Yeah, these posts as long as I am at home, they're probably going to be a lot shorter than my normal posts. Couple of reasons why.
1. Not nearly as much happens when I'm at home, just going to work and hanging out with friends, and...
2. What does happen while I'm at work is almost never worth mentioning, and what happens while I'm with friends, pretty much my entire potential audience is already there for it.
Last night was fairly worth mentioning, though. We played poker for a while, Texas Hold 'Em. I organized a game with Daniel, Dan, Steven, and myself. We figured it would be a friendly game, and I didn't go into it thinking I would win money, but instead would just have had fun with friends for a while in a slightly more high-stakes environment than usual.
I ended up losing $15, from an original stake of $10. (When I went bankrupt, the others convinced me to buy back in with $5 more. Then I lost all of that.) I wish Dan had told me beforehand that he had become extremely able at poker from his youth in Puerto Rico. He ended up with $14 of my dollars, Steven taking the last one. Daniel broke even. I hate everything. I suggested later that we could try blackjack at another point, but Dan pointed out that, in the interest of fairness, he would have to tell me that he was adept at blackjack as well. And he did. So I think I won't be gambling against him for money anymore.
Then came the games of pool. I would have beaten Steven if we had stopped at best out of three, best out of five, or even best out of seven, but nooo...I had to go for best out of nine. He won two games in a row to win, 5-4. He lost the first two games by pocketing the 8-ball by accident, one of them in a quite spectacular way that he in no way could have ever done intentionally. You know what I mean. I had a few shots that way myself, but fortunately none of them resulted in me losing a game.
Work today was rather bland and uninteresting. It was aggravating in that the flow of customers was directly proportionate to the rate at which I worked. When I was slow and getting caught up in the problems, there would be a slow trickle. Then, just as I cleared through the backlogs and started to rampage through customers, the trickle would become a geyser and we'd be up to our eyeballs in customers. The problem was that the flow was constant. Whether there was one more customer in line or fifty, there was always one to replace the one that just left. I saw the store nearly empty, two customers in line, and cherished the thought of a sweet, two-minute break. By the time I dealt with the two, two more arrived. When those two had been served, three more were there. And by the time those three were finished, four dozen had lined up. This kind of got really old, really fast, as one might imagine. So there was a never-ending stream of customers. And I know for a cold frozen fact that it's only going to get worse as the days pass. At least I'm making money. I pay money to not enjoy myself in some classes, at least for this lack of enjoyment I'm getting paid.
So, that's about it. Today's Luke-Approved YouTube Link of the Day is a special seven-parter (Gasp!). I say seven parts because just one could not fully capture the scope of this marvel. Apparently, this guy "jinja" made a program that converts MIDI files into graphical representations, and jiggered up some songs that looked really keen when fed into said representation machine. He did seven of them:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASXnFRYf6LI&NR The Retro Gaming Medley.
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdTdsn5G8L8 Cheetahmen 2, a highly forgettable NES game, but one that had some wicked music.
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7S20zH7iDU Kirby "Madley" (medley).
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF_1eyn25eA Mega Man, Dr. Wily, Stage 2.
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6djgwjjco Final Fantasy IV.
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4DjC0BdKt4 Chrono Trigger, an awesome old RPG.
7. And finally, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wkI7hg65F0 also known as Super Mario Bros.
Enjoy 'em.
REPLIES.
Mom: Yes, yes. Don't overexert yourself.
Dad: Well, we can be a bit loud at times. It's part of our, er, charm. And I understand that all mortal lives are but fragments of a second to the hyper-extended life of a figure such as the devil, but true immortality means you never die, ever, which is darn inconvenient to a being that cashes in his check, so to speak, after you die. Not even when the sun burns out and the planet falls into molten slag. Hmm...but...that may just give me a story idea.
Vic: Well, here you are. Enjoy it. No more pouting, no matter how cute you may be when you do so.
Mike: That seems about par for the course, if Matt was running the Tomb to Gygax's standards. You'd think some GM in one of the groups would have fudged the dice to let at least one of his players live, but such a thing would have been contrary to the spirit of the exercise, I suppose.
Jake: Dude. Fine. Gawd. Jeez. Dude.
Bye.
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5 comments:
As your first paragraph with bulletin explained, I have learned nothing from the next three. As for your new information, there's a reason why they call work 'work'. Nice youtube links, the first one was flashy as hell. I might not respond too often while I'm on break, seeing as I'm not on my computer that often during break, and your blog doesn't tell me much during this period. Oh, I ot a GPS for my birthday. It's so awesome not getting lost! I'm going to pass out now.
-Steve
[My reaction, upon watching all seven of the videos]:
...That was freakin' amazing. My favorite one was definetly Dr. Wily.
Funny, yet sad about Dan taking all your money. Tell him to remind me how exactly someone goes about being 'good' at a game where the luck of the draw is what counts.
-Jake
Poker, in any form (this is for Jake), is about knowing when to bet, bet big, and bet the farm. As for the rest of your post...yeah, I believe I was either there for it or know a good deal about it. So...I guess I'll see you later.
-Daniel
Lucas, I'm interested in your observation that the flow of customers is unending. The ones you take care of are always replaced by others.
The same thing happens at the hospital where I volunteer. There's always either someone to visit a patient or ask about a patient, someone to get tests done, and/or someone to become a patient himself. They're hardly ever alone, that is, people come into the hospital in groups, sometimes in pairs, except a few times if they're coming for some minor test. Result: there's always someone(s) at the desk. And very often an upset, worried, or scared someone(s). So you're right, the flow of people never ends. I bet your customers are in better spirits than most of my customers, though.
And the best part is that you are getting paid. I do this for free. Yes, yes, I'm getting the satisfaction, etc. In a way I'm tithing with my time, which is worth money, because if they hired someone to do what I do it would cost the hospital a lot! The only time I remember the desk being empty for any length of time, we sat there bored and said, "Boy, it's slow." That GUARANTEED that we would be inundated immediately.
Lesson to be learned: don't complain about a paid job, and never say or even think "I'm bored, it's slow."
love,
Mama
If there were long stretches of time where you were bored, that would be a signal to your boss that he doesn't need so many people working. Therefore, he would either send you home or would schedule less people for next time. Either way, boredom = less money for you.
Be thankful the store is busy enough to hire you back every time you need the work...
In this case, work is like a game of pinball: the reward for a good game (doing a good job at work) is the chance to play again (be hired back for more shifts). The penalty for a poor game (doing a poor job at work, either by your own actions or by the store doing such lousy business it doesn't need a lot of people on every shift) is no more free games (many fewer scheduled shifts).
Bottom line, where work is concerned, boredom is your enemy.
-- Your experienced Dad
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