Stressed Out and Helped Out... Monday, March 17

I've decided not to be so public about posting links to my homepage on Facebook daily on account of the following...

1. Those whom I am closest with in Korea can't even read English to be able to understand what I write.
2. This homepage was never meant for those who continually Facebook/homepage stalk me and who are less than a friend and more of a discouragement towards me. 
3. I don't write this homepage to gloat, brag or boast about my life, instead I write this to share my life with my friends back in Canada that I miss so much, on a daily bases, many of which probably already know my homepage address.

I came to this decision today, to not post daily links to my homepage, after I arrived to work and was instantly stressed to the max with what quickly unfolded at work.

I arrived to a puddle of water at Hulk's and not just a puddle of water but instead a water problem that started three floors above ours, up on the rooftop.  I came flying around the corner from the locker room and BAM... there before me was this massive puddle on the floor and I could hear water dropping.  I screamed for Snickers as if I had discovered a dead body or something; my heart just dropped.  If a new mother freaks out at every little scratch their baby gets than Hulk's surely is my baby because that's exactly how I react.  I was so stressed.  We don't have the money to fix what may potentially be a huge problem, we don't have the skills to even know how to fix it but we do have the energy and friends that will help us.  

The water was dripping from the floor above us so we headed up to the third floor, only to discover the water was dripping from the fourth floor... and the fifth!  Up to the rooftop we went.  Up there we discovered some water from Wednesday's rain had pooled on the roof and the drainage had been plugged.  I tell you, scooping out questionable sludge and then drilling new drainage holes was not pretty and it was not how I wanted to start my work day but it's exactly how it started.  We then, of course, had to deal with what water had escaped and made it's way down the other floors and to ours.  We just had to let it run it's course, placing buckets and whatever we could to catch the dripping water on all three floors.  It also meant that because we just had to let the water make it's way down that our club got incredibly wet -- the moisture in the air was insane.  Condensation gathered on the mirrors, making it almost impossible to see yourself in, and the floor was just soaked from the moisture.  By the end of the day I was sick of everyone asking us if we had just done a total wash down of the club, if we had just cleaned it.  

[Note here we ONLY rent the 2nd floor but because the rest of the building is abandoned, we've become somewhat responsible for the rest of it. Responsibilities range from "homeless hunting" (aka checking to see if any homeless people got into the building) to chasing out random cats, and now dealing with the entire building's water/drainage problem.]

And it wasn't just the massive water problem that stressed me to the max today, today marked the day I had to register our running group for the Cheonan Marathon.  I felt like I was chasing people like a mother chases a toddler, constantly reminding participants of the cut off date.  Most were super awesome and gave me their info and registration fee early but five friends decided to bail at last minute. And while I am well aware that life exists beyond Hulk's for others, what I really can't respect is people telling me last minute.  Moreover, it took me to chase them down for them to tell me and that's not cool.  I was so incredibly disappointed.  

This past little while has been marked by several major disappointments by people whom I thought were good friends -- a friend who just yesterday told me to my face she'd be running and then today bailed, another friend who had a going away party I didn't get invited to, and a friend who I trained for over two years and moved cities without even coming to say goodbye to me.  These are just three examples of the many disappointments but you know what, tomorrow I'll be over it.  Today I'm not.  I continually have to tell myself to be thankful for them and I am thankful for them -- all the difficult people in my life.  They have shown me exactly who I do not want to be.  However, instead of being thankful like I should, I must admit it makes me defensive and more likely to not want to put myself out there for others.  And now you know why I really don't like meeting people outside of work.  

When I got word that a total of 5 people bailed on me, bailed last minute, I was so disappointed and I voiced this to my friend Stark.  I sat down in the office, put my head down on the desk and pondered how the heck I was going to come up with 5 more people so that we could register as a group.  I texted Stark and asked him if he was still going to do the half marathon with me.  The added sad face at the end of my question made him question my emoticon and so I told him the situation.  And with that a flood of encouraging messages came my way.  Not only was he going to do it but he was going to get his buddies too.  Word among my friends flew fast and next thing I knew it Black Skinny was messaging me too.  My questionable group number that had dropped from 20 to 15 was now a strong group of 25, all thanks to my friends helping me out.  A part of me was really proud that I do have such awesome friends but a part of me was embarrassed that they had to help me out in the first place.  So to my K-Crew, I love, love, L-O-V-E you, and to all those who cancelled and/or disappointed me lately, consider yourself nominated to sit alone in the corner.  No cool points for you.  You flat out stink.  You stink like the nasty water dripping through the upstairs ceilings and nasty dirty, old floors.  

[Real mature ending Amy... yup, I know.  Dude, this is my homepage, my life, and I'll act the way I want to.]