25 June 2008

Love Handles

Visualize a portly woman wearing tight jeans, a short knit poncho, and NOTHING ELSE and welcome to my life.

Also, I fell down the stairs. Not just a little slip, but a full story.

On the brighter side, I've decided to become a motorcycle mechanic.

19 June 2008

Adventures At Safeway pt. 2

Well they finally paid me, it's just not a hell of a lot. Like, 150 bucks, when what I need is more like 800. I've been working almost every day for about 3 weeks now, shouldn't there be a bit more than that? I don't know, I'm bad at math. Maybe if I was good at it I'd have a decent job. Emo..

I haven't been doing Kabuki lately either. Fun as it is, sometimes you're lucky to break even after paying the lease. I'm actually in debt to them at this point. Don't know if I'll bother going back and paying up. Bloody life. This sucks unbelievably. I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.

18 June 2008

Adventures At Safeway pt. 1

I've been back working there for 3 weeks now and have not yet seen a paycheck. This is illegal. I need to go kill someone.

17 June 2008

Power and Money

In Ender's Shadow, the protagonist, Bean, muses on the nature of loyalty and friendship. They're not things that come easily to him, so he spends a lot of time thinking about them.

Bean tries to puzzle out the reason why one person can control so many others. He figures it's because most people try to acquire power the wrong way. They see obvious sources of power-people and organizations that are powerful(which will henceforth be referred to as POPs). They try to get some of that good stuff for themselves, from the POPs. The problem is that those who have power also realize how very easy it is to lose it- so they hold on to it tightly and apportion it out in tiny, almost useless amounts. This is why your immediate supervisor has just enough authority to make your life miserable, but not enough to actually do anything useful. So you see, trying to get power from those who already have it is next to useless. Trying to work your way up from entry-level almost never works. You'll notice that there are thousands of entry-level slaves for every CEO who managed to claw her way up the ranks.

So how do you get power?

Bean is a bright boy- he saw the answer almost at once. You get power from those who think they have none. Average Joe. The kids who don't vote because one vote doesn't make a difference. From the starving villagers who will trade their freedom forever for food right now. It's easy to take these peoples power because they're willing to part with it. They think the little they have is worthless. So the few people who understand the nature of power can get a little from each person, and it adds up until they are unstoppable, until they control everyone...

Like I said though, Bean didn't understand about loyalty and friendship. He didn't know that power isn't the point at all, loyalty is. Loyalty isn't a means of getting power, but rather, the opposite. Power is a means of gaining loyalty, but if you already have the loyalty of good friends, you don't need to bother with manipulation and other nonsense...

Okay, now we apply this logic to money. I'll try to be brief.

Don't throw yourself into a career at Safeway. Or McDonalds. Or at any big company. You can work your ass off all your life, but you're just chasing the wind. They don't want to make you rich, they just want to keep you from being poor so they can control you. Instead, get rich off people who don't mind giving you money, because they think it isn't worth anything but dollars. Start your own company, providing stuff people want in exchange for the cash that they don't care about and which you so desperately need. You may not get wildly rich, but then money isn't the point. Money is only a way of keeping score.

04 June 2008

Good Things

1. Got rent paid for one more month.
2. Parents coming this weekend- they'll bring money
3. Weather is warm for motorbiking

Again, trying to keep a positive attitude here. However, I've come to realize that there's no way anyone can possibly succeed by getting a minimum wage job and working their way up. It just doesn't work- I'll explain why next post, using a theory I've developed from reading Orson Scott Card's fantastic "Ender's Shadow".

03 June 2008

Quittin'

If anyone out there has gotten the idea that it might be a good idea to hold 3 or 4 part time jobs at once, let me assure you- it's not. No matter how many bad jobs you have, they will not add up to one good job. All they will do is sap your energy and reduce your sense of self-worth.

So, I've quite the gas station, because that job was only 12 hours a week at 8/hr. I am quitting Subway, though first I'm going to collect my last paycheck and steal some cookies. That job was only 6 hours a week. I eagerly anticipate screaming at my boss "I hate you! You suck! And I'm taking these cookies!" Tomorrow, I think.

I've gone back to Safeway, sadly. This is the job I'll likely be stuck with for a few years, though I'm trying to have a positive attitude about it. The Safeway uniform is better than average, lots of hours are guaranteed, and they give you a raise (25 cents! big money!) every 520 hours worked. Okay. Not bad.

I continue to work Kabuki Kabs at the weekends- ferrying drunks around the downtown core is pretty fun. Life continues...