Today saw me wake up really late. I didn't wake from my slumber until 12:15pm which, trust me, is very late.
Showing posts with label mcdonalds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mcdonalds. Show all posts
Friday, 8 February 2013
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
The ShortList Magazine Work Experience
Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why haven't you been updating the blog?
One question at a time, please guys. I've been busy, very busy. Well, I say very busy, I mean I haven't been busy every single waking minute of the past month but you get the idea.
University finished for the term and I headed back home. After doing some christmas shopping, going to see Kele live and going to my cousin's christening, I spent the week on work experience at ShortList magazine. If you haven't heard of ShortList then that is likely for two reasons, either you aren't a man or you don't live near London.
So, I had to get up every day at around 7 o'clock, a time I hadn't seen for many, many years then head to the train station and make my way to Holborn. Despite staying clear of any illness at university, I picked up man flu on the first day thanks to the many ill and weak people on the tube.
I worked out today that the amount of time I worked would have equated to around £240 on minimum wage. As I sit here writing this, I have to say I really want £240.
However, on the positive side, it was a really insightful week that made me realise that a career in the media would make me happy. Also, I will soon be a published writer, whilst I got to spend one afternoon just looking at pictures of half-naked women. It was a win-win.
There we are, thank you ShortList for the work experience and thank you Holborn McDonalds for keeping me fed all week.
Follow me on Twitter @Alex_Harris1991
I've also started my own YouTube channel, why not subscribe?
One question at a time, please guys. I've been busy, very busy. Well, I say very busy, I mean I haven't been busy every single waking minute of the past month but you get the idea.
University finished for the term and I headed back home. After doing some christmas shopping, going to see Kele live and going to my cousin's christening, I spent the week on work experience at ShortList magazine. If you haven't heard of ShortList then that is likely for two reasons, either you aren't a man or you don't live near London.
So, I had to get up every day at around 7 o'clock, a time I hadn't seen for many, many years then head to the train station and make my way to Holborn. Despite staying clear of any illness at university, I picked up man flu on the first day thanks to the many ill and weak people on the tube.
I worked out today that the amount of time I worked would have equated to around £240 on minimum wage. As I sit here writing this, I have to say I really want £240.
However, on the positive side, it was a really insightful week that made me realise that a career in the media would make me happy. Also, I will soon be a published writer, whilst I got to spend one afternoon just looking at pictures of half-naked women. It was a win-win.
There we are, thank you ShortList for the work experience and thank you Holborn McDonalds for keeping me fed all week.
Follow me on Twitter @Alex_Harris1991
I've also started my own YouTube channel, why not subscribe?
Monday, 17 October 2011
The Casino
After just a day, it had become normal to say yes to everything. It's only a challenge though to say yes to something when you've got a lot on or if the question or request is particularly challenging.
However, on Monday evening after cooking a particularly brilliant lasagne, my housemate, Nick, suggested going to see to the cinema. We ended up going to see the new Johnny English film and it was quite funny and well worth the money. It was upon leaving the cinema though that we followed up on an idea that Nick had earlier mused that we go to the casino afterwards.
So we entered the realm of financial uncertainly. The casino is a place I have only frequented in Reading. I dare not venture into a casino outside of Reading. It is safe. It is a second home. It is comfortable. Well, as safe, homely and comfortable that a casino can be.
Nick won fairly big. I didn't. I lost £20. £20 of what is technically my Mum's hard earned money. I effectively just wasted two hours of her working life. On a moral level, I felt like a nasty piece of work. It was the equivalent of stealing the neighbour's dog and then handing them back the dead corpse.
The next day, after attending my debut Ultimate Frisbee training session, I went out with Nick and a few of his friends to the new club in town, Lola Lo. It isn't the greatest club that Reading has ever seen. The fact it took about 45 minutes to get a drink indicates this point quite well. However, we rounded the night off by going to the casino with two politics course mates.
The beauty of this casino is that you can buy food and get the bill back in chip form. So, after all having steak, we gambled away to varying degrees of success. Luckily, I managed to break even, however, I was still angered at my previous day loss.
Wednesday soon approached and we were in town again. After a very random McDonalds, we were walking past our now regular hotspot in Reading. The casino was standing there, proud and tall. We walked past the casino and looked at each other. We both knew we wanted to go in. It felt wrong, but it really felt oh so right.
We walked in and soon a sign seemed to be there. A sign that the casino gods wanted us to win. All we had to do for a free £5 chip was to 'Like' their page on Facebook. Easy. £5 chip please. We marched upstairs and won big. Well I say big, for me, just to win felt fantastic. I won £30 and had cleared that £20 loss from Monday.
We left and my conscience over losing that money on Monday had cleared, even though I felt very dirty for visiting the casino three days in a row.
However, on Monday evening after cooking a particularly brilliant lasagne, my housemate, Nick, suggested going to see to the cinema. We ended up going to see the new Johnny English film and it was quite funny and well worth the money. It was upon leaving the cinema though that we followed up on an idea that Nick had earlier mused that we go to the casino afterwards.
So we entered the realm of financial uncertainly. The casino is a place I have only frequented in Reading. I dare not venture into a casino outside of Reading. It is safe. It is a second home. It is comfortable. Well, as safe, homely and comfortable that a casino can be.
Nick won fairly big. I didn't. I lost £20. £20 of what is technically my Mum's hard earned money. I effectively just wasted two hours of her working life. On a moral level, I felt like a nasty piece of work. It was the equivalent of stealing the neighbour's dog and then handing them back the dead corpse.
The next day, after attending my debut Ultimate Frisbee training session, I went out with Nick and a few of his friends to the new club in town, Lola Lo. It isn't the greatest club that Reading has ever seen. The fact it took about 45 minutes to get a drink indicates this point quite well. However, we rounded the night off by going to the casino with two politics course mates.
The beauty of this casino is that you can buy food and get the bill back in chip form. So, after all having steak, we gambled away to varying degrees of success. Luckily, I managed to break even, however, I was still angered at my previous day loss.
Wednesday soon approached and we were in town again. After a very random McDonalds, we were walking past our now regular hotspot in Reading. The casino was standing there, proud and tall. We walked past the casino and looked at each other. We both knew we wanted to go in. It felt wrong, but it really felt oh so right.
We walked in and soon a sign seemed to be there. A sign that the casino gods wanted us to win. All we had to do for a free £5 chip was to 'Like' their page on Facebook. Easy. £5 chip please. We marched upstairs and won big. Well I say big, for me, just to win felt fantastic. I won £30 and had cleared that £20 loss from Monday.
We left and my conscience over losing that money on Monday had cleared, even though I felt very dirty for visiting the casino three days in a row.
Friday, 23 September 2011
The German Girl
Michael, Alex and I have just walked back into the pub that we had only just left 30 seconds earlier. We have just recieved notice from Becky that she and a couple of her friends were on their way to the pub that we had just walked out of. So, as I said, we headed straight back in.
We had been on a pub crawl starting in Berrylands, passing through the Coronation Hall in Surbiton and then we found our way to the King's Tun in Kingston. We had a great booth in the pub and had just dusted off a jug of Blue Lagoon and Cheeky V between us, yet by the time we walked back in there was suddenly limited seating and we had to settle for a window table. A very cramped window table, in fact.
Eventually, Becky, Tina and a German friend of Becky's called Sophia joined us. Tina had to leave almost straight away, so we were soon down to the five of us. Suddenly, I was left with Sophia. Becky and Alex had gone to the bar, whilst Michael decided that now was an appropriate time to go to the loo. I decided to put Sophia at ease with a fantastic conversation starter, "Don't worry, I won't make any jokes about the war". On reflection, that doesn't seem to be the best line I could have opened with.
I then went through the usual pleasentries you exchange with a new person. I found out she was from Cologne, I still think that is a strange name for a city. Well, at least it must smell nice. I discovered she knew Becky threw a relation to her knowing Becky's mum. She was on a gap year before starting University. I learnt that she liked Angela Merkel. I even had a brief conversation on German football, detailing all from Lukas Podolski to Borrusia Dortmund.
Michael soon returned and after he and Sophia ran through a pretty similar conversation we had just had. The fool. Sophia must have felt he was a mere copy of myself and that he took all his conversational wizardry from myself. I then managed to make my next blunder though.
"So, was the ball over the line then in the World Cup final?" Why had I just asked this. It is well known that the Germans are still sore over that goal. She responded by saying that "Yeah, I don't think the ball was over the line". I then went to Michael for his thoughts on this historical classic, yet I'm not sure he quite knew what goal we were talking about though in his English pride, he felt that the ball was over the line.
I decided it was probably best to quieten down a bit. Yet, I ignored the rational part of my brain and decided to try and speak German. Now, I studied German all the way from Year 7 to Year 11 at school and I was good at it. Very good, in fact. I gained an A Grade at GCSE level. Quite the achievement I'll have you know. It's been a long time, however, since I last had a conversation in German and I was unsuprisingly terrible. Sophia must have thought I was mocking her even more. This really was going badly.
The table conversation soon moved onto music after Michael brought up the fact that I had asked Sophia whether they have "Western music in Germany?" Everyone laughed. I cringed. Why had I said that? I then remembered the quite terrible band I had listened to in a German lesson many moons ago. They are called Wir Sind Helden and I spoke in such depth about them that I get the feeling I may have come across as Wir Sind Helden's number one fanboy.
Soon Michael corrected my grammar. This brought out an almost instinctive reaction in me that I really shouldn't have said. "Grammar Nazi!" I fired back at Michael. Oh God. I just said the N-word in front of a German person. Had she heard? Well, I didn't exactly matter as I was cringing. Then I managed to make things worse. Much worse.
Now, the day before, a friend of ours did a Nazi salute in a pub. I don't think he quite understood what he was doing and he was most certainly joking. I know for a fact that he is joking because I have not seen an ounce of Nazi paraphernalia in his house. However, I seemed to think that Sophia would see this a witty, hilarious anecdote that she would tell all her friends back in Germany. She seemed shocked. I'm pretty sure I even heard gasps around the table. She uttered back, in a broken tone, "Oh...OK..."
She soon went home when we left the pub for another venue and Alex told me that I had come across as a Nazi sympathiser. I would like to stress that I am not though. I have quite a dislike for what they did and stood for. Plus, Hitler isn't exactly my favourite historical figure.
The next day after completing the pub quiz, we all went to McDonalds to get some food. Becky, Sophia and Alex remained in the car whilst Michael and I went instore to order. As we only had an order from Becky for a cheeseburger, I decided to pick up a few. I hastily paid. We offered Sophia a cheeseburger and she accepted. She went to get her £1 to reimburse my slightly worse off wallet, however, I declined her pound and told her "Don't worry" about paying.
Hopefully that cheeseburger will have slightly improved Anglo-Germanic relations.
We had been on a pub crawl starting in Berrylands, passing through the Coronation Hall in Surbiton and then we found our way to the King's Tun in Kingston. We had a great booth in the pub and had just dusted off a jug of Blue Lagoon and Cheeky V between us, yet by the time we walked back in there was suddenly limited seating and we had to settle for a window table. A very cramped window table, in fact.
Eventually, Becky, Tina and a German friend of Becky's called Sophia joined us. Tina had to leave almost straight away, so we were soon down to the five of us. Suddenly, I was left with Sophia. Becky and Alex had gone to the bar, whilst Michael decided that now was an appropriate time to go to the loo. I decided to put Sophia at ease with a fantastic conversation starter, "Don't worry, I won't make any jokes about the war". On reflection, that doesn't seem to be the best line I could have opened with.
I then went through the usual pleasentries you exchange with a new person. I found out she was from Cologne, I still think that is a strange name for a city. Well, at least it must smell nice. I discovered she knew Becky threw a relation to her knowing Becky's mum. She was on a gap year before starting University. I learnt that she liked Angela Merkel. I even had a brief conversation on German football, detailing all from Lukas Podolski to Borrusia Dortmund.
Michael soon returned and after he and Sophia ran through a pretty similar conversation we had just had. The fool. Sophia must have felt he was a mere copy of myself and that he took all his conversational wizardry from myself. I then managed to make my next blunder though.
"So, was the ball over the line then in the World Cup final?" Why had I just asked this. It is well known that the Germans are still sore over that goal. She responded by saying that "Yeah, I don't think the ball was over the line". I then went to Michael for his thoughts on this historical classic, yet I'm not sure he quite knew what goal we were talking about though in his English pride, he felt that the ball was over the line.
I decided it was probably best to quieten down a bit. Yet, I ignored the rational part of my brain and decided to try and speak German. Now, I studied German all the way from Year 7 to Year 11 at school and I was good at it. Very good, in fact. I gained an A Grade at GCSE level. Quite the achievement I'll have you know. It's been a long time, however, since I last had a conversation in German and I was unsuprisingly terrible. Sophia must have thought I was mocking her even more. This really was going badly.
The table conversation soon moved onto music after Michael brought up the fact that I had asked Sophia whether they have "Western music in Germany?" Everyone laughed. I cringed. Why had I said that? I then remembered the quite terrible band I had listened to in a German lesson many moons ago. They are called Wir Sind Helden and I spoke in such depth about them that I get the feeling I may have come across as Wir Sind Helden's number one fanboy.
Soon Michael corrected my grammar. This brought out an almost instinctive reaction in me that I really shouldn't have said. "Grammar Nazi!" I fired back at Michael. Oh God. I just said the N-word in front of a German person. Had she heard? Well, I didn't exactly matter as I was cringing. Then I managed to make things worse. Much worse.
Now, the day before, a friend of ours did a Nazi salute in a pub. I don't think he quite understood what he was doing and he was most certainly joking. I know for a fact that he is joking because I have not seen an ounce of Nazi paraphernalia in his house. However, I seemed to think that Sophia would see this a witty, hilarious anecdote that she would tell all her friends back in Germany. She seemed shocked. I'm pretty sure I even heard gasps around the table. She uttered back, in a broken tone, "Oh...OK..."
She soon went home when we left the pub for another venue and Alex told me that I had come across as a Nazi sympathiser. I would like to stress that I am not though. I have quite a dislike for what they did and stood for. Plus, Hitler isn't exactly my favourite historical figure.
The next day after completing the pub quiz, we all went to McDonalds to get some food. Becky, Sophia and Alex remained in the car whilst Michael and I went instore to order. As we only had an order from Becky for a cheeseburger, I decided to pick up a few. I hastily paid. We offered Sophia a cheeseburger and she accepted. She went to get her £1 to reimburse my slightly worse off wallet, however, I declined her pound and told her "Don't worry" about paying.
Hopefully that cheeseburger will have slightly improved Anglo-Germanic relations.
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