Of Hedgerows and Skylines

It’s funny how, despite not really planning to do so, I woke up pretty early today, even before my phone’s alarm went off at its scheduled time.  I could have sworn that I heard my sister talking (about how I was supposed to have classes today), but regardless of the reason I was out of bed, and very wide awake.  Needless to say I took advantage of the fact that I was up and about, fired up SAI, and went to “work” on the other pieces of my art project.  Which is to say adding a skyline and treeline as background to my mob of magical girls.

After several hours of squinting, the result is what is displayed on the picture above. The greens are a little too bright for comfort (at least the front row), but given the fact that they’re going to be (mostly) obscured by the running girls I think I can get away with some minor adjustments to the overall brightness later on.  That said, boy this was tiring, and the effort pretty much took the entirety of my day, which just shows my rather amateurish level of skill. Egh.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be done with the trees by tomorrow, so I can finally focus on a much harder task; that is, coloring (and shading!) all those buildings in the background.

Semi-Productive

Well, I woke up late on the weekend as usual, which meant that whatever plans I had started up at least eight hours.  Funny thing too, as I set my alarm for eight, and I distinctly remember actually sitting up to check my cellphone.  I guess I just killed the alarm, like anyone starved for sleep would do, and just went to bed again.

Didn’t really do much in the afternoon though. Caught up watching a few shows, did some reading, and slowly added to the skyline of the little art project I’ve been doing on and off for a few months now.  Then I went to the gym for my usual session.  I was worried that I was going to get soaked, as it was pretty dark when I went out, but our area only got hit by a passing shower, and nothing heavier than that.

Mmm. I better go to bed now if I’m ever going start the day early tomorrow.

Another Cool Weekender

The shift today was similar enough to yesterday’s shift that I’ll just skip on it.  The only real difference was the overcast skies once I got off work, which meant that it was going to rain, but thankfully it didn’t really start raining until this evening.  Speaking of which,  it’s raining right now as I write this, which means that even if it abates later on the rest of the evening (and the morning really) will be cool and comfortable enough to sleep in without worrying about turning on the airconditioner.

Was able to go to the gym as usual, if it was a bit late.  I had to upload the Mikunopolis video on my phone, so I could watch it while I exercised.  It helped me kept pace well enough, though I worry that the shaking that its put through (while it sat on the exercise machine) might damage it in the same way as my poor iPod.  Hopefully not, as the repair bill on this one is likely more than the iPod…

Ah, all I can hope for right now is that I can have a productive weekend for a change.

No Peak For The Week

Apparently the new batch of CS agents hit the floor as scheduled, but the only change I could see when I arrived at the office this morning was how there seemed to be an extra team sitting now where there used to be a row of unoccupied work stations.  Still, their arrival did have an effect on the workload a bit, as it meant that the cross-trained agents (like myself) won’t have to take in any CS calls.  Whew.

That little detail aside, the shift today was very similar to yesterday, except I didn’t have the opportunity to doze off since two of the quartet who’re supposed to remain for the last shift conveniently left work early.  Ugh.  Thankfully the queue didn’t spike as well, but it did mean that, from twelve noon onward, the avail time in between calls became uncomfortably short.  Oh well, any break in between calls, no matter how short, is still welcome right?

I went to the gym after work as planned, and did my usual routine.  Really loving the — cross-trainers? seems to be about right — I’m using now, as not only do they cushion my soles better when I sprint, they also don’t become uncomfortably hot, which was a problem with my previous pair of sneakers.

Mmm, might have to push it though.  My weight keeps on going up and down, instead of straight down, and I really want to hit my target before my birthday…

Anyway, here’s to hoping that, at least as far as my work is concerned, that it’s more of the same.

New Paradigm Shifts

Surprise!  Despite it being a Tuesday shift (meaning it’s Monday evening in the US, usually one of the heaviest call days in the week), I wasn’t stressed out in the least at the end of it.  I guess this was because for its entire duration I was just taking in merchant and membership calls.  Not even a single CS call!  None!  Workforce did something nice for a change, which was a long time in coming.

As usual though, this didn’t mean that we could relax, but the fact that we weren’t forced to try to placate angry customers alleviated things a lot.  This did mean though that we were kept fairly busy; no time to really nod off like the day before!

I think the only real thing of note today was the fact that it rained rather hard by mid-morning, to the point that we were worried again about, y’know, getting home in a state that wasn’t soaked to the skin.  Thankfully the squall had passed by the time lunch rolled in, and when my shift ended the sun was once again high in the sky.  Yes, this meant that it was still hot when I got home, but not uncomfortably so.

I passed on going to the gym today, and instead took a nap to make up for going to sleep late the other day.  Will definitely pay the place a visit tomorrow though.

The Calm Before The Week Truly Begins

It was a slow Monday shift for a change, in that there were actually more than just two people taking in calls by the time my workday ended.  Coupled with the fact that since my profile sharee was on duty as well, I was limited to taking in membership application calls yet again, it made for a relatively mellow start to the week, which is just fine for yours truly.  In fact, the atmosphere was relaxed enough through the morning that my co-workers killed the time in between calls telling ghost stories.  And these aren’t your usual ghost stories, but call center ghost stories.  

Every center has these of course, but the floors our company occupies — 9th, 7th, and 4th respectively — seem to have its fair share of spectral inhabitants, judging from what was exchanged.  Makes me a little relieved that I’m not particularly supernaturally sensitive — something I have to thank my father’s side of the family I suppose — or else it might be really uncomfortable taking in calls in the area that I’m in, especially since at times I’m left alone with just a team coach to keep me company.

I was a little worried that it might be raining by the time I got off work, but those fears were relatively unfounded, as while it was overcast, it didn’t actually start raining until I was back home, and even then only after I made a detour to the bank to deposit my salary (it is the long-awaited payday after all) into my savings account.  How long the money will actually stay there is up for debate, as I’m expecting a deluge of bills by the end of the month, but we’ll just have to see about that.

Didn’t go to the gym this afternoon, and instead I ended the last of the daytime hours on a long nap.

Pasta Sundays

Today’s shift at work went better than expected, but that’s what happens when you get yet another full floor filled with people taking in calls.  Add to this the fact that all cross-trained personnel (meaning myself and a few of my batch-mates) were taken off the CS queue, then you have the setting for another (relatively) relaxed Sunday at the office.  Pity that my schedule still hasn’t shed an hour as promised, but that was just a minor wrinkle in an overall pleasant day.

Now, one might be wondering about the pasta that’s on the title of this entry.  Well, it refers to the big bowl of the stuff that I found waiting at the table when we got home.  At first I was confused (since we usually only prepare spaghetti when there’s either something to celebrate or, equally likely, whenever my sister feels like using up our supply of pasta and tomato sauce), but then I remembered the package that our mom sent the other week, which included yet another batch of canned tomato sauce and noodles.

I foresee that we’ll be seeing a lot of spaghetti during weekends for the next few months.

Aside from that, nothing really much to share for today.  Anyway, while it’s a vain hope, I pray that tomorrow’s queue won’t be too hectic, but given my luck with these sorts of things, it’ll likely be anything but what I’m hoping for.

Unwanted Academic Developments

Although I woke up late again this morning (yet another consequence of a late night’s worth of online gaming, exacerbated by the fact that my friend who I hadn’t talked to in YEARS suddenly was playing the same game I was), I was able to go to school as planned.  With the list of required readings in hand, my intent was to borrow the books listed, and gradually go through the review material before I’m forced to make a decision this July.  Because there’s only three tries at this, and I’d really want to pass on the first go.

So when I finally arrived at the library (specifically the Filipiniana section), and grabbed two of the books on the list that I needed, and headed to the librarian’s desk to have them checked out under my name.  Unfortunately, as I was to learn, I couldn’t borrow the books; apparently, as a student taking up my residency, I wasn’t allowed to, and I was only allowed to photocopy the material that I needed.

Uhm, okay.

This pretty much puts a dent on my review plans.  Without the capability to actually, y’know, take the books home, I’m forced to either just read them at the library (which really isn’t efficient), or shell out an ungodly sum of money to photocopy the books that I need, and even then I can’t copy the book in its entirety since that would break copyright laws. The other option isn’t cost-effective either, which is to just get a copy of my own via online ordering (since, y’know, around 70% of the books on the review list aren’t even available in local libraries or bookstores).

Yeah, things aren’t really looking too good. I think it’s time to look for online copies, like PDFs and DOCs, to use.  It’s extra-legal, but I don’t have much choice at this point.  

Ah, the problems an amateur academic has to go through, yes?

Day-Off Duties

Which is to say, to maximize the relaxation I could squeeze out of today.  I can’t say that it’s been totally fruitful, but I will admit that I was able to relax and actually have fun today.  Yes, it’s mostly gaming, with some reading on the side, plus the usual gym in the afternoon, but it’s all good in the end.

Now all that’s left to be done is to catch up on all that anime I downloaded over the past three days. Hmm.

Embarrassing Behavior

I kind of lucked out again on my shift today, since the guy who I shared my profile with was also on shift.  As a result, I was once again doing just membership applications for the whole day.  So it was pretty much a repeat of my shift the other day, where up until around ten in the morning, I was left to my devices, given how leisurely the membership calls came in.  Too bad  I wasn’t really able to do much with all that avail time, as once again, if I open a page with an image on it, my system freezes.  That meant that, again, I had to disable anything image-related on my browser options, which meant no manga-reading in between calls.  Ah well.

I was a little bummed out that my break time was scheduled so late in the morning, placed at around nine-forty five.  By the time it hit, I was starving (do remember that I start at seven for the week).  Ironically, my forty-five minute “lunch” came barely an hour later at eleven-fifteen, which makes me wonder what the heck Workforce is thinking at times.  

Since I was still filled with the food I ate at the pantry (chicken barbecue), I decided to use the forty-five minutes for a nap… which somehow inflated to around an hour because my cellphone’s alarm didn’t ring.  Now that was embarrassing, and a red mark on my record for the week that shouldn’t have even happened. I just can’t wait for the dressing down I’m going to get for this on Sunday, oh yes.

I went to the gym as per habit, this time choosing the other pair of running shoes that my mother had sent with the last package.  The result was… less than expected.  Apparently the way the sole was molded (actually it looked very flat) didn’t quite match up with the arch of my feet, which meant that after even a bit of a jog (ten or so minutes) the outer edges of my feet hurt like heck.  

This isn’t to say that the shoes aren’t usable (and it looks like that they’d be very comfortable for city walking), but for anything longer than a brief sprint the other pair is much better.

So, another weekend and day off for me tomorrow.  Hopefully I can make the most of it, unlike the previous week.