The Yellow Book

I got a good 9 hours sleep last night, and yet today I was exhausted... ALL DAY. My brain worked slower than usual (probably using less than 10% - even though we humans apparently use way more than that myth claims) and so did I. And the time passed just about as quickly as a snail slithers from Edinburgh to London. The day was longer and, well, worse than that day last week when I worked for 14 hours. Seriously. Today it was only 10 hours, for f's sake!
But hey. Friday is pay-day!
My mother is a really funny writer. Though her genre is not quite comedy; it's historical fiction, but she can be a hilarious blogger when she wants to. Those of you who know Icelandic, find out for yourselves here. I laughed out loud numerous times when I was reading her August 26th post. Brilliant.

QotD: Chazz: "Personal philosphy? Clothing optional." - Blades of Glory

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 00:12:-

Thursday, August 16, 2007

The pros and cons of working late in a shop

Cons:

1) You are really tired when you get home at 9 pm plus-ish, and your feet are completely dead.

2) When you're having a bad day, it makes the day even longer.

Pros:

1) Massive (relatively) overtime wages - and the shop manager usually adds a couple of hours to your paycheck!

2) You get free food - lunch, high tea and dinner. Usually really good, filling and reinvigorating, therefore making it easier to get through the day. (This is one of my favourite pros.) The banter in the staff room is quite good during dinner, as well. Found out that my sometimes-scary boss has a very funny side. For example, she asked us (there were just girls) if we'd seen one of the two boys who are always together and almost never speak a word to anyone else - indeed, most of us don't even know which is which, though we do know their names - when he was changing T-shirts. No, was our reply. She told us that he has an incredible six-pack! He's sixteen we think, and she's in her forties. Yet she notices and appreciates this! Heh, this boy will be freaked out tomorrow when he will be stared at by his girl co-workers...

3) The good feeling of accomplishment when the day is done and knowing you were helpful and so indispensabe you were asked to stay longer.

4) It's easier to fall asleep before midnight, on account of the tiredness. The same way, it's even nicer to get in bed, your head on the soft pillow and under the warm and engulfing duvet, after a long day.

5) Better than doing nothing all day!

As you can see, there are more pros than cons of working 10 hours or more in a shop. Today was an especially good day; it was busy but not too busy, and I only got customers who were nice and so thankful for the help I gave them in the book department. I wasn't working the cash register at all, which might have contributed to the lack of rude customers! Although, from what I heard from the girls who are on the registers all day that it's getting better, as people are usually so pleasantly surprised when they see an item like a rubber, a pencil or a ruler costing only 1 isk - less than 1p! The "price battle" has started, as the two cheap office supplies/text book shops, Griffill where I work, and Office 1, are constantly comparing prices and lowering them. Today this society that does price checks or whatever you call them and send them to the media came today, and there was so much stress amongst the staff - especially the shop manager - you could almost feel it! And oh the feeling of relief and happiness when we found out that overall, we won!!! Cheapest! YESSSSSSSSSSSS.

Also, I found a 500 isk (4 quid) note in the parking lot today. That made me giddy.

QotD: [talking to two girls] Mason: "Do any of you girls work for UPS? 'Cause I couldn't help but notice you were checking out my package." - Dead Like Me

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 22:51:-

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The problems of living alone

I have to buy my own food, which means:
a) I either don't eat all of it before the best before date on account of being at work and then not hungry when I get home from having dinner elsewhere
b) I spend too much money on Pepsi Max because I never get the chance to go to the cheap supermarket because of work and therefore have to go shopping during lunch (there's one a little less cheap supermarket 2 mins away)
c) I finish the biscuits too fast
d) I don't get very good TV reception in my room, which means I spend more time than I should on the computer... Would it be better to watch more TV, though? Don't think so.

But there are also pros, which include:
a) Being able to keep the bathroom door open so I can listen to music on my iPod speakers while I shower
b) I don't have to worry about anyone walking in on me... if the door is locked, i.e.! (Which, by the way, it always is!)
c) I can leave my dirty socks on the bedroom floor without anyone coming in and making an "ew"-sound (shout-out to mummy dearest!). Though for some reason I don't do that anymore; I actually want my carpet to be sock-free! Also, the dirty laundry basket is literally a few metres away, in the bathroom.
d) My sleeping hours are finally becoming, you know, natural. I am actually tired enough to go to bed before midnight!!! Well, except for the weekends... which brings me to my next pro:
e) Don't have to worry about waking anyone when I drag my ass back home in the wee hours on the weekend. Heehee.
f) I can drink as much Pepsi Max as I want. As long as I pay for it myself. :P

Well that's all for now.

QotD: Buffy: "Sometimes I wish I was an only child." - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 23:44:-

Monday, August 13, 2007

Quota

I think everyone who works in a shop should have a quota for rude/annoying customers. When you've filled your quota, you just get any of your work colleagues to take over for you to deal with the next rude customer.

I filled my quota within two hours today. Yes. Icelanders are remarkably impatient, and many of them, especially mothers of teenagers who are returning their old text books, are NOT afraid to show it. No matter how rude they are in the process.

I understand when people are annoyed when they have to queue for ages. I get it. Even if they're not in a hurry - it's just annoying. But do not take it out on the cashier!!! He or she has no power over how slow the new system is, and is probably just as, if not more, annoyed than you are at it. He or she just chooses not to show it, in order to BE POLITE to the customer. Why the HELL can the customer not do the same???

If you've ever worked in a shop, I'm sure you'll agree with me that the two most annoying things about it are rude customers and customers who enter the shop five minutes before closing time and don't leave until 20 minutes past.

QotD: Randal Graves: "This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers." - Clerks

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 21:34:-

Saturday, August 11, 2007

kag7

I've now, for the first time in my life, worked a 12-hour day. My record was 11 hours at the fish factory. I was shattered after working from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, but the thought of the generous (for me i.e.) overtime wages made it all worth it. Also, we got pizza for dinner, and after consuming as much pizza as I could (and gone through the usual food coma from eating too much) I was completely rejuvenated and was totally ready to work for a couple of hours more. Then the next day I came in at 9. I'm also working Saturday - 10 a.m.-4 p.m., all overtime! SO worth it. :D

I've now got a uni e-mail address now; it's kag7 (at) hi (dot) is. I feel so grown-up! I have also applied for a student card. Don't know when I'll get it - just completed the online application ten minutes ago. It was really hard to decide which photo I should have on the card - I simply had to find one on my computer, not go to a photo booth and whatnot, to get a passport pic. This is the photo that I finally decided on:

It's quite recent, which is partly why I decided to use it. One of my fangs is visible; I like to think they are a prominent feature in my appearance. The photo doesn't show the full length of my hair, though, but that's really not a problem... shouldn't be, at least!

QotD: Buffy: You know me, not much with the damseling. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 01:01:-

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Clean?

Well, the ground floor kitchen in Höfði has been cleaned, so it's not minging anymore and can actually be entered without inducing a sickness of the stomach...

I used it all by myself for the first time today, actually. I mean, of course I've eaten here - only had bread and stuff and yoghurt for breakfast in my room. Today I made dinner for myself... sort of. Until now I've only been eating at the rents'; they've offered, and why should I say no? Free food, carefully preapared and tasty! Today I made this rice pudding/stew thing - dunno what to call it - with raisins; very popular among the youngish people; when I was a kid I loved it. Still do, in fact. Easy to prepare and rather tasty. While I was cooking, the Australian Dude passed by the kitchen and kept me company, telling me about his weekend in Vestmannaeyjar (tourist name: Westman Islands), at the festival there. He burned his hands at a camp fire that turned into a small explosion when some smart guy threw a can of hairspray or sth into the fire. He was quite miffed, being the only one of all the people around the fire that got burned. Bummer for him.

QotD: Andrew: "I'm bored. Episode One bored." - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 23:59:-

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Happy anniversary!

Today, August 5th 2007, is the 1st wedding anniversary - Paper, i.e. - of my mum and stepdad's! I would like to take this opportunity, while you're reading this, and publicly congratulate them! I am sure you will join me in wishing them all the best and a (continuing) wonderful marriage for the remainder of their lives!!!

A toast to Vilborg and Björgvin!

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 22:28:-

Friday, August 03, 2007

This is what I'm missing

While the media in Iceland obsesses over the case of a man shooting his ex-wife's new boyfriend out in the street and then driving to Þingvellir only to shoot himself, the second headline on thescotsman.com is Why we should not be trying to save the whale. I can just imagine - Scotland Today, BBC Scotland and STV news covering the fact that a minke whale - named Marvin, no doubt by the person who was the first to spot it - stranded in Fraserburgh harbour, from every angle. Does he (because naming the whale humanises it, and it's therefore no longer an "it") need humans to - so far unsuccessfully - get loose, or should they just leave him to do it himself? I bet the TV-journalists were just tripping over themselves, trying to get first in line to take the cameraman down to the harbour.

Today's frontpage of The Scotsman, though, is slightly less humorous (OK, I am NOT saying I find it funny that a whale is stuck in a harbour; I just think the media coverage must be amusing. Seeing as how I'm not actually witnessing it, I'm obviously not to be relied on in that matter). One of the "suspects" in the Glasgow Airport terror attack on June 30th died of his burns. I don't get why he was a "suspect", though; he walked out of the car aflame and then tried to remove canisters of gas from the car's boot, no doubt to cause a huge explosion. Do they really NEED any more evidence that he is not entirely innocent??? Hell, he received 90% burns to his body - it's not like they could have confused him with somebody else!

It goes without saying that when somebody dies, it is a sad thing. No matter that they tried to blow up a big international airport. They'd deserve a heavy prison sentence for that, not a death one (though in this case, it was only a matter of time when he was going to die from his burns). I also think it's kinda sad that this man was involved in this whole thing in the first place. According to The Scotsman, he was an aeronautics engineer; studied in Belfast and "completed an M Phil in aeronautical engineering in 2003, then studied for a PhD in computational fluid dynamics at Anglia Polytechnic University."

How can a man that smart act that stupidly?

I moved into a room of my own (well, that my friend is subletting to me for 5 months) in a sort of a student accomodation building on Wednesday. I've now spent two nights here all by myself - disaster-free. I've unpacked all of my boxes - aside from one and a half, because I don't know yet where to put the stuff that's in them. Ehem. How can I have so much stuff? Why do I need so much stuff here with me? These are questions I've asked myself numerous times while unpacking, but then I look at the stuff in another box and think "Ah, THAT's why; I can't IMAGINE life without THIS! Even for only five months. And I MIGHT have to use that. There's a possibility I'll be needing these." And so it goes.

I've almost finished making the walls homely - in my opinion and experience, posters and/or postcards on the walls somehow make the place more familiar and personalised, more yours. Or mine, actually. It's quite nice, so far. I can't be bothered with the Wall of Fame, yet, though; I spent all last night putting up my posters and sorting which cards and postcards I want to put up. I've got SO many of the latter, that it would just be too crowded if I'd put all of them on my walls. (Yes, I do actually think there is such a thing as TOO much. Look into my wardrobe and you might not believe me...) I also simply don't want it to be exactly the same as before - I do want a bit of a change. I've even got a few new cards! Like one from London, that I got from Alina's friend Katha, who is now my e-penpal. It's quite cool. Also some old postcards - as old as from 1996 - that I found in some box when I was packing. One was quite amusing, actually. Shaped like Iceland with a photo of an erupting volcano, it was from my gran Kata, sent to the address in France where we stayed a bit when mum and I were travelling there... in the summer of 1998. Gran was complaining that she had only got one postcard, as opposed to many more like I had promised! Hahaha! I had completely forgotten about that.

Well, I have to get going now; gonna stop by in Bónus on my way to the rents' for dinner... heehee. It's so funny! I'm not going HOME for dinner - I AM home right now. Heehee.

QotD: Anya: "Have a nice day! Don't get killed!" - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

-: Trina illustrated her blog at 17:50:-