Catching Up!

For no reason at all except for pure neglectfulness, I have not posted on here for a while. The other shift lead at my work got on to me about it yesterday, because apparently she's been reading my posts too, so it's time for me to get back in the groove of writing on here again.

First off, I have been at my new job for over a week and I am still loving it as much as I did the first day. Tonight I closed for the first time by myself, and we got out when we were scheduled to get out. One of the employees I was closing with was worried that I wouldn't be able to close in time, but I did. The other one was shocked that I did as good as I did. Really, it's not that hard. It's not rocket science. As long as I'm not missing money from my registers it's not that long of a process. I will find out when I go in tomorrow if I didn't do anything right, but I'm confident.

My store manager wrote me a peer recognition card the other day. He recognized me for working with the assistant manager in getting things worked out so that the holidays were scheduled right so that we had fair coverage. That card is tacked on a little board in the break room. I know many places do those peer rec cards nowadays, and personally I think they are a great idea. Sometimes you never know if you're doing a good job or a bad job, and to see your fellow employees (or boss, even) recognize your efforts. 

Because I am brand new to the store I didn't have to work on Thanksgiving. My girlfriend and I were able to have two family dinners, one at her aunt and uncle's house and another at my grandparents. She is still so excited because even though we ate all that food she still lost weight for her Weight Watchers this week. Looking down at my stomach, I don't think I can say the same, but I do power walk a lot at work so maybe that will make up for it.

Sorry this is so short, but I'm tired. I give the new job everything I have, and still leave some left over for the girlfriend, so it's time to recharge for tomorrow. Have a good night, everybody. 

My second day of work a complete success!

I'm going to try something different with today's post. Instead of writing a bunch of bullet points I'm going to try writing normally. Let's see how this goes.

Today was my second day at the new job. I have never worked at a place where I was as excited to go to work on the second day as I was on the first day. Usually part of my motivation fades after Day 1, but today I was as pumped as ever for my shift. Not only that, but I'm actually sad that I have the weekend off. SAD, can you believe that? How often does one find a job where they are excited to go to work and am upset that they have days off.

I'm sure all this has to do with the fact that I was so stressed out after my last job ended after a work-related injury and its replacement turned out to be more than the usual, dead-end minimum wage jobs I've been used to over the years. Also, as I've said several times already, this is my first management job. For years I've been praying for a promotion from my cashier positions at places like Rite Aid and Speedway but there were never any openings. Even if there were, I was usually the low man on the totem pole, so there would usually be others who had been there longer who would be looked at for promotion before me. Despite my lack of management, however, Walgreens gave me the chance, and I promised my girlfriend and God that I would give it everything I had. Apparently, this means motivation, too.

I'm not going to divulge any company secrets or anything like that, but after several years of retail I've found that many things are common no matter what company you're in, so that made these first two days extremely comfortable for me. Obviously there are things unique to Walgreens that I need to pick up on, and being a manager is TOTALLY different than being a cashier. I'm only on my second day and I'm already starting to see things differently. I look at a shelf of food or carts in the stockroom much differently than I did before. Whether it is just my motivation, excitement, or a genuine change in outlook I don't know. I'm only hoping I can make the feeling permanent.

I accepted the position knowing that I would most likely have to work holidays. I tool it knowing that I wouldn't be able to have the same breaks as the front end people do. I took it knowing that a lot of responsibility would be falling on my shoulders, so I reinforced them with a small notebook for notes, a cell phone with contact information in it and God and my girlfriend in my thoughts. If I can manage to hold on to my motivation and if I can keep my work ethic steady I'm hoping I will not have to look for work for a long, long time--perhaps never again. I'm going to take things one day at a time, work very hard, and give it my all.

I will keep you posted on how it goes :)

On another note, I finished Different Seasons! On to The Tommyknockers!

Thoughts for the Day, 11/20/2014

1) My first day at work was a phenomenal success. YAY!!!

2) Instead of bitching and whining on Facebook about politics, why don't you go to www.house.gov, look up the contact information for your Congressman, and write them an email. Honestly, do you really think these guys go on Facebook?

3) Still hating this snow...

4) Three weeks until my first payday...hope it gets here fast!

5) So glad my mom let me borrow most of her Stephen King collection...THANKS MOM!

6) I DO have Thanksgiving off!

7) On the downside, I will have to work Christmas...oh thee well.

8) Nothing beats a cheeseburger and fries...

9) I don't care if it's winter, bring me a milkshake!

10) Went to bed extra early last night, only to wake up at midnight feeling refreshed and not able to fall back asleep...

11) I like meatloaf.

12) I love you Colleen!!!

13) I need to remember to wear tennis shoes and not dress shoes to work tomorrow...my lets will snap if I have to walk around in manheels all day long.

14) Everybody at work seems super super nice, though there is one girl who I was told is very jealous that she didn't get promoted to my new job, and she's the only one who did not come up and introduce herself to me today...

15) I'm surprised at how well this blog is going...less than a week and almost at 100 views, Who would have known?

16) www.randomthoughtsofashygirl.blogspot.com is my girlfriend's blog. She is sad that her viewership is starting to dwindle. I will be your best friend for life is you would kindly take a look at her site. She is MUCH BETTER at this than I am...

17) 17 seems like a good number to stop at, so have a nice night!

Some Quick Randomness Before I Turn In...

1) Tomorrow I finally am able to start my new job. Screw you, unemployment!

2) As the boyfriend, it is my duty to relinquish my t-shirts to my girlfriend to use as nightgowns/dresses. This is one of the benefits of dating bigger men.

3) 3/4 of the way done with Stephen King's Different Seasons. Would be farther but had other things to do today. Such is life.

4) My entire face is red after shaving with a bottle of water...can't wait for the water to be turned back on, tomorrow!

5) I think the next Stephen King book I'm going to read will be The Tommyknockers...you know I have a soft spot for science fiction!

6) Snow. Further proof that Old Man Winter needs to be put in an old person's home.

7) How many Executive Orders wiill Barack Obama issue before the world wakes up and realizes that he's a Nazi?

8) I've been going to bed at around four in the morning the past couple of weeks...tonight I hope to be down by eleven pm. Hope I can fall asleep...

9) 3-4 more weeks for my first paycheck...hope the time goes by quick!

10) Just because I don't like hotdogs DOES NOT mean I am un-American. They are a German food, after all...

Current Going Ons In My Life 11/18/2014

1) My entire body has been aching for some reason today...playing the big bells at bell choir practice at church tonight didn't help.

2) Currently no water at my place...darn it, my fish have it better than I do!

3) Thank God for Pepsi and Oreos.

4) Tomorrow is my last day as an unemployed person before my new job starts!

5) Trying to decide how long I should wait before trying my hand at writing fiction again...

6) Had tomato soup from a restaurant tonight that looked and tasted like marinara sauce...almost got sick after only a couple of bites.

7) Currently lying in bed with my arm wrapped around my girlfriend's teddy bear...how did that happen?

8) Since things are starting to not make sense anymore, I think it's time for bed. Goodnight, world!

Stephen King's novellas (Part 1)

As I said yesterday, Different Seasons is a collection of four novellas (mini novels). Three of the four have been made into films, the most well-known of which is The Shawshank Redemption. It took me exactly a day to read each of the first two, and as soon as I'm done writing this post I will start on the third story, The Body.

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is the story of Andy Dufresne, a young banker who is wrongfully-accused of murdering his wife and her love, and sentenced to life in the fictional Shawshank State Penitentiary. The story is told by Red, an Irish inmate who acts as a go-to guy for the other prisoners, acquiring requested items for a hefty fee of jailhouse wages. Red and Andy become friends early on, and Andy (who had smuggled a good deal of money into prison with him) requests things such as a Rita Hayworth poster and little geologist's hammer, supposedly to work on rocks in his spare time. As the years go on, Andy ingratiates himself with the various wardens and prison guards by offering financial services and money laundering in exchange for a few small perks, such as him maintaining his own private cell and permission to keep the extensive prison library he himself had planned for and arranged over a several-year period. Eventually, a new prisoner arrives at Shawshank and claims to have evidence that would lead to Andy's acquittal, but the warden--knowing that Andy knows too much about his illegal operations--transfers the new prisoner and has Andy placed in solitary confinement in order to put him in his place. Upon his release he confesses to Red that he had a friend arrange a false identity and money for him while he was incarcerated, and gave him clues on where to go should he ever get released. Shortly after this he escapes; upon searching his cell, the warden and his goons discover a large, gaping hole hiding behind Andy's poster, and despite extensive searches Andy is never found. At the end of the story Red, who was shocked to learn that he had been granted parole, takes Andy's advice and follows his clues until he lands in Mexico, and it is implied that the two friends end up being reunited.

Unlike most of Stephen King's works, this is not an outright horror story per se, but there are several instances where some of the characters deal with fear and personal demons of their own. The story takes place over a 27-year period, and during the majority of this time Andy was chiseling the hole in his cell wall and plotting his escape in other ways. Red, always making sure to remind the audience that what he is saying mostly second-hand tales being retold or pure conjecture on his part, suggested that the reason it took him so long to dig that hole and make his get away is because he was constantly afraid, and thus the plot became a psychological game for him rather than a quick getaway. There was always the possibility that, despite all the favors he did the warden and guards, that there would be surprise inspections and his poster would be removed too make sure it was not concealing any type of weapon. Also, there was the fear that even if he had made it out of his cell and into the sewage area, that there would be a metal grate at the end of his escape route, preventing his accent into freedom by only a few inches of metal. Likewise, there was the possibility that his hiding place for the key that would open the locker to his false identity could now be covered in concrete or a building. Andy faces all of these fears and many more, and in the end perseveres against these pressures that would normally break even the strongest of people.

There is a loose continuity shared with the next novella in the collection, Apt Pupil, which will be the topic of tomorrow's review. I will probably come back to this story again in the future, as there is so much to talk about but I don't want to spend too much time going on and on about it. If you haven't read the story and have seen the movie then I strongly recommend that you find a copy of Different Seasons and give it a read. You will not be disappointed.

Current Going Ons In My Life

1) I start my new job this Thursday. I am super excited. This job is the first full-time job and the highest-paying job I have ever had, and my very first leadership position.

2) I have a new blog. Obviously.

3) I am almost halfway done with Different Seasons by Stephen King. It is a collection of novellas, which you don't see a lot of nowadays. Novellas are somewhere in the middle of short stories and novels, anywhere from 20,000-40,000 words, although every market has its own word limit. They're too long for magazines, and too short for modern books, so Stephen King--genius as he is--decided to publish four together as a loosely-composed novel. Three of the four stories have become movies, the most famous being The Shawshank Redemption. This is the first King book I have ever read, and ironically I picked one of his few non-horror books to start off with. Regardless, though, he is a really great writer and his characterization is the best I've read in a long time. I can't wait until I see how well he handles his novels...

4) Back in January I joined the blogging staff for Amazing Stories. For those of you that don't know, Amazing Stories was the very first science fiction magazine. It was founded back in the late 20s by Hugo Gernsbeck, the man who gave science fiction its name. It lasted for many years until the company that owned it at the time forgot about it and let it fade into near-nothingness. But thanks to long-time fan, Steve Davidson (the world's leading expert on paintballing) the magazine is back and slowly on its way to becoming the same great magazine it was back in the Golden Age. I started off writing bi-weekly entries on whatever science fiction topic I felt like writing about, which was mostly film. Steve recently gave me permission to move to weekly writing, and my recent posts have been about blogging and science fiction magazines. Steve challenged me to write a science article, as that topic area has not been doing so good on the website. I'm seriously thinking about the Ebola virus as my topic. After all, many good SF started with a certain kind of virus...

5) They say that you can only write as good as you read, and since for the past few years I've let my reading fall to the wayside I decided to stop writing fiction for a while and concentrate on catching up with my reading. My mom loaned me a HUGE tote of her Stephen King (which is where I got Different Seasons) and before I read anything else I plan on reading every book she gave me so that I can give them back. My room is tiny, so I could use all the free space I can get.

6) My girlfriend, her sister, and myself have been playing The Game of Life a lot lately, and we all love it. W're resolved to play every night we can. Most of the time I lose but its so fun I don't even care.

7) Of course, there are the usual eating, drinking, sleeping, news watching, and bathroom visits. On top of these, there are the countless hugs, kisses and cuddles with the girlfriend. Plus, I need to feed my fish once a day...

Ok, I can tell that this is starting to become too random and out of context so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. If you want to know more about Amazing Stories, check out our website at amazingstoriesmag.com.

Oh, yeah. My girlfriend blogs too! Hers is randomthoughtsofashygirl.blogspot.com. She will be your friend forever if you check out her site!