Season 2, Ep.11 (Season Finale)

Miss G

You see this? Now take a moment to think about it. What were your dreams 10 years ago? Are they the same today? If not why? What happened to have altered your dreams? 

Remember, I'm still talking about dreams here, there is no sour note to this whatsoever. They are still dreams and goals. They are still your happy gateways. They're just not the same they where when you were 18. 

For me, it is teaching. 20 years ago it was a 7 year old's valid dream, yes, but then it just faded away to let room for the flashier dreams, the ones about show-business. And believe me I went for it. And I did it. I worked for it, I paid my dues, boy do I know I paid my dues. And then, how can I explain it, I grew up? I grew out of it? I saw a little too much of the rest of that iceberg that put me off it? All of the above? Anyhoo, the calling had not been found yet. But let me get this straight, my bossiness was always there, the thrill I would get from being in charge of things, choreographing, directing, teaching...teaching...teaching!  And the best part is I never asked for it, it just tapped me on the back and said "erm, hello, what about me?". 

Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you think, those who can't, teach, well maybe there's a reason for the existence of the stereotype yes, but for me, the one thing that I will always believe in, preach about and lead, is to always do things that make you happy. Always. Even if it means you have to be patient to 'get there', as long as you are doing it, as long as you are on that journey, it's enough. I would not be doing this now if I wasn't 150% passionate about it. Even more than I was when I was performing. 

Students always ask me why I became a teacher. I was lucky to have been raised with amazing values and morals and within a close family, but I am aware not everyone can be as fortunate. Enter teachers. If I can help even one teenager become a decent human being with integrity coming out of High School, I've done my job. Our motto is to raise good people for a rapidly changing world. And that's it. That was my calling, my purpose, my talent. Being a mentor, a role model and an model of influence is my thrill, my kick. 

I can ramble on so much about this, this is how much it thrills me. For the record, I will always be an artist. I teach the arts, believe me, I haven't changed that much. I haven't changed at all. I've evolved. 

And you?

"The more you listen the more you learn, the more you learn the smarter you become, the better you are able to tackle anything that comes your way"

See y'all next Season, till then, Miss G out.

Season 2, Ep. 10

Abercrombie & Bitch

Ah that wonderful magical world of Abercrombie & Fitch. 

More specifically, the magical wonderful world of the Abercrombie and Fitch stores. Feels like nothing else is going on in the world when you walk in those stores, doesn't it? ISIS, what ISIS? I have a topless male model staring at me here, bothered. 

For those of you who don't probably know what on earth I'm talking about, Abercrombie & Fitch or also known as A&F is an American Retail brand that sells casual, everyday wear across the world and it most certainly has a unique style when it comes to its stores. Now, 80% of the company's stores are located across America, however the rest of them are around Europe and pretty sure there must be one in Aussie somewhere, but you guessed it right, where there's white people, there's a store. Ahem. I'll get to that later. 

The stores are big, poorly lit and with many floors and it plays extremely loud music and usually dance beats. So if this painted a picture of a club to you, you guessed it right, that's pretty much their aim, to make you feel like you're partying while shopping minus the alcohol. True paradise for the shopaholic, if you're not an alcoholic. Hash tag rhyme. But that's not the MAIN signature style of the stores. Nope, as if the darkness and the loud as music are not enough, the sales people who work on the floor are models. Some proper working models, others are unemployed actors and just extremely good looking students. All in all, beauty galore. Uh-huh. Believe me the eye candy is insane. And to add another little cherry on your cream pie, there is usually a ridiculously ripped guy standing topless wearing A&F jeans at the entrance of each store ready to greet you and take a photo with you. A polaroid. A polaroid photo with a topless 6-pack with a head on it. You don't usually see past the pecks that's why I'm objectifying the person so much. What can you do, looks are looks. And Mr M. Jeffreys-look him up- knows that. I'm not sure if he is still the CEO of A&F but he sure was while I worked there. Oh yeah, I was working there for 6 years. 6 whole years, I jumped from department to department, I did the sales person thing, then I did some dancing-oh yeah-on the floor as well, just, you know, some casual bopping while greeting customers, then I did my share of recruiting beautiful models myself to be part of our campaign and London stores,now that was fun and shallow, then I decided I no longer wanted to feel like a carrot so I jumped into more productive roles like work the stockrooms, shipment of stock, some office work etc. All this in London. The store there is mahoosive. 

Mr CEO current or not, has very strong views on his models aka employees' looks, and not only that, he even has strong views on what kind of customers he likes to target. What do I mean by that? He promoted the all-natural look widely. I have no opposition to that, I believe in natural, clean looks too, so basically he wouldn't allow too much make up, coloured hair, tattoos or facial piercings but he was also too strong about his boys being clean shaven. I am using the word boys here because that's unfortunately how most men look clean shaven.

I mean this sounds all fair until the Muslim girl came along for a job and since she is wearing a head scarf she can only get a job at the stockrooms. And then the girl with the prosthetic arm came for a job too and suddenly she is never allowed on the sales floor during opening hours either. Suddenly the employees that are allowed to be seen all look similar, there was nothing special or different about and in one word perfect. Sounds like an

Aryan race case to me, ahem. Now, whether you agree with me here that this sounds a bit ridiculous or not, the two girls along with tens of other employees with a similar A&F treatment from across the world have indeed sued A&F multiple times for this outrageous manhandling. I swear, I'm not lying look it up. Pretty sure the company has spend millions on compensations it says. And to top it all off, Mr CEO has mentioned in interviews, "I don't want to sell my clothes to poor people and I only want my clothes to be worn by beautiful people". Something like that. Hash tag burn baby burn. Between you and me, not worth it. Clothes overpriced and bad quality, trust me I know. 

And yes I worked there. One of my many jobs for this lifetime was this and I may say after the first couple of years where I established a relationship with my managers who by the way were changing every month pretty much, I lost track, things became pretty cruise-y for me. There were times where I would work there full time and there was times I worked there once a month for a year and then back more regularly etc. You can NOT believe how magical that moment was when I handed in my resignation for me. Tears and everything. TOODLES to A&F, Noodles to you.

There is always positives to every experience, and with this one I take away all the hundreds of beautiful souls I met while working there. "C'est tous"

Ta.

K.

Season 1, Ep. 11

Mattie Mattie Mattie 

(Ref: Abba's 'Money Money Money')

Mattie. There has to be an entire week's post dedicated to this particular dog. You'll understand.
Cat lovers Vs Dog lovers. It's a never ending debate. Cat lovers will say that dogs are too needy and constantly seeking attention and exercise etc, dog lovers will argue by saying that cats are boring, only good for catching mice and too into themselves. Sure, both opinions are pretty factual, each to their own, we all have an opinion about everything in life (almost) anyway. If everybody on this planet agreed on everything in life we wouldn't have ended up with situations like, I don't know, um, WWI, WWII, Civil wars, all other kinds of wars, terrorism, 9/11 and the list goes on and on and on. Hashtag, I lost the point. Hashtag that escalated quickly. 
ANYWAY, Mattie. As an apparent dog lover, I say, what is wrong with dogs being needy? What is more wonderful than someone being in such need of you and only you. You are the only person that this dog is counting on to feel happy. I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure that half of you here are looking for something like the above in a person, well, a dog could be a good start to make you realise how great it is to feel needed. Love yourselves before you love someone else. Hashtag reminder. 
So I'm working as a dog carer and dealing with heaps and heaps of different dogs, clients, breeds, sizes, colours, personalities, ages, puppies, way too old ones...and then there was Mattie. A toy poodle, apricot colour as she was described at our client's file, with short curly hair and the cutest little nose. She was pretty much everyone's general favourite. She was just an example of a great dog. She listened, she always followed you around, so she was awesome off leash, she was always, ALWAYS in a good mood and if she grew fond of you, boy was she protective. By luck she ended up on my walks quite so often so we did grow fond of each other quickly but it was definitely the car rides home, as I would favour her a bit and have her on my lap, that strengthened the bond. No, I wasn't the driver, that would be risky now wouldn't it. Passenger seat, dogs at the back, Mattie on my lap. Simple.
One day I am given a new puppy with my pack and I am double checking that she behaves well off leash and that it would be safe to let her free in the park. Yes? Yes. Okay, so I did and next thing I know she is sprinting back, towards the exit of the park. Yes, SHMESH. Someone was probably giving me the wrong info about the wrong puppy. I try to entice the puppy back to me with treats, cute calls etc, as sprinting behind it will make it run even faster, unless you are Usain Bolt. Nothing. She kept running and running and as I am ready to let myself panic a bit, Mattie SOMEHOW, sensed what was going on and did the biggest sprint of her life, overtook the puppy and did a massive tackle so the puppy stopped. Puppy freaked out and decided to run back to me who was waiting with arms wide and LOADS of treats. To this day I don't know if it was just a game for her and it was pure luck, or she indeed sensed the tension and what was going on and indeed decided to help out. I like to think the latter. In my experience and I believe in everyone else's who loves and deals with dogs, we can agree on how intuitive they are. 
That was it. Since that day Mattie was my hero and even though she was the legend, I was a hero to her eyes too. On those notorious car rides where we dropped the dogs off home, if I had to be dropped off earlier to do other jobs, before she was dropped off home, I was told that she would cry non stop for 10 minutes about it. One day I received a snapchat of Mattie winging because I had to go. NOW ISN'T THAT ADORABLE?
So that's it. My top dog, whom I have left behind in good hands since I quit that job, and it was without a doubt the suckiest part about quitting, but as we said last week, it was long overdue.
The best part about Mattie. She twirled. Whenever she was happy about seeing me, she would get on her back legs and twirl. Twirly whirly Mattie Marques. 
You can witness this yourself here http://iconosquare.com/viewer.php#/detail/851606307067727547_178144162 (or on my Instagram page www.instagram.com/katerinageorgiou). Ta.

Season 1,Ep. 10

The One With The Bullying (Not At School)

Bullying. We all know how it works, one feels shit about themselves, one doesn't get enough attention at home, one comes from a broken or bullying environment at home, and one takes it out on someone else. It's simple yet so complicated.
It is super awful and absolutely necessary to at least try to be ceased from happening at schools only because children are pretty much helpless when it happens to them. They don't have the skills to fight back, they barely even know who they are as a person. And guess what. Being bullied surely defines a lot on who you become later on. Hashtag chain.
If you're bullied and you know it clap your hands. *clap clap*. And if you're not sure if it was bullying that happened to you, bullying ranges from verbal abuse such as light-hearted talking down on you, such as someone telling you that you cannot do something, such as someone treating you according to the way you look to full on physical abuse. So yes, I can safely say that pretty much a good 80% of us here with big hearts have probably been or are being bullied somewhere by someone, either once or continuously. Am I right? Hashtag Hallelujah?
Anyhow, yes, bullied at school although it definitely didn't seem to had hold me down afterwards, it just made me one very depressed 10 year old for a year who would start crying even if you pinched me. No biggie. No grudges. Bitch. Ahem.
But my bullying experience as an adult is what is definitely worth mentioning. My friends have heard about it, my parents have heard about it, my kids will definitely hear about it, my grand-kids will be making jokes about it. In the hope of helping anyone out there who deals with a similar situation here is the "employer gone wild" story.
In the year 2013, I had already completed a few months as a part time dog walker, but I slowly started filling in for full-timers who needed time off so I started spending time with the boss more and more. We had already started on the wrong foot but then again so did all of her other employees. It was simply the kind of situation where you couldn't win with the woman. You don't do something, you get told off, you do something, you do it wrong, you answer back to her, you are a rude rebel who has an answer for everything, you don't answer back and just nod along, to make your day easier to move along, you're not listening to her.
And that was the start of it. All employees experienced it, all 90% of them who quit within a few months, plus the 10% who hung in there a little longer for the money and the dogs. But by 2014 things took an unexpected turn and the daily minor telling off became major scenic, dramatic, verbal abuse. Suddenly I am getting bullied about not doing what I am told, 5 minutes after she would see me do it. If someone else wasn't doing something right, there would be a couple of incidents where I would still get the blame for it. If I tried to talk back and stand up for myself, the woman would reach the point where she would attack my physical appearance as a reason for being "shit" at my job. Pardon my French.
Two things I cannot stand are guilt and the feeling of someone being treated unfairly. Being the little passionate artist I am, I tear up like that *click*. One day I did, and next thing I know she is pointing her finger at me like I am a puppy being told off for chewing her shoes. "All you know how to do is cry anyway, so go on cry". Um yeah, hashtag true story bro. The money was great, the dogs adorable and the clients kind. I did the math for a while and held on. Until that notorious moment which probably still haunts me. Final straw I guess. Just because someone pays you doesn't mean they have the right to treat you like dirt. Please don't forget that. Life is short.
Bullying employer's profile: Mid-fifties, single, no friends, shut everyone around her out, including family, constantly made mistakes with her clients and blamed it on her employees, was mostly attacking her female employees, not attached to her clients' dogs at all, they were nothing but a big fat cheque to her. Are you smiling yet? Wait for the punch line. My next employer in that industry emailed me after a month of working for her to express her gratitude for being good and reliable. A MONTH after I started working for her.

Remember, Karma is a bitch only to bitches.

Feel free to share your story on the comments below. Everyone has a story.

Season 1, Ep. 09

PREVIOUSLY ON THE MOO POINT...

So here I am thinking that life is short and for what is worth, you should always pursue any passions and moments of happiness and since dogs have always been the juicy cherry on top of my passion cake, here I am being offered to get paid to look after them. It was a no brainer.

And boy was I loving it. Dogs are what they are. They all have their personalities, they all have their mannerisms that come from their homes, they never ever hold any grudges and most of all they sure know how to have a good time. That is the biggest lesson that working with dogs have taught me. I may have learnt how to teach them to sit and how to stop them from pulling the leash while they are on a walk, but the biggest lesson I'm taking away is that those four-legged best friends of ours, know how to live their lives to the fullest, they know how to have a good time whenever and wherever they are, whether they are alone or with friends, whether they have an entire park to run in or are stuck in a tiny box, a crate, a kennel, dogs know how what their life is about. And they value it. 

So it dawned on me that I may able to teach them not to chew on furniture for example or never ever to pee indoors again, but they certainly are the teacher when it comes to the right attitude. The attitude to grab that opportunity to make the fullest out of any situation we are put in. Quite deep ae? 

So dogs became my therapy as well as my passion, as well as my part time job. Spending time with them most days of the week even if it was for a couple of hours, took my mind of all the rest. All those little every day stresses that the London lifestyle provoked. Oh yeah rent is due again next week, oh that's right another audition I didn't get, oh my agent is pretty shit. Oh well I am walking my dogs now so all is hushed. This probably became and will always remain one of the best jobs I've had so far. The only downside, that boss o'mine. Downside would be sugar coating it. But more on that later. And that's my truth today. So. How are you?