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| News of the Day Archive- November 18-25 |
| November 18- I woke up and got dressed at about my normal time, and was out the door headed to school by just after 9:00. I got to class a couple minutes late, but luckily Sushma Hall was running just a minute or so later than I was, and I made it on time. In class we discussed some philosophical things, since after all, it's Philosophy class. Interesting as always, it ended at it's normal time, and I walked down to Sports Management where I met up with Robert and AJ in the parking lot. We walked in halfway through roll being called, though we concluded that he started class early. The class was pretty much just spent going over the group project/final project in the class, though we had a little bit of a scare when some guys needed to be put in a group. Our group has only three members so we were susceptible to late additions, however the two guys found other three-man groups to fill into. We pretty much just sat around for most of the time discussing the specifics before leaving at about 11:45. I got home just after noon and tried to get a few minutes of computer time before being at work by 1:00. I got a call from SpeedZone, Wendy, asking if I knew I was supposed to be in at noon which I was scheduled. I explained to her that I couldn't make it until 1:00 earliest, and that I had told Gina, so that was the end of that. I sat around for another ten minutes or so before shaving, showering, and heading to work for my shift. When I got there I was given a till, as usual, and it was a typical Monday with an absence of many customers. I decided to do something I hadn't done for a while, and that was to actually clean the games. I did that, and talked to Jay the gametech for a little bit, and that used up a decent amount of time. All the while I helped out a minimal amount of customers. After cleaning most of the ticket dispensing games, which tend to be the ones with the most glass, I stopped in lue of helping out a customer. When I was done with them I pretty much gave up on the cleaning and started back into my routine of busy work, or at least the appearance of busy work. One thing I enjoy doing is straightening out the ropes (for lack of a better term) that make up the line at operations side. I spend a lot of time each shift making them straight, or at least straight in my mind, though to an outsider they're probably all cockeyed. At around 4:00 I actually started to get a somewhat steady stream of customers which I didn't care for. So I helped them out, and would head up to the bar every now and then when John showed up at 5:00. However that was somewhat of a nuisance because one more than one occasion I would walk up to the bar and just as I was there a customer would go either to my register or redemption. One time I even walked right past the guy as he exited the bar, and he couldn't tell me he was going there! I had even helped him out prior so he knew I was the one that was at the register. Oh well. 6:00 rolled around, and shortly after my reinforcements showed up, which were Julie and Jenine. So by about 6:15 Ryan Shaefer cashed out my drawer, which was a mere ten cents short that I had anticipated. I clocked out and hung out at the bar for a couple minutes talking to John before heading outside to talk to Gabe, who was at Turbo Track. I talked with him briefly before deciding to head home, but when I got to the car I figured I'd do nothing at home so I grabbed my jacket (since it was cold outside) and went back to Turbo to talk to Gabe a little more. The conversation eventually moved over to Slick Track because there were some customers, before ending up inside so he could refill his drink. As he walked out the back doors going to the tracks, that's when I parted ways with him. Before leaving I briefly talked to Jenine and Julie, and I was gone from SpeedZone by about 7:00. I got home and ate some dinner that my mom had made which was good "as usual". It was some breaded chicken, with macaroni and cheese (yes, my mom makes macaroni and cheese for dinner, and I love it). I ate that, and sat at the computer for a little while before heading over to Robert's promptly at 8:20. At 8:30 Steve showed up, so Robert, AJ, Steve, and myself headed over to Oak Tree Lanes for some free bowling, courtesy of AJ. We got to the bowling alley at around 8:45 where we got free bowling for an hour and shoes. I started off the first game alright, getting spares, or a strike on every other frame until about the fifth or so, and didn't get a zero until about the eighth frame. Robert and I were competing for first until out of nowhere AJ got a few strikes in a row and thoroughly beat us both. Steve was struggling, and as a result grew frustrated quickly. As history dictates, my first game was my best, and the subsequent were substandard. All of us began to quickly tire out, and by the last game we were all pretty bushed. The last two games Robert was bowling left handed claiming he could beat me, and in his first attempt he wasn't even close. However, the second we ended up in a tie midway through the game, which was when our hour was up. So after AJ and Steve got something to drink, we drove back to Robert's. We stood around in his driveway for a couple of minutes before the consensus was that the bowling made us tired, which I did in my case. So I came home and was relaxing by the computer by 10:15. I didn't do much while at the computer other than put my current News of the Day into a Microsoft Works document, and the total came out to 80 pages, just since September 14. Some time after 11:00 I laid down on my bed to watch some tv and dozed off, thus ending my evening. November 19- I slept in today, which was the first official day that I decided I would not be going to my Religion class. I figure I'll just take the F and try it again next semester. So I woke up at about 8:30 and was out the door by about 8:50. I was making really good time and was on Grand without hitting any offramp traffic by about 9:00. It wasn't until I got closer to Temple that I hit the traffic due to the fact that there was construction that limited the road to one lane. That took me about ten minutes, and I ended up getting to school around 9:15. I walked to class and got in with a couple minutes to spare, but I would have liked a little more cushion. I talked with Robert a little, then class started. We got our grades from the letter writing assignment, and I got a 90 out of 90 which had me satisfied. Craig Petersen spent much of the class asking us how our final should be formatted, and we gave him our opinion. He spent the rest of the time lecturing a little before letting us out at our normal time. Walking to my car I bought a Pop Tart. From school I decided that I needed some gas in my truck since it was dangerously close to empty, so I took Temple to the 57 Freeway, and got off at Sunset Crossing. I went to the Unocal 76 in Diamond Bar, and paid $1.51 for a little over eighteen gallons of gas. From the gas station I stopped off at the Washington Mutual across the street to get $40, since my funds were running a little low. From there I got on the 60 Freeway, and took the 57 to Diamond Bar Blvd en route to my house, which I got to at about 11:45. Once at home the excitement began. I sat at the computer listening to music for about seven hours or so, not really doing much of anything. I made myself a Digiorno pizza, which I ate about three fourths of, and basically just loafed around at the computer listening to seven CD's on shuffle. I didn't even turn on the tv until about 3:30, which was the time I watched Seinfeld, followed by Friends, and another Seinfeld. Finally after doing nothing, I went over to SpeedZone to meet up with Robert and Shay, since I was told we would be doing something. I got there around 8:15 or so and found Robert walking outside to talk to the mechanics, where Shay was. There I saw Taylor Hooks and we started talking about pay raises and things of the sort. Robert and Shay were busy messing with a new toy, so they wandered off into the parking lot, and I started talking to Big Chris. He went inside to get a refill so I joined him, then went outside to Turbo Track to talk to Paul. There we found Angela talking to him with Carl's Jr. and we talked to him only for a couple minutes to let them be. So I decided to meet up with the gang at Starbucks, which we had just previously discussed. When I was inside I decided to see the score of the Sonics game on ESPN and as I was there Angela came and told me that we were quoting Wayne's World incorrectly, at least in regards to the music video scene. As I was walking out I saw Taylor again and we sort of continued talking about wages, and things of the sort for about ten minutes or so before Jessica Nunez showed up looking for Jesus. So she started talking about Home Depot and how the pay there is much better than that of SpeedZone. This got us thinking, and David even sort of joined the conversation. So Taylor and I were discussing why we should still stay at SpeedZone when Jessica was encouraging others to go to Home Depot. We seriously considered the possibility, and it was on that note that I left for Starbucks at about 9:25. I got to Starbucks where Robert and Shay were sitting at a table, so I took a seat. Shortly after that Gabe and Steve came out from buying their drinks, and we sat there discussing various topics. We discussed things like Shay wanting to commute to UCLA from Rowland Heights every day, to Steve checking out every woman that walked out of the Starbucks door. Shay and Robert left at about 10:30 or so, but the three of us remained. From that point on the conversation was mainly, but not exclusively about Nutwood, even when it migrated over to my truck at about 10:45. Even topics like jeans, and Dickies were brought up before we all left at about 11:15. I came home and sat at the computer while watching tv. I was a little hungry so I ate a bowl of Golden Grahams and small chicken pot pie, which sort of put me over the edge. I joined a private chat with some of the gang, though it didn't last for too long. I've basically just been sitting at the computer watching tv all night, and it's about 2:00, which is almost time for bed. November 20- I woke up and got dressed at about 8:40 or so, and was out the door by 8:55 which was about ten minutes later than I desired. I decided not to take the freeway like I usually do because I wanted to avoid taking Grand since I hit the traffic there the day prior. So instead I took all streets to Mt. SAC today: Pathfinder to Pepperdale, to Balan, to Brea Canyon Cutoff, to Colima, to Lemon, to Amar and Mt. SAC. I expected it to take a long time, but it was quite comparable to taking the freeway. I got to school at about 9:15, which meant I actually made it to class a few minutes early. As I was crossing the street from the parking lot I saw a guy wearing an Orlando jersey, so I figured the only reason he was wearing it was because they won, which made me think of the Sonics cap I was wearing since the Magic were the team that beat them last night. I got to class and listened to the lecture which was pretty interesting, about existentialism. When I got out of class I ran into Kris Ellison, so I talked with him for about ten minutes before walking to my car. For some reason I decided to take the same route from school that I did to it. I got home at about 11:20 and watched some tv, while sitting at the computer, as routine dictates. That's how I spent my time until about 1:15 when I shaved, and showered, before heading off to work at 2:00. When I walked up I noticed a free credit at Tower of Power so I played it and won nine tickets, then shortly after won five when I noticed another credit at Pirate's Revenge. For about the first two hours of my shift I didn't have much to do other than talk to Phillip the gametech, with only the occasional customer. Most of them were just kids from Rowland with coupons. I did have a worker who had his friend bring up nineteen cards for me to debit together, which I wasn't too thrilled about, but since I was bored I went ahead and did it. I worked at a brisk, but not feverish pace, and finished all the cards in eight minutes (the first receipt said 3:24, the last said 3:32). Things were pretty dead until about 4:30 when I had a few customers, and even had a couple consecutively! Between about 5:00 and 6:00 I talked with Cay the bartender, and whoever else would come inside with nothing to do. Finally at a little after 6:00 Taylor Hooks and Royster showed up, who were my replacements for the evening, and at about 6:15 I cashed out my drawer, which I predicted had about $300 in it. I was close, since it had a mere $341.50 for my four hours of labor. Once I was done and clocked out I talked to Taylor for a few minutes a little about Home Depot and her paper due the next day, then went outside to talk to Paul for a little bit. At about 6:30 or so I got an Employee Night card to play some games, so I went over to the pinball machine where there were already two credits, so I didn't even have to use the card. I didn't do too well, then played the golf game with Little Chris who had shown up earlier from working at Fry's. For some reason he was in a destructive mood and was just pounding the "golf club" on the plastic, trying to lift up the game, and knocked down the plastic tree nearby. I beat him on the game, and that was pretty much the last game I played. That's when I started talking to Paul and Robert who had come inside since they had nothing to do, as well as Robert Taylor. I'm not quite sure how, but we started talking about Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. That's when I found out that Chewbacca dies in one of the later Star Wars books. That's just wrong. We were talking, along with Cody, and Daniel (I think) the mechanic, for quite a while, before they realized that they should be working. I talked to Taylor again about her paper, which she still had a lot to work on, then left at about 7:45 or so. I got home and my mom made me some sandwiches for dinner. She had made like a soup type thing for dinner, but those never really fill me up, so she offered to make me the sandwiches. I ate those, and watched some tv while sitting at the computer. I guess I was sort of tired because at about 9:30 I was watching tv when I must have dozed off. Other than being awoken by a phone call from Gabe (I think), I slept until about 11:15. I woke up and went back to the computer, while watching tv, which is pretty much what I have done for the remainder of the night. I spent about an hour looking for a movie quote, and that's about all I've done. It's now just after 3:00 and I'll probably go to sleep within a few minutes. November 21- I woke up at about 8:30, got dressed shortly after, and was out the door by about 8:50. I took the same route to school that I did the day prior, and got to the campus by around 9:05. After sitting in my truck for a couple minutes, I walked to Bio 6 in building 14. I talked to Robert, and he lent me his note cards for the principles that I tried to study in the few minutes before class. Once Craig Petersen let us in the class, we took the quiz as one of the first things. I don't think I did too well on the multiple choice, but for once I actually got the principle right, or at least very close to right. The rest of the class was spent listening to a lecture about natural resources, and engery which was interesting as usual. Class let out at its usual time of 10:50, and I stuck around for a few minutes so he could talk to a group member for another class. From there I walked to my car, and drove home, which was the beginning of my day of lounging. On the way home I got a call from my mother telling me that she would be taking me some turkey and gravy from Blandford since it was that time of the year again. I got home at around 11:20, and my mother came home from work at about noon with a double plate of turkey and gravy, complete with a spork. I ate a little bit of it, but I guess the Pop Tart and cup of coffee I had a few minutes prior filled me up more than I thought, so I left about half of it for later. I also found out from my mother that the reason she hasn't been able to get much extra turkey and gravy was because there are cafeteria workers at Blandford that take bowls for the purpose of taking the rest home for themselves. That made me a little upset, but there's not much I can do about it. I started watching some tv, while sitting at the computer, and that is pretty much all I did for most of my day. At about 2:30 I finally finished that turkey and gravy, which was quite delicious, as always. I really did nothing of significance for the ensuing hours, until about 4:30 when I actually got dressed, meaning I took a shower and put on a new set of clothes, instead of just wearing what I wore the day before to go to school in. Finally, at about 5:30 I was pretty tired of being cooped up in the house all day, so I decided just to leave. With really no agenda, I ended up driving to Vantage point where I stopped by the side of the road just to admire the view. At first I went to the end of the road but the view wasn't quite as good as the onepartially down the street, so I went there instead. Theview was great. It was already dark when I was up there so I got to see all the lights, and examine Rowland Heights below. I was there for about fifteen minutes just taking it all in, which had quite the relaxing feel to it. It was about 6:15 that I decided to leave, though again I didn't know where to go, so I drove up Pathfinder. On a whim I turned down a street near Pepperdale where I figured there would be another good view, and there was, though not as great as the view prior. I only stood there for a couple minutes before getting back in my truck and driving around the streets looking for other potential viewing spots. I didn't really find any, but in my travels I made my way down the hill to Brea Canyon Rd. without hitting Pathfinder (which I knew was possible because AJ, Little Chris, and Dennis did it). With nothing to do, I drove to SpeedZone and got there at about 6:45, and went to the tracks to talk to whomever was working. I talked to Noy a little, along with Paul and Robert briefly, before leaving at about 6:55 to head over to Home Depot. I got there at about 7:00 where I met up with Taylor Hooks because we had decided that we would apply there for work today. So we started talking for a few minutes, walking around the store looking for where we would go to apply, and after about five minutes, went to the counter we walked by when we first walked in. We were directed to some kiosks near the return counter, and behind some carts full of returned merchandise. It looked like they hadn't been used in a while, and only one of the two even worked. Taylor started going through the processes of the application first. The process was said to take 40 to 60 minutes, and it did. She didn't finish hers until about 8:00, which meant it was my turn. The computer was pretty annoying because when you touched the screen, the cursor would be off by about an inch, or sometimes it wouldn't sense that you touched it. It was worth a few laughs how it was set up, including the questions it asked like "are you currently in prison?" or to the extent of "other than pens and other small things, how much have you stolen from your last employer?". That basically just assumes that everyone steals pens! Well I finally finished my application by about 8:50 or so, and that was when we left. Taylor wanted to get something from SpeedZone so we headed over to "the zone" where I went outside to chat with the usuals. Though at one point I was talking to Taylor, and Damon actually came by and started talking for a couple minutes which I'm not used to since I don't talk to managers too much. I went back inside and talked to Daylo and Gina who were working, before heading over to the bar to see the Sonics score. They were losing, and after briefly chatting with Cay, Taylor was done taking care of what she needed to do, and went to In-N-Out to get something to eat, since we were both hungry. We got there at about 9:30 and I got two hamburgers, fries, and a drink. The two of us started talking about various things, and I got a few calls on my phone, but rather than be rude and interrupt the conversation, I simply ignored them. Finally at about 12:30 we realized how late it had gotten so we decided to call it a night. From In-N-Out I headed over to Denny's where I was supposed to meet with the "usual gang of idiots" (a Mad Magazine reference). It was Big Chris, Gabe, Ricardo, Shay, and Paul, and they were all done eating and walking out when I showed up. I talked with them at the back of my truck for a little while before all but Gabe left. Gabe and I continued to chat for a few minutes before eventually leaving at about 1:35. I came home and signed online where I didn't do much other than update the News. It's now about 3:30 and I'll probably call it a night soon. November 22- For some strange reason I woke up at about 8:00 in the morning and took the sheet off of my bed, and slept with just the comforter. I do not know why I did it, just simply that I did. I woke up at about 11:30 which put me in a sort of panic because I had to be at work at noon. However I realized that i still had a while because I had yet to change my clock back an hour, so it is still fast. I finally did start to get dressed at about 11:30, and pulled into the SpeedZone parking lot at about 12:00. I got a call from Taylor Hooks, and we very briefly talked about her potential pay increase, which I hope she gets. I clocked in at 12:06 and started work. I was given a drawer as usual, and spent my first half hour or so helping out Wendy with some things, until about 12:30 or so, after literally not helping out any customers, I had a somewhat steady stream of people. Every few minutes I would have someone to help out, though there were some drought periods. During one such, I needed Damon to fix a damaged card, which was at around 2:20 or so, and I went outside to take it to Slick Track where I found Shay by himself running a race. He looked tired and hot, so when I saw a stuck car I went ahead and got it for him. I went back inside where I had a couple people to help out, so I did. Time really went by extremely slowly, and in between customers I would go up to the bar and talk to John the bartender. However there was a point that I would walk up to the bar, and just as I was there I would get a customer and have to walk all the way back to my register. I must have done that literally about ten times, which was really annoying until I finally just gave up trying to not be bored. Occasionally I would also talk to the likes of Robert Taylor, and Jay the gametech. At 5:00 Daylo showed up so I was no longer working by myself, but the time didn't seem to pass any quicker. Eventually 6:00 rolled around, and shortly thereafter my replacements showed up. So Gina cashed out my drawer, and I was perfect, with about $1200 which is sort of a lot for the middle of the day. Once I cashed out, I bid my fairwells, and was on my way home. I got home at about 6:30 and found my parents ready to go get something to eat, so I told them what I wanted and they brought it back for me about twenty minutes later. I got a two taco combination plate (with rice and beans), a taco, and a rice pudding, which I ate while watching some tv. When I finished I sat at the computer for about half an hour before going to pick up Nick at a little after 8:00, and heading over to Robert's house. When we got there Robert, AJ, Little Chris, Dennis, Tom, and eventually Ricardo. Everyone was pretty much just playing with the pellet guns, while trying to think of what we should do for the night. We did that for a while, which meant that there was a lot of shooting from the guns, Little Chris playing with his butterfluy knife, and even a little catch with a football. There was a point that I realized that nothing was going to get done, so I took the initiative to say that I was going to Starbucks, and anyone that wanted to join me could do so. I quickly got Nick and Tom to agree with me, so we stuck around for a while to see what the rest of the group would end up doing. They kept wanting to go to a strip club, or to get a stripper to go to one of their houses. Neither of which I really felt like spending my money on. Finally at around 9:30 Tom, Nick, and myself left the group to meet with Steve over at Starbucks near the mall. We got there and I got a caramel mochiato (sp?), and we sat outside. It wasn't too crowded, at least outside, and we sat there shooting the breeze. After about fifteen minutes we were about to give up on Steve, but he eventually showed up. We covered an array of topics, as usual, and sat there in the cold night air. Jeannine ended up showing up as well. The five of us were there for a while, since when they closed the patio, we went over to my truck and continued the conversation. It was really cold, but we stuck around continuing to cover a variety of subjects, until about 1:00 we figured we would head over to SpeedZone to catch Gabe and Big Chris when they got off of work. Tom and I were the only to head over there, whlie the rest went their separate ways. It didn't take long for everything to be closed up, so Gabe and Chris were done pretty quick. We stayed in the parking lot for only a couple minutes before deciding to head over to Tommy's to get something to eat. I was hesitant to get anything since I had already eaten dinner, but I opted to get a #2 with chili cheese fries, and I managed to eat with relative ease. We sat outside which was pretty insane since it was pretty cold outside, and there were seats inside. While there we saw a couple stoner groups and some lady that seemed to get everyone's attention. The four of us were there for a little while before the decision to come to my house was made, so that's what we all did. We sat in the backyard, which was still pretty cold, but so much more bearable in a backyard for some reason, and just talked about different things. I was pretty tired for some reason considering I really didn't do much, so I don't think I contributed a whole lot to the conversation. Chris left pretty late, but the three of us stuck around for a while longer after he left, and it was at around 3:45 or so when they left and I came inside. It was too late to do much other than watch some tv before going to sleep, which is what I did. This isn't the greatest update, hopefully tomorrow's will be written a little better. November 23/24/25- Saturday started at about 1:30 when I woke up and sat at the computer for a little while. I started watching some of the USC/UCLA game, which was almost as good as the previous year's encounter. I sat in the living room with my father who actually developed a grin by about the fourth quarter, when the game was completely out of reach for the Bruins. Towards the end of the pummeling I went to my room where I started writing the previous day's News. That took me until about 5:00, and was followed by my getting dressed. I worked at 6:00 and that's about the time I got to SpeedZone, where I was scheduled to do games. I figured it would be just "one of those nights" because as I was walking up I already had a customer with a problem. Luckily that wasn't completely indicative of my night in the gameroom, and things settled into minor problems every few minutes. So naturally I spent most of my night just walking around, helping out with those minor problems and talking with whoever I knew that would walk through. I kept trying to see the score of the Sonics game, but none of the channels had NBA scores, and instead seemed to focus on all the college football rivalries. Nothing too significant happened during the night, and at about 10:40 I got my break. So in keeping with the idea of not eating at SpeedZone anymore, I went to McDonald's again, though I had money with me this time. So I went cheap and got a McChicken sandwich, and order of fries, both of which were $1 and brought the total to $2.17. I came back to the SpeedZone parking lot where I was a little concerned that I would lose my close parking spot, but to my surprise I was able to get the exact same spot. So I sat in the parking lot listening to the couple of voicemails I got while eating my food. I called up Tom to see how his V.I.P. trip to Magic Mountain was with Little Chris and Dennis, which sounded like a lot of fun. My break ended and I went back to work in the gameroom, which Daylo said was pretty busy. Luckily for me when I went back to work things were pretty normal. I spent some time standing around at redemption where I had a conversation with Robert Taylor about pirates and ninjas. He is pro-pirate and is trying to convince me to join that side, though I am undecided on the matter. At around 12:30 I started to clean up and get ready for closing, which seemed to happen pretty quickly because before I knew it, it was already 1:00. Luckily there weren't too many people with tickets, so we were able to shred them all and shut down the computers within about ten minutes. Everything was finished and I was clocked out by 1:15. Once in the parking lot the "usual gang of idiots" (a Mad Magazine reference) were out there, and we chatted away, mostly about the Magic Mountain trip. From the parking lot we headed over to 7-11 where we continued the conversation. Those of us that were there included Tom, Dennis, Little Chris, Shay, and Gabe. Shay kept dropping his Slurpee which was pretty funny, and it seemed as though everyone's ashes were landing on me which is starting to become one of my pet peeves. After standing around in front of there for a little while I came home and sat at the computer for a little while before calling it a night sometime around 3:30 or so. On Sunday I woke up at about 11:00 and got ready for work at noon. I showed up a couple minutes late like I always seem to these days, and was informed that instead of doing games like I thought I was, I would be given a drawer instead. But since I showed up first, Gina gave me the option of either working a register at redemption or putting away some boxes and things like that before getting a drawer. I opted for the latter and gave Julie the duty of working at redemption, even though she did technically get to work before I did, but I don't quite know what takes her so long to get to work once she's there. So I started my day putting away some golf scorecards in the back room near operations, and then throwing away some empty boxes. When I was done with that I hung out at redemption and talked to Robert Taylor about a couple things, including the pirate/ninja debate. Eventually at around 12:45 or so Julie had a long line so I had to work at my drawer on operations where I got rid of the line and strived to do nothing. It wasn't long before I had to get back at my drawer, and at around 2:00 I was assigned the duty of training one of the new workers, Melissa (I think that's her name), on drawer. I wasn't able to teach her too well until a couple other cashiers were there to help out, then I was able to let her work off my drawer on her own. She picked it up kind of quickly because before I knew it I wasn't even paying attention, and was instead talking to Robert Taylor for a while. We covered some interesting topics before he had to run (literally) out to the tracks. It was never too busy, but enough to keep somewhat busy. A couple of times I left to take care of various things like a couple troublesome games, or to use the restroom, but other than that I hung around my drawer most of the time. At about 6:15 McGee came by and told me that I was free to leave, and that I didn't have to cash out. So I went up to the bar to briefly talk to John, and Big Chris, before being joined briefly by Taylor Hooks. I talked to them for a couple minutes before heading home where I had a three piece chicken strip meal waiting for me. My dad had brought me some food home from KFC and I ate while watching some Ebert & Roeper At the Movies, which I haven't seen in months. I sat at the computer for a little while before heading over to Starbucks at about 8:30 to meet up with the group. I was the first to get there, but was shortly thereafter met up with Sean, Shay, and Tom. We got our coffee and took a seat. At about 9:00 we were joined by the Mayeshiro brothers, and eventually Little Chris, who had gone to the wrong Starbucks. The conversation varied as usual, and even was reduced to an ash fight between Dennis and Tom. There was even a cigarette race, but the most prominent article of discussion was in regards to details for the 2nd annual "circle of friends" dinner. We got sidetracked many times, but the conversation kept returning to that, even after they closed the patio and we moved over to the parking lot. We stuck around there for a little while before we all decided it was time to go home, and left Starbucks at around 11:20 or so. When we got home we continued the discussion online, and even started a chat for the issue. After talking about it for a while everybody started calling it a night, and I sat at the computer for a little while longer before eventually going to sleep at around 3:00. On Monday I had a little trouble waking up, and actually missed both my classes. I woke up at about 11:45 and then went back to sleep until about 1:00 when I decided to get dressed for work. For once I was actually two minutes early to work, which I haven't done consistently for a while. Naturally since it was Monday things were pretty dead. At around 2:30 or so I talked to Taylor Hooks who was at SpeedZone for some type of meeting. We talked briefly, but I had a customer so it wasn't too long. Throughout the day I tried to keep myself busy, which I did partly by organizing the point cards for redemption. I made sure to take my time in doing so in order to keep myself looking busy for as long as I could. However there were some times I didn't even try to look busy and just stood there, or even paced back and fourth. Occasionally I had customers, and there were even a couple instances where I had to deal with both redemption and my drawer at the same time. But that was rare, and not even very busy. Other than dealing with some Mexican guy that was complaining about his Sidewinder car, none of my customers were really that noteworthy. At about 4:45 Big Chris showed up, and at 5:00 Gabe, Robert, and Shay showed up for work, so after getting bored of standing around I went outside. There wasn't even a bartender that I usually talk to or else I would have stayed inside. I went out by Slick Track where they were standing around watching Cody throw down tape balls from the roof. So I pretty much just stood around outside talking to them by Slick Track since I could see if I had any customers. Around that time Taylor came back and was asking our opinions of what she should do in regards to the meeting she had earlier in the day. At about 6:00 she was leaving, so I went inside as well since I wanted to cash out. My replacements weren't quite ready yet, and there weren't any managers around, so it would be a few minutes before I'd get cashed out so I talked to Taylor a little more about her meeting. We talked for a few minutes before she left and I went to cash out my drawer. Ryan Shaefer was the manager that cashed out my drawer, which was at around 6:15. I only had about $550 or so, and I was perfect as usual. As I was finished I took the opportunity to inquire about the possibility of them hiring another cash control, and Ryan said that he was just thinking about that concept, which made me think that the possibility could be on the horizon. It's probably wishful thinking, but on that note I went out to my truck and grabbed a jacket before heading out to the tracks to talk to everyone. I went to Top E where Robert and Shay were dusting off the tracks with blowers. I talked to them for a little while before being joined by Cody and Gabe. They were throwing the tape balls at eachother, and at my suggestion tried putting them in the blowers to see if they would shoot out. They didn't. Gabe and Cody wanted a cigarette, so we went out to the parking lot where we were joined by Steven and Roger. They smoked, while Gabe showed them his new phone, which led to Cody showing everyone the speakers in his car. When Gabe went inside that was about the time I took off, which was about 6:50 or so. I came home and ate the In-N-Out that my father had brought homoe for me, which was a little cold but still great. When I was done eating, I pretty much just sat at the computer for the rest of the night. There wasn't much to do for most of the night, but at around 11:00 or so there was another chat room set up, which basically covered the same topic as the night before. The only difference was that there were more people involved this time, however there must be a correlation between the amount of people and time it lasts, because this one didn't last too long. We didn't accomplish too much. The rest of my night I sat at the computer, and thought about updating the News, but after writing a single line of text decided that since I had a test the next day that I had forgotten about, that I should go to sleep early (somewhat early). So at about 2:00 I signed off AOL, and tried to get some sleep, but couldn't fall asleep for about an hour until finally at about 3:00 I was able to fall into slumber. |