So the modeling thing didn't really pan out at all. One guy did call me, but he turned out to be kind of a nut job that wouldn't stop talking for one second and I decided I didn't want to have deal with him, so I canceled our shoot. Besides, I've been too busy anyway with school and other stuff.

As for martial arts, I finally got promoted in both Jujutsu and Iaido. I got my very first shodan (black belt, 1st degree) in Iaido and an ikkyu (1st kyu, one belt below black) in Jujutsu. I had to postpone testing with everyone else because I had to attend a massage workshop and attendance is mandatory. Fortunately for me, my sensei understood that and allowed me to test later.

We went to Maui again in June. Had a great time, got a great tan. Missed seeing Helen Hunt sitting at the table next to us at Sansei's Sushi restaurant. Went on a drive to visit a bunch of waterfalls and lost the first pair of Maui Jim sunglasses (kind of expensive) playing in the first waterfall. But Don bought me another pair and hopefully the credit card company will reimburse him for the first pair (there's a buyer protection program). Also went snorkeling (FUN!) and to a luau to celebrate Greg's 50th birthday. Pictures are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/priori2ude/Maui2009.

Also, we got yet ANOTHER little kitty that Don rescued. He was helping a client in Lenawee county when they found a little orange tabby, only 2 months old wandering the streets starving. Someone had called Animal Control and they were about to take him away when Don stepped in and told them he'd take him home. Poor thing! He broke our hearts and we had to take him in. He was so starving, his belly was distended...like those kids you see on those "adopt a starving kid" commercials. He's now doubled his weight and has become GREAT buddies with Maximus--they play almost non-stop! What a cutie!!

Massage school is going well. I just got done with another workshop doing shiatsu. The teacher wasn't the greatest, but I like shiatsu and I think it works. I've had it done a couple times before.

I'm still unemployed, but I found out I can get extended benefits (whew!). In the meantime, I sent out an email to people I know that I think will be potential clients of mine. And I can hand out business cards when I do community outreach events. So hopefully, I'll be able to start building a client base and get my practice going. That's all for now!

Christy M. told me to bring a LOT of tissues because, well, if you've read the book, you KNOW what happens! As it turns out, I did cry, but not as much as I thought I would. The scene was not as sad-seeming as I expected, though it did live up to the book and more (I enjoyed the multiple lit wands in the air).

A few things I didn't like: 1) the added scene at the Burrough, especially because of what happened to the Burrough. 2) in that scene and many others, they reused sounds from the HP6--namely, Bellatrix's cackling line "I KILLED SIRIUS BLACK!" And Professor Umbridge's "I will have ORDER!" (It was obvious to those of us who are nitpicky fans. They also re-used a LOT of the music from HP5 melody for melody, note for note--particularly in the Quidditch scene. And without even bothering to rewrite the melodies to make it fresh for a new movie! Don't get me wrong, I think Nicholas Hooper's a great composer and I loved his music for HP5, but I think it should have stayed with that movie only. It made the music seem stale and unoriginal. 3) Even though I know because I read the books, they never explained in the movie why Snape was known as "The Half-Blood Prince."

Overall, though, I do recommend it. And even though it was 2 1/2 hours long, it didn't seem like it at all.

So I joined ModelMayhem.com...a networking site for photographers, models and hair/makeup artists. So far, I've managed to get in touch with one of the photographers that did Kailah (which is one of the ones I really wanted) and I'm gonna do something with Sheri since she's just as talented at photography as she is at modeling--which is freaking amazing!! So we'll see how it goes. Like I said, it's not something I wanna do really seriously, just something for a fun hobby.

But what was REALLY incredible for me was the dessert. I ordered the creme brulee (my usual) with beignets (a light pastry), Don had the MaCallan 18-year old butterscotch pudding and Dr. Jay had THE ULTIMATE molten chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream. The last one sounds pretty good, much like what any nice restaurant would serve. But OHHHHHH! When you TASTE IT!!! I've always heard people say that chocolate is next to sex. Well, I've had LOTS of chocolate and never believed it. UNTIL NOW!!! Holy shit, it was a dessert experience like NO OTHER! The molten chocolate was not thick like other places make it and it had a thin, crispy sheet of chocolate on top of the cake. When you put it in your mouth, it virtually evaporates on your tongue and you not only taste the chocolate, you inhale it too. It was so magical!!!

But the night didn't end there. We went over to the Blackjack tables to watch Dr. Jay play. I've always been afraid to sit at the card tables, much as I love card games, because I'm afraid to lose so much. Well, Don plopped down $200 dollars and told me to sit down. Though I know the basics of 21, I didn't know what to do. So I had to look to the boys for help. I kept betting only $25 at a time so that if I lost, I wouldn't lose so big. Well, I kept winning and winning. I even got like 2 tens and decided--against Don & Dr. Jay's advice--to split the pair. Well, I got lucky and won (I think I got a 21 and a 17 or something). I beat the dealer. At one point, I more than doubled what I started out with.

After a while, we decided to go get drinks at the bar, maybe try the Texas Hold Em table. But it turns out we probably shouldn't have left our table cause it stayed hot. Unfortunately, when we came back to it, it was full. We decided against Texas Hold Em and found another Blackjack table. I played a little more and lost about $80 before Don told me to call it quits. Dr. Jay continued playing and didn't do so well. But at least I still ended the night winning about $180 bucks! That'll pay for half the massage chair I ordered this week. :)

Plus, I just ordered a massage chair off eBay this morning. Saved about a hundred dollars not buying it new (it's only slightly used). I'm hoping it'll get here before I go to Georgian Bay since I can massage a few of the Bucks over Memorial Day weekend. I'm debating whether I wanna take my table or my chair since I have to do 3 chair massages to equal one table massage. But I'm not sure which will be easier to transport (the table's light enough, but a little big). Now, I just have to buckle down and do a little more studying to prepare for a few quizzes we have coming up.

My parents were telling Uncle John and Aunt Nancy the story about how they came to this country. I knew that Mom & Dad had come to the U.S. when Mom was 8 months pregnant with my sister in 1966 and she was born a month later. (As I heard it before, Dad had to convince the airline to let Mom on the plane because they were afraid she would go into labor in the air. But Dad said if anything happened, he could take care of it since he's a doctor.) So my sister came close to NOT being born in the U.S.!

What I didn't know was that Dad was here to finish his medical training while Mom worked at a bank. Their visa was expiring and they were preparing to leave the country within a couple weeks I think. Mom said she had some customers that worked for Immigration. They told her that because there was such a shortage of American doctors (who were recruited to serve in the Vietnam War), the government had just passed a law saying that any foreign doctors who wished to stay in the country could get their green card without having to go through the usual legal rigmarole. So Mom went to her friend's office, he gave her a form to fill out and 2 weeks later, they had their green cards!

The most interesting part of this (to me) is that this happened in July of 1970. I was born 4 months later in November. I came THIS CLOSE to being born and raised in Thailand! I can't imagine HOW different my life would be had it not been for that law. Interesting!!!

By the way, I still can't get over how cool it is that we have our first black president. And he's the first REALLY intelligent guy since, oh, maybe Reagan?

I'm not entirely sure it's a good idea, nor am I sure what I'm doing or how it works, so please bear with me. Partly, I see it as a way to post all my website addresses in one place.

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I also found a nice rug (only $20 bucks!) to go under it. I plan on setting it up in the spare bedroom. I cleaned all the junk out of that room...that's where we were throwing all our crap. All's I need to do now is move the mattresses down to the storage room.

Bad news is I have to replace the entire set of brakes (front & rear) including the rear rotors. DAMN! Way more expensive than I'd hoped. why does this kind of stuff always have to happen when I don't have a job? Last time it was a new set of tires. Wah! I'm blogging right now as I wait for my car to be ready.

I've been waiting to hear about 2 possible jobs, but the companies hiring are dragging their friggin' feet! Come ON folks! I need a paycheck to pay for my brakes and massage school!

Hmm, maybe it's nap time. :-P

Oh yeah, Don wanted me to post the url of my latest YouTube video...Maximus' Greatest Hits.

I have what is probably the biggest news for me in a long time--no, I'm not pregnant. I started school recently to become a certified massage therapist (not like the exotic, "happy ending" kind). Wow, right? It's a huge change for me and it scares me, but I'm also very excited about it and am very committed. It's something I feel as passionately about, maybe more so than when I decided to become a professional writer. The scariest part is changing careers from a totally unrelated field.

I've been asked several times why I decided to do this. Well, there are answers to that question.

Firstly, I've always had an interest in it since I was very young. When Dad was a practicing physician, he had to walk rounds at several hospitals for hours a day, every day. He'd come home with aches and pains and ask me to walk on his back and massage his muscles. I'd also be the one my friends would ask to massage their backs and everyone always told me I was very good at it. From that, I gained a sort of instinct for massage therapy. In fact, I once gave Don a massage and he said I told him to do many of the things his rolfing guy told him to do.

Also, being from a family with three doctors, I've actually thought about perhaps becoming a nurse, but I didn’t think I could hack the schooling or stress of being a nurse.

I've also received massage therapy and chiropractic treatments for years myself to alleviate the problems that stem from my scoliosis surgery as well as aches and pains from doing martial arts. I find massage therapy to be a great form of healing on top of chiropractic and medical treatments, much like physical therapy.

On top of all that, I've become somewhat unsatisfied with being in the advertising industry. The culture is sometimes unsavory in that you end up kowtowing to clients who don't know what's best for them, but you have to give them what they want because they're paying your salary.

Also, a lot of managers want you to be pliable enough that they can instill you with their own philosophies and ideas. That's ok, but not at the point where they want to brainwash you with their ideals and take away your resolve to actually think for yourself or contribute truly worthwhile ideas.

The way managers run things in the company can be moronic--such as pooling every department's creative talents to the point where a print designer is assigned to work on an online banner when the guy doesn't even have an idea what a flash banner is, let alone understand the intricacies of how to design for one.

Along with that is the fact that sometimes, I feel like I'm lying about the products I'm writing about. I'd have to spin negative things in a positive way that bordered on outright falsehoods.

I still love writing and am still proud of being a good writer. But the advertising culture being what it is and the fact that I feel like I'm not really contributing to the world in a tangible and truly productive way, I feel like my professional writing career is coming to a natural close.

When I found Sandy, my current massage therapist (and the best one I've ever had!), I started asking her questions about how and why she got into massage therapy, about what she does, etc. What really stuck in my mind is one day I realized how great it must be to have a job where everyone is so happy to see you and when they leave, they're even happier! She kept telling me how happy she is that she became a massage therapist and that she never regretted her decision, since she changed careers too. Sandy is actually the one who started me thinking about this (about 6 months to a year ago).

Sandy also graduated from the school I'm attending (AAIMT), which is known as one of the top massage therapy schools in the state. It's one of only two schools in the state to have a COMPTA certification and gives you more than you need to pass the national certification exam. That's good because Michigan will soon require massage therapists to be certified. I plan on taking the national cert exam right after graduation. Also, the fact that it's barely a 5 minute drive from my house was a huge benefit. Had it been outside the Ann Arbor area, I probably wouldn't have gone through with it.

The academics will be challenging, but I've already aced my first test and it's only a year-long program. I can handle the work load. Right now, I'm interested in neuromuscular therapy (deep tissue massage) which is what Sandy does. The biggest hurtle I think will be growing a client base to start my own practice. We're required to do a clinic internship in the school that hopefully will earn me some clients to start out with. Plus, I have a lot of friends that will hopefully become clients as well as help with the word-of-mouth. It might not be a walk in the park, but I think it’ll turn out to be a very good move for me.

We also went snorkeling, me for the first time, it was really fun. There was a ton of coral and lots of interesting and large fish, even in only a few inches of water! Getting used to breathing through a snorkel tube was hard at first, but once I got used to it, I had a lot of fun. But the water was kind of cold, so I had to stop after about an hour. Unfortunately, I didn't have an underwater camera, but I'll remember to bring one next time when we go to Maui in July.

We also walked up to Diamondhead Crater beach which was probably about 3 or 4 miles. It was a great day to do that since it was sunny and nice, but I had some old shoes that hurt my feet and gave me a blister. :( I had to go buy some new shoes that didn't irritate my blister.

And speaking of buying, Don actually picked out a new bikini swim suit for me. I wouldn't have thought it possible that he could pick something like that out for me, but he did and it's really cute. It's like a blue and black palm frond design on white. Not something I would have immediately picked out for myself, but once I put it on, he really liked it so I had to buy it.

We also did a ton of walking up and down the main shopping strip, went to lots of really good restaurants with REALLY yummy food, and spent a lot of time sitting by the hotel pool. (Thank goodness the last day was very sunny...I would have felt really cheated out of my vacation had it not been.) All in all, we had a great time but we were also glad to get home to see the kitties again. :)

I've posted pictures, so look and enjoy!

So Don and I are taking a well-needed vacation to Hawaii in a couple weeks. He had a lot of points on his credit card from buying equipment for his customers that it'll pay for virtually the entire the trip. It'll be so nice to get into the sun. It'll be around high 70s to low 80s. We have a lot planned, but mostly I just want to go where it's warm. The only problem is that I hate having to leave Maximus at home as well as coming back to face this again: