Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today was a pretty good day, even though I'm a year older now according to the Western calendar. I had four hours off from work (paid half day off) which I spent sleeping in and then going out with family for lunch at a Japanese restaurant. The food was really great except the kitchen staff forgot about my deep fried bananas. I had golden loaf cake at work today bought by my manager for my birthday. It was so sweet of her. Can't wait to continue celebrating my birthday throughout the weekend with friends. In all, I enjoyed my birthday. :)

Happy Lunar New Year!

I hope everyone had a good Lunar New Year (to all my Asian and Buddhist friends and family). I had a good 2 days off from work (with no pay of course) but back to work was another story. *oh boy* Anyways, everyone take care of your health and hope the Year of the Dragon will bring a prosperous and stable (not turbulent), safe and good health to all. (well, maybe except for the *evil* ones on my detest list)

Hole in my Wallet

I can't understand why the Money God hates me. No matter how many hours I work, I just can't save. I don't buy things for myself. I don't have a social life because all I do is work. But I just can't save. There's always emergency crap that I always have to pay for, completely beyond my control. What the heck. I believe the Money God laughs all the time whenever I take out my bank debit card. That darn hole in my wallet. If only I can patch it up. It's really so sad.... overworked and underpaid. Seeing it all fly away without even a single interest accumulating on the biweekly pay. Money... difficult to come by (even after long hard hours), but too easy to lose without even trying. I still strongly believe the Money God hates me... must have been "it" creating that hole in my wallet...

Curse that alarm system!!

How embarrassing...

This morning I went to work two hours earlier because I needed to catch up on some paperwork. I also went to work earlier yesterday so I already knew how to use the alarm code.

I don't know exactly what happened but I must have either punched in the wrong code by accident or didn't press the buttons hard enough, because the alarm system activated and the sirens were blaring loudly for about five minutes.

I was literally in a state of panic so while the sirens were on, I rushed to the back of the store and called my manager on the cellphone. Fortunately she was awake so she told me how to inactivate the alarm.

She told me that the police may come by even though the alarm company was alerted (by her) that an employee is in the store and not a thief.

Indeed, minutes later, two squad cars pull up in front of the store and I ran outside to tell them that it was not a break-and-entry. The male cop wasn't too pleased with the situation but the female cop was more understanding. At the very least, she was smiling instead of frowning, unlike the other one. I must have looked mortified to be standing in the parking lot with passerby out for the morning walk gawking at me explaining to cops.

It was such an embarrassing and horrible morning. Now, in the future, I will think twice before deciding to go to work earlier.

Not job searching...

Over the weekend I had new job requests. I was only tempted by 30seconds because of the higher wage and drug/dental benefits, but I declined the offer. I enjoy where I am working now. I like the people whom I work with and the environment is really comfortable, even on certain days/times that are nuts.

Also, the restroom is located really close to my workstation. It's located in the private area away from customers and busy area. Yeah, the restroom is always important, in my eyes. ** ha ha ha ha ha ** I've also decorated my workstation with photos of my turtles and I have voodoo dolls hanging in conspicuous places. It makes work less stressful.

Good points about my workplace currently is the break times where I can boil water to steep my tea and the fact that lunch is provided for the staff birthdays. And there is a Christmas bonus. I repeat: Christmas bonus. I've never received one since the last three years from my old boss when his business partner retired.

The only bad points I can think of are the lunch breaks. There really is no lunch. Everyone huddles around a counter to eat. Usually it's hectic during that time because that's when customers decide to come in - during lunch time. Go figure...

Other than that, I have a pretty good time at work. Laugh a lot and still manage to get things done. ** smiles **

Speaking about work, I should be getting to sleep soon for work tomorrow morning.

Good night!!

Christmas Dinner & Bonus

The past Friday night, there was a staff Christmas party. It was dinner at a local Italian restaurant. I liked the shrimp and pasta. I didn't care for the salmon though because I thought it was hard and chewy. Overall, it was a good gathering even though I only knew one-third of the people present.

I'm glad I went to the party. It was fun but exhausting.

Today, late afternoon, my boss came by the store and handed out the holiday bonus. I was shocked to receive one since in all my seven years of working (basically fulltime shifts), I never received a bonus. It is very nice of my employer to do this for the employees. I'm touched and happy!

Tomorrow is my last full shift at work this week due to the holiday. I get Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning, and Boxing Day off work, then I go back to work on Saturday for a half day.

It'll be crazy busy tomorrow but I'm going to enjoy my time off!

(Yippee!)

Snow! Please go away!!

Well I did end up going to work on Friday. I arrived to work at 11am, 2 hours after my actual start time. My street wasn't plowed or anything. I just followed the tracks some SUVs and trucks made. The roads were horrendous as my car skidded on the expressway so I ended up taking the city streets. Then it began to rain ice hail as I was driving on the road.

The parking lot wasn't plowed so my car ended up stuck and the manager and coworker had to push my car out of the parking space.

The drive home was okay, tolerable but not the best. It was my street that was still horrendous and actually, I think it was worse than the morning. I nearly collided with a truck but still managed to get into my driveway.

All in all, it was an awful day and next time there is a snowstorm, I am definitely staying home.

(Ugh...)

Snowed In...

Wow... the snowfall overnight was huge and it's still snowing.

Fortunately, my father purchased a snowblower in the summer so it was quick to rid the driveway of snow. But, when I tried to reverse out of the driveway, I got stuck on the street and the only direction I could move was back up onto the driveway.

I have to wait till the city's snowplow goes through my street or else I can't get out of my street to get to work. I notified my workplace and alerted them that I'll be late. I want to go to work but I can't! I need the money! :(

Well, it's now quarter-past nine and hopefully the street will be plowed soon.

And, the news say ice-rain tonight and more snow all weekend with up to 50cm by Sunday.

Oh joyous!!

(Bah...)

Christmas Cheer & Good News

Yesterday the two managers at my workplace bought lunch for the staff to celebrate the Christmas holiday. It was really nice of them and a great lunch! Woo hoo!!

Today when I came back home from work, there was an envelope waiting for me. It was the notice from the college about my examination I wrote nearly two months ago. I passed!! In the envelope was my certification that I passed. I need to get a frame for that, which I'm really lazy since I haven't done so with my college diploma yet (from 2007).

And tomorrow is Friday! One more day then I can vegetate all weekend long! YES!!

I'm a happy otaku...