Grinding Away

It's Brian here

It's not quite summer here as most of this week has been gloomy and wet. Couple that with my first full week of work, and this week was sort of a grind. I worked my first two full shifts down at Sahnia's in Bondi as well as my first shift at Elvis Pizza. I spent most of my time trying to remember names and learn the system of the restaurants. There were fun moments but mostly it was kinda stressful. I found myself at times walking around with a half scowl on my face from concentrating so much on not screwing up. So hopefully with time I can relax more automatically and have a better time. Like Erin said, we had a wine tasting event on her birthday which was a lot of fun. I have also never done any sort of wine tasting and couldn't tell the difference between any of the selections we sampled. I did take copious notes though and was prepared the next day when a lady asked me to recommend a sweet, not dry, wine. I was proud to be able to suggest the Goodwynn as one of our sweeter wines.

Another part of my week that was especially slow was the Responsible Service of Alcohol course the state makes you take to work at the restaurants. The course was a 6 hour snoozefest. We sat in a classroom while the teacher told us we should try to keep people from getting drunk. Most of it was a complete waste of time but there were interesting portions. We watched a video that talked about how alcohol affects the body and how that causes what people feel when they get drunk. For instance, the video discussed how alcohol causes testosterone levels in females to skyrocket while hardly affects that of males because our testosterone levels are already so high. The video described how food slows down the rate at which you get drunk by slowing down how fast the alcohol enters your intestines. Then the video went into how carbonated drinks can force open the passage between your stomach and intestines with all the air pressure from the released fizziness. I don't know if I buy that theory and would like to obtain a second opinion before I believe thats how my body works. The teacher was also at times entertaining. She led us in a side conversation about how a hotel in the area recently provided a customer a complimentary gelatto with human feces sprinkled in. Disgusting but entertaining. Probably my favorite part of the course was after the alcohol and anatomy video a kid raised his hand and asked the teacher “why do we sometimes forget what happened the night before after we have been drinking?” The teacher answered matter of factly “It's because of the alcohol” and continued with her lecture. We all just stared at her. It really was an ingenious insight. I could only nod my head. Of course. I never had thought to link alcohol to the effects of drinking.

So thats about it for this week. It's Halloween today and I have no idea what the plan is. I still don't have a costume and if I did I don't know where I would wear my costume out to. Yesterday I registered at the local library having finished all the books I brought with me. I picked up The Secrets of the Chess Machine by R Lohr. But I am more excited about picking up an Australian library card. It is like I actually live here or something. Finally here is my little bit about The Office. If you haven't seen it or don't care, stop reading here. Happy day of the dead everyone!

C.R.I.M.E. A.I.D.

Andy: You’re always safe with me. I’m a very good screamer.
Probably my favorite episode of the short season. Except maybe Weight Loss. Much better than the last couple episodes.
Michael: It squeaks when you bang it. That’s what she said.
I thought this episode moved faster than almost any other Office episode which I enjoyed because there was more substance crammed into the 22 minutes. There were a couple random pieces of the show that I was confused with. David Wallace showing up for the auction seemed random but I guess it was necessary to set up problems with Michael and Holly's relationship. I also didn't love the story line with Jim running into Roy and driving half way out to NY. Seeing Roy was random and setting that whole situation up just to show Jim trusted Pam didn't work for me. I was also reading a Q and A with the writer of the episode here and when asked when Jim and Pam will finally meet up again he said “I’m not sure I’m allowed to say when or if Jim and Pam see each other again.” I have to say that is not something to be kidding about. Judging by a poll taken of our apartment, 25% of people who watch The Office will stop watching it right there if Jam breaks up (Erin's out). Again, I don't even want to consider the possibility. Anyways I can't think of anything else about the show offhand. Everyone have a good weekend! I will hope to have more pics up soon.