About time!

RIGHT! It's about time I updated my blog! I'll see what I can remember from when I last posted although I'm sure I'll forget loads. OK, so I was totally broke and couldn't find a job so I did what I always told myself I wouldn't and signed on at the job centre. The process was fairly easy, have a little interview about what sort of work you want etc, then you turn up every two weeks with your 'work diary', show it to them, sign something and get £120 every two weeks. It's a fucking joke to be honest - the work diary, which is supposed to show everything you are doing to look for work is so easy to fake, and they don't seem to give a shit. I used to fill mine out the night before, don't get me wrong I was looking for jobs, but I would make a lot of it up too. It really is too easy to be out of work, and if £60 a week is enough for you, then what's the incentive to get a job? I read in the paper once about a guy who worked on an oil rig who said he had to be drug tested so that he could earn money. And whilst he said he had no problem helping to pay the dole to help get people back on their feet, he did have a problem with people sitting on their arses and using the money to fund their drinking and drug habits. If he had to pass a drugs test so that he could earn the money he is taxed on, why, therefore, shouldn't those claiming the dole have to pass a drug test too? I couldn't agree with him more, and I have a sneaky suspicion that a hell of a lot of people would all of a sudden be losing their dole if this was introduced. Anyway, £60 a week wasn't enough for me, and I wanted to work, I wanted money, not least so I could play some poker again. Also I was borrowing more and more and things were getting a bit desperate, I had to borrow money from my sister to pay my direct debits and god knows what I would have done without my Dad, he always comes through for me and I'm very lucky.

So I was looking for work with little success. It's a cliche right now but there really is fuck all work out there at the moment, even the most basic office positions are getting so many applicants, it's not a good time to be looking for work. A friend of mine used to work for Ocado and I thought this seemed like a job I might enjoy. I checked out the website and they had positions locally for drivers, I hesitated though, wanting to find out a little more before I filled in the application. Joppa went through the process and I was waiting to see what he wrote about it before I went ahead and did it, cos I'm such a fucking pussy sometimes and I wanted to avoid scary group interview type situations, I thought I would let someone else do it first, taking the easy route again. Alas when I decided to just go ahead and fill out the online form, the job had gone, fml.

So this went on, looking for jobs on the net, going into agencies etc, but I was getting no where. It came to a head when my step dad had had enough of me and launched into a tirade about how I take the piss shouldn't be taking food from the house not paying rent bla bla, and that he would make my life hell if I stayed there. I took that as a hint and moved out to a friends house that night, things weren't looking too good. I was in e-mail correspondence with my Mum whilst I was away and I think he was getting grief from her so we arranged to have a meeting and sort out our differences.

It just so happens that whilst I was 'moved out', I got a call from a mate of mine offering me work. About 2 months working as a gardener in some rose gardens. I said yes, of course, and I have just finished my third week there. The money is crap, £45 a day take home, and it's hard work as you can imagine, especially this last week cos I have been pretty ill, puking and shitting water on Monday night, only now just feeling better, too much info? tough haha. However, I'm working with my mates from school and we have a laugh, when the weather is nice it's great (I got sunburnt in my first week!) and it feels good to actually be working again. Something happens when you work, despite how horrible it is to have to get up early enough to start work at 8, you feel good for it. I'm a much happier person than when I didn't have a job. I had been out of work so long, I was sleeping too much and feeling generally depressed a lot of the time, I can relate a lot to what Joppa and Would-Be write about, I believe it's healthy to be working, and you sure as hell appreciate your weekends more!

So, now I am earning money and getting paid weekly, £225 a week, not great but beggars can't be choosers and in the current climate I am lucky to have work and I certainly appreciate the value of money more! I owe quite a bit obviously so most of what I am getting is going straight to others, but it feels good to pay it back, albeit slowly. The rose gardens open in June so when this job is over it's back to the hunt, I can't wait lol!

ANYWAY, I have rambled on far too much, there is more I wanted to say but this doesn't need to turn in to my life story and it's a poker blog anyway. So, poker. I didn't play for a long time because I was broke, I borrowed some money from a couple of mates on Stars, but it never really went anywhere. When I got hold of a bit of significant money though I wanted to play on Interpoker because of rakeback which I can't stress enough is the most amazing thing to happen to online poker ever, rakeback that is. So crypto is dead, it will always have a good memory for me because it was on crypto that I went on the best spin up of my life a couple of years back, turning £20 into about £8,000 in about 10 days. I won't forget the night I came home drunk after bragging about how I was gonna make millions at online poker, only to lose the lot in a few short hours at £10/£20. I didn't feel anywhere near as depressed as I should have about losing such a vast sum of money, easy come easy go, I thought, oh to have that money now!

So Interpoker is now on the IPN (Independant Poker Network), the software is a bit sucky, instead of 6-max they have 5-max which I actually like, and you can still play in pounds or euros or dollars, and I'm still getting rakeback! So it's all good really. I currently have a roll of about £140 and will see what I can do with it, I still don't have any BRM so I will as easily lose it as spin it up.

Couple of other things I want to mention, I bought Street Fighter IV for my PS3 and it's brillllllliant. Also, I went to see Marley and Me a couple of weeks ago at the cinema, being a dog lover and all. Pretty good film, not remotely the slapstick comedy type film you would believe it to be by the way it is marketed. So I really wasn't prepared for what has to be one of the saddest endings to a film I have ever seen. The sadness is eeked out for about the last 25 minutes of the film and boy do they do a good job! I was actually trying so fucking hard to not cry seeing as I was in a cinema and all, but my god, I defy anyone, dog lover or not, to not shed a tear at this film, practically everyone in the cinema was crying! Seeing as I have an old dog it just made the situation worse! Good film though lol. I would like to end on a quote from the end of the film, this is gonna make me seem like a total dog loving saddo but I don't care cos I thought it was just a great quote and in the context of the film is really quite touching. OK I do sound like a saddo but I don't care, so here it is:

"A dog has no use for fancy cars, or big homes, or designer clothes. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart, and he’ll give you his.

How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare, and pure, and special? How many people can make you feel...extraordinary?"