Chat Thread: Tokyo Drift

Chuffed to hear it Muss! Exciting prospects for you - the travel side of things is a plus.

I'd like to voice a different opinion: travelling business class is heckng neato. I've been sent to Japan to do installation work on an attraction (can't say what) and I got sent out on a business class plane ticket and it was awesome. There's free stuff and a tv and your seatbecomes a bed and you get like a little bag of toilietries to play with* it's neat as heck.
Japan too is neat and heck but I've been working nights and sleeping days so I haven't really seen a whole lot...

*I actually thought someone had forgotten their toiletries on the last flight so I tried to hand it in and made the air hostess very confused.

I hope your risk pays off you Muss

Oh business class is tremendous fun (my city slicker parents used to take me on it not infrequently), but given that air travel is very environmentally stinky and the disproportionate amount of space on board that business class takes up, it's bad fun. Guilty fun. Like playing an ActiBlizzard game post-Blitzchung.

Oh god, I was deeply aware of all the people filing past and gazing at my swanky seating situation on their way to economy I couldn't bare to look at them. Also, I've become very aware of how much plastic airlines must go through each flight, several hundred individually wrapped meals, plastic cutlery and lots of other examples of single see plastics that you just know are being binned whether or not you use them.

Nice one my dude! If it becomes a permanent/ regular thing, we may be able to schedule meeting up in Asia.

I had a weird weekend. One of the places I interviewed for 6 weeks ago called me on Friday to offer me the job after the successful candidate went awol. It was a permanent position, but doing more of the same as what I do now - Subject Administration. It would have been a leap of 4-5k in salary, depending on pay negotiations with HR.

I had to have a big old think but decided on sticking with the riskier venture. I do have rent to pay, but no family or mortgage to tie me down. So if I'm going to take any risks I'll be taking them now. But even if I don't get the full time gig, I should be there for 6 months.

I'd be working through Unitemps which means I get holiday pay in addition to standard pay - so if I took no holiday for 6 months, I'd earn almost as much (80%) in that time as I do in a year at my old job . Worst case scenario, I earn a lot of extra money in a short period and get to put a bunch of extra skills on my CV but with some savings to tide me over to the next job. Best case, free trips to Asia/America

I used the same trick when I was saving for Japan - I worked in Wagamama as many as hours as possible every week for 9 months, then took my holiday pay as a big bonus at the end. In some weeks, I was making the same as I made in a month at Tesco. And not hating my job!

I remember saying about the tips and stuff being good, as talked before my job can be muh (better now I've moved back to fresh) with the pay and benefits (big one being the savings as said elsewhere I should get like 7k this summer) like my dentist was paid for today keeping me there.

I will generally tell people like yourself, Muss, to go for the risk option... and then complete chicken out of doing anything not offering all the security myself. Sounds like you're happy with your decision, which is the important thing!

Speaking of christmas carols (which the tagline today is) reminds me of how awful shop music is. It's always the most ear-defiling nonsense, awful tempo, zero melody trash that makes me want to get out of the shop as fast as possible (and almost always causes me to forget things when grocery shopping because of it).

Like seriously, do companies think putting bad music on loudly in shops makes people more inclined to stay and shop? Because trust me, it doesn't. I was in the grocery store during remembrance day, and the difference between the normal crap they put on and the classical music they put on after the minute of silence was astonishing. Where I normally cannot wait to get out of the shops I actually felt like taking my time and browsing.

But that's not what I wanted to say (just some necessary context). Christmas season and the obligatory covers of christmas carols. Today I heard quite possibly the WORST rendition of Santa is Coming to Town.

You know how sometimes covers of songs try to throw their own spin on them by over-rearranging things? Yeah. That's what it was. The melody wasn't even recognisable any more, and in their effort to make it sound new there wasn't even a melody. "SaaaAAAAAaaaaanta is coooOOOOOoooming tooooOOOOOooo tooooooooOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOoooown!"

Blegh. My poor ears. I don't mind shops having christmas music (it's two weeks away, I'm not that much of a grouch). But would it kill music productions to not massacre the songs if they insist on shoving them down peoples ears?

Some covers and shop-carols are horrendous, certainly.  What's the one that goes 'ru-pu-pum pum'?  If you've heard it you'll know it and hate it.

This is me three days into a heatwave of 40+ degrees every day and I'm trying to enter somewhere with aircon.



Seriously this heatwave has been brutal.  Started with a 35 degree mondy.  Tuesday was 40, wednesday was 42, and today was 44.  Tomorrow's the best one though, forecast to hit 45!

If you read anything I said in the decade thread, the 2010's was same job, still living at home, not really been anywhere etc

That 2020's could only be better right? Well coming up soon is my 30th and this year planning to go on holiday hopefully and was thinking about this summer trying to buy a place due to my savings coming out.

The buying place one, is a tad iffy, now I know Jay has recently bought somewhere along with a colleague in work that it might be possible, then talking to cousins at Christmas both who own places basically told me I wouldn't have enough money or I'd be buying a shoebox.

With this is mind wasn't really sure what to do as that's why I been saving and didn't go Japan in 2019 as thought money best used on buying somewhere.

This lead me to think about just renting to move out, which isn't idle and on my own I'd likely would still be living in a shoebox and paying more than I would a mortgage.

That I spoke to my mate Craig who also still lives at home but isn't quite 30 that isn't as depressing, as with two of us we can get something rather decent.

Yet not where you might think, as we've also decided to transfer ASDA stores to Bristol and move there.

I got a feeling some of you have lived or been near to Bristol, that anything you can tell us would be great, even if it's best place for a burger or retro games or whatever a City can offer over a small town.

Oh wow, big shift! Congrats Mas, that sounds like a good move for you and Craig. Must be difficult to scope out properties though?

Till we know our official transfer date (big transfer on sky sports and everything), we've not looked but is only about 1hr 20m away.

Okay, that's not so awful. I forget y'all can drive.

Well only I can, so we've got to be off at the same time but I do have a holiday coming up.

Also I'll add the store we're going to is the one EofGiz works in and we will likely life a few minutes away, that we will likely be doing stuff on YouTube etc such as gamingcast, brand wars, wrestling thing on it #content

Sounds like a worthwhile move, Mas.

I'm assuming you're talking about renting a place with your mate, not buying, right?

Yeah will be renting, basically if I'm going to do rent I don't want to do by myself due to cost for a decent place.

BRIZZLE!

Bristol is really nice (though ive not been for a couple of years)

Great comic shop which even expanded to have another spot a couple of doors down for board games. There are a couple of wagamamas if you wanna take my advice and shift to restaurant work

Umm . . . What else . . . Oh! Theres a meatliquor, which is good for a burger. You'll also be a short bus ride from Bath ehich inspired a pokemon town and also has the legit best burger: Schwarz Burger.

What's this great comic book shop called though if you Google comes up with loads.

Yeah being in a City will bring up more job opportunities, just too begin with being able to just walking into my current job makes it much easier to move.

I lived in Bristol between 2011 and 2018, if you need to know anything. I lived outside of the city though, in Stoke Gifford/Filton area as that was next to the (lesser) university where I worked. Three things that stick out from my time there are

1. It's expensive - prices on property and rent aren't quite London, but they are getting there. I had to move to Newport and commute over as I needed a 2-bed (to have my girls at weekends) but it was 900pm which was beyond my budget. You definitely have the correct approach in doing it with somebody, as it splits everything.

2. The roads are always rammed. Bristol isn't designed for the amount of traffic and people that it now has, so rush hour and the M32 are a nightmare. Buses are frequent and a good option (quite a few people cycle too, as there are the equivalent of Boris bikes).

3. Bristol has a lot of students and young people, so I'd avoid areas like Gloucester Road and St. Pauls (unless you want to PAR-TAY).

I'm looking to move back there in 2021, or more likely, Cardiff (which is cheaper).

Yeah it's about 900pcm for a decent 2 bed flat. As I'm going to be close to work, I'll be able to walk, same goes for going into town unlike now. That my car be used when going to VUE as it's a fiver in causeway etc

masofdas wrote:

What's this great comic book shop called though if you Google comes up with loads.

Excelsior, I think.

masofdas wrote:

As I'm going to be close to work, I'll be able to walk, same goes for going into town unlike now.

Hope you enjoy that. I find being able to walk to a lot of places, including my work, incredibly freeing.