Razy* Adventures

Ever since I got my phone four days ago, I've experienced some rather weird conversations over the phone that would last me for a whole month in Malaysia. The first day I got my phone, I received 3 separate phone calls, all from different numbers looking for the same person; one George Lovell. Sorry, he doesn't exist nor do I know anyone by that name.

Today was weirder. I received a text message this morning and thinking that it might a friend who got my new number, I decided to go along with conversation. It went like this:

Stranger: "You up?"

Me: "Now I am. What's up?"

Stranger: ":) Sorry I had a funny story. So I went to Statik last night and won a
free boob job. How funny is that? :)"

Me: "Eh? =.=" that is one hell of a weird prize. Hmm..."

Stranger: "I know but who could be more deserving? :)"

Me: "Is that rhetorical question? I know this may sound weird but who is this?"

Stranger: "Oh thanks :( Mandi"

Me: "Lol. U wanna know sth funny? I think u got the wrong person XD"

Stranger: "Well who's this? :)"

I decided to end the conversation there. Nothing is weirder than talking about your boob job prize with a total stranger. The funny thing was that I actually heard the advertisements for Statik (club) over the radio and how they were giving out a free boob job prize but never in a million years would I dream of having a conversation with the person who actually won the damn prize. Maybe she thought she was talking to George Lovell...hmm...

*Razy = Racy

All Nighter

So here I am again, blogging at work which means that I have the need to kill time. Tonight will be my first offical all nighter. Sounds scary as hell (in case I fall asleep and get reprimanded) but I think I'll be fine. Being assigned a double shift from 12am to 8am does seem menacing to one's sleep but I've learnt the art of sleeping beforehand so as to not suffer from terrible sleep pangs at work.

The fact of the matter is that I've been working so much for the past few days that exhaustion/fatigue has kicked in. Not to mention the obvious dark circles under my eyes. I think my own mother would be horrified at the hours that I carry. All for the LA trip. It better be worth it or else I will be extremely disappointed.

I will be snacking on yoghurt, chips, M&M's and Altoids to keep me awake. Yes, Altoids. I love mints and I found out that they're really good; plus it helps that they're "Buy One Get One Free" at Walgreens at the moment. XD

Oooh! I finally got myself a little Black Razr V3T for -$50. Meaning that I was paid $50 bucks to take the phone! Not something you come across everyday - companies giving you a "free" cell phone. I think one of the most common things you hear amongst Malaysian students when they come over here will be..."Aiya, the phone plans here suck compared to those in Malaysia!". I guess I agree in some way. But come to think of it, there are some pros to it as well. There will be no point if you get a phone plan but without a phone right? Phone plans here come with a "free" cell phone attached to them. So sometimes you can get a nice phone (the iPhone is coming out soon) without having to "pay" anything.

But then again, the phone plans do suck in general over here. Firstly, the choices of phones are limited. Americans somehow prefer form over function. So Motorola phones are really big here. Well, it's not to say that they're entirely bad. The Razrs and Krzrs are fine but the rest might as well be put back into the 90s. Nokias are rare. Sony Ericssons even rarer. My current Nokia will kick my Razrs butt anytime.

Not only do the phones suck, the plans are based on number of minutes (talk time) and incoming calls (yes! incoming calls) are deducted from your minutes. So both parties lose. You call me, you pay and I pay as well. Same goes with SMS'. So despite being less developed that the United States, Malaysia still has better phone plans. Probably something the Americans want to learn from us. :)

So I was working....

....and because there was nothing much to do, I was chatting to my friends online. It didn't help that the day started off with a rude awakening. The fire alarm happened to go off at Ross this morning to I had to evacuate the building at 8.30am approximately. Having slept at 2am last night, I wasn't to happy about it. The accumulation of late night shifts didn't help either because I was lacking sleep. When security gave the ok, I went back up to resume sleeping. Didn't happen. I couldn't get back to sleep and I had to work from 12pm to 4pm and again at night from 12am to 4am. So fine, to work then.

I was telling my friend how tired I am and what I got in return was that I should take a nap. I already said that I was working. How stupid can one be? Nevermind, to make matters worse, he laughed at me...saying that work was making me crazy. That was the last straw. No one calls me crazy! What is wrong with men? Are they stupid or just plain ignorant? Can't a tired working woman get a break? There's only so much she can deal with; work responsibility, lack of sleep, the responsibility of making sure that there is dinner on the table for 3 others including herself.

I empathize with women who are stuck in the same boat as I am. You are stronger than you think, don't let one person put you down.

Late...Zzzz

The worst thing about my job I would have to say will be the odd shifts that I seem to get assigned to. I was assigned to the 12am - 4am shift again and hey, I thought...I should take a short nap before going off to work. Which was what I did...only to oversleep. >_<

I went to take a nap at approximately 10.15pm and set my alarm clock to ring at 11.30pm. Apparently, it didn't ring or I completely didn't hear it due to my earplugs. It was a good thing that my room mate was in because the person I was supposed to take over from called the room at 12.10am. If she weren't in, I wouldn't have heard the phone and hence, would've missed my shift and that would be a really bad thing.

The worst thing about having the person ring you was that this person, happens to be the cutest guy amongst the staff workers. I was mortified so much so that I furiously apologized to him when I arrived to work at approximately 12.15am. He was really nice about it though and seemed slightly amused by my apologies. "It's ok. Happens all the time...", was what he said.

But still....that was a close call. This is precisely why I need a cell phone here which I will get soon, this coming week!

Part Of The Job

I was checking in a bunch of people the other day when I noticed that they weren't your regular kind of people. Eventually, it struck me that they were from a Rainbow Union, from some college. For those who don't know what Rainbow Unions are...send me a message and I'll let you know. Anyhow, they were here in Des Moines for Gay Pride Month and decided to stay at Drake U. Before I actually realized that, this guy came up to the desk to check in and oh my goodness...was he gorgeous. Too bad I found out that he way gay. But to be honest with you, they were generally friendlier and nicer than regular people; both girls and guys. I had a triple shift that day which lasted from 4pm to 4am the next day. I was about to fall asleep at about 2am in the morning when one of them, Mike came back and started talking to me at the front desk. That was a pleasant surprise and it certainly helped me stay awake for a while.

Then there are days when I have absolutely nothing much to do like today since no camps are checking out or checking in. So I have approximately 8 hours to bum around at the front desk doing whatever I want. So, I spent about 4 hours already downloading new music, watching Youtube videos, blogging, reading other people's blogs, Facebook-ing, Friendster-ing, chatting and buying textbooks online. And I'm still bored...with 4 hours left to go. I think it's time to watch movies online.

Lunch will be a bagel sandwich with cheese and bologne with yoghurt on the side. I have a bunch of kids/high schoolers at soccer camp that I have to keep an eye on right now...

RCA

Yeah, so I finally started my job. My first shift is going on right now, about to end I suppose. The timing is kinda weird, 12am-4am. All shifts are 4 hours long and tomorrow, I'm being assigned to a triple shift in a row. Bleh! I'm so not looking forward to that for the time being. But the thing about being an RCA is that I get paid to do nothing most of the time. I can sit behind the front desk with a book or my laptop. Inevitably...ending with me playing RO or watching a movie or surfing.

Also, I found out a little feature available at Drake. I live a while away from where I work so I can actually get Drake security personnnel to escort me back to where I live if I happen to work the dead shift. Which is really good in case some weirdo decides to follow me. The work hours so far are not fixed weekly so I think I'm getting a pretty good deal here. I work on average 24 hours a week. However, most of my money is being spend on food. Sigh~ I have expensive tastes which need to be catered to.

I think this will be the start of many interesting posts this summer. On Thursday, I had to check in freshmen who came for an overnight orientation at Drake. That was fun, to see "fresh meat". More to come in the summer! Looking forward to that...