29 July 2014

Looong week!

But tomorrow is my friday! I can't wait.

My goal these days is to be a better person, namely to put myself into other peoples' shoes more. I always catch myself being short with people who are short with me, for example, but that doesn't accomplish anything. A little more effort on my part to be cheerful will not only improve my general mood and outlook, but the people I interact with as well. It's pretty hard, actually. When you're tired and cranky and serving people all day and someone comes in 5 minutes to close and asks for a drink and I sometimes catch myself being a little impolite. It's not their fault they're mean and come in when they know I'm closing. They've had a long day too and just want to treat themselves a little, and I need to be friendly no matter what time of day it is. When I order my food and someone messes it up completely by putting cilantro in it, I need to understand that some people actually like that crap and not be shocked, but just take it in stride. I guess it's just hard sometimes when you interact with 300 people in a 8.5 hour shift 4-5 days a week to be nice to everybody you encounter in your life. But that's not an excuse to not be nice to everybody I encounter. I know I never will be. Never have I met anyone who is friendly all the time. But I want to try harder to be. I want to look back at the end of each day and say to myself, "I did my best, and I was at my best." That way no matter where I end up in life, I can feel fulfilled.

My back is KILLING me lately. I also need to make sure I'm lifting things properly and strain it less. I'm getting to that age where you can't abuse your body anymore without feeling it later. A sore back today means throwing out completely 5 years from now, so I have to be careful with myself. On my self improvement phase, I am also exercising more (might be part of the soreness as well). I find that when you work out more you have more energy and are generally in a better mood, so to improve my mind I am striving to improve my body as well. It is a pain in my asshole. Exercise is my kryptonite. Hopefully I will be better though!

22 July 2014

Le Sigh

I really freakin miss Italy. I miss Siena, where I felt like I was transported to the early Renaissance. I miss Florence where I saw La Primavera and realized he painted so much gold into it and how massive it is, and the Birth of Venus has so much more detail than I realized. I miss Rome and the history and energy of it. I miss the cathedrals, the grandeur, the over-the-topness of everything. I miss walking on cool marble and tile mosaics. I miss the food. I almost miss the smell of sharp tobacco and too much perfume lol. I feel like I belong there, or at least I belong there part-time. I'm so grateful to my folks for putting down the money for me to be able to go there, and my mum for putting up with me dragging her about and talking about painting and sculpture and architecture by era.

Yet here I go to the beach at night with Eric and his friends and drink a beer and light a fire and sing along with a guitar while I listen to the conversation and the waves playing on the shore. I sit in the sun in the sand and see snow capped mountains in the distance and seals and otters dancing in the waves. I have so much and am so lucky, but still want more. I suppose that's good. School starts again in September and wanting is the best motivation to succeed; but I need to focus more on what I have now and how wonderful it all is.

Julie's AC is working. I don't have AC in my house. Random fact.

School is an exciting prospect but daunting. It's always hard to balance time and money and work and studies. Better check those lotto tickets I've got. I'm at a point where I'm okay as things are, but would be in trouble if anything happened like my work burned down or my house did.

Oh shit I just jinxed myself. KNOCK ON WOOD ok safe.

I need to relax and enjoy the rest of the summer but damn it's going by so quickly. I need to go to SFU and talk to them about transferring there in January. I hope it will work out, but the transition to uni will also mean harder to get the A's and more moolah. Gotta trudge through it though. I hope to get into grad school a few years from now with enough scholarship to not have to work while I study, so I really have to work hard. But for now, I still have a month to relax and only worry about work, which is going well I think. I have my six month review coming soon as starbucks supervisor so we will see what he tells me, and until then all I can do is try my best. But I feel like if he had problems with anything he would have told me already so I'm expecting an average to positive review. Although saying that now means I may have jinxed that, too. So my house will burn down and I will get a bad review. Where's that wood table..stretch..wood has been knocked upon.

Some of the regulars at work are really nice and lend me books to read. The guy likes historical setting murder mysteries. The latest is "A Leonardo da Vinci Mystery" series by Diane A.S. Stuckart. A young girl in renaissance Italy runs away from home so she doesn't get forced into marriage. In order to study under Leonardo she disguises herself like a boy. They discover a body and the mystery takes hold. It's light and lots of fun to read.

Downloaded a beer app. Untappd. You can add me, Gremlin11 is my username. I don't drink much so I don't have much but you take a photo of your beer and rate it and then you can see what your friends are drinking and what they like or don't like. Kinda neat I guess.

Starbucks has a seasonal limited time coconut mocha frappuccino. It's disgusting (full of syrup as is everything) but delicious as all hell. Try it but just one time so you don't have a heart attack or get diabetes. Then go back to drinking the iced unsweetened green tea which is good for you.

Welp I need a shower, I'm covered in sweat and syrup and coffee (probably smell great though, sweet and coffeelike) so off I go.