Crazy move story / update

Hello out there- to whomever is reading this.

My boyfriend and I just moved from the upstairs apartment to the downstairs apartment in this old, mustard colored house. It was quite an experience. Probably one of the most annoying moves to date. 

Most moves from an apartment to another apartment occur on the 1st of the month (or sometimes the last day of the previous month if you get lucky). Apartment moves tend to have to happen FAST (like a 1 day move) so the next tenant coming in can get all moved as well.

Well. That would have been nice.

The tenant that was moving out of the downstairs apartment had pushed her move out date to the 4th- and even that was a "maybe." That gave us a little more time to pack whatever needed to be packed (we didn't have to do too much since we were just going downstairs...) but was also a little frustrating since we were really anxious to just get the move over with. The tenants excuse for moving so slowly was because of her physical condition. 

Ok, I do understand that- I have physical pain as well. But... you knew about this move 60 days in advance. Perhaps you should have planned that out a little better... 

It really seemed like she STARTED packing on July 1st. *sigh* 

She finally recruited her fiance to come help her. 

For a few days there was a truck in the driveway being loaded ever so slowly. I had offered to help him move her couch because she isn't unable to lift anything over "15 lbs." (Our apartments were connected by a door that had to be removed for the couch to be able to get out of the house. Basically our front door had to be used quite frequently for this move). 

Long story short(er), the day that our landlady told us we could expect to start moving turned out to be such a wasted day.

We had been notified that the tenant would be out by 9AM. We heard our landlady arrive, and then we received a text message. The time had changed to NOON. Noon came and went. Next we hear that it will be 4PM. We heard the landlady show up again (mind you she lives out of the city so she has to travel a ways to come here; she needed to do the final inspection). Another message. 6PM. 

Another message. 

9PM.

Finally there was a phone call. We were told that the tenant technically has no right to be in the apartment after midnight, and that she could force them out by then. By that time we had wasted our whole day waiting to move that we were just sick of the whole thing. We told her that the tenant can take whatever other time she needs to get out- we just want to get this over with. 

The landlady had a back and forth with the tenant. Being accused of not being considerate of her condition among other things. Again- she knew 60 days in advance this was to happen. 

Finally.

10:30AM the next morning- we get a text. The tenant is finally out and has left the premises. We are free to start moving. *DANCE PARTY*

It came to our immediate attention that the carpets have been abused by her dog (who she had for the entirety of her stay- almost 5 years). Needless to say it smelled like piss and shit to a very high degree. 
The frebreez the tenant had used to mask the smell had dissipated quickly. 

She should not have gotten her whole deposit back. (We are in the process of scheduling a professional cleaning, and then if need be, replacement of the carpet). 

Not only that, but the tenant had left a lot of belongings that she didn't warn us about (6 boxes of Nutrisystem that were all expired!!). There were a few things she had left that we agreed on (which was nice of her). But to this day, we're still trying to remove all the junk she left. We're pretty much through, but there is one large piece of furniture that needs to go immediately. We cannot properly set up our living room with it in there. It is also too big for the two of us to haul outside. 

It probably doesn't sound like much to you readers, but after going through that... I have not wanted a house of our own so badly. And yes, I realize that comes with a whole new set of challenges. 

We're all glad this particular tenant is gone. Without going into more of a story about her, it was simply her time to move on. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which leads us to my update!

We're basically done organizing. We just have two more rooms to take care of- the odds and ends basically. 

I plan on making a new video soon- focusing more on personal stuff rather than taking video of places I visit (which of course, if I go anywhere again soon, I will record it). I just feel that the real purpose of the channel on YouTube I have is to get better at speaking, talking about being introverted and other issues I deal with. I think that will help others out there to be able to relate and hopefully find some inspiration to grow and make changes for themselves. 

I plan on doing a few different fun things as well. I'd like to make some workout videos and/or document weight loss etc.. 

Then add in My Adventures, My personal stuff... etc etc.. it's all in review right now. We'll see how it will all end up.

Alright! Well, thanks for reading everybody. Congrats if you decided to read all the way through, I appreciate it.

As of now I still feel like I'm writing to nobody. Or just myself. But I hope to reach out to those who are looking for what I have to offer.

Bye for now!!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flower_jtca001.jpg

If it wasn't for Kanadajin3...

For those of you who follow the Jvlogging scene you probably have heard about the drama that had unfolded between Kanadajin3 (Mira) and Rachel and Jun among a few other Jvloggers. I follow a bunch of these ladies and gents on facebook, twitter, instagram, YouTube of course, and a couple of their blogs. I thought something strange was happening when I read Sharla in Japan's comment about a "close friend" of hers and how "being an asshole gets you nowhere". Of course I thought "Hm.. I wonder what happened?" Then a while later I started seeing comments from other people about a video that Rachel, from Rachel and Jun's channel, posted. It was about 21 minutes long and from reading the title I could tell that it was going to be a pretty serious video. (Jump past the blue writing if you know what's happened).

After watching the video (which has now been set to private I guess) I was really shocked at what I had learned from Rachel's side of the story. Basically Mira has been accused of creating sock puppet accounts and posting really hateful comments to many Jvlogger's videos. This started to unfold with Rachel's video review of a company she purchased clothes from. Apparently Mira had contacted Rachel with concern about this company. Mira herself was contacted by a company and after doing research she denied the company of it's request for her to do a video. Mira apparently contacted Rachel warning her of the company and told her what her experience was like. From then on- many comments had been posted to Rachel's video talking about Rachel getting paid to do the video, that she's promoting a scam, leaking private information etc etc etc.   

Rachel's video shows that she went to great lengths to do some research about the attacks that she was receiving from some usernames. She started noticing a pattern in the language that was being used in these comments. I'm not going to go fully into detail because everything was described in the video. Long story short, Rachel had come to the conclusion that Mira was behind all the hating and attacking. Her research and evidence seemed to prove that Mira surely was behind it all.

I've watched many videos from Rachel and Jun and based on the videos (because I have not met any of these people in real life) they seem like truly genuine and honest people. Rachel always seems to have purely honest reviews and opinions about things and that is something to be admired. She doesn't seem like the type of person that would take this much time to call somebody out about the game they were playing behind the scenes. That's why I was so shocked that this has even come about. 

Kanadajin3 was the first Jvlogger I had ever viewed. I came across her by accident and I don't even remember what I was looking for at the time or what video of hers I had seen first. But she really opened up the gateway to the Jvlogging world for me. I became hooked. I would watch her videos for hours long periods of time. Watching her I became introduced to Sharla in Japan. I subscribed to Sharla's channel next and would watch her videos a lot too. To be honest, I gravitated more toward Mira in the beginning. Over time I started to really enjoy Sharla's videos just as much and was always excited about their new personal and collab videos. They were really great together and showed us viewers that they had a wonderful friendship. They were the ones that really got me interested in trying to make videos of my own. My dream was (is?) to make great videos and get their attention and possibly make a collab video in the future. I have posted comments to both of their various accounts and both have replied to me (I fangirled pretty hard ;P ). It was so awesome to hear from them. 

Alas I was extremely disappointed after watching Rachel's video. And I can only imagine how everyone who was affected felt after finding out their close friend had betrayed them. 

However-

Mira finally posted a response video after initially stating that she wasn't going to. 

Her video was a bit lengthy as well and definitely had a very serious tone to it. In a nutshell, she did say that she was sorry for hurting "the individual" (she's of course referring to Rachel) from the comments she had made about the company not being reputable. She never admitted to making fake accounts and hating on all of these Jvloggers. She said that she didn't hate anyone and that if anyone had a problem with her that she would have gladly given them information if they had come to her. She says that no one had ever sent her an email or anything asking her if the accusations were true or not. 

If anyone has followed Mira you know that she has a more unique way of speaking English. It's understandable, but sometimes the way she says things could be misconstrued from what she really meant. I, too, have some issues with this. My point is that I don't think she answered all the questions that everyone was hoping she'd answer. Based on her demeanor and what she did say I could tell that she had been going through a lot. It seemed as though she had made some notes of what to say as I noticed her looking down every so often as if she was reading something. So it seems that she covered everything she wanted to cover. 

What really got to me out of this whole thing is that, according to her, her own family has been contacted as well. So much so that they are in fear for their lives and are actually considering moving. Hearing that I became highly concerned that this whole thing has caused safety issues for numerous people who haven't been directly involved. Although I do agree that this issue probably should have been dealt with in confidence and privacy, the other part of me supports that Rachel shed light on a seemingly dangerous situation as well. And I say "dangerous" as I'm referring to the accusation that Mira had leaked private information; compromising safety for other Jvloggers. 

Now I don't know any of these people personally. I didn't go into complete detail, nor have I been following as closely to this situation as some others probably have. I'm sure I've missed new details here and there (in fact I know I have). Based on Rachel's video it would seem that all fingers point to Mira. Mira's video makes her seem... at least partially innocent. She did admit to hurting Rachel with some comments, but again, never admitted to doing all of it. Again, I don't know her personally, but like Rachel- I have seen many of Mira's videos and I always thought she seemed pretty genuine as well. She had her opinions about things and wasn't afraid to share them. That to me made me think that she was pretty blunt and honest about things. She also didn't seem like the type to go behind her friend's backs and do all these things she's been accused of.

So in conclusion... I don't really have a conclusion. I think the only way to know the truth is to have been the one causing the attacks, or the ones that were affected by the attacks. All the viewers have to go by are the videos and comments that have been made by these Jvloggers. (It's kind of like the point of view you might have about your seemingly "perfect" neighbors- while behind closed doors they could be on the brink of bankruptcy, cheating on one another, abusing an animal... the list goes on). 

--------- What if there was someone out there pretending to be Mira pretending to be all of these different user names? Someone copying her language and spelling mistakes and setting her up? Getting someone's personal information can be really easy sometimes (not that I know, but there are some great hackers out there!) They are probably sitting back in their chairs laughing their asses off for having successfully ruined friendships.-----------   Hey, you never know. 


I remain neutral at this point. I am still fans of all of these ladies and gents I am subscribed to. I do not support hate crimes and attacks or slander- I think it is all unnecessary. 

I'm sad to see that all of this has happened.
I am grateful for being introduced to the Jvlogging world before these events came about.
I do wish everyone the best of luck with everything that they do. 
I wish a happier future for all of those who were affected/involved. 
I also believe in Karma- so the person(s) responsible for these attacks and hate will certainly get theirs in some way, shape, or form.

So for now, quit the hateful comments. As the Jvloggers themselves have said- there is no point in spreading the hate even more by attacking Mira's accounts with more horrible comments. They are only making matters worse. 

What's done is done and can't be undone. The Jvlogging community has hit a rough patch but I'm sure will be back to normal in the near future. 

Hopefully history won't repeat itself anytime soon.

Found this picture at: http://unwrittenmemoirs.blogspot.com/2008/12/dozen-broken-friendships.html

 

 

 

 

You can't take things too personally when you're in business.

When you're a strong R personality like I am (R= relationship), you may tend to take things more personally than you need to.

I just had an experience a little while ago that I am working on overcoming.

My business is helping people. And when people deny that help, it makes me feel bad. Why? Because I believe with my whole heart that my business could provide that person with at least a little help.

I have been taught at our trainings that you simply cannot take rejection personally. Most people turn me down because they have preconceived notions about what I do, they assume that I do certain things (is that the same thing as my first example?), or they just don't know what it is that I'm offering and don't care enough to let me explain in entirety.

I think fear plays a role when someone makes the decision not to let me sit down with them. Fear of the unknown. We've heard that one before. But how will you ever know about something if you don't let it into your life? Now.. I know that could be applied to a lot of things.. like drugs. I'm sure most of us know that cocaine does terrible things to a person and knowing that we can avoid it from entering our lives. That's a completely different story. Learning something new on the other hand? Why not? At the very least you'd walk away with more useful knowledge. What's so wrong with that?

"Every where you go somebody is trying to sell you something." More often than not that does seem to be the case. Makeup, vacuums, purses, self-help programs- you name it. But what about those who are trying to share the gift of education? Intellectual property is yours to keep. Forever. No one can take that away from you.

Gah. I think I'm trailing off from the point.

Basically, all of us, whether we're in direct selling, network marketing, real estate, banking, education etc... there will always be someone who says no- whatever the reason. More often than not it's not because of WHO you ARE as a PERSON. Most people have had a bad experience with a sales person, or have been scammed or screwed by some representative. Therefore there is negative connotation with these terms; which is unfortunate for the honest reps out there who are truly trying to help people and make their lives better-with out getting them into further debt.

You can be the nicest, most caring and honest person in the world. If you have found the cure for cancer- there will STILL be skeptics! There will still be people who don't believe you- even after seeing proof.

So for those in business getting those no's, they will always lead you to the yeses. What I've learned is you have to focus on the process- not the outcome. Say something that didn't work? Ok. Think about it, revise it, and try something else. Growing and changing is a part of business. You will not succeed if you aren't coachable and willing to change in order to improve. Focus on your process--- and those outcomes will start being in your favor.

When a potential client says "no."

You say "next!"

So it's 1 AM and I have to ...

... really use the bathroom.

But-

I told  myself I'd do an entry before I went. Basically being able to go to the bathroom will be my reward to myself.  (Yeah, I'm weird)

So I wanted to talk about the dream I had last night. This dream, I concluded, came to me because I read an article a couple weeks ago about a woman who managed to escape from trafficking. Her story was so horrific that I became quite emotional and freshly aware of the evilness that exists in our world. This was what my dream was about. Only this time, I was the one trapped.

I remember the dream starting out as either 1- I had to rescue a friend from trafficking, and in order to help her I had to give myself up to it, or 2- my friend was kidnapped and I knew I needed to save her so somehow I ended up being trapped with her... I guess those two are pretty similar. Whatever. I can't remember 100%.

Anyway, from what I remember of the dream, there was a group of girls and a group of boys and we were all kept in this building. I remember constantly being on edge and apologizing all the time in fear of being disciplined in a very harsh way. There was one leader and his team. I remember him wanting to have his way with one of the other girls and I volunteered to join her so she wouldn't have to suffer alone. I also remember being held down and forced to take a shot of something (by shot I mean a syringe). As I was being injected I remember thinking that this is how they keep us trapped and from trying to escape. I feel completely helpless and that I'd never be free again.

I remember the way we had to bathe. We were given very little water to wash ourselves with and everyone had to wash together. In the dream we still had our clothes on though... so that was kind of weird. There was only one instance where I managed to find a way to escape. I remember running so fast through a neighborhood and ended up at this house that was shaped like an apple and once I got inside I noticed the outer portion of the house was spinning. I thought I was safe. Lo and behold I entered the home of this elderly lady who actually knew about the trafficking going on down the road. She returned girls to the traffickers! So when I realized that that's what she was going to do I tried to escape her house and get away. I don't remember what happened in between but somehow I ended up back at the building we were kept in.

I felt like a child. Like a child who wasn't allowed to do any wrong or else be punished. During this dream I was never punished but always felt threatened.

Another crazy thing was that my boyfriend was there, too. He was in the boys group. I wasn't allowed to talk with him very often. One time we crossed paths and I patted his leg as we walked by each other and the leader looked back at me like I shouldn't have tried anything and I immediately apologized. The only other time I saw my boyfriend was during bathing time. We were waiting our turn and had time to talk. I don't remember what we talked about.

That was basically the extent of the dream that I had. I woke up feeling like total crap. Couldn't stop thinking about what I had just dreamed about. Talked to my boyfriend about it and started getting emotional because I know that things like this happen to people every day... and I just can't imagine what it must really be like.

Just remembering the way I felt in the dream was enough. I can't fathom what a real experience would be like. Having your rights taken away. Being watched like a hawk. Not being able to make mistakes or do what you want. Not having any control whatsoever. You're just a thing being used to make money for the scum of the earth that deserve to be in the deepest level of hell.

I'm still not sure why I even had this dream. If I just felt so bad for this lady but thrilled that she managed to escape? Was I feeling sympathetic or empathetic? I don't know... all I know is that I want to help women like her but I don't really know how. It's such a scary thing. To think she got involved because she dated a guy who ended up being one of these traffickers. I mean... how could she have had any idea that that was going to happen. I wish I could have saved her. I'd love to save them all.

Have any of you had horrendous dreams to this extent or worse? Feel free to post a comment describing your experience in dream land.

I may touch upon this topic at a later date since nature is screaming at me now.

emelitsuki
Emily

                                                 

http://openclipart.org/detail/106417/yoni-by-martinbryce

Avoiding the public when you think you look bad.

I go through this a lot... though I've been caring less lately.

Today, I especially was not interested in running errands. Not necessarily because I thought I looked unpresentable but because I'm just so physically exhausted. Let me explain.

This past weekend my boyfriend and I, and our two friends drove down to Virgina (in separate cars) to attend a Magic Grand Prix (look that up if you don't know what that is). 8 hours down, 3 days at the event, 8 hours back (my bf drove that last 4 hrs). Just the driving was exhausting all in itself. We got back Monday morning around 3:30am. I couldn't get to sleep right away but when I finally managed to I had to wake back up around 10 to get ready for work (my one part-time job is a housekeeper). My hip was acting kind of funny from being in the same position all those hours driving. My shin muscle area, not the calves, was sore on my right leg. Needless to say, after work I didn't want to do anything. And I didn't until Wednesday.

It snowed again. And mother nature dumped a shit ton of snow in our area. I didn't have to go in to work that day because my boss didn't want me out on the roads (she's awesome like that). Around noon I decided to shovel while the driveway was still easy enough to. There were only a few inches at this time so I could just push the snow with the shovel to the side of the driveway. This whole process took about an hour and fifteen minutes or so. The end of the driveway was the hardest since when the plows come through, everything from the road gets piled up there (I live on a busy street, too, so they came through quite frequently). This took a little more effort. After I had finally finished I could already tell my arm was going to be quite sore. My right shoulder especially started feeling tight.

Quick background story-  having someone plow our driveway is part of our rent. I didn't have to shovel. I only did because sometimes the guy who plows us doesn't come. And trust me, I've let the landlady know.

I wanted to make the driveway a little easier to get out of by the time my bf had to go to work. It kept snowing and snowing, and soon it looked like I hadn't done jack out there. So...I got in contact with the landlady and asked her to see if the guy who plows us wouldn't mind coming out before my bf had to leave for work (we have a small Hyundai Accent...). Shockingly he actually did the job around 4:30, half an hour before my bf was planning on leaving. Sweet. So that worked out splendidly and my bf made it safely to work.

Today is the day after my shoveling adventure. I had to go in to work since I didn't go yesterday. My right hand is sore, when I stretch it out I can feel it in my thumb area. Shoulders, back, and just an all around feeling of blah.

I don't want to do anything. No dishes, no laundry, nothing. It's driving me crazy because I want to get things done, but right now I couldn't give a flying duck. (I don't even want to make a video!)

*****Back to the topic of this entry (sorry it took so long to get back to it)*****.

Just dropped off my bf at work and on the way back home I was contemplating grabbing a couple things at the store. It's Thursday (which is pay day for many folk) and it was rush hour. For one, I simply wasn't in the mood to deal with crowds, and two, my overwhelming blahness completely suppressed any desire I had to grab the few things I needed. And yes, I was not showered and with no makeup so that was probably the third reason.

Like I said at the beginning of this post: I've been caring less and less about looking my best in public. When shit needs to get done and I'm already out of the house for some other reason, I'm not going to run home and make myself up and then go out again. It's a waste of time. I've been practicing this a lot within the past year because I realized something. I don't give a damn if someone else isn't wearing make up or looking pretty. So why would I care so much about how others are perceiving me if most of them are probably not giving a damn as well!? The only time I have to give a damn is for my other work that I do.

If I didn't feel like crap physically, I probably would have said "fuck it" and gone in anyway. My boyfriend needs some food stuffs for when I'm gone for another two days (yay for another 3.5 hr drive!)

I guess the whole point of this post is to say that it's OK to feel too exhausted to do something. It's OK to not wear makeup outside of the house. It's OK to not give a damn about what other people think of you!
And of course, it's OK to not run an errand if you're not comfortable doing so.

Do it later! Do it when there are less people around. Do it on another day where you feel better! The only thing I have to say is just make sure you do it as soon as possible if it's a very important errand.

I think I'll end this post here because frankly I'm getting too tired to think anymore.
Definitely going to bed earlier tonight after I pack >_<


I hope this post wasn't too long and drawn out for you guys. And I hope you at least got something out of it.
Thanks for taking the time to read. Until next time!

emelitsuki
Emily

Can't wait to sleep like a baby...
morguefile.com

Can an introvert become more outgoing through YouTube?

That will be the experiment I am conducting on myself from here on out.

A bit of background: I grew up in a family who, compared to others I've encountered, are pretty reserved. They didn't really talk about their feelings that often and really didn't have many discussions amongst each other anyway. My senior year of high school I won the female half of "Quietest" which I didn't necessarily agree with because within my group of friends I thought I was a bit more outgoing than not. Perhaps that was just my thinking.

I grew up in the Mormon church and attended until I was about 15 or so. I have not been back since. However, I believe that a lot of what I was taught has stuck with me (more or less). Modesty, decent language, not drinking, kindness, morals etc... Over the years, as I look back, I can see that I've let myself get on the darker side of these things. I know I act differently in public than I do at home (is that pretty common?). Not extremely different, but I'm a little rough around the edges sometimes at home.

Anyway.

Some of my personal struggles are eloquence, articulation, and coherence when it comes to speaking. My goal with my new YouTube journey is to try and improve these skills. I have heard from others that since they're just talking to a camera they're totally OK, but when it comes to talking to people it becomes a different story. I fear that that may happen to me anyway. But of course if I don't think about that, perhaps I can overcome even that hurdle. I guess we'll see.

I'm better at expressing my thoughts through writing, as I'm sure many others can agree. Writing allows time for your brain to process things and express your thoughts pretty near exactly how you want to express them. As with speaking, as soon as you say the words it's too late to do any revising. That's what makes it a tougher thing to be good at. A lot of people are great at it! And I'm glad I'm not alone as an introvert. I know there are many others who struggle with the same things I do and I hope we can help each other to grow ( if that's what you want of course).

I have already made my first video. You can view it here. It's weird for me to be seeing myself and hearing myself talk. I'm definitely not used to that yet. I wasn't talking too loud for fear of being heard. Haha. That's another thing I'd like to get better at is not caring what people think and practicing talking a little louder in public.                  

I guess that pretty much sums it up for now. I'm starting this new adventure in hopes of becoming a stronger, more dynamic and fearless person. I hope that you all will accompany me in this journey and have lots of fun along the way! =)  Thanks for reading!

Emily
emelitsuki

A picture from my visit to the park where I shot my first video!