Tag Archives: seattle

Coal Mines and Anniversaries

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First off, I’d like to wish my lovely bride a very happy anniversary. As she has already commented in her LiveJournal, we’re going out for dinner tonight, and then on Saturday we’re going to the Utah Phillips concert. A year of marriage has passed, and I’m still glad I did it. Sure, we have our rough spots and arguments, but not nearly as bad as some people, and we work through them pretty quickly. All in all, it’s a good way to be.

Second: Work! It seems that God has a very strange sense of humor… it seems like whenever I’ve about given up and decided that we’re going to have to move to DC, he throws us a crumb (not even a bone). Just enough to keep the hope of staying out here alive. On life support, but alive. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m now employed as an XBox game tester for the company that does the testing for Microsoft. It pays $9.25, and is extremely sporadic. Went two or three weeks calling (as it is an “on call” position) with no luck, and then finally I was supposed to work this whole week (full 5 day shift).

That fell through, the size of the shift shrank, so the new guys (like me) were cut. Enter a call from the Apple Store down the street, who have my resume and would like to interview me for a position (what position is not yet clear). I’m hoping it’s a Mac Genius position, as I think that would make me most happy of the potential roles. The interview is tomorrow.

Also enter a new job posting over at OmniGroup, for a Support Ninja position for their web browser, OmniWeb. I SO fit the qualifications, and needless to say I sent off my resume that very evening. I haven’t heard back yet, but that’s fine. I hope I do get a call back, though.

So while all that is happening… I get a call from VMC (the game testing gig), saying “So, are you available Wednesday and Thursday and possibly Friday?” Since I’d scheduled my Apple interview for after work would be getting out back when I thought I’d be working this week, my schedule was, in fact, free.
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Weekend in the Sun

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This past weekend was delightful, pure and simple. It started early with Mickey coming home after a half-day on Friday (if she works even just an hour longer on the rest of the work days, then that means she can take a half day on Fridays). We ate, then went shopping for various knicknacks (cross stitching materials, clothes, et cetera), then went and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which I really, REALLY liked. It was surreal, sublime, and very much a Charlie Kaufman movie. I felt that both Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet did fantastic jobs with their roles, and there are some real moments while jaunting around inside Carrey’s head. (In particular, I’d like to point out any of the scenes where he’s a child.)

One of the interesting things about the movie (to me, anyway) was that we see the feelings and emotions and thoughts of this character who is incapable of saying it in the real world. So we (the audience) becomes endeared to the character, because we see this nakedness. WE see how much he cares about Winslet’s character. We want them to be together, and after all why wouldn’t they after that level of honesty? She’d have to have a heart of stone to not be with him after that.

And then you remember, it’s all in his head. She doesn’t know ANY OF IT, and may never.
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I gots me a job

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Well, the constant job searching for many months finally paid off. I had my orientation today — mostly just signing LOTS AND LOTS OF PAPERWORK. Said paperwork also included not one but TWO NDAs, so unfortunately I won’t be able to talk about my work all that much other than generically.

The job is that of game testing for the XBox. The pay is $9.25 an hour, and I am only “on call”, so some weeks will be a lighter work week than others, but the bright side of this is I can choose how proactive I want to be. It also means when things come up (like the time spent away in Chicago this June for a wedding), I’m simply not available for work that week.

They also offer benefits, training (and I don’t mean “job training” — I mean they offer classes in various tech related topics), and other nice things… they’re even willing to help you polish your resume so you can land more permanent work. The drawback is that it means being AT WORK at 7am, at least at first. Work starts at 8am, but until you’ve done it a bit and know the routine, they want you there by 7. I’ve never been much of a morning person, but really this just means getting up… two hours earlier than I do now (and, in fact, earlier than I had to get up for school, which used to start at 7:50am).

Going back to the scheduling thing, talking to the lady giving my orientation, it sounds like generally it’s 2-3 days a week, and that a 5 day work week doesn’t happen all THAT often. While we could certainly use the 40 hour work week (and the potential for overtime that doing a full week allows) in terms of money, I’m actually kind of relieved about this, since it means that I’ll be able to continue to dig into this semester.

All in all, I’m pretty excited about it. I’m aiming to start work on Tuesday (Saturday is Mickey’s birthday, and she has a half day tomorrow at work, plus Sunday is Mother’s Day, and Monday I have an appointment).
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One Hundred Fifty and 0/100

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So, this is my 150th post. I suppose now would be a good time to go back through my previous entries and see where I was, where I am now, and how the hell I got here, but really I’d rather not right now. I’m a long-winded fucker, and that’s a hell of a lot of writing to read. Maybe later, when I’m feeling more nostalgic/philosophic.

I’m currently sitting in my living room, on the futon, with my legs up on the coffee table. The patio door is open with the screen in place, letting the air circulate through the house because it’s been exceptionally nice out. I can hear birds outside, and I’ve plugged my iPod into my stereo, playing through my uber-compilation (475 of my favorite songs, no duplicates, set to random). It has largely been a good day, so I’m not entirely sure why I’m feeling vaguely sour right now.
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SLOW: Children at Play

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I’m currently sitting in the Redmond Town Center Mall, which is this very rich, very ritzy outdoor mall. It is in the mid to upper 50s, and sunny, which means that it is mildly busy with housewives and small children. Not horribly by any means, just enough to be noticeable. What is remarkable about this to me is that none are screaming, crying, or having tantrums. It reminds me that children can in fact be delightful fun when they are happy, playing in the fountain (one obviously meant to be played in, no less). There is a collection of 3 or 4 children, none of whom are over 5, playing in the water (the fountain is flush with the ground, and rather remarkable, with a large brass bear (and two smaller cubs playing) sitting guard over it all.

Teenagers have also started infiltrating the mall, as school is out. They are well dressed and pretty clearly the children of some of the wealthier denizens of the area. They are also hanging around the fountain, and are being remarkably well behaved and friendly to the small children. After visiting east coast malls, this is a refreshing change, and I’m fairly impressed. I’m a big fan of people behaving respectfully to everyone around them, leaving the chipped shoulders elsewhere. After all, the sun is out, now is not a time to be pissy.
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Outage and Funny

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First: sorry I didn’t post the past few days. We had a connection outage for the past day and a half because of the wind and rain that’s currently hitting Seattle. Back up now, though (obviously).

Next: So true.

Last: I got a haircut yesterday, finally. I am now slightly less shaggy. Mickey and I are both pleased with the result. I’d post a picture, but, well, I’m lazy. Toodles!

Sanity, Work, and Me.

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I did a lot of virtual running today. Money issues have been pressing over the past few days, really made manifest by the current frustrations in collecting the funds for the upcoming semester of school. There were several emails batted back and forth trying to confirm little details and to get the process under way, a process further delayed by the fact that tuition apparently went up this semester, a notice of which I have not yet received, due to the additional time it takes from mail forwarding.

Then came the calls, contacting the bursar, confirming that yes, the tuition DID in fact rise. Then getting back to the Bank to let them know that yes, it did in fact go up (they refused to do any of the running around on this, even after receiving an official bill from the school and then being confused by the information therein). I am not happy with the bank, and I’m less happy with my aunt, who acts as trustee to the account (if you’re reading this, sorry, but it’s the truth: this sort of bullshit pisses me off).

I’ve been contemplating graduate work after getting my Bachelors. Really, the thing that has been holding me back the most is that I’m not sure if I want to have to deal with fighting for every penny out of a fund explicitly created for my education. I do not feel that the intentions of my grandmother when she created the trust are being upheld. Unfortunately, I am unsure what, if anything, I can do to correct that.
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Settling In

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Everyone talks about the horrendous lines and crowded waiting rooms when dealing with the DMV. It has become something of a cliche, really. I have been blessed with having never had to wait for more than 10 minutes at any DMV, ever. I can’t help but wonder if this is somehow related to the fact that Gladys seems to be my Godmother of sorts.

For those not familiar, Gladys is the goddess of parking and traffic. Every time you pay a toll or a parking meter, you are leaving money at her altars. If you don’t want to consider her deific or anything, just think of her as one of those spirits that Shakespeare was alluding to when he said “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Hamlet I,v,166) Personally, that’s more of how I consider Gladys. I was first introduced to the reference by my wife shortly after I met her for the first time.
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The Update of Quasi-Doom

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Ahoy there, mateys, it be “Talk like a Pirate Day!” (Arrr).

Relax, I’m not going to do an entire freakin’ post in “piratespeak”. That would be akin to the deliciously evil torture of writing in l33t, and I’m just not that mean. It’s been a while since I updated, so I DO expect this to be a fairly lengthy post, so you are hereby forewarned.

It has been nine (9) days since I last posted, and I think it would behoove me to explain what I’ve been doing. I think the best way I can sum it up would be this: go read my essay. Though it is now done (I mailed it around 2:30pm yesterday), there was a LOT of final preparations that took up the past week. This would include: finishing the last few chapters, and making requested/suggested revisions to the rest of the essay, doing a final self-crit, and printing it out. The essay is 49 pages, with bib it becomes 51. NOT included in that PDF is the other 50 pages (table of contents, cover sheet, testimonials, and examples). This is partially because for formatting reasons I did them as two separate files, and partially because I’m not making the area I submitted available to the public (I chose Senex Operis because it is relatively short at around 40 rooms, and has the most real-world research in it, as all the gladiators in the area are accurately depicted from their historical counterparts).
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General Foo Strikes Again

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Today was much less zombie-like than yesterday, and I can’t explain why. It just was. I came downstairs, put on some jazz, and checked my email, where I finally received 1) more than 2 pieces of email, and 2) a response from Jody, the head of the EXCEL program at Union Institute and University, reviewing my EXCEL essay thus far. I got a very favorable response, though there was an overwhelming request for more personal examples of what I was talking about. This is difficult for me, as I find it hard to write both personally and what I deem “professionally”. I’ll just have to do what I can, though. It’s due the 22nd, which means it needs to be in the mail by the 19th, which means I need to be done by the 18th. 17 days from now, essentially. This shouldn’t be too hard, though. I don’t have that much more to do.

In other news, I had a meeting with some folks from PA today, concerning working with them to bring UberCon to the Seattle area. This went over VERY favorably, and I’m back to being excited about the prospect of organizing the convention again. I need to send them some information, but that’s mostly information I need to confirm with Kevin, first (such as any changes made to the sponsorship forms, et cetera). I can’t talk too much about it yet, but it’s definitely a “Yay” situation.

I’m a little frustrated with my content right now. Nothing wrong with blogging, I suppose, but I just feel like I should have more content that is relevant to more than just people who know me. More essays, reviews, and art. That said, I just picked up criticalgames.com, which will be a site dedicated to discussion of games as a serious medium for creative expression.
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