Happy Valentines Day Suckers

Yo, have some self-respect bitches.

Since 2001 I have been going to Los Angeles once a year.

I love LA and would love to be able to live out there, even if only for a few short months.

There are a number of reasons I love it so much. I love the sun, I love being able to wear things I would usually wear out in the evening here, in the day there. I love that no-one seems to work, at least not properly. I love that sunset strip is full of poser guys and slutty girls all waiting to be discovered and I love being able to get away with being a sarcastic English girl that no-one understands.

I also love Metal Skool. In 2001 Metal Skool (then MetalShop) played the Viper Room every Monday night. Each year I’ve been back they have moved up a venue and are now LAs Number 1 Monday night entertainment. The queues to get in are crazy, the venue gets packed and each week there are celebrities there to get on stage an join in. The band are stuck in the 80s with spandex and big hair. They refer to women as bitches and are crude and obnoxious and down right rude. It’s awesome. What is even better is that the girls that go to see them (excluding me of course), are as slutty as the band talk about. Tits and Arse seem to be in abundance and although I am not really a tits and arse kind of girl, I can’t help but go and watch and laugh at how these girls behave.

Anyway, Metal Skool have a trailer… check it out.

Forgive me father for I have sinned

It has been a week since my last blog.

Rich finds it I post it..

While I was working (skiving) away yesterday, Rich was home doing not a whole lot.

I know this because of his latest blog where he posted this particular video

Money is the root of all evil…

Two days ago I got the final annual statement for my student loan repayments during the year 2006-2007.

In the 12 months of that year I paid exactly £666.

I’m thinking there’s a sign in there somewhere.

And so it has begun…

I shouldn’t chuckle… I shouldn’t

This is SPARTA

Anyone remember Sean Maguire?? Check out what he’s been up to:

I think I might cry.

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately we were informed this morning that Zachary Quinto will not now be able to make it to Eclipse due to conflicting filming commitments! (I have posted the e-mail that we received at 2.06am this morning below).

We will now pursue a replacement guest for Zachary who we hope to be able to announce as soon as possible and we are sure you will be really pleased with them!

For all of you who have purchased photo session tickets for Zach we would like to leave things as they are at the moment. When we announce the replacement guest all photo session tickets already purchased for Zach will be valid for that replacement guest instead. If when you see the replacement guest you would prefer a refund to a photo shoot with them then we will then happily refund your photo session ticket. I hope that sounds ok!

Sorry for any disappointment that this has caused. We will work very hard on bringing Zachary back to a future event, and we will also be working very hard to get you a fantastic replacement for him at Eclipse.

Take care

Mark

COPY OF EMAIL RECEIVED AT 2.06am on FRIDAY 18th JANUARY :

Dear Jason,

This email is official notice that Zachary Quinto,
currently announced for ECLIPSE, March 14-16, 2008 show,
must cancel his appearance due to filming conflicts.
Please remove him from all advertising immediately.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter, we
regret any inconvenience this cancellation may have
caused you or the fans.

Sincerely,

Julie Caitlin Brown
Illumina Productions, LLC

Moi? Defensive? How So?

Work is a wonderful thing. We are constantly implementing new ways to motivate the team to do their jobs properly. To do their jobs the way we hired them to do. My company are quite big on giving praise for when a job is done well, which is good. It is nice to get acknowledgement for something and it does bring on the warm and fuzzies.

Shortly before Christmas the company introduced something called “Service Motivators”. Each day a member of the management team is the “Service Motivator” and it is their task to (yes you guessed it) motivate the team. They should have brief meetings with the staff at the beginnings of their shift, keep them posted on the days target and how we are in relation to that through out the day, and to remind everyone of what the focuses are which in my case is always “heads up, be aware of the people around you, let them know you are there” etc etc. Of course all this flew right out the window during sale when all we did was make sure enough of the cheap stuff was on the floor so the bargain hunting vultures could spend spend spend.

(One way our manager has come up with to acknowledge and motivate the team, is to get everyone to acknowledge eachother with a “round of applause”, then everyone that gets one is put into a hat and a winner is drawn and receives a gift voucher. Over Christmas they won £50 and now its £10 monthly, all coming from our managers own pocket (glad someone gets paid enough to do that). Funnily enough, I’m a firm advocate for the “they get paid to do a job, so they should do it well without bribery” belief, but what do I know.)

Anyway, back into full price product our attentions have once again returned to service, we now need to approach and get the sale rather than wait for it to come to us in all its reduced glory. To see how well each store was doing, a number of senior managers were sent into stores randomly to ask staff questions, check what they are doing and see if we are motivating like crazy. Our visit went well, the guys knew their targets, everyone was busy but friendly approachable and keen (of course they were, I hired them) and apparantly we were one of the best stores. However… and if there isn’t a but there has to be a however, I came across as defensive. Apparantly.

I didn’t really know how to comment on that “feedback”, because to ask how I was “defensive” would only make me look more “defensive”, and I’m soooo not “defensive”.

Seriously, I think it is about time I started getting feedback I could actually use to develop myself or else whats the blimmin’ point?!

WE LOVE YOU BRITNEY!!!

Just Kidding!