Sorry for the huge delay in posting, not having much to say plus family matters got me deflated for a bit, but I owe it to myself to post something.
This past week has been a blur. This was the week of the official store opening so we had tons of corporate reps in as well as the regional sales directors and a bunch of airline and land vendors. I actually enjoyed the change, though you could tell it was a bit more prim around here than it usually is. To be fair, I was more impressed with the free booze and food from the two nights of parties we've had then anything else.
Unfortunately I had to face our vendors with an injury. Two nights ago while doing the dishes I broke a glass and before I could react had sliced a nearly 2 inch long gash in the book of my hand. Luckily I apparently missed the vein, but it would not stop bleeding and was pretty fierce looking so I went to the hospital at midnight where I had 10 stiches sewn into me. So for the past few days I have a hand full of padding with my fingers sticking out, partially so I don't hurt myself, and partially so people don't get grossed out. All I can say is that I'm glad I have health insurance. Question for anyone who cares: do co-pays get put toward your yearly deductible?
Not only does my job give me health insurance, but today was the first paycheck where I got a true bonus! Now some might look at $19 dollars and see chump change, but I see progress. This month's commission should be even bigger.
Anyway, this weekend I will be working on Saturday and then possibly going to a party at a friend's. As far as Thanksgiving plans, I don't have any. I have Thurs and Fri off, but have to work next Saturday as well so I can't do much. I may go visit a friend up north, but that's tentative. I may just go to the beach and drink some beers, not a bad comprimise.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
A word on the election and booking tours
Alright, so we all watched the election results last night (I'm sure more people watched than actually voted...) and everyone knows the outcome. Now I'm by no means a staunch Democrat, and I would vote for a Republican I agreed with. That said, the past two years have shown that the Republicans will pander to the dumbest and most juvenile of our population for the sake of winning votes. The sheer hypocrisy of teabaggers rallying against entitlements but taking down medicare and social security is all the proof I need that there is one party in this country dealing in reality and another in la-la land. I just hope that after the elections the GOP can set the crazy aside and try to get real, because there are a lot of serious issues with our country, indeed our very way of life.
Anyway, in happier news, today was my single best day of sales at work. I sold 5 different trips including my first tour. Now true, two of the trips were to people I knew so I didn't make much (read: any) commission on those, but the experience was great, and I finally feel like there is more that I can do than what I can't. It's a good feeling to have someone come in and not get nervous fear in my whole body.
As I mentioned, one of the flights I booked today was for my friend Alisha to come visit, just in time to replace Cosette who left today!
But seriously, I'm psyched she's coming, it will be easy to see a friendly face, especially so close to the holidays when I'll miss home the most. I don't know what to show her, but I'll figure it out.
-Happy Trails!
Anyway, in happier news, today was my single best day of sales at work. I sold 5 different trips including my first tour. Now true, two of the trips were to people I knew so I didn't make much (read: any) commission on those, but the experience was great, and I finally feel like there is more that I can do than what I can't. It's a good feeling to have someone come in and not get nervous fear in my whole body.
As I mentioned, one of the flights I booked today was for my friend Alisha to come visit, just in time to replace Cosette who left today!
But seriously, I'm psyched she's coming, it will be easy to see a friendly face, especially so close to the holidays when I'll miss home the most. I don't know what to show her, but I'll figure it out.
-Happy Trails!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
I'm Contributing! Oh ya, and it's Halloween
It's late and I should probably be in bed, but this week has been a busy one but I'm glad to report that I feel more and more at ease in my job. I am learning and doing more for the office and I feel like I can do about 75% of the things I need to without once asking for someone to check my work. At this point there are just the odd things that come up that no one would ever think to warn or tell me about because it happens so infrequently that making it part of organized training would be silly. Tomorrow in fact I actually get to work alone for a few hours. This is partly because I'm at that point now, and partly so I can pick up some extra hours to make up for the time I was at home unexpectedly.
A word on Halloween. When I was young I definitely enjoyed Halloween time, who didn't. When I was in high school I could understand the desire to dress up and maybe have a party or something. I can even understand college kids wanting to break up the weekly routine of partying by partying in costume. But enough is enough. At this point in my life Halloween seems to be an excuse for my generation to dress up like idiots/whores and for some reason that's ok. And I'm the one who's crazy because I just don't understand the need to spend a month preparing a costume I'm gonna only wear once. Case in point; tomorrow I'm going over to a friends for a birthday party since he turned 23 on Tuesday. But of course the party gets moved to the weekend and now I need to create a costume? After I was home for a week and an hour after I get out of work? Ya no. I'm gonna go on down to Culver City, give him his gift (Rex Goliath wine!) and hang out for a bit. If someone asks me what my costume is I'll say, "an Adult".
I love most holidays, but it's probably time to grow up a bit.
-Jeff
A word on Halloween. When I was young I definitely enjoyed Halloween time, who didn't. When I was in high school I could understand the desire to dress up and maybe have a party or something. I can even understand college kids wanting to break up the weekly routine of partying by partying in costume. But enough is enough. At this point in my life Halloween seems to be an excuse for my generation to dress up like idiots/whores and for some reason that's ok. And I'm the one who's crazy because I just don't understand the need to spend a month preparing a costume I'm gonna only wear once. Case in point; tomorrow I'm going over to a friends for a birthday party since he turned 23 on Tuesday. But of course the party gets moved to the weekend and now I need to create a costume? After I was home for a week and an hour after I get out of work? Ya no. I'm gonna go on down to Culver City, give him his gift (Rex Goliath wine!) and hang out for a bit. If someone asks me what my costume is I'll say, "an Adult".
I love most holidays, but it's probably time to grow up a bit.
-Jeff
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Busy past week
Hello everyone, sorry for the delay, I've had a busy couple of weeks.
As I mentioned earlier my store that I work out of has been in an ongoing renovation for the past couple weeks and was just finished Tuesday, which means I have been doing some moving and minor construction. The great thing is that now I'm not working in spitting distance of a bathroom people seem more apt to come in and at least say hello, so I think business should pick up. I learned today that October is actually the slowest month of the year for travel bookings, which is a bit confusing to me since I would be booking flights to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas by now if I were in college. But then again I'm 23 and don't have to worry about tests or papers so the average college student is a bit more distracted than I am.
Also keeping me busy, last week I went home to deal with some family matters. While unexpected it was certainly nice to go home during my favorite season and watch the leafs change. I even saw some snowflakes! While the reason for going home was less than optimal, I am glad I had the chance to go so I could see some family that I sorely missed, and since I wasn't planning on being home until 2011 at least, it was an unexpected but halfway welcome surprise.
Anyway, life in LA isn't all that exciting. I had to drop my improv class for the moment as the journey home meant I would be missing way too many class sessions. That's ok, but I would really like to be performing or doing something creative. I shall have to start keeping a journal written from the viewpoint of a survivor of a zombie apocalypse.
Anyway, I am off to buy a friend a drink for her birthday and then back to work in the morning. No exciting plans for the weekend, but they say there may be snow high in the mountains, I shall keep my eyes peeled.
Let's go Giants!
As I mentioned earlier my store that I work out of has been in an ongoing renovation for the past couple weeks and was just finished Tuesday, which means I have been doing some moving and minor construction. The great thing is that now I'm not working in spitting distance of a bathroom people seem more apt to come in and at least say hello, so I think business should pick up. I learned today that October is actually the slowest month of the year for travel bookings, which is a bit confusing to me since I would be booking flights to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas by now if I were in college. But then again I'm 23 and don't have to worry about tests or papers so the average college student is a bit more distracted than I am.
Also keeping me busy, last week I went home to deal with some family matters. While unexpected it was certainly nice to go home during my favorite season and watch the leafs change. I even saw some snowflakes! While the reason for going home was less than optimal, I am glad I had the chance to go so I could see some family that I sorely missed, and since I wasn't planning on being home until 2011 at least, it was an unexpected but halfway welcome surprise.
Anyway, life in LA isn't all that exciting. I had to drop my improv class for the moment as the journey home meant I would be missing way too many class sessions. That's ok, but I would really like to be performing or doing something creative. I shall have to start keeping a journal written from the viewpoint of a survivor of a zombie apocalypse.
Anyway, I am off to buy a friend a drink for her birthday and then back to work in the morning. No exciting plans for the weekend, but they say there may be snow high in the mountains, I shall keep my eyes peeled.
Let's go Giants!
Monday, October 11, 2010
This took too long...
Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay, I've had my mom come to visit and a friend came to town so I've been a bit pre-occupied but now that I've got a few minutes I can check in for a short update.
As I said, my mom came to visit me last weekend for my birthday and it was awesome. It meant a lot that she took a vacation so she could come and visit me for my birthday. Now when she booked the ticket there was a possibility that she would be driving me back East and thankfully I got to drop her off at the airport and stay in sunny LA. Of course, I don't think my mom minded just having a sunny California getaway; she got to stay with her friend Gena on the beach all week. Now living on the beach doesn't quite qualify to me as really experiencing LA, but given my Mom's professed love of Florida, I don't think she minded. She still hung out with me a bunch and we went to Malibu and saw an improv show and it was a really great weekend. I was sad to see her go, but there's a chance I may see my Dad and brother in Denver in a bit when they go out for a college tour. Even though it's not home, I still consider myself lucky that I have parents that will put their own jobs on hold for their kids. It makes me feel a bit better that I'll be missing Thanksgiving and Christmas. All that remains will be a trip down South to visit my brother in Savannah.
Yesterday my good friend Cosette flew in for her month (or longer?) stint working at the Marriot in Marina Del Ray, which is right by the ocean. As if I needed an excuse. She's been one of my best friends since the first day of college (literally she was the first person I met on the bus into Freshman Camp). She's a bit jet-lagged for now, but I'm sure I will find plenty of excuses to hang out with her and make her feel a little less lonely on the West Coast. I'm also happy to see a friend from NH out here, which has been one of the harder things to cope with.
Other than that I am still enjoying my job, getting to know the lingo and helping out some customers. I finally feel like I'm starting to contribute and I'm getting my confidence up, which really is 75% of the battle. I still laugh at how lucky I am to have found such a great job for me. At the moment we are in the middle of a store remodel so I work in a glorified storage closet, but really it just adds to the allure.
Anyway, that's all for now. Tonight I am heading back to the Improv X-ecution to help vote for my friend Van Gogh and hang out afterward. Tomorrow? Who knows. Big city living!
Happy Trails!
Oh, and you need to check out my friend Richard's blob/vlog http://dickfloundge.com, he's one of the nicest people you've every met and a good friend.
As I said, my mom came to visit me last weekend for my birthday and it was awesome. It meant a lot that she took a vacation so she could come and visit me for my birthday. Now when she booked the ticket there was a possibility that she would be driving me back East and thankfully I got to drop her off at the airport and stay in sunny LA. Of course, I don't think my mom minded just having a sunny California getaway; she got to stay with her friend Gena on the beach all week. Now living on the beach doesn't quite qualify to me as really experiencing LA, but given my Mom's professed love of Florida, I don't think she minded. She still hung out with me a bunch and we went to Malibu and saw an improv show and it was a really great weekend. I was sad to see her go, but there's a chance I may see my Dad and brother in Denver in a bit when they go out for a college tour. Even though it's not home, I still consider myself lucky that I have parents that will put their own jobs on hold for their kids. It makes me feel a bit better that I'll be missing Thanksgiving and Christmas. All that remains will be a trip down South to visit my brother in Savannah.
Yesterday my good friend Cosette flew in for her month (or longer?) stint working at the Marriot in Marina Del Ray, which is right by the ocean. As if I needed an excuse. She's been one of my best friends since the first day of college (literally she was the first person I met on the bus into Freshman Camp). She's a bit jet-lagged for now, but I'm sure I will find plenty of excuses to hang out with her and make her feel a little less lonely on the West Coast. I'm also happy to see a friend from NH out here, which has been one of the harder things to cope with.
Other than that I am still enjoying my job, getting to know the lingo and helping out some customers. I finally feel like I'm starting to contribute and I'm getting my confidence up, which really is 75% of the battle. I still laugh at how lucky I am to have found such a great job for me. At the moment we are in the middle of a store remodel so I work in a glorified storage closet, but really it just adds to the allure.
Anyway, that's all for now. Tonight I am heading back to the Improv X-ecution to help vote for my friend Van Gogh and hang out afterward. Tomorrow? Who knows. Big city living!
Happy Trails!
Oh, and you need to check out my friend Richard's blob/vlog http://dickfloundge.com, he's one of the nicest people you've every met and a good friend.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Mom and Thunderstorms
Today my mom came to town to visit for a few days and to help me celebrate my birthday, which is Friday. Turning 23 is pretty much a pointless birthday, but I'm happy I get to celebrate it with a member of the family, especially since it doesn't seem like I'll be going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. She's staying with Gena over in Venice for a few days by the beach, which I'm sure Mom won't mind. Tonight I got a chance to show off my chili cooking skills. I figured that Mom would want some substantial food to refuel after her long flight and what better than chili dogs?
Tonight was also special for another reason, we had a thunderstorm here in the Valley. This is the first true weather we've had in close to 3 months, and this the same week we had the hottest temps EVER recorded. Of course everyone in LA lost their minds. Laural Canyon's stop lights went to flashing reds, and everyone started driving 15 miles an hour. Now I'm sure for denizens of LA rain is a pretty big deal, but as someone who has routinely driven to school in Noreasters I'm not very impressed.
Also on the news front I have signed up for the next session of Groundlings and was able to find a session that I would be able to go to while still working. I'm not entirely sure what I want from these classes, whether I want to be famous or work my great job, but I am happier when I'm doing improv so that's what I'm gonna do. The way I look at it, some people have vices like drinking or drugs that they spend money on, and I have improv. Even if income is slower than I might like, I think for my personal sanity it's worth it.
Tonight was also special for another reason, we had a thunderstorm here in the Valley. This is the first true weather we've had in close to 3 months, and this the same week we had the hottest temps EVER recorded. Of course everyone in LA lost their minds. Laural Canyon's stop lights went to flashing reds, and everyone started driving 15 miles an hour. Now I'm sure for denizens of LA rain is a pretty big deal, but as someone who has routinely driven to school in Noreasters I'm not very impressed.
Also on the news front I have signed up for the next session of Groundlings and was able to find a session that I would be able to go to while still working. I'm not entirely sure what I want from these classes, whether I want to be famous or work my great job, but I am happier when I'm doing improv so that's what I'm gonna do. The way I look at it, some people have vices like drinking or drugs that they spend money on, and I have improv. Even if income is slower than I might like, I think for my personal sanity it's worth it.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Working for a living
There's not much to say about my first full week working in LA than to say that everything you have heard about LA traffic is 100% accurate. It may be due to having a job on the always crowded and freeway barren west side, but there's a reason why LA has some of the worst air quality in the country. Other than that though I really like my job. I feel like I'm starting to contribute and the longer I'm there the easier it will get.
On Monday I went to the improv competition that I had to drop out of and was a guest judge. I was happy to go back because it meant I could hang out with some current competitors afterward, which had been a sort of post show tradition while I was still competing. It made me wish that I hadn't dropped out, but I still think I made the right choice. I'll probably be going back this coming Monday as well, an improv show is still an improv show, and from now on I think I can even get in for free. So I got that going for me.
Anyway, my Mom is coming to visit this week for my birthday and to see LA. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to show her around, but given that next week is supposed to be in the 90's and she's staying with a friend on the beach I'm sure she won't mind too much.
On Monday I went to the improv competition that I had to drop out of and was a guest judge. I was happy to go back because it meant I could hang out with some current competitors afterward, which had been a sort of post show tradition while I was still competing. It made me wish that I hadn't dropped out, but I still think I made the right choice. I'll probably be going back this coming Monday as well, an improv show is still an improv show, and from now on I think I can even get in for free. So I got that going for me.
Anyway, my Mom is coming to visit this week for my birthday and to see LA. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to show her around, but given that next week is supposed to be in the 90's and she's staying with a friend on the beach I'm sure she won't mind too much.
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