I'm Finally Back!

I'm back! I'm sorry for the unscheduled absence. I really needed to focus all my writing ability into school this semester. I decided to be stupid and take four courses. Including a forth year poetry class. I have run out of words to put into a poetic form. So I'm just going to ramble.

First off, my new job has been great. After the first couple weeks, I was really able to relax. I'm getting the hang of everything. Still not as comfortable as at Starbucks, but I know that'll come with time. I'm still kind of scared of messing up, but much less than before. I'm also no longer the bottom of the totem pole. There are two people below me now, one of which I think is just seasonal. And the person hired before me is basically on the same level as me when it comes to knowledge now. So I'm getting really comfortable with helping them out. I no longer feel like I should be the one asking question.

I still don't have a name tag though. I think they forgot... I should probably say something...

Anyway, Christmas is coming up soon too! I get to listen to Christmas music about five days a week at work, so I'm really getting into the spirit. Half my shopping is done, and the other half I have plans for.

But mostly I just can't wait to relax. I only had one final, and all my school projects are in, so I have nothing left for school is semester. I can stop worrying. It kind of feels weird...

I did it!

School is killing me. I'm starting to regret taking four courses. It sounded fine. Until I remembered the five hours of commuting...

But this isn't going to be a rant about school. In fact, I came back from my little break to announce that I put my two week notice into work today! I got a new job working at a games store in my area. I'm really excited, because I've been a regular there for about a year now, and I've gotten to know the people and the environment. Not to mention it'll be a breath of fresh air. I'll admit, I'm nervous, and I've had my hesitations. I know what I'm doing at Starbucks, and I know I won't mess up, or if I do, I know how to fix it. I'm nervous to be the new person again, and to not know what I'm doing. But that's the fun of it, right? I'm a fast learner, so I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly. It'll be different from my previous jobs, where I've been in food service. But if anything, I think it'll be easier transitioning from food service to retail. At least now my hands won't dry out from dunking them in sanitizer every five minutes. And I get to wear nail polish! Okay, all hesitations are over. Any problems that come up will be worth it.

It's Just Not Fair

Ugh. I hate being a woman. Nothing ever goes right. If anyone has been following this blog for a while, they'll know that I can get really bad cramps. I finally admitted that I had to do something about them when school started, so I started taking birth control. I was told, by everyone I talked to, that I would have no more cramps. They would just magically vanish. I would still get my period, but it would be scheduled, and short. No pain.

And of course, there's pain. Just as bad, if not worse, than my regular cramps. The only thing that has changed, is that now my period is early. Yay. It's not fair. I have so much homework, I have a round trip of about five hours three days a week for school. I have work sixteen to twenty four hours a week. The absolute last thing I need right now is to be in so much pain that all I want to do is curl up next to the toilet and throw up.

And that's how my day has been going. Back to homework!

Friends!

Another school year has begun. I'm already done with it. I was looking forward to school starting, but for some stupid reason, I decided to wear high heeled boots today. I have a two and a half hour commute to school. My feet were killing me by the time I got home. Never again... But I'll probably end up forgetting the pain in a few months, and decide that it's a good idea. At least they're cute...

I had my creative non fiction class today, and it ends up, I'm the only one, other than the teacher, with experience in this subject! Yay, plus one for me! Now I just need to come up with enough material to write about. At least my life has become a little more interesting within the last few years.

The homework has been piling on though, and I've only had two days of classes. I have tomorrow completely off from school and work, so I'll be working on as much homework as I can. I'm also supposed to be going in to try and get a drop in appointment for a driving test. I secretly hope there won't be any. Those tests just keep getting more and more stressful. They should be easier, but the more I fail, the worse I think my driving is. I know it's not getting worse, but that's the only explanation I have for failing so many times.

On a happier note, I actually have a friend in one of my classes! And I don't just mean someone I talk to from time to time in one class. We actually went to elementary school together, all the way up to graduating from high school. We live in the same neighbourhood, so we can bus all the way back together. It's weird, that somehow we both ended up in a school several cities away, a rather obscure and small school that most people can't remember the name of. And that we ended up in the same class, even though she had been going there longer than me. Happy coincidence, I suppose. At least now I don't have to bus home alone when it starts getting dark out earlier.

I'm Sorry!

I'm really sorry for the impromptu break. I always intended to come back and type up a quick post, but when I finally got around to it, I never seemed to have anything to say. Nothing to fill up a whole post, at least. I think a month away from has been good. It's allowed me time to build up for an update.

Although, not much has happened in this time. I stepped down as manager at work, since the original manager came back from her leave of absence. It has been... Trying. I was hoping she would let me keep running things, or at least help out for a bit, but she's just the same as before. I had to show her how to do a few things, as she had forgotten, but then she wouldn't let me do them. She took hours to finish simple tasks, and I'm convinced she does it on purpose, because she doesn't want to work in the kiosk. I know I've said it many times before, I just don't know what to do about it. I don't think there is anything to do. If she's just slow or incompetent, there's nothing we can do. If she's deliberately taking her time just so that she could sit in the back on a computer for longer, I can't prove anything.

When I had to show her how to set up for inventory, and how to do it to make it much easier (So that she doesn't have to start work at 3:30 in the morning to do everything), she was ignoring me, checking e-mails and doing everything that I had already done. She re-printed out everything, and tried to show me the new updates. I still don't think she knows what she's doing for inventory, but at least she's doing something. I can finally sit back and relax. If everything goes to shit, I can just shrug and say it wasn't my fault. Everyone already knows that my manager doesn't let me do much to help out, so even if they blame me for not doing anything to fix any problems, well, I can just blame her again, but I have tried. I ran that place for thee and a half months with only a years experience as assistant, and I did it better than she has done with five years of managerial experience.

But school has started again, and I'm going to be working my butt off with four classes; one second year, two third years and one fourth year. I'm nearing the end! And I'm really hoping by the time I finish, I'll have a job I enjoy more. I'm still working on it. A new bookstore opened up in the mall near my house, so I'm going to apply there.

I also just got back from a mini vacation with my boyfriend, so I'm all nice and relaxed. I wish I could relax for a few more days, but I know that would just turn into a few more days, and a few more, until I spend every day sitting in bed or on the sofa watching TV and browsing the internet. No matter how nice that sounds, I guess I should continue with my life. Back to reality!

This Driving Thing is Not For Me

Nope, third time is definitely not the charm. Of course, it would have been, but my tester didn't ding me for every tiny little mistake. Like apparently not turning my wheels in the right direction when preparing to make a turn. I'm turning. Of course my wheels will be in the right direction when I make the turn!

So I'm annoyed. Very annoyed. Apparently I did great this time around. No dangerous incidences, no rule violations. Nothing that would actually fail me. Except the five times I didn't do a shoulder check over my right shoulder, and the two times I didn't do a 360. Oh, and not being perfectly spaced in my back up parking job. Even though it was a beautiful parking job.

At some point, you have to just blame the tester. The first two tests, my failure was definitely my fault. I know what I did wrong, and I agreed. I made efforts to correct thought failures, and I did them perfectly this time around. And still failed.

For perspective, I'm driving a standard, and it's pouring with rain for the first time in a few weeks. The roads are a little slippery, but not too bad. At one point, I was on a shallow hill (think a bully run on a ski slope), and because there was a car behind me, I put on a bit more gas than I usually would so that I would not hit the car. Unfortunately, because of the rain and the wet roads, I just burn out a bit. I got going, no skidding, no hazards, no hitting people. Everything was fine. No one was in danger, and no one should ever be in danger just because I burned out a bit. But of course, I get dinged. Because it's not perfect.

I would like to see every driver have to go in and take their full license road test again every ten years. That would definitely weed out the actually dangerous and stupid people. Not the poor souls who don't look over their shoulder a few times, and who burn out a couple times. Even as I was taking the test, there were two people who didn't use their signal. And not even for minor things. I was sitting at an intersection, waiting to turn left because there was a car sitting across from me. He had no signal on, so I assumed he was going straight. Nope. He turned left. And I wouldn't be surprised if I got dinged for waiting too long at the light.

And then at the end, when the tester was telling me what I did wrong, she actually said I was going too slow in a residential area. Okay, I understand, if the road is clear and there's not really a risk of kids running out, or hidden driveways, I can go a bit faster. But she actually said that I should go 40, and judge for myself when I can go faster or slower in a residential area. Bear in mind, the roads were slick, and the particular road I was on when she asked me the speed limit was small, with cars on both sides, on a hill with patchwork paving. It was not a safe road, and not one I would feel comfortable going 50kph on, even with perfect conditions.

During the test I did a decent parallel park. I had to restart and do it again when I couldn't the first time. I made sure to always check over my shoulder, and in all my mirrors before I pulled out or backed up.

When I did just the plain backing up part, I looked around, and carefully backed up. There was a car poking out of a driveway that was in my way, and even though she didn't tell me to stop, I did. I was aware that there was something there.

When she asked me to pull over and open my door, I shoulder checked, and looked in my mirror to make sure that no one was coming, then opened my door.

I used all my signals, though I may have forgotten to turn it back on when I had to correct my parallel parking job.

In other words, I did all the most important things near perfectly. But I guess they have to meet their 'fail' quota for the day, and I was just one of the unlucky ones this time.

At this point, I've stopped caring. I hate driving. I have since I first opened the book to study for my L test. I will never be the type of person that likes to drive. It will never relax me, and I will never willingly drive a long road trip unless the destination is worth it. If it wasn't expected of me, and if our transit system wasn't so bad, I would be more than happy to never get behind the wheel of a car again.

I'm not normally the person to just give up, and I'm not in this case either. I will very grudgingly continue to drive, just because I have to.

Third Time

I have my third N test tomorrow. I'm really hoping the saying 'third times the charge' will work out for me. I practiced my parallel parking yesterday, so hopefully that'll go better. I think I should be fine... Maybe. There'll always be things that can mess me up, I just have to hope that those things don't pop up tomorrow. What I'm most concerned about are playground zones. Now that school is out, I'm not completely sure what are playground zones, and what are just school zones. And now they've thrown summer school into the mix, but that might be over by now, but I'm not sure. There was summer school at the school near my house, but it seems to be over now, but I'm not sure if that's the case for all schools, or if they're scattering the days that there's summer school.

Okay, maybe I'm just a little nervous. I guess I just have to go, feel confident, and hope I get a nice tester.