It's funny how the worse you think you think a job is going to get the better it becomes.
In a bizarre twist of circumstances, having the cashier leave the Pier has been a good thing, giving me more to do & the chance to move around the building throughout he day.
The other major change othe job has been the change in financial controller for the parent company. The guy which had the role was incredibly good at his job, but his attitude with some people was very harsh & as a result, burnt a lot along he way.
Unfortunately, the financial controller & the general manager used me as a way to get on each other's nerves. Now that he's gone the general manager has comletely changed & he actually listened to me rather than walking off in mid-sentence as before.
Now I've written all this, I've probably jinxed myself & next week will be a nightmare!
Why don't phone manufacturers make mobile phones for Palm handheld users?
Surely a phone can be released without all the fandangled extra bits. In looking for a phone with bluetooth, the only ones available are in colour, with really useless features no one ever uses.
The Ericsson T68i is the most recommended phone but from the reviews i've seen, the reception isn't that great & the menu system is overly slow.
All most people need is a phone with the basics. There's always the market for young users who want screen savers & programmable ring tones, but for business users, the extras get rather annoying.
I had no idea just how obsessed some people get with poker machines.
I only ever play one if friends are using them & I have a couple of dollars spare. I have never, ever, changed notes for coin in order to play one.
On Monday morning, i noticed a woman dropping coins in a machine at the Pier. That was at about 8:30am. I saw har a couple more times throughout the day & when I finally left at a bit before 8pm, she was still there!
I have trouble looking at a computer screen for a couple of hours straight, let alone a full 12 hours!
After speaking to one of the gaming staff, it's quite common for customers to be waiting around in the gaming room at 1:30am onwards for there wages to be transfered into their bank account so they can withdraw the cash & start playing!
Every answer that I seek pertains to more questions that do not wish to be answered.
The questions of why, when & how, are answered by instinct alone, even though logic says otherwise.
Is the alluring possibility of fate a contributor to the decisions made, on which I look back on with hints of regret, wondering what might have been.
Is playing the hand close to the chest, waiting for that final moment to gather all logical information & develop a conclusion, the correct way to think?
Does it come as such a suprise that looking back & analysing, forces the acts in the future along the same lines? Although the desire to change the past is foremost, the experienced & therefore safest, most logical direction becomes the same. If the opportunity arose that allowed the past to re-emerge, could that path be taken?
Congratulations go out to Belinda & Darren T. on the birth of their second son.
A true case of high school sweethearts when Belinda had the last name of Holton & Darren was the guy a year or so ahead.
I'm pretty sure they knew they were going to always be together & that was back in 1990 when the rest of us had no idea what we would be doing for the rest of our lives!
Forgot to mention that Pearl Jam stayed at the Pier hotel over the weekend for their concert at the Entertainment Centre on the16th.
No trashed rooms or anything. The lads were apparently quite subdued and for a few staff members the night was very cool. The band gave out a few tickets to their show and invited them back to their rooms afterward.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the band in action or at the hotel. It sounds as the show, with Johnny Marr as support, was pretty good. The band played quite a few extra songs being in reference to the massive anti-war rallies held during the day.
I'm definitely thinking about getting the official bootleg of the Adelaide show from their website.
As I wrote before, I am writing on a brand new Palm Tungsten handheld computer. Although incredibly nerdy, it's also the coolest bit of 'Bondesque' equipment around.
I'm slowly working out all the bits and pieces, but it's so easy to use and will become a very useful item indeed.
Trying to find accessories seems to be the hardest thing so far, with very few stores stocking items and when they do, they are grossly overpriced.
Anyway, I'll save my "square bear" behaviour for another time and get back to entering all my contacts into this thing.
There is a lot to be said for customer service. The problem is the lack thereof.
I've managed to have a hat trick over the last few days.
Firstly, a simple hot dog with chili sauce. Not too hard a request, except for the girl behind the counter who came back to clarify the order because she thought I had said cheese instead of chili. It was good that she asked instead of taking a punt. That was until she gave me the dog filled with... you guessed it, cheese!
My second experience was the attempt at buying my new handheld. The guy I spoke to had no idea about the product and tryed to baffle me with bullshit. After a minute or so, the phone rang behind the counter which he then proceded to answer. This first time, I didn't mind, until he answered another two calls. I walked off on him, it was only appropriate! Since when does the person who makes a phone call out rank the person who made the effort to actually go to the store? The next time I'm in a queue, I plan to announce that I have a mobile phone, then subsequently walk to the front of that queue.
Mt third effort by people who should not be employed was, ironically, trying to buy the same product in another oulet of the same store. I asked the guy about the Palm handheld and he proceded to show me the various models which weren't the one I was asking about?!? I had to tell him another two times what I was after before he got the message and then had to consult his manager before he could sell it to me!
I think I mentioned that the cashier resigned from the Pier Hotel a few weeks ago. His main issue with the place has been with the management who have acted rather unprofessional to date. There have been quite a few illegal cash transactions that have been performed & that's always going to concern me as well. The General Manager still thinks that I'm oblivious to such activities, but I'm always covering my back to ensure none of the blame can be directed my way.
My other problem is the ludicrous amounts of paperwork involved with every transaction that occurs in the building. I can't help thinking that I should have obtained a degree in photocopying rather than commerce!
The whole experience has been so disappointing. This was supposed to be my big break into tourism & hospitality, but it's turning out to be a dead end.
I'm now looking for the silver lining here, thinking that it may well be my exit out of accounting & into something far more interesting. I've thought of so many options, it's now just a case of working out which career I actually want to run with.
I'm having a big plan to go all nerdy. I'm looking at investing in a PDA, you know... one of those little sketch pad computers that people inherently put all their contacts & personal details, only to lose it a few months later in the back of a cab!
My rationale behind it is extensive, but logical, I hope...
All my good ideas seem to come in the middle of the night or at a time where it's just not possible to flick on a light or reach for pen & paper. I need to be able to just scrawl stuff down before it gets lost in the maze that is my mind.
The one particular item I am interested in is the Palm Tungsten T. It happens to be the top of the line model & in the last month, the price has dropped by $250. Hence my interest!
One huge advantage of such a critter is the ability to record via an in-built microphone, which would be pretty handy for songwriting.
I may also be able to update this page directly from it, so long as I upgrade my mobile phone as well & since my phone is now out of it's contract, it's an option. Not likely to happen for quite a while though. My current Ericsson T20 has been an absolute workhorse.
No one worked out what or who I was talking about in the entry on Jan 24. I left quite a few clues in the text & even more in a couple of emails to people, but so far the truth remains out there.
Giving a bold yet obvious statment would have been the easiest thing to do, however, as I wrote in a recent email;
"...an online journal exists in a place that is accessible to anyone, including friends & family. However, it's also something that exists "in the moment", which means that you put down thoughts, feelings or otherwise as they occur. The risk therefore always exists of saying too much, too soon, before getting everything resolved. If I had said exactly what I was thinking, it would have come back to haunt me. Hence, the cryptic nature of the entry. The actual situation I was refering to would be amazing if it came to be, but I'll leave it at that!"
It really has been one of those weeks where so much has been happening, it's too hard to take it all in. I suspect the impact of some of them will play in my mind over the next few days, but until then, everything has its priority.
Had I stayed online for just ten more minutes on Saturday night, I would have received a "Breaking News" email from CNN, regarding the loss of the Colombia Space Shuttle. It's hard to imagine the event from so many points of view. It all happened so quickly for those aboard, they surely couldn't have known. The unbelievable sound for those watching the destruction of the Shuttle overhead, compared to the silence of those at mission control awaiting a response from the crew. All the families waiting at Edwards Air Force Base, patiently standing, watching the skies for their loved ones that never came into view.
The cold, harsh reality is that the price they pay for venturing beyond our earth, into realms where few of us will ever go, can be the ultimate.
It's been months since I did one of those Friday Five thingo's;
1. As a child, who was your favorite superhero/heroine? Why?
Wow, I didn't expect this question to be so hard to answer! I never really did the comic book obsession, so superheros' didn't interest me a great deal. That said though, I did always enjoy the old series of Batman with Adam West. "Holy Toledos Batman!". Didn't mind Batgirl either!
2. What was one thing you always wanted as a child but never got?
All kids want more than what their parent's can provide, it's only natural. I don't think there is anything that I never got, but I probably hassled my parent's over the normal fads that come & go. If I did whinge, they probably resisted until I moved my attention to something else!
3. What's the furthest from home you've been?
From Adelaide to the Gold Coast ain't that far, but that's the extent of it!
4. What's one thing you've always wanted to learn but haven't yet?
Another simple one. Being able to read music is a dream, but one I just can't find time to sit down & do properly. I know, poor excuse!
5. What are your plans for the weekend?
Considering it's half over at this point.... I had my hair cut on Saturday & had a bit of a drive around. Thought about re-doing this whole site, but it's going to take a while. No plans for Sunday, but who knows what might pop up?
After surviving nine years of conspiracies & just plain wierd stuff, The X-Files has come to an end.
Ironically, Channel 10 showed the final episodes at 8:30pm on Wednesday, which was the timeslot for eight of the nine seasons. Thankfully, I only missed one, possibly two episodes of series nine, mainly because the time for the show jumped around at the discretion of Channel 10.
Anyway, the final instalment was good enough to watch twice, which I have & it makes even more sense second time around. I've been lost a few times with the overall conspiracy due to the many alien versions & how they fitted the big picture, but now I understand & we'll get to meet them in 2012!
Chris Carter has left the door wide open for future films which is good. Having Mulder back was good & the chemistry from the start of the series was once again present.
Don't read any further if you haven't seen the final episode, because I'm about to spoil it for you.
********
The date of the final invasion being December 22, 2012 is not so made up as you would expect for a TV show, but is historically significant.
To make the whole thing precise, the end of the world has been calculated to occur at 11:10pm on the day. This calculation originally came from the Mayans who made a calender which ends on this date. I'm not arguing with them. Their calenders are apparently far more accurate than any developed since.
Whether we'll be attacked by aliens is another thing, because the Aztec's predict massive earthquakes!
