*Sigh*

Oh man.

Today was the first day I've worked where we were at full capacity, and I was scheduled to work it alone. Still, two of the managers came in to help out, which made me incredibly happy, since I didn't have to check in 89 people by myself.

In spite of the phone ringing practially off the hook, and people coming in every five minutes to ask for stuff, I actually had fun. Except for the embarrassing bits that involved my boss regailing the other manager with stories and impressions of how utterly smashed off my gourd I was at his Christmas dinner (I blame him; he made me do shots, and then play rockband. It wasn't the four bottles of raspberry cider I drank that got me that way. Not at all.). That bit was certainly entertaining, for other people, since I apparently kept offering to help clean up whilst simultaneously being unable to stand up. I don't remember this at all.

But no worries. Apart from one or two disasters that were averted because he was there, the night went swimmingly. Everything even balanced at the end, though there were reciepts that got lost in the shuffle, and my feet hurt something awful, but no one got overly pissed and screamed and yelled and everyone was helped to the best of our ability, so I'm calling this evening a win. Bean even got me chocolate >:D

Also, the snowboarding pics went up on Facebook, so I'm going to have to get Bean to snag a few. I've just got the one or two that I took while I was there, which aren't many because I spent most of my time trying to stand up.

Right. I think I'm going to spend the next few hours playing with some stories of mine, and then sleep for a million years. I'm debating, at the moment, using tomorrow to go in search of a 2.75mm and a 3.5mm crochet hook, or if I should just stick with my 2.55mm and 3.75mm hooks to make Chris' socks with...I suppose it depends on how much they are.

Whatever. Any excuse to get back to the yarn store, though I'm thinking any major purchases from there will have to wait. I kidna went a little overboard yesterday, with sushi.

Oh man. Sushi. *drool*

Ow

So I learned how to snowboard today...

I hurt. All over. I'm also exhausted, and have 5.5hrs left on my shift. Which is actually okay. I slept for a good four hours after I got home (and I napped on the bus on the way back from the mountain...and then fell off the seat when it stopped to let us off), so I'm not exhausted enough to need the Red Bull I bought for the occasion...yet...and I get to sleep tomorrow. All damn day.

My boss, Chris, is the awesomest boss that ever happened, hands down. No really. Not only did he drive me to and from work last night, but he lent me his extra snowboarding helmet and goggles, and stayed with me the entire four hours it took to get down the mountain, helping me up and encouraging me and laughing with me when I accidentally tried to pull his helmet off...twice (because I was using his head to prop me up after the 7891987263456349876163565th time I fell over and then fell over backwards and instinctively grabbed at the first thing I could reach...which was his head), took embarrassing pictures of me learning how to snowboard, and bought me beer halfway down. Plus, he's invited me and Bean over for Ecksmas dinner on Saturday, though we'll have to do it in shifts (on account of us both working the PM that evening). Friday, I'm making pie. I've decided. And I'm going to make him socks. For free. Because he's seriously that awesome.

So yeah. Awesomest boss that ever happened. Especially because he totally understood the way exhaustion + lack of oxygen due to thin atmosphere + booze = daft/giddy/somewhat drunk and mildly indignant me. That takes patience, believe me.

If I hadn't had to work tonight, I would totally have gone out for wings with everyone afterwards, but as it was, I limped home, put on some warm/dry clothes, mumbled at Athena (who had just been to the post office and had come back with my TARDIS Day present - YAY!) for a while, and then passed out for four hours or so. I had a quick shower before work, which was heavenly (hot water is the best gift the gods could ever have given us. I swear.)

But yeah. I had a blast learning how to snowboard, even though it's going to be at least a week before I get the ability to walk properly back. I'm not as stiff as I was expecting, since the basic stance of snowboarding is pretty much the same as the horse-stance we learned in karate all those years ago, and I guess I have some residual muscles from that, since I am actually still able to walk.

So glad I get to sleep tomorrow, though. So very, very glad.

Wee

So tomorrow (which is technically today), I get to learn how to snowboard. My boss gave me a ride to work tonight, because he's just that awesome, and on the way he let me in on his plan, which is to stand by and watch us noobs fail miserably at staying upright while taking pictures of our various indignitites. Should be entertaining, later, if nothing else. >:D

I'm still a little apprehensive about learning how to snowboard, but it's mostly the apprehension of someone approaching something they've never done before. Jimmy's batteries are still showing as full, so that means I should be able to get a bunch of awesome pics. Though, I haven't been too thrilled with his battery life, these past couple weeks. I'm hoping that it running down between me taking a picture, turning it off for ten minutes, and then trying to take a picture again is because it was bloody cold out, and not because the battery is a bag of dicks. Because I really can't afford a new one, right now.

I did get one really awesome picture of the eclipse last night, just before the moon was completely covered. Just the one, mind; my hands shook for every other picture, except when the moon was half covered. But of the actual eclipse itself, I got just one. I've got another 132 years to practice, though, before the next eclipse cooincides with the Solstice, like it did this year.

Leastways, in this part of the world.

I wrote a quick ecksmas drabble; it's up on Dev. Co, and I sent it to a friend of mine to cheer her up, though there's nothing really cheerful about it, other than it being proof that I'm nuts. And bored. And bored to death. And also, that snowmen are creepy and I think if I have to spend much more time being forced to listen to ecksmas music, I might just kill someone. I have to work ecksmas eve, and ecksmas day, and New Years eve - and day - which works out for me because of the whole stat pay thing, but not so much in the whole not murdering someone vein, since I'll have to spend eight hours on all of those nights listening to all the same songs that I've been listening to for the past week or so.

I've solved this problem, though; headphones, in one ear, on night shifts. Wipes the bad taste of overplayed ecksmas music right out of my brain. With Opeth. >:D

Less than three hours before my boss comes to get me, though...and then it's off to the mountain to kill myself on a snowboard. Yay!

O_O

...

'Nough said.

Bah

So, this bloody computer lets me post stuff, but it doesn't let me look at this blog. I think it's something to do with the code for the background not being embedded, or something...I dunno. I just know it's annoying, and, also, a big bag of dicks.

I like that phrase: Bag of dicks. It makes me happy, for reasons I can't really explain. I can say things like "That drink was a bag of dicks," or, "Go suck a bag of dicks," and I get a smile on my face, every time. Athena and I have taken to using "Bagofdicks!" as a swear. It's an amazing amount of fun, though we try to keep it out of the public ear - and especially not use it at work.

I even made a tag that just says "Bag of dicks". >:D

But yeah. In other news, Head Office has declared that it's Christmas music for the rest of the Christmas season, or else we get canned. I don't think it'll go that far...I hope...but the end result is that I have to listen to bloody christmas music for eight hours straight, which is both painful and annoying. And a total bag of dicks.

Hee hee hee.

Also, it's orientation day on Wed, up at the ski-hill. So I'm going to learn to snowboard. >:D Should be fun. I haven't skiied in years...many years...but I was never much good at it anyway, so trying something new shouldn't be too bad. I hope. At least two guests have injured themselves up there.

So yeah, little terrifying. But it'll all be good. I hope.

Other than that...

Not much happening. As always, I'm marvelling at my capacity of screaming into the darkness of the internet, like what I use twitter for...no one reads this damn thing, so far as I know, and screaming into the darkness is...cathartic.

I likes it.

Whee

They had a staff trip to Hinton today, to go to the mall (which is smaller than Brantford Mall was, before they tore it down and replaced it with big box stores), so Bean and I went. We saw bighorn sheep and elk on the way, at the side of the road. And I couldn't get over how big the mountains are, or how clean the air is. I could see, high up on an impossibly huge cliff, the individual outlines of douglas fir trees and pines, with a clarity that completely escapes me when I'm in Ontario.

Hinton itself is little more than a strip of houses and bigbox stores, just outside the park gates. I Bean and I convinced our driver (the hotel's HR manager) to take us to Arby's, though we were the only two who wanted to go. So we ended up getting Arby's and eating it at the McDonald's, which is where everyone else wanted to go. I took a picture of our food on the McDonald's table. It was hilarious.

Of course, everything was funny because I was in that special state of mind that only the very tired reach, where everything, regardless of what it is, is funny and worthy of explosive giggles. This is what I get for working a night audit shift the night before.

Speaking of, that shift was a big bag of dicks. The computers decided that they weren't going to open the hotel program that was required to check people in and out. A late arrival, who was supposed to come around midnight, didn't show up until after I'd already done the audit - at 04:00 - so I had to fight with the one computer that was still working to get his reservation reinstated, which ended up with me making three reservations for the same room, under the same name, and then had to adjust the reports I'd already printed to reflect this. On top of that, the debit machine decided it wasn't going to play, and the guest had to pay cash - and I didn't get a cash deposit, because I'm a tool. And then my numbers became screwy and idiotic and didn't behave.

On top of all that, I had used the guest laundry to wash all of my dirty clothes, since it was the cheapest of all the laundries that I have access too (I miss Clayton's house more than anything, right now...Clayton too), and despite putting $4 into the dryer, it didn't actually dry my clothes. So I carried a bag full of wet clothes back to my place and then had to string them up around my room so they'd dry properly.

On the upside, though, I have a day off tomorrow, so I'll be able to do proper laundry at some point. Plus, I think there was something about going skating tomorrow, which might work out so that I can nip over to the thrift store and see if they have any used skates. Failing that, I might have to rent some. I would buy some, proper ones, since my last pair were shitty, but I haven't the money necessary. Plus, I just got a bathing suit, so I can go swimming. It actually fits, too, which is nice since it's got a built in bra thing, and when those don't fit, it's plenty obvious. Especially on me.

I just wish I didn't blorch out the back - though that will change when I actually cut down on my sugar intake and work out more. But it's a one piece, and it was less than $50, and, actually, I think it was the most expensive item I bought today.

Anyway, tonight's audit was much better. It went beautifully and quick and without hitch (*knocks on wood*) and all the computers are still working. We've already had one walk in, and though it was after I'd done the audit, I didn't have much trouble with it. So now I get to while away the next four and a half hours. I have no idea what I'm going to do, since solitaire isn't working on this computer and I can't watch anything...should have brought a book.

Huh

Yesternight was the staff Christmas party, and it was quite fun. Well, except for the Dairy Death I experienced at the hands of the grated parmesean cheese on the salad and the cheese sauce on the salmon (which was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, inspite of this), but everything else was awesome. I got an amazing pair of really nice gloves for the gift - there was so much stuff on the table, I had hardly any idea what to pick, but I managed it and went for the gloves, which are slightly too big, but amazingly soft and warm and - I think - for snowboarding, which I might be learning how to do next week. >:D

I also wore Clayton's glasses.

I don't need glasses of my own - yet. I will, probably within a year or two, owing to the fact that both of my parents are myopic and it's really a miracle that I've made it this long in my life without them. But my eyes are slowly going to shit, and Clayton's glasses actually make things just a little bit clearer, weak as they are, so I wore them. I will admit that part of my motivation was to see how people would react (can't help it; I'm an anthropologist by training. I watch people and what they do), though the rest of my motivation was that they make me look cute and all teachery/librarian like. So I wore them, thinking I'd get some harmelss fun out of it, as well as being able to see slightly better than before.

The only one who remarked on them was my boss, and when I told him why I was wearing them (the it being largely for fun), he seemed...I dunno. Weird. Then again, it's probably just the fact that I'm crazy and a little bit paranoid, but...

I get the impression that he took it as more of a sign of deception than fun. As though I'd been lying about something - like being able to see without them - and he had caught me out and was now disappointed.

...on a completely unrelated note, a rather pretty Icelandic man just checked in...

Anyway...I've totally lost my train of thought. Completely and utterly. Wow.

Budgety Setbacks, of a Sort

So, I was all excited for payday, on account of my budgeting and how it was all nice and proper. I totally forgot about bloody CPP and EI, which was an extra $40 gone that I hadn't thought of, though they didn't take as much as I was expecting in other areas. I'd also forgotten about the damage deposit, which I have to worry about for the next few cheques. At least they do it in bits, though, so I shouldn't be to far set back.

At least, I wasn't until I went and got my winterboots, and realized - after I'd paid for them - that they were $50 more than I had expected to pay. So now I have a (really nice) pair of $200 boots that had better damn well turn out to be the best winter boots I've ever worn. Because they were $200, and that worked out to be about half of my paycheque.

Argh. I still have enough wiggle room to put aside the money for the Vancouver trip, and to begin putting some aside for my computer, it just means that I have to be incredibly careful with everything else for the next two weeks, or I'll be back to eating up Bean's money.

Argh argh argh argh argh.

In other news, apparently, the British Passport office, of which there is only one and it's in Washinton DC, only takes original copies of supporting documents. Which means, the notarized copies that mum finally just sent aren't acceptable. Which is bollocks, since they've been notarized. On the upside, we can get Barry the Lawyer's signiature on the back of our pictures, since he's known us for our whole lives, basically, and is also a lawyer. Which is a plus, but since that would mean getting the pictures taken, and then having them shipped to him, then shipped back, and then shipped to Washington DC, it's going to mean extra money and time.

Bollocks. But necessary bollocks.

T_T

Clayton goes home tomorrow...well, today, technically. He heads out on the greyhound at 6:20 am, which is a whopping forty minutes before I get off work. So I had to say goodbye at 10pm, and being my typical self, cried like an idiot. I still want to cry, actually. It helps, not thinking of it, but I'm probably not going to see him again until some time in the summer, and if not then, then some time when I'm in Wales he might appear.

When I was on my way out here, and Jon brought everyone to say goodbye to me at the trainstation, I got all weepy too. Actually, the first day and a half on the train I had to keep kleenex on hand because I was liable to burst into tears at the drop of a hat, or a stray thought, or a bit of a song from my phone. There's something about not knowing when you're going to see someone you care for again that lends a sense of desperation to a leavetaking.

It's going to be so much worse when Bean goes.

Budgeting Budgets of Budgetness...And Stuff.

I had a night audit shift tonight, and instead of sleeping prior to it, I spent a couple or three hours fiddling with my budget and making it work.

And I made it work, too. I don't make too much money in a month; certainly not any sort of spectacular wage comes from $10/hour or even the $11/hour I should be getting for night audit shifts, but it's money, and with a little bit of skull sweat and guess work, I found something that should work.

Of course, now that I've done this, along comes monkey wrench #1.

Apparently, the woman training me on night audit for the past couple of days "Doesn't like to hear herself talk", and so, after the audit was done, decided that she'd be magnanimous and let me say that I'd worked for four hours instead of eight. I was scheduled for eight. It's not like they didn't have money in the budget, or else they wouldn't have scheduled me for eight hours.

So I didn't fuss; she was taking time to show me what I would need to do.

Monkey wrench #2 - she did it again. Tonight. Which means, because of her idiocy, she's done me out of $88.

It might just be the hormones talking, but I kinda just want to thump her upside the head with a brick.

My budget still works, though. I have wiggle room, which is nice, and since I don't want for much, it's a fair amount of wiggle room. I'm still going to put it all into a nice spreadsheet, so I can do all formulas and shit, which should be fun...and right there is a prime indication of how much I've changed. Time was, the thought of doing math would have me out the door, and money management happened to other people. Now, with Wales calling me ever homeward, I actually find myself looking forward to making a working budget and then sticking to it.

It's like the happy feeling I got when I paid my phone bill last month.

Even so: $88 is $88. I'm rather pissed that I won't be getting it, even if the loss will be split between two pay cheques.

Starting Over

I know it's been well over a year since I updated this blasted thing...plenty has happened, though not on the travelling front. At least, not until now.

I moved across the country to Jasper, and got a job. Seems what I was unable to do in my hometown (that is, get a job), I accomplished in ten days here. So, come next payday, I'm going to set up a tax free savings account and allocate a portion of each pay cheque to it - and that will be my Wales fund.

Because I'm still going to Wales. Oh yes. Turns out, I don't even need to do a great deal to get my UK passport. Apparently, when the rules were changed, I (and Athena) became UK citizens by default, merely because we were born after 1983 and mum was born in Cardiff. Which makes me happy >:D Because, as a UK citizen, I can live and work just about anywhere in the European Union with no trouble.

The best part is that I get to save all this money in a small town surrounded by mountains and air that I can actually breathe. It's practically a dream come true in and of itself. And later, when I pick up a part time job as a server, somewhere in town, I'll be able to save even more money for my trip, which makes me even happier.

What's especially fun is that, since I've been here, I've been absolutely content. Not worried about money, or where I'm going to end up. I have a place with Athena, and we work for the same people. I've got a job, a proper job, for the first time in a long time, one that comes with accomodation and a paycheque. The rate of pay isn't the best ever, but it's still decent enough that I'll be able to put away a lot of money, come the end of next summer.

And then I'll be in Wales. >:D