11th February, 2008
This Is The First Day Of Work
Yes, I found a job! It’s not the kind I was looking for (in a non-profit organization), but it will help with the bills and that’s what I need right now. I found a job at a retail store that just opened in my town. It’s a few blocks away so I can walk to the store. I don’t know what the salary is just yet, but I was told by the manager that it pays well. Now that I think about it, I think I already talked about this last time.
See? This is what happens when I don’t blog more often. But sometimes, it’s hard to since I’m trying to keep up with Blog365 so some of the thoughts that I have I feel I just put there first. I know that the rules state that I don’t have to keep all my posts in one blog, but I do so when it’s all done, I can count my number of posts and say wow, there are at least 365 posts this year! That will be amazing, won’t it?
So yes, today was my first day of work. I worked for five hours with a half hour break (so total 5:30). I’m thinking that I don’t get paid for that break which is kind of a bummer so technically instead of 27.5 hours a week, it’s now down to 25 hours. Darn it. Oh well. It’s still money, right? So far, it’s okay. I’m trying to learn still so I really dislike this process. I want to be able to get everything down and just do my own thing without having to ask what I need to do next, etc. I’ll get the hang of it though, I will.
Yeah, so that whole fasting thing is harder than it looks. I can fast for one day, but to keep it up definitely will be my hardest challenge. I already failed since all of my half-meals were more than half-meals. Now I’m thinking that maybe I should tweak the rules a little. I don’t want to make excuses, but I do want to be realistic. One meal a day? That’s a bit too much to try and do consistently six days a week, you know? I’ll probably either do two full meals or have one full meal and two other eating times, at max. So no snacking and no candy.
But enough about that. I must share with you the startling change.
I went home this weekend for about 24 hours. On Sunday was a family party that I wanted to attend and since I have a Saturday morning class, I couldn’t leave for my parents’ on Friday. First startling thing: I read a book on the way to my parents’. I rarely ever read or do anything productive on the way there, but this time, I read my assigned reading. Second startling thing: I read a chapter in a textbook! Normally it takes me a while to do that, but lately, I’ve been really trying to keep up with my studies (as little as it may be) so that’s new too. (I’ll get to the third and final thing in a moment.)
So the party was on Sunday. I think that my uncles and aunts knew of my current situation with my not being enrolled and having to take care of myself so they over “red-enveloped” me. My uncle gave me the most with a whopping $100 bill! His wife had already enveloped me earlier, but he decided to give me money too (secretly of course). My aunt gave me not one, but two envelopes. My two cousins gave me envelopes (and others, but that’s beside the point right now). I received quite a bit this year, a lot more than usual, but at least I can take care of some payments, right?
It was good to spend this time with my family. I missed them and it really made me feel better. I know that usually when I’m home, I’m not always spending time with my family, but being in the same house does make me feel better anyway. And you know what the last surprising thing was?
I didn’t want to leave! I woke up Sunday morning and thought, “I wish I didn’t have to go back today.” I actually tried to stay longer too after the party was over. I grabbed my textbook and plopped on the dining table to start some more reading, but my mother said,
“Maybe you should head back now. Get your dad and he’ll take you now.”
“Well, you know, we don’t have to go right away. We can go whenever it’s convenient for you; it doesn’t have to be now.”
“No, no, no. It’s alright. We’ll just take you back now.”
That is a complete 180 that just happened this weekend. Normally, I can’t wait to get out of the house and back to Berkeley, but this time, this time was different. I actually wanted to stay! I think this change has to do with my dad giving me money a few weeks ago. That great gesture of love took down some pretty big walls of mine and I think that’s also what contributed to my feeling homesick last week too.
I love my family. ♥
Tags: clothing store from hell, family, Lent, work
Posted at 11:11 pm |
On February 12, 2008 at 5:20 am Julie said:
February 12, 2008 at 5:20 am
Yay for your job, yea learning the stuff isn’t fun but once you get the hang of it it will be great. That’s really awesome that you’ve gotten better about your studies, shows you care about stuff, and starting to get better. I wonder if that’s your parents’ trick, make you feel homesick and not let you stay longer, so you decide on your own to go home? I hope not, but in any case I think it’s great that they’re letting you be you, and that the rest of your family supports you and gives you extra gifties on the side to help you get by. *huggles*