Hotashi

I checked my one e-mail that I don’t use very often and I found out that I had several books overdue from my school library. So I went to check my library account and found out that they have a HUGE fine against me and they have suspended my account. I distinctly remember renewing my books so that they will be due in September! And there is at least one book on that list that I had already given back at least a month ago. So now I have to go down there and settle this all out. I refuse to pay for their idiocy. =/

Btw, I had e-mailed them a couple of times before asking how I could change the contact e-mail for which they contact me by since I didn’t check that e-mail very often. They never replied. Seriously…idiots!

UPDATE:
So I went to the library to give some books back and pay my fine and I find out that the fine is WAY MORE than the fine listed online. ARGH! One book that was recalled had a fine of $25, which I managed to talk down a bit. Still, it was a lot. The rest of my books had a small fine each but there were a lot of them. This fine was from the time between their initial due date and the day I renewed them (6 days). So I really couldn’t justify refusing to pay since 1) it was my fault, and 2) if you don’t pay your fine the university won’t allow you to graduate. There are a lot of things over this year that could have prevented me from completing my program and graduating, and I refuse to let a stupid library fine be the reason. So I am now debt free and I can worry about other reasons why I won’t graduate on time. ARGH!

P.S. It is a REALLY nice day today. =D

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I had a talk with my mom the other day about money management. She was saying how immigrant parents spend money on their kids and wait on themselves because they immigrated for the purpose of giving their kids a better life. And I told her how it can be burdening on the children of immigrant parents because they also want their parents to enjoy their lives and not constantly sacrifice their wants and desires for their children (especially when their children are older). She didn’t seen to understand this concept.

I kept her on this topic because I wanted her to understand indirectly why I didn’t want my parents to help out financially with the wedding. It’s not because I want to hog the glory or exclude them from the process. I just feel like my parents have put in a lot of financing towards my life, including supporting me through my Masters degree. I don’t feel it is fair to expect them to also contribute to the wedding expenses. Sure I wouldn’t mind if the paid for small things, but I really don’t want them to concern themselves with such finances, especially since my younger sister is still at university. I don’t think it is fair for any parent to have to wait until they are retired to spend money on themselves and enjoy life. It is their money which they worked hard for and they should reward themselves. I’m not sure how to get them to understand where I’m coming from so that they don’t think I’m a horrible daughter who doesn’t want her parents to get involved. =/

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I’ve spent the last time with Jack, which has been very satisfying. Sometimes I get surprised at how much I still like him after being together for four and a half years. I hope the feeling lasts =P. Jack just got a place of his own so I’ve been helping him pick out some furniture from IKEA and then assemble it. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned how much I like assembling furniture. Jack didn’t know about this secret love and I think he was a little scared. Well…he was probably also happy since he doesn’t have the patience for such things. Haha. I’m looking forward to being able to hang out somewhere that is 1) not located in the suburbs, and 2) not our parent’s house or scream student living. Plus we can use the starter furniture when we move in together after we get married. =)

Speaking of marriage, we started to plan the wedding and reception. All I can say is UGH! Receptions are hella expensive! If anyone knows me they know that I rationalize my spending and I don’t care much for useless crap. Well…most things about a wedding and reception are useless crap. I really don’t care about place settings, delicate invitations, dressed up chairs, coordinated colour schemes, guest favours (the most stupid, useless crap invented!!!), etc. Most of the things are a waste of money and I won’t even remember it all at the end of the day. But I also don’t want to look tasteless by neglecting all of these useless things…so I feel peer pressured into abiding to such things. Right now we are working through a guest list that is WAY TOO LONG and then we can book a place. Once that is done I’m hoping all the smaller things won’t be as big of a deal…here’s hoping. This wedding planning might make me dependent on some type of stimulant…like mini m&m’s. They are quite delicious. =P

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The weather has been really nice lately. It’s put me in a good mood just because I’m so excited that spring is finally here. All the snow has melted…except a few patches from the HUGE piles that were there a week ago. Jack is coming up today too and I can’t wait to go for a walk together. It’s so nice to be able to get out of the house, enjoy the outdoors and not have to worry about getting an asthma attack. =D

Last Friday (not yesterday) I went to get my haircut. I wanted to get something like THIS. I wanted the distinction between the short top part and the long bottom part, so I drew a picture for the stylist (if I should even call her that). Well she refused to cut my hair like that. She said it looked like two different haircuts and it was a bad idea. So I asked her what she suggested and she said that there should be more blending. I actually tried to argue for a bit longer but she wouldn’t budge. So stupidly I went along (NEVER GO ALONG!!!) and she gave me a typical mundane haircut that every girl on my campus seems to have. I was so angry at myself for overpaying for a haircut that I did not like so I called in yesterday to tell them that I wanted to come back in and get my hair fixed. So I went back and printed off THAT picture so that the same *stupid* stylist could get a better idea of what I wanted. Honestly, it’s pretty much the exact same thing that I drew for her. And you know what she said? She told me that this was a totally different haircut and that I would have to go with someone else because she had a client coming in, in 15 minutes and I would have to pay for the haircut.

WTF?! How is it MY fault that she is incompetent? She should at least take responsibility for being close-minded. When I was showing her the picture I drew the first time I went in she wasn’t even paying attention. She took one look at the picture and decided she wasn’t going to do it. I personally think she doesn’t know how to do it and she wanted to brush it off like it’s a bad haircut. Well excuse me for thinking that East Asian haircuts are way better than Western ones for my hairtype. And to tell me that I have to pay again? Seriously! That is just bad business and poor professionalism. She should own up to not giving me what I wanted in the first place. It’s not like I changed my mind about what I wanted or that I got the haircut I originally asked for and wasn’t happy with it. No, I did not get what I asked for. I was disuaded from it by a close-minded hairstylist who cared more about the $50 she was going to make off of an unoriginal boring haircut than about giving my a haircut that suited me. I’m sorry but boring and unoriginal is not my cup of tea. I don’t want to look like every other White girl on campus. I would rather have my own personality with a spunky hairstyle.

So I asked her what she could do in 15 minutes and she was mumbling to herself. So I told her to adjust the front part of my hair and the back, which she only gave me five minutes for and only adjusted the front. What a useless twit. Never go to CHAMELEON HAIR STUDIO AND SPA in Waterloo. They are thieves! They overcharge for their services and try to exploit their clients out of more money for poor decisions on their part.

Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. My arms hurt from working out. D;

UPDATE: Official Complaint to Chameleon Hair Studio

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One of the really sucky things about living in Canada is how U.S. companies consistently screw us over. First they think that our dollar is always worth less compared to theirs, and they insist that we should pay more for the same products than U.S. citizens. Not to mention that when you shop online many companies have ridiculous shipping rates for Canada and offer free shipping or much lower rates to U.S. residents, including ones that live FURTHER AWAY THAN CANADIAN ONES (i.e. Alaska, Hawaii, and all those other islands in the Pacific)! Now I’m not saying that those states should not get treated well. I think they should, but so should Canadian customers as well. I understand that your Canadian branches have to operate under different laws with different accounting, hence the different sites (and often their Canadian sites suck too!). But seriously, do you need SUCH discrepency in the amount of money you expect Canadians to pay than U.S. residents?

I went to the Mary Kay website to browse their products to see if I wanted to order anything different from my consultant this time. Well I went to their first and noticed that their prices were a lot cheaper than the prices I was paying with my consultant. At first I thought she was ripping me off, but then I compared it to the prices on their Canadian site. Seriously, the price difference is ridiculous! Here are some items I was thinking of purchasing or have purchased in the past.

Name of Product - Canadian Price - U.S. Price - Difference

1. Makeup remover - $17.50(CND) - $11.00(USD) - $6.50
2. Satin Lips combo - $30.00(CND) - $18.00(USD) - $12.00
3. Velocity Moisturizer - $22.00(CND) - $11.00(USD) - $11.00
4. Velocity Cleanser - $18.00(CND) - $10.00(USD) - $8.00

So if I ordered all of these things I would have spent $87.50 (CND) while someone in the U.S. would have spent $50. That’s a difference of $37.50. Now I know the two dollars are not worth the same, but it’s not so different that I should be paying that much more for the same products. It’s really annoying. And I really like Marykay products too, but I’m so jaded now. I know I don’t really have a choice unless I want to go back to horrible store brand crap, but I’ve just lost respect for a company that prides itself on the entrepreneourship opportunities it offers to its employees. Basically they “liberate” one group while exploiting another - their Canadian customers.

Btw, I am not bashing on Marykay alone. All the U.S. sites I have tried to shop on (which are quite a few) are all like this. Those bastards. And to the American customers that complain about the prices you pay, STFU! Try living in Canada and only being able to shop at 3 stores. Spoiled brats.

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