Day 66: Some things you don't know about me

It all got started because a friend of my Spanish blog tagged me regarding certain things you'd like to take with you to a desert island, which I find funny 'cause nobody in his right mind would willingly be stranded on a piece of rock in the middle of the ocean. But I can tell you about some of my favorite things:

1. CDs: although I don't like singers per se, Mecano and Miguel Bosé are my favorite singers. I've got every single CD they've issued, except Bose's last one, which honestly sucks.

2. Books: my collection ammounts up to 300, but there are some which will always have a special place in my heart, like "Don Quixote", "The Three Musketeers" and "Mort".

3. DVD´s: another eclectic topic, varying from "Akira" and "The Grave of the Fireflies" to Disney's movies, but my all time favorites are "Lady Hawke" and the one and only "The Crow", with Brandon Lee.

4. Comics: again, I don't follow neither heroes nor series, but there are some I would certainly save from a fire: "Night Cries", "The Sandman Series", "The Books of Magic" and "Watchmen". The last one rocks!

5. Cartoons: They deserve a paragraph for themselves. "Batman the animated series" and "Remi" are some of the collections on my shelves.

6. Clothes: I'm nothing of a feminine woman at all, so a good pair of jeans, a long, thick cotton t-shirt and a good pair of trainers or hiking boots along with my indispensable baseball cap work well enough to me.

7. Relaxing activities: I'm a lazy bum, so I prefer lazy activities, such as reading, sleeping, going bowling and going to the movies. Nothing very exciting, but fun for the brain.

8: Pets: I like animals in general, but my favorites are cats, horses and dogs. Ferrets are ok, but after a while they seem just like stupid cats.

I'm not mentioning any toys since that was the topic of a past post.

There you are. I guess that's more than enough for starters when you want to know something relevant about people. My favorite technique is to ask about this items, and then about the details. You can have plenty of hours of fun at a party.

Day 65: How to cover you are waisting your time at work

What are you suppossed to do when you are at work, after finishing all your tasks, and you have nothing else to do? Most Personnel Managers would say that you have to make your free time a productive one. I say you must take a rest, especially if yours is a very demanding job.

So, what can we do to conceal our doing nothing? I recommend the following tactics:

1. Pick up the phone: when you're doing nothing and you are able to hear your boss's footsteps down the hallway, pick up the phone and fake you're in the middle of a very important conversation. That'll give you enough time to turn around and seem busy.

2. Keep files open: when you're working with the PC, keeping several windows open will mantain the impression you're working hard while you hide your blog behind them (which is exactly what I'm doing right away).

3. Deal with old paper work: either filing all the papers you've scathered over your desk or cleaning your drawers, that gives you a good chance to relax your mind, exercise your muscles and give an impression of tidiness and commitment while keeping your mind blank.

4. Surf the web: when you work for Purchasing, Research or something related to computers, you can hide your illicit activities by opening tabs related to those products your company deals with.

These are only some options I have come across throughout my working experience. If you happen to know others, please let me know so I can seem productive while fooling around.

Thanks!

Day 64: How to waste your time in a waiting lounge.

Whenever we are left to wait in a waiting room, most of us get bored. I have developed a few techniques to keep myself entertained and sometimes, be able to catch the receptionist’s attention.

1. Always carry a book: for me, that’s a must. Whenever I make an appointment, I carry the latest book I’m reading, to avoid getting bored.

2. Carefully read the magazines available: most of the companies keep a big stack of specialized magazines, which at least have interesting pictures. Sometimes, you can even find job offers on them, so read them thoroughly. You never know what you may find.

3. Tear the magazines: ok, this may be regarded as vandalism, but if I find a recipe or an interesting test and the receptionist is not paying attention to me at all, it’s her loss, and I’m gonna get as much advantage as possible of such a waste of my precious time.

4. Play videogames: this is not recommended for job interviews, of course, but if you have the chance to take your portable videogame, you will have a lot of fun. Besides, if you turn the sound on, you will certainly make the receptionist pay attention to your needs.

5. Chat with the receptionist: there’s nothing they hate more than a chatty visitor, especially when they are busy typing or making phone calls. In fact, they will call whoever they need to in order to get rid of you.

6. Talk on your mobile: similar to chatting with her, if you talk loud enough to interfere with the incoming calls, you’ll be sure they’ll do everything in their hands to stop you from interfering with their jobs.

7. Walk around the front desk: this works even more wonderfully than the former. There’s nothing more annoying than a person who is distracting you with the thunderous sound of his footsteps.

So, next time a receptionist doesn’t treat you well, or keeps you waiting for hours, make sure you let them know how valuable your time is. And I’m telling you this ‘cause I’m a receptionist myself!

Day 61: I'm still alive!!

Shoot. It's been 12 days since my last post, and this was one of those things I had promise myself I wasn't gonna do: neglect this intellectual exercise. Therefore, here I am with the little news, so my hypothetical and real readers (God bless them all) may know I'm still alive.

1. Work: I've complained enough, and it's time to say I'm already on the move to get out of the rat hole. I've attended just one interview, but seems promising (keep your fingers crossed for me, ok?). I'm taking all my medication like a good girl, and I took today off from all responsibilities, so I could relax a bit.

2. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At the World's End": As part of my relaxing program, I went to a VIP hall to watch this movie. Sorry to say I found the ending disappointing. I'm not gonna spoiler it here, but I think some people deserved a happier ending. Guess I'd raised too high expectations on that.

3. Bowling lessons: Tomorrow I'll be attending my third lesson. Although my average has been worse than the last time I played, I must say I'm quite getting a grasp on this, and starting to throw a little bit more 'professionally'. I still look like a hippo on its tip-toes, tough, but I'm having a lot of fun.

4. New car: Next weekend I'm finally getting my greedy anxious hands on my new car. Unfortunately, I still don't know how to drive, but that is a minor annoyance now that I've pictured myself driving it. It's a second-hand VW Pointer, but it's in a swell condition thanks to my mom. I just hope I don't make my debut on it with a dent.

5. Wii: Finally, I was able to purchase my Wii console. We currently have just one game and one set of controls, and I've had very little time to enjoy it, but my hubby and I have had a lot of fun trying to best each other at different 'sports'. I'm becoming quite proficient at bowling, although it's so different from real bowling. We are also enjoying the planning of the games we're gonna purchase soon, such as "Monkey Ball-Banana Blitz", "Wii Play" and some others.

Well, I think that'll be all for today. I do promise I'll try to post more frequently. My friend "Y sin embargo"'s technique of posting small comments regarding current events is good to keep the pace up, so I'm gonna borrow a leaf from his book and give it a try whenever I run short of time or ideas. Keep looking!! I'll be there!!