i thought it was bad

Today was freaking gross. Over this 44 hour work week, I have gone through much more than I signed up for. Last night a guy no showed, so I pulled in a longer shift than I was supposed to. Today I came into work for the 11 o'clock shift. There was no opener so I was caught a little off guard. Also, only one computer was working. So I have the whole front to myself and do my controlled crash. Of course, it was big top madness like Sundays always are. The computers were fixed, so the servers weren't all huddled together. Once people were getting cut, some more problems arose. Section swaps caused some confusion. To sum things up, short staff caused everybody (including the managers) to stress out. I checked out today with less hours than I checked out with yesterday, but I totally didn't want to talk to any manager about it. Apparently the computers were screwed, but I should get paid. Work is different from when I started so long ago. I wish it would go back to the good ol' days.

guilty

Today I went to get some new work shoes. The Aldo shoes that I buy always break within six months of work, so I thought I'd get some good ones. From the recommendation of Chase and Brock, I wet to get some Blundstones. They are bred for their skills in durability. Unfortunately they cost around $180 (at Gravity Pope), but Chase said I could get $50 off if I went to a particular store and said that I worked at a particular restaurant. I felt uneasy about this, I always do when you have to lie. Chase said that they didn't ask him any questions though, so I took the next step. I called ahead to see if they still had the deal going on, and they did. During the drive, I started getting second thoughts. What if they ask me for proof? What if they ask me what my favourite thing on the menu is? What if they ask me who hired me or who is my manager? Ah, I was practically there, so I went into the store. Checked out the shoes and asked to get the (North American) size 9.5 of the round toe and the chisel toe. The woman went back and I heard her talking to another woman, it was about me I bet. She came out, got the shoes out, and asked me which one of the restaurants I worked at. I stuttered, "south." She goes, "ah yes, I remember Karen" (or something like that). I smile and quickly look down to try the shoes on. She then asked if I was a manager there, and I said, "oh no" (in a hell-no kind of way). I then try on the chisel toe and she asks who the manager is now that Karen left. Fuck. Things went through my mind and I just told her that I didn't really work there and I heard about the deal from my friend. She just gives me a smile. I expected a "get the fuck out," but the smile was great. I decided on the chisel toe and she agreed that they were more formal, all the while I was feeling embarrassed on the inside. I was thinking, "what ever, I can get them at Gravity Pope." I asked if I could get the deal anyways and she said no (what a surprise), but she would give me 10% off. She asked me where I worked and I told her, she added that she would give any of my work friends the same deal too, but not the particular one I was in there for. They invest in the restaurant or something so they can't give out the deal to other people, which is very understandable. She said that she appreciated my honesty. HA, what honesty? I was going to ask her. I guess she was happy that she could get the sale (and possibly future sales) and I was also happy because I got the 10% off. She caught me red-handed lying though! I thought I'd give it a try to save $50. I wish I was well off enough so that the $50 wouldn't matter. I wish that I didn't have to measure how much things cost by the hours I have to work to buy them. Amazing how much insight a shoe shopping incident can give you.

(c or k)onstantine

I just came back from watching Constantine. The new blockbuster starring Keanu. I was supposed to see Hitch, but that was mad full, so we went to the Constantine theatre. I knew the theatre would be full, but I had to park sooo far this time. What's the verdict? I thoroughly enjoyed this two hour movie. Now, I haven't read the comics, so I can't judge how loyal the movie is. For a movie that was about good and evil, god vs. satan, heaven and hell, it was not a "Passion of the Christ." It didn't preach or anything, and there were even a few funny parts in it. Go watch it. Invite me to watch it with you (because I will, apparently there is a scene after the credits that [that I missed]).

On another note, I was severely surprised today when I got gas. I was inside to pay at the Petro Canada and I was greeted by a beautiful cashier. She definitely looked like she didn't belong working at a gas station, and I am definitely going to be getting gas more often.

weekend update

So my rips are coming along fine. I've been giving them their daily dose of Vaseline and everything looks great. Mind you, I haven't done any long hang swings for a week, or even touch the high/low bar (except to do a straddle support).

I went to wash my work clothes tonight (work tomorrow afternoon) and I pull the knob for the washer and push the button for the dryer. I was trying to pull the knob on the dryer for so long and I pulled it off. I thought I broke it, then I saw that it was a push to turn it on. It's all good.

Today, I also went into the Gateway office to get my pictures on a CD. Leanne wasn't there, but a guy helped me out. He was a nice guy, very friendly and we talked about some photo stuff. I found out that there is actually some loaner gear. It's mainly Nikon stuff and some old manual focus camera's. It's what the people who don't have their own stuff use. So I guess I'm a step above some photographers because I have my own gear. I never got his name, but I think it is Matt. He scanned four pics for me and helped me adjust the levels and crop them in Photoshop. Here's a few pics downsized for you to check out (bigger at my flickr site):


I like this one because of a few things. Most importantly, the ball is in the picture. The faces of the Bears are kind of obstructed though, and this number 6 guy is kind of distracting.

Moving on...


Here is some Panda action. The ball is just squeeking into the top of this picture and you can't really see the face of the passer, but I like the action. Check out the U Alberta socks, that's hot.

Next...


Some more Panders at work. Here we have clearly a dominating block by the two Pandas. The fat ref is kind of funny and number 10 is kinda distracting. This pic would've probably looked better if I was on the other side so that I could see the Panda blockers' faces.

Finally...


We have Bears setter Brock Daviduk here going up for a set. I think I wanted to keep the net in this picture just for reference, so that's why it has some dead space on the left. You can see the two other Gateway photogs under the ref stand too. I think my focus was locked on here.

That's all I have for now. I really like them, hopefully I'll get to scan more later on. Keep in mind that these were all taken with available light and fairly far away from the action (at least 3 meters from the closest line on the court).

Keep checking, more later...

waiting to exhale

So it's Tuesday night and I'm still at school waiting for a ride because I had my chem midterm (6:30-8:30pm). Tuesday is also one of the two days a new Gateway is put out. Now I was kind of holding my breath, hoping to find one of my pictures on the sports pages. I didn't make it, meh. I haven't had a chance to look over my pictures yet, so maybe they really suck and don't deserve to be on the pages. I'll try to get them scanned, so I have a digital copy of them all. I'll just post them up on here. That's not the same as being seen by many many university students, but hey, whatevs. I think some of my shots were a little too artsy. I don't have the picture yet, but for a few shots, I was on the endline of the opposing team so that the Pandas were facing me in the serve receive and I had the Pandas in focus and the opposing server out of focus (some depth-of-field for y'all). I'll try to get the scan up to show you, but I don't know if that's what they're looking for. The two other photogs sat under the ref stand all night, the one shot got into the paper, but it's not my style! I'll adapt, I wanna get into those pages.

My ride is here, peach.

girls gone wild

No, I didn't go to Union Hall or The Standard, but I kept hearing it on the radio so that's the title.

Anyways, today I shot some photos for the Pandas and Bears games. Both teams played Trinity Western (and do they ever have some hotties on that team [some of our Pandas are hot too]). I was meeting two veteran Gateway photogs there, so they could show me the ropes. Both girls have shot for four years with the Gateway (they weren't my type, moving on). One thing was when I introduced myself I felt weird because my gear was more advanced than theirs, and I was the noob. I think I intimidated them with the size of my lens hood (that's a little innuendo there). Ya, they were using manual focus, manual settings cameras. It was like the type I used in junior high. Not like there is anything wrong with those cameras, but fast action sports requires a quick focus, which is difficult (but not impossible) with a manual focus camera. The gear really doesn't matter as much as the photographer that uses it. I hope my camera gave me an edge though.

Tonight was also Stacy' s party at the I Ho. I haven't seen that girl for a long time. She's definitely a girl I like being with, but I wouldn't want her to be my girlfriend. Trevor and TJ were there too. I had another weird feeling here. When I went to say hi to Stacy, we did our hug thing and started talking. I felt like Trevor was watching me. It was like in high school at the touch of class dance when Ron was talking with Krista. Whoa, was I ever jealous. But it turned out to be nothing, as it did tonight, so no worries. No girls went wild for me tonight.

rips

rips
Originally uploaded by specialEd.

Today in gymnastics, I got ripped. No, not drunk, but I had blisters "rip" on me after some high bar swinging. I was doing some half-turns though, so that was fun and exiting.

Interesting fact: Last night, I forgot to rinse my face wash after I rubbed it all over my face. It dried and I was wondering what the sticky stuff was.

and so it begins v.3.2.1.3

Today I had my first group meeting for my PAC 320 Group Project (I was suffering from post super-royale-bigmac syndrome the class that we were put together). We met at Scholars, and it's as good as any other group project meeting place. Apart from getting horrible service from this smoker waitress, it was a sweet meeting. I am in a good group, thank Allah.

On another note, I'm in love with gymnasts. I know this goes against my tall girl preference, but gymnasts are hot. I'm going to be a gymnast when I grow up. Right now, the parallel bars is my best event I think, even though I can't do much! My abs are tired. Time for dinner (this was a post because I haven't posted in a long time).

My sister said I was gay because I started singing with Celine Dion on the Air Canada commercial. Come on now, lots of straight people like Celine.

post super-royale-bigmac syndrome

Today I ate the biggest burger of my life. It was basically a Royal burger, but super sized. The Royal burger is a burger with mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and an egg. This is a realllly good burger from the Bird, one of my favourites. The Big Mac version was (from top to bottom): top bun, mayo, lettuce, tomato, bacon, patty, mid bun, bacon, bbq sauce, patty, bottom bun. It weighed in at a healthy 1 lb 5 oz. Brock weighed it for me. It started out as a "what should I eat" and turned out to a "do it! do it!" So I did it. It took me well over 10 minutes to officially finish it. The last few bites were agonizing! I did it though, and that's what matters. But never again (break out Chad Kroeger). It felt like my hands were falling asleep after I started walking around. I might have been the next heart and stroke victim right there. I took it down though, took it down! Supersize ME!!!!!!