Monday, September 21, 2015

My Most Memorable Summer in the History of Memorable Summers.... (part 2: August)

 
Hello again humans!  As promised, here's part 2 of what happened in one of the most memorable and magical summers I've ever had to this date.  If you missed part 1, I have been so kind and included a link right here: My Most Memorable Summer in the History of Memorable Summers.... (part 1: July)

This will be quite a long post.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

AUGUST:

The day had finally come, the day of my dreaded PIANO EXAMINATION.  I'm not going to lie, I was petrified, no.  Beyond petrified, and the solemnness and dead silence of the building did.  Not.  Help.  At all.


As I waited outside the room of doom, I prepared myself for failure.  I told myself that if I did not expect highly of myself, I would not be disappointed if I failed.  HA!  Some advice that was, because I was still petrified beyond relief.  After an eon, or two, I was finally admitted inside to the large and echo-y room, I sat my butt down on the chair and tried to still my shaky hands.  Gah!  Of all times!  If my hands were each a planet with people, well...that would be one baaaaad earthquake.  And those people would be either dead or dying from falling buildings or some other falling debris.  I'm talking a 9.9 scale!

I guessed I played well.  Enough. 


I still think it was ridiculous though.  Not to mention completely and utterly unfair.  I've been practicing these five pieces for over a year, just to have 15 minutes to demonstrate it.  Gaaaaah!

To torture me even more, the RCM won't be releasing results until 4-6 weeks later, oh!  The wait! 
Patience is not a virtue of mine, and this...sucks.  Humph.


***

A few days after my dreaded piano exam, I took advantage of my no-school-no-homework-no-piano days.  Because I few days later, I went to my first job!  I worked!  I had a job, meaning...MONEY!  I was now a human being who went to a place and did a specified task in return for money.  Oh my.

OK, before I go any more into explaining about me actually DOING my job, here's a little history leading up to it...

June 24
Applied for the job at the Pacific National Exhibition-I actually made a moment of pressing the "submit button"  I made people read everything on my resume and even said I'm submitting it in 5...4...3...2...1...and 0.5...and 0.25...and SUBMIT!  Aaaaah!!!

July 8
Invited for the first interview-This was huge!  I had to leave summer school early to attend, and I had to wear nice clothes!  There were a few million people there!  Okay, maybe a few thousand...hundred?

July 26 (I might be ranting a bit here, you've been warned...)
Invited back for a second interview-This almost didn't happen!  Scary, right?  After my first group interview, I thought I did pretty well, but after not receiving an email inviting me the second interview, I thought I'd failed.  I thought I wasn't even good enough to sweep floors...I thought that I was a worthless citizen who may be able to spell floccinaucinihilipilification, but.  Can't.  Sweep.  Floors.  Was I that bad a person? 


BUT!  Three days before the date of the second interview, the manager of my desired department called me (but I was at summer school so it went to voicemail)!  She asked me to if I was attending the second interview since I haven't replied the email she sent me!  WHAT?!  I've been checking my email and spam ever minute on the minute, but THERE WAS NO EMAIL.  Apparently, something went wrong with my email (hopefully not on my part), and so I called her back and left a few voicemails of my own because 1) I wanted this job, I needed to prove to myself that I can sweep floors! and 2) my first voicemail got cut off, so I had to call and leave another one, eep.

August 6
Invited to attend the orientation and training sessions-These were relatively easier and less exciting than the interviews since by this point I was 99.2% certain I'd be getting the job.  Plus, all we did was sit it uncomfortable chairs for a few hours.

August 23
First day of job-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I was scheduled to work for eleven days, and my first day was nerve racking.  And if you knew me, you'd know I'm terrified of a lot of things, this being no exception. 

Day 1:

I got there a five minutes early despite having been told to arrive 15 minutes earlier.  So when I finally got in, I took out my handy employee ID and swiped it through the machine like a pro.  Well, actually, I had to flip the card around, and then turn it over, and revert it, and then switch it back again, only to flip it back the other way again, before finally getting it right.  Pro, right?

When I entered the super cool employee area, I went into the creepy building built in World War 2 and tried to find a suitable locker.  Easy...I found one that was slightly less rusty than the other ones, and slightly less squeaky, too.  I closed the door and attempted to lock it.  BUT GUESS WHAT?!  My lock was too fat!   Grrrrr!   The stupid handle thing was too darn fat for it to fit through the super tiny hole!  I was beyond irked.


After searching forever, I finally found one and rushed outside.  I think I was late by then...siiiigh.  The people have already begun explaining what it is we were supposed to do, and I missed it.  Being the shy person I am, I didn't take action, until I had no choice.  Supposedly, I was supposed to be listening to the other group.  Dang it! 

I got there just in time to hear the last little bit of useless information of how awesome we people are, and how thankful they are for us.  Blah, blah, blah...

Someone called my name and said I were to go with this guy since we were assigned to binning.  I had no idea what in the world "binning" was, but...siiiigh.

Ok, so I went with this guy who happened to have the same name as a certain someone I had um...questionable experiences with* in dance, and we tried out this "**binning thing".

*want to read about this so-called questionable experience with this so-called certain someone?  Voila!  My Teacher's Mug and the Stupid Girl (me) Who Had No Idea How to Operate a Water Fountain

**After my brave partner asked a foreperson what this "binning" is supposed to be, we were most definitely enlightened to the fact that "to bin", means to haul a giant monstrosity around and check garbage, recycling, and compost bins.

By this time, all sorts of thoughts were rampaging in my head, why was I doing this so-called binning, and not given a broom and a bucket to sweep?  Why was I paired off with some guy and told to bin?  Why couldn't I have left my house earlier so that I could get here earlier and not miss the vital information I think everyone got at the beginning?  Why do lockers have to hate me so much and make their holes too tiny for me to fit my fat lock in?  Why was I so shy that I couldn't have asked someone earlier where I was supposed to go?  WHY?  WHY?!!!

 
As time went on, and we collected garbage I actually found myself conversing with this guy.  Let's call him Guy #8, because of...reasons.

I was actually having fun.  Guy #8 was extremely pleasant to be around, and I found myself laughing a lot.  Some keywords: watermelon drinks, stubborn garbage cans, and sweltering heat.  Especially the heat, it was so unfair to watch people throwing away their full drinks or walking past vending machines while not being able to do anything about it except covet them and stare at them enviously.  I'll keep the details privy to only us, but gosh, it was one of the best moments in my life.

And just thought I'd mention that Guy #8 completely and totally outranks guy #1 in the other post.  Oh wait, I called him boy #1...but that's beside the point.  They may both have the same name, but I think I've exchanged more words with Guy #8 than I did in the four years I've known boy #1, just saying.

Day 2-11:
Don't get me wrong, lots of stuff happened between these days, but I didn't think they were enough to warrant their own title, sorry Days 2-11.  Most days were extremely and ridiculously boring.  Either I was way too good at my job, or people were really good at not throwing garbage on the ground.  I tried not to look like I was wandering around waiting for garbage to fall, but in reality, I'm pretty sure that's what I looked like.  Seriously, there were days when I practically shouted for joy when I found a stray or abandoned fork or napkin lying on the ground.  And when I truly couldn't find any garbage, I discovered a life saver: specks.

Yes.  Specks.  I wandered the fields of grass with my head down, and I would result myself to sweeping up tiny specks of garbage.  I did get a neck cramp, no surprise, but I also did manage to make time fly!  I could (and did) spend hours sweeping up specks. 

A few other things I thought I'd mention:
  • I swept up a protein spill a.k.a. vomit, and received a recognition.  I was supposed to put it somewhere and get a prize, but because of my strange obsession with possessing memorabilia, I decided to keep it with me forever, who cares if I could have won a $500 visa gift card?  Not me.
  • I swept the Agrodome, and even if you think it's clean, it's not.  Don't let it deceive you.  I swept these supposedly "clean" floors, only to find a whole bunch of dust and garbage!  I spent a few hours there, and I became a master sweeper.
  • I developed the perfect technique for sweeping up flat pieces of garbage that don't protrude off the ground.  Both in the rain and dry ground.  *ahem, I think some congratulations are in order, no?*
  • I WAS SWEATING BUCKETS IN THE HEAT.
  • I may have lost my fair complexion because of the above mentioned.
  • I came home feeling sore almost every night.
  • As a result of the above, I have broken my record for number of days gone without reading a book.
  • I tried emptying a garbage can full of beer cans.  Emphasis on TRIED.  I'm sure it would have been hilarious had I been watching myself.  It's not my fault I managed to get beer cans flying all over the floor.  Really, it's not my fault, I don't know what these cans have against me.  Have a done something to anger the Beer God?
  • After sweeping and walking almost everywhere, I still can't give people clear and concise directions to locations.
  • I had to work in the pouring rain, and my shoes were soaked.  When I stepped, my socks became like a sponge, and it would ooze water
  • The plastic raincoats were a pain.  Whenever I tried to sweep, the darn thing would fly up in my face, and I would have to smack it down (it was windy, ok?)
  • there was this day when I saw a mom carrying her child.  But not just any child.  A popcorn throwing one.  And did I mention this popcorn kid had a brother who was trailing his mother?  Well here's what happened...
Me: scanning floor for garbage
Carried kid: throws perfectly edible kettle corn on the floor
 
Trailing kid: stomps on it as hard as he possibly can with his foot
Me: sweeps it up
Carried kid: oooh, funny!  I throw, she sweeps! *throws more popcorn confetti*
Trailing kid: stomp stomp stomp
Me: thanks for the garbage
(Repeat this process a hundred million times)
TIME PASSES
Me: enough with the popcorn!

HA!  Nah, I'm just kidding...or am I?
 
To end off, here's a message for Guy #8, if or when he reads this...you know who you are.
THANK YOU.  You have made my first job a magical experience which I'll never forget.  Believe me when I say that binning with you was FUN.  Even if I managed to get beer and all sorts of paraphernalia all over my hair and skin.  Blech. 

When I binned with other people conversation was minimal and succinct.  Really.  All I said was, "right?  Or left?"  I seem to be quite taciturn.  It is sad though, like you said, "this is how these things work, and we will probably never see each other again"  Or something to that extent.  Siiigh.

To end off on a more positive note, THANK YOU.  Again.  I know my words cannot possibly express my thankfulness, but here I am trying anyway.  THANK YOU for making my first job as memorable and unforgettable as it was.   I couldn't ask for or imagine anything better.

3 comments:

  1. Trust me, you made my second day a lot better too. After all, the day before that, I had spent the entire time all alone, throwing bags of trash into a compactor (and had questionable fluids on me) for my entire shift.

    Then the rest was also boring without you. So, no need for all the thanks; because you made my day that much better too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, but it is VERY necessary. More so than you could ever realize, so...THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU...x9999
      *just to annoy you. Hee hee :)

      Delete
    2. OH! I forgot to mention...Hello Guy #8! If you really are him...hmm

      Delete

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