And thus concludes my 8-day work week! Or, it concluded 2 days ago, which means...I SURVIVED! To be fair, working the 8 days wasn't as horrible as I thought it might be. It's been a while (half a year or so) since I've worked more than 5 days in a row, but I started my 8-day work week with a 12-hour shift. Not the greatest way to start off. In addition, I *almost* worked 9 days in a row, so I guess I should be happy it was only 8. :) However, as my co-worker said, it's all in your expectations. Since I knew I was working the 8 days, I mentally prepared and I did. I was trying to get more sleep, take my breaks, and pace myself. It's unfortunate, though, that most of my work week was spent being a little short staffed. I think I started my 5 week stint as "manager" under stress and ended it under stress. Somewhere in the middle I definitely hit my stride. Not to say I totally lost it towards the end, but with everything going on at the store and with our manager coming back, I definitely was reverting more back to my being the assistant manager and just trying to keep the boat afloat.
With that said, my last week as acting manager was a total success as we dug ourselves out of the hole we made in making our plan and I think it ended well. I felt like the 5 weeks as acting manager were both good for me in the ways of character building and leadership skills, but also just solidifying my place at Goodwill. Not to say I really want my place "solidified" (I do not want to be a manager at Goodwill, tyvm), but I felt like I finally got some notoriety with the higher-ups. When our manager returned, he said that the higher-ups had noted how well I handled the store and it went better than they could have hoped. I always feel like Goodwill leans a little too heavily upon the managers when I can do things just as well as he can (granted, not all assistant managers can do that, but I can!). It was also nice "getting to know" other people at Goodwill I normally never had any contact with because my manager handled it all.
I'm really proud of my co-workers too. They stepped up and were understanding (mostly) with everything going on and were flexible with changes and with me sometimes just running around having to let them run the store while I went and did whatever administrative thing I had to do. I think, in a lot of ways, we proved something as a team. Not that I thought the store was going to fall apart without our manager, but I also wasn't sure how smooth it was going to be or how everyone was going to take me being at the helm for 5 weeks. People stepped up where I needed them and it worked out. Course, saying all that, THANK GOODNESS my manager is back! :P I think being the leader on your own is one thing, but filling a place for 5 weeks is a totally "other" thing because you're both having to manage and try to keep the spirit of your manager there. It's not like he even left the job, so it was kind of weird sometimes since I wouldn't always get forwarded emails and had to keep up on some of those also.
At any rate, now that he's back, I can go back to my own duties and projects I liked to do. I noticed while he was gone the things I used to up keep and do fell by the wayside and I focused more on his areas and things he did. I just couldn't find the time to do two people's projects! I'm kind of excited to get back to my own routine. I liked my routine and I got back to it the minute he walked through the door. I actually got to clean two sections I like and get things out!
With my manager back, I saw him for one day and then took 4 days off. LoL I really needed the 4-days turns out. I was going to take 3 days off split up, but decided the last minute to do 4 and I'm glad. It's been nice having this time off. My last 4-days off were spent finishing my Aquarium report so this is kind of like the first time in a while I've had NOTHING to do. I tried a new manicure technique I haven't done before (gradient) and I'm rereading a ton of books and generally just enjoying my time off!
I have watched several movies in the last few weeks and might go see another this weekend. So, movies!
Dead Man Down (Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace) - Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I feel like Farrell does the same type of movie or he's a similar type of person in a lot of them. Then again, I could just be thinking of just a few movies of his I have seen. At any rate, it's okay. Your typical mob-vengeance type of movie. I think the acting is good, but the story doesn't really work for me. It also doesn't bode well when I can tune out the movie for 20 minutes and know where I am too... Grade: C-
The Host (Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, etc) - This surprised me. I've read the book and between Twilight and The Host, The Host is generally favored between Meyer's written works. I, too, fall into that category. The Host came out the year Breaking Dawn came out and I liked The Host, but it's a novel that takes place, mostly, between one entity or body. In other words, an alien takes possession of a human body and the human fights back and communicates with the alien. To say the least, I was really dubious how the movie was going to play out given there's so much talking to each other in their head. Turns out, they handled it pretty well. I never realized how slow the book is, though, until I watched the movie. It is a rather slow paced movie, but it was okay for me. The only time I really thought the talking-to-each-other thing was awkward was at the end where you're in a close-up of the body and they just talk to each other. It was a little weird and really showed the "slowness" of the book, but at least it moves past it. To say the least, it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't fantastic either. Grade: C
Spring Breakers (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, James Franco) - What in the world did I watch? LoL I can get its allure from the critics and sort of its point (wait, am I sure there was a point?), but it's definitely NOT for everyone. It's definitely a polarizing film where some people will love it and others will really dislike it. With that said, I thought Franco's acting was really different than you normally see him and good and I didn't mind the girls either, but the whole premise of the story is...different. I suppose the main point is to look at our culture and what is the point of spring break. In ways, that's what the director wanted to do and I suppose he accomplished that. I think watching the movie took up precious memory space, but it was an interesting watch to see what the "buzz" was about. Wouldn't recommend it, though. Grade: D
Pacific Rim (Charlie Hunnam, Mako Mori, etc) - Now THIS is what I think of a summer blockbuster...Not to say Star Trek or Man of Steel weren't blockbusters, but I somewhat miss the mindless action that films bring and Star Trek and Man of Steel required too much analyzing at the end (or disappointment?). I'd buy this on DVD. It's a great action packed film with fantastic special effects. Sure, it feels a little Japanese-western sci-fi cliche-y movie, but it works. It could have been really bad (and the trailer does make it look pretty bad -- even *I* thought it was a DVD renter!), but it works. I liked it. I did keep thinking, "They're destroying precious ocean habitat!" throughout the movie, that's probably a problem few people had watching it. :) It's a good theater watch for the special effects and the sound quality. I'm glad I saw it in theater. It's not an original story and the story is REALLY predictable (there's various levels of predictability and this near the top -- I could predict which actors were dying and whether it was a heroic death or just a casualty), but it somehow works. It is a little more mainstream for a del Toro film, but it was interesting to see him direct a big movie like this. Grade: B+
Despicable Me 2 (Steve Carell) - Cute sequel. I can't say whether it was better than the first one or not because I don't remember the first that much, but this one is cute. I liked the minions, I liked the relationship between Gru and the kids, and I liked the story (generally). It's just about what you would expect so not a whole lot to report on it. Grade: B
Jack the Giant Slayer (Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Elanor Tomlinson) - Well, this was better than I thought it would be, but still nowhere near as good as it could have been...? It does give a slight feel that's ala Princess Bride, but it is its own movie. I'm not sure what really turned me off from it, but something doesn't work. I'm not sure if it's Hoult, the feel, or the story. Could be all three. It's a mindless watch, for the most part, and there are interesting moments, but, mostly, it's nothing fantastic. Grade: C
Welcome to the Punch (James McAvoy, Mark Strong) - I was distracted by Strong the entire time! I couldn't figure out what was bothering me till I looked at photos of him in Sherlock Holmes and then it dawned on me -- Hair! Who'd of thunk that'd bother me so much? At any rate, I like McAvoy so that's why I decided to rent this. You saw the pairing of the two former enemies to take down the "greater" enemy coming from a mile away, but it was something you still needed to watch. The movie was paced kind of weird. Normally, films like these you can tune out for 5-10 minutes, tune back in, and know where they are (more-or-less). I had to rewind the movie several times and then finally resigned myself to needing to watch it with my whole attention. There were things they left "sitting" for a while (to get back to at a different time) and they didn't need to. I thought the acting was good, but I wish the story flowed in a different way. I guess the attempt was to make it "different," but it just didn't work. And then, the semi-non-ending was kind of weird too. I don't know. Not my favorite. Grade: C-
Identity Thief (Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy) - Pretty much what you'd expect even towards the end because you could see it coming midway through. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but wasn't anything really interesting too. I did find it hard for Bateman's character to steel the identity of his boss, but maybe that's me. He couldn't be the saint the whole movie or that'd be "boring," but still...With that, it's a little haphazard of a film and the laughs weren't there. You expect more from a pairing like that (or maybe you don't) and they didn't really deliver. Grade: C/C-
It occurs to me that I haven't given a movie that came out in 2013 an "A," ye t...In fact, Pacific Rim at a B+ is the highest this year! I can't tell if I'm becoming more jaded given how many movies I watch or if there truly hasn't been a "great" film this year. I guess I'll have to wait till the latter half of the year where the Oscar dramas start pouring out of the woodwork. Plus...Who can't wait for Thor or The Hobbit?! I don't know if I'll make 100 movies this year, though. I have 44 more movies to go and 5 more months. That's about 9 movies a month and I tend to slow down towards the end because the summer movies haven't come out or I've watched them all. We'll see!
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