In 2025, when I am completely and fully trained in handling trucks and trailers, it might be time to figure out what I want to use my new education for. Do I work for a company, or do I start my own courier/haulage business? It's free to start your own business, and if I make more than $7931 in profits, over a year, I need to be VAT registered. Some places offer VAT registration for as low as $111. My housemate told me I would need $23792 in order to be VAT registered, but from what I can read, it's nowhere near that amount.
So.. Now that the plan has been laid, I will need a vehicle. Now, because I have a business, I can get a car for a lower amount, $2744 to be exact. So, if I find a car below that value, which is pretty hard, I am not going to pay import fees on it. If a car is worth more than $2744, I have to pay a 50% fee for the remaining value. I know, the car taxation system in Denmark is weird.
Anyway.. I will need a place to live. I could move to the other end of the country, where the houses are cheaper than where I currently live. The cheapest house here is $333,172. If I move to a place like east of Svendborg, which is a city on the island of Funen, I can get a bigger house for $19831. I just need to start planning the details of my future business. What should I haul? Packages? Explosives? Hazardous materials? No, definitely not explosives or hazardous materials. They require special containers, which are expensive. Plus, I don't think a civilian like me can get that kind of containers. Unless I also take an ADR certificate, which the school offers as well. Hm. I still have four years to decide what I want to haul. In the meantime, I can lay out a terms and conditions, pricing and what else I need. I might also sketch the first website draft in photoshop, since I am quite good at that.. Or so I tell myself.. The photoshop bit, that is.
So many things to plan, and a long time to do it as well! It's gonna be so exciting!
I got an email from the education I was supposed to begin in January, but had to skip due to me getting covid.
The email read: "You have previously showed an interest in the truck driver education, and the next start is on August 16. Let me know if you are still interested"..
My plan for this year is to get a temp job until August, where the plan was to begin the education, so I responded right away, saying that I would love to be put on the next start. So I found the blank application, and I filled in my details, and sent it back. Safe to say, the truck driver education is back on, and now the government has decided on a safe and gradual opening of Denmark, and the schools are back open again by June, so if nobody messes up, and the infection aren't running rampant, then I am FINALLY going to leave the apartment and go into society and get myself an education.
Now, well now I am gonna look for more jobs and possibly watch some truck driver vlogs. Yes, I know that trucker vlogs aren't showing the full picture of how being a truck driver is, but they are quite informative and entertaining. My uncle was a trucker, so I can just ask him about what to expect. Long hours, for sure.
I am looking forward to begin the education for sure! It beats sitting at home, which is getting very boring very quickly
I came across an idea the other day, while I was playing Farming Simulator. Buying a field, get planning permission and then build a house, and use the rest of the field as my garden.
I then had a look at where fields were for sale. I had no luck, but there were some disbanded agricultural properties for sale. No luck. Then I tried to look for cheap derelict houses for sale, and I found one for sale for around $200k. The house has seen better days, but knock it down, and you have the best property to develop. Now for the house. The cheapest one I could find was $272K, and it's one of those package deals that comes with everything. The contractor will build the house to my spec, and all I have to do is relax.
So, for $500k (3.1 million Danish dollars) I can get my very own 1571 square feet house, complete with everything! Kitchen, appliances and whatever else fits in a kitchen. All I need is furniture, which I have.. Okay, I only have a bed, a tv stand and a small shelving unit.
I need to win the lottery.
The last time I tried this dating-thing, I did end up with a short but sweet two week romance with a girl I met online. She lived across the country, but I had no problem with taking the bus to see her. She lived in a tiny apartment, but it was homey. I still remember the layout of the place. When you entered the hallway, you had the bathroom , the shoe rack and the coat hanger on the left, and storage space, fridge and kitchen on the right. Well, when I say kitchen, I really mean kitchenette. Walking out of the tiny hallway, you had the living room and a room divider, where the bed was located.
When we met up, we sat down for some good conversation. I was there for the weekend, so it's not like we were going on excursions or anything. We mainly spent the time indoors, watching movies or playing guitar hero. Having a lot of fun. First kiss was on the night I arrived. Many more were exchanged over the weekend. Sunday arrived, and I had to leave home. I was there the following weekend, where we continued where we left off when I left the week before. However, this time it was different. She told me, that she was talking with her ex, about possibly hooking up with him again. It left me a bit "Oh boy, now what? I am falling in love with this girl, and she's possibly getting back with her ex.. What do I do".. She told me, that she wanted to take a breather and think about what she really wanted to do. If she wanted to begin something with me, or go back to her ex. A few days after I got home, she dropped the text: She didn't have the desire to see me again, and she was going back to her ex.
That was the last time I heard from her. The following month, I left for Scotland, so it's 7 years ago. I still remember it vividly, though.
Since that time, I have sort of tried to take it slow on that front. I have rarely engaged in things that could lead to any sort of relationship. I think that might have scared me away from any sort of romantic interests. Now, I know what you must be thinking now: "But Philipsen, what about the girl you fell in love with a few years ago, who went by R?".. Yes, that's one of the rare occasions where I have sort of tested to see if there could be anything other than friendship. R and I never kissed, which sort of puts that to rest. Nothing remotely romantic happened between us. Yes, we were perhaps close friends, but we never crossed the friendship line once.
But now.. Well, now is the time to actively start looking for a relationship. I have no preference as to where the romantic interest has to be from. England, Ireland, USA, Australia, the Philippines.. It doesn't matter. As long as the person is a decent human being, with a functioning brain, who can make her own decisions, then that's fine by me. Kids.. Well, I like kids, so it wouldn't hurt if she had some, or wanted to get some. I might approach the age where I might be a bit too old to put kids into the world, but I still have a few years before I go "Yes, I am definitely too old for children".. Maybe, if she doesn't want kids, maybe her and I could get a dog or a cat.. Am I open to relocating to another country? Oh, absolutely! I love experiencing new places, so I am always up for relocating to another place on the planet.
Time to start looking for that someone - and a job, since I haven't heard back from the temp agency yet. Maybe I will tomorrow.
Today wold have been my father's 69th birthday. My brother, sister, niece and myself went to his grave, laid some flowers and paid our respects. The weather was standard Danish spring weather: cold with a light drizzle. We spent maybe 20 minutes there, tending to the grave site and watering the plants there, which is something my niece likes to do. Usually, she will get very quiet and shed some tears, but not today. Maybe this is a sign that she is coming to terms with the fact, that he's no longer here. It's still weird talking about him in past tense, but we have all come to terms with the fact, that he's not here anymore. He lives on in us, of course.
After the trip to the graveyard, we went back to my brothers place for some lunch. We spent about an hour eating, talking and laughing. Remembering my father for who he was. My brother then suggested, that we laid a puzzle. One of the things my dad passed on to me, was his love for puzzles. We dug out a 1500 piece puzzle, and got to work on it. A few hours later, we each had places to be and things to do, so we each said goodbye to each other, and I was given a ride home by my sister, who bought her own car yesterday. She was very proud of it, and I liked it as well. It's a tiny Skoda Fabia, which is plenty for her.
I would call today a success. We got to do the things we set out to do, which is the most important thing. Now, it's on to job hunting, since I haven't heard from the temp agency yet. I tried to watch the IMSA race, but the stream kept buffering, so I decided it wasn't worth it. I will read the result tomorrow anyway.
I just wish my dad was still here. So much more we had to experience..
Earlier, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. Usually, I let those calls go due to the sheer number of scam calls I have received, but something told me, that this was important, so I picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is from the temp agency where you applied for a job. The position you applied for has been filled, but I have something else you might be interested in. I am hosting a meeting at 2 pm, and I would like for you to join"
Flash forward, it's now 2.33 pm, and the meeting went well. I am 99% certain that I am gonna work from next week and as long as I want. Or at least until my education begins in August. But if I am happy in my work, then maybe I will continue doing that.
The most important thing, is that I have work to do again! And it's gonna be great!
Now, hear me out.. Spoken lyrics to metal songs!
I was thinking about this the other day, as I was in the shower. What if I took the lyrics to some gruesome death metal/heavy metal songs, read them out in a soft voice, and sold them? The first song, that comes to mind, is Cannibal Corpse - Hammer Smashed Face. I think I could make a pretty good career out of that. Imagine having someone read out lyrics to songs, but in a relaxing way.
Now don't you take this idea from me! It's mine, I claim it! Unless someone has already gotten that idea, of course. Then it's their idea.
My Trust external keyboard decided to stop letting the E key work, so I had to get a new one. Usually, I am going for the more expensive brands, like Razer, but my budget just isn't there for that, so I went with a cheaper alternative, called Fourze. It's a Danish company, that specialize in gaming equipment, and the price was only $48.45. It's RGB and everything. Because the keyboard was so cheap, I could get some new films for my ever growing collection of blu-rays. I picked some classics: Armageddon and The Rock! I need more space for my films, but that's a project for another day. I also looked into getting a deep fryer, but I don't have any use for it at the moment, so it would be pointless to get one at this moment.
In other news: One of the island here in Denmark, Bornholm, is opening up, with hairdressers being the main thing that's being put focus on in the media. Why? Because people from all over the country are calling, to see if they have any available times. Now, Denmark isn't big, but it still takes 7 hours to drive from Esbjert, the most Western point of the country, to Bornholm, which is located south of Sweden.. Here's a question: Who on Earth drives SEVEN hours for a haircut?
I would never drive seven hours for a haircut. Ever! I would rather wait, since none of us are leaving our homes anyway. Nobody to see your long covid hairdo, so there's no need for a hairdresser. My hair is getting longer, but I don't need a haircut anytime soon. Maybe once everything opens up, I will go and get a haircut. Maybe. I will possibly just cut it all off again and start over, like I did the last time.
Ever since I had Covid, it seems like my hair had developed it's own mind, about shedding. Whenever I took a shower, my hands would be covered in hair. I could comb my hair, but I could still grab fists of hair. My bed is full of strands of hair, my floor is a mess and my pillow case is also covered in strands of hair. I therefore made an executive decision: The hair had go. Today. Now, seeing that no barbers are open here, it befell to myself, to do the job. Properly. Luckily, I have a Braun hair clipper, so I put that on charge first thing this morning, and then went about with my day, until lunchtime. At that point, it was time to put my plan into action.
First order of business: Wash my hair, just so it was easier to cut. After a light drying, I looked at the towel - yes, full of strands of hair. As I prepared my assault on my hair, I took one last look in the mirror, before I turned on the clipper. I slowly directed it across my head, leaving nothing left. Halfway through the haircut, my clipper stopped working. That gave me some time to clean the bathroom floor, which at this point looked like a proper barbershop. After about 5 minutes, the clipper burst into life again, which allowed me to finish the task and look at the result. It looked a bit like this
Yes, I look like someone from Full Metal Jacket, but it was needed. Starting over. A fresh beginning, if you will. After the haircut, it was time to clean up, at which point, the water pressure stopped - completely. As it spluttered back into operation, it ran with just under half pressure. Light brown water flowed, at which point I let it run, just to get the color away. "I'll tell my housemate when he gets home. He can fix it", was my immediate thought. He did, a few hours later. The little plug thingy at the end of the tap was blocked by a pretty big number of rocks. The water pipes here are in such bad condition, but the water is apparently good enough for brushing teeth with and cook with.. Anyway.. The point is - I have a new haircut, and it didn't cost me a thing. I do this regularly, though. Cut off all my hair and start over. I will, however, look into certain new shampoos in order to keep my hair glorious and very Scandinavian, should I decide to make it grow long
Now, plans for Friday.. Well, it's the series finale of WandaVision. Only nine episodes in the entire series. Unless they somehow figure out a way to make a season 2. I wouldn't really mind it, actually. I like the series, so if they continue it, it would be great! Also, I need to go over my bed from top to bottom, removing all strands of hair - even if it takes hours! ALL of the strands must go!
Once this whole pandemic is over, I would like to travel again. Jump on a flight somewhere for a week or two. While we have been in lockdown, I have written Eleven places down, and the reason for wanting to visit those place. So let's get into the list!
Number 11: Austria.
It goes without saying, that Austria is a true European gem. Amazing scenery, friendly people and great food. Austria is perhaps best known as the setting of the 1965 film The Sound Of Music, as well as numerous Bond films.
Number 10: Switzerland.
Switzerland is also one of those places that are so breathtaking. The nature is the main reason why I want to visit, since it's a fantastic place, with lots of fantastic sceneries
Number 9: Japan.
Tokyo is the place I would love to go, but I am just a little apprehensive regarding the size. Luckily, Japan is other than Tokyo. I would love to visit Hiroshima, to take in the spectacular beauty of that location
Number 8: The Philippines.
Anywhere that can boast having amazing food AND amazing views, automatically peaks my interest. I know a few people from the Philippines, and they have all recommended Cebu, as the place to go.
Number 7: Italy.
It had to be on this list! The country that gave us Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, pizza and other foods, as well as stylish brands, awesome scenery and the best accent ever! Italy is definitely a place I would visit!
Number 6: France.
I have been to Paris a few times, but I didn't really like it. Therefore, my focus is on the Champagne region. Why? Because champagne.
Number 5: Finland.
Any place that gets weird is a place I would love to visit! The Finns are the masters of weird. From wife run to extreme rallying in dense forests.
Number 4: Mexico.
I know Mexico might not seem like the obvious choice for tourism, but I would definitely love to visit! I would need to do some preparations regarding my trip, and follow the recommended advice from either the government or people who are from Mexico.
Number 3: New Zealand.
The Maori culture is one that is extremely interesting. I know a few people from New Zealand, and they are some of the friendliest people you can ever meet. Plus the scenery of New Zealand doesn't hurt either
Number 2: Australia.
Australia is high on my list, because of V8 supercars. And because the country is spectacularly beautiful!
Number one is perhaps not surprising to many people: The USA.
The Land of Opportunity, as some claim it to be. I have long had a desire to visit the United States of America. I even had a return flight to New York scheduled for May 1st, but I never managed to take the trip, because of the pandemic. Once it's over, and we are free to travel again, you best believe I am gonna book myself a trip to the United States.. How much do you want to bet something else will derail the trip?
This keeps happening to me: A company calls me, asking if I am available for work in a certain time frame. It can be a week to a few months, possibly years. I am unemployed at the moment, so I am always saying yes, no matter what the job is. What happened today, also happened when I was a temp worker.
First, some context: My municipality called me the other day, asking if I wanted to become a rapid covid tester. The pay was good, and the job would run into June. "Score", I thought to myself. Something to do until I am closer to the start of the education for truck driver, which I WILL take. I was phoned two days later, where the guy at the other end, said that he would mention me to their HR department, and then I would be given an assigned place to work. All I had to do was wait for further instructions.
So I did!
Then, earlier today, I got an email, saying that they were not going to need rapid covid testers, because the government didn't include my municipality in the first wave of re-openings. I was welcome to apply again, once the government implements a broader opening.
Here's a suggestion, possibly something that should be common knowledge: Never promise ANYTHING until it's been CONFIRMED and set IN STONE! It's extremely infuriating to be told one thing, only for another thing to happen. The next time they ask, I will definitely ask "Is this actually confirmed, or is it a 'just-in-case' thing?" If they reply "Just in case", my reply will be "Not interested. I want possible permanent employment, not 'maybe'".
They also keep failing in doing the most basic things. Like my monthly payment. I am on benefits, and they are often late with it, which panics me, because I have bills to pay. Rent, phone, streaming services and a savings account that needs money badly. Whenever my payment is late, I have to write an email to let them know, that I haven't received any money. But when I am late with doing something, they are literally threatening to cut my payment. It's fine when they are late, but when I am late, oh man! All hell breaks loose. I am also asking them about a place to live, since they can provide me with an apartment. Whenever I ask, I get the same answer: You have to have been in permanent employment for at least three months. When I then ask about what they can do for me in terms of finding a job, they go "Oh well that costs money, and we don't have that many to use on that".. It's not like I am not putting in the effort. Over the last three years, I must have applied for at least 400 jobs. I have heard back from 15, at the most.
Time to browse the job markets and see what's available, again. I did that yesterday as well, and I was qualified for three jobs.. Out of 15.000.. Maybe I should learn a new skill? Like rocket science, or just some networking stuff.
I had a great idea yesterday evening, during a livestream on Twitch. The broadcaster is raising money for charity, and I am live with them on voice chat. The written chat gave me a fantastic idea: Selling audio files of me talking about something. Maybe even a rant about a certain subject. That gave me an idea on how to make money: Invest in a good microphone, and then create a profile on Fiverr. Then sell audio files for £1, where I ramble on about something. Maybe a bigger amount, depending on the content. One of the guys in chat wanted to pay 50 euro for me reading the entirety of The Hobbit.. I am not sure if he was serious, but still.. 50 euro is a lot of money.
Or maybe I should just look for more stable employment somewhere in Europe. Due to the pandemic, most of the jobs are work from home anyway, so I am not going to move to a different country. Yet.
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