Yarrkarping!

Hi, I’m the new girl!

// June 29th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Karp-thoughts, Life

I'm the new girl!

Yep, that was me today, and it was a very nice experience! It’s very har to describe, but it was such a nice new-girl experience compared to the last one I had. Maybe I was more confident, but I think it was more because everyone immediately felt very friendly and welcoming at HP, something that I didn’t necessarily feel at IBM. At least not from everyone.

What i did today was mostly to observe other people work and to sign papers and fill out a few forms. I got aquainted with the other people on the team and I think we’ll get along very well. I think I might even have arranged car-pooling and stuff. This week I’ll ride home to Greenock with one of the Italian girls, who was very nice. It turned out her husband worked at the Italian CF team at IBM, same role I’d had, but in a different language, obviously. It actually turned out that quite a few of the people on my new team has worked for IBM at one point or another, but found it lead nowhere, or that the pay was too low. In fact, very similar reasons to the ones I had for leaving. No wonder that place has an incredibly high staff turnover each year. And it’s nice to know it’s not just me. Very nice.

So yes, I think I’ll like it at my new workplace, and from what I’ve seen of the work I’ll be doing, I think I’ll like that too. Over the next three weeks I’ll get proper training and all that, and then I’ll be set off on my own. A bit scary, but with three weeks of training behind me, I’m sure it’ll feel a lot safer. ^^

So that was me today. I’ve spent quite a bit of the evening pouring my thoughts out to mum and then to Kev. He’ll be sick of me before we move in together :P And speaking of moving, I’ve also been trying to set up broadband and phone at the new flat, which worked fine until I was going to deal with BT. Same deal as with O2 a few months back. They wanted me to pay a deposit to set my account up. Probably because they don’t have any records of me from before October last year. It’s still bullshit though, so we’re going to set upp the BT account in Kev’s name to avoid all that.

And now I’m completely exhausted. New things and lots of impressions and learing has a tendency to do that to me. But I suppose I don’t mind that much. I do feel like I’ve accomplished something and that makes all the difference.

Even though I have real Jelly Beans…

// June 28th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Life, Shopping

…I’m so nervous right now. 36 different flavours and I still can’t enjoy them properly. Outrageous! But maybe it’s understandable. It’s the first day of my new job tomorrow, and Friday was thus my last day at IBM. I don’t think I’ve fully gathered yet that I’ll probably never go back there. It was a nice last day though, up until lunchtime I had plenty to do, and then I was quite occupied cleaning my workstation out, deleting browser history, temp files and cache. 2 gig, I’d collected since I started! And then, around 2pm, everyone gathered around and my boss held a little speech, which was very flatterinf but also quite awkward, at least for me. I go a card and some gifts, really nice actually. Wine and chocolate, a skin cream, a nice vase and a picture frame. I think they will all be used. In fact, I’ve already used almost all of the chocolate away.

So then my manager followed me to the door and I gave him my security badge and went on my merry way. Went to Tesco to do some shopping, did the mistake of taking a trolley instead of a basket so I couldn’t actually feel how much weight I was putting in there. But I managed to get home in the end, even if it was with sore shoulders and aching feet. And I did get to feel the joy of having a full frige for a few hours before I started cooking dinner for me and Kev. Steak and potato wedges with pepper corn sauce, nom nom nom! We both fell asleep pretty instantly after that, having contracted severe food coma.

On the Saturday, off we went to Glasgow to meet Kev’s parents and maybe find a kilt for him, which we did after a good search around all the shops, and after a very nice lunch, of course. And we also came across A1 Comics, which turned out to be a most wonderful place and I ended up buying the 4th of the Preacher comics, which I think is the next one I haven’t read. I think I’ve read no3, but I’m not entirely sure. It was very good anyway. Me and Kev were also gonna go see Drag me to Hell, but we missed the viewing we were going for du to excessive loitering and we couldn’t be bothered to go for the next one. It literally sold out while we were in the queue. So we went to HMV and Borders instead and I managed to buy a Hellboy animated movie and another William Gibson book while we were at it.

It was all in all very nice. Today has been nice as well. Kev’s parents came over to Greenock and we all went for a little outing to the garden centre in Gourock where I found Jelly Beans and r8 nice chocolate pralines. Not exactly what you’d imagine to find in a garden centre, eh? Oh and I’ll also took some pictures of carps that may or may not have turned out nice. I don’t have them here, so I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ll post them at a later time. When we were finished we went to get something to eat at Tokyo Joe’s, which was full of people and a bit noisy, but the food was very nice.

Me and Kev basically just collapsed wen we got back, it turned out to be quite a busy weekend after all. And since ten I’ve been trying my very best to come to terms with the fact that I’m starting my new job tomorrow and that it will go well. It just will. I’m both excited and nervous and it’s just gotten to a point where it’s mostly confusing and I just want to get the first nervous bit where I don’t know anyone and don’t know what to do overwith.Then I’ll be fine and dandy!

Let’s sleep on that!

Carp of the week III

// June 26th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Carp of the week

While we’re on the subject of large carps, we’re going to pay a little attention to the largest Koi Carp in the world, which has been bought for lots of maney by a British enthusiast. I think it looks utterly amazing in that picture. It’s almost like it’s not real, or that it’s a different animal disguised as a fish! I love how it’s almost plastic looking.

World's largest Koi Carp

“A British fish fan has taken delivery of the world’s biggest koi carp – a 4ft monster that tips the scales at a staggering six-and-a-half-stone. The mammoth fish – nicknamed the Big Girl – is the size of a 12-year-old child and three times larger than any other carp in the UK. Enthusiast Geoff Lawton paid an undisclosed sum for the 17-year-old koi from a specialist breeder in Japan. But he has already put a £30,000 plus price tag on the 90lbs specimen…”

Read the full article here.

How did I not know this?!

// June 25th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Movies

I’m about to fall off my chair with excitement!

Edit: Fixed the link. Go click it!

Read more here!

Nostalgia and diappointment

// June 25th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Music

I was going through some old Marilyn Manson albums yesterday and I was riding a huge way of nostalgia like a surfer king. I was re-living the music of my teen, sans the angst and it was great. I think I can quite confidently say that “Portrait of an American Family” is still an ace album as far as I’m concerned. It was shocking, rude and ground breaking when it came out. Of course I was too young to know about it at the time, but when I did hear it, I was baffled and taken away. It sure as hell wasn’t Spice Girls and I liked it.

So I sat there with my coffee, reading blogs, playing flash games, generally feeling quite cosy in spite of being at work, when I decided I’d find his new albums on Spotify and listen to them as well. Bad idea. I hadn’t heard anything he’d made since the Tainted Love cover and the best-of album. I put the newest album on first, High end of Low it’s called, and I had to turn it off. It was that disappointing. I didn’t want to ruin my nostalgia by laying a film of luke warm pretentiousness over it. So I went on to his second newest album, Eat me Drink me, hoping that it might be better. It wasn’t. It felt empty, hollow, completely free of sincere emotion. I turned it off. Whatever it was that I liked about Marilyn Manson when I was younger, and still do to some extent, has been completely washed away in his newer works. Where’s the emotion? Where’s the criticism? Instead of giving media a big smack in the face like he used to, he’s become just as much a whore to it as any old Heidi and Spencer.  It’s like he’s trying to be shocking for the sake of it, just spewing out obscenities without meaning, like he’s got nothing to say anymore.

And then Maja linked me to this…

Also, Michael K over at dlisted.com has a great take on the whole thing here.

In other news, we’re signing the contract for the flat today! I’m so excited. I’ll leave work early and get my ass to Shawlands where I’ll meet Kev and the estate agent. Fun fun fun!