It started on Saturday, when my Mum text me to ask if I'd like to go out to lunch with her and Gary the following day. I said yes and Gary said he'd be picking me up around 12:30pm. That didn't happen in the end though and my Mum called me to tell me to get a cab to the apartment instead at 2:30pm.
From there, me and my Mum went to meet Gary at a place called The Tavern. He gave my Mum a kiss and then I said "What, don't I get a kiss?", jokingly, but he hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and laughed.
One of the first things I noticed about the bar was the fact that all of the barmaids were hot. Not only that, but they all seemed to be blonde and have big boobs. Really! Not that I'm complaining.
When my Mum went to the toilet, Gary pulled out some money and handed it to me. It looked like about �40.
"Here you go Neil", he said.
I was confused. "What's this for?", I asked.
"Nothing, just take it."
"I can't take that"
"Yes you can"
"...thanks"
I feel really guilty for taking money from him or my Mum but especially him. I mean, he's got no need to do that yet he does anyway. I hate living on handouts as much as I need them, but I really appreciate them.
After a few drinks, we sat down and ordered food. When the waitress came over with our food, Gary told her to get a couple of people drinks on the other side of the bar. Apparantly he had been drinking with them or something. When the waitress went over to the couple, they were confused. The waitress explained and then Gary waved to them. It was a nice gesture.
Me and my Mum had steak and Gary has some BBQ ribs. Gary didn't really touch his meal so after I had eaten my steak, I decided to finish his ribs off too and I found that I really liked them so I ordered some of my own. I then had apple pie for dessert too! Needless to say, I was very full.
By this time, it was around 7pm I think. I was really enjoying myself. It was just a really nice atmosphere to be out with my Mum and Gary. Gary, however, was feeling quite depressed, although he didn't look it. He had also been drinking a lot before me and my Mum had arrived there so by now, he was a little drunk but it was fine. He was talking to me about how he still wanted me to work for him and that he'll show me what to do and stuff. I explained to him though that I'm a graphic designer, not a furniture salesman. He then went off on a tangent about designing furniture. I just nodded and said yes.
After our meal, we talked some more, mainly about what my Mum and Gary want to call the business they're opening in Kirkby. They wanted to name it David Caruso! For those that don't know, David Caruso is a guy out of CSI, a show that they enjoy. I tried to explain that this was such a bad idea and I finally made them see sense. However, they still didn't have a name. We spent quite a while trying to come up with one, but didn't succeed.
Gary saw a couple walk into the bar. He didn't know them, but when the waitress came over to our table again, he told her to get the couple some drinks. When they got the drinks, Gary said "I'll be over in a minute to do some market research on you". And that he did. He ended up going over and basically asking for some ideas for business names. It's not often that you see someone buy drinks for complete strangers.
After talking to them for a little while, Gary called me over and I reluctantly went and talked to them. They suggested Unique Furniture, but that sounded crap. That was about the only suggestion they had really. I went back over to my Mum after a while, but the guy in the couple kept shouting over to my Mum to talk to her. My Mum didn't really want to move and go over and talk to them so in the end, he came over and talked to her instead.
They asked each other where they were from and my Mum said that she was from Kirkby originally and he said that he was originally from there too. Then she asked him if he knew someone and he did. And then someone else. And then she asked him if she knew Terry Martin and he did!
Terry Martin was my Dad.
How weird is that? Some complete strangers walk into a bar and they end up knowing my Dad. Surreal.
He asked how my my Dad was doing these days and I told him he died quite a while ago. He was quite shocked. He died of a heart attack when I was about seven.
Around 9pm, I decided that I wanted to go home, but my Mum and Gary were going to stay longer. Before I left, Gary said that he'd be coming to pick me up on Tuesday at 9:30am so I could work for him that day. He is going to pay me �200 a week for two days work. I think that's pretty cool. I worked out that that's like being paid �14.20 an hour. Not bad!
My Mum offered to call a cab for me and then asked if I had money for it.
"It's ok, I gave him �100 already", Gary replied.
"�100? I thought it was �40!", I said, shocked.
"No, it was �100"
Gary called a cab for me and he gave me another �10 for the cab fare. "It's ok Gary, I've got that �100 you gave me!"
"No, Neil, take it, it's fine"
I'm not used to being given that kind of money.
I said goodbye to my Mum, Gary and the waitress said goodbye to me too. I got a cab home and it was the end of an enjoyable night.
On Tuesday morning, I woke up at 8:30am and got ready for Gary to pick me up at 9:30am. 9:30 came and went, however. He called me at about 9:50am, telling me he'd be there at about 11am, but he called me back 20 minutes later saying that it wouldn't be happening today afterall. That kind of made me a little annoyed, considering I'd woken up and gotten ready specifically because he said he'd be at my house to pick me up at 9:30am. I let it go though and went back to bed.
Wednesday was fairly uneventful as I didn't go to college. Yes, again. I really need to start going more often. I hate the fact that I don't and I have no one to blame but myself. I just hope that all of these absences haven't affected my work too much.
Oh, one good thing is that I got a cheque from college for �200 to help with my travel expenses.
Wednesday night, I was in the living room, watching TV on the couch. Tracy, Laura's friend came around to stay - yet again. She seems to stay over sometimes three times a week. At 10:30pm, she came downstairs, carrying duvets and pillows. She wanted to make her bed on the couch. Laura had gone to bed and now Tracy wanted to too. I wasn't done watching TV, but I felt like I should move for her and that made me really annoyed. I mean, it's MY house. Why should I have to move for her when she has her own house and her own bed to go to? But still, I moved because I was once again trying to considerate.
I text my Mum saying that I'd essentially just been forced out of the living room because Tracy wanted to sleep. She text back saying go and watch whatever I like because it's her who pays the bills, not Tracy but I couldn't do that. I'm not that spiteful.
I went downstairs again at around 11pm to put Oogee out for the night and Tracy was on the couch underneath her duvets, but she was watching TV, not sleeping. That made me even more annoyed.
There was actually something I really wanted to watch on TV but because I moved so that she could sleep on the couch, I missed it.
This morning, Gary called me at 9:20am and said he'd be here at 10:30am to pick me up. I didn't really know whether I should take him seriously or not, considering the amount of times he's now said "Next week", "At the weekend" or "Tomorrow" but without anything actually happening.
Still, I got up and got ready and thankfully, he arrived just after 9:30am. He took me to the warehouse and said that he needed some price tags making. I checked the computer to see what was on there that I could actually use and the only thing was Publisher. Publisher! So, for the first hour or so, I tried my best to make something look good in it but it pissed me off. Publisher is crap.
My Mum turned up too and asked how I was. She also talked to me about what happened with Tracy and said that she needed to talk to Laura but that everytime she does, she gets a "I don't care" answer from her.
I went home with Colin in the van and decided to burn a copy of Photoshop and InDesign instead. I came back to the warehouse soon after and started designing some price tags in Photoshop.
Gary called me and said to come to the pub next door, where he and my Mum were. He wanted me there while he came to the warehouse to make sure my Mum was ok. The three of us talked for a bit in the pub about the business and about Laura.
Apparantly, Laura and Bastard Chris have split up.
Excuse me while I laugh just slightly.
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Now, where was I? Ah yes. Anyway, so my Mum was saying how it's impossible to talk to Laura about anything. She said she text her asking if Laura wanted to meet up and talk about it and she text my Mum back saying no.
I told my Mum that she has to do something about the amount of times Laura's friends stay over and my Mum asked me what. What can she do? I asked her to tell Laura not to have them over so much.
I went back to the warehouse and carried on with what I was doing. For the last hour or two that I was there, I made a flyer conforming to Gary's requests. He's going to get a few hundred copies of it and circulate them around Kirkby. It's weird that something I've created will be in the hands of hundreds of people, even if it's just a crappy flyer. My biggest achievement so far in terms of the number of people seeing something I've made would be Custom MSN Games. Up to 50,000 people see my work for that on a daily basis!
After that, I went home, changing my mind on the way and asking Gary to drop me off at the barber's instead so I could get my hair cut. I asked if he could pay me and he did, �100. That has to be the easiest money I've ever earned. The only problem is that since it's a warehouse and since it's still winter, it's fucking freezing in there, even though the office has two radiators on. The ceiling has lots of holes in it and so the heat just rises and keeps on rising right through the roof and leaves my hands absolutely freezing. It's hard to use a PC when your hands are numb.
Unfortunately, the girl who usually cuts my hair wasn't there and I would have had to wait half an hour for her to return. Instead, I went home.
I may have some more interesting news this time tomorrow too. Stay tuned.
