Happy X-Mas

I hadn't written on the blog in a while, I've been really busy at work, the last thing I wanted to do was sit on a computer when I got home.

I guess I'll start with some ramblings about work. The other week, there was the Golden Globes nominations. I've never cared about awards for films ever. For me, it's a reason NOT to see the film. But now they actually affect me. The day prior to the GG nominations, there wasn't much work that could be done, because we knew the next day, we were gonna have all new campaigns, and with a even tighter deadline. Next rush will be the Oscars. Hopefully most of the films for that will be from earlier this year.

That's enough work talk, I'm on vacation. So how is Xmas going for me? I'm not impressed. My parents got divorced last year, so I don't really look forward towards Xmas anymore. It's almost depressing for me. My father who has no Xmas spirit, gave me $100 last week. Wow, Thanks Dad! That's such a thoughtful gift. How did you know that I value money more then the thought of you actually thinking about me and knowing a little something about me? BTW the surprise of getting it a week early, thumbs up. Here's the boots I got you, that you've been talking about for the last 2 month about enjoy!
Well, I'm gonna head over to my mom's later this afternoon, she gave me cash last Xmas too. I'm hopping it'll be an actual gift this year. But my hopes aren't high.
I'm old enough to not care about what I get for Xmas anymore. But to me, the idea of gift giving, is the thought process of thinking what to get someone, and braving the shopping crowds. That's what matters to me at this time of year. Recieving cash at Xmas is the absolute most unthoughtful gift you can give someone, especially a close family member. Even if you don't know what to get someone, a gift card from a favorite store is more thoughtfull and can be appreciated. You might not know what I already have, and that's fine but just the idea of knowing a little something about me, what I like, what I want, means a lot more than cash. I don't think I'm being greedy, I just want my family to think about me during the holidays, I don't think that's too much to ask for!

Xmas at our house used to be great. We would go out as a family to choose a tree, and then decorate it when we got home, my parents would used to have parties and they invite their friends over Xmas eve. We would always get compliments about how great our tree looked. Then the worst part about those Xmas' was the anticipation of Xmas morning, we always opened gifts when everybody was awake, but I always woke up early and we didn't open gifts until everybody was up. Those Xmas' declined over the years, we stopped getting trees, parties stopped happening, fewer and fewer people would come by. The past several years, I've been celebrating Xmas eve at my friend Gord's house with his family, his family makes me feel welcomed, unlike my own family.

I can't wait for this day to be over, I'm really not enjoying it. I know it's a terrible thing to say on this day, but I'm not religious, hence why I keep refering it to Xmas instead of Christmas. I don't celebrate it for it religious connections, I celebrate for it's other ideals of togetherness, friends & family.

I guess I could look forward to Boxing day tomorrow, there's nothing I really want besides high price items like a new Nikon D200 or a MacBook, but Gord, Serena and myself are going to hit Yorkville tomorrow to see what we can find for cloths. I was majorly disappointed when Club Monaco closed their outlet stores early this year. The past several years, Gord and I always hit that store and we would find amazing stuff there, even one year we were comparing who had better cashmere sweaters, CM or Winners. I'm also a bit of electronics junkie, but this year's electronics store are showing a lot of disappointments. I can't believe there's nothing that I'm interested in.

Well I might be a bit bummed, but wishing you all a Happy XMas/holiday(s)!

Better Late Than Never

Well, it seems like almost a week since I posted. I've been pretty busy lately.
I've been meaning to post about the weekend past about Carolyn's birthday party. We started at a restaurant called La Palette, a French Bistro in Kensington Market. Food was great there. A little expensive, since I didn't know I would have a job yet. What impressed me was the variety of meats. Some weird stuff, not so normal meats were wild boar, venison, and buffalo, but what really stood out, was horse. Yes that's right HORSE. Where do you get horse meat to begin with? I know it's common in some European and Asian countries, but it's nothing something you can buy in any butcher shop. Not that I'm angry or anything, I'm just curious, even tempted to try it. If you're wondering I had the duck. Quack quack. Afterwards, we headed to Eat Your Greens! at Neutral Bar also in the market. It was so much fun to go clubbing again. I wish I was younger so I can go on a weekly basis like I use to. Happy 30th Carolyn, I wish I had gotten around to this sooner.



Also this past Friday, I went to the company Holiday Party. It was held at a restaurant called Acrobat in Yonge and Eglinton. I showed about an hour late, I had to go home, found out Mike was hanging out at Gord's so I went to go see them, I hadn't seen Mike in a few weeks, so I went over to catch up, stayed about a half hour. Got home, got changed, and left again. So arriving at the party, the bosses are making their company Thank You speech, so I wait until they finish, and start looking for a chair. Only chairs available is at an empty table. Great 3 days of work, know next to no-one at an office party I didn't really want to go to. Well I sat down, and the department managers saw me sitting alone, and made some space for me. Then it started to get good, I got comfortable and made some jokes, got a drink, and then lined up for the buffet. The food was great, well prepared roast beef, it was a good feast. In the end I had a really good time, got to know my new co-workers a bit better, probably had one to many, and got a free cab ride home. I think I might like it here.


A little chimpping

My First Day

My first day was interesting. So this is how it feels to have a real job. Well I had jobs where I was part of a company before, but do teenage part time jobs count? Alright I'm not counting jobs in my restaurant/club days, well manual labour. I have a key card that I need just to get into the building, this is really cool. I need to follow a code of ethics, and my computer/internet usages is assume no privacy, there's even a dress code, now I actually have to think about what I'm gonna wear to work. A lot different then the last ad agency I was working at; Wear what you want, bosses showing me their porn collection, spend half the morning talking about nonsense. This is really different, wondering if I can use MSN, they have MS Office on the computer, so it should be there, and not allowed to install things on my computer. Hmmm

One thing I learned about myself today. I suck at QuarkXpress, okay granted I haven't used it in like 3 years, I'm surprised I impressed them on my test. They gave me a practice thing to work on today, it took me almost all day to do it. I know if I had did it in illustrator I would have done it in an hour. So I guess I need to improve my skills. Well there's tomorrow. I have an idea on how I can not waste so much time.

On the bright side, I worked in this neighborhood for about 3 or 4 years when I first started working in Commercial Photography. I get to go back to my old food haunts, Real Jerk, Wylie Coyotees, I'm sure there's more, just can't remember them all.

I Got It

So the job I was mentioning, well I got it. I asked the guy who tested me on my Quark skills the other week, and he told me only 4 people got interviews, and I was the only one who got a second, also the only person they liked, which sort of guaranteed me the job. I'm pretty excited as you can tell.

I start Wednesday morning, can't wait to start bitching and moaning about my new job.