Computers... ugh!

Sometimes I really hate computers! They hardly ever do what you want them to do and they seem to screw up a lot. You can tell a male made them... I've had this program Warez P2P for a couple of years now and it allowed me to download music as I wished. Last year I downloaded an upgrade for it and everything continued on fine... The other day I downloaded another update, because the program wasn't working properly and it screwed up on me. It refused to work! Then in order to make it work, the company wanted to charge me. Don't think so!

I consulted my brother and he directed me to a program called LimeWire. I downloaded it and it seems okay. It works, that's the main thing. It frustrated me because there was music I wanted, but couldn't get. I don't like to be kept away from music. I need it to survive. Like I need chocolate!

Plus, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the internet has gotten really boring. It's ridiculous. There is not much worthwhile content on it anywhere... I get on the internet and half an hour later, I'm ready to log off... I don't actually; I just bum around, searching for nothing in particular, until it's time to go to bed. Nothing better to do. Then again, if bored, there's always game sites like Miniclip...

The happenings, as of late...

Monday night was an odd night. It was kinda boring, in the way that I was really tired and just couldn't concentrate. I had to do all setups and it's not challenging. It's the same thing over and over again; that's one of the reasons why I'm contemplating leaving school. Although, to be fair, school is cool at the moment. The set ups are hard, don't get me wrong. They take a lot out of you, especially when you have to lift and carry the tables constantly and stuff, it's tiring, but I can do this stuff easily. Too easily maybe. I don't know how to explain it. Hopefully, it's understood by whoever is reading this.

The cafe was also surprisingly very busy. We get a lot of people in all the time, but for some reason, there just seemed to be way more people than usual and we were screwed. I had to be pulled away from conference sets to help out. It was mad! My old high school teachers were in for dinner, well, some of them anyway. It was cool. Mr Mackenzie actually recognised me, as did Mr Williams. Mr Nicholls is part of the church I attend (once in a blue moon) so I see him all the time. There were 14 of them there and I only recognised 9 of them. The others are new, I assume.

The worst part of the night was when I started doing the setup for one of the bigger conference rooms. I read the function sheet that tells me all the details and it said "Data Pro and Laptop". The thing was, I'd already set that up in one of the other rooms because they also needed it. Hayley screwed up and double booked the equipment. Moron. We only have one of each and they can't be in two places at once. I tried to call her at about 930 to see what she wanted to do, but she didn't answer her phone, so I tried to call Fran because they live together, but she didn't pick up either. They only thing we could think of was to send her a text message so she'd see it in the morning. Tim sent it. I wanted him to call her a moron but he refused. Something about not wanting to be in trouble. Even when she's not at work, she makes my life hell. Cow.

That night finished really late. It shouldn't have. I don't know why it did but for some reason, time escaped me yet again. It's been happening a lot lately. I almost hurt myself, actually. The trestle tables are really heavy and so our bosses brought a trolley that will aid us in carrying them. The thing is, the trolley is not completely secure. As I was pushing it towards the function room, it almost toppled backwards onto my head. Dangerous stuff. Could have killed me, I reckon. But it didn't so it's all good.

The best part of the night was the drive home and not for any obvious reasons. Tim followed me home and it was funny because he kept driving up beside me to wave, then he'd fall back behind me and follow me. I thought he was just being odd, and funny, but I found out that the reason he kept dropping back was because he was unnerved by the fog. I've been around fog most of my life (my parents are seasonal workers) so I'm confident around it, but I'm not stupid. I kept my concentration firmly on the road, watched where I was going (except for the times when I didn't notice the white lines moving away so I neglected follow them) and kept at a slower speed. Tim followed me so that if anything happened to me, he'd be able to see it and stop in time. He figured he was safe if he stayed behind me.

I worked Tuesday night also and not long after I got there, Hayley arrived. I have no idea why, she's supposed to work in the morning and then leave; that's the arrangement I made with the devil. But there she was, and she was also straight into the kitchen scabbing food. Seagull. While in there putting cups at the sink, I stupidly mentioned the Data pro and Laptop mix up and I asked her if she had managed to solve it. She then went on this huge rant about how she didn't like waking up with that message on her phone and how she then had to run around, panicked, trying to find another and blah, blah, blah. She then went on to say that from now on I should check the sheets to make sure this didn't happen again and I should do this and I should do that. It sounded like she was blaming me for her mistake. Hell no! There was no way she was pinning that on me. It was all her. She made the bookings, she should check them. It's not my fault. I got irritated so I said to her "It's not only my fault" and she's just hastily gone "oh, no, no, no, I'm not blaming you." Bullshit.

I'm so over Hayley.

A funny moment at work last night: I helped out the cafe staff by taking the room service trays. Lucky I did because this woman opened the door and was hiding behind it when she first opened it. When she saw it was me, she stepped out. She'd been in the shower and was clad in only a towel. I'm sure she was glad it was me and not Damien or Tim. It amused me for an hour or so.

Fun, fun, fun...

I had a good night at work last night. We were booked out in the cafe and had 23 people in the PDR. For the start of the night, there was only Tim, Fran and myself on as well as the kitchen staff. Fran had already done her rostered 8 hours, but was cruelly made to do more, since we were short staffed. Sam turned up eventually and things went smoothly after that.

The people in the PDR, the group I looked after all night, had just gotten married at my work, and were having the reception there as well. It was a really lovely ceremony. What I saw of it anyway. We tried to give them some privacy by not walking through every 5 minutes. They were a great group; very friendly. The woman who got married was the daughter of the woman who owned La Porchetta in Traralgon. One of her family members had a little boy there and he spent the night running around; he was so cute! The meals got messed up; a woman who ordered beef, got pork (she refused to swap after she got it) so one woman who ordered pork, didn't get it until a bit later but she was okay with that. They night ended well; everyone was happy so it was all good.

Once everyone was gone, cafe and PDR as well, we all gathered in the cafe for our breaks. Gavin, Kylie, Tim, Fran, Sam and I just sat there and talked. It was fun. I ate cake; Fran insulted me; Kylie talked about her idol, Kylie Minogue; Gavin repeated himself over and over again; Fran almost fell asleep at the table and I watched most of it with a smile on my face. These people are fun, but they're even better when they're all together. Sam is the one who gave me the nickname Chuggles.

It always amazes me how crazy she becomes as the night wears on. The more tired she gets, the more out there her behaviour comes. Chuggles came about one night while we were doing a set up. We kept dropping tables and falling over them because we were both really worn out. After falling over one of the trestle tables, I helped her to carry it and we started babbling to each other. Suddenly, she turned to me and said, "Thanks, Chuggles." I looked at her enquiringly and she said "I don't know what Chuggles means, but if it was real, you'd do it." I assume it's something between a giggle and a chuckle. Who knows with Sam.

While we were sitting down, and Fran made me make her a mug of green tea, Sam and the others were talking and they got onto the subject of shoes and moccasins somehow (I think someone was wearing them). Sam said something so deep and profound that I felt I had to share it with everyone. Here is Sam's reason for why people wear different footwear. "People in Morwell go barefoot because Centrelink is Morwell so they don't have to go far. Moe people only have to catch the train then walk from the station so they only need moccasins. Traralgon people are further away, therefore they need the whole Ugg boot." I missed the start of the conversation so I have no idea what brought that on. Funny though.

Tonight wasn't as good though. I almost didn't get everything done which sucked. Luckily I got everything done that needed to be done. It would have been really bad if I hadn't. Sometimes I struggle to fill the six hour shift, but tonight, the time just got away from me. It was unreal. It's all good.

Odds and ends

This week hasn't been a bad week, far as things go. I worked Monday night and I got to go home early, thanks to Tim. Tim rocks! I'd done all my work and still had an hour rostered on but I had nothing to do so I went home. Yay me!

The next night I was not so lucky. I stayed an hour over my shift time, which is funny 'cause our boss, the male one, is really tight with money, so he put on the roster; END ROSTER TIME INDICITIVE ONLY!!! Direct quote. It's very hard to end a shift on time though, especially when there is so many things to do and not enough time to do it in. Lately Kylie and Ashton have taken to asking me how Greg is and I'm not sure why. I told them it makes me suspicious so they're doing more often now... like, every time they see me.

On Wednesday (and this is the highlight of my week) Katie and I went out for tea at Qu-bar and then we, along with Greg, went to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. It was very good. Very funny. I'm not giving away any plot lines, though. Go see it for yourself. I will say, though, that the ending is not right. It's a bad ending. A bad, bad, bad ending. Bad. Really bad. Really. Sorry, got away from myself there...

Thurday wasn't as good, but lets face it, nothing could top the night before. I had school during the day; that was good. Then, later on that night, I had GFS. It was talent night. That meant 15 girls showing off their "talents". Most of them sang a song. Most of them couldn't sing. It was sad. And more than annoying.

Today was okay. We had school. Short story. It was good. We were supposed to bring in some objects for a bower (made by bower birds, look it up for more info) or bring in a recipe and an object you'd put in it (something meaningful, i suppose) in response to the reading of Coffee cake, by Jacilyn Moriarty (not spelled right). I actually wrote a peice for my fantasy novel and I was pretty happy with it. That doesn't happen very often.

After school, we (Greg and I) picked mum up from the post office and went to Mid Valley. They were having a huge 1 day sale and mum wanted some things. I talked to Katie and we saw Len and Lee, but the trip was otherwise unexciting.

My sister is also an usher for the Lowanna College musical. It's called The Outsiders and she said it's good, which means I won't like it. When I went to Lowanna, back in my hey day, I worked on the musicals as well. I worked backstage and I told my sister that, making it seem as though she were inferior to me because she wasn't doing what I did. The reason why she's not doing it? "I'm not strong enough." I laughed. It's true. She's so little. Next year she want's to be in it. It remains to be seen whether it will happen or not.

Unhappiness

This is a poem I wrote while I was at work. I haven't edited it and I haven't really looked at it since it was created, so if it's off, blame me. I don't care.


Unhappiness

Unhappiness
Is not just an emotion
It is a thing
A cloud looming over you
Shadowing all the good things
Throwing into sharp relief
All the bad things
It is no one thing
No tangible or physical being
But a burden
A weight
That holds you down
So you forget how to fly

Unhappiness © Copyright Amber Hinds 2006

So many problems, so little time.

Sometimes, I really wish I was elsewhere... Things haven't been going that well lately and I don't really know what to do about it. I think I'm unhappy. I've never really been happy so I'm not really sure.

I've been working a bit lately. I helped Fran out with a busy breakfast on Sunday, (I wasted an hour of her time just talking to her after my shift was over) after which I went to Greg's. I was called in on Monday night, as the cafe got busy and that shift was okay, I had fun. Kylie and Ashton have a habit of asking me how Greg is now and it makes me suspicious... I think that's why they do it. They're fun.

During the night, Kylie came up to me and confessed that she'd felt like stabbing one of our bosses. We have two bosses, one male and one female. They're also married. The female one has a habit of getting in everyone's way. I know she means well, but it is more than annoying when you're in a rush and she stops you to do something else. You can't say no to her. It's almost impossible. One of her biggest things is hanging around in the kitchen, talking to the head chef, Gavin. While she's there, she puts everyone on edge and Ashton cops a lot of that. She meddles, that's what she does. With good intentions, of course...

Anyway, I was standing beside the post mix gun, as Kylie filled up a jug with coke and a jug with water, listening to her complaint. She told me that our boss had been in the kitchen, as usual, and she had been standing in front of the place where the kitchen keep their knives. Kylie reached for her knife and was polishing it while having bad thoughts about sticking that knife somewhere. Into someone. She said that it kind of scared her because she was so calm while thinking it, when previously thoughts of the like had been thought in anger. I understand where she's coming from. She needs her holiday.

Tuesday night was okay too. Fran was on as well as me, Tim, Damien and Lauren. It wasn't a bad night. Kylie wasn't on, unfortunately. We had fun. The night ended with Tim and I doing cutlery. Wow, there's a favourite past time. We ran out of teaspoons and had to find some for the coffee stations. I brought some file folders home for my mum to put her recipe's in. Bendigo bank had left them there and obviously they didn't want them so I took them. Handy.

Tonight was not such a good night. I felt unhappy, hence the start of this post. Tonight, besides the kitchen staff, there was Damien, Tim, Glen and me. It started off well, actually. Our boss was in the kitchen; I was told to do some cutlery; Damien and Glen were doing their things, it was all good. Nearing the end of the night, Tim began to talk to one of the guest who had just held a function there and had a buffet dinner. That was fine. After Tim had been talking for a while, The other two kept coming to me and complaining, and some of their arguments were valid. It started to get me down, however and in the end, I just didn't care anymore. The night was ruined for me. I finished the set up I was doing and, in a bid to get myself out of the funk I was in, I took a break, had something to eat and drink and sat down to think.

Earlier on in the night, Tim and I had a small talk about my future and what I was doing at the moment. I told him about how I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue on with school and he said that if I didn't, there was a possibility that I could get a lot more shifts there and even be trained to do his and Hayley's job. That sounded good to me, but I wasn't really sure what to say. Tim told me that I should talk to our boss about it. The thing is, I don't really find her that approachable. She cool and all, but she's pretty intimidating. He offered to speak to her for me, but I wasn't sure about that either. The thing is, I may be going to Broome next year and it wouldn't do any good to train me up, and then have me leave 6 months later. That is my dilemma. To stay or to go? It is going to bug me. It's also one of the things that is getting me down. How am I going to decide? What do I want?

So that was plaguing me as I drank my lemon, lime and bitters. I also thought about how the teamwork has gone from work. No one has communication anymore. Damien, who mostly takes care of the cafe, never gets informed of anything, so when he comes into work, he finds things half done (or not done at all), and has to do them quickly before he sets the restaurant.

Like cutlery, for example. One of our staff members wasn't in for work today, so the cutlery didn't get done. Damien didn't know that and turned up for work as usual. He had to do cutlery, which I ended up doing for the most part, so he could set. No one talks to each other anymore. There is a lot of discord there at the moment, it sucks. We need a staff meeting so everyone can air their grievances, the thing is, I don't think anyone will. They'll just pretend everything is fine. I hate it.

But what can I do? Nothing. Not many people seem to listen to me, anymore. At work or anywhere else. I hate complaining, I sound like I'm whining when I re-read it, but I can't help it. No one seems to speak to me anymore unless they want something. Except Katie.

Whoops...

Well, the past few days have been exciting... My sister is so traumatised by a bully that she faked sick for two days to get out of going to school; my mum's birthday was on Tuesday, as you know; Kitty and I tried out Domino's pizza which just opened up in Traralgon (this was a big thing for us, we've been waiting for a while... There is also one coming to Morwell, possibly Mid Valley...) TAFE started up again today and I had GFS tonight.

And after GFS, guess what happened... Something that has only ever happened to me once before. I locked my keys in my car! The last time I did it was at Phillip Island in November last year. The RACV guy was really cool, though. Nice guy. We had a little chat.

I don't know how I did it. I put my keys in my bag, as I always do, and when I got out of the car I realised that I'd left my drink in there, so when I went for my keys to open the door, they weren't there. I couldn't see them so I got Erin to get me a torch. They were on the floor of the passenger side of the car. Go figure. I have no idea how they ended up there. I got them back, that's the main thing... The whole point of having them on the lanyard is so I don't do what I did.

Now I'm sitting here playing Dog's Life on the Playstation, freezing because I'm not smart enough to turn the heater on... maybe I'll do that. I'm cold. My jacket just isn't enough warmth.

Ooh, I'm getting a mocha. That'll keep me warm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUM!!

Happy 51st birthday, mum. You're 51 one now, getting old. HA! July 4th, America's Independance Day. Independant? They were that, when?

Life... is being called in for work.

This past week has been the funnest ever! I mean, it's been more fun than I could actually handle. I worked 5 days out of seven, altogether not bad. That was the easy part. The Monday was crap, I worked with Hayley. Nuff said, really. Wednesday would have been a good night as Hayley wasn't supposed to work. She swapped her shift with someone else because she wanted the weekend off. Luckily, she left halfway through the night so she could go home and have dinner.

Friday night was really bad. I was called in for it, too, which sucked. The cafe was full, with a table (or 3, technically) of 36 people, a table of 10 and a table of 4 (who were VIP's). The Private Dining Room had people in it too, so the night was filled with crazy running around, and all of it was done by Hayley. I looked after the group in the dining room, even though I would have been much more useful in the actual Cafe. I coasted through the night, watching with some amount of amusement as Hayley ran this way then that way, always rushing around while I calmly worked.

More than one customer has remarked on the way Hayley's always rushing around. She never seems to stop. Friends of Kylie's have also commented on this. She ruins the atmosphere in the cafe when she scuttles through. That and the fact that it's her. Hardly anyone likes her. She's so deluded.

Anyway, she kept trying to get people to do stuff for her, even though we all had our own stuff to do. In the end, whenever she asked me "Are you busy?" I'd stroll calmly into the cafe and just say "Yep." She wanted everyone to do here job when the reason she was so strung out was because she did it to herself. Things could have been much easier for her but no... she had to do things her way. No one was allowed to touch the table of four because they were really important, so she took it upon herself to serve them. The thing is, she sucks. Any one of us would have been a better choice.

When it came time for our breaks, we found that Hayley had taken it upon herself to get staff meals for us. Kerry, one of the girls that was working that night, came up to me and told me that Hayley was being really nice to her. Like over-the-top nice. The word she used was "Creepy". I felt the same way. I had sort of let my irritation with her be known at the start of the night. She told me to do something that I really didn't agree with so I huffed at her and threw my pen on the bench then walked off on her and did what she asked. Don't know if she actually noticed though. Man, she really is full of stupid ideas.

Saturday night I was called into work. I was in the middle of Mid Valley, when my phone rang. Fran wanted me to come into work as the trainee called in sick. I really wished I hadn't. The night sucked big time. Damien and I were the only ones on, besides the kitchen staff. We took care of the cafe and motel on our own. It was bad. I spent half an hour with a guest who had just checked in because the lights in her room wouldn't work and she needed to work. Long story short, I gave her a comp upgrade and moved her to a room I knew was fine. She was happy with that, unfortunately, while I was doing that, Damien was getting over his head in the cafe. People were coming in left and right and we were just swamped, not to mention the Private Dining Room was again, filled with people also. It would have been an easy night, but everyone came in at once, so we couldn't handle it. We got through it though; it was just the initial rush that screwed us over.

Nights like that can happen, but I hope they never happen to me again. I felt so exhausted at the end. My feet hurt, and I was feeling a little light-headed. Should have actually drank something, huh? I worked Sunday too, but that was cool. Now I'm sitting at home, watching a funny movie and just plain relaxing. It feels good.

My mum's birthday is tomorrow. I brought her a new purse. She likes it. Anyhoo... My sister is back from Mildura and is already causing havoc. She didn't go to school today (her first day back at school) because she was feeling sick. As mum pointed out, she was fine last night while she was sitting in front of the heater eating ice-cream. She did the same thing tonight. She is so faking it. The little tramp.