As of July 29th, I rejoined all you working stiffs and took a position at the corporate giant that is Costco. I am not happy about it, but after four months the bank accounts need the income. Here are some thoughts on my first two weeks of work, and a little comparison to how amazing I had it in Issaquah compared to Costco out here.
-We do not have any chefs to make my breakfast and lunch everyday and low low costs. Nor do we have an inexpensive cafeteria. We have some fridges, benches, a coke machine, and the worst smelling breakroom of all time. More on that later. I really took Ian and the rest of the Costco cooks for granted, and forgot what is was like trying to assembly a lunch day in and day out. I hate it.
-No one in the office uses headphones at their desks at work. Meaning I don't. No more Harry Potter/Jason Bourne books on tape, no more podcasts or hours of music. I sit there in silence and work, or zone out, and the time draaaaaags. That was a perk of the last job that I did not undervalue. I had not read that much since high school, with a loose use of the word "read."
- THE BREAKROOM: You ever been in an office and a person heats up fish, and everyone under their breath complains or makes a little jab like "oh god, Jeff nuked some fish, what an ass, we are going to be smelling that for the rest of the day." Even something like popcorn, that smells good, will waft through and office like the bubonic plague. Well in this place, that is about 80% international, most pc way to say that and I do include myself. Most people bring their own lunch- see point 1- this entails mostly of leftovers or meals from their home countries. These are the curries, seafood, and whatever else you could call food. I am sure it tastes good to them, and I might not even mind it that much, however, when you reheat 18 hour old curry chicken, and open that container, its not just a smell, it makes your eyes bleed. I have been eating my meals out in the blazing sun and gusting wind to avoid it, and now I am the anti-social American, which is fine with me!
-My Headphones trick- In order to avoid conversation with most people I put headphones in my ears, sometimes with nothing playing, that way they leave you alone. Not in this place. I am semi-flattered that people have US questions for me or would just like to get to know me a little better, but mostly I don't care and would like to be lest alone. This has to be some sort of problem with me, but I am never going to be best friends with these people, therefore if you see the headphones, leave me alone. -Monday Meetings: We all gather in huge room, whole office, and talk about last week and whats coming up. This is the whole office, about 80 people, 5 of whom are listening and we have a family dinner discussion. My god.
That is just the tip, but I see this is getting kind of long, so I will just make this round one of things at work I would like to complain about. I almost left of 7 minute commute, has turned into hour and 15 minutes. Thank god for podcasts!!!!
Not sure if I mentioned this before, but at the local basketball courts there was a guy wearing a Russel Wilson shirt. That is pretty cool- picture to follow when my laptop arrives.
I have been staying in a dump for the past 3 weeks, but its been worth it because I have had my own room. Last night a nice french couple magically appeared on the other bed when I got home from work. I felt like my world was shattered. They are nice enough, but I got up this morning and tip toed around and felt bad about every noise I made. Needless to say the search for a new place has reached def con 1 priority.
Heard the Hawks won, that is great. I will be getting up around 5am on Sundays to go watch college football. Pros will be "watched" from my desk at work. My fantasy draft will be at 6am on a Tuesday morning. I am going to miss football this year......
I mentioned earlier that I may have lost some man cards since arriving in Australia. The first being the incident with the snake, but I can defend that because the two weeks before I left Issaquah Head Basketball coach Jason Griffith was sending my youtubes top ten most deadliest snakes and engaging me in conversations about which snake was going to be the one to take me out. I am not scared of snakes, but snakes in the wild at a swimming hole. No thanks. The second card was easily lost because
I started watching and liking the show Gossip Girl. Now again to defend myself I have ZERO tv options. This was off a hard drive I copied from fellow travelers and after having watched all of Modern Family (again) and all of Big Bang (again), and just about every movie on there, I turned to the dark side. Well the show is terrible and pretty much a NY version of the OC, and I love it. I suck.
I do think I deserve a card back for the hellacious drive up the coast, it got a bit dodgy there for a stretch and I toughed it out. I lose another card however, because I recently signed up for a Men's basketball league. I told them my experience, age, height and skill level. They put me in a co-rec league. I'm not that bad yet, come on.
This is a stupid story that blew my mind and I might be typing it just so I don't ever forget, but last Saturday I saw the same guy and girl three separate times over two hours apart in very different locations. That would be like not only running into a stranger that you were somehow able to recognize 3 separate times, but seeing them on Queen Anne, Bellevue, and then one last time on the bus coming home from a Seahawks game. I think I recognized him because he was probably selling drugs, was 6'5 and with an Indian fat woman, but still........
I got my haricut yesterday, first paid for haircut in 4 months, $10. First good deal since I arrived.
And as promied here are the signs that you are travelling on a budget/backpacking (I or someone I know, really these are most likely all me, but if its embarassing, then at least I can say that one wasn't me, has done everything on this list)
-You can easily go a day without going to the bathroom, and not going to the bathroom, I mean going inside a bathroom, no shower, no teeth brushing, nada.
-Go through 2 razors in 3 months. the travel beard looks terrible, is easy to manage and cost effective. Does mess with your face tan.
-Ask strangers or whoever you can to cut your hair, and strangly it turns out looking bad.
-You did powerhour is box wine. You know it as Franzia, here it is Goon. Cheap and effective.
-Sleep in your car.
-Worn the same pair of underwear, or a bathing suit acting as underwear for a undesired length of time. I did this in college as well.
-CLEANED your plate at every meal. Does not matter if the food was good, you are not wasting it or the $$
-Had the same $20 bill in your wallet for two straight weeks. Not spending money and getting by is an art that you don't really get to do at home. I have created my Opus on this trip.
-Added to your wardrobe with an array of others people clothes that don't really fit. Thanks Kar for the jacket, I got the zipper to work even.
-This one was great. Stayed in a restaurant for an hour after you are done eating to not only get hunger again and eat some more, but beacuse they were running back to back reruns of The Big Bang Theory. It was like we died and went to heaven, and got seconds.
-Bartered taxi fares to the point of pitting them against each other. I don't go by the meter, just what is in my wallet, what I am willing to pay, and how bad does this guy want it. I am bringing this practice home with me.
-Walked for miles and miles and miles because you are lost or too cheap to pay for transport.
-Gone out sober with your friends, remained that way the whole time.
-And, as my sister and mom recently learned, the feeling you got as a kid the night before and then subsequently the morning of christmas, well that is what the words FREE WIFI are. Like unwrapping your new Zeplin.
Again sorry for no pictures and also if the format is weird, it made me type this is HTML for some reason. Hate HTML. Ill fix it later if I can from a different computer.
Miss you all and also Congratualtions to Mykel and Stacey on ending their 18 year engagement and tying the knot this weekend. Really wish I could have been there for this one too.
Scott
