10 Minute Snooze

I tried a different style of writing today.
As often, it takes me forever to write out stories and such.
It involves a lot of thinking, a lot of plotting, a lot of messing with scenes and words and pacing to make the story feel and say and do what you want it to. 

And while writing there's often moments where my mind stutters to a stop, as I try to figure out a) how to say the next lines or b) figure out what scene I want the next lines to have. 

Which can lead to me surfing around the internet as I try to think of a solution that will work.

So.
I figured...why not take my need to kinda surf around while thinking on what to write next...and put it to some use.

And it starts with my phone.
Because my phone has an alarm clock on it. (I use it to get up in the morning.) 
And said alarm has a snooze feature that lasts 10 minutes. (if there's a way to change the length I haven't yet figured out how) 
So I decided that I would set an alarm for ten minutes later.
Opened up a word document of one of the stories I wanted to work on. And worked on it. For ten minutes.
Then my alarm went off. I hit snooze. Giving me another ten minutes. 
I didn't continue with the story though, nope. I opened a different word document to another story idea and switched to working on that one for the ten minute time frame.

And when the alarm went off?
You guessed it. :) I hit snooze and switched to another story.
Lol I ended up working between four different stories for a couple of hours. And I made some progress on all of them! Woot! 
lol it's nothing too crazy. Just a page or three depending on which story I was working on. (as some are more difficult than others.) 

But it did help me feel soo progressive! lol. 
Admittedly I could only keep it up for a couple of hours before I grew tired of the time limit. So after that point, after I turned off the alarm, I would continue writing, and then switch whenever I got stuck. Whether that was a minute or twenty. 

I managed to finish a couple chapters doing that. So woot!!

It's definitely a concept I'll have to try again the next time I have a moment to write, and see if I can keep my divided focus focused on writing if not writing from the same story the whole time. :D 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

It Shouldn't Have Been Crazy

I usually like short shifts at work.
Mostly because I don't often get them.
So when I get scheduled a short shift...it's great!

And today. I was scheduled a super short shift.
Which is totally crazy...like only 4 hours long.
And it's even crazier because I got scheduled a short shift on a Saturday...which happens pretty rarely. 

Totally was ecstatic about it.
Because Saturday shifts basically always exhaust me afterwards.
So a short shift had to mean I would be using less energy and therefore would have more energy outside of work, since I wouldn't be exposed to as much peopling. 

*exhales* 
Of course. It doesn't always work out like that. 

I should have known something would be up when I was asked to come in an hour early to work to briefly cover my coworker while they briefly left to get a cat bite checked out at a clinic. 

Which of course, as soon as I got near the manager, prompted a whole spiel of "We need to be more careful with the cats. We're not here to socialize them! Just get them adopted. You should be in there to just clean them, not have them all running rampant all over the area!"

Cue my mental eye roll. Because:
a) The manager is allergic to cats and therefore never does anything with them.
b) It's not like you can get a cat to stay in a cage when it wants out. If the cat doesn't want out we work around it, but there's nothing wrong with letting it wander around.
c) We don't have ALL the cats out at once despite what my manager thinks. It's one cage at a time. So the only time there's multiple cats out is when there were multiple cats in the cage in the first place. d) Who can resist stopping for a moment to pet the cats? and
e) My coworker got bitten when the cat was still IN the cage. Not out and wandering around. >.< *exhales* 

So it wasn't the best way to be greeted at work, that's for sure. 
Add on top of that a near instantaneous. "Do you know when the Dogs for the Adoption day are supposed to be here?" 
"12:30" was my response. 
"No, no, they were supposed to be here at 10!" (it was after 10) What are we going to tell customers? What if the adoption group doesn't show up!? I've already told customers to come back! Did we confirm they were coming in this week?"
"...the other manager confirms when the adoption group next plans to come in when they come into the store. So he'll confirm today when they're going to come next. Besides...they usually show up at 12:30" 
"We need to confirm! We got to confirm! Quick call them!" 

*exhales*
I tried calling them (wondering why I had to do it when it should be a manager doing it) ...no answer. But it's rare for the group to show up in the mornings...usually it's 12:30. So I figured it would be then.
....and of course I had customers constantly coming up to me asking when the adoptions were going to be. And I had to respond. "We're expecting them in today, but they haven't yet shown up." 

-They did show up at 12:30 like I had expected so go me for being right. 

And then yet another manager was like. "Soooo we still don't have fish." 
*head bang* We don't?! 
The truck was supposed to show up YESTERDAY. (Friday) 
And you're telling me today (Saturday) that the truck hasn't shown up?
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Our truck had once again vanished. (it did this like a month ago too) It was supposed to again show up this morning at 6am...only guess what? Yah...it didn't.
The managers had only received an email stating that the truck would no longer be coming at Six. Instead it would be coming at TBD.
Which could mean in an hour, a day, a week, never...
*exhales* 
We later got confirmation that the truck should be showing up tomorrow (Sunday) 
But all in all...if I do have fish on that truck....like I'm supposed to...
Then we're probably going to have a lot of dead fish to deal with.
As they'll be in those boxes at least 72 hours longer than they were supposed to be.
And who knows what the temperatures have been like. I mean...the weather has been pretty back and forth with cold and hot, but if it's on the hotter side and the truck doesn't have a stable temperature....the fish are either going to cook or freeze and yah...it's going to be a bad shipment of fish tomorrow. I'm pretty confident. 

And then there was the issue of my coworker not having the department fully open yet, due to having to fill out an incident report and such. Which meant I was trying to help customers and finish giving all the animals their breakfast...by myself. I also had to mess with the fish system a bit because the water was super cold because two of the three heaters had turned themselves off (flipped their breakers) so I had to turn them back on....

Plus since it's the first Saturday of the month, that means that our cats in our adoption center are switching out. -As we partner with a different group this month.
And as luck would have it. The group that was supposed to bring cats in....showed up before the group that was supposed to take their cats out did.
Meaning I had to deal with miffed/annoyed/frustrated people from adoptions. 
Thankfully the other group showed up like a minute later, so within like 10 minutes their cats were gone.
But the cages the cats in still needed to be cleaned so that the new ones could go in. So there went 30 minutes of trying to clean the cages, litter boxes, and bowls quickly so that next adoption group could bring their cats in. 

Add to that difficult customers like one who asked how often we feed our fish here in the store and proceeded to lecture me that "Doesn't your mother feed you three times a day, why would you fed these fish only once a day?" after I told them that we do it once a day everyday.
-Which I've had this thought multiple times before and have used it on customers before when they seem dismayed they have to feed their pet everyday...it's rather disconcerting to have it used on me.
Or a different customer who wanted a blue harness, but could only find the style that they wanted in pink, and had no patience to learn how to put the blue harness of the other style on, and wouldn't take a black replacement that was the same style of the pink one as they didn't like pink on their dog, but black would be worse....

Ending with tons of customers all needing help right at the end of my shift...when I should have already been off, but hadn't left yet because my two coworkers who were supposed to show up to replace me were once again late...led to me clocking out late....

*takes a deep breath*

Yah. It's no surprise that I was exhausted when I got home. It may have been a short shift. But it was a crazy hectic short shift and I'm so very glad I didn't have my usual 8 hour shift today or else I would be dead on my feet. 

*exhales* At least it was a short shift. Right? Who knows what other chaos I would have encountered if I'd stayed longer...

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Engine Trouble?

There's an interesting thing about timing.
How leaving earlier or leaving later than planned can cause you to run into people who wouldn't have otherwise seen, avoid accidents you could have been in....

So Yesterday it was the end of my work shift.
It was literally the end of my shift, where I basically just needed my coworker to come relieve me and I could go clock out.
And a woman walked into the store, asking if we knew of anyone who'd be able to help jumpstart her van...as it had died. 
She had the cables and everything, she just needed someone to pull up their car next to hers so she could use the battery to jumpstart her own.

A glance at my watch, told me I was able to go clock out. So I told the woman that I just needed to clock out as I was off right then and I could come bring my car next to hers.

Which I did.

Though...oddly enough, I'm not sure she actually needed my help?
As I pulled up my car next to hers, turned off the engine, popped the hood, and her friend put the cables on the battery and said "Start the car." 
So I went to start the car,
But before I could...the woman turned the key in her own car, thinking that the statement had been for her. 
And the car started...before I turned my own engine on. 
Soo....
Either the battery sent enough of a charge to jumpstart a car....or her car randomly decided to start because I was present. 
*shakes head*
I did turn on my car for good measure, but it didn't run more then five seconds before they were like "Okay you're good! Thanks for your help!" 
I was like. O.o ..."You're welcome?" 
And to be sure I double checked. "Do you need me any further?" 
"No." Was their response. 

So I shrugged, closed the hood, got back in my car, and took off. 
Hoping that her car wouldn't die as soon as I left. *shakes head*

In any case.
As I was driving home, approaching the last light focused on the car in front of me that was driving 5mph under the speed limit. >.< (I dislike cars that can't drive at least at the speed limit.) 
Which they were slowing down to pull into the turn lane. 
And it just happened to be that this car and another car in the other lane were driving like at the same speed, meaning no other cars could pass.
And there was this almost-van type car, that had roared up on my right side wanting to pass apparently. 
I'd thought they actually were going to turn right as we approached the light -as their line ended in a 'right turn only' lane. 
Only suddenly, I was noticing that their car was getting too close to my car. 
They were trying to merge in my lane! While I WAS STILL THERE! 
I hit the brakes, and honked. Managing to avoid getting hit. 

Seriously. I doubt they even checked to see if there was a car in their blind spot. But hey *rolls eyes* At least they used their blinker, even though I couldn't see it as they were to the side of me, and for whatever reason didn't decide to slow down and merge behind me. 
*shakes head* 

At least I'm safe and no damage done.
Still...I wonder if I hadn't stopped to help the woman...would I have still almost have been in an accident? It's possible...as I would have delayed in leaving anyway to talk to coworkers....so who really knows. 

But at least I was able to help a woman out in her time of need. :) 
That probably worked in my favor somehow. ^^;;

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Spot of Rain

The father of my friend Vaiba Rome, Papua New Guinea's first stake president, was also taught that he could turn to his Father in Heaven in times of need.
He and his fellow villagers could only survive through the crops they grew.
One day he lit a fire to clear his portion of the village farmland for planting.
However, the fire had been preceded by a long hot period, and the vegetation was very dry.
So his fire became of the President Thomas S. Monson variety, as our prophet himself described at the last general conference.
It began to spread to the grassland and bushes, and in the words of his son, "a big monster of fire" resulted.
He feared for his fellow villagers and the possible loss of their crops.
If they were destroyed, he would be subject to village justice.
Being unable to extinguish the fire, he then remembered the Lord.

I now quote from his son, my friend: "He knelt on the hill in the bushes and started to pray to Heavenly Father to stop the fire.
Suddenly there appeared a big black cloud above where he was praying, and it rained so hard--but only where the fire was burning.
When he looked around, there was clear sky everywhere except where the flames burned.
He couldn't believe the Lord would answer a simple man like him, and he again knelt down and cried like a child.
He said it was the sweetest feeling."

-Terence M. Vinson -Drawing Closer to God -October 2013 General Conference

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

I Made The Mess

So the other day I was cooking in the kitchen. Making a simple dinner of Mac&Cheese for me and my sister. 
One of my other roomies and her boyfriend were also in the kitchen, finishing up making their meal when I first came up to make my own meal. 

Since they were just finishing up with the stove, I slipped in and grabbed a pot and filled it with water, setting it on the stove and turning it on so the water would boil, and then I walked away from the stove to sit at the kitchen table and wait, while my roomie and her boyfriend finished up in the kitchen.

And my roommate goes to the stove, sees the pot there, and the stove on and is like "Honey! You can't just leav---"as she goes to pick it up.

I interrupt. "Roomie! That's mine. I'm making dinner." 

Because apparently she hadn't noticed that I was in the kitchen because I was wanting to make my own food. Which is a fair assumption as I don't often cook, and I more often just come up to the kitchen to chat with them. 

She was like. "Oh. I wondered why it was still filled with water." 

lol And I was like. Silly roomie. But understandable as she was distracted with other things.

I continued to chat with them as the water began to boil, as I poured the macaroni in, as I stirred it, as I poured the water out of the drain, and put in the butter and milk and cheese packet, as I separated the mac&cheese into two bowls and set the spoon on the counter by the sink before taking the food over to Kikay who'd come up and was sitting on the couch in the living room nearby. And gave her her food and sat with her to eat dinner together.

Which was about the point that my roomie and her boyfriend had finished eating...and were cleaning up.

And when my roomie got to the sink, she saw the dirty spoon I'd used for the Mac&Cheese
Picked it up.
Turned to her boyfriend, holding it up and was like. "Sweetheart, when was the last time we made mac and cheese? Why did we not clean this before?"

I was like: "Roomie" 
She turned to look at me and Kikay and I both held up our bowls tilting them so she could see inside. "I made the Mac and Cheese." 
She was like. "OH." 

*shakes head* 
lol it was kinda amusing really, as I always find it a bit fascinating what people tend to notice/observe/see when they're in any given situation.

It was interesting that my roomie could be in the same space as me, eating dinner and such, and know that I was making food, but not piece together that a random dirty spoon would belong to me and that I'd been using it only moments earlier. 

Granted...I spent all day with my sister and didn't realize she was wearing glasses until the end of the day lol. Sooo it makes sense that depending on the situation, we notice some things and don't notice others. :) 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

New Communication

So, my work finally decided to upgrade our communication system. 

What we were using before?
Well. We have these phones. Brick phones really. Which are mostly used to answer customers when they call with questions. But we could also use them to access the intercom system overhead so if someone was needed over in my department, or as a back up cashier, or over by the dog food etc, 
We'd just use the intercom to direct coworkers to that area of the store. 
Otherwise it was the old foot method...of wandering around the store looking for your coworker/manager until you found them.

Now though?
We just upgraded.
To these walkie-talkie things.
Which basically is an egg like device that rests on your hip, with cord that has a microphone attached to it as well as an earpiece to put in our ears. 

So we can listen to others in the store, and choose to respond if the need applies to us. 

lol It's left me feeling a bit like a secret agent really. Having this earpiece that my hair tends to hide, the ability to talk to another across the store without having to be face to face with them or hope that they're the one that's carrying one of our four phones. 

In any case.
Yesterday was the first day that we started using our new communications devices. 

And I have to say that it was amazing really.
The intercom was basically silent all day with the exception of the groomers using it to tell customers that their dogs were done. (they don't get the walkies) 

But what was most cool though...is that it felt like our 'team' was more cohesive. Instead of feeling like a lone wolf, out on your own...it was possible to ask for help and get instant help.
"Can someone price check this dog food for me?" "On it. ..... Price is correct." "Cool, I need a manager up here to change the price."
When before it would have been. "Customer service to the front." over the intercom *person walks up* "I need this price checked." *person walks to the back then walks back to the front*

It's really a nice feel because we're able to act independently without having to constantly walk around finding people. It's great to be able to be...well all secret agenty and just....communicate without having to spam the intercom.

Really I like this new system. The ability to talk to your coworkers without having to go find them is great. To be able to say "I can't help I'm with a customer can someone else do it." Is amazing. It's wonderful.

The only draw back is the stupid ear piece is soooo not comfortable to wear on the ear.
I hate the thing. It puts pressure on my ear and causes tension/headaches/pain and there's no good way to make it comfortable. XP
I'm hoping it will get better with time....otherwise...that's going to be the most annoying part of this whole new system lol. While instant communication is great....fighting a headache at every moment is not. XP

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

October 2016 General Conference -Saturday Morning

Dieter F. Uchtdorf -O How Great the Plan of Our God!

• It seems to be human nature: as we become more familiar with something, even something miraculous and awe-inspiring, we lose our sense of awe and treat it as commonplace. 
• Life-changing truths are before our eyes and at our fingertips, but sometimes we sleepwalk on the path of discipleship.
• We tread a path covered with diamonds, but we can scarcely distinguish them from ordinary pebbles.

Robert D. Hales -"Come, Follow Me" by Practicing Christian Love and Service

• If I loved you more, would you [hurt less]?
• As we follow Jesus Christ, His love motivates us to support each other on our mortal journey. We cannot do it alone. 
• Thee lift me, I'll lift thee, and we'll ascend together eternally.
• When an opportunity comes to share your thoughts about the gospel and the lessons of life, stop everything, sit down, and talk with your children and grandchildren.
• The most important work we do in our families is through the power of the Holy Ghost.
• Whenever we raise our voices in anger, the Spirit leaves.
• Don't lose patience and don't give up!
• Let the Savior be your caregiver. Lean on His ample arm. 
• Let us turn more toward forgiveness, kindness, and love. Let us renounce the war that so often rages and the heart of the natural man.

Carol F. McConkie -The Soul's Sincere Desire

• In the struggles of mortality, we are never left alone to accomplish our work, to fight our battles, to face adversity or unanswered questions.
• Prayer is essential to developing faith.

Craig C. Christensen -"A Choice Seer Will I Raise Up"

• We need not be timid about testifying.

Juan A. Uceda -The Lord Jesus Christ Teaches Us to Pray

• He had paid attention to my voice but that I had not paid any attention to His.
• At the very moment we say, "Father in Heaven," He hears our prayers and is sensitive to us and our needs.

J. Devn Cornish -Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It?

• He believed in me at a time when I didn't even believe in myself.
• We must stop comparing ourselves to others. We torture ourselves needlessly by competing and comparing.
• We falsely judge our self-worth by the things we do or don't have and by the opinions of others. If we must compare, let us compare how we were in the past to how we are today--and even to how we want to be in the future.
• The only opinion of us that matters is what our Heavenly Father thinks of us.
• Heavenly Father will love and correct but never discourage us; that is Satan's trick.
• The God of heaven is not a heartless referee looking for any excuse to throw us out of the game.
• All the Lord expects of us is to try, but you have to really try!
• You have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement shines.
• I witness to you that if you will really try and will not rationalize or rebel--repenting often and pleading for the grace, or help, of Christ--you positively are going to be "good enough," that is, acceptable before the Lord; you are going to make it to the celestial kingdom, being perfect in Christ; and you are going to receive the blessings and glory and joy that God desires for each of His precious children--including specifically you and me.

Neil L. Andersen -A Witness of God

• Each of us is a piece of the puzzle, and each of us helps to set in place other essential pieces. You are important to this great cause.
• Guilt has an important role as it awakens us to changes we need to make, but there are limits to how far guilt will help us.
• Guilt is like a battery in a gasoline-powered car. It can light up the car, start the engine, and power the headlights, but it will not provide the fuel for the long journey ahead. The battery, by itself, is not sufficient. And neither is guilt.
• To be a witness of God at all times and in all places reflects both how we live and how we speak. 
• Be careful; your blessings may come in unexpected ways.

Until you next see these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi