If my sources are correct (and they should be), today is the final day that contractors will be on-site at DTVBB. I'm not sure about the White Badges, but with no people to manage ... well, how much time can they have left themselves?

I feel a twang of melancholy, but it's the same twang that's followed me for the past month and a half. I lament over the job that I had. It was progressively destroying my soul, sure. But I had my friends, I had my reps, I had my cube, and I had a honkin' big paycheck. It's not quite the bitter loathing that I harboured back in the beginning, but it's still evident when I go to my new job and wish that I had my own space, or walk into Best Buy and wish I could spend $100 on DVDs without a second thought.

Speaking of second thoughts, I had one (again) last night. I had plenty of time to think as I tossed and turned restlessly, but that's a bitch for another time. Anyway, I think that I'm going to do that which others have encouraged me to do -- write a book on my thoughts and observations. Bascially, big ranting with chapters. I think this has a really good chance of being something to get my foot in the door, based solely on the e-mail that I get every day. I mean, you'd buy it, right? Of course you would.

This weekend, I will indeed write my new rant. And then I think I shall start on my book.

Listening To:The Ballad of John and Oko - The Beatles

Looking Forward To:Weekendy goodness.

<yawn> I so can't wait for a later shift.

That's better. Much better.

So after a few days of pretty much just going through the motions ... well, I'm still pretty much just going through the motions. But at least my mind is beginning to function again. That's a welcome return.

Frankly, I have no idea how I've been able to do much of anything these past few days. Not just in the activities of driving to work and remaining conscious, but in actually participating in training. And I know I have been, because I have completed written exercises in my training manual, and I actually vaguely recall being praised on one of those stupid role-playing scenarios I had to go through yesterday.

I'm reminded more than a little of when my senior year term paper. I was comparing and contrasting Camelot, The Once and Future King and Idylls of the King. However, in my typical Jet Wolfian way, I pretty much left it to the last minute. And I was unbelievably sick during that last minute. I have fuzzy memories of sitting in front of the computer, wrapped in a blanket and trying desperately to not pass out. A friend of mine actually had to come and collect the paper for me and turn it in on my behalf, I was too sick to do so myself. I was certain that I'd done horribly on it, but there was little I could do.

Two weeks later, the teacher was handing them back out, and discussing particularly poignant paragraphs. I wasn't paying too much attention, I was too nervous about my atrocious grade and thinking how I wish I'd been able to sound as clever in my paper. Imagine my surprise when she finished reading and handed it to me.

I only lost three points total for missing a few punctuation marks.

I re-read the paper, and frankly, I'm still not completely convinced that it's the same one that I wrote in my fever-driven delirium.

But I digress. My point is, I've sort of felt like that these past few days myself. But today, I know that I'm conscious because I feel miserable. My teeth ache. Bloody sinuses.

The training for the job progresses. The bile doesn't rise quite as high in my throat anymore, so I think that's a good sign. I actually had a little talk with myself (while in the fog, so maybe I thought I was really talking to someone else, who knows) and pretty much decided that I wasn't going to find anything else at this point that paid as much and wasn't a corporate environment, so I'd better just suck it up, do what I'm paid to do, and focus on the writing.

Of course, I say that every other entry and then don't write anything, so bear with me while I work out the kinks.

I'm actually hoping that this weekend things will be better for me. JW's State of the Union rant that I started working on a week or so ago is even more appropriate now.

In other news, I wanted to say that Mike is officially the sweetest guy in the whole wide world. When I stumbled in from work today, he was waiting there with a rose. Just cuz. Everybody "Awwwww" with me now.

"Awwwww."

Listening To:Goodbye - Gravity Kills

Looking Forward To:Chewing on something to help stop this ache. I feel like I'm teething.

Sick sick sick sick sick. Soooo sick.

Good lord, I'm ill. I sincerely hope that it's an exaggeration to say my first six months will be spent feeling like this. At least I don't feel like I did at 6am when I woke up. I felt so bad I was heading rapidly towards the tired-and-crying stage of sickness. I actually feel better at this exact moment in time. At least I have health insurance now. Although not for 30 days. I may actually have to use it.

Belatedly, but everyone wish my my Art Slave a happy birthday.

Mmm. Weekendy goodness. I have a problem, though. I think I'm getting sick.

The number of people up there who have colds or flu or something is immense. I was told by at least five different supervisors up there that I'll probably spend my first six months in a state of perpetual illness. I didn't really think much of it. I don't get really sick very often, and I've been in call centers before, you know? But then yesterday I started coughing much more than usual, and this morning I woke up with a slightly sore throat, which is always my early warning sign.

Looks like lots of OJ is in my future. I am so not in the mood to be sick.

When I got home yesterday, Mike had been a sweetheart and surprised me with SimCity 4 and plans to go out for dinner to celebrate my first week. We hit the Outback. We rather .. uhm, gorged ourselves. Now bear in mind that we came home with about 2/3rds of what we ordered (today's lunch), but it was still incredible. Cheese fries. coconut shrimp, he got a steak and I got a burger. For those who have never been to the Outback, these are huge portions, and it's only the two of us. And, of course, we also got bread, drinks, and his steak came with soup.

After this Roman-style feast (only without the trip to the vomitorium) the waitress asked if we wanted anything else. Without hesitation, Mike said "We want a Chocolate Thunder'." Also without hesitation, the waitress exclaimed "Oh my god!" She then turned to me and said "Is is really going to eat all that?" "He's a growing boy," I replied.

When she left, we burst out laughing. "Oh my god!" is never a thing you want to hear your waitress say. We'd had a bantering interaction going all night long, so it wasn't as rude as it sounds on paper. We left her a good tip.

After arriving home I played Vice City while digesting. Until a particularly irritating mission pissed me off, and I then turned to SimCity 4.

It's ... different. I'm a huge fan of the Maxis games. I've been playing SimCity since a friend gave me a bootleg copy of the now-titled SimCity Classic. That was such a sleepless week. A few years later they released SimCity 2000, and I bought it without hesitation. It was so advanced that remember having to use a special boot disk for my PC to ensure that there were enough resources to play the game. The same with SimCity 3000.

SC4 takes the model and, I suppose, improves upon it more. But I think that Maxis has been too influenced on the popularity of The Sims, since the interface has now been modelled on that game instead of previous SimCity titles. As a result, after about an hour and a half of playing, I'm not sure if I prefer it to SC3K. The graphics are incredible, and I love the detail, but whereas before I could dive right in to a SimCity game, I actually had some trouble with figuring out where all the commands were and exactly what it was doing. ("Why the hell are you building a road for me? Stop that!")

But I think I'll enjoy it, once I get used to it. If nothing else, I can load preconfigured towns and then destroy them with a giant robot that obays my every command. You couldn't do that with SC3K.

Listening To:Rainy Day Women - Bob Dylan

Looking Forward To:The Super Bowl. For the commercials, of course.

It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday!! Yaaay!

....that was more energy than I had to exert. I think I've ruined myself for the day.

Listening To:Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm

Looking Forward To:5pm.

I've found what is probably the only good thing about the morning drive: I can again listen to Gustav and Daria. I somewhat religiously listen to KNRK, but not for the reasons I'm sure they intend. Well, aside from the DJs, who are hilarious. But musically speaking, I only listen to the thing to hear what's passing for current music.

I mean, this morning? I swear to god I heard a song with the lyrics: "Fingernails are pretty. Fingernails are good. Seems like all I ever wanted was an omelet."

This actually has great rant potential, so I won't go into it too much here. Suffice it to say that I'm tickled that I can hear G&D in the mornings again. And I've caught Mark Trail twice in a row! Whoo-hoo!!

On the way home, I saw a helicopter on top of a hospital, and my immedate mental image was of me stealing the thing to terrorize the neighborhood. Too much Vice City? Nahhh.

Listening To:Lollipop (Candyman) - Aqua

Looking Forward To:The weekend. Big time.

Today wasn't so bad. I started off with an extremely negative twist. The EVIL VOICE in my head actually held a conversation with me, with the outcome being decided that I couldn't quit the job, because then I wouldn't be able to collect unemployment and we can't make it only on Mike's.

Now bear in mind that I haven't really started the job yet.

But after we went upstairs and spent most of the day on the floor, I actually began to feel a lot better, and I can't even hear the voice any more. After some thought, I think I'm just not used to being in a working environment where I didn't know everything. At DTVBB, I knew all the people I'd be working with, I knew my bosses, I knew the routines, I knew how to handle absolutely every situation that crossed my path. I had it down. I was comfortable. Now that comfort may have ultimately led to my downfall, as I was making so much for a job that came so easily that I probably never would've left the place. But here, I'm in a new place, feeling very much like a fish out of water. And I'm hardly the most social of creatures anyway, so being surrounded by unfamiliar faces is more stressful on me than anybody truly realizes.

But today, after being on the floor and getting a much clearer picture of how things work, I feel considerably better. Given that I spent the first half hour of the day debating with myself about how I couldn't afford to leave, this is a great improvement.

Also on the upside, I was digging around in my trusty backpack before the day started and I discovered a ratty old purple notebook. I still haven't actually cleaned out the thing from my pre-DTVBB job in Louisiana (the one that spawned OSB), and this notebook dated to that time. On the front was written "Screenplay Ideas". I cracked it open, and there were several pages of story ideas. This included all the plot and character details for my comic book project, which was a grand relief as I've forgotten most of them by now and didn't know that I'd written them all down somewhere. I had a few other bits and pieces that I'd disremembered over the years. But a great discovery for me was a screenplay idea, complete with title, plot and ending, that I had completely lost in the disorganized filing cabinets of my subconscious. I was extremely tickled by this rediscovery. I always liked the idea, and I'm not really sure why I forgot it in the first place.

The evening was capped when Mike and I met Jason at DTVBB to collect our 4th Quarter bonus. Frankly, I'm shocked and amazed that they're actually paying it to us, not to mention that it's for the full amount of $495. So that's an extra $1000 for Mike and I. I may actually splurge and buy SimCity 4 this weekend.

It was really strange to walk back into the place. Stranger than I thought it would be. Unfortunately, due to my job, we had to go at night when everybody who is still there (the small handful of them) had already gone home for the day. But seeing it so empty and deserted actually made it more freaky, I think.

But you know what really puzzles me? They didn't just give us the bonus. They also gave us a DTVBB clock. A FUCKING CLOCK. What the hell?? I can't help but feel like I've just been handed a lovely parting gift. What's next? A year's supply of Turtle Wax and Rice-A-Roni, along with a copy of the home game?

It was surreal and vaguely insulting, but I walked away with some cash in my pocket.

Come to think of it, that's a good analogy for my entire DTVBB experience.

Listening To:Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who (how appropriate)

Looking Forward To:The weekend.

Another day. At least I did sleep last night, something for which I am eternally grateful. It wasn't the best sleep in the world, but I only woke up about four times total, as compared to the, oh, 100 of yesterday.

I woke up this morning to a stern talking to by my Wuss. Which I have only partially digested in my tired haze, but am publically acknowledging the receipt of, less I incur further wrath.

And unfortunately, that's about all I have to say. My day only began 20 minutes ago, cut me some slack.

Listening To:Demolition Man - Def Leppard

Looking Forward To:Picking up the final DTVBB bonus tonight.

One day down, the rest of my forseeable life to go.

It wasn't ... BAD, I suppose. I mean, it's a job, and now I have all of the benefit details I'm that much more impressed. But ... dammit, I don't want to do this. I don't know if it was just the fact that I was so bloody tired all day or what (and we're talking about-to-pass-out exhausted here), but I really had to fight the urge to scream "I HATE THIS!!!" non-stop in my head all day long.

It's not that it's a bad job, and I'm technically doing less than I did at the old one .... Bah, I dunno. I'll try for a good night's sleep and see if things look brighter in the morning. At least we start at 9am tomorrow, and I have a general idea of how traffic will be so I don't have to leave quite so early.

I just have to make myself work towards doing something else, or I never will.

Yeah. I make it sound so easy.

Listening To:T-Shirt and Jeans - Razorbrain

Looking Forward To:Bed.

I got maybe two hours of sleep total. Maybe.

Bleah.

Listening To:The sound of me yawning incessantly.

Looking Forward To:A post-work nap.

Well. I guess it's bedtime.

<sob> I hate bedtimes.

I just got the call, and I start my new job tomorrow morning at 8:30am. I've already waxed angsty on the whole employment thing, so I won't bore anybody by going over it again.

The alarm will be set tomorrow, bright and early at 6:00 am. That is such an ungodly hour.

Listening To:Golden Eye - Tina Turner

Looking Forward To:That first paycheck. Money soothes the soul.

I half started a new Rant, but then stopped. I've been flitting around today from activity to activity, with few of them holding my interest for more than an hour or so at a time. I feel restless today, but I'm not altogether sure why.

That talk about setting aside a specific time to write? It's been a dismal failure thus far. It's probably because it's not coming easy to me, and this is a running theme of my life: If I have to work for it, I rarely do. Of course, that attitude won't really get my anywhere but in customer service jobs until I die. I suppose I'm a little closer to really making myself believe that fact and acting upon it, but if that were the case then I suppose I'd be writing right now.

Bah. Bad juju day. I think I'll actually make myself work on getting the rant done before bed. That should make me feel better.

Listening To:Totalimmortal - The Offspring

Looking Forward To:Nothing at the moment. Really bad juju day.

I really should stop trying to tweak this thing. It invariably never takes as short a time as I think it should. I sat down about two hours ago, "just" to link the archive files to the main page for easy access. Two hours later, when I have a raging headache and am half-blind from staring at the monitor, I'm finally satisfied. And it looks almost exactly like it did when I first started.

Why oh why did I have to be born a Virgo?

Listening To:Music from GTA3:VC (in my head).

Looking Forward To:Sleep? Please?

Ever have a day where you wake up and you're just in the whiniest, most pathetically grumpy mood imaginable? I'm there today. I wonder if it had anything at all to do with the complete inability to sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time last night? Nahhh.

I'm cashing in my "Take care of me, dammmit!!" card today, wherein I get as many hugs as I want and am officially absolved from doing anything remotely productive. Failure to satisfy my every whim (as well as possible given the mood) will be met with extreme displays of whinging.

Luckily I haven't had to go that route yet, and Mike is making me Macaroni and Cheese for lunch. I knew there was a reason I got married.

Listening To:Underground - David Bowie

Looking Forward To:Cheating some more on GTA3:VC.

We just made a trip to the store, wherein I splurged a bit and picked up a box of Red Berry Cheerios. I have completed a trial bowl. Let me tell you, that is some good shiznat.

Now I have a craving for Godiva hot chocolate. I think I shall refrain from indulging in that one, though.

Listening To:Brain Damaged - Pink Floyd

Looking Forward To:Trying out The Two Towers on the Game Cube.

We have this extremely strange phenomenon occurring on the baseball field accross the street from my complex. It appears to be the site of the 2003 Canadian Geese Convention. I'd say there are, oh, 200 or so of them over there right now. It's cute, if bizarre and slightly unsettling in a Hitchcockian way.

In other news, I have discovered something that I wish very much to do and yet will not be able to. In 2005, Portland will be host to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. You know, the place where they pretty much determine who will be on the Olympic team? Some of the best skaters in the world? They'll be skating their lithe little hearts out a mere 12 miles from my home. And I can attend this week-long event for only $800.

Yeeeeeeah.

Listening To:My 16th Apology - Shakespear's Sister

Looking Forward To:A relaxing weekend.

Today is looking much better. I slept extremely late but extremely well, and feel 100% better than I did yesterday. The weather looks beautiful. The sky is blue and clear, and I can see the mountains through the window. Nothing cheers me up more than that. Actually, that's a bright point for me with this new job. I have to drive quite a way for it, but as I curve around I-84, I am treated to my favouritest sight in the world: Mount Hood. And if it's a really clear day, I can see St. Helen's as well.

Mount Hood is my mountain, by the way. Just letting you know.

I'm actually starting to get kinda used to the hair. Combing it isn't as strange as it was a few days ago. I still look strange to myself, though. I think it's the fact that now my hair's down, I look so ... girly. Bleah. You know, I had a perfectly good lesbian image going on. Deep voice, broad shoulders, androgenous hair, plaid flannel shirt ... This haircut has just thrown the image out of whack. However will I be able to face downtown Portland again?

Listening To:Welcome to Paradise - Green Day

Looking Forward To:Lunch. Jet Wolf hungry.

I have but three things to say of today.

1) Much to my amazement, my hair is still short.

2) That cold I mentioned a few posts ago? It's back with a vengeance.

3) There are few things in this world more uncomfortably unnatural than attempting to urinate into a small plastic cup.

Listening To:Heart of Glass - Blondie

Looking Forward To:Tomorrow's projected Council.

Last night we finished watching Buffy. Not too bad. I preferred the second season ending, but when all was said and done, the mayor was a pretty nifty villain. Not your average run-of-the-mill evil guy. Maybe I'll have a bit more money by the time Season 4 comes out.

My today went fairly smoothly, although I started out in a horrendously bad mood for no particular reason. Those are the best. We were on a quest to find a copy of Dynasty Warriors 3: Extreme Legends (or whatever it's called). We checked in three separate stores and none of them were planning to get copies until tomorrow. On a whim, we checked one more place and hit the jackpot. Mike's downstairs now running through the Musou mode with his buff Lu Bu. He created an all-female bodyguard platoon and gave them names from Bubblegum Crisis. I worry about that boy sometimes.

Let's see, what else happened today..? Oh yes. I got my hair chopped off. The trademark pony tail? All gone. For the first time in about 15 years. Head ... feels weird ...

Why? That's an excellent question. I don't really know. It was an impluse decision. (For the non-Virgos out there, an impulse in our world means we only thought about it logically and created many lists for three or four days before deciding to take definitive action.) Seriously though, I'm not 100% certain why, but I got it into my head a few days ago to change the hair, so that's what I did. It's now about shoulder-length ... and that's about the best description you'll get out of me because I suck as describing these sorts of things.

It doesn't look too bad, I suppose. Again, my perception being somewhat non-focused on appearance, all I think when I look at it is "Different". Mike seems to like it, which is something of a surprise given his fanatical devotion to long hair. Personally, I think he's just tickled that it's down for a change. And down it shall remain for the forseeable future. I CAN put it up in a pony tail, but it's a very small, bushy, pathetic shadow of a pony tail.

Frankly, I'm still somewhat surprised that I went through with it.

Tomorrow I get to go pee in a cup for my job. That's my favourite way to get aquainted with new employers.

Listening To:Jett barking her head off. Pizza must be here.

Looking Forward To:Waking up tomorrow and realizing that yes, I really did cut off my hair.

Welp, I am again gainfully employed. As soon as I pass the background check anyway, which I don't anticipate will be a problem. $14 an hour with benefits, paid holidays and paid vacation. And the potential for bonuses every other week, which were described as nothing impressive, but hey, it could be a meal.

I'm somewhat mixed. On the one hand, the pay is nice. It's not what I was making before, but it's certainly better than what I'm currently making on unemployment. And then there's those benefits, which will be nice. On the other, it's another bloody customer service job, which I've had just about enough of. My mother emphasized it well, though. What's important is to not loose sight of what I really want to do. Everything else is just a paycheck.

Write screenplay, get paycheck. Write screenplay, get paycheck ...

I'm currently projected to start next week. Expect reports.

Listening To:My stomach growl. I think it's lunch time.

Looking Forward To:That above-mentioned paycheck.

I HATE WAITING!!! ARRRRGGGG!!!!!!

For such a dismal start, my day is looking up. I just got a voice message and e-mail from the people I interviewed with last week. I got the job, we just need to discuss the details.

Keep your fingers crossed for $13 to $14 an hour ...

Listening To:The cell phone not ringing.

Looking Forward To:....duh.

I feel like I'm in a philosophical mood today. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I woke up in a cold sweat, I can't breathe, and my head feels like someone stuffed a large Q-Tip through my skull.

Yup, I think I'm sick. Huzzah.

On the upside I'm also cranky. This is usually a prime state of being for writing. Provided I don't go pass out somewhere first.

Gods, I hate it when I can't breathe through the orifice designed for breathing. Nothing makes you look more intelligent than slack-jawed mouth-breathing.

So, how man times can I use the word "breathe" or any of it's variations in this blog?

Let's take a deep breath and find out.

Listening To:Me nosily NOT BREATHING CORRECTLY.

Looking Forward To:Kleenex.

ARG. I just lost the entry I wrote. Okay, that was one advantage that doing my HTML personally had over this web-based stuff. I never lost entries due to anything other than gross incompetance on my part. Grrrr.

I shall attempt to recreate.

.....and then post it later, as I appear to be experiencing technical difficulty. Consider this entry as being posted at 6:25pm PST.

Today has been a fairly productive day, given that I'm still on a down-swing. I started laying out my screenplay, cleaned up the house a bit, did some laundry, and returned to Final Fantasy Tactics. I was actually going to resume Persona 2, since Matt is tireless in his efforts to get me to finish the thing, but I quickly realized that I couldn't remember what I was doing or how to do it. After getting my ass handed to me during my first battle, I decided that it would probably be for the best to restart the game. And I just wasn't in the mood for that today.

Now I just have to wait for Mike to get out of the shower. His father just called and needs to speak to him. He sounded quite aggitated. Seeing as how our loving country has seen fit to ship him out to parts unknown in about a week, it's probably not good news. Did I mention that his father was supposed to retire in six months? So much for that. I love this country.

Listening To:The rain.

Looking Forward To:Finishing FFT ... although it probably won't happen this time either.

Okay, the not sleeping well thing? Getting tedious.

It's an impressively foggy day outside. I can see a row of trees just over the hill without a problem. And I can see the line of mountains rising above the trees just fine too. But inbetween there's nothing but dense grey nothingness. Interestingly unsettling. It makes you wonder what might be going on in the middle, just out of sight.

Today, I plan to begin my regiment of setting aside time to write. I also think I shall implement a "manditory" weekly rant. Just load up Reuters, grab any one of a number of topics that piss me off, and rant about them. Gotta get back into the swing of it, I don't think I've done a rant in about a year and a half now.

So much to do. So little energy to do it.

Listening To:Who the Hell are You? - Madison Avenue

Looking Forward To:My writing time, in a strange way.

A continuation of SlayerFest 2003 took up the bulk of today. Still going, actually. We're about 6 episodes until the end of the season. I'm enjoying myself greatly thus far, although they're going to have to work darned hard to top Doppelgangland. Ye gods, that's a funny freaking episode.

"That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil. And skanky. And I think I'm a little gay."

I had another idea for a short story today. I think tomorrow I shall attempt to write one. Fingers crossed.

.........

"Me and Oz play 'Mistress of Pain' every night." Tee hee.

Listening To:My computer's noisy fan. I must get in there and tinker with it.

Looking Forward To:Finishing out the season.

And that, as they say, is that. Amy's on her way home, and the house is empty once more. Well, except for Mike and Jett, of course. Actually, this is the first time that Mike and I have had any time alone together (alone together? I dunno, work with me.) in almost a month. We commemorated by gorging on Buffy. Thus far, I give Season Three two thumbs up. And I still have half of the set to go!

It's weird how you can get used to having someone around though, and miss them when they're no longer there.

Listening To:The cars outside.

Looking Forward To:Trying (again) to get a good night's rest.

Didn't post yesterday. Darn, there went that string.

We hit the zoo on Thursday. Quite enjoyable, and free! Can't beat free. Given that it was noonish on a Thursday in the middle of winter, there weren't a lot of people there. Which suited me just fine, we were able to observe the animals in peace and quiet. I'm still a little mixed on zoos, particularly with monkeys, but I can't deny that I had a blast watching some of the more active animals. For a change, the wolves and polar bears weren't loafing around. I got some nice shots of the wolves too, I'll have to see about posting them later perhaps.

The crowning moment of the day was watching the sea otters being fed. It was officially the cutest in thing in the whole wide world to watch them snatch a clam and bash it open on the glass tank. I could watch that all day.

After the zoo, we went home and watched a few Buffy episodes, and then were treated to dinner by an old work mate and rabid As If! fan. Fun stuff ... and also free!

Amy leaves in about 24 hours. It's been a hectic month for me ... laid off, Mike gone, Mark and then Amy visiting. I wonder what I shall do with myself as life settles back to a modicum of normalcy?

Listening To:Rock of Ages - Def Leppard

Looking Forward To:A good night's sleep. I didn't have one of those yesterday.

We had plans for today, but they sort of went out the window when both Amy and I rolled out of bed extremely hung over. Mike, who had refrained from much consumption the night before so he could police the rest of us, was sweet enough to whip up a great breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes to help calm my racing stomach. Unfortunately I didn't feel much better until about five hours ago, but the thought was nice and I love him for it.

So instead of going out, we stayed home and watched some of the video tapes my mother sent. One in the treasure trove was my collection of Just Say Julie episodes. If you're too young to remember the show ... well, I hate you. But you're also missing out. This is a classic that never was, and reminds me of the good ol' days when MTV was a good channel.

Ahh, Julie. How I adore thee. You were a voice of cynical reason for me in an otherwise shallow decade. Even when you make relatively unfunny movies.

Listening To:(in my head) Girl Fight Tonight - Julie Brown

Looking Forward To:Fully coming out of this fog I've been in all day.

On a flash of inspiration, I remembered Sunday that I had a slew of video tapes from the 80s which would serve as invaluable reference material for As If!. Unfortunately, I didn't include any of them when I moved, so my mother came through in a pinch and FedEx'd them all to me. They arrived this morning, so the first couple of today's hours were spent pouring over them. Ye gods it's embarassing to revisit yourself at age 13 when you're coasting down the hill towards 30. There's some great stuff in there too, though. Senior year footage and videos, when I'm slightly less embarassing ... but only slightly.

After a trot down memory lane we went downtown to visit Powell's. Amy found a book she'd been searching for. This is the beauty of Powell's. I found many things that I myself would like to pick up, but alas, I am poor at the moment. Maybe next time.

Oh, yes, and we also got lunch at my favourite pizza place. Mmm. Pizza.

I think I shall head downstairs now, reheat some of my leftover pizza, pop in the first Buffy DVD and mix a drink. This is the life. Now if only I were rich ...

Listening To:Raspberry Beret - Prince

Looking Forward To:Pizza-y, rum-y, Buffy goodness.

Had the interview today. I think it went fairly well, but I hate those professional interviewer people. They're always so darned hard to read. I should know by some time next week. The place itself looks alright. It's a mere fraction of what I was doing before, so I think I could do the job in my sleep. I really, really, really don't want to do another customer service/call center job, but they're about the best I'm going to get for the time being, I think. I just have to remember to focus on the writing. I'm actually riding a wave at the moment, feeling pretty good about things. Have to capitalize.

After our interview, we hit another mall. While there, I pre-ordered Buffy Season Three. I have about $30 in Replay certificates saved up, and with the pre-order discount, that means I can get the whole thing for $15. Not too shabby. What's even better is that it still counts as a pre-order, despite the fact that it'll be released tomorrow.

Aside from picking up the DVD set, we'll be hitting downtown tomorrow, methinks. And then I believe we're reserving the evening for booze. Whoo-hoo!

Listening To:Little Wonder - David Bowie

Looking Forward To:Taking these contacts out.

I think this will be a lazy day. I don't feel like moving out of my wonky chair very much. Although I did take down the Christmas tree, so there is marginal activity.

Amy started sketching out the pages for my half of the As If! comic. While she was here, she brought along a print version of the first half. May I say that it looks phenominal. I'm really excited about it.

I was checking out some stats just before working on this. Someone stumbled on to As If! by searching for "BACON CHEETOS". I'm not sure what disturbs me more: The fact that somebody was seeking out this delicacy, or that it was somehow linked to our comic.

Listening To:Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

Looking Forward To:Returning to my wonky chair.

Today was spent at Lloyd Center (which is "the place to be, everyone says so!" in case you didn't know). It's also the old stomping grounds of Tonya Harding. Be still my heart. We didn't buy much ... well, Mike and I didn't buy anything at all, and Amy's purchases were moderate. It was just nice to be able to go to a mall. Even the most mundane things can be interesting when your best friend lives some 5000 miles across an ocean. You never get the chance to do much on a regular basis.

Besides, the escalator incident was one for the memory books. But as it was embarassing, I'll leave that remark ambiguous.

Afterwards, we went to Wunderland arcade with a bag o' nickels. Amy had never played Dance Maniax before. Let me tell you, the girl is good. I guess that music degree paid off for something after all. I didn't get to see it myself, but Mike claims that while Amy and I were competing, a rather large crowd gathered. My theory is that they were amazed, not only to see two females in an arcade, but to see them actually playing well. After Dance Maniax was a rounding game of Air Hockey.

I retire for the evening, undefeated. Thank you, thank you ...

Listening To:Heartbreaker - Pat Benetar

NOT Looking Forward To:The post-Air Hockey pain that my arm is sure to be in tomorrow.

A comparatively late entry today. We were up until about 2am, chatting and watching Mikey Mike and King Bling play Tony Hawk 4. As a result, we slept in a bit late. The day is technically young, yet I am sleepy. My internal clock is strange.

Today was spent doing some grocery shopping and then watching MST3K's Final Justice. Joe Don Baker at his finest(?).

You know, if I were still employed, I'd be on vacation right now.

Listening To:Jett sniff curiously at Amy's suitcase.

Looking Forward To:The tape full of Iron Chef episodes she brought with her.

NWN finished it's glut of updating, Amy's on her way, Jason's coming over in about an hour, and I got my second call-back for an interview. Monday morning, 1pm. The only thing I really dislike is that the place is AAAAAALL the way on the other side of Portland. We're talking a good 30 minute drive without traffic. If I get the job, I think I'll try to angle for a shift that doesn't completely coincide with everyone else's job. The last thing I need is to be spending an hour and a half commuting every day.

Fingers crossed.

Listening To:Jett barking her head off. I guess Jason's here NOW.

Looking Forward To:Running into my room to get ready. Ack.

I decided to reinstall Neverwinter Nights. The first thing I do is update it ... so, of course, now it's got a 15MB file to download. On dial-up.

Oh well, maybe it'll fix some of the problems with the game. I enjoyed it a great deal, but all the crashing? Not so much.

Maybe I'll make me a monk this time around.

Listening To:19-2000 - Gorillaz

Looking Forward To:Monk-y goodness. (What's with the primate theme in this entry?)

The eye of the hurricane, so to speak. Mark has gone, Amy is arriving soon, and I'm left with a relatively-clean-but-not-perfect house which must be tidied up somewhat before a new person moves into the computer room for a week. I got some good news this morning too ... well, not good necessarily, but definitely not bad. The place I had a phone interview with a week or so back just e-mailed me to let me know that I'm still being considered, their process is just moving very slowly at the moment due to the holidays. Even if this doesn't work out, at least I haven't been rejected outright, so go me.

On a less neutral-good note, I walked into the dresser this morning and whacked the shit out of my arm. It's still sporadically shooting pain ... wheee! That's going to bruise up nicely.

I should clean ... but I'm in that state where I'm too awake to go back to bed (been up since 6am), but too tired to do much. All I want to do is sit here and return to The Sims ... ooo, or reinstall Neverwinter Nights. I never did put that on my new PC. Decisions, decisions.

Listening To:Distance - Cake

Looking Forward To:Getting another job so I can stop worrying so bloody much.

"All is quiet on New Year's Day..."

Sums up mine pretty well. A quiet day at home, wherein we watched some TV, played some video games, and polished off last night's pizza. I tell you this much, when I'm ready to return to work, I will certainly have gotten my share of lazy-time.

Mark returns home tomorrow, and then I have a few hours to clean up before Amy is due to arrive. Somehow I doubt she's going to be as keen to sit around the house all day playing video games. I'll have to think up a list of things-to-do-with-no-money.

Listening To:Psycho Killer - Talking Heads

Looking Forward To:Seeing if the boys can pass this sticky GTA:VC mission.