Friday 14 December 2007

tired

First of all, I'd like to apologise to everyone, and mostly to my self for being so tardy with this thing, I would like to write more, but I have a very hectic schedule... which brings me to second of all. I never want to work again. never. ok... mebbe just not so much. plus around christmas time, there's all these x-massy thingys to go to, hence any day that I'm not working on, I have been assigned to for bringing a dish that I don't have time to cook, to a party I'm not gonna be awake enough to enjoy. Here's just a little tidbit of my schedule.
Sat.15-Work 10-3, Work 4:30-11:30
Sun.16-Work 10-3,x-mas shopping, 6:30 x-mas party (potluck),
Mon.17- Work 8-4:30 wrapping,7 pm dance recital for a grown man( the first really fun part of the week)
Tues.18-Work 8-4:30, hair cut @ 5:30(getting a foot or so cut off, YAY! finally), dinner at 7:30 (potluck)
Wed.19-Work 9-4:30, Work 5-11:30
Thurs.20-Work 9-4, Work 4:30-11:30
Fri.21-Work 9-4, Work 4:30 11:30
Sat.22-Work 10-3, Work 4-11:30
Sun.23-Work 10-3, Work 3:30 to 10:30
Mon.24-Work 8-4:30
tues.25 X-mas
blah. I get tired just looking at this thing... and a little sad that there's only another week to go...
too much work... I better get F**king fantastic tips this next week.

Monday 5 November 2007

HALLOWEEN!

ok, so it's a little late, but not too too late, so I'll tell you all about it.
So The Last week of October, my son has had a bad flu,(this is a reminder, Please, get a flu shot, to save the ickies.) So, sonny had been spiking temps of about 103.-whatever since Monday the 29th, and was not in the best of health for tricky-treating. But, alas, daycare is such a wonderful place, that by the time pick-up time came around, he was up and about, full of Motrin, and running a wonderful little 'I'm goin tricky-treatin! yay for candy' rant, and since his dad had promised a week before to take him out, I couldn't really say no. Could I? so off home we go, and by the time we pick up daddy from work, the little tyke is passed out. yup, snoring in the car seat, oblivious to the whole day. Should I have just moved him from car seat to bed and not even tried the rest of the night? said enuf is enuf, and be done with it? probably.
so we get home, and daddy gets sonny out of the car seat, and sonny wakes up and lo and behold, starts the rant again. Now this whole rant was really kinda cute to hear in a way, since he was losing his voice, and it was coming out a squeak, so it kinda sounded like he was daydreaming. huh. So we get home, and bring out the spider man costume, figure we can tour the apartment building, and go home. Here is the first trial. even though Logan has worn the costume before, He doesn't want to wear it with clothes on. so we take off the clothes. Then he doesn't want to wear it at all. He can't understand as we try to explain that you can only get candy if you dress up. 'I can't wear it', he wails, and for a kid that's losing his voice, that's pretty impressive. So we ask why, and he replies' I can't tell you' and then proceeds to get really upset. So I ask Daddy to go put on his chef whites that he wore to work that day, and tell Logan that Daddy dressed up for candy, can you? NO. but if both daddy and mommy dress up for candy, then can you? NO! and more balling.
So this goes on for about, oh, 10-15 minutes, and then finally I tell daddy to calm kiddo down, don't ask him any more questions, and I start rooting thru the boxes in the storage closet for years past costumes. can't find anything. Start looking in my closet and his for anything that he can dress up as. Can't find anything. Then, on the brink of everyone bursting into tears, I find a pair of kiddy wranglers that good ol' uncle Hungarian and auntie got him for the Christmas before, that were a couple sizes too big, and I can't say inspiration hit me,... it was more like desperation. So in the background with Logan wailing, and daddy only slightly freaking out, and me more so, I find a vest that I wear and a cowboy hat I have that badly needs reshaping, and ask Logan if he wants to be a cowboy. NO. the wails get worse and after yet another failed attempt at explaining that only dressed-up kids get candy, it's daddy's turn for a brilliant idea. How about we just get you re-dressed and then go out for candy?
ok.
So we put him into the wranglers, and then a sweater, and then another sweater, and then his big boots, and a scarf, and get a pillow case. Sneaky. At this point we ask him if he wants to wear the cowboy hat. Big mistake. The wailing starts again, and at this point the mommy-meter for patience wears out, and I go 'OK! NO HAT! LETS JUST GET A BASEBALL CAP AND PRETEND YOU'RE A FARMER!'
But we bring the hat along just in case.
So we decide to go outside, to the street just behind us that Logan and I have meandered through many times before, and when we get to the first house, I ask sonny if he wants to wear the cowboy hat.
Ok.
AHHHH! I should have known.
So we get to the first couple of houses okay, including the one guy who just moved in and was renovating, so he gave Logan a couple of granola bars and a box of kd, then shut his porch light off. So as Logan is finally getting into the spirit of things, we get to this house in a cul-de-sac thing, and Logan goes up yells(as best he can, which isn't much with no voice, so mom and dad have to help) tricky- treating! and this little old lady answers the door, and she falls all over him like he's the cutest thing she's ever seen and of course in doing so, boosts up said parents egos and confidence, and then she asks him The Question.
'Are you a cowboy?'
and at this Logan looks so offended, and responds angrily' NO! I'm a Logan! '
and the lady lets out a twitter, and says 'I'm sorry, we don't get many Logan's dressed-up here."
and Logan says, 'I'm not dressed- up! Don't talk to me'
and turns around.
yeah.
Fan-tastic.
So after mass apologies, and I think the lady wasn't too offended, she still gave him raisins, and we're on our way. So I think Logan cheered up a bit after that, and did his usual flirting, and got mass handouts, and I do mean mass handouts, we hit 20 houses or so, and Logan filled half a pillow case. There was even one house, where the parents were ready to take Their kids out, and so they gave Logan like six bags of chips. This was also the house Logan met spider man. There was a five-six yr old dressed up as spider man, and he gave Logan one of the bags of chips, and you can just see His eyes go Wide! and soo surprised, and he says,'HI SPIDER MAN!' and goes to give this kid a hug, and I'm glad this kid wasn't older and more wary, cuz he returned the hug, and Logan is just glowing. His dad and I didn't really have the heart to tell him that spider man is a little taller than 3 foot 3. And after we hit one side of the street, it was time to go home, as his dad and I were taking turns either holding the candy-filled pillowcase, or holding Logan, and to tell the truth, it was hard to tell which weighed more.
So we get home, and logan gets back down to his diaper, and mommy dumps out the pillow-case to search for tainted goodies, and it wasn't bad, I only threw out a marshmallow thing and the box of raisins. I swear some people should definitly check expiration dates if they're going to give out healthy food. I don't condone it, in fact I recommend it, but really. Dont just give it away cuz it's been in your cupboard for the last five years, and you can't bring yourself to throw it out....
so that is the halloween story, and it's pretty scary, at least parts of it are in my eyes.
Stay tuned for more adventures from the Tiny Pianist!

Friday 26 October 2007

Work Woes

OHh, woe of all woes! The Store is being cut down on hours, prices, and space!
The Magazine store in which I work is coming upon financial hardships. Therefore, brain matter was used, and though many ideas came up, Here are the few that are going to be put in motion.
-Starting November 3/2007, New Store hours are now as follows:
-Monday-Saturday:10-8
-Sundays and Holidays-CLOSED
Now this is a Big change, seeing as how we're losing 2 hours per weekday, and 8 hours on sundays and holidays. also, comes the rescheduling, as I'm now myself down to 37 hours a week(not factoring in the second job) and all the part-times will be at the minimum 3 hours a night, and, hopefully, this will give the part-timers more inclination to fight over the shifts that are not being taken regularly, and not just quit.
Also,
-Starting in the New Year, we will be cutting down on 300 sq ft of space.
Now this one isn't so bad, seeing as how we don't really need the corner space we're giving up, as all it's there for is newspapers and puzzle books, both of which could be easily moved to another area of the store. Also, it's the coldest corner in the place, as there's no heating vents over there, so our heating system is constantly on, cuz there's still sensors there, I believe. The only bill that won't be bitten back is the electricity, cuz there's only two lights in that section, and then a giant skylight. There's so much space in the store that's not being utilized, giving us a kind of under-decorated feel, and so I think a few landlord-paid renovations will be coming out of the woodwork in the near future as well.

Now you may be wondering what exactly these hardships are that have us doing a couple of drastic changes...
The first being the canadian dollar. yup. Since the loonie went up, and the us daller went down, our one and only question coming in has been 'when are You going to be lowering the magazine prices?'
I've come to loath this question, I really have, only for the reason that there's so many answers out there, and all of them are the truth.
-Magazine covers are pre-paid at the current price for up to six months in advance
-Each and every publisher has to set a commitee meeting for cover price changes, some which might take a while
-Some Magazines like to wait for a certain amount of time, to see if the dollar will settle, or go back down,(why should I change the price when the price is going to go back to normal within three months?)
and other such excuses that were made readily available to me when the dollar first went up.
Now the customers have all heard these a little too often, and so aren't happy with the answers anymore, because they haven't changed. So they've stopped coming. boycotted the mags, if you will. Sure, there are still those who can't do without their monthly fix, but that's usually a collected magazine, sure to be worth something in the future.
So our lines have petered out and our returns have gotten bigger...

The second would be the raising of the minimum wage. Now I've learned a great little deal about this quite recently, mostly being that no matter what they raise the minimum wage to, anyone who's making minimum will still be below the poverty line. Now they consider anyone making 18-20000 a year below the poverty line. Now 7.95 to 9.25 in two years is not going to change a damn thing. And just recently, very recently, as recently as yesterday in fact, there was a poll sent out to all business owners about how this raising of minimum wages would or would not benifit them. And there was an interesting question in and among the list. It said:
"Basic Personal Exemption(BPE): Currently Saskatchewan's BPE is $8,778 compared to Alberta's $15,435 (this is the amount of income not subject to tax). Increasing the BPE allows workers to earn more before having to pay income taxes."

Then below was a question asking if the BPE should be raised in Saskatchewan.
First? duh...
Second? Hold on, hold on... we're only at 8,778? so even if a minimum wage worker is making 18000 a yr, after the first 8778 he/she's taxed? No wonder so many people are below the poverty line! Hell I've got two jobs, making over 25000 a year, and I'm still below the poverty line! WTH?
so... the independant business owners are forced to take a little more money from their own wallets to give to their employees, who then can give it back to the government and no one really benefits from this? well then. I don't want a wage increase. I'll be paying for it.
and really, being a business owner, when you're down this far with no one wanting to buy your product, and then you have to fork out a few hundred extra dollars to your employees, probably out of your own pocket,(whether they deserve it or not), you'd probably do all you can to keep Some money in your pocket...
And thus, the reasons all add up.
Blegh.
And so ends another adventure(Rant) from the Tiny Pianist.
Tune in Next time, when it Snows!

Friday 28 September 2007

IN-VEN-TOR-Y!

AHH! ERNIE!
So today at the Store of Marvolous Magazine Magnificence, we have our
inventory crew coming in from WIS, which I am assuming is Western Inventory something...
school? they all look like they should be in school, some on the short bus. K that's mean. But seriously! Their Leader sounds Like Ernie! as in Bert and? and there's this other mean little woman who I guess since I'm at the front all the time and they wouldn't want a guy to come and count everything(we might start a convo. *gasp*) they paired up the diminuitive shrew with me. So every 2 minutes or so, 'what's this price?' 'you guys forgot to sticker this' and the oh so popular 'oh nevermind, you don't know anything I'll go ask your boss.' I LOVE IT! My goodness, if that little bleep wasn't 4x4 I would've punted her across the store by now. I still think that WE who work in the store, should've been paid to come in on a sunday, and count everything ourselves. I mean three hours of counting things? not hard. and he would've been paying us probably a little less. so bossman would've been saving money. sheesh. oh well. It has provided me with enough entertainment to last not just the two hours they were in here, but for the next three hours as well. at least until I get my 2:30 brain shut down.
K that's it for today- mebbe...
Stay tuned for more ad-ventures from the TinyPianist!

Thursday 27 September 2007

It Was Me!

HAHA! Yes It was me Saskatoon! It was me that denied Matt Good his oh-so precious New York Times Daily! and if he's not happy settling with the lousy weekend edition of the paper, and decides not to go on tonight, as I was told expressly, then you know who to blame! HAHA!
and don't you worry, my number's included in my 'apology' note to said singer, so I will be the one who gets the talkin to by whoever persons are in control of his personal and mental health! And if said newspaper puts him over the edge, and he decides to go on a lack-of-newspaper-crazed killing rampage, know, Saskatoon, that it was I that put him in that place! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

seriously, if you can't read a certain paper everyday, or if you can't do the crossword? in said paper, you should not be singing for a 80 bucks a ticket, you should be singing for like-minded gown-wearing, drooling, fellow crazies in the psych-ward! blagh!
I guess I could understand the importance of the New york times horoscopes though... I myself Never go out without consulting my ever-important msn horoscope. Heaven forbid I should be wearing the wrong colour for the day, or if I'm overly talkative, when I should be silent, lest I put my foot in my mouth...
well that's it for today..
Stay tuned for more adventures of the TinyPianist.

Monday 24 September 2007

BLANK_____!

so here we are in _____ and it's a new day. a cold one... and I am without my earmuffs. woe is me. In my new job, there is an open audition for a play coming out in April of next year, and the title of the Play is as follows: A Trailer Park Musical! come for a rowdy romp in south Austin's most harmonious mobile setting!
so I think I'm going to try out for it.
sounds like fun.
you know, lotsa YEE-HAW's, and Oh no you di'int! kind o' things. and big hair. yup. Biiig hair.
and the whole story line is something along the lines of this one girl, who's a stripper, moves into this move-able mobile setting, and starts 'getting to know' this other gentleman down the lane who happens to have an agoraphobic wife. Now if I'm right, agoraphobia is a fear of open spaces. so really, I think either the fresh-air terrified wife either gets some balls, dons a gas mask, and goes over to Pippi's (the stripper. yes I know) house and opens a can of musical whoop-ass, or the husband brings his clothes-hate girly home one-night by accident, and all hell breaks loose, with a lot of single-light solos.
now I don't really know how someone, or even why someone would be able to come up with this kind of shit. really. a musical about a trailer park?
k. Now I know what a close friend meant when they said that the world is indeed getting a lot stupider.
Yee-haw.
Stay tuned for more adventures of the tiny pianist!