Dehumanizer [Retail Grocery]

Good early morning to you all. I've been on a bit of a hiatus in terms of writing but I'm ready to jump back into the saddle again. Here I'll go into some more details about what the retail grocery experience has been like lately, on the second month of 2022, with covid still rampaging throughout the lands. 

If you want to read about what it was like at work during the worst of times, make sure to read this post here. That was the worst of it. But things aren't perfect the way things are now either. 

A lot has changed in the world of retail grocery in the beginning of 2022. The place is being run less like a business-employee-bosses-customers routine and more of a sweatshop. Our union is fighting to get us employees a better contract. It remains to be seen if it will really be that much better, but it is guaranteed that our wages will get a slight boost. Modest progress. Slow hand clap.  

The departments and the front end department is being run by skeletal crews. Most of the time overtime is being rejected and refused and a lot of hours across the board have been cut severely, despite the fact that the store needs more help and needs more boots on the grounds to get the job done. 

Because of the fact that the departments are more and more being run with fewer and fewer people, the building has taken on the image of more of a sweatshop style environment. You have be very fast paced and not make too many mistakes. It's almost like Amazon or something now. Management demands it.

In the morning, the front end gets three people to work with until 10 am, and later at the evenings, say 8 pm or later, its being run in the same fashion. This has created a sweatshop environment where one employee is forced to take care of tens of dozens of customers singlehandedly, oftentimes with no baggers, so not only are they ringing up the orders, they're greeting the customers, cash handling, as well as bagging the items-whew! 

As if that wasn't enough, upper management seems to have taken up the stiff upper lip direction of managing workers. They're rude, they're pushy, they don't respond when you say hello, how are you, they're pushing employees to do more work during their eight hour shifts but insist on no overtime, they're in support of cutting hours, they don't give much leeway in terms of calling out sick for colds or covid, the list goes on and on. In a way, in short, I want to say that they've engendered a work environment where they try to dehumanize the employees, and sadly, from what I see from my coworkers, they've succeeded sometimes. 

But there's a light at the end of the tunnel isn't there? Of course. Although this industry seems to have been dehumanized and turned into a sweatshop by upper management and their meandering response to the pandemic, for me, the job has only become better. 

You see, I've become simpatico with lots of customers and while I've walked the Earth I've engendered reciprocity, made friends, and influenced people. Its not even about the money. Its about making friends and influencing people. Hard lesson. But well earned and deserved. 

Covid cases are down at the store but there's always at least a good six to seven cases on the board. Meaning there aren't too many new ones but there are still a few infections still getting into the store. Got to be safe and be careful. 

Customers have become especially unruly and offensive with ignoring the mask mandate and being pushy, aggressive, and rude. 

A long time customer is donating to me a Fender Stratocaster. Even if it really was the worst of times, it doesn't get any better than that. The satire here is that we're living during a modern plague, and its still the best years of our lives. 

queue Dehumanizer by Black Sabbath

Covid in the Workplace

Good evening ladies and gents, a happy dawn to you. 

Here I'd like to talk about what's been going on so far at this point in the pandemic. Okay, so we've been at this pandemic for nearly three years now. A lot has changed at my job, I've had to readjust mightily and heavily and I faired pretty damn well, I might add. 

But let us get to the heart of the matter. There are currently fifteen recorded covid-19 cases at my store, and that's only going back from the first of the year, AND that's not including cases that are probably there right now but haven't been reported. 

The new store director has been commissioned by the company to order everybody to be vaccinated by the 24th of the month with an electronic verification online. This doesn't include booster shots, the only requirement is at least the one shot vaccine of any vaccine from 2021. Things are finally moving, but wait, why wasn't this set in place by the company in year one?

I know for a fact that a lot of my coworkers/management weren't vaccinated, yet I've had to work with them all this time, myself being put at more risk. While I do find it comforting that everyone will at least have to prove they've been vaccinated once, it still bothers the hell out of me that this wasn't a requirement on year one. One step forward, two steps back. It's a lot like getting a gunshot wound and putting a band aid on it. 

With so many call outs from colds/flu and covid-19, the store is being run with much less staff and most departments doing earlier closing hours. Social distancing is nearly impossible in our narrow aisles and small front end. Tons of people come in without wearing masks all the time. The unmasked are a nuisance and get aggressive, sometimes physically aggressive and taunt other customers. Some things never change. 

With all this covid in the workplace, I'm more weary than ever about catching the virus. It's not really myself that I'm worried about because I have good health and am still young, it's more my stepfather. In terms of the climactic moment of this plague, and my own personal plague journal here, I would say we've hit the climax in terms of covid disrupting my place of employment with high numbers of cases, and counting. 

It's like a movie. I almost still can't believe it. Two years and counting. Welcome to the plague years. The best years of my life. 

My Last Words

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I don't mean to alarm anyone with a post entitled "My Last Words," no this isn't the end of the blog, nor is it a manifesto [although I'd love to write a manifesto one day]. Rather, this is a dialogue on a what-if. 


Okay, so we all know that COVID-19 is stronger than ever. Six months in, there's no end in sight. I'm still working at my retail gig I've worked for seven years now. There's no real protection from the virus there, and there are no limits on how many customers can be inside the store at any one time. At this current juncture, it isn't if I catch the virus, but when. And at that point, if I'm not so lucky, what then? 

In the event of premature death, here it is...my last words. 

I've lived a good life. In fact, I've already lived my dream. My dream was to live and work in California, enjoy the sun, and play guitar. I've already achieved that and have been very happy with my life in the last ten years or so.

The beginning was a lot rougher but you live and learn. Not everyone is dealt a good hand in life, rather, you are given what you are given and you are expected to learn to thrive no matter what. I would say I've done pretty well in life. I'm black, I'm not street, and have never been to jail.

My family played an important role throughout my life and still does. What I always underestimated in my life was the importance of my friends and acquaintances around me. Without them, I would have struggled much more in life. I would have suffered from loneliness. Thanks to my friends I've never really experienced loneliness.

In terms of goals and dreams, I'm not quite sure if that will still be happening under the pandemic. Sure, we could get better jobs and make a little more cash, but at what cost? I'm proud to be working during the pandemic and to have a job. My dreams of being a musician have been cast to the wind. I'll probably never play an open mic again, at least until COVID is over, which could be in years, who knows?

I have other goals that I work towards. Like my writing, for example. Let my writing speak for itself. The blog has been going strong for seven years and I've got nearly 700 posts, all on various subjects like music, novels, movies, games, ideas, and everyday life. I worked hard on writing fiction and I had a pipedream about becoming a fiction writer but at this point, I just do it for the hell of it. Publishers be damned.

I've had like one or two big epiphanies about life [that I wrote about on here in the back track] that really mellowed me out and made me see reality in a much different and better lens. Those were good and life-affirming. But the hardest thing to do is keep pushing through in life constantly when nobody is there rooting for you or fighting for you. That's when you truly see how alone you really are in this world despite the fact that we're all in this together.  

I believe that the only thing that is important now, during this crazy time period we're all living through, isn't cash, a fancy home, a fancy car, or a hot girlfriend or wife, rather, it's your ability to find a way to live through all this, in a happy, life-affirming manner. Or even just life-affirming. Everybody needs to go soul searching and see what they find, see what they need, see what they like, and dislike. And remember, nothing in this world is impossible.

In the immortal words of Jimi Hendrix, "With the power of soul, anything is possible." 

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus pt. 8

It's dystopia! 

The world has been dealt a grievous blow from the virus and it appears now, more than ever, that nothing will ever be the same. If you are an educated person like myself, someone who reads regularly, reads the news regularly, and perhaps even watches the news regularly, you should be very alarmed. This is not normal, of course, nor is it a drill, nor is this where we could and should be at this stage in the pandemic. 

We're in a bad place right now. We're seeing the highest numbers of new case increases in a single day. It's very high, something like 4,000-5,000 new cases in a single day, in places like California and Texas. We've already reopened states but the reality of the situation is that if we don't close down all nonessential businesses in say, 4-5 weeks, there will be so many dead people in America, that there will no choice but to close down everything again. Here's the reality; nothing will be done until the shit hits the fan, however, it might be so bad at this current juncture that it's already too late. Sleep on that. 

I work at a grocery store. Today, I received a text from a union representative leader, stating that someone who works at my store was tested positive for the virus. This is the second person who's tested positive at my store, the first one being a worker that has already quarantined, become clean, and is back at work.

The fear of catching the virus is high. If I catch the virus and possibly die, will there be anything left to remember me by? This sort of darknesse is reality. It turns out, in a way, that the company cutting down hours on all employees is actually a good thing. Although we get less money, we're around mass crowded people in the market less [where they're not limiting the numbers of customers allowed in], saving us in the long run from being exposed to the virus more often. But some people need to work a lot of hours and make a lot of money, what about them? They're going to have to deal with having less money and fewer hours, unfortunately.

I'm sort of actually coming to the gravity of the situation recently. I was previously on a two-month leave of absence from work and it was good. I was safe from the virus and did a lot of reading and writing. But now I'm back working with the public, often in crowded aisles and a crowded front end workplace. The situation is dire.

It's only just now hit me today that most things don't matter much anymore. The most important thing right now is your health and finding a way to live.

What I mean to say is that it's finally dawned on me that mine as well as all of us, our collective goals, dreams, desires, and fortunes don't even matter anymore. In a post-COVID-19 world, your goals, dreams, and fortune don't matter one bit, because, in that world, the individual person doesn't matter much because we're all one and the same when it comes to the virus. Rather, I believe, in a post-virus world, the collective unity, the group, the whole human tribe as a whole, matters much more so than any other time in human history. If this thing doesn't bring us together soon, nothing else will.

So as I sit here writing this I think about my future. It doesn't matter if I never become a rock star, or the best selling author, or a computer coder, or any of that crap. Rather, what is more important than any of that is finding a way to live that is meaningful to you. Once this thing continues, it will take more lives, more lives than you can possibly imagine, and in that paradigm, things like money and jobs will decrease in value, because people will spend most of their time in quarantine and isolation so that they, and their loved ones don't die.

The lack of leadership shown in this current administration is shocking and appalling. However, even if Biden takes control in November, there's still a lot of shit that needs to be cleaned up in terms of government, and it could take years to fix that up. Not to mention that there probably won't be a coronavirus vaccine by that time, and Biden will have to form his own strategy against the virus because it will still be ravaging by that time, most likely.

There's a lot to think about. At this moment the best thing we can do is be there for ourselves, our loved ones, and try to find a way to live, a new way to live, that isn't tied down by the constraints of dream jobs, lots of money, and other such desires. Staring at the face of death, into the abyss, it only appears to be staring back at us.   

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus pt. 2

It's been three weeks since the zombie apocalypse virus has hit. Also known as the coronavirus or COVID-19. Here's an update on how I've been surviving. 
  
Well, for starters the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, ordered a nationwide quarantine and/or shutdown of the entire state of California. If you aren't or haven't taken this seriously yet, you will now. 

Week three
There has been no major meeting with the employees at my work regarding the virus. Upper management nor lower management has not provided us with masks or gloves. Rather, we have to get them on our own initiative. A lot of employees are wearing gloves they bought elsewhere, some are wearing bandanas as masks, but most of them aren't wearing the typical surgical style masks which are out of stock in many places around the country.

They're only allowing a few customers in at a time. The store isn't packed and there's room to breathe without getting too close to others. The shelves aren't really stocked. They're mostly empty but shelves are even worse at our competitor grocery stores down the street. Most customers still can't get toilet paper or hand sanitizer. Hell, even as employees we can't even get toilet paper anymore. It feels somewhat like a third country. Three weeks straight and we can't get toilet paper. Ah! 

The work tasks have changed a bit as well. I spent two hours today wiping down all the cart handles with sanitizer. I was wearing gloves. However, the state of nature outside the building isn't so helpful as cleaning off the cart handles. If you go outside the store during the day you will see tons of customers huddled together, waiting to get inside the store. There isn't a security guard or any authorized personnel ordering them to stand apart or away from each other. This is the worst thing I've seen on the job and it's been going on every day since we started limiting the numbers of customers in at a time. So much for "social distancing." I think if people saw how closely huddled together the customers were they would be horrified. There's got to be a better way to do it than this. For example, we could have another employee or security guard ordering them to stand apart from each other. Keep them out there and telling anyone who gets too close to others to move farther away. Something simple like that would suffice. 

Store hours have changed significantly. The store is open to the elderly from 7am to 8am, but for regular people, from 8am to 8pm. This is a big change for me considering the fact that I usually work the late afternoon to 1am shift. I've been doing a lot of cleaning and gobacks as of late. Again, there's no guidance or protocols for the cleaning. The closing manager must have at least one other employee closing the store with them until the night crew arrives. That's where I come in. 

Some employees have stopped working citing health concerns. People with asthma, that sort of stuff. It's sort of a cop-out to me but let's face it, they're spooked. I can't blame them. I'm planning on continuing to work throughout the pandemic for as long as I can or until I get sick if I get sick, which is a very real possibility, unfortunately. The cost of a continuing paycheck week to week.

The corporation we work for has given us $25 a few days ago. Now they're giving us $150. The President of the Company says if we get sick with the virus we will get two weeks of pay. All this stuff is fine and dandy, good for the press and all but we haven't really been given any safety protocols by the company, the President, nor upper or lower management about how we conduct business at the store. 

The best line I've heard from management is, "make sure to wash your hands." If that's the only safety protocol that a million-dollar company gives its employees then it's safe to say that we might be fucked. This is the equivalent of the Boris Johnson herd immunity tactic. 

Sometimes it takes a reverse in civilization for you to realize what's truly important.

"Are you COVID-19 resistant?"   

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Virus pt.1

So things have been pretty crazy as of late. Yes, I know that sounds like a broken record at this point. But this is unprecedented. I've never seen anything like this my entire life. This is what it's like during wartime by the way for all you youngsters out there. I've decided I'm going to start a series about life during the virus. Really get into the nitty-gritty details. Some of it might be a bore but nonetheless, I think it's an important time to write down all our thoughts on digital paper [ :D ] while the crisis goes on. Who knows,  maybe it will be of use to us as a record. Life during the New Dark Ages. I coined that term first. You read it here first folks. 

Okay, so I've decided on calling the coronavirus the zombie apocalypse virus because for one thing it just sounds way cooler. Much sexier. Yes, I know that corona apocalypse has been trending on Twitter but let's face it folks, that name sucks. The zombie apocalypse virus is better. Because essentially that's sort of what it's like. Sure there are no real zombies walking around but the fact that there are people who have the virus who don't know they have the virus makes them a lot like zombies. And the fact that the elderly are at risk too. Zombies would love killing old people. Oh, the humanity! 

But seriously! Okay, so work has been pretty intense the last two weeks straight. Just in case you're new here, I work retail at a grocery store. Yeah, I know, hard to believe a guy who works retail spends all his time reading science fiction and philosophy. 

We've been swamped with so many freakin' customers nonstop. The first two weeks were absolutely nuts. No carts, no wipes by the door, no bags for the groceries to be put into, no water, no wipes, no sanitizer, no toilet paper, and that was just the first two weeks. We could barely get the customers out and sometimes the wait times were 20 mins or longer. 

The parking lot is a disaster zone. You can't even walk out into the parking lot without possibly getting run over. People are in mass pandemic panic mode right now. It's scary. Ce la vie, that's life. Keep in mind that they just closed another branch of our store down the street so we have all this increased traffic from that recently closed store. Adding to that is the fact that our store is also remodeling the store every night for the next two months. Bad timing! 

So two weeks of this go by. The workers are exhausted. Management doesn't have a clue what they're dealing with. Especially with the sickness and/or spread of it. Enter week three. The store runs out of most items. Most items. Almost all the shelves in the store are empty. Everyday. All-day. The only time we can restock the shelves is at night when the store is closed. The solution? We open later and close earlier. New emergency coronavirus store hours: 8am to 8pm, every day, indefinitely. This is every grocery chain out here by the way. Oh, boy!

Despite the fact that the store is closing early every night, management is still making a lot of the staff stay late during the evenings, some of us as late as 1am, which is my normal gig at that little store. We clean, grab all the carts in the parking lot, take out the garbage, and put all the gobacks back where they belong. It ain't much but it's honest work. There's a real art to the gobacks work now. With almost all the items gone, mia from the shelves, you have to match all the items with the UPC code stickers and find the items that way. It's a bitch. I don't even think upper management would have the patience for that kind of work. They would say it's beneath them. Or perhaps they would get frustrated instantly with how tedious it truly is? You decide. Either way, it's definitely one way of making us work hard for our paycheck.   

The one thing that is very scary about the retail gig and the zombie apocalypse virus going on at the same time is the fact that there's a reported case of the virus at a hospital nearby, and I'm in physical contact with all these customers, potentially an unlimited amount every day I work and continue to work, and potentially unlimited items every item that I touch every time I work. The reality of the matter is that nobody in my town except the one case has been tested so even if they show symptoms they can just ignore going to the doctor, keep living their lives, and nobody would be the wiser. What a sick twisted turn of fate.  At first, it was a comedy, now it is a tragedy.

Luckily I finally found some gloves that I can start wearing for my shift tomorrow. I've been washing my hands like crazy, drinking vitamin C supplements every day, and wearing a hat and sweater outdoors so I don't get sick. Even having a regular cold/flu at this time is horrible as it would look bad at the store when customers come in contact with me. Even my coworkers wouldn't like it.  The world goin' crazy.

Every day I look at the world from outside my window. I flip open my computer and read the latest news about the virus. I read slowly so I can understand every little detail. None of it is good. Nothing is getting better. It's only getting worse. The governor just announced that he's closing all bars and limiting numbers of peoples at restaurants and/or just closing them down. The elderly have been ordered to stay indoors as they are the most vulnerable. And possibly the most pigheaded and stubborn. Because I saw a lot of old people at work today. Very sickly old people. Not good. 

When we survive this it will be like a new age of enlightenment. People will all of a sudden become wiser, more humble, nicer, more serious. They won't go out for frappes as much. It will take losing a lot of happiness from social gatherings, a broken economy, and a quartine to bring the world to a better fate. I hope. 

This will be an ongoing series. Welcome to the New Dark Ages. If you catch the zombie apocalypse virus you will be quarantined for 14 days. Even if you don't get it your city might have to quarantine anyways. Don't touch your face. Wash your hands. What a way to live. In the end, the world doesn't end with us saving the girl in some war-torn country. Instead, we get super sick and pass it on to others. Oh, the irony!   

Welcome to the machine.

Our very own zombie apocalypse virus

Greetings supposedly healthy people of the interwebz. 

Thought I'd jot down some thoughts on the coronavirus going around right now. Well, for starters, let me say that we finally have our very own zombie apocalypse virus! World War Z! Book of Eli! *Insert any random apocalyptic movie!* This is good news for people who love bad news. [Modest Mouse reference]

The one good thing about the virus is that it will bring the world down to Earth, humble them, before everything is turned back to normal. Also, and this is a great good, it just might bring down the entire Trump Presidency. It isn't that the virus is singling him out, it's just that his administration is handling the whole thing very badly. As the late-night comedians joke, "If Trump is in charge of the coronavirus we're all gonna die." Probably the truest and most dark joke I've heard in a while. At least it's funny. I like dark comedy and satire. I'm a Voltaire fan. 

But in all seriousness, the virus will make the world great again. Right now people are stupid, ignorant, and as long as they have their TV, streaming, video games, porn, sex, and beer/liquor, they're content to live their happy little lives not giving a shit about the state of affairs of the world. I'm talking about the average idiots, the biomass. Sitting on their lounger chairs with their potato chips, weed, and beer. This is their only life away from work. Something akin to what Green Day sang about on their critically acclaimed hit album American Idiot.  

The virus will completely decimate the biomass and bring them to their knees. It will humble them. And the entire world. This is just what the world needs in what I would call one of its darkest hours. Ironically what will save them will hurt them and the economy. We don't get to save the girl. Instead, we'll get something like the flu. 

Welcome to the New Dark Ages. This is something of a divine comedy. Somebody should write a book about this period in the world. It will sell like hotcakes. After this period passes the world will be a better place. We will change the world. Or rather the virus will.

Meet the new grind, same as the old grind

Good evening ladies and laddies. I'm back to writing again every night. This calls for a celebration. *takes a swig of coffee* I'm back home after an eight-hour workday, baking a chicken pot pie, and listening to Chet Baker. Ah, this is the life. There's something so soothing about straight-ahead jazz, especially Chet Baker. That slow west coast jazz sound is sublime. It's a privilege to even listen to it for free via YouTube. Meanwhile, the rest of my community is hoarding toilet paper, antibacterial wipes, and water. It's a shit show, it's a shit show, as one of my managers likes to say. 

 The craziest part of this story is the fact that there is indeed a confirmed case of coronavirus at a hospital near my house. It's definitely alarming, perhaps even frightening. But I'm optimistic about the future. Even if the virus breaks out into a worldwide zombie apocalypse. Think about the philosophical ramifications of [corona corona corona!]

Hear me out. Let's say the virus gets much worse in a matter of months. As it's been doing so already. So they lock down cities, schools, public events, and so forth. People will be afraid to go out in public most of the time so they would be confined to their houses or small gatherings with only a handful of friends. Think about the philosophical ramifications of said actions. 

First, people would become more thoughtful. Because people wouldn't have much money and couldn't go out, they would have to learn to do with fewer possessions and less activity. Perhaps they could read books more and bond with their families more. They would think more about who they elect as their leaders. As a result, somebody like Donald Trump could never win in the future. Because people would be more thoughtful, including meaning smarter.

Second, sometimes it takes a disaster to bring people together. We're living in the most polarizing times I think since the 1960s. Things have gotten better since then. But have they really? Or have they just changed forms and modernized into a digital age with the same problems? We as a nation have to come together to overcome all these hurdles. It takes a strong leader of the free world to do so. Trump is a weak-minded fool. He's divided this country more so than any other President since I was born. Heck, even Nixon met the hippies halfway. I'm no conspiracy theorist but if the Russians are using him as a Manchurian candidate, then his whole mission of using the Presidency to sow discord in America was truly fulfilled. I had to go dark here. But from a practical standpoint, we've been living in a tyranny since 2016 when Trump was elected. 

Third, this is the only story bigger than Trump. That alone makes coronavirus a true sensation.  

Sometimes the only way you can deal with something like this is to play it cool and wait it out. The election is this year so perhaps Americans will elect someone with some brains or at least knows how to read. Or perhaps our very own zombie apocalypse virus will infect the whole country [world] at some point, and then we as a nation will have some real soul searching to do. Who knows, maybe we can change the world. 

Until then the song remains the same.  

It's the holiday season

Howdy, yall? Thought I'd write a short post late tonight. I haven't been writing much. Not because there's nothing to write about. I've been sick this whole week straight. I'm actually still sick but am in recovery mode from a serious cold. It started as faint flu-like symptoms earlier in the week and lasted the entire week until today...Sunday. 

Sunday Funday, as they say. I'm going in for a late 1am shift again. But this time I won't be sick. So I'll be more up to it. Have a better attitude and all that jazz. Although I haven't been writing as often I've been busier than ever. 

I've been playing a lot of guitar for one thing. Practicing Sequenza by Luciano Berio as well as my improvising skills. I took a break from the jazz duo jam session this week because I was sick but we will resume this upcoming week. 

For another thing, I finished a book in a single day today on my day off from work. I finished reading Ursula K. LeGuin's second novel, Planet in Exile, the second book in her Hainish trilogy cycle. Her first three novels. I'll probably write a post about all three books when I'm finished. Also, I recently finished reading Susan Sontag's second collection of essays entitled Styles of Radical Will. What a transformative informative read that was. 

I haven't even started on any holiday shopping but I'll get it done on my days off later this week. It's truly the holiday season. This time of year always reminds me of Paul McCartney doing that Christmas song, "Simply having, a wonderful Christmas time." Great tune, Paul. 

The job has been really tough this week with the flu/cold. I really wanted to call out four times in a row but sometimes you gotta tough it out and go with the flow. Especially when you need that holiday pay for Christmas gifts.  

I've been listening to a lot of straight-ahead jazz. That's been my spirit music for the longest now. I've given the 60s rock and roll a break. Too much Mothers of Invention and The Beatles. There's only so much Sgt. Pepper, Freak Out, Revolver, and We're Only In It For The Money I can take.

I've ordered a bunch of great books that I plan on reading soon. The list includes Sontag Under the Sign of Saturn, Dante Divine Comedy, Kant Critique of Pure Reason, Kushner Telex from Cuba, Goethe Faust, and more. I want to read more science fiction as well. Perhaps more LeGuin, say, The Dispossessed, or the Lathe of Heaven, heck, why not both? 

As a result of all this reading, my computer time has dwindled down to maybe an hour a day or just not at all. I don't even really play computer games anymore. There's just not enough time in the day if I want to read, play guitar, and go to work. 

That's the end of this one. Happy holidays!

What's going on? August 2017 Edition

So it occurred to me that its been a super long time since I've written anything for the blog. This is mostly due to the fact that I had a super bad cold that kept me pretty down in the dumps for the last two weeks. It was pure hell. Nothing worse than a summer cold/flu after not being sick for over a year. It hit my immune system hard but I'm starting to feel better now. About 80%-85%, just in time for my promotion at work!

That's right, I got promoted at my grocery store job. Instead of being a combo clerk (cashier/bagger) I will now instead be working as a cheese department personnel working under the cheese department manager. I'm looking forward to the change of work pace and my next chapter of employment. I really hope everything works out great and that my new manager likes me. So there's that. I'm really looking forward to increased pay and raises. Which means more money for games, guitar/music equipment, and saving money for my future. I start training for the cheese department Tuesday at 7 am. No more closing shifts. No more bagging groceries. This is all so exciting!

I also have to talk about the new Starcraft Remastered. This game is everything I could have hoped for in a remaster. The fact that the new version of Brood War runs at 300 frames per second is freaking astounding. Blizzard has really outdone themselves. I've been playing the game a lot, mostly practicing my Zerg tactics in 3v3 big game hunters, which is my favorite team practice map. I've gotten to the point where I can survive most rushes and make it to mid to late game but I still have to work on my late game when it comes to Zerg tactics. I'm about twenty years behind on Korean Brood War tactics. I'll probably start studying some builds on Team Liquid once I start to get more serious. As of now I'm just enjoying the sick graphics and the amazing hardcore rts gameplay. This is a golden game with a great remaster. Now if only Blizzard could get a Warcraft III Frozen Throne remaster that would be great. 

More stuff about my personal life incoming. I recently lost a bit of weight. Nothing too big but I lost about ten pounds. During the weeks I was sick I lost my appetite and dropped some weight. I've since gained two or three pounds since but I'm going to work hard to keep the weight off and lose even more. I'm really watching my diet, making sure to drink plenty of water, and never overeating at dinner or restaurants. Easier said than done but I'm on my way.

I've also been practicing a lot of guitar. Even if I'm just chilling at my friends' house I always pick up their guitar and practice my legato, scales, jazz standard heads, whatever. I haven't been able to make it to an open jam for a few weeks but I will get there when I can. I've been trying to setup jam sessions with my friend/bass player Dennis for a while but I was sick last week and had to cancel. There's another guy at work that wants to start a band with me but I don't think he's serious because every time we're suppose to meet up he bails with some sort of excuse. It's all good. I just wish I could find band members more easily and have my own group. Until then I'll just keep practicing, going to open jams, and recording and releasing tracks on Soundcloud.

I had a really good day today. It was my last day of cashiering on the front end then tomorrow I'm off, and then Tuesday I start my training for cheese department. Not only was my last day fun and stress free but earlier in the day before work I was hanging out with my good buddy Eric at Fire and Dice (local hobby shop, board games, smash 4 tournies, etc) and I won a free board game! It's a great fun board game called Smashup! So not only did I have a great day hanging out with my buddy playing Magic the Gathering and board games but I also got a free prize! It was a great way to commemorate my last day of cashiering. I even got some cool weeb anime girl sleeves for my Magic decks.

The next couple weeks will test my working skills hardcore because I'm going from a primarily labor intensive cashiering to a more food orientated environment that involves using your peoples skills in a different way from just being a cashier. I'm excited!  

"The future is ours to decide" -Shulk, Xenoblade Chronicles