Theres nothing like gettin lost in a good book. yesterday finished girl interupted, and started The lovely bones, kinda chick books really, but still good. going to start on state and revolution after that though, to bring some sort of normality.
This whole job hunting malarky is almost driving me loopy. The fact that it took me a while to understand the direction i want to take didnt help matters much. I tried dabbling in recruitment and sales, although i found after many phonecalls and an afternoon at an assessment centre that it wasnt for me. I syphon through endless websites, looking for anything under “graduate” label, but to find that there are a hundred vacancies with graduate rectruitment, and everything else requires a 2:2. So now i think ive found my calling, or at least something that ill be good at.
You would think i feel good, i think i kind of feel better, but i cant get that niggling feeling that im being a burden upon everyone. To count theres Emily, my supportive girlfriend who loves me as much as i do her. The fact that i miss her and she misses me and living hundreds of miles apart is a burden. The train journeys are expensive and i wish i didnt have to beg steal or borrow. Which leads onto my parents. They lend me even more money (of which i owe them alot) to go see emily, or go to london with. Purely for job interviews the london part, but still ive got nothing, and the Benefits agency isnt helping that area. And then of course andrew, i dont want to continually crash at his everytime i get an (unsucessful) interviews. Also him being allergic to my cats, i run the rick of killing him everytime i visit.
So the only thing i can hope for is these agencies to come through, to start my career, and actually earning to pay back some debts and not be such a layabout and general pain.
Hmm thought id better make use of this interblog or whatever its called. No really its been that long since i used this that im seriously doubting my abilities. Not that much has happened in the land of Nod lately. I say land of Nod because im enjoying the long lie ins you get when unemployed. Its pretty depressing applying for the Dole.
A painfully embaressing experience would be the closest description i could place upon it. The quiet silence, waiting for your turn, overhearing the desperation in the voices of those being seen to. The patronising and condescending officers who look down upon you, whilst the burly security guards watch over, before being called out to scare some chavs away from the premises. These people have no idea of my needs. The extra money from the government i thought would be handy, but this hassle is something i dont need. Form filling galore, and the blissfull unawareness of the people assigned to me. I want a job in london i say… ” okay lets get you a job in town then”…. I dont want a job in lincoln, i have no friends and no prospects here!
They dont listen, their almost deaf to me. I superbly unhappy in my new surroundings. I find Lincoln has its charms, but its not for me. I want something, somewhere with a bit of life and culture to it, and more importantly somewhere with prospects and friends. To no avail i dont bother with the application for local jobs, they will probably take away my benefits because of this. The fact that im actively looking for jobs in London doesnt interest them, and the evidence of job interviews and numerical tests and so on they dont want to hear about. They want to get you a quick job so they achieve their results. Im handed some paper with local jobs on them, with PERMANENT written in bold. “Im sorry, did you mishear me”, i havent agreed to look for work locally permanent, temp work yes. So yet again they arent listening.
To this day, my application has been in limbo for over two weeks, and i havent recieved anything that resembles money. Much to annoyance.
So i just downloaded 4OD, to watch series 1 of skins again, to find that it tells me a) i dont have IE6 and b) i dont have windows media player 10.
I found this rather bemusing as i indeed have both, and i indeed hate both programs as they suck satan balls, they use up for too much memory and as the slowest and most painful programs i have ever used. Now the fact that i was using firefox lead me to think that, it doesnt recognise the fact i allready have these programs cuz im running it thru firefox. Which i also found befuddling, as firefox is one of the most widely used browsers. So, channel4 should think about limiting 4 OD users to stoneage people who still use IE6 and open it up to firefox and safari users.
The one thing that really ground my gears was the fact that when i downloaded the program and went to register i found this: DRM, the bastards, fine, just clog up my system with your acid lies and poison root kit’s. FUCK you 4 OD!!
Hello one and all those who actually read this! Im afraid i havent been the most avid blogger in the past, with zero posts in the last 5 months or so. I have been in vancouver, living it up on what little money i had. Its difficult to summarise what i got up to in British Columbia in just a few paragraphs, so the highlights will have to suffice.
After several weeks living in hostels (not the scary/horror movie kind) and being literally worried sick i managed to find a bedsit downtown (which is hard to do for the price i got) and get a job. I settled into a nice little routine involving work,starbucks,playstation, lots of canadian tv, trips to the movies and the odd daytrip. This was all after my exploring of the city itself and the rockies, the moose trip in which i met so many amazing people and saw such great scenery, truly good times. The city itself is very nice, and i felt very safe. Downtown was quite small and could find everything i needed. Except a decent paying job. $8.50 an hour really isnt great, although i worked with some great people and had a laugh at work. Was sad to leave my little life in vancouver, there were tears, and not just from me.
I succumbed to a few manic days at the end of the year, involving working 11hours overnight, then catching a coach to whistler in which to spend xmas with a friend (awake for 36 hours ). Then at the end of the week, drinking very heavily before a flight across the country (not recommended), spending 2 very cold days in toronto before drinking again very heavily with my friend justin before my flight back home.
I arrived at terminal 3 tired, slightly hungover, with longer hair a new tattoo and plus a lip piercing. It was a wonder my mother recognised me. So i get home, or what i have to call my new home in the early hours of the morning. I must say it was very weird being in a house i had never seen before, and sleeping a bed which was a damn sight more comfortbale than any hostel bed id been in.
Some adjustment ensued, mostly the jetlag and the bastard cold i caught from the plane. A quick trip down to cheltenham for a quick catch up with friends and another hefty drive to newcastle, i was quite exhausted. A fever and a progressing cold didnt help matters, and i was bed ridden for the best part of the weekend. At least it couldnt get any worse.
No i was wrong. A searing pain across my stomach could make things worse, and after a couple of days of stabbing pains, appendicitus is my ailment. YAY, lets have a 3 day stint in a hospital. 24 hours of waiting for an operation, in a smelly ward, with not so attractive nurses (who were very good at their jobs i must say), being virtually ignored by 5 doctors, waking up from aneasthetic with the overwhleming urge to vomit, being woken up every half hour by a nurse who wants to take your BP, and a bleeding wound in my side held together with staples….. Is just how i imangined 3 days in hosptial would be like. Oh so much fun. What i found quite amusing was my sister finding out from facebook that i was ill, before my mother had even told her.
So here i am back in the land of the living, with staples in my side, in a village in the middle of nowhere away from friends, no job and no money feeling a bit downheartened and lonely. A little motivation im sure will cure me and some contact with friendly/familiar faces might give me a boost to find a new job and get on with paying back my rather significant debts.
so i just got back from a massive walk around vancouver. My first reactions was, omg i can see the bloody mountians!!! still cant get over that. Its such a beautiful city the harbour espcially, it rocks compared to toronto. I went all over the place today, was knackered yesterday just spent the day recovering from jetlag, and now i think im going to have to recover from the massive walk i did today. Anyway i went up the lookout tower, which was im pressive although like a quarter the size of the CN tower, still some great views though. Then i went to gastown the old district, then along to robson street, i didnt really have a plan of where i was going, although i did get lost once.
Thn i ended up at stanley park, thought id walked alot of it, turns out i only covered like <--> this much of it!! im off to chinatown and places like that 2moro, just gona do some random walking. im off to whistler and that in a week should be fun.,
I took like loads of photos today although i need to find a computer that allows me to upload them. Then whilst im doing that got to rewrite my resume and sort other things out. All very hectic. but this is only the beginning of the western adventure!!!
So i just thought id do a little housekeeping, and keep this thing running. Im not sure what i can write about on here. I dont think ive done anything that exciting. Last week i worked 3 13 hour days, which sucked big time, everyone was irritable, on the last day i didnt eat at all, working my ass off, with my boss being pissed off at me. FFS i was tired! We had to move this big white unit, seriously it weighed about 800 pounds, thats about 50 stone, yes i did convert it! it took 3 of us to lift one end, whilst the other had to lay the carpet underneath it, such a pain in the ass. I fucking hate my job. But not long left, so its all good.
I had a lazy weekend, although i lost my fone, which was gutting as people needed to reach me on the very weekend that i lost it. So annoying. So i go out and treat myself to a better fone, and on the offchance i go to lost and found at the subway station, and what do you know, someone handed my old fone in. Only in Canada. If it was back home, that would have been pinched and sold for drugs! So now i have two, so im trying to sell it along with anything i can hock for money. On my up to the subway lost and found, i walked past the EDGE studios (radio station) and saw a queue forming, i thought nothing of it. When i got home, i turned on the radio and realised what the Q was for, QOTSA were doing and in studio acoustic session and interview. So annoying. Well at least i got to see alexisonfire randomly all those months ago. Karma i guess. Hopefully seeing them 2moro with Justin in london (ontario). Should be an experience.
I had time to kill today so i checked out the second city (world famous). A comedy club that has given life to many comedians such as mike myers and some other random people. The show was called facebook of revelations, and it was very funny. Lots of sketches about technology and current affairs, this was followed by an improv set (which they hold every night, free at 10pm if you have nothing to do ) Which was very random, but very funny, esp when the actors start cracking up. Def recommend it!
Rich’s leaving do friday, which will technically be my leaving do as well. But ill see him out there. Just remembered my trip to the steamwhistle brewery, was quite interesting, not amazing, although free samples on a beautiful summers day, in the amazing roundhouse was a good way to kill some time.
Anyway not really been up to a whole lot more so just killing time (and money, doh!) until i go to BC. Missing some people now, mostly just random company, although missing my girl, and the cats, and well maybe the parents as well.
Heres to a new adventure out west!
So ive just woken up (not this instance of course, that would be lazy) from a raelly random night out. Saturday involved a thoroughly deserved day off, me and alison went to taste of the danforth greek street festival. Was bizzare to see. Hundreds of street vendors selling all manner of greek and other exotic food, so we wondered around in the blazing sun, trying a range of food and seeing greek and egyptian dancing. A good day out, something i would normally never do. After a torrent of text messages to enter in to win Queens of the stoneage tickets, and after a sit down from all that walking around, i set off to this secret venue that was texted to me, so secret that i couldnt find the place for ages. I eventually see a queue forming, i head towards it, this isnt so bad, until i head round the corner, more people, and then around another corner, blimey, thats alot of people. I met a couple of cool guys in the Q, who had as much idea as me as to how this whole ticket winning thing would work. We file round to this back alley and up a fire escape, in between two buildings to find a tiny club, dark/red and full of mirrors. I quickly redeemd my free beer ticket, and all of a sudden a band unleash a 6 song set, they were good, although im still trying to remember their name. A countdown and more texting in to win later, justin wins tickets in the first round. I was jealous to say the least, and after more talking, drinking and more music we headed back home. All in all the whole night was too random to put into more words, just take my word for it!
Well thats what the fortune cookie told me, and how can i not trust it, its so yummy and sweet (the solitude bit). So ive been trying to think of what ive been up to lately, and i cant really think of anything in particular. Let me try and start from this week and work my way backwards.
Me and alison had nothing really to do on saturday, so we wanted to catch caribana parade, although we didnt actually have any idea whereabouts it was. So we went to St Lawrence market instead. That place is awesome, some really nice market stalls, plus Ukrainian pirogi. On the walk down alison was telling me about her new parment she’s moving into in september, and how she has to pretend to be engaged, then she forgot that she actually didnt have a ring, it was so funny to listen to her logic, and trying to think how the hell she got into such a mess.
During the day i dont really have nethingt to do. So ive been going through Now magazine and my guide book to see what else i can do before i head off.Theres not been alot of work lately, so im hoping this zombie movie will provide some relief, and be kickass as well.
Me stu and emre went to wonderland, which rocked. So many awesome rides, alot of moeny and waiting in line, almost an hour for top gun ride, which wasnt worth it. 10 hours later and many rides and weary eyes and legs we head home. The next night me and stu head out to see evil dead musical once again, which i think ive allready blogged about.
Well in terms of solitude im all alone now as stu and dan have gone off, stu back to uni, dan, who knows where. So eventually ive managed to pick up some work, sort out my travel and accommodation for vancouver, which im quite looking forward to now, yet im still trying to cram in as much stuff in toronto as i can. At least ill get another try at toronto in a few months, hopefully with nez, we’ll cause some mayhem.
So ive had an awesome and intense few days. So i thought id start with the best of the few days. Evil dead the musical!It was bloody (and i mean that in both sense of the word) fantastic. This was of course my second time seeing it, and this one was all the more enjoyable. Me and stu were bored, and i spur of the moment decided to ask “Shall we see evil dead again?”. And so we set off to the playhouse (via a quick stop to get stu’s new tongue pirecing) and booked the tickets for the splatter zone early in the day.
“Yeah ive got two front row” the clerk said. Awesome. So $40 lighter in pocket me and stu eagerly awaited the next few hours until it started. We got there bang on time, only to find that there were out two empty seats….Right at the fucking front, dead centre, inches from the actors. OMG, its as if the zombie lords themselves conspired to seat me there. Naturally i was wearing my white tee-shirt i got from the previous time.
It was just as funny as last time, thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish and some of the lines were hysterical.
Halfway through one song ” Do the necronomicon” i think, that the girl that played cheryl leaned over mid song, and said “your going to get bloodied up bitch”….That did not bode well. Anyway the last scene where ash kills all the zombies, its a blood bath, fake blood bing sprayed everywhere, but mostly in my direction. I was sat 6 inches from a blood nozzle, and whenever ash shot someone, they had capsules of blood and sprayed them at me and stu and the guy next to me. A good time was when the main zombie got shot down and was crawling towards me saying “help me, he’s trying to kill me”, although Funniest was when ash pulled the heart out of the main zombie and threw its contents right at me, going all over my hair and tee.
At the end, people were saying, omg im covered, then they look at me and find, nope he’s covered way more! People were shocked and laughing at the state of me. Im not surprised. So me and stu nabbed some evil dead t-shirts and got outside. The fake blood kept collecting on my cigarette, and i was visibly dripping from my hair. Stu made the joke; “get in a taxi and say - get me the fuck outa here”, i would have, cuz it would have scared the shit out of him. But i thought otherwise. The number of dodgy looks i got walking through downtown toronto, covered in fake blood was numerous. I laughed soo much. Best night ive had in a while, totally worth it!!
below are some of my favourite quotes from it:
ash - “this isnt as bad as it looks”
jake - “how the fuck could this not be as bad as it looks?”
ash - “well its not like theres a pile of bodies in the corner of the room……anymore”
annie - “dont you think its inappropriate to be touching me there?”
ash and jake - “i aint touching you”
ash - “argh my hand!!!!” - throws it across the room
annie “eww that was gross, who knows where thats been”
ash - “actually i do….but its still pertty gross”
annie - “why are you alone in the woods?”
jake - “well afer cheryl gettin attacked by those trees, the presense of my wife bobbie jo seemed a bit redundant…”
annie - “what did you say?”
jake - “ugh nothing!!!”
ash - “face it ed, your just a bit part demon. A demon like you would never kill a guy like me….the main man!!”
ash - “im ok, the sight of my girlfriends necklace made me allright!”
annie - “….the same necklace that your girlfriend was wearing when she was a demon?”
ash - “yeah that does seem a bit inconsistent!”
