The Sims, Scrubs and Noodling
Life these past few weeks has been a fine adjustment to the normal life. Working nearly every day (but sometimes for only 3-4 hours) and taking multiple showers, finding time to be productive between split shifts and thoroughly enjoying myself outside of work and with Chris has been amazing. He's pretty busy with classes and homework, but somehow he's getting everything done, and is even doing fantastic at Chinese! So proud!
Been playing The Sims 3 quite a bit, had a serious test family going and then messed them up in multiple ways, so now I'm just playing with Giuliano (one of the original sons) and his adopted daughter (the expansion pack town that's downloadable has nearly NO single women!), Yves. His formerly dead mother also moved in in ghost-form, and she's proved pretty useful so far, cooking and cleaning and such. She's basically like a live-in maid and babysitter. Wow, that's awful of me to say, but still true. Giuliano is about halfway to his lifelong dream, and the family just moved into this gorgeous villa that I completely remodeled and redid in a contemporary but classic style. Very excited about it. BUT, after I play through Giuliano's life and leave the villa to the daughter I'm not really sure what I'm going to do in the game until the expansion pack (World Adventures -- China, Egypt and France! Are you kidding me?!?!) comes out in November, so I think I'm going to take a break and play a game that actually has a finalized ending. However, this is proving insanely difficult since practically every game I have has a former game either on the SNES or N64. And while that's not a HUGE deal, it makes it difficult to play the new one without wanting to play the old one. So...been hard to pick one so far. Soon enough.
Just finished I, Mona Lisa recently...fabulous book. So mesmerizing it's really hard to stop reading. I just started a new one, The Coffee Trader which is proving less page-turning but obviously still good. I've thought through my next novel, though, and I think I'm finally going to hunker down and read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm ready for a comedy sci-fi, I think. :)
Training at work has been very interesting and so far pretty darn rewarding, too. It really brings me back to my very first job at the cafe, where I did anything and everything that was asked of me, and was constantly asking if there was something else to be done. Especially in the first couple weeks I was really intent on learning how to do things properly and quickly. I'm a pretty quick study, though, and Noodles is much more fast-paced and fun (yes, that's right kids, FUN) than my previous job, so I'm insanely excited. Most of the people I work with are nice enough (or don't speak enough English for me to get a proper impression of them), or at least don't bother me, so that's always helpful. Of course we've got the couple of 17-year-old high school dropouts and idiots, but just because they don't care doesn't make them horrible. Just slightly annoying. :) Everyone was pretty surprised that I'm training to be a shift manager, but when I explained that I already graduated and this is my full-time job, they understood.
Right now my schedules are pretty standard. I work 6 days a week (Thursday through Tuesday) and have Wednesdays off. I usually work split shifts (9-2 or similar and then 5-9 or similar) on Fridays and Sundays, and work morning/early afternoon shifts (10-2) or very late-night shifts (5-9) on the remaining days. This proves very awesome for my life outside of work. If I work early, I usually come home, shower, do a crap-ton of errands and play games/read/watch Scrubs all night until Chris gets home and we hang out together. If I work late, I get up at a fairly reasonable hour and do roughly the same. On days I have a split, I usually still have enough time to come home, watch a couple episodes of Scrubs and eat something, then go back to work. And by the time I get home, Chris is usually home and doing homework or whatever. I know this schedule is going to change to 5 days at 8 hours as soon as I'm fully trained, but I'm really not concerned about it, since I know Kate and Heather will be fair in scheduling.
I'm fully trained in Salad/Server (includes running the dining room and watching for huge messes, etc.) and Ambassador (cashier) and still have a few stations to go. I've worked on Grill/Garnish quite a few times and am feeling much more comfortable with it, and recently just started Silver Bowl (prep station for all the saute dishes, including add-on meats and such). I'm still slightly scared about silver bowl, but I kicked ass at it last night and was ahead for most of the evening, so was asked to work up front. :) Saute might just be my downfall, but I'm assuming I don't need to be the best at it, so I'm not overly concerned.
Long-term I've been thinking about finances, jobs and hobbies. I've been working on Chinese with Chris (not as much recently, but definitely in the beginning), and want to continue that for sure. I'll definitely be working on it moreso now he picked up the new textbook, so I've got my old one here all the time. I've obviously got tons of books to read and video games to play. I just need to get started on these games and not focus so much on the ones you can't outright win! :) I should be personally caught up on finances and have some extra cash by November or so, potentially earlier. This is great, though, since I know I have car insurance due again in December. Never ending, that's for sure. I'm not making enough right now, but it IS enough to live-on for the meantime, so I've just had to be careful about outside expenses. Hasn't been too hard. I pretty much only use my credit card for gas, groceries and meals at Noodles when I don't have cash. Bills have been going down that way and saving me lots of money. I guess I didn't realize that Firestone just wasn't providing enough at non-full-time hours until later than I should have.
As far as jobs go, I recently went to the job fair on campus (and risked H1N1, might I add) and found a couple promising companies. But, as Chris and I discovered during a huge argument the other night, we need to be thinking about the big picture here. He needs to live in (or near) a large city so he can find a job that best suits his interests. I don't think it's going to be difficult for him to find a job at all, especially since I've been looking at companies that he would enjoy. The intro careers are great on pre-reqs; the only issue (I'm sure) lies in pay, but as it's something, I think we'll be fine. :) If he can find a job he would enjoy in Madison, I think I'm just going to stay at Noodles in Fitchburg for the time being, since I've already started there and I do like it, and I do think I could have a future with the company, especially in the corporate sector. However, I'm going to apply to new jobs, too, and if I find something amazingly awesome that's in a large-enough city, we're going to consider it. Some of the bigger companies I've been dying to work for forever. I don't think it will be easy getting started at any of these companies, but if I show enough initiative and obviously have great work and personal references, I think I might just have a chance.
Job research seriously starts today; I've been making a list of companies for about a week now and finally have a good start. Resume is updated and the time is now! There are some from the job fair that I might start with, then the favorite companies, then researching some publishing companies and such for Chris. All while watching Scrubs. :) What a fantastic day!
In the meantime I'm organizing music (by genre!), listening to the beautiful sounds of rain outside (and wondering how soaked Chris is at his internship), and contemplating my upcoming shower. Woo! I have no idea what I'm going to do to celebrate my day off tomorrow, but I think it might involve starting a new video game. Finally!!
Been playing The Sims 3 quite a bit, had a serious test family going and then messed them up in multiple ways, so now I'm just playing with Giuliano (one of the original sons) and his adopted daughter (the expansion pack town that's downloadable has nearly NO single women!), Yves. His formerly dead mother also moved in in ghost-form, and she's proved pretty useful so far, cooking and cleaning and such. She's basically like a live-in maid and babysitter. Wow, that's awful of me to say, but still true. Giuliano is about halfway to his lifelong dream, and the family just moved into this gorgeous villa that I completely remodeled and redid in a contemporary but classic style. Very excited about it. BUT, after I play through Giuliano's life and leave the villa to the daughter I'm not really sure what I'm going to do in the game until the expansion pack (World Adventures -- China, Egypt and France! Are you kidding me?!?!) comes out in November, so I think I'm going to take a break and play a game that actually has a finalized ending. However, this is proving insanely difficult since practically every game I have has a former game either on the SNES or N64. And while that's not a HUGE deal, it makes it difficult to play the new one without wanting to play the old one. So...been hard to pick one so far. Soon enough.
Just finished I, Mona Lisa recently...fabulous book. So mesmerizing it's really hard to stop reading. I just started a new one, The Coffee Trader which is proving less page-turning but obviously still good. I've thought through my next novel, though, and I think I'm finally going to hunker down and read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm ready for a comedy sci-fi, I think. :)
Training at work has been very interesting and so far pretty darn rewarding, too. It really brings me back to my very first job at the cafe, where I did anything and everything that was asked of me, and was constantly asking if there was something else to be done. Especially in the first couple weeks I was really intent on learning how to do things properly and quickly. I'm a pretty quick study, though, and Noodles is much more fast-paced and fun (yes, that's right kids, FUN) than my previous job, so I'm insanely excited. Most of the people I work with are nice enough (or don't speak enough English for me to get a proper impression of them), or at least don't bother me, so that's always helpful. Of course we've got the couple of 17-year-old high school dropouts and idiots, but just because they don't care doesn't make them horrible. Just slightly annoying. :) Everyone was pretty surprised that I'm training to be a shift manager, but when I explained that I already graduated and this is my full-time job, they understood.
Right now my schedules are pretty standard. I work 6 days a week (Thursday through Tuesday) and have Wednesdays off. I usually work split shifts (9-2 or similar and then 5-9 or similar) on Fridays and Sundays, and work morning/early afternoon shifts (10-2) or very late-night shifts (5-9) on the remaining days. This proves very awesome for my life outside of work. If I work early, I usually come home, shower, do a crap-ton of errands and play games/read/watch Scrubs all night until Chris gets home and we hang out together. If I work late, I get up at a fairly reasonable hour and do roughly the same. On days I have a split, I usually still have enough time to come home, watch a couple episodes of Scrubs and eat something, then go back to work. And by the time I get home, Chris is usually home and doing homework or whatever. I know this schedule is going to change to 5 days at 8 hours as soon as I'm fully trained, but I'm really not concerned about it, since I know Kate and Heather will be fair in scheduling.
I'm fully trained in Salad/Server (includes running the dining room and watching for huge messes, etc.) and Ambassador (cashier) and still have a few stations to go. I've worked on Grill/Garnish quite a few times and am feeling much more comfortable with it, and recently just started Silver Bowl (prep station for all the saute dishes, including add-on meats and such). I'm still slightly scared about silver bowl, but I kicked ass at it last night and was ahead for most of the evening, so was asked to work up front. :) Saute might just be my downfall, but I'm assuming I don't need to be the best at it, so I'm not overly concerned.
Long-term I've been thinking about finances, jobs and hobbies. I've been working on Chinese with Chris (not as much recently, but definitely in the beginning), and want to continue that for sure. I'll definitely be working on it moreso now he picked up the new textbook, so I've got my old one here all the time. I've obviously got tons of books to read and video games to play. I just need to get started on these games and not focus so much on the ones you can't outright win! :) I should be personally caught up on finances and have some extra cash by November or so, potentially earlier. This is great, though, since I know I have car insurance due again in December. Never ending, that's for sure. I'm not making enough right now, but it IS enough to live-on for the meantime, so I've just had to be careful about outside expenses. Hasn't been too hard. I pretty much only use my credit card for gas, groceries and meals at Noodles when I don't have cash. Bills have been going down that way and saving me lots of money. I guess I didn't realize that Firestone just wasn't providing enough at non-full-time hours until later than I should have.
As far as jobs go, I recently went to the job fair on campus (and risked H1N1, might I add) and found a couple promising companies. But, as Chris and I discovered during a huge argument the other night, we need to be thinking about the big picture here. He needs to live in (or near) a large city so he can find a job that best suits his interests. I don't think it's going to be difficult for him to find a job at all, especially since I've been looking at companies that he would enjoy. The intro careers are great on pre-reqs; the only issue (I'm sure) lies in pay, but as it's something, I think we'll be fine. :) If he can find a job he would enjoy in Madison, I think I'm just going to stay at Noodles in Fitchburg for the time being, since I've already started there and I do like it, and I do think I could have a future with the company, especially in the corporate sector. However, I'm going to apply to new jobs, too, and if I find something amazingly awesome that's in a large-enough city, we're going to consider it. Some of the bigger companies I've been dying to work for forever. I don't think it will be easy getting started at any of these companies, but if I show enough initiative and obviously have great work and personal references, I think I might just have a chance.
Job research seriously starts today; I've been making a list of companies for about a week now and finally have a good start. Resume is updated and the time is now! There are some from the job fair that I might start with, then the favorite companies, then researching some publishing companies and such for Chris. All while watching Scrubs. :) What a fantastic day!
In the meantime I'm organizing music (by genre!), listening to the beautiful sounds of rain outside (and wondering how soaked Chris is at his internship), and contemplating my upcoming shower. Woo! I have no idea what I'm going to do to celebrate my day off tomorrow, but I think it might involve starting a new video game. Finally!!