The Story So Far...

Still no job, still single, still everything (which includes the other kinds of "still", i.e. still healthy, still have a roof over my head, still extremely well-fed, etc.).

I had a second-level job interview today...for a video game company! Like my first interview, however, I found out very little about the position, salary, if there were any other employees who spoke English or would I be the first, benefits, etc.. The good news is, if I do get the job I won't start until January, which means I can go home for Christmas.

The bad news is that they will let me know if I got it or not...in 3 weeks.

This puts me in a bit of a quandary. Should I wait until I find out, then HOPE to find a flight home? Should I just not risk it? Obviously, I'll keep looking for work while I wait, but what to do about the holiday?

A tiny voice in my head says: "What! Go! Fly home for the holidays! You haven't been since Easter! Just charge it! You're not going to be unemployed for long!"

A slightly louder voice says: "You won't get this job, or the next, or the next. You will end up at another crap job that does an even worse job at paying the bills than your previous job. You can't afford it, or the new computer you want, either. Heh heh heh. Just saying."

They are both drowned out by a very loud male and female voice, shouting "you buy that ticket and ve'll kill you. You vill not have a very good time if we kill you" in comically exaggerated Russian accents.

My sister advised me to go anyway, but she does not always advise what's best for me.

Have I mentioned, by the way, how many fricken people I have been running into? A couple of weeks ago I saw a guy at a party who was in my class in high school. HIGH SCHOOL, for Pete's sake. The following week I saw this girl who I acted in a couple of plays in with...six years ago.

I think I need to go back to Japan...

Update Coming Soon

Or now, I guess. Dammit, feeling sorry for yourself is a full-time JOB, people. Those entire series of old shows I sort of liked aren't going to re-watch themselves, you know.

Nothing New

Haven't posted anything in a while. I don't know what it is about being in front of my crappy laptop in my dirty apartment that just makes me want to stop thinking. I should be looking for a job. I should be finding a job. Shouldn't I have had at least ONE job interview since that last one?

I was also just about to buy a netbook, just so I could work outside of the home. It's nice to get out once in a while. Then I was going to buy a new laptop to replace this 5 year old piece of crap. In the end, I got cold feet, and I didn't buy anything. It's just as well, I guess, since I have no job.

I have been trying to find work in the video game industry. I am not a computer engineer or programmer or an artist. I have never worked in the industry before. I know it's the hottest industry or whatever, but still, come on. One company can't call me? I'm that unemployable? I resent being told that I suck by an entire industry.

In any case, it looks like I may not be able to go home this Christmas.

YES WE DID!!!

I got to go to a bar tonight and watch Barack Obama get elected the next president of the USA. I also bought a cat laser. This is one of the best days of my life.

I had a second date...

It was sorta fun, but I came to the realization that he's not for me. I know, I know, beggars can't be choosers, but it's all too clear he's not the guy.

For the record, he is a number of very good things: he's tall, thin, likes video games and British comedy and all that good stuff, PLUS he's into the fatticakes (although he says he isn't, which I think is very sweet).

He's clearly in it for the sex, though. Plus he doesn't like to bathe. His words, not mine.

I had a date!?

Yeah, I can't really believe it either. I think he's into short, fat and bald, which is unusual because he's only two of these.

I know, I'm being vague. Suffice it to say, this sort of thing doesn't happen very often. I mean, someone dropping out of the sky to send you an email through plentyoffish telling you how much he's into you.

Well, it was yesterday. Nothing happened (of course. I'm not that kind of guy. He is, though), but I had a fairly good time. It would have been better if we both weren't suffering from colds.

I'm still a little bit in shock. More once I determine the whole thing wasn't just a fever dream.

Freaky Fricken Friday!

I don't deal well with coincidences. When I run into someone from my past it is invariably a bad experience, because I keep in touch with the people I like. Here's a picture:

It doesn't relate to this entry, I just thought it was a while since I posted a picture.

ANYWAYS, last Friday I met with a friend of mine to chat about a documentary he wants to make (he actually does this for a living!). We were on Commercial and we finished around 1 PM. I was meeting some friends way down Broadway, but not until that evening, so I figured I'd go for a good, long walk. Pump up my pedometer a little. I still have a great time exploring this city, I had time to kill. Whatever, I like long walks! I'm not on trial here!

So I'm walking for about 20 minutes when I see a little computer store across the street. Those of you who have been following my enthralling blog (or "enthralblog") know I am currently in the market for a netbook. So I cross the street and go in.

The first thing I see is this guy, Mike. He works from time to time as a contractor at the place where I had been working (before this bout of unemployment. I'll tell you about it sometime). He didn't recognize me without my shirt and tie, but I said "hi" and we chatted for a bit. Okay, not so bad, right? Hi, nice to see you, getting your computer fixed? No, we have no netbooks, we have no netbooks today. So I keep walking.

Keep in mind that this is not my neighbourhood and it's nowhere near where I used to work. Vancouver is a large city, from what I've been told. Therefore, running into someone like that is a bit unusual.

I keep walking for a while and I finally reach my destination for the evening, about four hours early. I figured I would pop into the nearest Starbucks, order something large and sweet, crowbar myself into one of those cushy chairs and play PSP or write some notes for a few hours. There are worse ways to spend your afternoon when you're unemployed.

First things first, however. I go to the washroom, "freshen up" (by expelling urine from my bladder), then as I walk out of the washroom I see something in the cafe that I did not see coming in:

MY FORMER BOSS

Not the one from the job I just had, the one from the job I had prior to that, which I had escaped with the last remaining shreds of my dignity and sanity, balls thoroughly busted. She was having a meeting with the other regional bosses. Her back was to me. I have no idea whether or not she saw me, but I got the hell out of that place. Of all the Starbucks in all the world...

So I go, quivering, to another cafe across the street and attempt to calm myself with an iced chai. This place was bigger, and it had a whole separate section with big comfy chairs. As soon as an opening presented itself, I plopped into one of the seats and settled my ass in for a good afternoon's relax. Of course, I don't think this would be a very interesting post if that was the end of it...

Right smack in the middle of the room was this woman. I hadn't seen her in about, ooo, seven years. We had been in a couple of plays together, but she had become distant and unfriendly for some reason and I wrote her off as a cow. THIS WAS BACK IN EDMONTON, remember.

Chances are, whoever reading this is a more well-adjusted person than I am and is probably not used to the experience of having someone you once knew and spoke to regularly become that person you walk past in the hall without acknowledging or without them acknowledging you. She was one of these people, and she was one of many. One of the main reasons I left Edmonton in the first place was to escape from these burned bridges.

And there she was! I wasn't sure it was her (this woman's hair was much nicer and silkier, as if she'd discovered some new conditioner in the past few years), so I didn't say anything, and she didn't say anything, though I'm sure she recognized me. So I ended up sitting in that coffee shop for several hours, playing my little video games, glancing at her surreptitiously, trying to find some sort of signal that it wasn't really her and I could relax, and the whole reason she wasn't coming over to say "hi" was because we had never met.

I think a lot of people reading this may have some trouble understanding why this was all so unpleasant. I think it's one of those "you have to have an anxiety disorder to understand" types of things.

In any case, it was all I could do to go outside the coffee shop again.

OH, but there is a bright spot to this story. I ended up taking the bus quite late. I arrived at Marine Drive and checked the bus schedule, and saw that my bus (the last bus of the night) was not due for 25 minutes. It was cold as ass and I was underdressed, so I figured I might as well start walking. In 25 minutes, I could at least get halfway home.

I had been walking for about 5 minutes (and was no longer anywhere near a bus stop) when suddenly I saw my bus coming by! 20 minutes early! This was not unusual in my experience with the bus service in this city, but what WAS unusual was the fact that the bus pulled up next to me and ITS DOOR OPENED!!

Long story slightly less long, the driver was actually late, not early (his was the previous bus) and he actually recognized me, despite the fact that it was from behind, I was wearing a hat, it was nighttime and he was in a moving vehicle. He even knew where my stop was. I'm sure if he hadn't picked me up, I would have caught something, or at least been very cold.

If there is some sort of cosmic message here, it has been lost on me.

Damn.