Most of the photos I took didn’t turn out very well. I didn’t use the flash because the photos with flash looked cruddy on the display of Tim’s camera. When I viewed them on my computer, they actually looked a lot clearer than the photos taken without flash. They were just really dark. I think it would’ve been better if I stood closer.

Here’s Gyroscope playing “Fast Girl”:

…and then “Beware Wolf”:

I wish I videoed a few of there older songs (they actually played quite a few!), I didn’t realise how good the sound was going to turn out though.

I was very impressed by them, they really put on a good show. Anyone who hasn’t heard their stuff yet, I definitely recommended their album Sound Shattering Sound, however their newer stuff is still great! Or, if you want to hear some of their stuff for free go here. I hope you like them!

^{Click for larger preview.}

This is definitely one of the cutest, thought-provoking things I’ve stumbled across on the Internet lately. I just had to share. I’ll definitely be looking forward to more of SARK’s e-letters!

I’m currently updating my resume (the application was an online one, so I just need to make sure it’s done by Thursday) and have found this, this and this very handy when it comes to the design of my CV and the content.

I don’t think there was anything particularly wrong with my current design, but I do like to swap it around every now and then. I want my resume to stand out from the rest! I remember a couple of years ago, an ex-friend borrowed my resume because she ‘forgot how to set them out’ and then when I saw the final product (after she had dropped it into countless stores around my area, might I add) it was the spitting image of mine!! Same font, same layout, everything. She’d just changed some of the information – she didn’t even re-word parts of it. I was so disappointed. I didn’t say anything to her though, I just spent hours re-doing mine. Ha. I like to change my resume more frequently these days just in case it’s somehow got into the hands of another copycat!

I need to dress to impress for this one! Did I mention that I really want this job? I’m thinking a button up shirt with a high-waisted skirt, opaque tights and low heels. I really need a hair cut as well, but I doubt that’s going to happen before Thursday so I’m going to have to pin it all back.

Eeee, wish me luck!

Not cool.

I slept in today and am now about to go to uni three hours later than I originally planned. This isn’t good because I really need to edit my movie, and I still have no idea how to use Final Cut Pro. Hopefully there are some good free tutorials on the Internet!

If I get out of bed tomorrow, I’m going to spend all day at uni and, hopefully, complete this assignment. Gah.

I joined MyBlogLog. I haven’t gone pro, I don’t really know what difference it will make if I continue using the free version. I don’t even really understand that site yet but I do know that if you have an account you can join the Love, Kara community. You should do this!

I should go to uni. Sigh. I’m going….

Saturday night was a friend from work’s 21st. It was cocktail attire, so I was looking forward to wearing the new dress I bought. Unfortunately, I was so tired from all the filming that I didn’t end up having that great a night. The birthday girl did, so that’s all that matters. Here’s Tim and I before we left:

You can see the tiredness on my face! I wasn’t in a very good mood, haha. We went home relatively early and then I was unwell that night and all Sunday. I didn’t even drink! Not much fun.

I’ve been very slack with everything lately. I need to get back into the swing of life in general! I made a vlog (video blog, whatever you want to call it!) today, because I haven’t for a while.

This blog entry has been very ‘all over the place’ so I think I’ll finish it here. I just felt like I should update, because I haven’t for a few days. Leave comments and I’ll get back to you!

My room is a work in progress. It actually looks like a bomb has hit it at the moment. I am planning on re-painting my room and also getting new furniture. I’ve been unhappy with how tacky my room has looked for a while now. My walls were plastered with posters, I don’t have enough storage space and I just have crap everywhere, pretty much. I need a good week or two off to sort through everything in my room, pull out all my furniture, paint my walls and install new furniture. The problem is, I don’t think this is going to happen for at least another month or two. I guess I just need to put aside some time, even if it’s only half an hour a day, to sort out a different draw or at least do SOMETHING. I also need to measure up my room (and my bed – the only piece of furniture I plan to keep) so I can pick out which furniture from IKEA (I’ve got a large list of things I like, I need to narrow it down) I want to buy. I also need to decide on a wall colour. I’m thinking just plain white walls, with black around the cornices so my room looks larger and neater. Then I can have paintings or photos hanging from my walls also. I can picture what I want in my head, but it’s tough to sort it all out. Anyway, I’m pretty sure my room is playing a large part in what’s making me unhappy right now. I want somewhere attractive to spend my time whether I be studying or unwinding. At the moment my room just makes me feel disgusting.

Secondly, I’m having trouble sorting out my funds. I’m always wanting more money, but I’m just not getting the hours I need at work. I’m reluctant to look for another job because (despite the huge rant here) I don’t mind working there, the work isn’t hard, my hours are fairly flexible (it’s pretty easy to take time off which is good because I go to lots of concerts and enjoy travelling sometimes too) and the pay is fairly high for retail and I’m afraid if I go elsewhere, it won’t meet my standards! The job isn’t really the problem though, it’s my ability to stick to a budget. I always manage to pay my bills (phone, gym and laptop repayments) but the amount of money I can spend is very inconsistent – some weeks I will splurge on something nice for myself, other weeks I won’t even be able to afford to buy a bottle of water. I also don’t have any savings. At all. I really need to sit down, set up a budget and STICK to it. If anyone has any suggestions or links to helpful resources, this would be very much appreciated!

My frustration with my lack of organisation and uni kind of go hand in hand. At the beginning of this semester I came down with some sort of sickness and was in bed for three weeks (not to mention being sick for about three months prior to that and then taking a month or two to recover from the sickness). Since then, I have had no motivation to do much at all. I’ve been skipping uni a lot, I dropped two courses (which I am taking over Summer) and I still don’t manage to get my work done until the very last minute. For some reason, I’m thinking that becoming more organised in other areas of my life – such as redoing my room and sorting out my money – will make me happier with uni too. I’m looking forward to next year really, starting all new subjects and pretty much starting afresh.

I feel like I have too many things to focus on and that my life is one big to-do list but nothing really ever gets done. It’s frustrating and upsetting but I just can’t seem to get started on doing the things I outlined above. I know what I need to do, but I can’t get into it because either I’m always too busy, or I just lack the energy and enthusiasm to start. So, I’m asking readers to comment me with inspirational words, links, whatever that may help me with my troubles!

I think I need a holiday from reality! … and then to come back and completely reinvent my life. Sigh.

This event inspired me to list other things that annoy me about customers on the back of receipt paper for the rest of my shift. Here is what I came up with:

1. People who buy cigarettes. They’ll say the brand name quickly and expect me to be able to find them straight away. I’m not a smoker, nor are any of my friends, how am I supposed to know every single brand of cigarettes off by heart? It also annoys me when customers ask for blah blah blah in “eights” – what does that mean? I don’t know how many mg of tobacco are in each product (if that’s what it even means!) – I don’t understand why they can’t ask for the colour of the packet or the name that is actually written on the packet, instead of me having to ask every single time, “What colour is that?” Also, it is our store’s policy to ask anyone who looks under 25 for ID. I do this because, despite the stupid customers, I don’t want to lose my job. People get angry with me like it’s so much effort to take their ID out. If you’re under 25 you should have your ID ready. Expect to be asked! I’ve never asked someone and they were actually 25+, so I’ve been a pretty good judge of age so far. It annoys me even more when people are like, “What?! I don’t look 18 to you?!!” – they show me their ID and it turns out they’ve only been 18 for just over a week.

2. People who make a scene about having their bags checked. Another of our store’s policies is to check anyone’s bag if a loaf of bread could fit into it. I’ll ask to check these bags if people are buying groceries. If people are hurrying out through my checkout without buying anything, I’ll be more likely to check their bag, regardless of size. A lady came to the kiosk one day and asked me what our policy was, I told her what I just wrote. She says to me, “Well would you check this bag???” and turns around to show a little backpack on her back. I say, “Probably not, but if you didn’t purchase anything I might.” She says, “Well I just got made to feel like a complete FOOL for not presenting my bag for inspection.” I said, “I’m sorry you felt that way, but it is store policy.” She just repeated the same sentence. I just looked at her. What am I supposed to do about it? Big deal! Why would you make such an issue about bag checking if you had nothing to hide? Luckily, my manager interrupted and said she’d talk to the staff member about it. Turns out, she just went over to the guy and told him that he did the right thing but to make it look like she was lecturing him. Ha. Also, if we ask to check someone’s bags and they say no, then we just let them go. If this lady thought it was such a big deal, she should’ve just said, “No, you may not check my bag,” and gone on with her life.

3. Impatient customers. Of course, this is unavoidable because some people are just born rude and I guess, working in customer service, I have to expect that (even though it’s definitely not necessary). My scan rate (items I can scan per hour) is above average in the store, so I don’t usually get customers complaining about me taking too long. However, when I’m working in the kiosk, I have to serve people with trolleys of groceries and also the front desk (people who are buying cigarettes, phone credit, lighters, etc. or have queries – I usually refer them straight to supervisors for this). Usually, I will serve people at the front as soon as I have finished ringing up a load of groceries. I hate it when I say to customers on the side, “Sorry, I’ll just be a second,” or “Do you mind if I just take care of the customers out the front?” and they just look at me like Well, no, that’s not okay. Gosh, it takes me a maximum of a minute to put through someone’s cigarettes or something, it’s not that much to ask! It works the other way though, occasionally I will be in the middle of serving someone on the side when I hear someone tapping on the front desk. That is so rude!! What on earth is wrong with people? Chances are, the people on the side were there first, I’m not going to just ignore customers. Even someone who has 100 odd items will only take 4 or 5 minutes maximum for me to put through. BE PATIENT, PEOPLE.

4. Customers who blame me for the prices of products. Regularly, I’ll get customers who will comment on the increase in price of a product. Out of the people who comment on the more expensive prices, over half of them will say it in a tone as if they’re almost blaming me for the price. I do not understand where their logic is in this, at all. How can they think that I, the girl scanning through their groceries and putting them in bags, am somehow responsible for setting the prices in a nation-wide supermarket?! Some people!

5. People who interrupt my awesome packing skills. I think I’m good at packing bags. What an amazing skill, am I right? Ha. People who “throw off my groove” when I’m packing said bags really, really annoy me. Some people pick up items and hand each and every one to me – there is a conveyor belt there for a reason!! There is no reason to pick up items when you have already placed them on the belt, they move towards me themselves – magic! I also (like most other checkout operators, I’m sure) group similar items together and pack them in bags according to this. It annoys me so much when I put aside an item while I’m waiting for another one to come along and then the customer grabs it and shoves it into another bag. By the time the item I was planning to pair it with comes along, there is nothing for it to go with, so I have to waste a plastic bag for one measly item when it could have gone with a couple of things that the customer just took and put elsewhere. Why would they do that? Obviously I’m not just going to leave items on the side, I’m clearly planning to pack them eventually – LET ME DO MY JOB! With that said, I certainly don’t mind when people offer to pack their bags themselves (this happens with reusable bags occasionally), but customers should choose at the beginning. If they’re going to pack, then they’re welcome to, but if they allow me to pack for them, then they should let me pack the whole freaking thing!

6. People who eat products that need to be weighed. I don’t mind if people eat chocolates or start drinking drinks and then hand me the half-eaten or empty packaging to scan. It’s a bit gross, but it’s fine, because the price doesn’t change once they start eating. However, sometimes I get incredible dense customers who have eaten some or all of a fresh produce item (e.g. nuts, fruit, vegetables) – these products are generally charged by the kilogram, how am I supposed to determine the price if the customer has eaten it?! Usually, if they’ve eaten an apple or something, I’ll find the heaviest apple they have left and weigh it twice. That’ll teach them! Ha.

7. Customers who don’t listen. This mainly happens when I ask people if they have FlyBuys (a supermarket points-based rewards card) and they don’t even reply. Sometimes I’ll ask again and it turns out they were just being rude (see no. 10) but other times they still won’t reply. I take this as a no, they don’t have a FlyBuys card and process their payment. The receipt begins printing which means the order and their transaction is over, it is now that these people who weren’t listening to me say, “Can you put through my FlyBuys?” and everytime, I calmly tell them, “No, sorry, it’s too late. If you go to the service desk they can add your points on,” when inside I’m thinking, “I ALREADY ASKED YOU TWICE AND YOU JUST WEREN’T LISTENING!!!! ^$#(&%*(&$(!” Then, usually, the customer will get stroppy with me. Such is life!

8. People who make exchanging money difficult. You wouldn’t think that paying for groceries/receiving change is really that hard. Some customers certainly prove me wrong though. When I state the price, customers often count their change onto the moving conveyor belt. What is wrong with this, you ask? Well the fact is, it moves!! When the change reaches the end, it falls down underneath onto the floor. Many people really don’t have any common sense. Also, when I have my hand out when I say the price, that means to count the money into my hand! Not onto the conveyor belt. No! Contrarily, other customers will almost grab my hand when they give me the money. Or they’ll kind of stroke my hand. This is a big no! Can you say “creepy”?

9. Customers who point out each item that is reduced. When I first scan products with reduced stickers on them, the price doesn’t appear straight away. I have to manually put it in. On the screen the customer sees, the original price comes up first then, once I type it in, the reduced price appears. Some customers deem it necessary to tell me it’s reduced before I even scan it, yes, I can see that. Other’s quickly say, “That’s reduced!” when I haven’t finished typing in the price yet, “Yes, I just have to type it in…” Now, if that’s not irritating enough, there are some other customers who point out each and every item with a reduced sticker on it – even after I tell them the first time that I need to type it in. After a full load of groceries, with multiple reduced items (because most customers who display this annoying behaviour are in fact cheapskates) I just feel like screaming at them. Aaaaargh!!

10. Rude people. My least favourite kind of people. I am polite to everyone, I don’t appreciate people who are rude to me before I’ve even said a word. I always ask people how they are and it’s actually disgusting how many people just grunt or completely ignore me. It’s so rude!! I can’t stand rudeness. It’s really not that hard to be courteous!

…And that concludes my extremely long rant. Please, if you do any of these things I urge you to change your ways now. Today is a good time to start!

+ Shirt – Cotton On
+ High-waisted skirt – Blockout (from a DFO store in Melbourne)
+ Tights -Myer (I can’t remember what brand)
+ Ballet flats – Keds
+ Purse/clutch – Sportsgirl
+ Necklace – My grandmother’s

I like the look of this outfit a lot, but the skirt was riding up all night. I might make a difference if I wasn’t wearing tights because I think the materials were too slippery against each other, if that makes sense.

I’m just sitting around at the moment waiting for Tim to come over. We need to stay at my house tonight until my Tupperware is delivered (I had a party the other week). I bought some measuring cups, a potato masher and a drink bottle – some stuff to add to my glory box collection! I’ll also receive some containers as a host gift.

Anyway, sorry about the short entry, I have to go and eat my dinner. I’ll post again tomorrow!