1.31.2007

Runs in the family...

My sister just made an interesting post in which she draws attention to a "grey area" that surrounds any issue.

Anybody who knows me will know that, like my sister, I tend to gravitate to that same "grey area". I'm not argumentative; I usually end up coming off as stubborn, or people misunderstand my motives. And often I'm simply accused of being indecisive or unopinionated, which isn't the case at all.

In any case, go here and read the post. Most especially, the second(ish) paragraph about spin doctors, english class, and bullshitting.

My sister and I may be two very different people, but we're also very alike. We come from the same blood, after all. And we have the same oddball parents.

No news on the job front yet. Though I am noticing a disturbing trend with companies: they like to tell you they'll call on a certain day at a certain time for a certain reason, and then string you along for days or even weeks and make you sit around waiting for a phone call that isn't coming. I have a life too, Corporate World. I have better things to do than wait for you to call me. If you say you'll call, do it. Frankly, I'm finding this behaviour very unprofessional on the part of those guilty parties.

1.25.2007

Panhandler in Training

Well dammitall. I'm beside myself with shock. Stupid karma...

Once upon a time I worked at a call center doing tech support for a high profile computer company. It was an okay job and good experience, but in the end it didn't make me happy and so I quit. And I swore never ever to work at a call center again.

So I've been looking for work for the last 4 months. It's getting to the point where I desperately need a job and I'm starting to consider applying for things that I previously thought I would never consider doing.

Last week I applied for a job at Telus. They've been hiring for their Telus mobility call center lately. And while it churned my stomache to imagine working in a call center again, the prospect of earning $18.55/hour was very promising. And they way I had things figured, between my previous call center experience and my previous cell phone sales experience, they would be foolish not to hire me.

On Monday I was called in to complete a "skills assessment test". Which didn't really assess skills at all. There were a few logic problems, but mostly it was a test to profile your personality and determine how you would handle a customer service position. It basically simulated phone calls, offered multiple responses to the simulated customer, and asked you to rate those responses good, moderate, or poor. I didn't find it all that difficult as it was basically like doing what I used to do at my old tech support job.

We were told that we'd hear within a week if we had been selected for an interview.

I have just found out that I have been passed up. I won't even be getting an interview. On the bright side, it means that I can stick to my vow to never work in a call center again.

F#$k you, Karma. F#$k you.

I have 6 to 8 weeks left on EI, and no job prospects. I'm running out of time, money, and options, all at the same time. I'm royally f#$ked. I honestly don't know what to do.

I guess somewhere along the line the world decided that despite all my effort and hard work at being me these past 26 years, I'm just not good enough at that. I want to curl up and die.

(But don't worry, I won't. That would be foolish.)

1.18.2007

Now accepting applications

While avoiding doing anything constructive today, I stumbled across this article, which draws attention to the fact that geeks are clearly better dating material.
Ladies, if you're still after the bad-boy type, give this article a read.

(har har. Right, there are no ladies reading this except maybe my sister)

Which leaves me asking, why the heck am I still single?
(I already know the answer. It's mostly a rhetorical question.)

I am now accepting applications for prospective dates. Please send your name, age, physical dimensions, interests and hobbies, and an answer the following question: Do you prefer chocolate or ice cream?

In the meantime, I'm going to go get a tattoo and stock up on leather jackets and cigarettes, just in case this geek-chic trend doesn't last.

1.17.2007

Trading one addiction for another.

So as any knowledgeable 'gamer' knows, the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade expansion was released yesterday. All my friends, or at least those that play WarCrack, as it is affectionately called, rushed out to get their copies. I suspect I won't be seeing of hearing from a few of them for some time.

My roommates are both among them. But of course, I live with them, so I'll be seeing them rather frequently. I just won't be able to have conversations with them unless I log in to Azeroth or prefix anything I try to say to them with a '/tell'.

Last fall they encouraged me to join in the addicting fun that is Warcraft. I finally broke down. And for a few months I quite enjoyed it. But after about 6 weeks I found the entertainment value growing somewhat stagnant. I was starting to lose interest. And nobody wants to pay $20/month for a game they're not playing, so I cancelled my account.

So now that BC is out, I'm being tempted again. I've resolved not to give in. (Okay, well at least not until after I finish a few other games on my list).

So I went to the comic store today to pick up a few things. I had an urge to splurge. I wanted to spoil myself with something new and fun and exciting. Sandman volume 5 was all sold out, to my dismay. I was really looking forward to reading that.

Instead, I bought 2 of these.


It's not quite the same as the online version, but I figured it would be a little more social, possibly more entertaining, and not nearly as costly as that $20/month subscription fee.

Clever Blizzard. They've designed it in just such a way that, like any other CCG I've ever played, you basically have to buy more cards. The game requires a 60 card deck. The clever bastards give you a 30 card starter and two 15 card boosters, which means that right from the get-go you don't even have a full 60 card deck, since you won't be able to use the majority of the booster contents in your 30 card preconstructed deck. Nevermind the fact that the hero classes in the pre-con. decks aren't labelled on the box, so there's now way of knowing what kind of deck you're purchasing until it's too late. What if I don't wanna play a Night-Elf Druid, huh? What about that?

Maybe I should just reactivate my WoW account and log back in... *sigh*

( In all honestly though, I'm really looking forward to trying this game out. It's been a while since I've played a good CCG. I kinda miss them. Just a little. )

1.15.2007

|:: Channel Open ::: Begin Transmission ::|

Grayscale, my former "blog", is being abandoned. As much as I liked having a custom-designed site, it just didn't have all the functionality I would have liked. It was a neat experiment for me, but I just don't have the technical know-how to improve upon that page and make it do everything I want.

So instead, I've made myself a page on blogger. I feel like I'm cheating myself somehow. At least now I'll be able to post neat things like links, images, and multi-colored text. And should anybody care to respond to whatever I've written, now they'll have the means.