Work and Workout

I had to work today. It was quite a bit easier on me then the saturday was. My role was supposed to be Runner, which runs food, drinks, and checks bathrooms. It got really difficult because we were understaffed. The bartenders got behind on dishes so I got put in to help. I really didn't mind. I really hate running. It is a really miserable experience. I haven't quite gotten the hang of holding on scalding hot plates with fumbling rags. I have a suspicion that I was using the wrong rags. But anyways, the bar was easier but I didn't get out until 11:45. I was so parched I grabbed a mega-size slurpee from 7-11 and drank the whole thing. I wasn't paying attention and missed my bus so I had to get the next one that dropped me much further away from home. That sucked. Lesson learned.

Oh and on my way home, I decided to take the bike path because it was a more direct shortcut. Yeah.... not doing that again. It was super SUPER dark because of the woods and I always felt like something was going to jump out at me. Fortunately the phone I got has a built in LED flashlight. Nothing fancy but enough to get me home.

Also I have been working out with lots of determination. When I got here I weighed 72.5 kilos. I want to hit 80 before I leave. I want to look good enough that maybe once in a blue moon I get a compliment instead of never lol. I am already at 74 kilos but the first few are the easiest so I need to keep at it. I also am doing abs very often so maybe I might be able to tone up abit. Classes tomorrow and sleep for now.

Another Monday

UGH. Man getting up today was rough. AND I got on the wrong bus so I was 30 minutes late to class. Thats ok though, the class was starting 20 minutes late so I was only behind by 10. I'm afraid today was rather dull. It was really hot though. I started my english class and we discussed grammar. It seemed a bit silly. For some reason (probably because I've been working out alot) I was reaaaally tired physically today. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow. I work again at 5:30.

2nd day of work....

Saturday was the second day of work. I had to take a RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) class in the morning. It was 6.5 hours long and basically talked about how its the waiter's responsibility if the patrons get drunk and break things. 2 guys got drunk and were throwing rocks off a bridge. Did they get in trouble when the killed a woman on her way home from picking up her kids? No. The bartender did, because he should've known that too much alcohol might make people do stupid things, and Australian's are really just children who need their hand held when they drink. It's so backwards.

On one hand I agree that the bartender shouldn't be pushing drinks on to people past their limit. But on the other hand, where is society's sense of responsibility? If a girl gets drunk, wonders off into a dark alley and gets raped, it's the bartender's fault and now he has to pay ALL of her bills. If a guy gets in an accident drunk driving and is now a parapalegic, well now the bartender has to surrender 20% of his wage for the rest of his life. It's retarded how irresponsible Aussies are.


Ok now about my 2nd day. It was miserable. It was really really really busy. And people were not exactly angry with me but they were being very urgent and doing it very loudly. I didn't appreciate the managers though. I liked thursday's manager, but saturday I had this large woman who always looked at me and was like "DO THIS!" even though I already had 2 other things that other leads told me to do. It was really tiring. A 4.5 hour shift felt like8 hours. I was exausted and it never let up until I left.

I think I'm going to relax today (sunday) and workout, drink some lemonade and study. It's nice weather today but it may rain later.

First day of work

Today was the first day of work at the Meat and Wine Co. It was a very bustling experience. It was by far busier than any other restaurant I've been in (save for grand Lux). I worked from 3:00 to 8:30. There was a lot of training. We talked about different aspects of the business. Then I got free dinner. Then I was off to do work once the patrons began pouring in about 6. I was a host's assistant, which means I help people to their seats. More than that though, I have to patrol the restaurant, counting tables available, clearing tables that are empty, resetting cleared tables, and polishing silverware. It was a bit crazy for a first night. But I can't complain THAT much. I am getting paid about $19.00 an hour (more on the weekends). And after training is over I will get tips too. Some Americans still tip, even though it isn't expected of them to.

I have to get my RSA approval for alchohol very soon.

Here are pics of my walk to and of Darling Harbor.

Off the bus
Darling Harbor Entrance from city
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 1
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 2
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 3
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 4
Panning View of the Harbor from the Bridge 5
Imax and Meat and Wine Co Zoom-In
Whales on my walk
Foot Traffic Bridge
Car Traffic Bridge and Trees
Harbor at night 1
Harbor at night 2
I guess some kind of discotek in a building that is supposed to look like the bow of a boat

School day 2

Today was a bit more interesting. One of my classes today was "Whiteness beyond color". A study of the way the world treats the "norm" as white. Australia is a particularly study source due to the extent at which they try to create a nation that is "homogeneous in culture and race". Today we learned about programs that still haven't been entirely dissolved that crush the Aboriginal people. Like the U.S. kind of did with Native Americans but 3x worse. The government can STILL take children away in the guise of "humanity" in an attempt to re-educate them that Aboriginal culture is uncivilised and wrong. In the U.S., Natives are recognized as a sovereign people. Sure the U.S. didn't always hold up their end of treaties, but here in the U.S. Aboriginals are not considered real people. Legislature treats them as objects or things the state has to take care of like flora or fauna. It was pretty eye-opening.

The class was also invited to happy hour at the campus bar (yes alcohol is allowed on campus, and is even sold by it). I stayed for about an hour but everyone was either from Italy, France, or Germany. It was interesting to hear all the different accents... for about 15 minutes. The same small talk over and over is soooo boring. "Hi you are? Nice to meet you! Where are you from? That's really interesting! What are you studying? Yea I totally know what you mean."
rinse. repeat. snooze.

Birds

These are one of the birds that makes noise in front of my window in the morning. These guys are noissy, but they aren't the squawkers. I haven't been able to get a pic of the squawkers. This bird is only 4 feet from my window. It's THAT close.

Amusing things:
Teacher says:
"In the 1980s, the U.S. was one of the best manufacturers in the world. Nowadays countries like Germany, Japan, and others are currently booming while the U.S. is lagging behind. How do Europeans and Japanese differ from the U.S.? What do they have that the U.S. doesnt?"
Student: "Healthcare!!"

(the correct answer is that robotics shifted to those countries but that isn't as funny"

Teacher is introducing an important specific type of robot we are to get accustomed to using:
"This is a SCARA robot. SCARA stands for Selectively Compliant...... blah blah blah. I forget this every year."

First day of School

Today was frusterating. And tiring. I had trouble sleeping (excited? lots of stuff on my mind?) and didn't actually fall asleep til maybe about 2:30am. I had to get up by 6:30 so I could get ready for school. Ok I don't know if many of you know but I'm an 8 hour sleeper. If I don't get my 8 hours, I'm going to be broken for the rest of the day.

The bus ride to school wasn't that bad, I arrived right when I needed to and made it to Robotics. The class was a 3 hour long lecture and I fell asleep cause I was so tired. I used my skates to get around campus. It was pretty enjoyable and they have good skating pavement

After Class I went home because my second class doesn't start till next week and I wanted to get a nap in before ballroom later. So I get back, sleep, Hurry up to catch the 5:55pm bus back to campus (nearly missed it). I get all the way there thinking about food the whole way because I slept to late to eat. When I get to the UniGym (as seen above) I find out that ballroom doesn't start for 2 weeks... I was so mad. I went to get McD's (it was a campus McD's was service was terrible) then got on the bus and came home. I more or less took an hour and 15 minute bus ride to get McD's and turn around to come back. I was pretty mad.

I ended up staying up until 1:20 am so I could call Purdue and check on my grad school status. They told me it could be another 2 weeks before they finalize the list of applicants.