Tuesday, December 20, 2005

you're new

today i did some more christmas shopping. and by christmas shopping, i mean i bought gerry some more presents. until this weekend i had some coffee for his parents sent here by rachel, from tim horton's, a bodum for them, and one present for gerry. all purchased last week. this weekend i got a secret snowflake present. umm... yup. that's about where i was with all this.

i'd love to list what i got for gerry today, but then he'd know. and that spoils the fun. needless to say, i hope it works out grand.

i either sprained or completely bruised or f'd up my finger somehow. in any case, it's killing me. could have been the heavy bags. i was going to sleep at my own house tonight (for the third time) but once i got to gerry's i was zonked. so i'm just going to sleep here. i just spent the evening wrapping christmas presents and chatting with sharon... that and teasing her about what her present is. mwah hah hah.

also new, msn for macs. i just put up a pic of me, and i don't know if you can send funny things like on the pc one, but it is new, and i have got my pic up there. test me out next time you see me online.

oh! it's my last week of training at work. eek! well, until we do travel training. i've decided (on the advice of one my trainers) to not go for the customer service job being offered. she thinks i'll be making heaps of cash so i shouldn't lose that opportunity by going into a job like customer service where the pay is the same as taking calls, but you don't get any extra money.

i almost got to take my first call. but no one called while i was listening. the woman i was listening in on calls with was like: here, why don't you take a call. so after freaking out, i said okay, and then no one called before her break, which really was only in the space of 4 minutes, but still, it would have been great to get that first call out of the way.

Monday, December 19, 2005

synchronised safety

i forgot the funniest part of the whole trip.

on the plane last night the steward and stewardesses were doing the safety routine and it was f'ing hilarious because they were literally in synch.

they pulled the mask in demonstration exactly twice, and when they were pointing to the exits, it was just so perfectly in synch it was amazing. i loved it. i suggest that they become synchronised swimmers cause they're already really good at doing it out of the water... they just need to learn the routine IN the water. it would be amazing.

i loved the show.

everybody was kung foo fighting

okay, i was just writing a mass emails about london. something is f'ing up with gmail. weird. anyway, currently there will be no mass emailing. there will however be this gem of a blog.

last friday gerry and i went to see the foo fighters in london. other than a slight panic attack with the whole flying thing (i have no idea how i managed to get to ireland) things went well.

friday night we got to london and basically went to bed.

saturday we went to portobello (yeah, believe it) market and shop shop shopped. we also went to oxford circus, hamley's (a giant toy store where gerry could barely control himself, and there was a cool Narnia staircase) and then went to the foo fighters concert. if i had known the foo were playing in such a big stadium, i wouldn't have booked the tickets in the summer, but it ended up being better than other stadium concerts, so it was fun. it's weird to think of where i am now and where i was in the summer when trying to decide if i should even get the tickets because who knows what'll have happened at this point. our feet were sooooo brutally killing us at this point. well... my feet were, and i think gerry's legs might have been. don't ask.

sunday (lower extremities still killing) we did more shopping and even saw the science museum (and an imax film, walking on the moon) and went on the london eye. i also bought a toque and arm warmers (they are knitted and crocheted, and have fleece lining so they don't itch) because it was so f'ing freezing there i was almost crying. anyway, it was lovely. we then went to the airport and got home (despite me thinking we were going to die while landing).

today i did not feel like doing my last role-playing test for work. i totally f'd up, but swindled a pretty good mark. i have no idea how. seriously. anyway, one more written test and training will be mostly done. there are a couple of spots that have opened up in a more admin position, and i'm thinking of applying for them. usually you need to be there a min. of 6 months before, but they're opening it up to the training class too. so there's less money involved, but the hours are way better (m-f nothing later than 6 i think).

oh! we're doing secret snowflake at work, and i found this adorable little over the shoulder bag made out of red vinyl in london. the max was €5 but i spent £5. but i found a loop hole. everyone calls euros and pounds quid. so basically, i spent 5 quid! it was way too cute to resist. i think i'm going to introduce the stewart gift steal to my class. i think they'll like it.

i'm sort of resisting it feeling like christmas, i kind of want it to, but it kinda makes me sad at the same time. goals include: holding it together at the gainford house, getting through the season, and having some fun with it too. wish me luck.

Friday, December 16, 2005

london calling

this evening we leave for london! yay!

tonight we'll get in and probably go straight to bed.

tomorrow will involve hyde park market, shopping and probably some museuming. tomorrow night will be the foo fighters.

sunday we will probably go shopping some more and then we return to cork.

it's been a few years since i was last in england, so despite knowing that i don't want to live there, it will be a nice return. especially since i spent so much time in london when i was at the castle. i want to go back to some of my favourite places, including the tate modern. i'd love to see another royal shakespeare company production, but there isn't time for that, with work and christmas and such.

anyway, london's only 45mins on the plane, so i'm sure it will be grand.

(i hope it's not any kind of sign to have spelled "london's" as "london't". eek.)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

more testes

we've been having tonnes of tests and quizzes at work. it's totally like being in a class. which is fine... i had been thinking of taking a class while here.

sunday night gerry helped me study for my region codes (you need to know them when you're searching for a resort for someone). anyway, i'm doing well on all of the tests, but the last three role-plays i've had the guy. OHMYGOSH. i hate him. he takes off marks and then when you're like why did i lose a mark for that, we were told that if you don't book something for a person you don't need to offer to transfer them to a travel specialist. his answer? well, you still did really well, so it doesn't matter. as if! doesn't he know that he is destroying my chances of having perfect scores!!! okay okay, 98% isn't bad, but let's face it, it's no 100%. AND he's so non-challant about it. JERK!

oh another note, i went to the gym today. now my arms and legs and abs are sore. it was a good workout. there's a stronger shower in there too, so i'm excited to use them everyday. i think i have a crush on the stronger showers.

i've had a bit of contact with b.c. in the past couple of days. lately (since i started work) it's been fairly minimal, much like my blogs. but it was really really nice to touch base. sometimes i love ireland and think that i'm really lucky to have fluked out on a choice. sometimes i hate it and wonder what the f i'm doing here, and can't wait to get back to b.c.. if i was home, i'd probably want to be back. :o) grass and green.

i am fairly desperate to play catan or carca. but since i'll be in london this weekend, i doubt i'll get a chance until more solidly holiday times... even then, i think we're going to monaghan almost the whole time... oh! maybe new year's day a game can be set up... and maybe i'll borrow gerry's computer and we can play wancatan! whoot! let me know if you're interested.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

the lion, the witch and the wardrobe

we saw the first episode of the chronicles of naria tonight. it was amazing. great. grand. fun.

see it.

christmas in cork

last night gerry and i had christmas dinner for some of his friends and for his housemates. gerry's department was the turkey (chicken), ham, meat stuffing and roasted potatoes. i was in charge of dessert, veggie stuffing and mashed potatoes. it went really well. i think people left over-full and having had a good time.

work was busy this week. we had two tests. both of which went well for me. but the girl beside me failed one test (89% is a fail) and despite passing her retest, decided she didn't like it. which is fine, but she was really nice. i will miss her. i think we're going to get together for drinks after our last day before we leave for christmas... we're all looking forward to that day. no more tests. and we'll have been paid. so it's gonna be sweet.

my house is still freezing, and other than two nights, i've been staying at gerry's. i did meet one more of my housemates on friday. until then, i had only met the guy from poland... whose name i can't understand, so i've mostly been refering to him as my housemate, cause he was the only one i knew. *laugh* i'll be meeting the other guy after christmas, i think he's gone to do some training and then home. so he won't be back until then.

to remedy the cold house problem, and the not being able to sleep because it's so cold, i've bought a heating blanket that you can sleep on all night. it was a recommendation from one of the ladies in my class. i haven't tested it out yet, cause i got it on thursday. but i'm sure some time this week i will.

i saw transporter 2 during the week. i can't remember the day. it was good. a total action movie... like, don't go in thinking it will be realistic, but i think it was great. fun. and that guy is über hot.

we're tossing around the idea of seeing narnia tonight. i really really want to see it. i've heard great things, and what i've seen looks great.

i've been trying to blog at work, but the computers we're allowed to use for internet have not been allowing me to blog. i'm working on it, but so far, i can only blog at gerry's. and i don't think i can get internet at my house, cause we don't have a phone. e veryone and their grandma has a cell phone, so no one has land lines really. sorry, i've been slack, i'll try to be more consistent int he future. email works, just so you know. :o)

Saturday, December 03, 2005

S-M-R-T

yesterday we were informed that our class was going to have the test in the afternoon that we had earlier been told was going to happen on monday. i admit, i was a bit nervous... my class hadn't been able to practise taking calls while really being on the phone yet because we got moved into a classroom without phones. anyway, we were going to be tested in a couple of hours. i figured i'd be fine, cause really, how hard can it be? so we got back after lunch and a girl in my class was like: you're going to be first. two seconds later a trainer came in and was like: ursula, you're first. burn. anyway, i did the call and the b freaked me out by asking me to do something that we hadn't been taught yet. i gave her the info and was like, i'll do that for you now if you like. i guess she realised that we couldn't do that yet, so she changed her mind. obviously i was like: crap... i think i didn't do so well.

so we got our marks, and my tester was like: you did it perfectly! you sounded so calm and if i didn't know better i would have said you'd been working here for years! i got 100% and am feelin' grand!

i had been talking to this guy about the test earlier and he said that he bets people will be like: what did you get? what did you get? i said i don't think people do that after highschool. clearly i was wrong. the oldest guy in the class was the worst! but i wouldn't tell him what i got. i did however say: how many people do you think got 100 out of 50? you know, like 200%? because i'm evil.

i can't believe it's saturday. finally. tonight's my christmas party. last night was gerry's scuba club's christmas party, at the dog race track. i've never seen dog's race before. i lost every time. luckily i was only betting 2 euros at a time. gerry however won almost every time. i can't believe it! it's amazing!

i hope i win at my staff party tonight. you win vouchers for free vacations. :o)

Thursday, December 01, 2005

i liked being semi-retired

i woke up this morning and immediately asked gerry why he can't get two jobs and let me go back to being semi-retired. i mentioned that i would be more than happy to bake him cookies, in the house that one of his jobs has afforded us to live in. he simply replied that i'm supposed to be moved up to management in the next 3 months and be supporting him... while he doesn't make cookies. fair comment, but totally *not* what would happen! :o)

i'm on day four of training. it's been boring as hell. i realise that most training is, but this has been particularly bad. we've had days where there have been more breaks than class time. and the 'review' time is really more like, review and then chat... i am slowly learning people's names. i'm so brutal at that, but with all the breaks, that's been a bit easier.

i do still plan to go to the staff christmas party. there are wicked prizes that i plan to win. i already want to go on vacation, and looking through those vacation books is not making it easier. it's the worst kind of punishment, because we're all bored out of our heads, looking at these gorgeous places to visit.

last night gerry made me dinner and then we went to jim and tara's for cards and drinking. it was really really hard to get out of bed this morning... hence my little: 'i hate not being semi-retired' tantrum. i could have still been a bitter about the thrashing jim and gerry gave tara and me at cribbage. jim and gerry play better drunk. tara and i don't. :o)

today, after work, we're going to meet in town and shop for a duvet and some bedding for my big move on sunday. (and maybe some black shoes for the christmas party tomorrow night) finally, i will not be living out of a suitcase. and finally, i can not be worried about my shit taking up too much space in gerry's room... to be fair, he's been totally nice and easy-going about it, but i'm sure it'll be nice for him to not have the three bags that don't match today's clothes under his desk.