Much Ado About Something

It's amazing how much energy it took for me to start posting on this again. I've (no, duh) taken a break, or as some would characterize it, an unflatteringly long vacation from the whole blogging scene. Not that anyone cared, but I kind of did. Once in a while I'd get really good ideas for a post, or just simply the hankerin' for a good, long post about some of the world's good or evil. Or just simply about some of my day to day doings and wrongdoings. Undoubtedly it serves as a vent for me, a place for me to just let some of it hang out to dry and just.. be. I don't know. Some part of me says there's no reason to write this stuff if no one reads it, but now I happen to know that people do indeed read it both here on Blogger and at the Facebook feed (under My Notes). So it's not all for me. Some is for you, whoever you are. Think of me as Santa (if the season permits), and yourself as every child in the world. I will probably stop existing in cyberspace if no one ever believes in me (or reads my rants), so I just don't want there to stop being children out there, if you catch my drift. Keep staying tuned, now I won't let you down.

This fall. A long one. In fact, I guess the weather in Oslo can still be classified as fall, with nightly temperatures staying in the higher 40's still. My fall (student as I am) started in August, right about when summer break ended. A little before this, on August 6th as a matter of fact, my first day at my new job started as well. I had been to an interview arranged thorugh Julie a few weeks before, and (of course, -fill in arrogant, smirky comment-) basically blew my new boss away with my aptitude and skills. I gotta say it; job interviews are my thing. I rock at job interviews, whereever and whenever. Now, THAT's a skill. Anyways, I got the job I wanted, and on August 6th started working for the Dolly Dimple Pizza Restaurants company. I don't actually handle the pizzas (I leave that to people like my brother, the schmo who's just embarked on a career as a professional chef). What I do, and this might sound like the easiest thing in the world, is that I work at their customer care center. You know, the place you'd call to order a pizza. Or the place you call to yell at someone for not getting your pizza, or the wrong one. And there I am, answering like 100-200 calls every shift, and processing complaints and making sure the restaurants are doing their job, etc. To make sure effectivity is at its best, we have a little dialog that we basically use and adapt to each customer that calls in. And that dialog is a frutratingly irritating piece of work, I'll tell ya. Try to say 8-10 sentences many hundred times a day, and after a while you might start wondering why monkeys or robots aren't doing your job instead.

"Hello, you're talking to Christian"
"Would you like to have your pizza delivered or as take out, please?"
"And at what restaurant would you like to pick it up?"
"What pizza would you like, sir?"
"And would ypu like a small or a large one, please?"
"Would you like any cheese on the crust/sour cream/garlic dressing/salsa/soda with that?"
"Will that be all?
"OK, that's a large 'Beef Eater', with cheese on the crust and salsa, and that'll come to $32 and be ready at your restaurant in 20 minutes."
"You're welcome. Have a nice day!"

(Did I say monkeys? I meant guinea pigs.)

Anyways. That's my new job. The people are nice, the pay decent and the shifts good, so I'm not complaining. And we get a lot of perks. I love perks. And their pizza (only allowing myself one a month now, to keep from getting unhealthier).

Then you've probably gathered by now that I'm going to school in Oslo, and that it's no regular picnic (unless you usually have picnics over human intestines, lungs and hearts, as well as other unmentionables). My new college (the Encefalon College of Pre-Medicine) specializes in a one-year introduction (and a truly thorough one at that!) to medicine. In a year, three separate (as separate as anything in medicine can be from other things) sections, we are going to cover most of the body's wonderful anatomy, physiology, cytology, pathology, microbiology and psychiatry, as well as the health care system, the various exams a doctor should know how to perform, and a whole spectrum of drugs (read: evil pharmacology) needed to understand the basics of what makes us tick. I can feel the pressure, even though 1 of 3 major exams have been taken and none are scheduled before March. I did well on the first one, sporting a B and C where most others either failed or got the weird Norwegian "E"-grade (seeing as it doesn't exist most other places). I'm relieved that my B was in pathology, which is unimaginably essential when even contemplating becoming a doctor - Dr. - and Dr. CK to be exact. Don't worry about my ego. It's supposed to be big, that's how I'll survive when I hit the cascade of walls later.

So that's me and my status quo. Between work and homework my schedule doesn't get many unfilled slots nowadays, so now I'm looking forward to Christmas. I wonder how I will find the time to shop for Christmas presents (btw, leave your Christmas wish in a comment to this post if you're expecting a gift from me, 'cause I don't know who I should extend my gift shopping to this year. Immediate family, further, or friends? Let me know, anyways.)

More good news from me before I leave you for now. This Christmas will spent in Arizona and California, USA, for my part, with my beloved Lybberts, the second family of mine. I'm leaving on the morning of the 17th, next Sunday, so please get all gifts (the millions I know I'll get) to me by that time. Oh, how I loved saying that. Anyways, Arizona will be a blast, I haven't seen the family in a year now, so it'll most definitely rock. YAY!

Go forth, and buy me presents! =)

Labels: Major Updates, News

posted by CK @ 03:03