Thursday, April 30, 2009
Andrew White - Wild Eagle
Awesome little acoustic/vocal based arrangement by Andrew White.
Aaaanyway, reminder to self: get that adobe editing thing for music. Cannot remember name. AND GET HOLD OF 2 CONDENSER MICS.
Hehe, muchos music stuff will be coming soon.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Story of a pizza delivery guy
I just read this off the UG forums, and whoa, it was pretty interesting.
Hi everyone,
I work for Domino's pizza. I plan on quitting tomorrow for reasons which you will hear about soon.
The pay as a pizza guy is great. I get $11.80 per hour, plus $2 per delivery, plus tips. On a good night, that can average at easily more than $20 per hour. Plus, for a university student such as myself, the fact that it's a night-time job is great. But things happen when you're a pizza guy that don't happen when you're in public. People are different when they have only themselves to answer to. I've seen things...
Here goes...
When I first started working for Domino's, I learnt the area and the good places and the bad places. I got to understand that on a public holiday, people will throw all their money at you, and that on a Friday night, nobody will sympathise when their pizza is 10 minutes late because you had to take 6 deliveries in one go.
People don't understand that it takes me 5 minutes to get to any house. The reason why it takes 40 minutes to get to your door is because 3 orders other than yours have to be made, put through the oven, cut, bagged and signed out before I am allowed to take it as a delivery.
My first delivery was to a house about 500 meters from the store. I went there, got the money, gave them the change, and said "have a great night!" and began to walk away.... Before i gave her her pizzas.
My store had the unfortunate disposition of delivering to the commission houses. People there were frequently drugged up past the point of comprehension. 85% of the time, it was fine, but I felt unsafe walking through the blocks 100% of the time.
After working for about 2 months, I was signed to a delivery which was again, not very far away from the store. Upon knocking on the door, I was greeted by a very gay naked man with an erection. He was amazingly nice, but that didn't help the awkwardness. Particularly when 3 or 4 voices inside his house called out "Ask him to come in!". You never get used to this sort of thing.
Other things of note which happened in the next 6 months included (in chronological order):
Delivered to a 16/17 year old red-head girl wearing nothing but a wet white T-shirt
Delivered to a giant who was very unhappy with his pizzas because, although they were on time, he thought that it took too long (why didn't he say something when we quoted him the time?)
Delivered to a paraplegic who fell out of his wheelchair when I told him that nobody at the store had told me that he needed change for a $50 note (I had the change, I just didn't know that I would need it. It was irrelevant).
Delivered to a deaf man (couldnt hear me knocking)
Delivered to some twins, both of whom were very retarded and couldn't comprehend the idea that they hadn't given me quite enough money.
Delivered to a man who was asleep and couldnt be woken (I rang his phone and everything). Hours later, he rang and asked where his pizzas were. We re-made them and sent them out. When I got there for the second time, he had fallen asleep again. I practically bashed his door down and was able to wake him this time.
Delivered to a 'stripper themed' party. i.e. everyone was pretending to be strippers, and they were very into it.
Delivered to an orgy at the commission houses. I couldn't even ask for money because they were playing 'girls just wanna have fun' too loudly, so they just gave me a hand-full of notes and closed the door. Everyone was naked.
Had countless girls try to get into my car, offering me everything from 20 cents right up to sex for a ride to wherever i was going.
Had my car smashed up and $1500 worth of damages and theft occur.
=========
Cut to three weeks ago.
I delivered to two guys who were unhappy with their pizzas being 5 minutes late (yes, honestly. 5 minutes) and they wanted them free. I told them that that was fine, and asked them to please call the store so that I dont get in trouble for not having their money.
They didnt like it, and i was pushed to the ground and screamed at.
This was my first real taste of physical abuse where i was genuinely afraid.
========
Thursday night.
We accidentally made a man's pizza on the wrong crust. We told him that the right pizza was already in the oven, and would be about three minutes away. Alternatively, we could give him the one on the wrong crust at a discount, or give him the wrong crusted pizza along with another pizza for free. He chose to take the free pizza along with the wrong crusted one.
His friends weren't happy about this and came and bashed on the glass of the store after we had closed. After much argument, we agreed to turn the oven back on and give them their whole order again.
One of the friends said that he was going to "bash the **** out of me, next time he saw me"
===========
Last night
Took an order for 5 meat lovers pizzas to a place in a bad area. The person I delivered to inspected each of the pizzas very slowly, and then walked away. I assumed that he had called the store and that he had arranged to take the pizzas for free.
He walked about 5 meters away from me, then turned around and said "Aren't you going to tackle me from behind, or something?"
To which i replied "No, that's okay, have a good night".
I turned around to get in my car, only to be met with the fist of a man who's face was covered in a towel. He grabbed me and punched me repeatedly.
While struggling to get away from the two guys, I screamed as loud as I could, remembering learning that if I ever found myself in that situation, make as much noise as possible. "Quick, kill him" the man with the pizzas screamed to the attacker.
I eventually got away. Clothes ripped, face smashed and pulse racing, I called the police and ambulance. They arrived in 2 minutes.
Some nice people took me in and gave me water and ice. Blood was pouring from my face all over my clothes and shoes. I looked in the mirror, and shouldnt have. I was a mess.
The paramedics cleaned me up as best as they could before taking me to the emergency room.
They released me from hospital at 5am this morning (less than 12 hours ago).
The police said that they had found a fence paling with nails in it. The people who took me in said that they had seen between 6 and 8 other men about to hit me with the plank until they came out, the police arrived, and the men ran away.
They said it was a miracle that I was able to stay conscious. I'm giving a statement on Monday.
And that is the story of my time as a pizza delivery guy.
Moral of the story: PIZZAS ARE AWESOME, delivering is not.
Btw: The guy was from Newcastle, NSW. I.e. many hours north of Syd.
On a side note:
Hi everyone,
I work for Domino's pizza. I plan on quitting tomorrow for reasons which you will hear about soon.
The pay as a pizza guy is great. I get $11.80 per hour, plus $2 per delivery, plus tips. On a good night, that can average at easily more than $20 per hour. Plus, for a university student such as myself, the fact that it's a night-time job is great. But things happen when you're a pizza guy that don't happen when you're in public. People are different when they have only themselves to answer to. I've seen things...
Here goes...
When I first started working for Domino's, I learnt the area and the good places and the bad places. I got to understand that on a public holiday, people will throw all their money at you, and that on a Friday night, nobody will sympathise when their pizza is 10 minutes late because you had to take 6 deliveries in one go.
People don't understand that it takes me 5 minutes to get to any house. The reason why it takes 40 minutes to get to your door is because 3 orders other than yours have to be made, put through the oven, cut, bagged and signed out before I am allowed to take it as a delivery.
My first delivery was to a house about 500 meters from the store. I went there, got the money, gave them the change, and said "have a great night!" and began to walk away.... Before i gave her her pizzas.
My store had the unfortunate disposition of delivering to the commission houses. People there were frequently drugged up past the point of comprehension. 85% of the time, it was fine, but I felt unsafe walking through the blocks 100% of the time.
After working for about 2 months, I was signed to a delivery which was again, not very far away from the store. Upon knocking on the door, I was greeted by a very gay naked man with an erection. He was amazingly nice, but that didn't help the awkwardness. Particularly when 3 or 4 voices inside his house called out "Ask him to come in!". You never get used to this sort of thing.
Other things of note which happened in the next 6 months included (in chronological order):
Delivered to a 16/17 year old red-head girl wearing nothing but a wet white T-shirt
Delivered to a giant who was very unhappy with his pizzas because, although they were on time, he thought that it took too long (why didn't he say something when we quoted him the time?)
Delivered to a paraplegic who fell out of his wheelchair when I told him that nobody at the store had told me that he needed change for a $50 note (I had the change, I just didn't know that I would need it. It was irrelevant).
Delivered to a deaf man (couldnt hear me knocking)
Delivered to some twins, both of whom were very retarded and couldn't comprehend the idea that they hadn't given me quite enough money.
Delivered to a man who was asleep and couldnt be woken (I rang his phone and everything). Hours later, he rang and asked where his pizzas were. We re-made them and sent them out. When I got there for the second time, he had fallen asleep again. I practically bashed his door down and was able to wake him this time.
Delivered to a 'stripper themed' party. i.e. everyone was pretending to be strippers, and they were very into it.
Delivered to an orgy at the commission houses. I couldn't even ask for money because they were playing 'girls just wanna have fun' too loudly, so they just gave me a hand-full of notes and closed the door. Everyone was naked.
Had countless girls try to get into my car, offering me everything from 20 cents right up to sex for a ride to wherever i was going.
Had my car smashed up and $1500 worth of damages and theft occur.
=========
Cut to three weeks ago.
I delivered to two guys who were unhappy with their pizzas being 5 minutes late (yes, honestly. 5 minutes) and they wanted them free. I told them that that was fine, and asked them to please call the store so that I dont get in trouble for not having their money.
They didnt like it, and i was pushed to the ground and screamed at.
This was my first real taste of physical abuse where i was genuinely afraid.
========
Thursday night.
We accidentally made a man's pizza on the wrong crust. We told him that the right pizza was already in the oven, and would be about three minutes away. Alternatively, we could give him the one on the wrong crust at a discount, or give him the wrong crusted pizza along with another pizza for free. He chose to take the free pizza along with the wrong crusted one.
His friends weren't happy about this and came and bashed on the glass of the store after we had closed. After much argument, we agreed to turn the oven back on and give them their whole order again.
One of the friends said that he was going to "bash the **** out of me, next time he saw me"
===========
Last night
Took an order for 5 meat lovers pizzas to a place in a bad area. The person I delivered to inspected each of the pizzas very slowly, and then walked away. I assumed that he had called the store and that he had arranged to take the pizzas for free.
He walked about 5 meters away from me, then turned around and said "Aren't you going to tackle me from behind, or something?"
To which i replied "No, that's okay, have a good night".
I turned around to get in my car, only to be met with the fist of a man who's face was covered in a towel. He grabbed me and punched me repeatedly.
While struggling to get away from the two guys, I screamed as loud as I could, remembering learning that if I ever found myself in that situation, make as much noise as possible. "Quick, kill him" the man with the pizzas screamed to the attacker.
I eventually got away. Clothes ripped, face smashed and pulse racing, I called the police and ambulance. They arrived in 2 minutes.
Some nice people took me in and gave me water and ice. Blood was pouring from my face all over my clothes and shoes. I looked in the mirror, and shouldnt have. I was a mess.
The paramedics cleaned me up as best as they could before taking me to the emergency room.
They released me from hospital at 5am this morning (less than 12 hours ago).
The police said that they had found a fence paling with nails in it. The people who took me in said that they had seen between 6 and 8 other men about to hit me with the plank until they came out, the police arrived, and the men ran away.
They said it was a miracle that I was able to stay conscious. I'm giving a statement on Monday.
And that is the story of my time as a pizza delivery guy.
Moral of the story: PIZZAS ARE AWESOME, delivering is not.
Btw: The guy was from Newcastle, NSW. I.e. many hours north of Syd.
On a side note:
Saturday, April 25, 2009
^ Above is my “guitar room”, which was originally going to be the “music” room, with a few mics, computer, piano set up, but there just wasn’t enough space.SO, rundown of the gear I currently and sometimes use:
Guitars:
First and foremost, Fender American Highway1 Stratocaster (the one hanging up on the left):
2007 model, with the greasebucket circuitry, satin nitro finish (which, according to a certain person with an EJ strat, is not “real” nitrocellulose, haha) and custom pickguard, straplocks, knobs etc.
My main guitar, VERY nice feel and sound, though my home amp really doesn’t do it justice. The higher output single coils kinda lose that strat sparkle, but does help with the higher gain stuff I play.
The trem is set up to float, and hence kills a bit of the sustain. However, it still does everything I want it to, and more :).
Future upgrades: a proper shielding job (no factory EVER does it) and either Dimarzio Hot Rails in the bridge position, OR, if I somehow run into a lot of money, a set of EMG DG p/ups.
Next, Vester SFT-70A (hanging up on the right):
Interesting history to this one. I picked it up in this random second hand shop in the city for, uh, forgot the exact amount, but it was 2 digits. Brought it home, didn’t work at all. So, replaced wiring, pots (melted a few on account of my uncontrollable high temp soldering iron, also screwed up a few other things, hahaha. BUT, good learning experience) and sanded down the horrific green finish and varnished it slightly.
HSH config, which will be changed to just HH config later on. Er, not a great instrument, but for that little cost, pretty damn good to me, haha.
The floyd, god knows where it came from, but it’s as old as hell (I think it was made in the early 1990s. not old compared to other things, I know, but it’s as old as me :p), doesn’t really float properly, but it’s useable.
Mainly use it for the higher gain stuff that my strat doesn’t handle that well, quite a fun guitar to play around with.
Ibanez Artwood, 35ECE (or something of the sort). 2006? Model. Sitting in its case on the bottom left.
Acoustic/electric guitar, used many many times for shows etc. due to its XLR output. VERY convenient. Nice feeling neck, but cheap binding. Decent fretwork.
Thing about this dude, is its huge damn mood swings, haha. Very prone to changes in weather/temperature/humidity. So one day it’s nice a boomy, and the next, after a bit of rainfall, it suddenly decides to sound trebly.
Also, dunno if it’s the case or the guitar, but it smells good. That’s right, no typo. It SMELLS good. Heh.
Not pictured:
Starsun classical acoustic: very very first guitar. Very cool to play on sometimes due to its mellowness + twang.
Ashton AG131: very very first electric. It’s pretty much my experimental guitar now, took it apart a long time ago to see how stuff fits and works. Some parts siphoned off it.
Amps:
Roland Cube 15x: got this because of the power squeezer function, which can reduce the 15 watts down to 2 watts, nifty for home volume levels. Has acceptable, if very sterile, cleans. I run a Zoomgfx1 through it at home for the effects. Overall good practice rig.
When playing with friends (I have rich friends…):
Mesa Dual Recto: AWESOME high gain sounds. Any guitarist would know about the recto series.
Aaaaaand…A Fender ’65 Reissue Twin Reverb. Ok, ok ok ok, this amp, has the most god-like clean tones I have ever heard (in person of course). Brilliant, amazing. Also damn expensive.
So, that’s the gear I normally use.This blog will probably get a name change, since most of my blogs from now on will be music/guitar related.
Anyway, holidays are almost finished. I’m happy a did a fair amount of work as well as relaxation, so it’s all good. However, there is still quite a bit of work left…
School. Will be terrible. Stupid year 12.
As always, take care.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Introductions.
Well, the first full day at home in the holidays has left me with ALMOST absolutely nothing to do, normally i'd sleep till almost noon, but noooo, the neighbours stupid baby started bawling her eyes out in the wee hours of the morning, and still going strong.
Adding to that, one of my neighbours - 2 houses down and on the other side of the road - recently got THREE dogs. It's like someone recorded a full half hour of barking, put the cd player on loop and went "heh... muahaaha MUAHAH mUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH".
Eh, that's what i get for keeping my windows open. The dogs do eventually get tired and shut the hell up at about 1 or 2.
Anyway, time for introductions -
ISAAC (My dog):
6 years old now, German shepherd cross labrador. Tends to get very very hyperactive whenever something interesting happens i.e. going out for a walk or car trip. HA, everytime we open the car door now, she'll jump in and refuse to get out, in the hope we go on some road trip. So then we have to push and shove until she finally gets off the car and trots away with an annoyed grunt or two, pretty much the dogs' equal of flipping the bird as you walk away.
INTERESTING history to her name. When we first got her, we honestly thought she was a male cause she was going around barging into the rest of her litter and seemed to be the "strongest", so, we named her isaac (no idea why, just an impulse thing).
TWO MONTHS LATER, after more than doubling in size, i saw her, uh, pee. THen i thought, don't male dogs lift a leg or something?... T'was then we realized it was a female. Since she wouldn't respond to any other name, we had to stay with Isaac. Now i have to go around explaining this to people that meet her, haha.
ME (well my hand at least) Supercloseup of Isaac:
My Computer Screen:
Er, rather not disclose too much, this being able to be read by anyone on the net and all.
My music listening habits: http://www.last.fm/user/ratfish09 <- started using this not too long ago, pretty cool for looking at the stats some of the apps give.
OVERFRIEDSPAM - came from my recent like of fried spam, if you haven't tried it, TRY IT. It's so much better than plain spam out of the can.
Honestly, this blog is more for various rantings and/or as some sort of stress relief. So, if you do happen to read this (and any later blogs), don't come asking what the hell i'm going on about.
I'm off to go stalk other blogspots (which are pretty interesting to read, heh. Some people just have that flair for informal storytelling).
Adding to that, one of my neighbours - 2 houses down and on the other side of the road - recently got THREE dogs. It's like someone recorded a full half hour of barking, put the cd player on loop and went "heh... muahaaha MUAHAH mUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH".
Eh, that's what i get for keeping my windows open. The dogs do eventually get tired and shut the hell up at about 1 or 2.
Anyway, time for introductions -
ISAAC (My dog):
6 years old now, German shepherd cross labrador. Tends to get very very hyperactive whenever something interesting happens i.e. going out for a walk or car trip. HA, everytime we open the car door now, she'll jump in and refuse to get out, in the hope we go on some road trip. So then we have to push and shove until she finally gets off the car and trots away with an annoyed grunt or two, pretty much the dogs' equal of flipping the bird as you walk away.
INTERESTING history to her name. When we first got her, we honestly thought she was a male cause she was going around barging into the rest of her litter and seemed to be the "strongest", so, we named her isaac (no idea why, just an impulse thing).
TWO MONTHS LATER, after more than doubling in size, i saw her, uh, pee. THen i thought, don't male dogs lift a leg or something?... T'was then we realized it was a female. Since she wouldn't respond to any other name, we had to stay with Isaac. Now i have to go around explaining this to people that meet her, haha.
ME (well my hand at least) Supercloseup of Isaac:
My Computer Screen:
Er, rather not disclose too much, this being able to be read by anyone on the net and all.
My music listening habits: http://www.last.fm/user/ratfish09 <- started using this not too long ago, pretty cool for looking at the stats some of the apps give.
OVERFRIEDSPAM - came from my recent like of fried spam, if you haven't tried it, TRY IT. It's so much better than plain spam out of the can.
Honestly, this blog is more for various rantings and/or as some sort of stress relief. So, if you do happen to read this (and any later blogs), don't come asking what the hell i'm going on about.
I'm off to go stalk other blogspots (which are pretty interesting to read, heh. Some people just have that flair for informal storytelling).
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