My life has suddenly taken a huge turn and gone from zero to hero in a matter of days, i can't actually believe what i'm up to at the moment, i'm set to become an assistant manager, a professional cocktail bartender and live on little clarendon street. LML
Pro cocktail maker
This all started last week, Angels (a cocktail bar on little clarendon street) had a job offer for a new bartender as they are opening a new bar down the road called love jericho, working in browns we all go to angels after work for a few beers fairly often (we also get discount and tabs naturally) and we know the bartenders pretty well there so as i know the basics of cocktails from browns and am fairly good there thought why not get better at it and take the challenge? so thought of taking it up in the evenings and doing browns in the morning. they'd love to have me and i start next monday at 7, if i survive here and am trained to the standard they are i will survive anywhere. Max and dommy used to run mood and maxwells in oxford and there incredible bartenders so if i learn from the best i'll become the best, at least i hope ha.
The flat
So with this thought in mind it's logical to live in oxford, it's an hour to and from the city centre for me living in wootton, so had a look at flats and out of pure chance taylors on the corner of little clarendon is renting rooms out above it for £465 all inclusive plus free internet. You find me a better price for oxford city centre and i'd be amazed. It's ten room's with 2 shared bathroom's and 2 shared kitchen's, although some have ensuites anyways, all of it's been done up and modernised and my room is literally on the corner above taylours, so i have a view of the entire length of st giles and across to the church and the sun fills the room in the mornings, it's amazing, little to say it's reserved and if all goes to plan i move in next tuesday/wednesday.
Army
on monday some family friends in the army came round, there moving up to catterick pretty soon but where telling me of all the cut backs and lay offs, one armourer got layed off as he was off sick to many times, they just went "bye bye" straight away, if your injured too your out with compensation and all the little nitty gritty things are being cut, like normaly in a house they pay for a washing machine and dryer, now you have to, it's all the little incentifs they are hacking away and it made me seriously doubt it and public sector jobs in general as our goverment is fucked, anyways headed off to work, stayed round a friends in evening in jericho, youth inrevolt and chinese, win! did the flat viewings in the morning yesterday, then a friend of mine at browns rung up as he's interested in the flats too and asked if i'd cover his shift that lunch as he was pretty ill, now i'm beyond ill but thought why not, i'm in oxford and every penny counts so got on with it.
Red Lion
so went about the day as normal until 2 guys came in, they where asking about which beer would i recommend, now i thought they where the kozel ( a beer we sell) reprisentatives and if you recommend kozel they give you free gift vouchers and free beer so turned on the charm and explained all about it and compared it to the other brands we have, they took a seat anyhow and we got talking about browns it management etc, what we do in browns and tons of general knowledge about the area, it turned out they where the general manager and assistant manager of Red Lion and have taken it over, it's part of Mitchels and Butlers like browns and is being turned into a gastro pub, they told me not one person had stood out to them when walking into other bar's in the area, but me. They offered me a £7 an hour job on the spot and within three months they want to train me as an assistant manager, he gave me 24 hours to decide ..... BOOO YAA my training starts next tuesday and they draw up a training plan for the next 3 months to make sure i get to that position, 23rd and 24th are the dry runs of the red lion, they do a champagne night on the 24th which is by personal invite only and then open for business. This also if i excell as a manager they are looking for duty managers and area managers and only train internally for these positions which are 40-60k a year.
Only a little turn in my life ... i just need to pull my finger out and work my arse off.
:)
Xxx
I'm addicted to skrillex, i barely have time for music but i listen to it whilst playing poker on poker stars, besides fitness thats now become my other hobby and i'm not doing half bad at it either, i'm playing with the free money until my passport comes but i've gone from 1000 free play chips to 50,000. not bad, also loled at this for a highest rated commment on youtube!
Boy: i wanna listen to dubstep!
Girl: do you wanna have sex?
Boy: no, i wanna listen to dubstep
Girl: wanna listen to dubstep and have sex
Boy: yes!
Moments later...
Police: so she just exploded?
Boy: yes sir :/
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
(-A-) Interview 3
This is a follow on from interview 2 and the last one in the recruiting office. If there is any topics that still need to be discussed or explored a bit more before setting the date for ADSC (Army development and selection centre) they arrange this interview, basically after my last interview i went away and took the time to have a solid three job briefs and write up my icebreaker so these just needed to be sorted out basically, as they then write up a report recommending me for ADSC, so as it's on there recommendations they want to make sure your not going to flop out on them.
The recruiter i was with was a Warrent officer 1, basically your top ranking non-commissioned officer, (highest rank i can get to) he went through the same topics as before essentially, however phase 1 and 2 training was looked at in much greater detail, as he believes there are 3 kinds of people who fail and drop out,
Unprepared Physically, basically your not going to be getting a 5 star pampering treatment, i can't think of words to put this into persective of just how tough phase one training will be, they turn you from being a civilian into a fighting soldier, imagin a man turning into a werewolf but draged across 14 weeks, thats no painless transformation ha You'll be put through army PT circuit training, assault course's, 10-20 mile runs in all conditions and it goes on. You will be suffering from sleep deprivation, sever exhaustion and your expected to learn a lot in a short space of time too, from weapons and grenade handeling, to field craft and basic medical treatments. it's going to be intensive to say the least.
Injurys, Unfortunatly not much you can do about this one, but once in the army they have some of the best medical care available to get you on the mend
Mentally, if you have an attitude, answer back, are lazy, or are a bit of a loner type and not team player, there's the door, i'll be assesed on this throughout selection and they will push you to breaking point to see what happens. If you show any of the above your assesor will flag you up, they won't tell you they will just show the results to your interviewer at the end and it will effect your score. One of the things i was also told is if you are asked to do something in the army by a higher ranking person, you can question the methods to how you do it if you think there could be a better way, not what your being asked to do and end of the day, if he says your doing it his way, you do it and show him the results when your done. Also one of the things they do is get amputies into the field craft exercises and slap them up with seriously realistic wounds, screaming etc to de sensitise you to that kind of thing too, scary stuff.
Not understanding or knowing, The army is a lifestyle, as the army comes before any personal needs. people who don't realise this generally will drop out of army life pretty quickly, i also found out if i did leave after 4 years min service, for the 12 years of the contract i am part of something thats know as a liability reserve, in other words if we go into world war 3, i will be called on and don't have a choice in it, after those 12 years i'm at whats called a man in control point, if i leave there are no tie's at all.
Anyways, basically i pro'ed it, did my icebreaker too and nailed that and my date for selection is the 25th of january, if i pass that... i'm in.
xo
This is what i have in store for me, now these videos are a little sugar coated as not to scare people off but still.
The recruiter i was with was a Warrent officer 1, basically your top ranking non-commissioned officer, (highest rank i can get to) he went through the same topics as before essentially, however phase 1 and 2 training was looked at in much greater detail, as he believes there are 3 kinds of people who fail and drop out,
Unprepared Physically, basically your not going to be getting a 5 star pampering treatment, i can't think of words to put this into persective of just how tough phase one training will be, they turn you from being a civilian into a fighting soldier, imagin a man turning into a werewolf but draged across 14 weeks, thats no painless transformation ha You'll be put through army PT circuit training, assault course's, 10-20 mile runs in all conditions and it goes on. You will be suffering from sleep deprivation, sever exhaustion and your expected to learn a lot in a short space of time too, from weapons and grenade handeling, to field craft and basic medical treatments. it's going to be intensive to say the least.
Injurys, Unfortunatly not much you can do about this one, but once in the army they have some of the best medical care available to get you on the mend
Mentally, if you have an attitude, answer back, are lazy, or are a bit of a loner type and not team player, there's the door, i'll be assesed on this throughout selection and they will push you to breaking point to see what happens. If you show any of the above your assesor will flag you up, they won't tell you they will just show the results to your interviewer at the end and it will effect your score. One of the things i was also told is if you are asked to do something in the army by a higher ranking person, you can question the methods to how you do it if you think there could be a better way, not what your being asked to do and end of the day, if he says your doing it his way, you do it and show him the results when your done. Also one of the things they do is get amputies into the field craft exercises and slap them up with seriously realistic wounds, screaming etc to de sensitise you to that kind of thing too, scary stuff.
Not understanding or knowing, The army is a lifestyle, as the army comes before any personal needs. people who don't realise this generally will drop out of army life pretty quickly, i also found out if i did leave after 4 years min service, for the 12 years of the contract i am part of something thats know as a liability reserve, in other words if we go into world war 3, i will be called on and don't have a choice in it, after those 12 years i'm at whats called a man in control point, if i leave there are no tie's at all.
Anyways, basically i pro'ed it, did my icebreaker too and nailed that and my date for selection is the 25th of january, if i pass that... i'm in.
xo
This is what i have in store for me, now these videos are a little sugar coated as not to scare people off but still.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Snow
So good, Recorded last year in fern cottons kitchen at there christmas party, i love trading the ipod for Radio 1, i'll post properly soon loads is going on yet again
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Songs of desperation, I played them for you
Fitness being the key to my life recently, heres plenty of song's that have made it onto my ipod, All are drum and bass, as its great music to run to, not listen to as a normal person sat in a chair and if you don't like pendulum ish music, basically go make a cuppa, stick on the tv and noboff my blog (Loads of other stuff too but popular stuff that everyone's heard anyways, also cancer bats made it onto there too, to keep certain others smileing, i'm not that corrupted)
Friction vs Camo & Krooked - Stand Up ft. Dynamite MC
Tony Anthem, Axl Ender, erb N dub & HD - Move Down (feat. Harry Shotta & Darry Dee)
The Qemists - Hurt Less
DJ Fresh & Sigma - Lassitude
Friction vs Camo & Krooked - Stand Up ft. Dynamite MC
Tony Anthem, Axl Ender, erb N dub & HD - Move Down (feat. Harry Shotta & Darry Dee)
The Qemists - Hurt Less
DJ Fresh & Sigma - Lassitude
(-A-) Interview 2
I've finally had my interview!
I last updated my progress into the army back in august after taking my barb test, my plans are still relatively the same but i'll explain as i go
basically this interview is for me to discuss different topics with the recruiter to make sure i'm eligible and he then gives his recommendation based on my knowledge, attitude and approach to the army, he wrights up his report and if the MO at the office thinks there is anything else to explore i'll have a third interview with him, to then set a date for ADSC (Army's development and selection centre)
So heres how it went, Dressed up in my shirt, tie and clean as shoes i sat down at 9:30am in the office as i have before, i have a new recruiter called phil who's just about as down to earth as they come as my old recruiter went back to his regiment
He went through personal circumstances, i.e partner, family background, finances etc which was relitivly straight forward, no problems
I last updated my progress into the army back in august after taking my barb test, my plans are still relatively the same but i'll explain as i go
basically this interview is for me to discuss different topics with the recruiter to make sure i'm eligible and he then gives his recommendation based on my knowledge, attitude and approach to the army, he wrights up his report and if the MO at the office thinks there is anything else to explore i'll have a third interview with him, to then set a date for ADSC (Army's development and selection centre)
So heres how it went, Dressed up in my shirt, tie and clean as shoes i sat down at 9:30am in the office as i have before, i have a new recruiter called phil who's just about as down to earth as they come as my old recruiter went back to his regiment
He went through personal circumstances, i.e partner, family background, finances etc which was relitivly straight forward, no problems
Then achievements and interest, i.e employment, hobbies and any responsibility's i've had. Again straight forward and no real surprises
After came fitness, which probably took up half of our interview, I had to give details of my current fitness:
- 1.5m time is currently 10:10
- Sit-ups: over 72 (classed in the top 1% who join)
- Press up's: 20-25 (classed as slightly below average)
- Heavies: 11-12 (classed as good)
Then i've kept a diary of everything i do in the gym and run times and he's happy there is a clear progression, then had to say if i take part in any extreme sports, unfortunately i don't yet i intend to do them with the army but got on to talking about cycling to which i'm kicking his ass for time by about 5 mins, he was a tad gutted.
Same topic of fitness but i've been curious to this for a while so brought it up whilst i was there, Protein powders. Many people i see in the gym from the year below use them (and look hench) i've always taken the high road of they can't be good for you there all chemicals and bad for you without question. steak, fish and other such sources of protein are more natural without actually finding out about the powders first. Turns out most of the recruiters use the protein shakes, not often but after a gym session they can help a lot with muscle rebuilding and help to recover from the huge aching feeling your muscles have after going. Also a thing i've been recommended to use is a thing called BCAA (Branched chain amino acids) they help to prevent catabolism (where when your body runs out of fat to burn during cardiovascular training... running and such, it burns muscle instead, not good) so next pay day i'm on the invest into these things to hopefully train to a higher level a little quicker
Anyways, hes happy but wants my run time to come down, so no more running the 1.5, i'm going straight for endurance and the plan is to start at 6 miles straight through to hopefully in the longer run bring down my time
From fitness to Military awareness, things like my general knowledge, what will the training involve, do i understand i'll almost certainly go on deployments? whats my current view of the army through different sources, like tv, newspaper, the general media etc. Now this wasn't to much of a problem but i sliped up on a few key things, like for instance why are we deployed in Afghanistan in the first place? seems so silly but could you tell me honestly why we are there right now? i could remember Iraq, and the invasion there, i don't think anyone hasn't seen a certain youtube clip from around that time caught on a camera phone by a soldier but couldn't think of Afghanistan. i know now as it was explained after but i intend to research it all a bit more later on and update this.
Understanding my terms and conditions came next, things like bullying policy, alcohol and drugs tolerance, but what interested me was the details on the contract you sign, as many of you know your minimum service is 4 years, however the contract you sign is for 12 years. basically at the 4 year mark you can opt to leave, giving a years notice, so if you intended to leave dead on the 4 years, you'd have to tell them a year before. also there is a compulsory 28 day training period and then your given a window in which you can opt to leave the training if the army isnt for you, after this window though there is no going back and you can't buy yourself out of the contract anymore. I can undertand it as the army invests a lot of time in the recruiting process, look at me it's taken months if not well over a year now for me to get to this point, they have payed for my medical information and imagine if you turned around and went for the door and essentially bye mate, wouldn't be good.
Final bit is your job briefs and icebreaker, where you stand up and present each of your jobs including all the details about them from memory, and the icebreaker (you have to stand for 2m and talk about yourself to everyone else on adsc) your going to read when you get to adsc from memory. Now this is where it got a bit complicated for me, My job briefs are Armourer, Para's, and infantry. My reasons for these i'll again post in another one as this is getting a bit of an essay to say the least but it came out that it wasn't clear which one i wanted to go for 100% out of para's and armourer, they where both equal, my recruiters issue is you get marked on motivation towards your jobs at adsc, so i need a clear mind frame not one with doubts, so i've come away for a week, hes holding his report off and given em a few more options to consider as well to go alongside armourer and my reasons for joining there, to go away and research, two of the bigest i'm researching at the moment is military intelligence and ammunition technician (or to you bomb disposal, same job title) so we shall see, i'll post again tomorrow before work hopefully the details on that
so that's that, i'll get back to phil in a week's time to let him know whats going on or if i need a bit longer to think it over, i need to write my icebreaker yet too :/ but yeah finish the interview and then its plain sailing i hope from here on in
xo
Monday, 11 October 2010
I'm affraid of what i'll discover
I'm classed as suitable, never thought being called suitable would put a smile on my face as it's not really the greatest word out of the dictionary but still, the medical forms came back clear so i'm being rung over the next couple of weeks to arrange the final interview, the news was delayed as my recruiter who owns a very heavy welsh accent (reminds me of reading fest security guards tbh, although there mainly Scottish) anyways he is heading back to his regiment so has had to pass over all his recruits (ie me) over to a new person
So at present i'm still on track to go in january, good times
After working all of Sunday, cycle home and bed at 1am... well did watch Hancock too but still, to then be up at 6am to then cycle to work and be on the bar through till 4 today, i'm exhausted. I'm currently slumped with a Cuppa, duvet and listening to a secret London gig for radio one that's being streamed online live, can't think of a better way to spend a Monday night right now ...
Perfeck :)
xo
So at present i'm still on track to go in january, good times
After working all of Sunday, cycle home and bed at 1am... well did watch Hancock too but still, to then be up at 6am to then cycle to work and be on the bar through till 4 today, i'm exhausted. I'm currently slumped with a Cuppa, duvet and listening to a secret London gig for radio one that's being streamed online live, can't think of a better way to spend a Monday night right now ...
Perfeck :)
xo
Friday, 1 October 2010
Although your gone, Your with me every single day, believe me
I can juggle like a pro and life is good at the moment
Working 40 hour weeks, back at the gym and still have time to drink like a russian... Good times.
This is more a post to show i'm still alive as i haven't been online/blogged in weeks, but i've been payed, sorting my phone out tomorrow and have put away my first £300 now for the skydiving, only another £1000 to go :/ ha maybe a few months yet till this plan comes together
Nothing new on the army front either, still waiting on my medical forms to come back but i have learnt the ranks off by heart (roughly) now so i know how to address people when meeting them
I've done nothing today but sit and watch toy story on video with my little brother, complete win but relaxing and updating my music at the moment with a cup of tea as standard as i haven't for a while now, this is whats currently playing... Also i'll post next when something actually interesting happens in my life haha
I've missed zane lowes radio sessions as well. I used to listen to radio one on the way to the gym and generally like him as a dj as he was incredible at the warrior dance festival, but this is from his blog.
As is this
Working 40 hour weeks, back at the gym and still have time to drink like a russian... Good times.
This is more a post to show i'm still alive as i haven't been online/blogged in weeks, but i've been payed, sorting my phone out tomorrow and have put away my first £300 now for the skydiving, only another £1000 to go :/ ha maybe a few months yet till this plan comes together
Nothing new on the army front either, still waiting on my medical forms to come back but i have learnt the ranks off by heart (roughly) now so i know how to address people when meeting them
I've done nothing today but sit and watch toy story on video with my little brother, complete win but relaxing and updating my music at the moment with a cup of tea as standard as i haven't for a while now, this is whats currently playing... Also i'll post next when something actually interesting happens in my life haha
I've missed zane lowes radio sessions as well. I used to listen to radio one on the way to the gym and generally like him as a dj as he was incredible at the warrior dance festival, but this is from his blog.
As is this
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