^^;

Other than Han Geng, Zhou Mi, and Henry, all the rest of them were speaking different languages. Henry's Chinese sounds really good! But man... I really miss Han Geng. Him and his dancing crab were real cute. ^^; [/trans]

Should be heading to bed now, since I DO have class tomorrow... but I think I'm going to post a somewhat-related wallpaper first, haha.

EDIT: I just realized that Han Geng's little haggling lesson is going to be very useful for me in Nanjing, lol. Those Chinese merchants aren't going to make a fool out of me!!

what.

Of course, this was sent out right after I finished the homework for tomorrow, haha. I'm actually more disappointed about this than I am happy. I rather like my classes and I honestly have little motivation to do anything but bum around on the days that I don't have classes. ^^;;

And both of the activities I signed up for (Chinese cooking and Mahjong) are both on Thursday! Next week is our test week + long weekend, so it's possible I won't be having any activities next week either. We were supposed to make jiaozi. :(

EDIT: While I'm posting, I guess I should mention that I had my sort of 'progress report' meeting today. Mine just so happened to be with the head professor of my level, haha. She told me that my listening comprehension has improved a lot, but that I need to make more progress with speaking. And her primary suggestion was that I make more of an effort to talk during meals, haha. Because mealtimes are almost like teacher-student meetings. Definitely not free time! x_x