Labouring a tremendous accomplishment.

It’s been a while since I last blogged but since then I have landed myself an apprenticeship in Parks & Gardens with the same company that I’ve been working with since November last year. I just can’t believe that I’ve almost been there for a year already and I was only meant to be with them for the summer of 2013 to 2014 but I guess I’ve always been determined to keep the job because I really enjoyed it. At first I was really nervous getting moved over to the golf course in April but after being there for almost 6 months I’ve settled in really well. Just been having so much fun with the guys there and the fact that they get me to play sport when I’m not sporty at all is an accomplishment in itself. My dad was basically laughing over the phone when I wasn’t home and instead playing golf with my work colleagues. Since being there I’ve only played golf twice with 9 holes when it’s a 18 hole course (yep that’s 18 plus garden beds I have to look after).

Since I’ve been talking to friends and friends about my apprenticeship, some didn’t really seem to care while others were excited for me. Like to me it’s a tremendous accomplishment for me as having aspergers makes it harder to receive things like this (jobs in other words). I just wished people realised that. I’ve always wanted to work just for those two shit years no one seemed that interested and then suddenly November 2013 hits and I get 2 job offers within a week. I did accept the first job but it was horrible from day one so I was lucky I had a choice to accept the second one. When I got that harassing phone call after 2 days it was confirmed it was a shit place to be working at and after going to a workplace harassment talk with the golf course I’ve realised that they were breaking the law by having explicit content such as zoo magazines.

At the moment I’ve been working around the 7th green that was recently renovated. It’s just so much mulch that I can’t believe what I got myself into. Jokes I pretty much enjoy the work. I might even start posting up photos of the work I’ve been doing. All I hope is that I can get used to this small manual vehicle that are known as workmans on golf courses. I’ve never driven a manual in my life until Thursday and that wasn’t going so well. Like you have to always hit the clutch while changing gears and that can be a hard bit especially with long legs and small room to do so plus the fact I’m a slow person and need to be fast at it. I just hope to accomplish it so I can drive any workman without having to worry. Also you can’t just press the brake to stop it, you need to also press the clutch. Maybe just maybe this might make me want to get a manual license though I’m off my P’s november next year and will be able to drive whatever car after that.

All I can say Friday afternoon and evening was awesome. I actually think it was the best time I’ve had in a long time. Someone was leaving the golf course for good and I accomplished cooking steak on a bbq as I have never cooked it before. After that we started kicking footys around the compound. As usual me and sport don’t go so well that I kept kicking the footy at the cars or the sheds. I managed to at least get some good kicks out of it though. Later on I stayed back at my boss’s house getting ready for a night out at the Ding Dong Lounge just off market lane in Melbourne’s CBD. We ended up going there as my boss knew the band members of Northeast Party House that were playing there for the night. We ended up getting there a bit early so ended up at a german bar called Hofbräuhaus. The beer and atmosphere were great that it reminded me of my Austrian heritage. After that doors were open at Ding Dong and decided to drink more alcohol. I think it was the most I’ve ever drank in my life. Met with the band members beforehand and by 11 I started hearing Northeast Party House play. It was an awesome experience that I’ll never forgot.

The weekend before I had Lucy’s (one of my friends) 24th birthday to attend.  It started with pre-drinks at her house and I got to meet with some of her other friends which was awesome. I later ended up at CQ a nightclub in Melbourne’s CBD. Not sure if the bouncer was complimenting me because he only asked me how old I was and not the others. Anyway the nightclub wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. See I never really been to a nightclub in my life and I’m 21! I just thought I needed to see what it was like and this one was awesome. They were actually playing music I liked. The only problem I didn’t want to start dancing (I would’ve) as I brought a friend along with me and didn’t want him on his own. Lucky enough a random girl decided to sit next to me and started dancing with me. It was a weird experience as we were just sitting down but I accepted it anyway. Before that one of lucy’s friends was dropping things on the ground so being the gentleman I am, I picked them up for her. But if I knew she was drunk and was about to exploded I would’ve thought differently because she immediately started accusing my friend James and me of stealing her bank card when I didn’t even see it fall onto the floor. In the end one of her friends had it so luckily it didn’t get into the wrong hands. In the end CQ basically changed my perspective on nightclubs and might go to more in the future with friends.

Back to this weekend, I ended up at the Royal Melbourne Show yesterday with some friends as I haven’t been there since I was a little kid. Keep in mind I went to bed around 2am, woke up around 6am and was at the show by 11am. I ended up bumping into one of my friends on the way and boarded the Showgrounds train at Southern Cross Station. Beforehand I mentioned to everyone to meet at the train station entrance, little did I know they would send us on a marathon around the showgrounds. Mentioned this one entrance and it was basically on the other side of the show, walked all the way to it and they weren’t there. Phoned them up to find out they gave us the wrong entrance and we had to walk pass where we originally entered and finally found them half an hour later! They said the transport information people said they could get to the train station entrance but I knew all along you couldn’t unless you took the train there. But hey I guess they missed out on the free wizfiz that we received upon entry.

We then decided to get a locker for bags, etc and go on rides or “scary” rides according to Steve. I ended up getting these awesome photos from going on the Giant Sky Wheel. The next ride we decided to go on was the Sky Flyer which takes you gliding 35 metres above the ground the views were also great up there however you couldn’t take photos. The third ride was meant to be scary but it wasn’t that scary at all. It was called the Ghost Train and Steve managed to some scares out of it. Basically people were hiding within the ride and were trying to scare you. The fourth ride ended up being FreeStyle which took us 40 metres above the ground and basically spun us around at 100kph including upside down. Steve seemed to be scared of it but I enjoyed it and I was actually nervous a bit about going on it at first but wouldn’t mind going on it again. Before they started spinning us they took our glasses off but after that experience I knew why they did. After this one I decided to have a break and watched steve go on his last ride and it was so funny. They had a tv screen outside showing what was going on inside and steve looked petrified. The ride was called Alien Abduction and it basically kept spinning around that people started to lose gravity and were hovering above the ground. Steve was so shaken by it when he got out that he had enough.

After that we decided to get some showbags so I ended up with two Bertie Beetle bags for my parents and a Shapes bag for myself because I love shapes. After finding out there was also a starburst one there I wished I noticed it. Anyway by then that was almost it for us at the show and decided to sit down and watch the Young Farmers Challenge while eating dinner which was pretty cool. In conclusion the show was awesome and can’t wait to go another time!