Work is boring (Warning this is a rant)

I think I already mentioned that I occasionally work as a receptionist at a huge media company that owns a bunch of radio stations. The downside of being the "backup" is that when it's Christmas Eve they'll call you two days before and ask you to work. I kinda ripped my boss a new one when he asked because he didn't give me any notice. I was asked to do it about a month ago and then was told it was fine if I didn't. And then magically on December 22nd I get a call basically forcing me to work until 6:30. They changed their minds apparently. I mean. 6:30. Get. REAL. It's Christmas Eve! THERE'S NO ONE HERE. Anyway, I'm only working until 2:00 but I've been here for less than two hours and and it fees like it's been five. About six people have come in and I've gotten around three phone calls. I could be making my Christmas dessert right now. I could be decorating Christmas cookies. I could be wrapping gifts! I could be doing things! Can you tell that I'm annoyed? Not only am I working but the other receptionist is working too. So we're like doubly bored. It's epic. On the plus side when a song we like plays on the radio we're singing quite loudly.


One important thing I've noticed in places I've worked:


Bosses almost never know what's going on. They think they do but they don't. And a lot of the time they supervise a job they never did themselves so they REALLY don't know what's going on. Obviously I want a good job where I'm making good money and have a bit of status within the company but never underestimate starting your career as a little person. A receptionist or a desk clerk or an assistant. That's where you figure out the ins and outs of the work place. These are things you would never know if you were just stuck in your bubble in your corner office. I don't know about others but I feel like I can do a better job of things when I have a full understanding of how the place works.


Anyways enough about that. I'm sure my loyal followers have noticed I haven't written in a while. I was sick for a bit but also I've actually been kind of busy! Shocking! Well it's the Christmas season and I've been working a bit and actually going to some interviews! I also find that in order for me to write something on here that I like and that I'm proud of I have to get myself into a kind of mindset that is impossible to do when I'm buzzing around thinking about other stuff.


All this to say I haven't abandoned the blog and that reception work on Christmas Eve is boring stuff.


Happy Holidays hooligans!

Limericks?!

LIMERICKS!!


Limericks are pretty cool. Mostly they're funny poems that are known for having dirty connotations. Not mine though. Mine are pure as the driven snow!


They're about dancing fruits and aliens!


Before we begin who remembers WordArt that you could use in Word Perfect or maybe the Microsoft Word of yore? Anyways most of my titles were WordArt and it makes me laugh because I remember thinking that WordArt was like THE BEST when I first discovered it. I'm pretty sure it still exists but does anybody use it? I really hope I haven't put my foot in my mouth and it's actually super widely used and I've just insulted half the world.

Disclaimer: I just re-installed Photoshop so you all may be privy to some pretty terrible Photoshop-ed pictures. Right now I just got the wonderful idea of trying something out after reading one of the limericks I wrote called "The Yellow Banana"


Check it out:

The Yellow Banana

There once was a yellow banana

Who sang at the Copa cabana

He met a green mango

Who taught him to tango

And they won a trip to Havana

All I can think about right now is to try and find a way to Photoshop bananas and mangoes dancing at a tango club or in Havana or just dancing...yes...


I wasn't kidding when I said it would be bad :)

Tony the Banana and Lola the Mango dancing in Havana

I also can't help but think that this is shamelessly ripped off from one pretty famous Barry Manilow song. Mango might as well be called Lola and the banana, Tony and, at the Copa, They fell in love.

In addition to the banana and mango there was an Alien from Mars.


Oooh ooh! Picture this! Alien happily jumping around in space and then suddenly getting his hair singed. Aw silly alien. I guess it'd have to be like a comic strip. I guess the limerick itself does kind of plays out like a comic strip actually.

The Alien

There once was an alien from Mars

Who tried to jump over the stars

But once he got there

The stars burned his hair

And he ended up drinking in bars

In Flanders Fields

It's November 11 and I don't have a more comprehensive post but it's Remembrance Day here in Canada. Poppy day. 

Many people have stories about the adventure of getting your poppy and losing your poppy and getting another poppy and losing that one and eventually resorting to putting a Canadian flag pin in in the middle just to keep the thing on. 


I have a story of when I had lost about 3 poppies in the same year and encountered a veteran giving them out in a metro station. I decided to ask him what he does to keep the poppy on because losing them was driving me insane. He told me that he'd pin one on my jacket and that I'd never lose it again. So he did and I didn't. I was so impressed and stupid because it didn't occur to me to check what he did until much later. He basically just bent the end of the pin so it wouldn't come off easily. Smart. I've been doing it since.


How many Lauras does it take to pin on a poppy pin? haha. no? 


Another Remembrance day memory I have is of an assignment in eighth grade. We had to memorize and recite "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. I don't know if it was the act of memorizing and reciting it in an animated manner over and over or listening to it being recited in an animated manner over and over but I still remember it by heart, word for word. And many of my blog followers (hi guys!) were in that class and still remember it too. 

Anyway it's a beautiful poem :

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:
 To you from failing hands we throw 
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
 If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.


- John McCrae

I don't mean to be preachy but I do think Remembrance Day is important. Lest we forget...