OMGYES
a not-so-great shot from the Cultural Center.
so.... the results are in.
I GOT THE JOB!!!! :DDDDDD
holy fuck, FINALLY things have begun to look up for me.... f'in finally.
so now that i can finally breathe again, let's actually talk about the job itself.
the job is technically a "casual" job (by aussie terms, which doesn't exactly line up with the American equiv), but i'm completely happy with that. Daiso was very up-front about the fact that they expect a HUGE number of customers (think Black Friday/Xmas sales) for a little while after initially opening the store, so they are aiming to OVER hire to meet the initial surge of customers and then gradually let go of people as necessary as the number of customers die down. because of this, and because of uncertainty as to how steady business will be after this, they said straight up that they would only be offering casual positions at the start, but that they would try to avoid letting go of as many people as possible and that there may be the possibility of (permanent) part-time/full-time positions later on for those who do end up being kept. i'm happy with that particularly because I FUCKIN LOVE DAISO OMG, and because of the particularly good feedback re: my interviews that i received in the job offer email today. :D i think that if i constantly do my best and pull out all the stops (which i normally do any), that there's definitely a chance for me to stay on permanently, especially in comparison to the college students who only want a few hours anyway.
oh and before i go any further, "casual" in aussie terms seems to mean employment on an "as required basis" with anywhere from 3 ~ 30ish hrs/week with no benefits or salary, but on a higher hourly rate compared to salary. Australia is weird in their terminology if you ask me.
i know it's probably stupid/silly to be so excited over a retail job, especially as 6 years ago i said i never wanted to do retail ever again, but this is the goddman low that i have been brought to it's DAISO! bringing ALL of their product line directly from Japan! HOW CAN I NOT BE EXCITED?! also, there's money involved so ya'know...... damn bills. damn expensive hobby/dream.
haven't gotten details about orientation, pay, proposed hours or anything yet, but i expect things to start moving pretty quickly soon as the store is set to open at the end of the month.
oh, and on a semi related note... on doing some more research into Daiso in Australia, i found out that there are actually THREE different Daisos in Australia, each of which are their own entirely independent entity/franchise. O.o that strikes me as really... odd. each has their own website, Facebook and everything... when i first looked up Daiso Australia before my 1st interview, i didn't even get the site for the Daiso that i'll be working for! how confusing. apparently the Daiso that i'll be working for is the latest franchise in Australia and is just getting off the ground. the other two are already relatively established with various stores in Melbourne & Sydney. this boggles me even more because in Japan every single Daiso is so uniformly the same that you wouldn't even know it's a franchise... kinda like McDonald's. whereas here, each of the Daiso franchises do things a bit differently and there is absolutely nothing tying them together besides the Daiso name and Daiso product line. x.x
from what i've heard about MY Daiso (hahaha "MY" Daiso) so far + what i've heard/seen of the other two, my Daiso will def be the best rendition yet! :D
on an unrelated note, i've decided.... to stretch my ears. DDD:
actually, i've casually thought about stretching my ears since all the way back when i was living in Portland (2006/2007) and i ALMOST bought a stretching kit then (even went hunting for one), but at the last minute i decided against it because:
a) i was applying for the JET Programme and JET/japanese people probably wouldn't like plugs in my ears.
b) it annoyed me that it was so goddamn trendy among teenagers. I HATE LOOKING LIKE I'M TRYING TO BE TRENDY WHEN REALLY I JUST GENUINELY LIKE SOMETHING.
since a) no longer applies and i pretty much know for a fact that Daiso won't mind me stretching as long as i'm tame about it and because i give less of a damn about b) now, stretching has come back to the forefront of my mind. i decided that if i got the job with Daiso, i would definitely go for it.
and so i will!
i've even been preping/doctoring the piercings in my ears that were virtually on the verge of closing because i haven't worn jewelry in them since my mom forced me to wear it at church. D: i've had cheapass, minimalistic studs in them for weeks now and am glad to say that they are 100% back to functioning. :x so once i have the money to, i think i will get this....
a kit to go from standard piercings to 0g/8mm. :x i don't especially care for the stainless steel plugs, but they're good enough to start with. eventually after the initial stretch i'll switch them out for nicer, organic plugs like wood or stone. :3
amber (technically synthetic, but affordable!)
agate
ebony wood
it should be noted (to my future self), however, that at this moment i really don't care for tunnels/visible large holes in ears and have no intention of going beyond 0g/8mm ~ 00g/10mm. while i intend to stretch veeeeeeeeeeeeeeerry slowly as to not risk any damage to my ears, at the moment i'm seeing stretching as a permanent thing going into the future, not as some temporary "this is cool" style.