Mentality of Medrano

Step Backwards

2008-01-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a little over two months since I officially took over the "Entertainment Specialist" position. Through out this time I have been trying to learn and improve as much as possible. My department looked like crap when it became mine, but slowly it has been getting better. I thought I had gotten the hang of it already. Apparently I was mistaken.

Last week I met the Entertainment Field Merchant for my area. She pointed out a couple things, but also commented that my department was looking better. Well this week things didn't get off to a smooth start. For one, it's the first time I did not finish my revisions on Monday. I ended up having to spend a bit more than an hour Tuesday morning finishing up. I managed to get most of my street dates out, but there were a few books missing. Those weren't my fault, though, we never got them in. As far as signing, I only did the As Advertised, none of the TPC's (of which there were quite a bit btw). When it was time to for me to clock out, everything was a big mess. I don't feel like going on about every little thing, but there was simply a lot of carts and tubs with mixed crap. I was planning on doing some of my MIR's today as well, but I didn't even get to that. When I go in on Friday I am going to have plenty to catch up on. Hopefully this was just a hiccup, and it won't happen again. I should not let it happen again or get any worse. Friday, I'm gonna work my ass off.

insomniac

2007-09-18T01:55:00.001-07:00

It is ten 'till two in the morning. For once, I decided I would go to bed early and catch up on my sleep. Unfortunately, my body seems to have gotten used to staying awake until dusk's last minute. Now why have I stayed up so late these last few nights? Because I am stupid, that's why. I have no wish to watch the sun rise from the east tonight, err, today? There is nothing for me to do, I'm bored! If I had something to distract me, then I would not have mind as much. Well, I did find something to occupy me for a couple minutes at least, this. The last time I updated my site was quite a while ago. Maybe that's what I'll do after this post. Bleh. Too lazy for that right now. Not much else to do, though. We shall see...

Not so "fun"

2007-07-29T22:31:00.001-07:00

I have been bored out of my mind these last couple of days. My whackass work schedule does not leave me much time to have fun. They cut back my hours for next week though, not a good thing but I do plan to take advantage of the extra free time. The number of hours I work is not my complaint, it's the actual hours they want me to be at the store. Three to eleven? WTF is that man. Not to mention next week they expect me to show up at six thirty to work for only four hours, yea right. Today I worked nine to five. That's great. I go in early and get to leave early enough para hechar desmadre. Oh well. I have only been working there for a month. Hopefully I will get a better schedule soon.

Mexican guitarists, that rock!

2007-07-06T21:56:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since my last update. Oh well, I've been lazy, ok? In case you are actually concerned, the court thing went fine. I have one more scheduled appearance and I'm done. There's something I really want to talk about though. I don't want to sound like I'm selling something, but it's about this really awesome guitar duel.

Rodrigo y Gabriela play metal, on classical guitars. Actually they are influenced by metal. Still. They may be Mexican, but they don't play mariachi music. What they do play is some kick-ass acoustic rock music. It is not the easiest musical style to define, so below is a video of them playing "Tamacun" live. The song is off their self-titled album.

There a a couple more videos posted on their site. You can also search YouTube since that's where they are hosted. I already have three of their cds, one of them is live. Hearing them play guitar makes me proud to be Mexican. ^_^ I just wish I could play like that. =\

Un día más

2007-06-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

One more day. Just one more day and I'm done with my community service. =D Tomorrow I shall report for my last day, and I think I am going to miss it. o_o Not that I enjoyed working for free. Working at the yard was actually pretty cool. It wasn't Disneyland or anything, but I would rather work there than my current job. Actually, past job now. Have you heard? Yesterday was my first day at Target. No it is not the idea job, but it's something. More than anything I just wanted a change. What a change, too. There was nothing hard about what they had me doing, but it was rather confusing at first. Lots of information to remember. I am sure I will get the hang of it quickly, though. The environment seems nice. Many friendly people work at my store, and most appear to be kind. The girl that was in charge was last night was pretty hot. ^_^ Apparently she usually closes, guess I can look forward to working with her in the future. =P

From "Icebound" to "The Husband"

2007-06-23T21:57:00.001-07:00

After reading a couple of Dean Koontz's books, I was hooked. It all started during our required "leisure" reading time in high school. I randomly picked out Icebound from the book shelf. It was pretty interesting. Not the best book ever, but a change from what I was used to finding in classroom bookshelves. When I was done with is, I decided to pick up another book by the same author, Seize the Night. Wow. I loved that book. Unfortunately I did not get to finish it. I picked it up the last couple weeks of school, and managed to get to the last few chapters in the ten minutes or so I had daily. So what did I do? I went to my local Borders and bought it of course. I had to finish reading it. The story was great, it was like watching an action movie. At the same time, it had that sense of humor that I have tried to implement in my own works. Not that I have written any novels, but stored away in a certain box are a few short stories by Jose Medrano. Needless to say, it was the perfect book for my personal tastes. When I found out Seize the Night was actually a sequel to a previous book, Fear Nothing, I did not hesitate to go out and purchase that title as well. Unfortunately, it failed to fully meet the high expectations set by its sequel. Still, it was also a rewarding read.

Due to some events, I took a short break from reading. Actually, they had happened a while ago, but the effects were felt a few months later. Anyway. When I finally had the time, I was eager to read my next DK novel. I did some research and quickly found out that his current best seller was actually a sequel. Rather than let history repeat itself, I picked up the first book in the series. In case it wasn't all that great, I only had a hopefully better sequel to look forward to. Odd Thomas gave Seize the Night a run for its money as my favorite book. At this point I had notice a pattern. DK's storied tend to start a bit slow (but not boring) and quickly pick up the pace as you go on. By the time you're half way, it's almost impossible to put down. Ironically enough, this time Forever Odd was the slight disappointment. Just to be clear, neither "disappointment" was a result of a poorly written novel, but rather the result of such high expectations being set by predecessors. They were all great books which I enjoyed reading. It would only make sense to follow up Forever Odd with the third Odd book, Brother Odd. However, I prefer paperbacks. Their size makes it easier for me to carry around. Plus the $7.99 price tag sure beats that of their bulky counterparts. So I'm stuck waiting until October 29th, when the paperback edition of Brother Odd is out.

To please my hunger for another Dean Koontz thrill ride, I decided to pick up the recently release, the Husband. Well, the paperback that is. Again, wow. I'm on chapter 58 right now, and I don't know how I found the will to put it down in order to write this post. I was originally planning on writing exclusively about the Husband. As you can see however, this post turned in a different direction. Maybe once I complete it, I'll write about how fantastic it was, because it truly is a magnificent story. My current dilemma is this, I'll be done with it either tomorrow (if not later tonight) or the day after, depending on how much reading time I dedicate to it. When I'm done with it...what's next? It's still another four months before Brother Odd hits shelves! That's probably why, as difficult as it is, I'm procrastinating finishing the book. I could have been done with it by now, had I not taken the time to write this post. There are only ten chapters or so left, and short ones, too. Damn.

I guess when I'm done I could finish Cajas de Cartón, the Spanish book I bought a while back but never finished reading. It's an interesting read, but it is one of those thin, read-in-a-day books. Even though I'm Mexican-American, my Spanish is not all that great. I bought the book mainly to practice my reading skills in Spanish, and because a good writing comes from good reading. It would be a shame if I was never able to write as well in Spanish as I am in English. Perhaps I will look for another worthy book that is in Spanish. If I find a thick one that is also difficult for me, it should take up a considerable amount of time. Enough hopefully so that when I am done, I won't have to wait much longer for the release of Brother Odd.

A Good Feeling

2007-06-22T17:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we had some carne asada. Earlier that day, Gabby was mad at me. Well we had this minor argument type thing. Wasn't a fight, just a "you're being rude" "no, you're just acting dumb" "if you don't want to be friends with me just let me know" "I don't have time for this right now" kind of thing. Why? Actually that is exactly why. There was already some tension from the real argument that had occurred the day before, and when I answered one of her question with one of my own...well just refer to the above quotes for an idea.

Anyway, we weren't talking the entire day. Finally I called her up in the late afternoon to invite them over. Claudia picked up, which was great because Gabby would probably still be angry. I was never angry, just bothered. So they came over, and rather quickly too, and after a few minutes of "I'm not talking to you, I'm still mad" she broke down and we were cool again. So that was that. Unless you're a close friend or relative who has been in one of our little get-togethers, you have no idea what a beautiful thing it is. We all get along great. Not just them, not just my family and I, but all of us. What I love about it is how my family likes my two closest friends (Gabby & Claudia) and vice versa. But they're like that, everyone says my family is "nice." Needless to say, I was quite happy. Later that night, I went along with them to their favorite dance club. This time it turned out to be real boring, we even left early. At least I got to spend some time with my friends though.

Today I went to the Van Nuys Courthouse. The guy I report to for my community service is going on vacation and I needed to be reassigned somewhere else. My court date is June 29th. I have 32 more hours to complete, which is 4 days. That means I will just make it. Because I no longer have to depend on that lazy-ass retired cop, I can work on Mondays as well, which is what really saved me. Otherwise I would be a day short. I also turned in my time sheet for the DUI Prevention program, but they wouldn't take my essay. Apparently the essay is suppose to be about the program and the morgue visit. The guy told me to comeback on my court date and they would give me my appointment for that one, and then send me over to the actual court. Hopefully that means it won't be a big deal and I'll get another extension. I don't know why, but I feel more confident about how things are going to turn out after all. Wish me luck. I don't want to get raped! =(

I'm screwed

2007-06-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

So here I am sitting at my desk, wondering "What the fuck am I going to do?" There are actually quite a few thoughts going through my mind.
First, my dad lost his job and with it our biggest/main source of income...meanwhile I have built up a ridiculously large sum of debt. That means I going to have a difficult time helping out. In fact, I haven't been helping out much lately because I have not been able to. Before I would give my father around two hundred dollars from each check. Now, I sure could use an extra two hundred each check.
Second, my court date is June 29th. I have seven days to do six more days of community service. That gives me one extra day as breathing room. Unfortunately, I also have to attend that morgue thing. In order to attend I need an appointment, to obtain an appointment I need to turn in my essay for the DUI Prevention program. Yea, I attended that one a while ago, but I've yet to write the essay. I should do that right after this so I can go in tomorrow morning, but I probably won't. Most of my troubles are caused by my own self.
Lastly...stuff. It has to do with people. I won't say anything because I'm probably just being dumb. In other words, it's all in my head. Well not entirely, I love my best friend, she is a wonderful person and I'm thankful to have met her. It's been over a year however, and I'm starting to feel pretty lonely, but guilty at the same time for having that feeling. On top of that, I'm starting to feel like, idk, I'm being pushed away (or maybe I'm the one doing the pushing). I don't feel as close to her as I once did, and I'm not sure why. Again, I'm probably just being dumb. I need to go out and get laid. It sure has been long enough since the last time.
There's other stuff, too. I don't want to be a downer, but I can't help feeling unhappy with my life. I wished I had someone I could really talk to, tell them everything, and hopefully they would let me know that I am being stupid. Then I would be ok.

Unemployed...sorta

2007-06-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was the last day my store was opened. On Thursday and Friday Gabby, two other employees, and I took things out and cleaned. Everyone is already working, or are going to start, in another store. I have decided not to stay with company. I though I would have a job by now, but I'm screwed. =\. Actually, after a few phone calls today, I sorta do have a job. I'll probably start next week. I'll be making slightly less though. The shop were my father worked was also closed recently, and he's doing what he can, but it looks like my family is going to struggle a bit. Now I am thinking of asking for a transfer to another store and working both jobs, I need to two jobs anyway. Unfortunately I still have another two weeks or so of community service, I barely have time for one job. Not to mention I need to start school again =(. We'll see what happens.