Demotivational Monday

All motivation is lost today as my computer has broken yet again! We now believe there is something wrong with the motherboard.

So enjoy this Demotivational Monday with me.

Another day

Today has been a good day.

I worked a night shift for the first time in a while, so it gave me some time during the day to do some things. This included... dum da da dum... Me actually doing some of my editing!

I have re-written my prologue, this time in first person, but it is essentially the same.

I will be honest, it has improved, but I am still not 100% happy with it. It is the one part that bugs me the most because I want it to be perfect, I need it to be perfect!

I also got through chapter one as well. So I am pretty proud of that effort.

There was something that surprised me today when I skipped through and read some of chapter twenty-three, I knew there was something specific that I needed to change so I figured I would make a note before I closed it. I read through, and realised that it's not that shit.

Really, I was avoiding the later chapter because I feared the amount of editing it would involve. But it turns out, it really isn't as bad as I thought it was. It still needs work, but it doesn't seem as overwhelming now.

So that was my day, I edited, and I worked. Now time for sleep!

Pointless vent

In the hopes of motivating myself to get some writing done, I am going to post my somewhat disjointed pointless vent for the day. At the very least I can say I actually wrote something, at best I might feel a little better about the whole day.

I woke up this morning thinking today would be easier than yesterday... Boy how wrong was I?!

I actually called for an extra staff member to come in for today due to yesterday being a hectic mess (inc a debacle with 100 champers glasses that arrived with only 10 mins before I needed them filled and ready to serve.)

I was supposed to start work at 6:45am, a late start for me. The breakfast planned for our group of 90 was hosted by some Master Chef woman. It was like the Master Chef episodes where they do the master classes for the contestants. My manager had assured me that the woman running it wouldn't need anything, they had a plan drawn up and would make sure I wouldn't need to set anything up when I got in.

6:15am, I arrive to work, still rugged up in my eskimo jacket ready to relax with a coffee before I leisurely start setting up the regular things for the conference rooms, when I am accosted by a short blonde woman with a list of things she needs. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't rude about it, she was just overly perky and enthusiastic for that time of the morning, especially given how bloody freezing cold it was.

The list wasn't too bad, but every time I got everything she needed, she thought up 5 more things to add.

Then the breaky chef comes out to me, the poor guy has caught a nasty cold and has actually managed to make himself vomit from coughing. That was just about the last thing I needed. It's not easy to call in replacements at that time of the morning.

In the end, breakfast went okay. It was very messy, but it was okay and we got our breaky chef replaced for the day.

Reading that back, none of it sounds particularly terrible. I think the thing that really got up my nose today was our head chef. He had his cranky pants on, and boy did we all hear about it.

I suspect it has something to do with us getting our feedback percentages back for the month. Food and Bev were up at 89 and 90% for service which for us is awesome because we have been sitting at the high seventies for a while. But the food and things to do with the kitchen were coming in at 60-something percent. Instead of just copping it on the chin and taking it as a lesson learned, Chef decided to take it out on everyone who didn't deserve it. Including our poor service staff, one of which asked for another vegetarian meal for a guest only to be met with an argument about how Chef only made one because there was only one on the event order.

I was proud to say my fellow staff member took it upon herself to tell him off and even point out all of the readily available food he could throw on a plate with little or no effort. The guest did get some food, after the head chef stormed out of the kitchen and the apprentice was free to make something for him.

I did later ask my manager if there would be any consequences if I kicked Chef in the balls, he said "No one would blame you."

Pointless vent over.

Tuesday tag along

Thought I might give this a go. I have found some other cool blogs on Tuesday tag along's before but I haven't ever done the actual tag along thing before.

Here's how it works:

• Create a new Tuesday Tag-Along blog post. Include the Tuesday Tag-Along button by copying and pasting the code above. (You are also welcome to copy and paste these instructions in their entirety, or any portion of this Tuesday Tag-Along blog post!)
• Add your blog name and the URL of your TTA post to the MckLinky below.
• Follow Twee Poppets, the hostess blog listed in the first slot. Twee Poppets will follow you back! (Note: If you want Twee Poppets to follow you back, you MUST leave her a comment saying that you are a new follower and leave a link to your blog!)
• Follow the Blog Hopper of the Week, listed in the second slot. To learn how to be chosen as the Blog Hopper of the Week, read the red text below.
• If you can, please follow the blogs in the three slots before you (e.g., if you're number 20, follow numbers 19, 18, and 17). This is not mandatory, but it will help ensure that everyone who signs up gets a few new followers!
• Follow as many other blogs as you want. The more you follow, the more that will follow you back! Be sure to tell them that you're following from Tuesday Tag-Along! You may also want to leave a link to your blog so they can return your follow more easily.
• When you get a new follower through Tuesday Tag-Along, be sure to follow them back! It's just common courtesy. :)

The weekly Tuesday Tag-Along MckLinky opens every Monday night at 8:59pm Pacific Standard Time (that's 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time), and the TTA blog post will be posted well in advance of that time. The MckLinky will be open to add your blog until 11:59pm Tuesday night. You then have all week long to visit blogs and return follows!

There is a new list every week. The link you enter one week will not carry over to the next week's MckLinky. Please link up again each week to join in the fun!

Motivational Monday

Since last Monday I have been a sooky pile of sick. Now that I am on the mend my husband is ill and is calling it my black plague of snotty death. I know that paints a charming picture for you all.

So I have done nothing at all inspiring or motivational since our last Motivational Monday. Here is hoping this puts the week in better stead.

Motivational Monday

So, whats been happening in my world?

Well I have been working, working, then working some more.

Then my computer that was newly up and operating died in the arse! I kid you not, I actually saw the blue screen of death. I didn't think you would see that heinous thing on Windows 7, but I did so there you go.

My dear husband spent the better part of 3 days trying to fix it (in between shifts at work.) Turned out there was some bios problem, that I have no clue about, but he assures me made total sense when he disabled the front USB ports (as I said, I have no idea what any of it meant.)

So as of this afternoon I am back up and running. I have lost tons of data, including my mock up copy of my book cover and all of my purchased iTunes music! But I'll fix my sadness on that front with a little Monday Motivation!

Election decisions

There is a nifty little web page that gives you some questions to answer and it tells you who you are best suited to vote for.

Apparently I am best suited to vote for the Greens, but what I found really funny was what came up as my next best vote...

The Donkey Vote!!! No joke, under the greens it suggested I would be best to Donkey Vote.

So for any Aussie's still not sure what to do give this link a go, even if it is just for a laugh.

Birthday

For my birthday today I just wanted to show off my awesome new peripherals. After months of not being able to use my PC due to lack of screen, RAM and keyboard I am pleased to say that my PC is now in total working order, better and more shiny than ever!

This is my super spiffy keyboard. I still have no idea how to do anything on it. The little screen confuses me. I know I can custom change the colour of the lights illuminating the keys, but I have no idea how. It also has a little scroll thing on the right hand side that even my husband has no idea about. All in all it's a very cool typing tool!

And this is my absolutely huge; you can see it from the MIR space station computer monitor! When you open MS Word it automatically has two pages side by side. I have to sit back a metre just to take in the whole screen. It is the sports car of monitors! I will admit I didn’t realise how big a 27" screen was until my husband took it out of the box. I laughed hysterically when I saw it because it is the size of the TV in our bed room.

Needless to say my dear husband is now insanely jealous and is threatening to use our big screen TV as his new monitor. I would laugh about that but I am certain he will do it :)

Have a good one everyone!

Motivational Monday

Now thats motivation!

(It's also a little inside joke between a small few of us at work, best not to ask details.)

Now totally unproductive

As of Thursday I was back at work for the week. 

My work week was begun with a buffet dinner for 153 accountants whom apparently have a tendency to act like morons when they are not crunching numbers. Don't get me wrong, I know not all accountants are like this, but this particular group was.

I must admit it was amusing to see them all dressed up in weird costumes and the balloons and pinatas were pretty cool. But the novelty wore off pretty quickly once they would order a beer, I would ask which kind (we have 4 on tap and many in the fridge) and they would wave their hand in a sweeping motion towards all four taps. In the end I gave up asking and just gave them whichever cost more.

After that 10 hour shift I then had to open the restaurant for breakfast. Not so much fun after 3.5 hours sleep, but it was bearable I thought... Until the coffee orders began.

Two women tried to order vanilla soy lattes from our chef in the kitchen. I managed to save him by pointing out that the ladies would need to follow me to the bar where we actually have a coffee machine.

I have spent the past two mornings now making espresso coffees of all descriptions for these 150 odd guests. Mostly with no incident, until a lady this morning argued with me that I had lost her order, when in fact she had asked for a latte not a flat white and that's why she hadn't heard her order come up yet, because I had a skinny latte sitting there for her which she would not claim as hers.

Did I mention the guy  who insisted on having a vodka at breakfast but then ordered a decaf skinny latte afterward? Even upper management thought that was strange.

Anyway, I ramble and digress. These are the reasons I have no writing done, no re-reading of my own work or reading of any other work done since Wednesday when I reached my writing goal.

On the upside though, the conference did forget an automatic bubble blower which I have claimed as my own. May the bubble fun begin when I have time off again on Tuesday!

Productivity central

At the start of this blog I stated a word count of  23,902 for my novel Return of the Queen.

Between Monday and Wednesday I have managed to raise that word count to 35,558.

That's 11,656 words in three days.

I honestly have no idea how I managed it. I also had kids to look after, a house to clean and meals to cook in that time. But it is done and I feel pretty good about it.

My husband has been most understanding at my utter neglect this week. In fact I think he kind of liked it because it gave him an excuse to play EVE Online in a hardcore way (something I normally get annoyed at him for.)

For now I will go, work is calling and I have a child to put down for a nap before she gets too grumpy.

Motivational Monday

For the Aussies this will be a day late, but I am sure someone will enjoy a little motivation today.