And then there was...

I wasn;t really lookiung forward to work this morning... it was raining...

ANd me and Amber are terrible judges of when we should be rained back to bed, or when we should just be miserable at work...

Well.. I'm a bad judge... Amber thought we should just call in (in my defence, we did call in... twice... with no answer)

And then, when we finally get to work, I hear those magic words that make my heart sink just a little bit...

"if you had just called in, I would have told you not to come into work this morning"

Those were the magic words... i was officially having the worst day ever... I missed my bed so much...

='(

But then a glimmer of hope...

They rearranged the work list... 2 people on some jobs, 4 people on another...

"Neal! I don't want you dinking around! If this takes you more than an hour, you're fired!"

that's what I wanted to hear...

We were given simple tasks to comeplete... not because they wanted us to do stuff, but because we had shown up for work, and they needed to pay us, so they might as well have something to show for it...

two hours later, I was sound asleep in my bed...

Oh how I love my bed...

Oh... and today was payday!

yay payday!!!

yup...

that's my life...

you got to take a little dirt to keep what you love

So I bought an Mp3 player a while back in order to pass the time at work (sitting on a tractor/mower all day, as surprising as it may seem, is not particularly stimulating for the mind)... I'm sure I mentioned that, but don't care enough to check...

It really did help pass the time...

Unfortunately, it stopped working quite a while ago, but with my busy schedual I didnt have a chance to take it in to get fixed...

And then I managed to put it through the wash...

I didn't get the extended warrenty which covers stupid things I do... so I now have a $60 paperweight ='(

even worse, I dont think it could hold paper if there was any sort of a breeze...

Well, as luck would have it, no sooner had my Mp3 player stopped functioning then i stopped getting put on the tractor all day (which means I got moved to physical labour... but at least that's usually with someone, so that makes it a lot less boring... unless I was working with Morgan, which (thank god) I have been spared from thus far)

=P

Yes...

Well...

Today was my first day back on the mower for 8 hours... I needed to hop myself up on energy drinks and coffee just to make it though the day... But my mind, used to being entertained by an outside source/person, went into musical overdrive...

There were two (count them with me: one... two...) songs which i could not, for the life of me, get out of my head...

Don't get me wrong, they're stellar songs... but really... for 8 hours???

yes...

so they were

Friends in low places - Garth Brooks
If you could only see - Tonic

I desperately need to buy myself a new Mp3 player...

Oh, and my 'rents are comming to visit... sometime between august 3-7th... they don;t know when yet...

I think it was the golf...

I should start cleaning my room...

Sugar, Grease, Spinning, and the Biggest Freak at the Carnival

So today I made the trek into the capital ex fair grounds...

I haven't been to a real fair since... well... PNE 2001 (I vaguely remember going to the Cloverdale Rodeo a few times... but I don't think it was for very long) so i decided to make the most of it...

I stuffed my face full of carni food: 16 mini donuts, a slice a pizza, most of regans corn dog, frech fries, ice cream and pop (by the time we were ready for cotton candy we wanted to die of exahstion... as we came to realise we had been awake and about for more than 17 hours...)

We entered a stregth competition... It may come as a surprise, but I won, and regan lost... by a lot...

We also entered a VR (make an ass of yourself) game... Involving puking, punching and shooting michael jackson... I won (again) but this time I won against 20 kids (the competition consisted of jumping screaming punching jabbing and shooting... and I kicked those kids asses)

My prize for that one was the title of 'Freak' as if there was any surprise...

So a few things to note before I go to bed:

Carni's are CREEPY! why do girls find them attractive... They're transients with stuffed poodles... since when is that in any way hot...

Womens pants should be worn by women... Sorry sugar, being gay is not enough to pull off wearing womens jeans with an A&F shawl, a le chateau purse, and a pair of womens prada shoes... Now I'm the last person to be called homophobic, but the gay culture is pretty hard to support when this is considered acceptable...

And finally, I am a firm believer that there should be a 1hr buffer between when the rain stops and when people who hid from the rain should be allowed on the rides... Those of us who continued to walk around through ankle deep water to sit in metal chaits attactched to metal poles covered in copper wire and light bulbs during an electrical storm should be allowed a chance to reap our rewards before all the wussy people are allowed back on (I mean, they closed most of the really fin rides until the storm passed)...

Jerkbags...

That's it, I'm opeing my own amusement park... And if theres an electrical storm I'll pull all the employees off the gates until the storm passes... That way all the adventurous people can party it up for their bravery...

Please don;t sue when you get hit by lightning...

I really shouldn't be writing this...

... I should be sleeping...

But I had a thought...

a geeky one... a pathetic one... one that will probibly annoy regan (cuz for some reason or another she hates geeky things)...

But I'm looking forward to DnD to start up again...

I hope we can find (and train) a new healer, cuz that's not where I want my character to go anymore...

But yes...

sleep time...

Over Worked and Bombing Raids

in three days it will have been once month since my last full day off of work... I do not lie, I have worked every day (each and every one) since the 24th of June... but enough pity

The real reason I'm posting is because all this worka nd lack of sleep has made my mind work in seriously weird ways...

But, I should probibly start at the beginning...

I've always been a little weird in my process of thought. So knowing that, and knowing that history is an endless loop (due to the inevitability of it repeating itself [I'm trying not to use the cliche... but I guess I had to]), and also knowing that the war to end all wars was started by the assassination of one individual; I'm always a little on edge...

I know, I know, laugh it up...

But everytime a silly war breaks out somewhere on the other side of the planet, I think to myself "what if this is world war numero three?"

And with the history of continued violence in the middle east, I of course thought this same thing when the whole israel/lebanon thing broke out...

Today when we were working at the golf course, there were fighter jets flying by every few hours... I of course immediately thought it was unusual, but we did just start our cities exhibition today, and so I figured that's what they were here for, and I didn't put much thought in it past that...

This evening, I thought I heard something tapping on my window... I know when I'm locked out of my house, I just tap on windows till someone wakes up (usually people are sleeping... which is odd, cuz I'm never out late) so I thought someone else was returning me the favour...

I went upstairs and outside... THere was no one at my window, and certainly no one tapping at it...

But what I could hear was the loud sound of explosions...

I know it's irrational, but my first thought was "Holy Cripes! They made it to Edmonton fast"...

My second thought, of course was "yeah, it's about time for the nightly fireworks at the aforementioned civic exhibition..."

So I'm glad everyone is alright... And I hope I never have to become accustomed to real air raides...

Distasteful

So the topic of humorous (but distasteful) song lyrics came up...

instantly I thought back to my DDR days...

"Do it all night" by E*rotic

Oh do it all night
Do it with me
Ill take you to heaven if you make me feel free
Baby do it tonight
Do it all right
Just take me and shake me till I burn up inside

Come on baby

You may have good sex
With Sam and Fred and Fritz and Max
You may be the slave
Of Tim and Tom and Ed and Dave
You may do it again
With Hans and Franz and Jack and Ken
But youre gonna feel so free
When youre doing it with me

Oh do it all night
Do it with me
Ill take you to heaven if you make me feel free
Baby do it tonight
Do it all right
Just take me and shake me till I burn up inside
Oh do it all night
Do it with me
As hot as a fire and as strong as a tree
Do it tonight
Do it all right
You got it I knew it You can do it tonight

Oh do it all night
Do it with me
Oh as hot as a fire and as strong as a tree
Come on baby and do it with me

You may find you need
Alfredo Jerry Ralph or Pete
It may be okay with Bernie Willy Tim and Ray
Youll love to get a kiss
From Andy Georgie Red and Chris
But youre gonna feel so free
When youre doing it with me

Oh do it all night
Do it with me
Oh as hot as a fire and as strong as a tree
Come on baby and do it with me

Come on do it with me

Oh there's a very pleasant side to you, a side I much prefer

Sometimes work has it's benefits...

I'm not saying all the time... Like those times you're working with someone who refuses to see that although their way is good, it is by no means the only way to do it...

Eventually I just got so frustrated that i sat in the workman and waited for him to finish redoing what I had already done (and near as I can tell, the only reason he redid it is because it wasn't done his way)...

But yes...

Having a job where you can eat and not have to pay (although it was only french fries today) is nice...

Sometimes work has it's benefits...

Today we were doing our grassy chores, and there was a roll of thunder (or two)... so we got to go inside and sit out the storm... The storm was (pretty much) one cloud... It took almost as long to drive in to the shack as it did to sit out the storm... Regardless, that was still time I didn't have to wokr (but still got paid, woot woot)

Sometimes work has it's benefits...

I'm going to use the benefits of one job in order to get myself in better standing with my boss at the other...

My restaurant job boss <3's golf, and conveniently I can arrange for some golf to occur...

Speaking of which...

I have been working at the golf course for 2 months now, and no one has taken me up on my offer yet...

So I shall state it here:

Golf, rentals, and company in exchange for a case of beer... Times are quite limited so contact me... I need a few days in advance to book a tee time (unless we want to start really late... which i can't do cuz I work in the morning)...

Sometimes work has it's benefits...

I realised yesterday... Payday at the golf course = 15th and 30th/31st of every month... Payday at the restaurant = 7th and 22nd of every month...

*drools*

That tattoo will be comming along in no time... And by no time, i do mean that I should be able to afford it by... 2008 or so...

Sometimes work has it's benefits...

I get to wrok with quite a number of hot people at the golf course... And regan...

Sometimes work has it's benefits...

Yeah...

Sometimes work has it's drawbacks...

I start work at 5am tomorrow... witha little nap in between, I will be at work until 11pm tomorrow night... Only to repeat (more or less) the same scheduel on saturday...

yup...

lots of napping...

Who Need Sleep, Anyways...

So for those of you I haven't talked to in a while, I suppose I should give you a little bit of an update...

Currently I am living the life of an adult (an actual one, and not a fake one like I normally do) and am spending most of my time at or in transport for work... I feel all responsable...

I am still working at he golf course, and I still <3 it most of the time... As we're settling in and they're getting a better idea of our strengths and weaknesses, our weeks are slowly becomming more predictable... I have 2 days on a tractors, 2 mornings on bunkers, 1 morning cleaning garbages, and 1 morning mowing tees (with afternnons of the morning jobs spent doing misc stuff like hand mowing or weedwhacking)...

SO my schedual there is pretty decent (yay)...

Oh, and I had an employee review... My boss was entirely positive, except he said that I'm a "grumpy Gus" in the mornings... LMAO!

For those of you that know me, I think we could all find it quite humourous that it took him two months to tell me that I'm not a morning person (and then pretend like it's a newsflash)...

Yes... Moving along....

Even better news than getting a great employee review, Tuesday is going to be a night to remember (or not)... In appreciation for the huge amounts of sodding we laid on the west side of the golf course, the club is paying for us to have a night at BP's... Including food and drink... Bwahahhahahahahaha... I wonder if they considered how much alcohol we can really consume... I know it's a lot... We all do... But I suppose we do a better job when we're in good spirits (except the morning after, I'm thinking)...

Yes, but enough about the golf course...

The second "job" I took on was helping Leah with groundskeeping at the LCC ABC district office...

Now, i specifically went with leah before she left so that she could introduce me, so that when I showed up, people would know who I was and what I was doing...

Apparently it was to no avail... I walked in, introduced myself (even though i knew they should have been expecting me)... When I got blank stares, I explained why I was there... more blank stares...

"I'm just going to go grab the keys I need"...
And I excused myself... The next time I went in, I got the exact same stares... I think they might be easily confused...

Or maybe because they're used to Leah, and because Leah did a good job back in the day, even though I can do a similar (if not superior) job, they can't understand why Leah won't suffice right now... Lutherans are like that sometimes...

So yes... I watered like they're was no tomorrow, and mowed like I had something to prove... Yup...

My third job I started last week, working as a Chef at a seafood restaurant here in town...

Apparently I'm liked because I can follow instructions after only being told once... And I haven't quit yet (which appears to be an anomally in and of itself)...

I burned myself in the deepfrier yesterday... looks like seagulls off in the distance when looking at it from the right angle...

I got to put this really cool burn relief stuff on my arm... It made my arm numb... and after a while and made me feel all warm and fuzzy... I won;t be trying to burn mysefl again, but it's nice to know that syuff is waiting for me if I do...

Hmm... I need to go... hopefully I can finish one quick story...

I was cooking in the back (like chefs do) and an order of ribs came in... They're precooked (to save time) but they need to be reheated on the bbq in order to be ready for service... Apparently I managed to find the coldspot on the grill, cuz the ribs we're still cold... not just in the middle... but the outside as well...

Now, it's kind of embarassing, but I hear second hand from one of the waiters that this man was all like

"I'm going to eat these, I promise, and the rest of the food is great but I need this to be properly cooked... I know what happens sometimes when people send food back, but I assure you, i'm going to eat, it's just still cold"

or seomthing like that... I was told the story at the end of a long shift... So my memory is a little fuzzy...

but yes...

ph3ar the line chef!

Yes...

but I should go...

so long kiddies!

You learn a lot about a person...

...when you listen to their music for 8 hours.

We've decided to try to induce a little bit of excitement into our lives at work (I'm not sure of the real reason... but excitement sounds like a good one) by exchanging mp3 players for the day...

So far I've had Morgans and Ambers... tomorrow is Regans (she was mean to me, so I'm going to complain like I've never complained before)

Thing's I've learned from the mp3 players so far:

Turns out Amber is a girl... (I assure you, if you were to find ambers mp3 player on the ground, you would be able to listen to it for 5 minutes and know that a girl had owned it)

Amber also likes... umm... well... I'll save her the embarassment of owning up to some of the songs on her player, but I will ask one quick question: You expect me to just let you hit it, But will you still respect me if you get it? (nuff said)

Morgan has a lot of powerful and/or classic songs on her mp3 player.. which is nice... But she also has Omabolishire and Shag Tag by prozzak, 2become1 and stop right now! by spice girls, merry christmas/happy holiday by n*sync as well as a few other... special... songs thats eem to be escaping my memory right now (perhaps my brains defense mechanism has pushed them from my memory)... This leads me to the conclusion that morgan is suffering from MPD or BP...

I have also learned about myself that Sarah Mclaughlin and Hedley are not meant for Neal... I tried to listen to every song as it came trhough on random, but I just couldn't be bothered to force myself through them... Although it seems Paula Cole is the same for everyone else, so it all evens out in the end... Go Karma Go!

An Update and a Story

SO first of all, I should say, I start my second job this afternoon... I'm going to be working weekends (unless I decide, somehow, that i can do a morning job and a nighttime job at the same time...)

I'm working at a restaurant... should be fun (I know at least one of the staff members so it can't really be that bad)...

I got hired while eating dinner... It was slightly enjoyable, drinking beer, eating snapper, and having a job interview...

But yes... now for the story..

Today at the golf course I was supposed to be trained on a new mower (oOooOo)... we got as far as "and let me show you how to do it" when my boss's boss drives up and was like "we're too short staffed today, you need to do stuff, we don't have time for you to train, and Neal can be more productive at other stuff"...

So I went and helped on raking bunkers (woot baby!)

Raking was enjoyable (they jokingly remarked that i should go do services, and relieve the person currently doing them... ah ha ha guys...)

While at one bunker, my boss's boss stops his tractor, gets out and comes over to me, and apologises for not allowing me to be trained,a dn assured me that I would soon and that I didn't need to worry about it... Kinda all paternal like... It was odd... And he's kinda a redneck, so it was completely unexpected... And I couldn't figure it out... until... well...

Whilst driving between bunkers a few minutes prior to him talking to me, a bug had flown into my eye... (happens all the time if you're driving too fast in the morning)... My eye had been severly watering (even after the pain faded)

I think he may have thought I was crying... And that makes me kinda happy... Cuz I sense he didn't want to deal with a crying man... but I think he thought his job warrented the "talk"...

I should drive into more bugs... see what other kind of promies I can get them to make...

A footrub every other day would be nice... unworked overtime would also be a plus