New job news is good news

Greetings, Sharon here. Today I got officially hired at Chutney Restaurant. Even though it's like 2 blocks from Glory of India, at least they pay me my tips- or say they do anyways. So, I guess I won't have to work at Moxie's. I think my face is getting fat.

Waqqas says: Hi.
I got a call from Scotia-Bank and they finalized everything. I work 8:30 am to 5pm, Monday to Friday- for the training (2 months). And after that I work from 2:30 to 7:30 Wednesday to Saturday. But of course, I'll try to go full-time ASAP after training is over.

Apart from that, I'm waiting for the Electronic Arts money (USD $2500) - but unfortunately, I'm predicting that it won't be here until mid-to-late April. That's around the same time both me and Sharon will get our first pay-cheques. Also, DSSI ate up my money- so I don't expect anything from them (even though they should pay me for two sales I made... so around $400- and that too from just the past month- the month that I didn't do any work).

The car insurance people called today- they said the other car's damage was $1100 (BS in my opinion)- but what can I do? I have go get a quote on our car's damage within a week.

I think our 'rollercoaster' is at a very low point right now- and struggling to get up. We know things will get better soon - we're both starting (apparantly) good, new jobs. So, here's the breakdown of our finances for next month:
- My job: ~$2000
- Sharon's job: $1500 ~ $3000
- EA: US$2500

And major expenses for the next month:
- Rogers: $300
- Telus: $200
- Rent: $550
- Server Rent: $300
- Lashmen: $300
- Shaw: $100
- Chrysler: $600
- Insurance: $300
- Student Loan: $200
---------------------
Total Expenses for April: $2850

... and that doesn't even include food and gas and other random shopping.

Debts right now:
- Credit Cards: $3,000
- The Car: $13,000
- Student Loan: $4,500
- Laptop: $2,000
----------------------
Total Debts: $22,000

Wow- yeah... we got all of next year to come up with $22k to pay off our debts and sustain our expenses on a month-to-month basis- *AND* save up enough for university for the both of us.

Though it does look like we're at the bottom of a bottomless pit- we see a thread of hope dangling down. In other words, we're gonna work our asses off and everything will be cool.


****** BUSINESS PLANS *********
We've had tons of these- and we keep coming up with new ones all the time- mostly to give us hope. For now, we're leaning towards opening up a restaurant: East Indian cuisine with a sheesha lounge on the side. So if that goes thru, then we'll postpone university for a while :-) It's a good thing Sharon's getting experience with the restaurants (our future comeptition)!

In other news, we deleted our 'private' digital camera pictures folder - we decided on this because we didn't want to get 'caught' by any fluke. Henceforth, we'll only take mostly "clean" pictures.

That's it for now, we'll keep you updated!
Waqqas - and Sharon

Our first blog entry!

Here it is, our first blog! We decided to do this so that we can have some memories of ourselves saved-up. We do take pictures occasionally, but we thought we needed something more- the written word!

I am Waqqas, sitting next to Sharon. We currently live in a nice 2-bedroom basement in the community of Whitehorn, in the city of Calgary, in Canada.

It's 9:30pm, and we're having dinner- vegetable stir fry with rice and scrambled eggs. Sharon's been at work all day because she's between jobs - she's working in both places- Glory of India and Moxies. She gave her 2-week's notice of quitting to Glory of India already- and she's just beginning training at Moxies- infact, today was her first day...

... and she hated it. Moxies may look good to the unsuspecting diner, but from an employee's point of view, it's too much pressure and you get this constant feeling that you're being watched.

As for me, I'm between jobs too. I've quit DSSI (Digital Security Systems Inc)- it turned out to be more of a scam than anything- you can only make real money in it if you work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... something I'm not willing to do. And then there's the pressure and schoolgirl-style backstabbing and sissy backtalking.

My new job is a lot more promising, pays well, and is part-time. I begin April 6th at the Scotia Bank call-center. I went there for my interview and testing... it seems pretty laid back and fun. The pay is $14.50/hr + benefits. My training is 8-weeks long (starting April 6th) full time, and after that it is part-time with the same pay (4 hrs per day). Of course, I'll try to get promoted to full-time once I'm in. Right now is the phase where I wait- the worst part- I have to wait for a reply from them to see if I finally got accepted or not. Chances are good now because 100s of people have been filtered out (thanks to the testing- in which I performed really well in). I got Sharon to call in as one of the references. Hopefully she didn't mess it up for me!



Apart from that, I also got a haircut... the lady was like 99 years old trying to look 'cool' with clothes from Le Chateau and Hot Gossip it seemed. Anyways, she messed my hair up by cutting it way too short. Most of the hair is less than 1/2 cm long.

In other news, we got in a little car accident yesterday. The guy in front of us couldn't make up his mind whether he was going to go through a yellow-light or not. He first sped up, we were behind him, so I pressed on the gas pedal too. Then, he decided to brake and stop- I hit my own brake pedal as hard as I could but thanks to the gravel and the slope, I skidded- in the last second, I turned to avoid him- I went on the curb - however I scraped against his car- from my tire! So his damages are next to none. BUT, our wheel-well is a little damaged- dented with a little chipped paint. Not as bad as it could have been.



Oh yeah, and I spilled water while playing with the excersize ball - and the LCD-monitor is now 100% dead- or should be anyways (it actually got hit by the ball, fell over, and then got wet). Now I guess we'll either find a use for it or dispose of it.