Lesson 33 - Steam Boat, Pictionary and Memories

New Years Eve, it's finally come around once again. It always makes me question my life and how I have lived it so far. Have I made the most of it? I don't know. Will this be my last year on Earth? Things like that, I always feel this way around this time of year.
Was invited to a friends place for a low key gathering of sorts. It was five people basically, myself, my friend, his girlfriend and two of her girlfriends. Steam Boat dinner, which is steaming of dumplings and other assorted goodies and then eating (kinda like Asian fondue). I am not used to having it, Burmese people don't really do this sort of thing, so it was all news to me. I had only done it once beforehand at a friend's place.

Lesson - If you are invited for a steamboat meal, don't eat anything beforehand.

I woke up late that day and didn't have any lunch, so yeah, I made that mistake. Nonetheless it was really nice and filling. I also popped out to visit my Aunty, who was hosting a New Years Celebration at her place. The family was there and they had a nice spread of food. I ended up having to dinners at my Aunt's insistence.
Returned to my friend's place and we played Pictionary. I was partnered with a girl my friend tried to set me up with. She's nice, bit too quiet for my taste, but I still talk to her and such. Just so you know I am undefeated in Pictionary. Even in this one which did things like make the person draw with their eyes shut whilst their partner guesses, having make the partner draw the object whilst you draw it on their back (and my partner was ticklish). The other was a body sculpting category where you must shape the person to do actions and then they have to guess, my partner is so tiny I had to get on my knees for her. It was good fun.

Lesson = Don't mess with me when we play Pictionary, I will destroy you.

We then watched the countdown live in Sydney on the TV. It made me miss the place. I haven't been there for a while, I miss the friends I have up there. It was a good retreat from my life. I had fun last time. I look forward to going immensely this time around.
After the fireworks, my friend got out some old photo albums. Apparently this is a tradition of his, he looks back at the old albums and remembers times in his life. It was cool, we looked at times with old friends. Nowadays the group of friends I used to hang out with has fragmented and they don't see each other as a whole anymore. Some were intentional rifts caused by 'friends' who chose to exclude the rest of the group from their social activities, it changed some of them. It is very sad how that happened. Others moved away, one studies a PhD in Vienna, two others moved to Sydney, another to Singapore and one moving to the United States with his wife (yes, he got married at 21!). Others have made stronger commitments to their significant others and seldom do anything without them, others have moved into other areas of research and some simply just stopped caring. It was a shame, but that's how life is.

Lesson - Life is a journey, people come and people go, the memories you make and the true friendships that last are eternal and would hopefully grow stronger in time.

Well that's it from me, it's been a hell of a ride in 2006, now let's end Uni in 2007 and start a bold new chapter in life!

Take care of yourselves and Happy New Year!

James

Lesson 32 - Tacos, Possums and Pirates

I still cannot believe how fast the year has gone by! It seems like only yesterday that I was counting down the New Year with a dear friend. Then bumming endlessly on the PS2 on a lonely night. Yup, that's how I spent my last New Years. I don't know, I really didn't feel like going anywhere, it was just me and the dog. This year I am going to a friend's place for a party. He's a scientist and so are most of his friends, I sure hope it's not going to be like that Bio-Med 21st I went to. Man, I had never felt so left out before in my life.
Went to Waverley Gardens today to see a friend. She works at the same store but she got transferred to a different one a few months back. I miss working with her, she's a cool friend. Their store is heaps quieter than our store, so it was a good opportunity to catch up and chat. I wanted to eat something, so I went to this Mexican food place in the food court. They were trying to pronounce food names, like enchilada and such and were doing it wrong, so I corrected them. They then thought I was Mexican. It could have been my Eurasian appearance, my thick eyebrows or maybe the fact I was wearing my Eddie Guerrero t-shirt.

Lesson - If you're Eurasian, you can pass for a fair amount of other things depending on your appearance.

I never get told I look Asian, I get people saying are you part-Asian sometimes, mainly if I smile. My eyes go all squinty. I also bought a game from Waverley Gardens. I bought One Piece: Grand Adventure. It's based on this very popular manga about Pirates. Isn't it bizarre that two of the most popular manga in the world today are about Pirates (One Piece) and Ninjas (Naruto)?

Lesson - If Pirates + Manga = Successful
and
Ninjas + Manga = Successful

Does that mean Pirates + Ninjas + Manga = Greater Success?

Or will it be that two positives like Pirates and Ninjas would cancel each other out.

Thus leading to this example:

Pirates + Ninjas = Two positives, therefore = Failure?

Joking with some co-workers, we thought a really awesome game would include Pirates, Ninjas and Zombies. We called it, 'Pirate Ninja Zombies' or 'PNZ'.

Lesson - No matter what you say: PNZ = Greatest Success

So there.
It was about three in the morning and there was an awful bang, followed by constant scratching. It turned out to be a ring-tailed possum at my window, it had clawed onto the fly screen of my window. It was stuck. Obviously I couldn't touch it, so I tried to shoo it away.

Lesson - Possums, when stuck, don't shoo easily.

I was afraid it might fall and hurt itself. It did end up dropping off my window, it landed on a table just under my window and then it scurried off into the night. There's a lot of those in my area. The ring tailed ones are the smaller variety. The brush tailed ones can be quite big. I'm glad it wasn't one of those critters.

Well tomorrow is the last day of the year! Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson 31 - Friends, Silver and Cute Girls

Yet another lazy day for yours truly. Just bummed around on the XBox360 for a fair bit of the afternoon, gotten heaps further in Sonic, but this is with Silver the Hedgehog. Seriously, are there too many hedgehogs now in Sonic? There's Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog and now this new one, Silver the Hedgehog. Not that I am complaining, Silver has psychic powers. It's really cool stopping missiles from hitting you using telekinesis. I've always thought that would be an awesome power.

Lesson - Silver is a bad ass. He sounds like a bit of a nerd, but he's a badass.

Anyways, that was my fun for the day. I had work in the evening and I served this gorgeous girl. She was really friendly and laughing a lot. She was pretty cute. I'm not sure how old she was, could be around my age, but probably younger. She was after some Harry Potter game and I virtually looked the whole store for it. Was a lengthy hassle but it was worth it, that smile was really amazing. There was a lot of eye contact, I dunno if it was too much or what though. I'm a real 'tard when it comes to these things. Oh well, certainly made my day at work seem much better.

What did I do with my friends today? SFA. If you don't know what that is, I'll tell you when you're older. They were all busy which sucked. I really wanted to play pool with them tonight, but, what can you do? I told my best friend to give me a ring tomorrow so we could spend time together. He returns to Cairns on the 15th of January. It'd be nice to spend more time together before he leaves. I cannot believe that this year is almost over. Scary isn't it?

Another brief one today I'm afraid. Unless you like short stories, then lucky you eh? As always, take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson 30 - Strange Dreams, New Plans and Tardiness

It was a really lazy day for me today for the most part. I slept in, then just lay in bed for most of the day until it was time to go to work. I was late for work today because I was in this lazy state. I am lucky I have very laid back employers. I am also fortunate that I live only 5 minutes from work by car. I dunno, lately I have had trouble getting to work on time. And even when I am there, I don't do much at all. I have no initiative and no drive to really care about it. It's as though I am really getting fed up with the place. That's partially true, I have been at this place for just about over two years now. I really want to move on to the next stage in my life.

I have started to look at my options about going to Japan more seriously now. I have wanted to go there for nearly ten years now. I want to get my degree and maybe apply for a job as a teacher's aide at a school. Maybe in English classes by helping them with their English, same way here when you go to Japanese class and they have native speakers who help out. That'd be a good way to improve my Japanese at the same time as teach English, but not in the same way that every other Tom, Dick and Harry does it.

I had a strange dream last night. I dreamt I was fighting terrorists. I was still myself, but it was in a high story block of flats. It was like something out of 24. I was using a gun and ducking for cover and everything. I took cover in someone's house and told them to stay down. It was weird. My dad was watching 24 on DVD the previous night, maybe that influenced my dream? I dunno, thing was I watched Little Britain last night. How did that happen.

Lesson - If you watch Little Britain before going to bed, you'll dream of fighting terrorists, like Jack Bauer in 24.

Weird. It was a very ordinary day today as you can see. No real lessons at all. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty Nine - Crushed, Bothered and Slammed.

Today is my late Grandmother's birthday, she died in November of 2001. My sister and her boyfriend had the day off today so they went off to her grave up in Warrandyte. Apparently it's not far from my sister's boyfriend's house. She said it was the only grave there without flowers. My Grandfather never visits. My Dad has since she died, but not very often. I dunno what's up with that, I guess we cope with death our own ways. Still I think that's sad.
Today it was hard letting go of things past and it made me look at my life in a bit of retrospect. You think of things and how it has made an impact on you. But sometimes you need to sever ties or let things go in order to fully get over them. It's sad but it's true.

Lesson - Sometimes burning bridges is the only way to repair damage caused in the past.

Lately I have been bothered by how things change or how things don't change. I was there the whole time and it didn't bother me much until today. Two friends are at odds with each other and no longer speaking. I don't feel comfortable being caught in the middle of that. I just want things to get better. I certainly hope they do, because right now, I feel like crap about a lot of things, personally and just with the world in general.

Work was so busy it wasn't funny. It was all quiet up until about 11:30am, then it just got packed. It's like everyone slept in and decided to go shopping. It was so busy. It wasn't without it's good points though. There was a girl who walked in and I have to say she was absolutely stunning. My assistant manager said she wasn't pretty, and then she said that she thought the girl at the coffee place was better. Yeah, thanks. I'm trying to get away from that. Anyways, this girl was really nice and friendly and when she smiled at me, this butterfly in stomach feeling came over me, I haven't had that feeling in such a long time. I also didn't get a break until about 3:30pm, thanks to bad rostering.

Lesson - It is a good idea when making rosters to have people's shifts overlap, so people can cover others.

Well as soon as I got home I was buggered. I just stayed in bed and relaxed. I hope work tomorrow is not as busy. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty Eight - Boxing Day, Business and Bambu

I slept in on Boxing Day. I missed all the sales, I spent not a cent of my money. I usually don't do this. You're probably wondering, 'Is James all right?' Yes, I am. I am saving, saving, saving!
I have well over a grand now, more than enough for my holiday. Now all I have to do is plan it. I haven't tried to ring my friend to let her know of my plans. I haven't even heard from many others either.
Well that royally sucks. The Sydney EANers are a lazy lot!

Lesson - Sydney meets need a LOT of notice.

Another of my friends I haven't met in person yet has said she cannot wait to see me. I am looking forward to meeting her too. I am excited about this trip. I need to let work know that I will be away.

Work today was extremely busy. Boxing Day is always a long slog for anyone in retail. Even Parkmore, the centre where I work, is very busy. The parking lot was packed chock-a-block with cars, I was planning on walking there but it was pretty lousy weather. I didn't want to have to walk home in bad weather. So I drove and managed to get a spot.

Lesson - When working Boxing Day, bring your lunch.

I say this in terms of the metaphor, but also because it's mega busy in the food outlets. I was only working four hours, but it felt like eight. It was basically fixing people's mess ups pre-Christmas Day. A lady bought an XBox360 for her husband from Big W and she got screwed really. She bought a core pack which has no hard drive and comes with a corded controller. They paid less but didn't get what they wanted, so I fixed them up with a proper one with a hard drive, extra cordless controller and two free games. Yeah it was a really busy day. Good thing it was double time today! Yay!

After work I went straight to my cousin's house for a party. He got engaged recently and he and his fiance were holding a get together. It was all right, not much happened but it was good to catch up with him. His fiance is a teacher, so it's always good to talk to her about school and my experience there. She's a nice person. Her family was over too and they seem like a close knit group. He also has a dog now, she's a rottweiler named Bambu. She's such a sweet little dog. Well actually she's a large puppy. About six times bigger than my own dog, Koutho, and she's only six months old. A very naughty and playful dog. I think I would like to have a dog of my own when I leave home, because I know Koutho will stay with my parents when my sister and I leave.

Well that was Boxing Day, it was a hell of a long day. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty Seven - Rain, Buzz and Family.

And so this is Christmas. I have to tell you straight, it is becoming less and less like Christmas around our house as the years roll by. This year my mother decided to have her family over for Christmas Lunch. Usually we have this at my Papa's house.
Today was the worst kind of weather for Christmas Lunch, it was incredibly windy and wet. There was even hail as well. So much for getting everyone to sit outside. To it's credit though, the weather did hold up good when we actually sat down outside to eat and as soon as the meal was over it came down hard.

Lesson - There is no such thing as sleeping in if you're hosting Christmas Lunch.

It blew, I was so sleepy and I was extremely comfortable in bed. I love that feeling. However I had to help with preparations, so there was no room for me to relax. We set a huge tarp up under the car port and used these really heavy pots and weigh it down. However the wind was just far too strong. These pots were very heavy and very strong, and yet one of them simply shattered because the wind blew so hard. The rest of Christmas Day was spent indoors.

We went to my aunt's house for celebrations with Dad's side of the family. It was pretty much the same sort of thing we do year after year. This year was not without it's amusements though. They have a cat named Jasper and he was wandering around the front of my Dad's car for some reason. He was very cautious when near the front of the vehicle and was pawing at something in the grill. I ducked low to see what it was, it was a dead bird. It got lodged into the grill of my Dad's car. I told my Dad and he said he knew about it. He didn't realise that the bird actually got lodge up in there. He said he was driving and a bird swooped low and he didn't see it afterwards. Oh well. A really fun thing we did was play Buzz on my cousin's Playstation2. We did the Quickfire Quiz with 100 questions. It was an 8 player game and believe it or not, I won.

Lesson - Don't mess with me when it comes to Buzz.

Even my cousin who owned the game was struggling. She said it was a lot harder with 8 people to play. Another cousin of mine was doing freakishly well, he lead for most of the game. However it turned out that about a third of the questions that were asked he actually knew. He admitted later to guessing. That's pretty good in itself, considering each question gives you a 25% chance of being correct. The final score for me was 12,975 points.

Now you're probably wondering what I got for Christmas this year. I got mostly money this year and some chocolates. Most of this money is going towards my trip, which means I will finally have enough! YAY! Though it wouldn't hurt to have a spare $100 or so. Same aunty on Mum's side didn't let me down, few years ago she gave me a small jar of nuts. Ones you could buy from the supermarket for $2.50. This year she didn't disappoint, a tin of wafers! Good on ya Godmother. But in all seriousness, this time, she got it sort of right. I hate nuts, at least I will eat these.

Anyways, Merry Christmas to all of you. Have a safe holiday and I hope you'll continue reading!

James

Lesson Twenty Six - Indifference, Rain and Overdrive

Hey all. Well it's now Christmas Eve! And I have been, well, I have been reasonably good this year. All my shopping is done, all my presents are ready to be given out. All that remains is to survive the family tomorrow.
It was surprisingly wet and rainy today. So much for summer eh? But I guess it's good because there's been a few fires lately, this will be good relief for the people suffering up there and for the fire fighters. I hope it keeps like this for them.
So many things that I think matter to me seem to not matter to others. I hate this feeling of indifference, I find it even harder to turn away when it happens. I feel like shit every time. Unless I actually find something to really care about, I cannot stop. It sucks. I hope this feeling goes away too. I don't like feeling like this so close to Christmas. Well in all fairness, the only one who can make me feel bad about another's indifference towards me, is ultimately myself. So here's to strength and will power!
And whilst we're on the subject of strength and will power:

Lesson - Patience is a virtue, but we're only human.

I was so exhausted because of the full day and early start on a Sunday no less, I had two bottles of V and was pumped and in overdrive. So close was I to verbally barraging some people who didn't finish their shopping sooner. I was pissed they were taking it out on me. Fortunately this only happened a few times. Everyone else was in a pretty good disposition. One other crap thing though was it is a Sunday and I had to start work at 8am! And let me tell you something the only people at a shopping centre like this at 8am are old people. Which brings me to this conclusion:

Lesson - Old people don't buy video games.

Well there are some that do. One old lady asked me for an XCube 360. I was thoroughly confused when she brought me a PS2 game she wanted to buy for it. Aiyaiyai!
Well, it wasn't all bad. I am thinking of course of the dollars I will be making from this. $180 away from sufficient money for my Sydney trip! I got to start booking accommodations and letting my friends up there know I am coming back soon and that I cannot wait to see them.


Well, that's it for now. Take care of yourselves and have a Merry Christmas, even if you don't celebrate, enjoy the day.

James

Lesson Twenty Five - Chores, Pizza and Last Minute Shopping

Can you believe Christmas is almost here? It's insane, the shops today were packed! I live in an area infamous for it's last minute shoppers. Heh, well there's a no brainer lesson for me right there.

Lesson - Don't leave your Christmas Shopping til the last minute!

I had to go to the shops anyways because the CD I bought my sister, it turns out her boyfriend bought her the same thing! Damn, she even asked me to get it. So I had to go to the shops and ask them to change it to a gift voucher. Oh well, one less thing to worry about, isn't it?

Felt like having a pizza today, so I caved and went to Pizza Hut. Never again, I am sick of that place. Screw them and their lousy made, expensive food. I will go to the one across the road. It's not worth the hassle!

Since we're having Christmas Day lunch at our place with my Mum's family, I am not looking forward to it. I dunno why I am kinda not into spending time with my relatives, regardless of side of the family. Also bumped into a cousin I hadn't seen in a while. He seems to be doing well. Good on him. I had to move a lot of stuff today for my parents because we're hosting lunch. Mum was on the warpath and she is very difficult to work with under those circumstances. Aiyah!

Lesson - Don't be the host at Christmas, it's crazy!!!!!

Well tomorrow I have a full day! 8am open on a Sunday morning!!! Oh man, I barely get up at 8 anymore. Oh well, it's good money at least.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty Four - Net Outage, Crowds and Cherry Pie

Hey all, there was something wrong with my internet last night so I didn't get a chance to write up my blog for yesterday on time. Luckily it was fixed up. I am so over Christmas. I got an advance on my pay so I have a lot of money right now. However, I won't be paid again until much later. Great. So that means now, I can't spend any money for at least two weeks. That is hard to do. So I filled my car up with petrol, finalised my Christmas shopping and settled most of my debts. So I shouldn't need to unnecessarily spend money for a while.
Work was so busy yesterday! We made $20,000+!!! I tell you what though, I am so glad this will be my last Christmas in retail, because it is just becoming too much to bear. I hate serving Asian customers, and I am not being racist because it's so damn true, they think the retail store is a marketplace. I just tell them flat out "No." now when they ask for discounts. They always, always, always ask and I am getting fed up with it. It was so annoying.
Well, today I also went and played pool with my two best friends. It was a good time. Especially when my friend decided to put on 'Cherry Pie' by Warrant. That song is just a crack up. He said he's going to sing it to his fiance at his wedding. I so want to be there when that happens. It will be the shortest marriage in history. The fact that he'll be singing such an obscure American rock song at a Vietnamese wedding, will just be a riot.
Well, no real lessons today. None that I can think of, just to bear with retail as it's paying my way for the holiday.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty Three - Time, Space and Moderate Amounts of Spending

Really it has been a pretty ordinary day today. It's one of those days where you think, if I wasn't here, would anyone miss me? Yeah, just really mundane and ordinary, but there was one positive. I hung out with my best mate today, it wasn't for very long, but it's good because I haven't seen him for about two months.

Lesson - Time is precious.

Even though we did pretty much nothing, I enjoyed the day with him, because I know I am not going to get to do that as often anymore.
If you recall in Lesson 22, I said I was going to move on from certain things in my life. I have to say, so far, I have done a good job of that. Space away from the shittier things in my life is probably a worthwhile thing for me. Hell, the only time I'm off EAN is when I go to Sydney because I don't bother with a laptop or net cafe. Time off from that place doesn't sound too bad, but I enjoy the interaction.

Lesson - Space is valuable, it give people opportunity to grow and change.

I am starting to run low on funds. Fortunately I get paid in advance for Christmas tomorrow. However, I won't get paid again until the 10th of January. I only need to save another $480 to be all set for Sydney. But, I need money to save for a digital camera. My sister saw a really good one on special for $200, so she suggested we split 50/50 and get one. I want to, but at the same time, I have other things and expenses. Damn.

Lesson - Manage your money efficiently, prioritise and make sure it goes towards things that are worthwhile.

Guess that means I won't be buying my Nintendo Wii for a while... Oh well, Sydney holiday is far more important to me right now at this stage.

Well that's all from me and this very dull day. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty Two - New Drive, Old Feelings and the Three Amigos

Today seemed normal enough and sure enough for the most part it was. Today I resolved to let some things in my heart go. I don't want to fall into the same trap over and over again. I really don't want to see my heart smashed like it has been or been made to feel inferior like I have made it. So I let it go, I gave up. I moved on. And you know what? I think it's good, I just hope to have the strength to be able to follow through with it now.

Lesson - Some things are worth fighting for, however it is important to not confuse determination with stupidity. We need the wisdom to be able to know when something is just not worth the trouble it causes us and move on to the next battle.

So to the things I had resolved to release from my heart, you gave me some amazing feelings and some wonderful dreams. However that is all you have given me, you have taken far more than you deserved. Farewell.

I was going through some old things today and I found some old drawings I did about two years ago. I saw one character I had made up and I remember drawing him a lot. Somehow I forgot all about him and continued to draw others. But I think I will try to do something with him and bring him back to life.
A lot of things have given me a new drive and I certainly hope that I can maintain this or at least be consistent (like I have done so with this blog so far!).

When I got to work today I received a surprise, my best friend was back from Cairns! I was pretty happy to see him, things had been pretty different without him around. He was the guy to go to when you were bored or wanted to hang out and have fun. It was so good to see him. He hung around for a bit and told me what he had been up to. He was down for about a month as he was here for Christmas with his family. He told me he was happy up there and would stay there indefinitely. Oh well, he's here now and that's all that matters! I'm glad he's found something. He even got a tattoo. Now I want to get one, my mother freaked out when I told her. My sister on the other hand was more than willing to recommend some places. We tried to get a hold of my other best friend, so that the three of us could hang out, but he had a long day at work and was really tired. I hope that after work or something tomorrow we could play pool or something. I really would love to see us, the three amigos, back together again. What with me planning to finish my studies and go to Japan in six months time, this precious time I have with my friends is fleeting and I want to enjoy those times with them.

Lesson - Time stands still for no one, make the most of the time you have with the people in your life. You only get one chance.

After Japan, I am considering moving inter-state so that I can experience things elsewhere. I was hoping to go to New South Wales sometime this year but those plans will have to wait as I prepare to finish things off and do things I have dreamed about for so long.

Today was a much better day. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty One - Misleading Ads, Aggressive Customers and Creative Block

Hell of an annoying day today for the most part. I started work at 10am today and waited ages for a quick breakfast, damn Maccas.

Lesson - If at Macca's you're told it will be a 2 minute wait for something it is seldom actually a 2 minute wait.

I waited nearly 10 minutes for them to get my breakfast ready. But it was nice, so that's okay. My day started out decent enough, however I served this one guy. He had a PSP and he was asking me for replacement batteries. I told him we had them and asked if he wanted to buy it. He said he wasn't sure if it was the right thing. I said they're the same, but he kept saying it wasn't the right thing. He got pissed at me and in a threatening way told me I need to open my ears and listen. Okay, I said to him, what aren't you telling me. Turns out he wasn't sure if it was the battery or the cable causing the problem. I was furious that he was getting pissed at me, when he wasn't clear about what he wanted in the first place. He flicked his wrist out with his PSP in hand as if to threaten me. Cussing and swearing as he left. I was royally annoyed, mainly because he was being such a dickhead. I swear, people have no patience this time of year. My Assistant Manager was hoping he'd come back in so she could give him a piece of her mind. To be honest I would have paid to have seen that, she can own people like no tomorrow. Something wrong with his expensive toy? Shit happens, son. You must have been a real prick, so karma came along and bit you in the ass. When customers are like that to me, I just tell them to leave. I am so fed up with this retail bullshit.
To make things more annoying, I was really hungry later on. I didn't have anything to eat until about 6pm. By that time, I was so hungry I could have eaten a pizza all to myself. So I went to Pizza Hut in the centre where I work. The sign said, "$6.95 pizza - pick up only". All right, I thought, that's not bad. So I went in and ordered. I was checking the place out as I did and the guys that were making the pizzas were doing so with bare hands. These types of guys I have seen many of, they don't wash their hands. Where are the gloves? Where's the hygeine. But anyways, this was after I ordered. I ordered and the guy charged me $9.95! Ten bucks for a pizza, when it was being advertised out front for cheaper. I know its not much, but I am trying to budget at the moment. I just said screw that and walked out and told them I didn't want to order for that price. It was just too much.

Lesson - Don't eat at the Pizza Hut in Keysborough. Filthy people who don't wash their hands work there and they have misleading advertising. The bastards.

I ended up getting one for $5.90 at a Pizza shop across the road. Was not bad for what I paid. I've been trying to draw some things lately, but nothing seems to come. I hate having this kind of creative block, it's a real turn off. I can't do anything when I am in this state. It's annoying. Today was annoying.

Anyways, tomorrow is another day. I hope it's certainly better than today. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twenty - Payment, Fever and Curry

Hooray! This blog is now up to 20 posts! That's got to be some kind of record for me. I am happy that I have managed to remain this diligent. Let's hope we can go longer! Yay!
Today I stayed home to recuperate. I am still feeling feverish and sick, but not as bad as the other day. I have work early tomorrow. I say early but really I start at 10am. Which is not really early at all. But lately I have been sleeping late and waking later. Today I got up at 12pm, so as you can see, it's a hard life for me right now, I jest.
I stayed in bed most of the day, my fever was keeping me down. But to be honest, having a fever gave me the best night's sleep I've had in ages.

Lesson - For a good night's sleep, get a fever (the non-fatal kind)

Seriously, I was out like a light and didn't wake up until ages later. It was a good sleep, no dreams nothing, pure untampered sleep.

I also got a random $110 today in my pay. How'd I get this money? It's overdue census pay! Ohh that brings back bad memories. The bloody census was a nightmare. I was under so much stress and it clashed with my teaching rounds! I must have been out of my bloody mind to have done that. I was working nearly 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for the three weeks I was doing that. It was insane. Even after I had finished my teaching rounds, I had to retrieve the forms and some even went missing! The thing is, I don't know how that could have been possible.

Lesson - Never do the census and your job and your teaching rounds at the same time. EVER!

I certainly won't be doing that anymore. Oh well, the census paid for my XBox 360, so some good came out of it, I guess.

I think my cold has affected my taste buds. I had Potato Curry with Lebanese Bread for lunch today and I swear the curry was incredibly bland. I am positive the curry is more tangy and spicy than what it was. It sucked. I didn't enjoy my lunch. I hope my cold is better tomorrow because I want to be able to taste my food. Some people eat to live. I live to eat. I love my food.
Oh well, thanks for sticking around after twenty posts!

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Nineteen - Moody, Sick and Lonely

I woke up around 10:30am, which is pretty early for me lately since I am on holiday. I had work at 12pm and so I took some more Codral. When I got to work I was in such a good mood. I don't know why but I was feeling really good. I was actually very enthusiastic selling things to customers today. Even my colleagues were quick to point that out. Usually I am quite cynical and a bit of an ass at times (but only to customers who are pushy, rude or annoying).

Lesson - Soldier on with Codral, soldier on, soldier on.

I felt good for most of the day. However the effects soon wore off and I felt like absolute shit of the earth. My eyes were watery and my nose was stuffed. I asked to go home early because I was just not up to scratch. I got home and have been lying in bed ever since.

I hate being sick, it really does play on the mood sometimes. When I am sick I feel unhappy. There's just nothing much to do. I remember when I had the chickenpox back in 2004, I absolutely hated it. I felt a lot worse than I do now. I was so lonely, I felt like a prisoner in my own house. Thankfully I had my best mate keep me company at times. I miss the bastard, he's up in Cairns. Haven't heard from him much lately. Hope he's all right.

Lesson - Misery loves company, but loneliness loves it more ironically.

My other mate wanted to do something at around 11pm tonight. I was feeling like utter shit, but I still wanted to hang out with him. He wanted to play pool, but I couldn't. I really should be in bed and not be going out because I am just too sick. If I stay home all day tomorrow, then I should be okay for work on Tuesday. Here's hoping that I am right about that.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Eighteen - Circus, Sickness and Japanese Cuisine

Hey all, still feel like crap but this is what happened on Saturday.
I went to see La Clique, it's a circus but not like you'd expect. It was quite small actually and had less than 10 performers. It was an odd circus but was very fun to watch. One lesson I did learn from this, or I should say my Papa (my grandfather on mum's side) learned from this is:

Lesson - Don't take anyone under 15 to see La Clique.

Why? Well it had this guy doing magic. Okay, I'll explain... The guy did that magic trick with a hankie, they pull the hankie out of their closed fist, stuff it back in and it disappears. He was only wearing a singlet and underwear. He then proceeded to remove the hankie from his singlet, and made it disappear into his hand. Then he took off his singlet. He did the trick again this time removing it from his underwear. Then made the hankie disappear into his closed fist. He then removed his underpants. My eleven year old cousin was with us, and well... she was made to cover her eyes. The naked bloke then proceeded to remove a hankie from his ass, and well it then disappeared into his closed fist. Magic.
There was this really hot girl who did all these tricks with four hula hoops. It was absolutely mesmerising, she was incredibly beautiful and the gyrating movements were just hypnotic. They also had this guy from Norway who was a contortionist. He dislocated his shoulders to fit himself through a tennis racquet (net removed of course). He bent himself over and had his head between his knees. He then said to us, "I know what you probably want to ask me, and the answer is 'Yes I can.'" Was fantastic.
I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not been so sick. I have a cold and I get hay fever this time of year. I felt like crap.

Lesson - If you're sick and can avoid it, don't go out.

I had some Codral and it's making me drowsy, but I feel a little better now.
For dinner we went to Crown and I order some yakinikudon. That stuff is usually nice. However this was a Chinese-run Japanese food place. It was crap.

Lesson - Most Chinese-run Japanese food outlets are crap and not worth the money you spend.

I said four times, "Could I please have some yakinikudon?"
The woman had no idea what the hell I wanted. Then I groaned (I was not well and I was getting frustrated) and said, "Number Four."
I got some Yakinikudon soon after, but it was not worth what I paid. I've had tons better than that. I hope to find some good Ramen outlets here in Melbourne, I think if someone made a ramen stand much like the ones they have in Japan, they could make a small fortune.

Well that's what happened today. Take care of yourselves.

James

James

Lesson Seventeen - Yakuza, Newbies and Old Ideas

Recently I have been mulling about some of the older ideas I used to have in high school when I was really into creative writing. Nowadays it is near impossible for me to write a story, which is a real shame. I used to write for my first girlfriend back in high school, we were both pretty much into each others writing. I remember reading the Robert Jordan novels for that... well best not to call her that, but if you were wonder what the word was is rhymes with 'ducking switch'. Maybe one day I will write the story about my first love and first betrayal.

But not today! :P

Lesson - Keep your old pieces of writing, you never know when you'll want to come back to them, no matter how much you may have thought they were crap.

Also we had a new guy at work doing his third ever shift. You can so tell he's an office type guy. He can be a bit awkward at times. It was actually pretty funny watching him try to vacuum the store. It was like he had never seen or used a vacuum cleaner before. It was pretty funny watching him try to turn it on with the wrong buttons.
He's a bit slow on the tills. Which is understandable considering he was only working his third ever shift. I don't know if he'll survive over Christmas though. He's a nice enough guy, has a good sense of humor. But I dunno... we'll see...

Lesson - We were all learners once, we never stop learning. Therefore, giving crap to people learning is not cool.

I've been pretty patient with the new guy. So I think I uphold this lesson very well. I also try not to get irritated with learner drivers on the road (but any P-Plater or fully licensed driver will tell you how hard it can be sometimes).
I got a free copy of Yakuza for Playstation 2. It's pretty good, I like the story so far. It's about a guy in the Yakuza (duh) who has his life pretty much set up for him. His best mate, who is also Yakuza (duh) kills their boss in a rage after their boss tries to rape this woman who was their childhood friend and the main character's girlfriend. Basically, the main character takes the fall and goes to jail for 10 years. The girl loses her memory of the incident because of the trauma she suffered and the best made changes for the worse and becomes a very ruthless and cruel Yakuza boss. It is up to you to clear your name! Pretty cool. I am glad I didn't pay for it though, the graphics are crap, but the story is enough to keep me interested.

Lesson - Free games are games worth keeping.

Well that's all for now sports fans! Take care of yourselves!

James

Lesson Sixteen - Shopping, Boredom and the Gears of War

I went shopping today. But in all honesty, most of the money was spent on myself. I put away some of it towards my Sydney trip. Funds are still a bit low, but I should be okay. I've got some more to put away and my parents have offered to pay for my airfare as my Christmas present. Yeah, well today I picked up (finally) those figure/sculptures. I got Squall and Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII (my personal favourite), Cloud from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and a large sculpture of Ayane from Ninja Gaiden. They look awesome.

Lesson - Don't be a hoarder.

I am shocking at the moment. I'm running out of room for all my things. I guess when I decide to move out of home (which probably won't happen until maybe 2008) I will need to make sure that I don't accumulate so much crap. In the meantime, I need a new bed, maybe re organise my shelves and desk, after I do that it should be all right.
I also bought a 2GB flash drive and two games for my XBox 360. I could have bought the Nintendo Wii I have on hold, but I don't think I should get it just yet. Bit more time, then I will take it. I got my Dad's Christmas present, he's easy to shop for but hard to shop for as well... If that makes any sense. Basically, Dad is easy in the sense that he loves movies. So buying a DVD sounds like the perfect gift. But we have so many at home, it's hard to find one he hasn't got. Also he may decide to spontaneously buy one that you get him for Christmas. So I just got him a voucher, should be right.

Had work today and it was BORING! There was no one in the store for ages. I went to Southland and checked out our store there and it was really busy! Here, not a soul. It was good because it meant we had less things to do. But yeah, it was so dull, 30 minutes seemed like two hours. I wanted to chat with the girl at the cafe, but all I could manage was a weak smile. Since I got drunk at the Christmas party, I just lost it. I can't bring myself to talk to her, I don't remember why either.

Lesson - Always keep at least one thing unfinished when the day is slow. You can pick at it to make the time go by.

I bought two games today for my XBox 360, one was Oblivion, which I like. It's pretty cool so far. As for the other one, it was Gears of War. It's a very good game. Extremely cool and easy to pick up. But I cannot play shooting games. I'm ridiculously crap at them. I struggled with the first enemy for goodness sake! Oh well, I gave it a try. It was good, but I think I will just get my money back.

Lesson - Take advantage of company policy.

In reality I could use the 7 day return policy to try every game. But really I prefer to know I have the money rather than play the games all the time. Tomorrow I have work at 6pm, hopefully I can go playing pool with my mate afterwards. Who knows? I might even grow some balls and converse with the girl at the cafe! We'll see.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Fifteen - Money, Presents and Personality

Still a little blue at the moment, solely because of a lead up to certain things. I have been wondering whether or not my personality is something that has hindered me in a number of aspects of my life... I am not sure. I none too happy with how I react to certain things at present. Maybe it's just me and that I am down in the dumps at the moment.
I also did some present shopping today, mainly just my sister, since she was the only one that told me what she wanted. I have no idea what to get my mum or dad. Very annoying.

Lesson - Know your audience, know the people you're getting gifts for.

Well I guess I do know them, but my Dad seems like he's going to be a bit more difficult to shop for this year. But I must have done something good, I have a huge pay packet this week. I am going to save most of it and use the rest for Christmas presents. I don't have many to shop for. Also got to get some Christmas cards.

Lesson - Don't bother with your blog when you are sick.

I am so not feeling well right now, I think I am getting a cold. Damn it all.

Anyways, I'll make this short. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Fourteen - Control, Embarrassment and Frustrations

Well all, it's been two weeks now... Despite some crappy postings this blog still trundles along. Yay for the trundling blog! I was working today with one of my co-workers who was with me the night of the Christmas Party. This really sucked because it turns out I did far more than I thought I did. Nothing awful, it was just things I didn't remember and was embarrassed about hearing.
It also turns out I was talking about a girl I have never spoken to my co-workers about. I wonder why I was doing that? The only other girl I kept talking about was the girl from the coffee place whom I have admired from afar for two years. Yeah, now you know why it was so utterly embarrassing to hear this from someone else. I am never going to do that again, have so much that I get like that. I wonder how much of that actually happened and how much of it was crap?

Lesson - Reunions and meet-ups are so hard to plan. You can't please everyone.

I went to an Old Boys gathering at my old high school. It was pretty lame, but it was good for my friend who came with me. He couldn't believe how much the place had changed. I went to one just a month prior and it was like entering a time warp. It was the same place, but it was the future. So much things had changed. The school looked amazing, I would love to teach at a place like that. But in all honesty, if I had a choice to teach at a school I attended, I wouldn't. I don't know why, I just don't like the idea. This Old Boys thing was a meeting to plan an annual meeting. It was pretty boring as a lot of the old boys are from the seventies and they all want to do these things with their families... My generation, I don't think that many guys are actually married or have families. I wouldn't be surprised if some are, but not as many as those 70's guys. I am also trying to organise an EAN meetup for the Melbourne members, but this time of year is really crap. Hopefully I can get one going post Christmas though, I look forward to doing that. This time around it's going to be out at a restaurant, the food is actually quite nice. It's hard and you can't please everybody, even though I would prefer it if everyone could make it. Oh well...

Had a bit of a conflict with my sister today, was minor but it got really huge for some dumb reasons. I hate arguing with my family, especially my Mum - she says stuff she shouldn't sometimes and I am the type to refute that sort of thing. I always do that, we're too alike, my mum and me. We argue a fair bit, I still love her, but I think I'd love her more if I didn't live with her. It can be tough, not just me though, I am pretty hard to put up with sometimes.
But this argument wasn't with my mum, it was with my sister. It was over me wanting to watch TV after her show had finished. She said I could watch TV here (as long as it wasn't wrestling or "stupid Japanese cartoons"). What really annoyed me was that she said those things, just because something is fake, or animated or in another language, doesn't make it stupid. I hate how my family dismiss things like that. It's incredibly narrow minded and very stupid. I wanted to actually watch my new Family Guy DVD, which she doesn't mind, she likes that show. But when we argued she said no 'stupid cartoons' - she said 'stupid japanese cartoons' afterwards. Since Family Guy is a cartoon, I guessed that included that and it blew up from there. I don't see what the big deal was, apparently she had been there for two hours watching all her shows. I just wanted to watch one thing. I don't like how my family criticises things I like. That annoys me.

Lesson - Don't bother with watching TV anywhere except my room, the dumb conflicts are not worth it.

My sister then got pissed with my Dad because he got involved and said she made a mistake and wasn't perfect. She got really upset about that for some reason. I got annoyed with her because she was changing the subject and I don't believe that was the reason she was upset for anyways. What does this mean? She probably won't talk to me nicely for a few days. Shit happens. Oh well.

Sure has been a boring day, I got work early tomorrow, so I need my sleep.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Thirteen - Health, Depression and Financial Standings

It seems as though everyone lately has been having a rough time. I know that I certainly had a terrible time on Saturday, maybe because the truth hurts. Yes, I am still hung up on what happened. I haven't seen any of my co-workers who were in attendance, so I don't know what will happen tomorrow when I finally work with one of them. I hope things aren't too crap.

Lesson - No matter how crap you feel, there is always someone worse off than yourself.

I would certainly like to meet this person, I could use a good laugh. Yeah, at their expense, I know... it's not nice. Oh well. A couple of my friends have been having rough times as well. I certainly hope that they get through their problems. Good luck to you guys if you're reading this. I hope you all feel better soon.

I've also been a little more conscious with my health. I took my dog for a good walk this morning (I woke up at a decent hour) I guess that's one good thing to come out of my drunken stupor, I went to sleep at a reasonable hour. I had some curry and rice and some sandwiches, so that certainly is much healthier than maccas or pizza. Both of which I ate on Sunday in my depression. I don't know if I can hold up on it though, I should, because Lord knows I don't want to be a diabetic or something like that. I want to be fit and healthy (speaking of which I seriously need to go to the gym sometime this week) ever since my last teaching rounds I have seriously slacked off. It's pathetic.

I also managed to get my hands on a Nintendo Wii, they're very hard to come by at the moment. Everyone wants one. I want one. But I cannot afford to get one. Temptation is slowly trying to get the better of me and wanting me to blow my money on one. It would be worth it, but it would be at the expense of my own holiday to Sydney. I don't want to lose out on that. I look forward to seeing all my friends up there. It's been far too long. I miss them.
So I am wondering if I should trade in some of my games or something. That would help me in getting the Wii. But I don't know at this stage.

I feel this blog is becoming more mundane, sorry these last couple of posts have been pretty crap. I am sure something of interest will happen soon enough.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Twelve - Heat, Junk and the Morning After

Well this was the morning after... I hated it, as soon as my memory came back it all hit me like a ton of bricks. I am so ashamed, even though I didn't really do anything I just feel like absolute crap because of what happened. The last time I got really badly drunk, four guys had to carry me out of the bar. I wasn't that bad this time, after all I was still sober enough to tell people how to get me home and I could still walk on my own two feet. But still, I felt like the crap of the earth.

Lesson - Some people will brag about how wasted they got, let me tell you now, the hangovers aren't worth it.

I had a pretty nasty hangover. My head was pounding and my eyes felt like they wanted to burst out of my skull and I could barely keep them open. I took a couple of panadol and I crashed on the floor of my room on my futon (I keep a futon on the floor of my bedroom when it is summer). I woke up and my dog was sleeping just where my face was, he then proceeded to lick my face. I think I'm going to give alcohol a miss for a little bit. I didn't throw up or anything like that, but that didn't make how I felt any better.

The weather was just so hot today, that didn't help with recovery. It must have been about 37 degrees. The air was scorching. The steering wheel of my car was hot, I could barely use it to steer. Although inside the shopping centre was not consolation, it was pretty hot in there too. And the store? Boiling. I didn't even bother to wear my tie, it was that hot. I felt pretty exhausted all day, even though I only was filling in for 3 hours at work, it felt like I was there the whole day through. It did cool down eventually, and that was nice.

No real lesson regarding that, it was just a bloody nuisance.

I have been eating too much junk lately. I had a pizza, and whilst nice and yummy, I have been eating a lot of crap lately. Why is it that junkfood is cheaper than health food? No wonder there is a bloody obesity epidemic, the healthy stuff is too expensive.

Lesson - Junkfood is addictive, avoid at all costs.

I might think about doing one of those detox program things, I think after all that crap I drank the previous night, I could use something to clean my system out.

Only a short one today, thanks for reading. Take care of yourselves.

- James

Lesson Eleven - Booze, Honesty and Regret

I could barely type let alone sign in last night. I had that much to drink last night at the Christmas party. I couldn't even speak English towards the end of the night, which is not a good sign. When I get well and truly wasted I speak Japanese and not English. I don't know why that happens. It just does. Anyways, I know that towards the end of the night I did not enjoy myself... I should have known to stop... Why did I keep going? I don't even remember.

Lesson - When it comes to alcohol, there is a limit, even if you think it won't do anything to you.

I know I didn't do anything over the top, but I also know that I was sorta in another dimension compared to everyone else. I had... Okay... You know what? I can't even remember how much I had. That is bad. I normally don't do this sort of thing. Normally... I just have a couple and enjoy the night, but for some reason or another I kept going thinking I was going to be okay... I wasn't. Drinking that much at a work Christmas party, probably not a good idea. I suppose I will know today and on Monday just exactly how much of a dick I made of myself in front of colleauges.
I don't think it was anything too serious, but still I majorly regret drinking so much that night. I still have no clue as to what really drove me to lose control... Damn it.

I got a bit emotional too, because my assistant manager asked some probing questions. I don't want to go into detail about it. It still hurts to think about it. I know that I am not completely happy with things as they are right now. That honesty showed through the liquor. It was a horrible atmosphere after that many drinks. I hate myself for going that far. I just hope I did nothing wrong. One thing I do know, I am embarrassed about it.

Take care of yourselves...unlike me.

James

Lesson Ten - Hedgehogs, Ice Cream and Human Traffic

It was a really busy day today. It seems like it's just getting busier and busier. I live in an area where everyone does their Christmas shopping at the last minute. I don't see why I can complain about that though, I haven't bought any Christmas presents for anyone yet.
Work was just so flat out. As the saying goes, 'No rest for the wicked.' I must be pretty damn evil then! My boss likes to put me up against customers who demand discount because I am very strict with that. There was a guy who wanted an XBox 360, 2 games, an additional controller and another game. Then he kept saying, 'Discount... Discount...' He was Vietnamese, I don't think he had a good grasp on English (he learned that word pretty quick though...).
All together his purchase cost about $875.90 after giving a discount of an additional $30 or so (since some of those things were part of a special bundle). I told him, 'No discount. $875.90'
He pulled out this huge wad of $50s. I am talking HUGE. He dealt it out on the counter and then said, 'I only have $850.'
Yeah... sure you do.
I said, 'Okay, you can't afford this. I understand... I'll put everything back then.'
His kid looked shocked and then he pulled out the 26 dollars to pay for the item. Seriously, it's already been discounted. You don't just demand more discount, it's a retail outlet, not a marketplace. Now because it's Christmas time, human traffic becomes a problem. What is human traffic?

Lesson - Human traffic is a phenomenon unique to the human species. When it occurs it can bring out some of the most irrational and aggressive behaviour seen. It also has the ability to increase anxiety and stress levels in people.

Try to avoid becoming a victim of human traffic.
We have a new guy at work, and he's a bit on the slow side. Which is fair enough, considering it was his second shift ever. Talk about baptism by fire. This was a contributing factor to the rise in human traffic in our store today. As was some customers who did not get the message that we couldn't give a refund on a DVD they had already watched.
I had a guy like that once, he said he wanted to return a DVD because it was boring. I said we're not allowed to return it because he had already watched it. He said he works at Officeworks (which is a stationery specialist discount store) and he said they return things. I said, 'This isn't office works, you've used this product and you are not allowed to return it.'
He was pissed, I said, 'Don't take it personally, this is policy.' Six months later he came back and glared at me, then gave me the finger. I couldn't help but laugh at that.

Lesson - Some people need to get a life.

It was also pretty hot today, so that didn't help with human traffic. Luckily for me I had an ice cream that day. Something you guys need to learn about Burmese people, Burmese people grow up on three important things. I am half Burmese so I know these things and have had them instilled in me throughout my life.

Lesson - The three things a Burmese person grows up on is: Curry, Rice and Ice Cream.

Of course, not all at the same time. Though I do wonder... Nah, not really. I love Ice Cream, my favourite is mint-chocolate chip. I went to the New Zealand Ice Cream store in the food court and got myself one of those bad boys. Now that hit the spot. I've never been too much of a vanilla fan, athough I don't mind vanilla ice cream on pancakes or waffles or crepes. It also goes well with hot chocolate pudding. Damn, I am making myself hungry just thinking of these delicious sweets. I think my sister's boyfriend is coming over for dinner tomorrow night, so Mum might cook some nice dessert to go with the meal. Too bad I won't be there. Work Christmas Party is on tomorrow night. Free booze. Always good.

I also had some time to play Sonic the Hedgehog on my XBox 360, it is a terrible game. I don't know why I haven't returned it yet. The controls are terrible, the levels are difficult (and not in the way they should be difficult). You can die from just one slightly wrong movement. I hate it. But I am progressing quite well in the game so far. So I may as well see it through to the end. Worse comes to worse I'll return it next Thursday and get something else since next Thursday we get a bonus discount on items. My friend also called and told me he bought a Nintendo Wii (bastard!). He said he was at Target in Southland and they had three left, so he said, "Yep, I'll take one!" So I reserved a game for him that he wants. I will just have to be patient and wait 'til I can properly afford one.

Well that's all from me for another day. Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Nine - Guardians, Kebabs and Ice

Hey all. I had a pretty late night last night due to the launch of the Nintendo Wii console this morning. When I woke up this morning I was being guarded heavily. In my doorway a protector sat, alert, vigilant and hairy. Yes, hairy. My dog, Koutho was guarding my doorway whilst I slept. The funny thing about that is that Koutho is a silky terrier. He's only a small thing, but he was there protecting me. Made me feel kind of good to have my dog guard my doorway whilst I slept. I felt so flattered that I was being guarded by the little fella. I was extra kind to him today. I think he appreciated that too.

Lesson: Dogs are like people in a lot of respects.

He usually doesn't listen to me, but because I was more attentive to him today, maybe if I give him that little bit extra I could get him to do as he's told more often when he misbehaves. I think I am onto something here.

Work today was very busy. Lots of people wanting to buy the Nintendo Wii, we had none to sell. That is 'exactly' why we ask people to pre-order items, to avoid missing out! But no, people don't listen and don't understand the value of doing something like that. They have no right to get mad at us for that, it's their bad luck.
I want a Nintendo Wii as well, but I am going to wait until next year, because at the moment I am still saving for my trip to Sydney. And...to be honest, I am not doing so well. It's hard for me to get into a good habit of saving. It was a long day, and I was pretty hungry. I tell you, McDonalds gets pretty 'bleh' after a while, besides, I had that for lunch. I decided to get a kebab. It was a lamb one, with onions, lettuce and garlic sauce. It was really nice.

Lesson: Kebabs + Retail Assistant = Customer Repellant

Thank goodness for Mentos - the freshmaker! ;) I had a couple of those and my breath was right as rain. Though to tell you the truth, I would have preferred to have less customers in the store. I reckon I could have done with the garlic sauce breath. Oh well, we'll see how we go with tomorrow's shift.

I also bought a drink at work. I always get my drinks from this coffee shop near my work. Why? I like a girl at the place. She's really pretty, she has a pretty good sense of humor too. I haven't had much luck in asking her out though, both times that I have, she was already in a relationship. I haven't quite figured her out yet. When I say this, I mean I haven't quite figured out whether she likes me as a friend or as more. My colleague at work once told me she was at a stall outside our store and she was constantly looking up at me into the shop. I was so nervous that I didn't bother to look at her at all. I don't know if that means anything, so I let it go.
But she's really nice and it's good sometimes to have a little joke with her now and then. I would love an opportunity to talk to her about more than just idle chit chat. I think there's a lot to her. Today I bought a coke from her, and she said it wasn't cold enough. I felt it and it was kinda cold. It was just a bottle, I was going to take it back to the store with me. She even offered me ice. I don't know what that meant. Where would I put the ice? It's a ordinary plastic bottle remember... Was this just a bizarre act of kindness? Probably. I think I'm just being a spaz about her, since I like her I am probably looking for any little thing that may indicate that she likes me back. I don't really know anymore!

Lesson: Women are complicated.

At the risk of sounding chauvinistic, 'When God invented Women, he forgot to leave a set of instructions.' I don't think a man alive will ever understand a woman, even if he lived all the way since the beginning. But then again, sometimes that's not a bad thing. Women can be pretty amazing, the effect they have on us guys. Wow. That feeling you get when a girl smiles at you and makes you feel like something special, that's a great feeling. However, this girl is complicated, so I am best to keep at arms length and just be friendly with her. No point getting myself burned repeatedly. If something happens, it happens. If not, then it wasn't meant to be.
Well that's all from me today. I feel like this blog is probably boring people by now. If it is, feel free to comment.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Eight - Munchies, Laziness and Shift Work

This post is a little late. I was working a late night shift because the Nintendo Wii comes out on the 7th. Our store had a midnight launch, where at 12:01am we start selling the new Nintendos. I tell you it is really, really tempting when you see all those brand spanking new consoles not to want to buy one for yourself.
And to be honest, the Nintendo Wii, is pretty fun. It's hard to explain, but I found it really fun. You can explain it to people as much as you want, but really they need to play it for themselves in order to really appreciate it. That's how it was for me.

Lesson - Working in a place with things you buy for leisure is torture, working in a Video Game store is that for me.

However the job is easy, I get good discounts and it's five minutes from home. All in all I think it balances itself out pretty well. But I have to admit there are times when I regret buying all these games or DVDs or whatever. I think nowadays though I pretty much have that under control, I have to if I am going to be going to Sydney.

So yeah, the shift today was from 10pm to 1am. Short shift, but there was some complicated things to do like mathcing prices on our weird POS machines. I was pretty lazy, I dunno why.
Lately at work I just can't be stuffed and I think it's starting to show. It's hard though to try and get that motivation. Especially when people at work are a pain in the butt.
Not so much my co-workers, they're pretty good. It's the customers who really annoy me. I guess it's that time of year.

Lesson - When working shift work make sure you bring a snack.

I was so hungry I couldn't think straight. Maybe that added to my lack of motivation, can't work on an empty stomach as they say. After work I drove around but McDonalds was closed. I had barely any petrol in my car and I don't get paid until tomorrow, so it's pretty hard to drive to the 24 hour McDonalds in Noble Park. So I drove to 7Eleven and bought a Slurpee and some Doritos. Didn't quite hit the spot, but it was something at least. Tomorrow I am going to eat a lot, big time! I still have the munchies now, I might just rummage around the pantry and see if there's something to eat here.

Anyways, take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Seven - Stuffed Shirts, Money and Nostalgia

Well it's been a week now and I am still posting in this blog! Hurray for diligence!
(There was much rejoicing).

Today was a big day at work. We were on our toes for most of the day. First we had all our new Nintendo Wii things come in today. But they can't be sold until Thursday. Just seeing all those cool gizmos and games made me want to buy one. But I need to save my money for my Sydney trip. I am aiming for about $1000 for the trip. Of course money is going to go towards airfares and the rest for accommodation and then expenses. But I digress, it was also a big day because some big shots from head office were coming in today. I gotta tell ya, they sure are a bunch of stuffed shirts. They seemed nice enough though, but that could have been just business formality.
They came today to inspect the store and make sure all our promos and products were in the right spots. The state manager simply said, 'It looks good.' But the assistant store manager who was with me when he said that, said that our state manager is known as the silent assassin. He'll tell you something is good, but then when he gets back to his office he'll blast you about how badly something looked. Apparently that is the case, she said it happened to a couple of stores he inspected.

Lesson: Beware the silent assassin.

Oh well, I am just a lowly sales assistant, therefore I am a grunt. Grunts don't cop it. Managers cop it.

Lesson: It pays to be at the bottom sometimes.

But to be honest I really don't think our store was that bad. So if the stuffed shirts didn't say much about our store (which was the case) then I don't see why they should complain in the first place. Especially when we have done as we're told. Guess I'll be able to tell from the look on my manager's face tomorrow.

There was something that was even more annoying than usual today. Money. Or rather, the lack of it. It has been at least ten days since the State Election, therefore I should have gotten paid for working it by now. But no, I have not. I need that money. My car is running on the smell of an oily rag at the moment, can barely make it to work!

Lesson: Be frugal with your money, because a fool and his money are soon parted.

Lesson: I am that fool. :(

Yeah, my Dad said he hasn't been paid for it yet, and neither has my Mum. So hopefully soon I will get that money. I need to also return some games, they're either too easy, too crap or too short. Damn. Sooner I get paid sooner I can start doing things.

I also managed to get some old school games to play on my PS2. Old games are fun for the reason that they go back to the fundamentals of gaming. Sometimes I think the newer game developers forget that. I loved the old 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games, they were so good. I was really good at them. I bought Sonic the Hedgehog on XBox 360... and well, let's just say it's not very good. No, that's being tactful...It's crap.
Nice graphics, great even. But far out, it's so not playable it isn't funny...
Neo Geo Battle Coliseum for PS2, good fighting game, but too damn short. Boring.
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja? Not enough characters to play as... I love the Naruto series, but this game only had 12 characters. I finished it in days! Games should last months, not days!
Oh well, hopefully there's some better ones out there, because to be honest the ones I currently have are not worth it. I'm going to return them to work and get my money back.

I have no work during the day tomorrow, I start at 10pm. Nintendo Wii Midnight Launch!! It's going to be crap because all these people will be getting one, and I won't.
Oh well, I really want to go to Sydney, so I guess it'll be worth it once I get up there.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Six - Boxes, Accusations and Organisation

Today was a busy day, even though it was my day off. I managed to tidy my room a fair bit too, which is good and long overdue. I cleared my desk and organised most of my teaching materials. I won't be needing them for another twelve months at least.
I still need to think about re-organising it so that it doesn't have so much stuff. I swear it's like living in a filing cabinet at the moment. All I can say is, thank God for boxes. What would humanity do without the simple cardboard box? It has so many useful functions. It carries objects, stores them, can be used as a house for homeless people, can be used as a spaceship (for kids) and many other things. Cardboard boxes are our friends.

Lesson: Retail outlets are great places to get cardboard boxes. (They toss them out anyways, so might as well grab some from them.)

I went to work today and grabbed a couple to put some things in. Very useful. I'll have to remember this when I move out of home and if I am still at my current job (Highly doubtful).
Basically today I managed to clean my desk and make room for my XBox 360 and my laptop. On top of that I was left with a list of things to do today and I managed to get that done as well, which is a relief.

My Dad came home and told me I have been downloading too much. Already in the past five days I have downloaded nearly 2 GB worth of stuff. Uh oh. I can't help it! Naruto is so addictive! Such a good story with some very cool characters! I'm sucked in. Anyways, today he came into my room asking me what happened to some special CDs he bought. I had no idea what he was talking about, but that was not enough for him and he came in a second time after asking my sister and demanded to know what I did with them! If I had taken them I would have told him by now. I hate when people don't let up on you like that. So annoying. What more can I say? Not much really.

Lesson: Stick to your guns and be honest with people. They will have no reason to doubt you, even if they start to accuse you of stuff.

It got a bit heated between me, my sister and my Dad. I got hot because he kept wanting to know what happened to them when I can't answer that because I have no idea what could have happened.

I want to organise an EAN meet up so badly. At the moment though it's Christmas and everyone is busy. Tyson works at Kingpin in Victoria Gardens, so it is difficult to do a night out when he cannot come because of his shift hours. It's just so hard to try and get everyone together in one place at one time. It sucks. There's also been a couple of newer members who joined recently and reside in Melbourne, so it would be nice to meet them too. But alas, I am terrible at organising things.

Lesson: Organising a meet-up on your own at Christmas time, is a pain in the ass.

Well, I am still going to try and get one up and running, maybe eat at the Chocolate Buddha. Last time I was there I had Miso Ramen and some other yummy stuff. They make some really good dishes. Be nice to do that. Also, my friend Quan is having an exhibition at Swinburne University in Prahran, so it might be a good opportunity for others to meet there too and see some cool designs and have some free alcohol.

Lesson: Good Alcohol is Free Alcohol.

Well, I guess I will see what everyone else is up to during the week and then I might post it on the boards, I really want to see everyone before Christmas. If I can get it together it should be a good time.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Five - Tempers, Belts and Peanut Butter

Today was a busy day at work today. My boss was really grumpy. To be honest he has a pretty short fuse and can get mad pretty easily at the smallest of things. Today was no exception, however I could tell he was already having a crap day when I got in to start my shift.

Lesson: Don't cross the boss.

Whilst for the most part I find my boss approachable and such, he has a shocking temper. I didn't really cross him today, but after seeing him react to certain people today (which was justified) I know that if you piss him off, you seriously have to watch out. Our assistant store manager is cool though, she actually is good at keeping his temper in line. Too bad she wasn't here today.
Today a guy came in with a problem with his PSP. He said his son couldn't upload any video files onto his PSP, whereas his other son could. Now he seemed nice enough and I tried to help him, but it was an exceptional situation... I could not see what could be the source of the problem. I offered him the phone number to Sony, so he could call them and find out from them (after all, they are the manufacturers, they have people for this sort of thing). But that wasn't good enough for him, and he insisted I do something. What? What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't think of anything new to offer other than the phone number of someone who can help. Then the inevitable came, 'Let me speak to your manager.'
'Oh great...'
Well I went out the back and got my manager and he was not happy. The guy was demanding to know what my manager was going to do about his problem. He offered the same suggestions that I made and that was not good enough. He then eventually left but not before saying, 'I'll be coming back for you.'
Seriously, what the hell does that mean? Honestly what a tool.

Today was also irritating because I wore my old belt, it is almost snapping off completely. I don't know why, I am actually smaller than I was before. It's quite bizarre. Needless to say things were pretty uncomfortable, I was always worried that it might break off completely leaving me with a busted belt and pants that would keep falling down.

Lesson: A good belt can be the difference between good day and a crappy one.

I guess it's a bit like having a stone in your shoe. Imagine having a stone in your shoe during a run and you can't stop, yeah, that bad. I was sort of walking on egg shells so as to not break my belt. At the same time, I was also walking on egg shells around my boss who could explode any minute because of the crap day he was having. Yeah it was like that. But my Dad bought me a new belt today, so I don't have to worry for a while. It's leather (but then again so was this other one). Oh well, let's hope this one lasts. :P

I also tried something that I saw on Family Guy. There was some little cut away where two guys were in a car accident, one was drunk and eating chocolate and the other was drunk and eating peanut butter. Well after their head on collision, Officer Reeses (like in Reeses Pieces) can to the scene. After he asked them what happened, one barely said 'He got chocolate in my peanut butter.' Reeses tried some and it was delicious, then he killed the two guys and the rest is history. They don't have peanut butter cups here in Australia, so naturally I was curious. We had some cooking chocolate in the fridge and some peanut butter in the pantry and well... You do the math.

Lesson: Chocolate + Peanut Butter = Delicious sweet snack

It is really really nice! But I wouldn't have it too often, it's really rich. I can't have anything more than maybe two or three pieces of chocolate with some peanut butter. Oh, so nice. But oh, so rich. As you can tell, it has been a pretty mundane Sunday, but it was not without it's lessons. I have the day off tomorrow. I will be cleaning my room again, I'm going to try and make some room for some of my things.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Four - Housekeeping, Sleep and Tardiness.

I woke up pretty late this morning, well technically I woke up this afternoon. It was about 12:30pm when I woke, but that's not surprising considering I didn't sleep until 5am that same morning. I can't afford to do that again, because I have work at 11:30am tomorrow. It's going to be a long day, considering that it will be a Sunday and that we are getting closer and closer to Christmas. I can't believe how fast the year has gone by. It seems like a short while, but we're nearly out of 2006 and into 2007.
Today I had an immense task to accomplish, and it still is not completed. It is a task filled with more horrors than the human mind can fathom. It would give the bravest of men nightmares for years to come. Many have tried to look without fear, but it breaks them every time. This is a task for no ordinary human, and yet today I chose to attempt to accomplish it.

I had to clean my room.

A bit anti-climactic? If you answered yes, then you haven't seen my room. I don't know what it was, I am usually very unmotivated when it comes to chores and housekeeping. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to that. However today I was more motivated to actually do something about it. Surprisingly I got a fair bit done. A ton of rubbish went into the bin, papers, magazines and other junk that I don't need anymore. But the real problem that arose from my cleaning was the mountain of teaching resources that I found scattered on my desk, on the floor and on my shelves. Where am I going to put this stuff?

Lesson: Teachers need resources.

Lesson within lesson: Teachers need space. Lots of space.

It looks like I am going to have to sort these things out and actually start preparing for the big day when I actually have to start using and filing these resources for future use with my career. I also am running out of room for all my DVDs, I have well over 100 now, and there is just no room for them all... I really need to re-do my room. I have to try and go for a minimalist approach, but also have room for all my stuff... God, I am asking the impossible aren't I?

I have become more of an owl lately. I have been going to sleep close to sunrise more and more lately. That's not a good thing, considering that I work during the day anyways. I guess I can partially blame Youtube and the Naruto anime for that. It is just getting so good! Every single episode EVER is on Youtube and I have been watching at least ten a night, which is a good several hours at the very least. No wonder I have been going to bed so late. Oh well, I have watched about ten episodes tonight, and it's only 1:20am.

Lesson: Too much anime is a good thing, but it is not good for your sleep pattern.

I need to go to sleep as soon as I finish posting this entry. Because I need to get to work on time. My manager made a comment that I am always late. That's crap. But I know that lately I have been arriving five - ten minutes late, recently. One time I was an hour late, but that was because I thought I started at 6pm instead of 5pm. The roster and times have changed so frequently lately, so I cannot say I blame myself anyways.

I also had this real nasty headache but it seems to have subsided now. I think it was from watching all that stuff on a computer screen, I am going to have to discipline myself and try to only watch for a bit. I have been spending way too much time watching that anime lately.
Hopefully tomorrow won't be too much of a pain in the ass. I hate working weekends at the moment, we get far too many annoying customers than good ones. Fingers crossed.

Take care of yourselves.

James

Lesson Three - Customer Service, Pool and University Results

I am practically walking on air tonight as I type this because I have passed all of my subjects this semester! I cannot believe it. It was a close shave with two of them. One of them I failed an assignment rather dismally. However I made up for it with guts, determination and a much better result for the second assignment.

Lesson learned here: It is not the end of the world unless you allow it.

I was not going to let myself fall into yet another downward spiral of failure. I am so happy that I turned it around. I am proud that I made it. Two subjects I just passed, and that is all I care about. As for the other two, I got distinctions, so I am happy with that. This year's results have been pretty good. This also means that I will be at uni only for another six months, the second half of the year, I think I will travel. In this case, to Japan! I have wanted to go there now for nearly ten years and now, opportunity has appeared. I am going to take it.

Work again today, was quite repetitive. I was a bit terse with some customers today, I guess I was pretty impatient. The anxiety of waiting for uni results, the hot weather and the stupid questions or idiotic reactions of some customers can really get to you. I know it did for me today. And some of the kids these days are quite rude and spoiled. I know I am showing my age now when I say that. But guess what? It's true! It's damn true!
Kids don't say please. They don't say thank you. What bugs me is when they interrupt me whilst I am serving someone else. It also annoys me when they ask for things and do not specify what they want. An example today was a kid who wanted a pack of cards. We have at least 50 different types of cards, simply saying 'That one' and pointing from four feet away is not specific.
Another kid was absolutely shocking. His mother was going to buy him a Nintendo DS and two games, TWO! She put them on lay-by for Christmas and the kid was bawling his eyes out because he was not getting them right now. How spoiled can you get. This kid was probably nine or ten years old. I actually commented to him as I served his mother, 'Why are you so upset? Your Mum is buying you a DS and TWO games! I wish my Mum did that for me!' The mother smiled at me, but the kid continued to sulk. What a brat.
I know I am not a parent, but I have been a teacher before. Kids are not as childish as we think they are, they can be very mature and responsible. Don't baby them, especially when they're that age. That mother coddled that boy and he just acts like a little brat. Ridiculous really.

I also played Pool tonight with my buddy, Nam. Was actually a pretty tight game. I won the first and banked a few good shots in. However in the second game I screwed up and potted the 8 Ball early, handing Nam the win. The third game saw me lose, even though I was in the lead for most of the game. The fourth game, Nam screwed up and potted the 8 Ball inadvertently. During the fourth game, Nam went to the Jukebox and chose the song 'Cherry Pie' by Warrant. That song would be my undoing in the final game of the night. It was pretty tight going in the early part, but as soon as that song hit. Nam was like a man possessed and nailed his shots with accuracy and banking skills better than my own! It was unbelievable. It didn't just affect him, it affected me. I was stuffing up my shots.

Lesson: Watch out for Nam when he plays the Cherry Pie Song. You will be destroyed.

After that we were gonna play some arcade games, but they took out all the good ones that we usually play. So instead we just went home. It was a good night. I still miss my best mate, Tino, who has gone to live in Cairns. Cairns is right at the tip of Queensland, whereas where I live, Melbourne is right at the bottom of Victoria. So he's pretty far away. We used to play pool, the three of us. The three amigos. Oh well, he messaged me and said he was doing well. I'm glad.
Well that's all that has happened today. I gotta say, it's been a pretty sweet and sour day. But in the end, I am still happy with the results.

Take care of yourselves.

James