WORK, JOB, TRABAJO (Boss and supervisor are out today so you KNOW I'm gonna try my hardest to do NOTHING for the next 8 hours!)

I just finished reading Joemama's blog about hoping that a natural disaster wipes out the power if only for his office. Ha ha ha...I hear ya' homie! On Wednesday I was moving boxes around at work because we just had the carpet changed and my mom (who FYI works in the same place) was telling me to leave the lifting and moving to the guys in my office who do nothing. She was like, "You might break your back or injure your arm or something! And I responded with an enthusiastic, "So? What's the worse that could come of that? I don't go to work for a few weeks? MOM, THAT'S A GOOD THING!!

I've had 7 jobs in my lifetime and what I would give to go back to my first one. I was a 7th grader, hired by the 2nd grade teacher/volleyball coach, Sr. Angelica, to be a tutor for one of her students. I didn't know the first thing about being a tutor, but all I was asked to do was help little Carlos maximize his reading and math skills. And that I did 4 times a week for an hour each day. It was an easy $20 a week for me! I know it doesn't seem like much, but for a 13 year old whose greatest expense was eating at the mall with my friends every so often, $20 a week PLUS allowance from Mom & Dad was a big deal. I tutored again when I was in the 8th grade and this time I had "co-workers" in Randy and Iya who were tutoring 2 brothers in the same grade. Everyday, 4 days a week, us tutors and tutees would sit in the 3rd grade classroom and read, read, read, finding it hard not to mess around, especially with Jhoette there doing nothing but stand as our form of distraction. Randy, Iya and I always wondered if we did any good for those kids. You think, guys? HA HA HA...

Since then I've worked at:
*Universal Studios, my first "official" job the summer after high school graduation, complete with paychecks reduced by FICA and union fees (picture me at Jurassic Outfitters, in my peach button-down, with the Jurassic Park patch on the left pocket, cargo shorts or pants, and a red bandana around my neck). The biggest perk of this job was having friends there to share in the experience: Cile in her Back to the Future uniform, coming down to visit me during the busiest time of the day. She would lean on the counter while I'm working the register, caught in the influx of soaking wet guests who had just gotten off the ride, and ask if I'm busy. Ha ha ha...and then Markie, the acclaimed fastest frozen lemonade scooper in the park, stole a Jurassic uniform shirt (blue button-down with the patch on the left pocket)...and there's little Rochelle Bobbers, who burned herself a few times working at the Commissary serving hot food. She also had to work that big ice box of drinks called the "trough" after the Waterworld show let out. Ask us to do an impression of her experience when you see us...And we can't forget "Chill, this is Eric" who worked at the Caribbean Chill serving frozen yogurt and smoothies. I think he spent more time macking on the workers than making drinks...and then Ryan-damn-why-are-these-pants-so-tight Palos, who worked at the Studio Grill, the employee cafeteria. He used to charge us for a muffin, even with the full meal we had on the tray. I worked there a scattered number of times after that, leaving completely after a stint at Totally Nickelodeon. Good times...

*"Kinko's in Irvine, how may I direct your call?" This is where I learned how to count change backwards, not to mention how to use a copier and fax machine properly. Hee hee hee...Terry and Jason (Lusty Lustina) were two of the floor leads. There was this one chick named, Kim (remember Ter?) who we caught a few times standing glass-eyed in the cards section. Ha ha ha...did she do ANY work?

*UCI Bookstore: I did customer service for a few months, but when my schedule didn't allow 4 hour slot (which is the least amount of hours for one shift), Annie got me a job with the general books department where I met my favorite boss/supervisors ever! Not to mention, it was, by far, the easiest and most accommodating job that I ever had. When I had to shelve books, I often had someone walking around talking to me. If it wasn't Annie shelving books WITH me, it was Andrew killing time before his next class. And then during times I had to enter new items into the inventory system, I would either be in a chatroom with Randy and Iya (do you guys remember that?) or be talking to Leia as she ate her lunch next to our desk. If I knew *NSYNC was gonna be on TRL one afternoon, Matt & Nikki (my bosses) would let me leave early if it wasn't busy. Ha ha ha...

*DC Chamber of Commerce: I learned THE MOST at this internship, which only lasted 3 months. Who knew little ol' me could survive such a "commute?" ha ha ha...Although I missed my family and friends, and the lovely California weather, I welcomed the new friends and co-workers I was fortunate enough to have met and embraced the ideal autumn that the east coast had to offer. Riding the metro every morning and evening was icing on the cake. I never felt so Felicity! Sometimes I still can't believe I ever lived and worked there. I keep saying I'm gonna go back. I won't deny it's always been the other side of the coin for me since I left, but I haven't been ready to flip it just yet.

And now here I am, blogging at my relatively new job. Dangit! Why do all my entries always end up so long?! The point I was GONNA make was that I used to look forward to paydays. But ever since my stack of financial obligations grew each year since 2000, paydays don't mean jack to me anymore. I love how I have all that money in my account for like, 2 days and then after I write those damn checks, I'm reduced to some absurd balance, like $38.56 to last me for another 15 days. Booo...The job hunt continues! Anyone care to join?