Sounds like someone was pretty busy.

No, it just wasn't a very good day, and I don't feel like sitting down and explaining something that long tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

On a serious note, can I change my name to Azira? Then no one's confused with the Az/'Zira thing and people will stop calling me Stella.

I'm pretty sure there's a way to change your username. I know lots of people do it around holidays. I hope tomorrow is better than today was for you Az.

Well yes, most likely. Tomorrow is the equivalent of Saturday, and Tuesday is Sunday. It's the start of my weekend. Of course, it sucks a little since I can't go nuts because other peoples have work and school tomorrow.

And I have to say, I could perhaps stay up a little tonight, but it feels really weird when I stay up after everyone else in the house has gone to bed. It feels... almost wrong. I don't really like it at all.

I always stay up much later than everyone else in my house. I suppose I'm just used to it.

i get super paranoid once everyone is asleep and im awake.
the slightest noise freaks me out and i burry myself under the covers.. then peak out to see if 'the buglar' is comming.

oh and red lights at night make me freaaaak out and cry

Okay then. Yesterday.

Started off like any other day for work. I got to drive the car today since it's the weekend and nothing was happening at Dad's work to day that everyone around the globe was phoning him and asking him to fix it. So, I drive to work.

The parking lot was full, even though on the weekend I had hoped there'd be a spot for me. So, I go back onto the street and I plan to turn around behind the police car I had passed a few minutes around and then park on the side of the street. This van came speeding down the road though and started indicating WAY too early (or had forgotten and left his indicator on) so I pulled over indicating right and waited for the guy to pass. He passes and the driver door of the police car opens. I then switch my indicator to go left and he closes his door again (yes, I did see the no stopping sign). So I park and I'm feeling good. Except it seems that under stress I forget to release the parking brake so when I move a few metres things don't feel quite right. Car's fine though. The only other time I did that was the beginning of my driving test. I guess I forget stuff under stress.

Don't do that again.

So, walk into work slightly worried that I might have broken something. Can't do anything about it right now so stop worrying about it. Yay, time to get ready. Put backpack down, put card on my sleeve, get the extra pair of socks, then the boots, then the things to bulk out my wrists, then the labcoat, then the hairnet, then go into the production room, wash hands, get apron on, get the sleeves on, get the gloves on (which stay up now since I have just the right amount of stuff around my wrists), wash the gloves, go over to the bucket and sanitize the gloves and the apron.

THEN start work.

So recently we have to orders: one for whole strawberries and one for sliced. This is my main source of misery for the day. If the whole strawberry looks nice and the leaves are green with no spots, then it goes in one basket. If it doesn't have nice leaves or it has not nice bits that can be cut off, then it goes in the other basket. If it's just an icky-looking strawberry (really mushy or trying to evolve into a higher life form) then it goes in the bucket where it will eventually get composted.

Not too hard, right?

The problem seems to come from the fact that this sorting is subjective. What I think is a good strawberry is not the same as what someone else thinks is a good strawberry. I was getting a lot of annoyed looks since I don't speak Chinese and they don't speak English. So I quickly decided not to sort them by myself and instead helped someone who knew what they wanted, occasionally handing them a strawberry that I wasn't sure of so I'd know for next time.

I do not like sorting strawberries.

Grapes are mind-numbingly boring, but I have much more practice with them. They're also not so bad because I can put empty containers under the one I'm working on, making it higher and considerably more comfortable for me. I get a lot of laughs at my tower of containers, and I think it's amusing too. It takes me a while to go through a container, so I suppose I'm not surprised when someone said I needed to go faster. I actually timed myself when going faster and I am taking a lot of time off how long it takes.

My job can definately be described as "jack of all trades, master of none." I'm never in one spot too long, and I suppose what I do changes enought that I don't get bored of one thing before I move on. I know how to do a lot of things now, but I'm not really good at any one thing. There's also the fact that I haven't really been there for very long.

Lunch was a little different. One person was dozing off a bit and the other two were talking in Chinese. I guess one said something funny and all three laughed and I laughed a little too and said to the one dozing off, "I don't understand a word they're saying."

The lady doing most of the talking says then, "That because we speak in Chinese."

In my head: Really now?

Maybe yesterday was just a bad day for me. And yeah, as soon as next semester starts, I'm leaving. It's okay there, but the language barriers can be frustrating and I'd like to focus on my full-time courseload.

I'll be able to make some mean fruit salads after this though.

Yowch that kinda sucks Az.

At least you did the smart thing and stuck with someone who knew what they were doing.

Do you occasionally eat a strawberry? Like, just in the middle of sorting them, just OM NOM NOM subtley?

Thats what we all do at DQ. If we see a delicious piece of cookie dough... oh, it's ours