This youtube video is of a song I found not too long ago while browsing a bar/lounge collection I randomly downloaded.  The song is in Portuguese I think and I cannot understand a word of it and I do not know the meaning of the lyrics.  But nonetheless, I find that songs in a foreign language that I cannot understand are most beautiful.

Today the power went out on our whole block. It shut off at 6:30 pm and I sat there as the sun began to set.  I started getting restless and my computer died and my phone was on its way to empty.  I decided to go to my car, at least charge my phone and maybe go for a drive since there was no sense in sitting in a dark apartment. 

I chose UCLA.  I chose UCLA because I haven’t been inside and around the campus in ages, perhaps since Melissa moved away.  I drove around Charles E Young Drive up near the dorms and looped my way around the Drake Stadium and made my way around North campus then back down to Geology and Hershey.  The most nostalgic part of my ride was that I actually went towards Royce, made the left turn and went all the way down to the Ackerman dead end.  I almost half expected something to happen, for someone to come out that door.  I sat there pondering the good times that ended there almost two years ago and made my way back up towards the main roads.  The ride was, to say the least, uneventful and the campus looked just as I had remembered it.  I think I’ll take a moment to actually walk around campus sometime in the near future.

The power still hadn’t turned on by the time I drove by my apartment around 7:30 pm.  So I continued along – traffic was surprisingly uncongested – down towards my next stop at Ross.  I found a jacket that I just HAD to try and I ended up buying it too.  Then went to Shinsengumi with Susy and Mark and had some ramen.  Now I am back, and it is 11:15 pm.  I expect the light had turned on not 30 minutes ago.  Amazing what I can do when I’m not sitting in front of a computer as soon as I go home…which is another reminder that I need to spend my time a bit more wisely.

Tomorrow is Thursday which means 2 more days until temporary freedom.  Ah, the light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter!

I’m still in bed.  

Today is my 9th day of straight work.  At this point I am pretty numb,  and have come to terms with the fact that weekend is yet another three days away.  Things are going well (sort of) at work and I am just trying to keep my head above water and be patient for the weekend to throw me a lifesaver.

Because of this wretched schedule I find myself stuffing my face with a lot of junk lately.  Funyuns, yakisoba, burgers, pizza, soda, and candy are among my favorite things to inhale.  Not that they aren’t during times when I am otherwise UN-stressed..but I have been mindlessly grabbing these items and putting them in my mouth.  Sort of like how babies do it.

 15 more minutes and I’ll drag myself out of bed.  I promise.

I’m using this post to test out uploading pictures onto this blog so I am using a very special picture of mine.

Here goes.

HAHA.  Win.

Today as I was running around taking care of requests from our in-house group, I found myself telling the clients “No problem!” in a cheery voice every time they requested something.

Can we have our beverages set now, instead of at 8:30?  No problem!

Can we please make sure to refresh the rooms every few times throughout the day? No problem!

We need a house phone set in the registration area too… No problem!

It’s surprising how those two words just roll off the tongue so easily.  From early on during our childhood and early adulthood we hear this phrase over and over from our parents, from our peers, from our restaurant servers, that it just sticks and becomes a permanent and one of the most basic elements in our vocabulary.   

We all know our basic math principles; two negatives equal a positive.  This is true for basic math as well as basic grammar structure.  But all rules aside, the two words, no and problem, are negative words that combine to convey something thats meant to be positive…but how positive is it to say the words no and problem at all?  

I am not the only culprit; those who have worked any job in the customer service industry has said it at least three times during the course of their day.  I’ve had sales classes that remind us of this little boo-boo  and tries to coach us to begin saying “My pleasure.”   My pleasure seems a lot more alien to my tongue than No problem.  The words though carry a much more positive air than its damper counterpart.   Our goal is to always maintain a positive and can-do attitude towards our clients and guests and by choosing the words “My pleasure” over “No problem” already conveys that 1) there is no obstacle in getting the request fulfilled and 2) we are happy to do it.  

So why is it so hard to replace those two words?

Bah.  It’s 2:36 AM and I really should be sleeping at this time.  I woke up about two hours ago because my remote controls fell from my bed.  Being pretty stressed over the past weeks from work caused me to shift from being a uber-heavy sleeper to one who’s so jumpy that I wake up from any slight noise or disturbance.   Having work dreams doesn’t quite help either and I find myself jumping up out of bed sweating because my client was yelling at me or something went wrong at work in my dream.

Tomorrow marks my second week of straight work.  I’m looking forward to a long three day weekend if I can avoid scheduling any appointments on Saturday as I normally would do otherwise.  I feel like I deserve a break after working so hard on these two very last minute groups.  Perhaps it’s time to use that facial certificate I received from my sister for my birthday.  I believe I deserve this treat!

I can’t exactly post pictures on here yet because the flash uploading thing hasn’t been configured correctly but I’m sure once I get that up and running you will see plenty pictures on here.  Oh the joys of having my own website!

It is now currently 2:42 AM and I really should force myself to sleep the last three hours…or I end up eating people the next day.  Schedule’s going to be mostly 7am-6pm-ish for the week until Friday so I need to grab as much rest I can so that I can avoid being a blageedo schnickelfritz.

So!  The much anticipated (by me, anyway) blog is now up and running much thanks to Melissa’s nerdiness and knowledge of getting this started up.  

Starting this blog up was sort of like starting the gym for me.  I wanted to start it.  It seemed like a good idea.  It seemed exciting.   It would have many long term benefits.  I had goals and ideas for this new regime.  But I didnt know where to start or what to do.  I was scared to open one up because I knew that in past experience I’ve started multiple blogs with Livejournal, then Xanga, then Wordpress (online free version) then again with Xanga.  Then again with Wordpress.   And each and every one of them would have entries that I would cringe at reading.  So emo!  So lame!  So cheesy!  So….immature? 

It’s been almost 10 years since I have last kept a steady diary/blog.  Hopefully this will be a new and exciting chapter for me (pun intended?) and I will use this as a means of keeping myself on my toes.  And keeping myself occupied.  If I didn’t do anything but work and sleep and Maplestory, I wouldn’t have much to write in here, now would I?

Cheers! Here’s to a new start at the very beginning.

A very good place to start

Test?!?!?