If there was one time of the week I had always looked forward to, it was Friday nights. Well, it still is but for now I'm extremely limited to them until after Christmas. The reason for this being I actually got the job at Marks & Spencer where I did that work placement. It was only three weeks ago where I had concluded the work placement and already I'm back there! Good news, right? Well, it came with a catch and that catch being weekends only and I'm starting as early as 7 in the morning on Saturday and 10 for Sunday. This right there almost entirely shuts down my weekend evening plans as while Friday nights are out of the question for a while, I can at least still have a bit of time on Saturday under the condition that I get back home at midnight
Don't get me wrong, I'm still very happy that I am working with a paid job now but to lose out on my favourite time of the week is admittedly a bummer but at least it's for a good cause. Hell, I had tried to look at all the advantages such as still having Thursday and Saturday to go to The Hotel California and anywhere else but Friday is really its night with it being the busiest out of the three as well as knowing many that go there exclusively then. Other bright side being able to save more money but even when I look at them, right now I'm just back at home sitting in front of my laptop on a Friday night which actually feels depressing.
Since making regular trips outside the house for Fridays, I've made excellent progress with my social life and it's really been some of the best I've done with my whole life yet (probably even one of the best ever for me) so for it to be off for a while does make me feel left out. However, I still have other days where I can go out somewhere and my best days are Wednesdays and Thursdays with no work the following day for them as well as Saturday for a bit. With that I can still go to the same places that I enjoy.
Looking at that, though, it does make me think that my Friday nights out have become too much of a comfort zone for me and now it's time to break it as I have no other choice. I'm not the only one who's having to be back at home right now since others will have to work early in the morning as well. It's just one life responsibility that I have to take. While my contract with M&S is due to end on the first week of January, there is that chance of them renewing it thus keeping me on which will actually be good but would mean even longer times away from these nights. However, maybe this is the start of a new change for me. It could be that my weekend antics could be over and I'll only have a few hours out and would only have a full night if I happen to have a holiday booked.
That said, I think I'll still try and go out on Friday but like Saturday it would have to be short and having to leave early and Friday will be an earlier leave for me. I don't see the point of being at the Cali for two hours and then only be there for another half hour when the whole place opens so maybe I'll see how it goes when they open the rest at 9 as opposed to 10 and hopefully feel I have at least had a bit of time to enjoy myself on a Friday.
As much as I hope to still have other plans to have some social life, I'm still going ahead with stating more availability to work at other times at M&S so if they want me in at any time between Monday and Friday, they're more than welcome to ask me in and overtime means more pay and if I heard correctly about their system, the overtime I've done can actually give me time off my normal shifts so here's hoping I can at least go ahead with a plan or two that I had in mind later on the year but had to drop it due to work. If not, oh well, I'll just have to roll with it but at least right now I'm getting something out of it.
Lastly, let's not forget about money. While it's only slightly above minimum wage, that with DLA I get as well as claiming Working Tax Credit (or rather I should be as I need to find out more since hours per week could be tricky this time with getting it) so all of those together and the money I have in my bank account right now means it won't be too long off until I can get a new laptop which is something I've been wanting to get for a while now. Afterwards, I'll have money to spend more than enough for Christmas shopping and after that I'll see about making plans to go to at least two or three Comic Con events as well as a festival or two that I want to attend. So things will look up form hereon.
Friday, 29 August 2014
Sunday, 10 August 2014
Wind of change
So I've got through my two week work placement at Marks & Spencer and while the managers were very impressed with my work overall, I felt I could have done better but hey, there's always room for improvement. The interaction with customers was still good and everything, although my confidence to talk to unfamiliar faces at night outs didn't make much developments which is a shame but I suppose there's still time to work on that.
Anyway, as the title suggests, there's been a wind of change going on and this is regarding my Thursday nights. I had been going to these karaoke nights regularly since the start of the year and sadly, it all ended last Thursday when the hosts had announced to the staff that they would no longer be able to hold their weekly events after that night but they weren't too pleased and just told them to leave without even going through one last night.
So with that unfortunate end to the Thursday karaoke nights, this now leaves me with nothing to do for these days. However, I do have some ideas on what I can do instead but some of them I would like to give a shot and see how comfortable I am. It's possible that friends I know from the Thursday nights will have their own ideas on what to do outside the house instead but it's best to make my own plans and not rely on others, although if they wish to invite me to wherever then I could go ahead and see how it goes.
So far my best alternative for the new Thursdays is to go to the swimming baths. I've been trying to exercise more in my life and sadly it's always on and off and I've yet to have a consistent routine for it. It might be mostly because the opening times for the swimming baths haven't worked out for me and when there are times when I'm awake when they're open, usually kids are out of school then and trying to do lane swimming when there's kids around is not ideal. However, some of the swimming baths have a nice time slot for Thursday where it's adults only so no kids around to get in my way of doing my lane swimming.
One other idea has just been to simply stay at home and have time to focus on video games, films and TV shows, some of them I admittedly lack doing much of at the moment so I can take the laptop upstairs and use the TV for films and gaming. Now this combined with swimming on Thursdays sounds like a really good way to spend my Thursdays but what's not making me 100% about this? Only thing about these two is feeling I may not get the best out of socialising with them, especially not the night in part but the swimming, I suppose it will vary.
Other ideas I've in mind involve other pubs and that but one thing in particular is considering taking up Magic: The Gathering again. I used to play Yugioh and quitted that game for various reasons and I had said to some friends that play Magic that I would consider playing actively but was busy for Thursdays and Fridays already. However, with Thursdays free right now I could possibly start it up again. Some of the regulars that I know tend to go to Baa Bar afterwards which I could possibly join along to but if it's going beyond midnight, then it's a no-go for me considering this is over in Liverpool. The only things that would bother me about being a Magic player is having to be active in the game to know what's going on and to learn unfamiliar cards all the time and the need for money all the time. So with them, this idea is not likely but I won't rule it out yet.
Last things in mind are pub quiz at The Swan in Liverpool and jam night at The Hotel California. The former is a potentially good one but it would only be with friends that I know so perhaps building my way up for that will get us somewhere. As for the latter, it's something I can consider and have popped in before to sit and watch but the thing is, I'm already there every Friday and some Saturdays so to be there regularly for a third night is overdoing it. Don't get me wrong, I love the place but I don't want to get sick of it.
So there you have it. All my possible new ideas for Thursdays now that karaoke night is no more. It's hard to say what I'll end up doing but perhaps I can experiment with each one and eventually decide what's best for me. Heck, I could even change each week to freshen things up but I tend to like routines so the most ideal one for me from this lot (or even something else) should end up being my new Thursday nights.
Anyway, as the title suggests, there's been a wind of change going on and this is regarding my Thursday nights. I had been going to these karaoke nights regularly since the start of the year and sadly, it all ended last Thursday when the hosts had announced to the staff that they would no longer be able to hold their weekly events after that night but they weren't too pleased and just told them to leave without even going through one last night.
So with that unfortunate end to the Thursday karaoke nights, this now leaves me with nothing to do for these days. However, I do have some ideas on what I can do instead but some of them I would like to give a shot and see how comfortable I am. It's possible that friends I know from the Thursday nights will have their own ideas on what to do outside the house instead but it's best to make my own plans and not rely on others, although if they wish to invite me to wherever then I could go ahead and see how it goes.
So far my best alternative for the new Thursdays is to go to the swimming baths. I've been trying to exercise more in my life and sadly it's always on and off and I've yet to have a consistent routine for it. It might be mostly because the opening times for the swimming baths haven't worked out for me and when there are times when I'm awake when they're open, usually kids are out of school then and trying to do lane swimming when there's kids around is not ideal. However, some of the swimming baths have a nice time slot for Thursday where it's adults only so no kids around to get in my way of doing my lane swimming.
One other idea has just been to simply stay at home and have time to focus on video games, films and TV shows, some of them I admittedly lack doing much of at the moment so I can take the laptop upstairs and use the TV for films and gaming. Now this combined with swimming on Thursdays sounds like a really good way to spend my Thursdays but what's not making me 100% about this? Only thing about these two is feeling I may not get the best out of socialising with them, especially not the night in part but the swimming, I suppose it will vary.
Other ideas I've in mind involve other pubs and that but one thing in particular is considering taking up Magic: The Gathering again. I used to play Yugioh and quitted that game for various reasons and I had said to some friends that play Magic that I would consider playing actively but was busy for Thursdays and Fridays already. However, with Thursdays free right now I could possibly start it up again. Some of the regulars that I know tend to go to Baa Bar afterwards which I could possibly join along to but if it's going beyond midnight, then it's a no-go for me considering this is over in Liverpool. The only things that would bother me about being a Magic player is having to be active in the game to know what's going on and to learn unfamiliar cards all the time and the need for money all the time. So with them, this idea is not likely but I won't rule it out yet.
Last things in mind are pub quiz at The Swan in Liverpool and jam night at The Hotel California. The former is a potentially good one but it would only be with friends that I know so perhaps building my way up for that will get us somewhere. As for the latter, it's something I can consider and have popped in before to sit and watch but the thing is, I'm already there every Friday and some Saturdays so to be there regularly for a third night is overdoing it. Don't get me wrong, I love the place but I don't want to get sick of it.
So there you have it. All my possible new ideas for Thursdays now that karaoke night is no more. It's hard to say what I'll end up doing but perhaps I can experiment with each one and eventually decide what's best for me. Heck, I could even change each week to freshen things up but I tend to like routines so the most ideal one for me from this lot (or even something else) should end up being my new Thursday nights.
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