THE WEEKEND!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, mine was pretty great. I had a few ok shifts at work including, a crazy 8 am to 9 pm shift on Saturday. I was able to make it out alive though and spent the last two days just relaxing and preparing for another week ahead.

I spent Sunday with my boyfriend Bradley, we did the stereotypical thing, "SHOPPING!" After we got done at the mall we headed over to Tupelo Honey Cafe, a wonderful place in Market Square, of downtown Knoxville. They make everything from scratch and use all free range and antibiotics free meat. A definite must visit if you are ever in downtown Knoxville.

The following morning I got to experience what few seem to these days, the joys of sleeping in! After I got up though I made a healthy lunch, cheated on my snack, and played Gears of War 3 with Brad. I spent most of the rest of the night exercising and playing games. That bring us to today, my first work day of the week, I so far have slept in, plan on doing a work out before and after work and just spent some quality time reflecting on my life.

I plan on updating this Blog more often with some recipes and other reviews, but at least this gets you caught up on my world. Wish me luck tonight!

Just a day.

Yesterday I spent the majority of my day cleaning my house in preparations for my landlord to pay me a visit. I actually have a pretty great landlord, he has been very flexible with me on the price and terms of my lease.

This started last January when I had to find a place to live in two weeks because someone bought my house with cash. This proved very complicated and he just made the transition easier.

Besides all that I worked a nice dinner closing shift at work and got to talk to some pretty amazing people. Some days I love my job and other days I question myself. This day was right in the middle, but I hope it was only a preface to an even better day today, we will see!

Thank you

Refresher

I haven't posted in a while because I have been crazy busy. Between work and various little projects I have barely had enough time at home to think let alone write! I need to get on my gym bandwagon and actually make something out of this bet I have on Dietbet.com . Basically you put in money into a big pot and if you reach your weight loss goal you split the pot with everyone else who reached theirs. I am currently behind a bit, but that OK I plan on catching up in the end.

I have had a wild few days at work, everything from fires, to wild tables, to people who have literally just made me smile from ear to ear. I have met quite a few new people this week that make me have a bit more faith in the human race. I hope this continues through the weekend, because come Saturday, a day I work 8 am- 11 pm) I will need those people to help me push onward and make it through my day. 

I'll try to keep you informed about what happens, and I might even toss in a story from the last week (if you're lucky )

Have a good one!

New Year!

     Hello and welcome everyone to a brand new year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, spent with lots of time with friends, family and random bar patrons getting drunk. I spent the last couple of days with my Boyfriend. We spent some quality time just hanging out watching youtube videos, playing board games and drinking....

     *Caution* just because you want variety at your New Year's Eve party, it does not mean you should try one (or more) of every drink. I learned a thing or two about beer mixing and champagne as well. I think everyone should take some quality time and find a few drinks they like, just so they have some choices to fall back on in social settings.

     Hopefully this new year proves to be full of even more exciting times, stories, and adventures than last year did. I hope everyone was safe and sane this Holiday season!

P.s. I will continue with some more self help advice column posts after I get resettled into work this week! Tell me what you want to see posted, I will gladly give anything a try.

~Ben

My Life....

     Today started out much better than yesterday did by far! I went to work, I only had to work a single 4 hour shift where I cleared $100 which is a great shift for me. I was blessed with many very nice and solid tipping people. If everyday of work was as beneficial as today was I would be a happy camper.

     After work I went and got my hair cut and a shave, which to me is one of the best things I can possibly do to reinvigorate my self image. I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated after it that it's hard to bring me down. I then when shopping with some co-workers and spent a bit too much money, but hey everyone makes mistakes. I learned today that it's always better to let the good times out weigh the bad in your memory and to always push forward. I also learned that smiling will almost always over power anyone who is foul mouthed or in a bad mood. It's contagious!

Sorry I don't have more from today, maybe one day I'll video blog my day. I have also thought about reviewing and blogging about recipes, gadgets, stores, and restaurants, let me know if you think I should delve into this!

~Ben

New hope

Tonight I was given new hope in humanity by the form of two wonderful guests at my table. One was an older woman who worked for the Blount county library system and the other was a retiree from HGTV of 29 years. They showered me with compliments and praise and even told my manager how she was wasting my talents and time.

This selfless act single handedly made my night possibly my week. They implored me to put in applications elsewhere and even told me they would put in recommendations for me. I have waited so long to feel this kind of appreciation, it truly makes me feel great. This is what people need in their lives. People need to feel appreciated in whatever job they do, it's not an easy world to live in and sometimes all you need is a thank you or a hug and it will somehow make everything better.

I would love to hear about your stories regarding selfless acts of kindness or charity. Feel free to leave a comment below!

~Ben

The Holiday Spirit

     The holidays have started and some have even finished, for many of us holidays are a time of new beginnings and for others it's a time of reflection over a year that has come and gone. For whatever reason you celebrate the holidays (or don't) , we can all agree that this special time of year always brings out a different side of people that we don't always see. This can be good, you might get gifts or even just a smile, or it could be bad, and your family could bicker the entire day and end up holding grudges.

     I had a great day filled with love shown not only from my family, but from my friends as well. I also saw some hate from family, but this was overshadowed by good memories. My mother, who is struggling to keep a roof over our heads got together money and framed my diplomas for me and surprised me with them early this morning. This kind of selfless love is what should characterize this season, but often gets lost amongst the selfish consumer whoring that we all are guilty of at one point or another.

     What I am saying is people forget that their actions directly affect others and we should try to work together as the human race, and not just around the holidays. We as people forget this, some of us try to make a world a better place and some just try to mask their inferiorities by breaking down the spirit of others. While others go spend at least one day out of their week at church to be reminded of how to treat others, but those lessons often times get left at the alter (that is a discussion for another day).

     So, what ever you celebrate, I hope you do so; happy, safe, and with people you love.

~Ben