The Surprise of 2020

Only few hours are left to the miserable year of 2020. For me it was not that bad. I kept my job, worked 6 freaking days a week, at times 9 hours a day, I moved in to this property that I'm comfortable in and I'm still alive! I lost a very good opportunity in the last weeks of the year though. But what can I do? I have to work much harder now.

With all that in mind Covid pandemic has not been the surprise of the year for me. It's been the misery of the year. The surprise of the day just happened yesterday, the 30th, my last day at work in year 2020. I entered the office like any other day to get prepared for work and said hello to the supervisor. Here, for the first time in more than 1 year that I have been working for this company, the supervisor, after saying hello, goes: How are you ... ? This has never happened!! I'm shocked! And I go: I'm fine ... . How are you? As much stupid as it might sound to many, our supervisor, and I have to say that I like him, as I have mentioned before, barely says hello or ask how people are. He has a number of favorite employees and he only talks to them, the so-called team leaders. If he wants to issue an order verbally, he barely talks to people. He issued his orders through his team leader. At time he talk to the others directly. It pretty much is a military fashion! You never talk to your Sergeant directly. You make sure you talk to someone in lower rank, first. 

I had my annual performance review just a few days before that and despite a few mistakes I have had, and he didn't even mention them, he said he was happy with my performance and I saw that he had given me good marks on my sheet. He also went: You never know. You might be going to a higher level of employment in the company. But who wants to stay in this company for ever!? I will get the hell out as soon as I find a good position but until then, I will work hard and keep the supervisor and the company happy.  

(Photo: Finishing 2020 with all the bad memories. I didn't mention that I lost my beloved Aunt. She was the only caring relative I've ever had. Used to call me from the old country to see how I was and I the idiot only sent her a letter after I saw him the last time in 2014. She was sick in her last months and I never called her and now I regret so much. She was next to me after my Mom and irreplaceable)

Investing on a Relationship

There's this beautiful knock-out Caucasian young woman working in the office who doesn't seem to be very happy, most of the time. One of the guys, earlier, shortly after I started the job told me it was because she had no partner! It could be true. I've seen her talking in a very exciting way to others and even a shouting(!), I would say. But she's incredibly beautiful. Why do I even have to describe her?! She's a petite, blue-eyed, blond, Caucasian, young woman in her, I would say, her mid. to late 30's. She has the most beautiful blue eyes that I've ever seen. Once I was in her office and she was looking at a monitor, while I was looking at her from the side. The colour of blue, that I saw, I had never seen before. Incredibly beautiful and that was because of the angle I was at, I think. Have you been to Abraham Lake in Alberta? Have you seen how beautiful the lake is? It's believed that is because of the minerals in the water. Her eyes are even more beautiful than the lake.
For a whole year I talked to her only about the work when it was only necessary and I don't know why never thought of asking her out! Caucasian and Non-Caucasian? Floor employee and office employee? Too young? All could be the reasons why I never thought of it. Add to that she having attitude and a little bit aggressive! But so what? Maybe this is how she is at work? Maybe a good relationship makes her calm? Besides what is that I would lose? The worst case scenario would be getting rejected. So with that in mind I made a nice Christmas letter and was going to give it to her on Christmas Eve. But the night before I regretted that! I thought that was not such a good idea to hand a Christmas letter! That would be seen cheap and stupid. I also had made similar letter for two other office employees at the same department and eventually through them all in the recycle bin! I thought to myself that if I was looking for a meaningful relationship then I would have to invest in it. No woman, particularly a pretty and independent woman like her would come to a cheap person who doesn't even want to pay for a Christmas Card! 
Now the thing is over I think I can by a nice gift or a card and prepare a letter claiming that it was delayed due to the recent storm and give it to her! What do you think?

(Photo: Abraham Lake in Alberta next to Highway # 11. I took this photo in summer of 2016. You see the difference between the blue colour of the sky and blue of the lake. The lake is much more attractive. Her eyes are way more beautiful than this!)

A Japanese Treat by a Chinese!

There's this treat which is very common within the people of Asian decent in my workplace and every time there's an occasion, they make it and bring some. It's called Mochi and I learnt that just today by asking from a Chinese guy. The surprising thing is he said that it was a Japanese treat, not Chinese! I couldn't believe considering the animosity between the two nations. 

That aside, there's a lady who always make some and shares. A few days ago I saw a number of them in the break room and I enjoyed them but because the supervisor, who happens to be Chinese as well, was not there, the lady brought a few more the next day. I told her, jokingly, that I had not have any! When she was handing a box of treat to the supervisor, she told him, in their own language, to give me some! I realized that first by her pointing at me and then the supervisor said he would give some to me but I denied accepting and he didn't insist. So I went back to work. 

About an hour passed and I heard on the radio that he was asking me to go to his office. This always is as intimidating as hell, especially the way he says that: Very calmly! He doesn't ask people to go to see him unless they have done something wrong or someone has made a complain about them. Or they have done something stupid and he has seen it on the cameras! 

So I went there while breathing heavily and trying to calm myself! 

There he says: Go there, pointing at the room that the employees are taken to be talked to! But I looked closer and I saw plate of Mochi!

I took this picture after taking two bites just to show the inside of Mochi. I really don't know what the filling is. It has almost no taste(!) but they probably add it for texture or some other reason. I will ask the lady. It looks like a combination of tried vegetable and a sort of nut

I thanked him and said that I would take one. He told me to take a couple and I do and leave. He could've simply not told me and let the other people enjoy the treat but he did and that's why I like this supervisor. Not just for this. While generally the favours go to the Chinese but he is a fair man, most of the time and I like him for that. He is not very approachable but then that's considered his issue which we all have to deal with.
(Photo, top: I am getting ready for my break, A cup of Espresso-like coffee and a piece of Mochi)

A Beautiful and Lovely Snowfall

We finally got what I really wanted: A good amount of snow! I think it fell as high as 20 cm in Calgary and area and even more in other parts of southern Alberta. I had to work until 18:15 the day the snow fell and I was lucky that I could get out of my street because there was just too much snow. It actually happened with the help from an unknown neighbour! I drove just for 1 minute and got stuck and there this was this guy who was helping another neighbour whose truck(!) was stuck! We pushed it a bit but no progress led to the conclusion that he needed a tow truck. Then the fella did a few push with his snow and free I was! 
When I went back in the evening and while the snow had stopped, I realized that I had to clean around the house or I will have more difficulty to get out the next day! But I was surprised to see that someone had cleaned my driveway, the part of sidewalk in front of the house and even in front of my door! Thanks! I drove to the nearby The Home Depot and bought a shovel for nearly $25 and cleaned a bit more. I was so tired then, particularly because I had worked 10 hours, that I went to the shower directly and after a meal I was hardly able to keep my eyes open. I went to bed at around 21:15!

(Photo: Cars or covered in snow in a parking lot in Calgary)

The Proper Usage of Coke

 

I hope Soda drinkers, particularly the fans of Coke don't get offended but this is how I use this sort of beverage: We were served food at the workplace a few weeks ago and of course Soda is a must(!) for these people. One large bottle was left, more than half gone, after the party and I brought it home. Did I drink it with my lunch? No! I used it to clean my bathroom sinks! 

Soda has a good amount of Phosphoric Acid in it and although not such a high pH, it's good enough to clean the germs! All you need to do is to block the drain, pour some Soda, add some water and wait for a couple of minutes or longer depending how dirty your sink is. Then let the liquid drain and scrub with a brush. It will be good as new. The only problem is the smell! I don't know what the hell these companies add to their drink. You can tolerate that or use an air freshener after clean up.

(Photo: The Coke bottle, the brush and my sink. ready to go!)

The Yakhni Story

Yakhni is a sort of soup which is consumed in Afghanistan. But how did I get to know this authentic food, has a story which I would like to say it here: There're two brothers who work at the same place as I do and they both was found positive after a coronavirus test was conducted on them. I remember the younger brother came to me the last day he worked before leaving for 1 or 2 weeks and asked me how many Tylenol he could have taken! I told him he could not take more than 2 and that should be 8 hours apart! I didn't see them the next day and it was announced that they were both considered infected. 

So they were away for awhile but I kept in touch, asking about their health until a few days before their return he called me and said that there was a soup ready for me(!) and he wanted me to try that! 

He gave me his address and there I met him at the door and got a big container of this hot soup which was still steaming. He had a pair of gloves on to prevent any transmission. I in fact did not have much for supper, like most of the night and enjoyed the soup called Yakhni. It was I think, Lamb, some vegetables, Carrots and that was it. it was good but like most of the food from that part of the world was too greasy in a way that I had to really scrub the fat off of the container and wash it very well with liquid soap and hot water to remove it!

Now more than 2 weeks has passed and I'm fine. No symptoms! 

(Photo: You can see the vegetable cuts and a piece of carrot in the bowl of Yakhni)

Cheap People: The Nastiest Creatures

One of the very popular stinking toilets which people in this so-called G7 country go to, is Dollarama. It's a nasty stinking shithole which brings all sorts of garbage from mostly China and sell it to cheapskates of Canada. The funny thing is the country which considers itself a G7 member, if shuts stores such as this and Wal-Disgusting-Mart and similar, half of the population would go either hungry or naked!

G7 my ass! The country which barely can take care of its own people imports all sorts of poor and hungry from every corner of the world, every freaking year! There are problems with Indigenous people residents for years, they don't even have clean running water and this nasty, disgusting, greedy government brings Syrian refugees!! 

With that in mind, a couple of weeks ago I was driving by a Dollarama store and saw this Mercedes! This belongs to a nasty cheapskate who probably didn't even had a donkey to ride in the village that they were born or a drunkard and drug-addict Canadian who prefers to pay for booze and weed and then whatever is left to spend in this stinking store! Either way I have no respect for cheapskates and have no respect for Dollarama.

(Photo: With the economy getting worse year after year since 2015 when the price of crude collapsed, more and more of this garbage sellers are appearing in the city. When you're passing by this stores, you can smell cheap glue and plastic!)

The Number 51 Did Not Help!

 I got an e-mail in regards to the position that I had applied and had two interviews for, yesterday. Result: A big goose egg! I was positive that I could go for the third interview which would have been a face-to-face one but someone else was better than me. I think the only weak part of mine which cost me the job was when the interviewer asked me if I had applied 8-D Methodology. With the thick British accent she had an long distance conversation which contained 2 time zones(!) I first barely heard what she was talking about and asked her to repeat it at least twice! Then I remember I had read that in the job description and had forgotten to do my homework! Stupid me! I should be stuck at this nasty job until another opportunity presents itself. The website that I found the job in, later sent me an e-mail indicating that 51 people had applied for a position. While it was way lower than a previous position, even that didn't help!

(Photo: The most interesting thing about number 51 is an area in the state of Nevada where people claim is a center of the US government to do its interactions with aliens. The area is in the middle of the desert in the said state. I have been to Nevada and I have been to its desert but I was in the south close to California border. Area 51 is in central northern part of the state)

The Company's Gift

The employers hold a Christmas party every year here but this year with Coronavirus and all the related restrictions it was not much of a party. However the company did whatever they could and it was better than nothing. They divided the employees to small groups of 5 to 10 and then scheduled them to have their lunch in separate rooms. Then gifts were provided to a number of employees based on draws and were put next to their lunch. I saw nothing at my time and grabbed my food and drink, put them both in my bag and went back to work because there are people who I don't want to see faces, let alone eating next to them.
No too long was passed that I heard the supervisor called me to the office. It usually is not a good sign to be called to the office! It's, most of the time, means that the individual has made a mistake and need a talking to! I used to be called to the office, on average probably, once a months or so, 6 months or more ago, for mistakes or complaints from the assholes! Not any more! I'm a very dependable employees now who works more than 8 hours a day like a horse with my head down! 
So I go to the office and as soon as I step in there's this chubby, delicious(!) Caucasian woman in front of me holding a small box, and moving it before my eyes! I didn't get the point, at first because I'm not a fan and follower of the product that she was holding as a gift for me but then they told me what it was and I realized why probably they didn't want to leave it to my lunch! It was an Apple product! I thanked everyone and left but that was when I realized why one of a so-called Team Leads was asking me weird things the day before! He was asking me if I liked a certain brand and I said no. he said that he would put down $100 for the exchange of whatever I would won tomorrow! Now I know that he knew this gift would be given to me! So based on that we continued our conversation over the price and he didn't go up pat $140!
I then put the thing on Kijiji to see if I could get a better deal. I was not patient and I'm usually not, which has had catastrophic results for me in my life from huge to minor! After receiving only two response I decided to sell it to the fella for the price! The next day I got an offer of $200! 

(Photo: My gift. Information is removed for privacy reasons!)

A True Clean up for 2021

2021 is less than a month from now and I'm about to plan for that. 2020 has been nothing but working like a horse for a small wage and dealing with Coronavirus! I did a number of positive things that I'm not proud but they were okay:
I was able to get a loan from my bank and with a 20% down payment, finance a little place. I secured my employment with the current employer and I was able to get confirmation from CWB for an inspector examination which I have been wanting to finalize since 2017(!) but laziness and other obstacles have held me back. 
Now what I've also decided it to do a major clean up and get rid of all of the trash in my life! The human-like trash! The first piece of trash that I already have started throwing its segment out is The Brave! His continuous bullshits about politics, which none has any value, his anti-Sematic remarks and his laziness and uselessness has made me sick. Yes, There was a time that I used to call him and visit him at his place but that is over now. I haven't called him since Sep. and I have no plan to call him ever again. If he calls I will play with him a little bit and make him stop!
The next piece of trash, which I actually started throwing it out a couple of days back, is The Chef. I was really pissed off at him asking me to go to his place to do E. I. for him, almost every day! The piece of crap has been kicked out of the job more than a week ago and hasn't applied for the benefit. I'm not even sure if he is eligible for that but or not because you get E. I. only if you're laid off. He still keeps drinking and getting drunk! He got fired from a part-time job a number of years ago because he had struck a guy and he never learnt from that! 
And lastly but as important the two previous trash(!), Lazy Ass should also be tossed. He doesn't wanna get a job, he only needs to talk when he has no gf(!) and he's totally useless. Scrapped!

(Photo: The garbage that I've already got rid of don't even need a bag. Using a bag for them would be a waste of money!) 

My Recent Home Interview

I was about to completely screw up the scheduled interview today but I escaped that! I don't remember if the HR lady said 01:00 MST or 01:00 EST! So when the telephone rang, I was a bit surprised but got myself together and answered almost every question. There was this lady with a very thick British accent and I guess I was lucky that I understood most of the things she asked from 3400 km away! 

The interview took about 33 minutes and except for one question, which I initially had a problem understanding it because of her accent(!) I think I didn't provide bad responses to the rest. Here is what I don't like: The fact that a company's Quality Manager is way too far from where you are supposed to work and they interview you over the phone, it's quite bothering but i remember that the HR lady said that there would be another interview with a person in the facility. The Quality Manager did not ask many technical questions but asked questions in regards to my educations and my availability. It doesn't sound such a great opportunity to me but in this situation I am even thankful that I am considered and I keep my hopes up.

(Photo: The Union Jack, the official flag of Britain. It has an interesting history if you're interested)