The Job Hunts (Cont.)

It's not what you know, but who you know. This saying has been (for me at least) more and more accurate and I run around trying to find full-time work. I mean, remember the internship I recently got? A friend linked me to a website filled with internship openings and from there I applied until something stuck.

And so, when two friends forwarded me emails regarded an full-time entry-level position at some Fortune 500 company, I jumped on it immediately.

Everyone who has helped me is getting free beer.

Alright, so someone replied to email wants to have an phone interview with me. We'll call her Recruiter A. Now, I personally hate talking on the phone. If I talk to someone in person, I can read their body language, facial expressions, and make hand gestures. If I talk to someone online, I can delay my responses so to better think and give well thought-out replies.

Talking on the phone let's me do neither.

Worse yet, is that the interview was first thing in the morning. I am not a morning person, my brain doesn't officially start working until about 1PM in the day. So I hope that whatever I said to her during the interview was coherent.

And preferably intelligent.

If they liked my phone interview, I was supposed to get an email later with further instructions for a video interview and some other online application. I checked my email constantly, had my cellphone on me at all times, and this went on for a week and half of silence. I was convinced I had screwed up and began looking at courses for the fall term.

But then I get a text message from my Mother: "Someone left a message for you on Tuesday, something about an interview?".

My idiot brother actually heard the message on Tuesday. And failed to tell me because he "forgot" in his haste to go play League of Legends with his friends. 

I wanted to wring his little neck.

PLAY A REAL GAME LIKE STARCRAFT YOU BABY.

But whatever, at least they contacted me, said to call her back whenever so there wasn't any pressing deadlines. We'll call this person Recruiter B. I immediately starting calling Recruiter B every weekday at least once, and kept hitting her voicemail. So I left voice messages and hoped that something would happen.

It didn't.

Eventually I got through to Recruiter B one morning another week later. She didn't acknowledge any of my voice messages which I found odd, but fine. She then said within 15 minutes she would email me the next interview package for me to do. And if there were any problems, just call her.

6 hours later nothing. Calling her that afternoon also directed me to her voicemail. I started wanting to wring her neck as well.

HOW ARE YOU THE SENIOR RECRUITER?!

Fine, next morning I call and shockingly get to her. She acts surprised that I didn't get the email but promises to send it again. I have my doubts but whatever. But here's where it gets awesome. I get a call from Recruiter A. And she wants to know why I haven't done any of the online applications yet. Her superiors really want to get that video interview from me.

And so a few minutes later after I explain my situation with Recruiter B, Recruiter A must have done something, because the online application package was in my inbox the next time I checked. I finished those quickly.

The video interview I received the next day. Basically, I have a bunch of pre-recorded questions thrown at me, and I sit in front of a webcam and I give a response. It's certainly different, I've never done one before but I think it went ok? My hair certainly looked poofier than I would have liked.

I hope I looked presentable.

So now I'm on standby. If they liked what they saw I'll be hearing from them ideally on Monday. If they don't like what they saw, I'll also probably hear from them on Monday. Fingers crossed.

And the strangest thing happened while I was working at my fast food job too. A managed to get talking to a customer and she asked me how long I worked there for. I told her "way too long" and that in this economy it was tough finding anything else.

She ended up taking my number, saying that her husband would get in touch with me. So, if one job doesn't work, maybe I can go with another.

Note: Thank you for all the concern regarding my ex in my last post. I assure you that when I said "I guess we're friends, and we'll see where it goes" I meant we would stay as friends. I'm not trying to sway her into getting back in a relationship with me.

5 Year Anniversary

Well it would have been if things worked out better.

Next week I would have celebrated five years with my then-girlfriend. We were high school sweethearts and we were happy together. At least, we were until whatever it is caused her to change her mind. I'm fairly certain most of my readers are familiar with what happened to some extent. Anyone who isn't can catch up here.

And I had no intention of talking to her again. I was done trying to fix what was left.

Enough was enough

And then out of nowhere she sent me a message: "Are you still upset with me?".

Bloody right I'm still upset with you. I've been miserable these last few months, lonely, and bitter. You broke my heart, flirted with me, turned down any chance of trying to fix our relationship AND THEN you go and get yourself a new boyfriend. What did you expect me to say?

And for the next hour, I basically tore her a new one. It was liking writing an angry letter and being able to send it and watch the recipient receive it in real time. I won't lie, it felt good. A massive weight being lifted off my chest. How often do you get to rant at the very source of all your distress?

I guess the alternative would be to beat my computer to pieces.

But she never left. She could have stopped responding or reading my responses at anytime. But she just sat there are took it all. Apologizing every other moment. Admitting and acknowledging every fault and gripe that I had with her. And this went on and on until I ran out of things to say.

To be honest, I was a bit confused. This is not standard ex-girlfriend behaviour. She didn't stand up for herself once, she didn't try to justify her actions, nor did she try and shift the blame to me. And so I eventually asked, "What do you want from me? Forgiveness?".

To which she replied, "I don't want forgiveness, I just want you to feel better.".

What.

She even offered to let me do it again in the future if it would help. She agreed that her actions were selfish, that she didn't want to hurt me anymore, and was willing to do nearly anything to help me recover. Sans getting back into a relationship with me because she was already in one.

Also, she has some guilt-tripping mental roadblock. She tried to explain it to me, I still don't get it, and think it's absolute rubbish but one step at a time. She loves me but isn't in love with me as she puts it.

I don't know about you guys, but I find it hard to stay angry at someone who acknowledges their wrongdoings, goes out of their way to fix things, and openly allows me to verbally beat so that I might have a better day.

I feel a bit bad for being so harsh with her now.

We're talking more frequently now. I'm still upset with her obviously but not to the same extent as before. I won't lie, I still miss her very much. you don't spend 4.5 years with someone and suddenly lose all attraction to them.

I guess we're still friends then. We'll see where it goes from here.

The End of Patt

Who remembers Patt? The Psychology professor of mine who was pretty awesome but suddenly went insane? Well on my own time I decided to seek him out and see if the rumours were true. We sat down for a few beers, had a chat, a few laughs, and he seemed the same jovial self that he always was.

Satisfied with my own findings, I left the pub feeling content. Maybe it was just a phase that Patt was going through, things should be ok.

Yep, it was just a phase. Sane Patt was just a phase and he completely snapped a few weeks later.

He went ballistic at some more students and is now being fired. Well, he was going to be "let go" thanks to all the budget cuts but thanks to his recent behaviour, it's unlikely he'll ever teach again in the province. Maybe he'll never teach academically again because he certainly can't use his experience at my University as a reference any more.

Some people might think this is a bit harsh. But there is a limit to how badly you can treat your students. Especially students you've known for a long time. I mean, you shouldn't yell at them when they ask why their grades haven't been posted yet. Nor do you consider it harassment when the deadline for grades have long passed.

And you don't make death threats to said students either.

I actually couldn't find a reaction picture for this situation.

I wish I was joking. But Patt seriously sent emails stating that he would "hunt down" said students down because asking for their grades was "harassing him". I'm paraphrasing because I can't use some of the language that was typed up in those emails.

Welp, that's great. Not only was a death threat sent, but there's physical evidence of it too. We're not sure what's going through Patt's head or why he's doing this or what he hopes to gain from these actions.

I personally think Patt has some kind of brain tumour. It matches similar stories of people suddenly undergoing extreme personality changes within a matter of months. We've known Patt for years and this is completely uncharacteristic of him.

That being said, good luck trying to convince him to see a doctor and/or get an MRI scan done. I'd talk him but again, I don't to risk him hunting me down and stabbing me to ribbons. My health may be poor, but I have no desire to die just yet.

Oh well, it was nice knowing you Patt.

How I spent Victoria Day

I'm not sure how it works in other countries but in Canada, we got Monday off because of something called Victoria Day. I actually have no idea who this Victoria is, or why she's important but what is important is that I got the day off.

Now my fellow Canadian followers are going to crucify me because I don't know the significance of Victoria.

Though, it's not like I was taking a break from much anyways. Things have been fairly quiet around here. So I decided to spend my "day off" in class. A class that by the end I'll have spent close to $300 for.

No, it wasn't for school. And if it wasn't for a few Psychology friends asking me to join, I wouldn't have bothered. See, a few of them are gun enthusiasts, and despite the regulation, the course taking, the bureaucracy, limited number of legal guns, and fairly high costs, many Canadians still enjoy shooting and owning guns.

Not unlike with paintballing, there's a reason why I prefer to shoot virtual, online targets than a real gun. It's because it's a lot cheaper. But hey, I decided to be spontaneous, learn something new, and maybe one day I'd like to own a gun for whatever reason.

Also it makes for blogging material. One of the things about having a blog is that it has been constantly forcing me out of my comfort zone so that I'll have unique and interesting things to talk about.

Even if I do prefer to not go outside with sunlight.

How I suffer for my blog. I had to be there first thing in the morning at 9AM to learn about non-restricted firearms in Canada. We sat down and were shown various types of shotguns and rifles, how to identify them, how to safely examine, load, and discharge cartridges, what to do in situation X and Y, how to properly store the gun, etc..

And then after about 5 hours we were administered a test.

The written exam actually wasn't so bad. Though I failed the practical exam the first time. I accidentally misread the calibre for one of the cartridges due to its age and tried to load it into the wrong rifle. I had received so many demerits from that one error that I had to redo the entire exam later.

Meh, I didn't want to own a shotgun or a rifle anyways.

I passed the practical exam later on, with no other problems and was now able to own non-restricted firearms in Canada (after I submit all this paperwork to the Canadian government so they can issue my license). But I was serious when I said I don't really want to own a shotgun or rifle.

What I'd prefer to own one day is one of the restricted handguns, specifically a 0.44 calibre magnum. Why? Because it's 0.44 calibre. I'm serious. I just like the number 4 and this is the only gun with double 4's in the calibre.

Also, all handguns are restricted. If a handgun is not restricted then it's prohibited. If it's prohibited it means as a mere Canadian citizen, I can't have one.

Unsurprisingly, miniguns are also prohibited class firearms.

So after lunch we spent another 4 hours learning about the various parts of a handgun, how to safely examine, load, discharge rounds, what to do in situation X and Y, how to properly store handguns because they require double the pre-cautions of non-restricted firearms, etc. etc..

I'm serious. If I had a handgun that was loaded and/or improperly locked and/or stored in an improper container I could get fined several grand and/or get jail time. Also, I need a permit anytime the thing leaves my home. Lots of hassle. 

Finally, we write the tests. And for whatever reason I managed to get 100% on both the written and the practical exams.

Aced it where it counted.

So I have the paperwork ready, proof that I passed the necessary exams, all I need to do is mail this in and wait several months for the Canadian government to look it over. Or I could be like my friend, and constantly call them non-stop, day after day, asking if he could help them or if he missed any information.

They mailed the license to him in a month.

Well I'm in no rush, it's not like I have the money to afford a gun anytime soon. Still, I think it be interesting to have.

A Vacation

The idea of traveling has always appealed to me. I like visiting new places, seeing cities that are actually alive and not dead compared to mine. But the cost of traveling anywhere is anything but appealing. I guess I've been fortunate that my parents have always been willing to pay for virtually everything whenever we've traveled.

Still, I've always wanted to travel on my own, I just could never afford it. Nowhere that far anyways. But maybe it's a good idea not to travel that far, get some practice running around on your own first somewhere closer to home.

Better to say this in your own country rather than in a foreign one.

So when my friend Erin invited me to stay at her apartment for a week or two it was quite tempting. She lives a province over, so a roundtrip ticket would be less than $400. I don't have to spend additional money on room and board, we both know the her city decently well, and she's a good friend. So it's not like I'm going to go there and wake up in a dumpster with both kidney's missing.

And before anyone tells me to make a move on her, I'm fairly certain that she's not into men. If you know what I mean. It's a shame though, I think she's kind of cute.

Even if she does dress like a hipster.

The idea is to head out sometime near the end of June, celebrate her birthday with her, and then head back home. I've actually already ordered and received her birthday present. I'm still looking into plane tickets and she's looking into booking time off.

And I think the time away from home would be good for a bit. The last time I was on my own for an extended period of time from my family was back on an old school trip years, and years ago. It's not like I have a full-time that's preventing me from going anyways.

 

And the one that I wanted to hear back from has still been silent.

If anyone has any traveling advice they want to share it be appreciated. Same with living with someone else for the first time. Because asides from family, I've never experienced anything remotely similar to a roommate. And I'm not even a roommate in this situation, more of a guest I guess. 

The Waiting Game

I don't enjoy sitting around waiting, and that has grown exceptionally true in recent years. And not just in the sense that I don't like having nothing to do. If possible, I want things to be done and over with, out of sight and out of mind. If there's a way to speed things up then I will generally go and do it.

But right now, I'm stuck in that very predicament. Which is why I don't have a proper blog post at the moment.

Looks just like me, if you could get a cup of juice to steam.

I have projects that are on standby because of things out of my control, I'm waiting on emails and phone calls from a few other people, I have projects that are delayed because of aforementioned emails and phone calls, so on and so forth.

Hopefully something happens soon. I'd rather talk about things that are ongoing in my life.

The Job Hunts

It's no secret that I've been looking for more work. Despite having both my fast food and my marketing job there are still massive chunks of my day that probably could be spent doing something that is guaranteed to give me a paycheque at the end of the day.

As much as I'd love to spend more time in bed, I should be more productive. My Mother has also been really pushing for me to get another job during the day. Mentioning that X is currently hiring and really desperate for workers. Y is currently hiring, you should send a resume.

I really would not want to work at Starbucks though.

Ideally, I want to spend all my daylight hours working and nighttime hours working on my online projects. So I have been looking for other jobs, or at least things that would look good on a resume. I've been in touch with a few friends and they've directed me to various places and after throwing my resume around I finally got a response.

It wasn't much, certainly didn't pay much besides a small bursary at the end of the summer, but it would look good. An association for Parkinson's needed a researcher, or rather, someone to read through a ton of papers and see if anything important was inside.

It was like I trained for this job my entire University career.

At least I'm putting my education to good use.

I had to bus, and I hate busing. I'm also fairly certain it looks odd to bus around wearing a tie. Even worse when it's windy and your tie whips around your face in the open. But so be it, how else was I going to make it to my interview? Walk the entire way?

Actually, I missed the final bus to get my interview. Google maps said it would take 20 minutes to get there on foot. So I did the only thing I could do, I started jogging in the general direction of the building with my tie flapping about in the wind. I was late, but at least I made it.

I thought the interview went well, better than any other interviews I've done in the past few years. And a few days later, I got another email saying that they wanted me.

I actually did it, I finally got an internship of some sort.

I go back next Thursday to finalize some details and sign some papers. But it's nice to have something go in my favor. Again, I don't get paid, all I get is a small government bursary but hey, I'll take what I can get.

I'm still waiting for replies from a few other emails. There's one opportunity I really want to hear back on because it sounds like it pays well is a great for work experience. Fingers crossed for me.

Bioshock Infinite: My (current) Game of the Year

I'm one of those people who consider video games to be an art form. Sure, you have your generic, bland, and mindless shooters (*cough*callofduty*cough*) but I never said all video games are art. It's no different than how not every book published or every song recorded is a work of art.

And it's a lot harder to have a video game that is a work of art. Because unlike a book where you can create a world and fill it with characters with your limitless imagination, a programmer has to use whatever tools he has to create a world and convince you for a moment that it's real. Story writers have to conjure convincing and engaging dialogue, stories with believable characters. But right now what we're left at is a movie. And so the final step is making the the entire experience interactive and enjoyable to play through.

And I believe Bioshock: Infinite does this extremely well in a fashion that has not been seen in years.

So nice to see colours as opposed to bland greys and browns.

The Bioshock series is known for creating entire cities from long gone eras. The original Bioshock rendered an entire dystopian city under the Atlantic ocean with decor, weapons, and music from the 1960s. Bioshock Infinite went in the opposite direction, recreating a floating American state sometime during 1912. I'm just going to say it now, Colombia is beautiful.

You play as a man named Booker DeWitt. Suffering from rampant alcohol and gambling problems for the last number of years he owes a lot of money to a lot of bad people. Without any options left, he is forced to go to the floating city of Columbia with a single objective: "Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt".

As nice as Colombia may appear, there is a lot of blatant racism (which makes sense given the era) and a lot of religious fanaticism for the leader of Colombia, Father Comstock. In fact, the girl you're attempting to kidnap is Comstock's daughter, Elizabeth.

Feisty one.

Elizabeth actually doesn't mind being "kidnapped" as she's been locked away in a tower for most of her life and she escorts you throughout most of the game. And here's where the game really shines. Elizabeth's AI makes her more than just an escort, and she responds and acts like someone who has spent her entire life isolated.

In most other games, your AI companions stand around and do nothing. They move when you move and go when you go. You leave Elizabeth alone, and she'll run off to look at something, make a comment about what you're doing (e.g. getting mad at me for going into the woman's bathroom), or go sit down and rest for a bit. And her body language and facial expressions change to fit the mood. She'll scowl and fold her arms at me, frown and fiddle with her hands, etc. etc..

I know some of you might not think that this is all that amazing, but to have an AI companion who is actually interesting and engages the protagonist and environment is quite a bit step for video games. She responds in real time, in unique ways as opposed to ham-handed scripted cut scenes. Most of the times we got a bland piece of cardboard that was boring at best and annoying at worst.

About as interesting as well.

If there's one complaint I have to make about Bioshock Infinite it's that the gameplay is a bit weaker compared to the other Bioshock games. The weapons and abilities didn't really stick out for me. It's also a bit overly violent at times, I mean, yeah I can kill a person OR I can turn his face into a piece of mush. It's excessive.

Actually, if Elizabeth catches you turning a man's face into pulp she'll respond with something like "Oh my god" or "Ugh" and I actually felt bad. It got to the point where I felt so bad for distressing my AI companion that I stopped with the overkill. There was even a scene where I could draw my weapon and make a mess OR stay calm and proceed as normal. I knew the former would probably bother Elizabeth and so acted on the latter option and got stabbed in the hand by bad people for my stupidity.

And I'm not the only person who has gotten attached to this fictional character and has had their decisions swayed based on what would make Elizabeth happy. I feel that the writers did a great job fleshing out a relationship between Booker and Elizabeth and it shows. The story is also very well done and it had an ending that stuck with me.

That's also a rarity, the number of games where I finish and go "whoa" can be counted one 1 hand. Most of the time it's generic, mundane, and predictable cliches. Not Bioshock: Infinite. I did not see this ending coming. In fact, it turns out I missed A LOT of little details hidden in the game. Everything is important and everything has significance, you just don't notice it the first time around.

 Even this song has some importance.

So yeah, Bioshock: Infinite isn't perfect, especially the boss fights, those were terrible. But they did more right than wrong. In a sea of bland shooting games with boring/stupid stories and unmemorable characters, Bioshock: Infinite sticks out. With a colourful and unique world, and doing things we had never successfully seen with AI characters before (Alyx Vance doesn't count, most people hated her) I think this game should be praised for being adventurous.

I highly recommend it. Even if eating hotdogs out of trashcans seems a bit silly. And yes, that is a song by Fears for Tears, written in 1985. What's it doing in 1912 you may ask?

Well I could tell you, but that would spoil the game wouldn't it?

Paintball with Chase

You usually get to know people within your area of study. Some of them aren't so pleasant, you might remember Yu, the crazed student who cut himself beside me in the middle of class. Other students aren't so crazy, such as Chase who is slowly turning me into an alcoholic. We recently went out an got me a nice bottle of scotch.

Chase also enjoys paintballing, and after months of pushing and prodding, I finally gave in and joined him.

I would have preferred to stay home and enjoy my new purchase.

There's a reason why I sit in front of a computer and shoot at virtual targets with a mouse and keyboard. Firstly, I have better aim, secondly, I don't have to risk being shot, thirdly, I don't have all that much physical endurance or stamina.

But there I was, getting outfitted with paintball gear. Chase had a bunch of his own guns gathered over the years. Apparently the rental guns are garbage so I was loaned a semi-automatic rifle that required me to wear a vest because that's how the compressed air tank needed to be carried seperately.

Also, recall that I said Chase was less crazy. Because despite everyone else using semi-automatic weaponry, he was going painballing with a compact bow.

I didn't even know that they made bows that were capable of firing paintballs.

Badass or crazy, you decide.

I quickly learned that the best place to be shot was directly in the face. This may sound counter-intuitive but this is due to the mask. The mask takes all the paint, it doesn't hurt, and if you're unlucky, maybe some of the paint will get through the airholes.

Actually, being hit with a paintball going at close to 90m/s isn't that bad. I've seen the welts that my friends have gotten and those bruises are brutal. I got hit in the ankle, shoulder, side, both elbows, and I have virtually no battle scars to speak of. Did it sting? Yes, but it wasn't as dramatic as I expected it to be.

If anything, it's my legs that are sore and uncooperative.

I've been walking like this all day.

I'm not exactly the most physically fit person, but I understand the concept of ducking behind cover, and running between cover. You do this for several hours, run up and downhill a few times while avoiding enemy fire, and before you know it, your legs are broken.

But I had a good time! It feels good to peg a person in the head with a good dose of brightly colored paint, or to duck behind a wall fast enough to hear someone waste their ammo on the wall beside you. One tactic that you can do is if you sneak up close enough to someone, you can yell MERCY. They can then give up or you can shoot them at pointblank range.

My point is, mercy kills are fun too.

Or you get a standoff situation.

Would I go again? I'm not sure. My legs still haven't forgiven me and I'm certain that I've sunburnt the back of my neck. Also, paint is kind of expensive and I'm not exactly rolling in cash.

Still, it was a good experience. And I really should get out more often.

Projects Update

Current debt:  $12,500

Time for an update with my projects. It's finally summer, I haven't been able to get a full-time job (two part-time ones will have to suffice for now) so that leaves me with plenty of time to get work done on everything. In theory anyways.

And because some projects are actually making me money now, I've decided to see if I could put a dent in my ever increasing debt. At the top of my post we can see my current debt and I'll update it every month.

But it's confession time, I'm still pretty irate at my ex's recent actions so I've been taking some me time. You know how some women console themselves by eating an entire bucket of ice cream in one sitting? I indulged myself in 8 to 12 hour non-stop gaming sessions. It's unhealthy and kind of stupid but I don't care at the time because it makes me feel happier.

Punching people in the face is very therapeutic.

Project Pitch:

I've gotten tired of waiting for the editors to get back to me on the pitch I submitted back in January. It's still sitting there, waiting to be approved a second time so I can write the actual thing (and get paid).

So I went out and submitted 2 more pitches. And both of those are still sitting there, waiting to go through the whole process again. I'm hopeful, though I should probably keep throwing things at them until something sticks.

Project Derp:

Ah, this project. It really does feel like climbing a mountain or something. Everytime I take a step forward I can look behind me and see how far I've come. And yet, I can look up and see how much further I still have to go.

Despite significant increases in traffic, the second phase is still only about a third of the way to becoming self-sufficient. And after that, I'll still need to turn a decent profit before I can consider moving up to the third and final phase. I'm also working on a small side-project which will hopefully boost revenue. It may be a short-term solution but may provide insight as to how more long-term ventures in Project Derp should be organized.

Project Vegas:

Nope. Still hiatus. Still need to get to the third phase of Project Derp before I can revive this project.

Project Cold:

Marketing is going well. I wish I could have this as a full-time job because I'm making at least $15/h and up to $50/h. Unfortunately, this is all from commissions and if no one is home to talk with me and book an estimate I can't make any money. Kind of sucks being restricted to 3 hour shifts on evenings and weekends but a job is a job.

I'm hoping to get into the second phase of this project first but I need my manager to do a few things first. It's a bit odd how all the other marketers have disappeared and I'm the only one left...

Project Copy:

Oh wow, I can't believe I forgot about this one. I better start working on it again.

Project Koi:

Anyone who hasn't read about my recent failure at getting a new girlfriend via online dating can read part 1 and part 2 here.

Cheryl just sent me another message, I'm going to ignore it.

Project Pandering:

I've been throwing this one around for a long time but I didn't have the hardware to really do it justice. But thanks to my recently upgraded computer I think I can try and give this one a go again. It involves me getting back in touch with whatever husk of an artsy side I have left.

And ideally making a bit of cash on the side.

Project Raven:

Oh boy, this, this project I know is probably going to offend some people. Some of you will find it unethical, the rest will probably find it hilarious. Assuming I can get it to work. I've seen other people have resounding success with it before, and it won't take long for me to try it out.

Looking at the debt that I've built up, I could use the money. And suddenly the ways that I obtained said money seem less important. Don't worry, what I'm doing is completely legal. I'm not becoming the next Walter White.

And that concludes my monthly update on my projects. I've added 2 new ones to the queue which are Project Pandering and Project Raven respectively. Feel free to comment on any of them. I'm slowly getting less vague with some of the older projects but I don't want to give full details unless I'm successful (like Project Cold) or completely failed (like Project Koi).