Legal Low, Sugar High

So, today was eventful. But it didn't begin that way. The highlight of the first part of my day was discovering that I was nearly done with my JET application. But after noon, things picked up.

As I was going out the door to clean my car, I saw that I had mail. I opened the mail and discovered two letters from a company calling itself Check Game Solutions Inc. saying that I owed them money and that if I didn't pay them they would do something about it. Well, I don't know who this company is, and this is the first I have ever heard of me owing money. The part that made me even more worried is that they had my full name, checking account number, address and phone number. In short, all the things necessary to steal my identity! After thinking a little more I think I have a theory, though. Remember when I wrote about that guy who came to the door trying to sell me on the idea of donating money to buy children's books for hospitals, and I finally agreed to pay the lowest possible amount, $23? Well, after he left I read his invoice carefully and, in fact, he had sold me what I think was a boating magazine! I cancelled the check within minutes of writing it. Well, apparently, the company that tried to screw me into buying an unwanted subscription for a boating magazine that I never received anyway now wants me to rewrite the check and pay them $23...plus the $30 of processing fees that the collection agency wants. I have never had this kind of thing happen before, and I am ashamed. I plan on filing a police report. I don't know what will happen. I all can say for sure is, the next time someone comes to the door, I am apologizing to them for my next action, and slamming the door in their face.

Well, an hour after learing of this unfortunate occurrence, my day picked up. I met Sung-Eun and three of her friends in the MU parking lot and we drove to Fairfield in order to visit the Jelly Belly Factory! Here is the balloon outside the factory entrance.
Maybe a little tacky, but hey, also grotesquely cute! The next picture is most of us posing with the Jelly Belly VW Bug that is right in front of the entrance.
Here are the girls with their "candy makers hats" which we were required to wear inside the factory.
And me, Sung-Eun and Lindsey with our purchases after the free tour.
Finally, a picture of jelly beans, because you can't go to a jelly bean factory and not take pictures of the jelly beans.
So what is my verdict on the Jelly Belly Factory? Holy cow! You have to go if you've never been! It was a great tour! And you can't beat a tour that is free and ends with free samples of candy! Parking is also easy to find! I can't believe I didn't go before now. It also happens to be very close to the Budweiser factory, so next time I go, I am taking that tour as well. Also, being with Sung-Eun and her friends did a lot to cheer me up from earlier in the day. And they gave me a Korean name: 지태, I think. They said it meant "Wisdom T". I should have asked for "Vitamin T". Have you met your daily required value of Vitamin T?

Post Script: After writing this entry I decided to go to the store and get some dinner. To my amazement, squid was only $1.99. So I bought some squid, cilantro, green onions and a lime; then went home and cooked it all up. Well, it turned out to be the worst meal I have ever made. When I bit into the squid it was first way too sour, but that went away in an instant, replaced by an atrocious texture that made me feel sick. What actually made me sick was when I tried to swallow the squid, only to find that is was also so bitter that it initiated a gag reflex. Did it look good? Well, in the pan in looked beautiful, but as it cooled the ink (which I must not have removed compleately) turned the enitre dish pencil grey, and the over cooked green onions made it look like toxic sludge. Still, not wanting to waste food, I ate the whole thing. Needing something to wash the bitterness down, I decided to make myslef an egg. However, we have no milk, only yoghurt...you see where this is going. Well the flavor of the eggs is not that bad, but I decided to stir it with chopsticks (with which I do most of my cooking). The result is a batch of eggs that looks like couscous and tastes tart. If I get the urge to cook any time soon, I'll be sure to just chow down on some crackers and open a can of tuna.