Good point. And thank you. As they say, the hardest part is the waiting.

it is Slayer Day ! celebrate ! haPpy birthday Tom Araya ! .. & ... Mr.Hanneman ..I will MiSs you sooo much ..

found finally a cheap room in an apartment, just need a bed and furniture. shit is finally coming together in my life, thank god. i move in in august, a week after my jeopardy audition. hah.

yaya!

it's a cute building, a bit older, but i have my own bathroom (which is a godsend, as i'll be living with three other girls) and the bus goes right to work. just doesn't have a gym so i gotta look into a pass at the campus gym. but for $300 a month, and no deposit. i feel bad because i was planning to move with a friend, but signing a lease and deposit/signing fee/no utilities included in some of these places, no way. and i think i mentioned it before but he's a dude and i have a specific "don't fuck where you eat" clause, so yeah, no go there.

how's the new job?

new job is slow right now. still learning everything. so far so good.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1k...lternate_music

Ah. I miss Slowdive.

i either fall asleep to slowdive or broken social scene every single night. super calming.

rob- hey, that's awesome though. i'm on the hunt for a 2nd job.

Seriously? That is cool. Slowdive, I just love them. In fact, they sound like "love" to me, like what falling in love feels like. So sweet.

This video is nostalgic for me. It calls up the 1990s like little else can, and it's not just the music but also the images. Can't really describe why, almost magical, but might have a lot to do with how connected I felt to new music at the time.

Happy for ya, Rob. I am living in limbo, dreaming of the call from my prospective new employer for an interview. Hard part is knowing that I can't hear from them, won't hear from them, for a couple of weeks. It's hard to keep working at my present job, knowing there's an opportunity around the corner.

that's why i love broken social scene, too- i was hanging the other night with my best friend and a really good old friend of ours, and we sat outside smoking a few cigarettes and beers, shooting the shit, and (it's why he's my best friend) i said the night felt how this bss song sounds like, and he got what i meant.

nostalgia for me is that "steal my sunshine" video, haha, only because that was my teenage stomping ground

and take the waiting as a way to power through the day.

I fucking hate my clients. All of them.

aw man. people suck.

Because they don't pay you any money?

ha ha ha.

but seriously-- the man works in advertising or something like that.

can't say i blame him.

people are the worst, but some people are worse than others.

I've been there. I may still be there. Don't most of us have to deal with "clients" in some sense, regardless of our position, regardless of whether employed or self-employed?

When I was a freelancer, there were times clients drove me nuts, mainly when it came time for payment. There were notable exceptions, of course. ;)

Mainly, I think I enjoyed other people, i.e., clients, more in my freelance work than any other time. Being in charge of my own business gave me a certain sense of confidence, and of course, I was free of the office politics that can beat one up. It was also reassuring to know that if a day ever got too rough I could flip on the Turner Classic Movie channel and settle down with a nice g&t or something.

Potential clients were the worst. I had so many people "express interest" in using my services but who would never commit to an assignment. One kept coming back and coming back, and we'd have lunch after lunch to talk about his "needs," and oh, this time, he was ready, he'd have a contract for me next week. Finally I flat out told him to stop wasting my time, and well, I never heard from him again. Ha!

Then there are the kind who are never satisfied. One of my best paying clients kept revising the assignment needs, kept moving the ball, as they say, and then would blame me for not understanding the assignment. He paid me well and on time, even though he thought I was fucking up, so I'd just be all humble and say, Gosh, you sure are right. I messed that up. Oh, and your next check is due next week.

im flogging 3 clients right now who have my invoices "processing"

:rageface:

worst part is that these are institutions, and the contacts in question have no personal interest or gain in withholding the money. at the same time, because they are guaranteed their timely paychecks, they don't bother to think i might be waiting for mine.

but that's not such a big a problem.

the kind of client i have a problem with is the kind that thinks they know more about my job than i do and always tries to squeeze "one more thing" for the money.

one time i was in the middle of a difficult video shoot-- the difficulty consisted in the client wanting a large cast for very little money-- so, we have a bunch of people who don't know what they're doing. because there's no budget for a suitable location, we're all crammed inside of a hot office, sweating. in the middle of this mess, the client has this brilliant idea that we should stop what we're doing and go shoot this great idea he just had---a child looking like she's gonna get ran over by a car in the middle of the street. basically he wants us to place this small child, barely possessed of reason, untrained, unaccompanied, next to a road with heavy traffic. he's like "it'll just take a minute"

my head almost exploded.

4:40 AM Monday morning I receive a text from my wife informing that our AC unit is making a strange sound. She goes outside to investigate and and the sound stops.

I arrive home three hours later and the AC is making a high pitched swirling sound, but never for more than 10-20 seconds at a time. I make a few adjustments to the unit and it stops. I wake up at 2:00 PM Monday and all is fine. By 4:00 PM, a longer lasting noise is back and I'm calling the AC guy.

The bearings in the fan motor are going out and he can replace it in the morning, but to fill free to go ahead and keep running the AC because the fan is still turning with no problems.

Around 10:00 PM last night I go out to let the dogs in and NOTHING......the fan isn't turning and I can hear a very low hum. We turn the unit off and spend the night with ceiling fans only......very reminiscent of spending the summer at my Grandparents, it really wasn't that bad at all.

My daughter and I left at 8:30 so I could drop her at dance recital practice and before I return home, the AC guy sends me a text saying the new motor as been installed......as I type, I can feel the house cooling down :D

Okay, I think I'm remembering that I hated my clients. LOL. Wow. Yeah. Some clients can be more than a little irritating.

Like you, symbol man, I had some of the slowest payers in "institutions," federal gov't and higher ed. And an invoice being "in the system" to these people covers everything from "it's in my inbox and I haven't gotten to it yet" to "it went in campus mail yesterday" to "it's in review by payroll" to god-all else.

At the same time, the client who paid most timely and most consistently was a big corporation.

true on what you said before, that's exactly what i'm dealing with, but about this bit i just quoted--

megacorporations can be great at paying, but often you have to deal with this massive passing of the buck because nobody wants to "own" anything. so much fear and so much caution and so much inaction,it's ridiculous. can't find a person to make a decision-- or can't find a person who says "yes, i am responsible for this."

i'v been toying with the idea of setting up a product business so that i don't have to deal with "clients". something automated, like a vending machine-- buy or don't buy, your choice, but let's not have to talk about it. know what i mean? not having to answer phone calls on a friday night.

Hmm. Yes. I've always wondered how profitable coin laundromats are? They also have them set up to take credit and debit cards these days.

Here's something I hate about my current office: The Walk Around. This is where the big boss comes hustling through our cubicle aisles, usually a Monday morning, going "Good morning! Good morning. Hello. How are ya? Hi, how was your weekend." All this at top crusing speed, barely pausing long enough to make eye contact, no time to hear a repsonse. It makes me want to step out from my desk and block him with, "Ah... Well, hello, there, sir. Thank you for asking. How are you this morning. Say, while I've got you, did you catch that Braves action last night...?"

Like, if you're gonna do that, slow down and at least look like you mean it.

^^ ha ha that's classic extrovert vs introvert interaction.

laundromats: HELL YES. cash business, no waiting to get paid. add-ons like soda machines, snacks, overpriced detergent, plastic bags. still needs an employee on the premises, for security and cleanup and to fix problems, with the crap such things entail.

i just want a robot army.

damn.

Who's the intro and who's the outro, in this case? I wonder if my boss is secretly an intro and that's why he walks thru so fast, so he doesn't have to interact? I, on the other hand, am definitely an intro--I wish everyone would just shut up and leave me the hell alone.

The humble yet ever so handsome Parker Pens Jotter. This pen says 1963 to me so much I could cry. Available for around $12 at your favorite office supply store.

ooh. that's lovely. i'm fond of my pilot g-2s- only pen i've used for years. they're one of few pens whose ink don't smudge on my hands when i write (being a southpaw.)

i love those g2s they're like butta and i buy them by the jumbo pack and scatter them all over the house but i hate the fact that they make trash when i'm done with them

i fucking hate non-compostable / non-recyclable trash

i think i'm gonna do like the russians in space & go with pencils

i don't know

http://www.chron.com/news/local/crim...ex-6318573.php

DO NOT FUCK HORSES

every day i think, nah i've read the worst shit people can do... then a new day happens.

!@#- i hate pencils. unless it's mechanical, then i can sort of deal. but g2s or bust. ive just stockpiled all my dead ones, not really sure what to do with them.

Ha ha, well, ain't that a kick in the head. I bet he thought he could move like a stud, like he could kick in the stall all night. I bet he was chomping at the bit to get at that horse. He needs to learn to reign in his impulses. Once he recovers in the hospital, I'm sure he'll be ready to jump in the saddle again.

too ......many......horse.......puns.........
ha!

ha ha yes. count on humans to never disappoint with the entertainment.


i hate hard pencils like 2H, but a well-made 2B can be a pleasure. 4B-- nice & greasy. you can draw & shade with it.

o wait, i can see the smudge happening to your left hand. yeah, non-smudge pencils are scratchy and unpleasant. they make that sound. iiijjjjjjj!

learn hebrew! they you can write leftwards.

i just toss the dead pens in the trash because what else can i do? see, if they were metal i'd throw them with the cans & sell for scrap-- then they'll end up in a prius or something.

i used to like fountain pens but they stain my fingers, clothes, etc. i'm too neanderthal for them. and then if you don't have good paper they scratch & scratch & drag-- french paper is nice for fountain pens but ogh! that's overcomplicating it.

maybe i'll find a good rollerball/gel pen w/ metal refills. then i can use it for 3 days before i lose it and have to buy another one ha ha ha. hmfff...


that was quite a ride with the puns. you take the triple crown-- by two lengths.
--

ps - REIN.

I rock those fine point Pilot pens.. though i fell in love with these gel ink pens this year..

Damn. Thanks! You know, that is one word I consistently mess up. I make the same mistake time and again.

it's easy if you think of the etimology/cognates

rein is related to retain (reins are retainers). google says from the latin retinere. (like retina!?). in spanish, rienda (the vowels got transposed in the process). but in english, re[ta]in.

reign (easy if you know spanish "reino") derives from rex/regnum. problem is the cognates have a different order of the consonants-- the name reginald or words like regiment (so, reign not regin, like regina). but they have the G. yo, g! retain has no g. so the reins don't.

i've noticed the nerdy kids on the spelling bee always ask for the language of origin. makes it easy that way. the fucking little cheaters. these 2 bâtards come from latin via french. latin reigns supreme!



:D

Interesting. It's not that I don't know the difference. I just always slip. There are words like that, where I have some kind of weird block. Sometimes I do that with their and they're and there, especially if I'm typing without really looking closely at what I'm doing.

eta i know you know, i was just offering a memory anchor

==

one time here i typed "genious" instead of "genius." i got some shit for it, as if it was a crime.

also i often type while reclining and this makes me type more with my fat thumbs. then everything comes out wrong.

fack spellyn

knowing language of origin pays dividends though, as a former county spelling champ haha. it's a good strategy. and for watching jeopardy.

i actually used to do the da vinci mirror writing thing as a kid

how do you guys deal with like, criticism? my manager at work told me today that they love having me at work but that my obvious focus issues get in the way and i have a month til another "review" to get it together... my first instinct is to beat myself up

criticism is fucking great. if it's constructive, it's a big favor. rather than flying blind you're getting radio from teh control tower. when someone gives you good criticism give them a big thank you. in management science it's actually not called criticism-- it's called feedback. all organisms need a feedback function to survive.

as for focus-- practice being present, always. you have a really fun mind and it likes to take you away places... sometimes too far away, ha ha. i may only know you from the internet but i think i know you well enough to know this.

so, pretend it's gymnastics-- or better yet, pretend it's band, and keep the beat for whatever hours you're there. it's a different music, but you gotta stick with the drill.

if you really *can't* keep track then realize your talents lie elsewhere and start looking for something more suitable. e.g., working at a bookstore, ha ha ha.

i tried being a waiter once but got fired after 2 months. as an introvert, engaging a table meant getting sucked into the whole drama going on in each one of them. i couldn't do my job. these people were characters in a theatre. i couldn't just dish out their orders on a busy lunch schedule with everyone in a hurry. plus i don't have a lot of fine motor coordination and i can't carry a lot of plates. it was definitely not a job i was cut out for. and with the stress, i sweated a lot. i would have made a better dishwasher, but an angry salvatrucan already had the job. plus the cook hated me. yeah, not the best fit.

on the other hand, i am great at having no boss and fixing/ troubleshooting/ planning/ devising systems/ solving puzzles/ etc. so i take to that with little effort and great joy.

here's a little article i saw the other day. maybe it helps:

im looking for the link, just hold on a minute

here it is!

http://lifehacker.com/this-flowchart...y-t-1708911601

oh i've seen that flowchart! i wish the library were hiring in any capacity. i'd be so stoked.

and haha. i just like- i do not fucking care about doing the same thing every single day, just at different times and speeds. i hate going up to customers who come in and saying the same things over and over. i'm forcing myself to like it because i like paychecks and that's it. but i'm glad i'm liked, at least... yeah, it was helpful and obviously i'll improve myself, but ugh. i appreciate the words a lot though. i'll think i'll just stick at where i am... i do like my routine now, actually having a flow.