Merry Christmas and All That Good Stuff

So work has been keeping me from updating this as often as I used to, mostly because i end up coming home uber tired and sleepy. Especially after these brutal 10 hour days. Of course, like i was telling Jon earlier, i'm sure working 10 hours doing what i do is a lot easier then 10 hours at most jobs. So i suppose i'm quite fortunate there. That, and i really don't mind the extra hours. Oh sure, i stare at the clock waiting to go home, but the time passes by remarkably quickly at work... and thats a GREAT thing. There's just so many things for me to rave about at Blizzard... everything is just so atypical of a typical work environment. I get to go to work wearing my normal street clothes, play games and surf the net on my free time, chit chat with guys that all share at least one same interest, i get plenty of hours and money, i get to stay in Irvine with my best friends... there's just something great about being able to roll into work wearing jeans and a cap and being perfectly normal. The company even has holiday bonuses and christmas parties (both which i missed out on because i was a late hire) and there was a fun gift exchange this last Thursday. Just a great atmosphere to be in.

Of course, despite the enjoyment i have working there, it does suck to hold a flexible schedule. Working 10 hour days Monday through Wednesday last week was tough, as was going into work today on Sunday for 10 hours and another 10 hour day tomorrow. And being hired right before Christmas is a pain, as i'm now limited when all my friends are on vacation. It's tough having to pass on cool trips and such, whether it be trying to snowboard or finally going back up to Santa Cruz. I guess that's work life for ya... gotta take the negatives with the postitives. And right now, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.

Anyway, as for the holidays, i didn't do a whole lot. This Friday was really nice, as Harriet finally came back from Australia, and i drove up to meet her and go see Andrew at the same time. I haven't seen Andrew in 2 years, and Harriet since Februrary... it was great being all together again and catching up. Just like old times. I wish i had more time to spend with them. But after spending time with them, i decided to go out and write a little email/greeting to some of the girls that have been important in my life, especially some that i haven't talked to in ages. So right now, i'm chattin with Nikolette, who was a good friend of mine back in Santa Cruz. It's great catching up with her and nice to know she's doing well. Hopefully i get to talk to more people... and that i manage to keep with all my friends like i hope to. A lot of different people mean a lot of different things to me... and i want to do my best to keep them as a part of my life, even if it is just through chatting on AIM.

So i guess that's all for now... my back is killing me from sitting funny in a chair all day, and i'm sleepy from waking up and working all die. So i guess i'll aim to sleep by 11:30 or so, and meanwhile get in a few WoW hours while i can. New Years is coming up... hope to come up with some plans for it.

Workity Work

So... i've pretty much been busy at work all day this week, too busy and tired to do much else once i get home. Even to play games or read up on news. A little bit of a change for me, being used to spending all day chattin and tvin whenever i feel like it. While it sucks that i'm now limited to talking to people i had grown used to talkin too often, its nice to be busy with work and not worry so much about things anymore.

Work so far has been good... its being going pretty well for me, my supervisor said i was doing far better then he expected, so that's good for me. Hopefully i can keep it up and become a permanent employee. On Monday i officially started doing emails... it's pretty much an entire day of replying to people's questions, and a whole lot of hearing people whine and complain about their problems and a few people voicing their complains about how much Blizzard sucks and is letting them down. Sigh. But so far, no real big issues with people getting mad at me. It's hard for me to just shrug off people that are so angry, but i suppose that's just part of the job, and nothing i can do. Everyday this week i've worked overtime, 10 hour days. So that means extra money for me... the overtime doesnt really bother me at all. It's actually kinda nice to make the extra money and keep myself occupied, since i know i'd just sit around at home doing nothing if i wasnt working. I do get Friday and Saturday off... Friday i can work voluntarily, but i'm not sure if i will. Maybe i'll go in for a few hours in the morning before heading back for the Vikings/Packers game? Hmm. Maybe. Unfortunatly, i gotta work Sunday and Monday, which are going to be mandatory 10 hour days. Should be hell with everyone getting games for Christmas. Oh well... just gotta get over this hump of mass emails, and it should be all good.

Other then work stuff... treated myself to a bunch of new crap lately. First, i bought a new cordless mouse and keyboard set. The Logitech Cordless MX Duo. I love it... its so nice to have. Well worth the 50 bucks. I also spent 60 bucks to by myself some car stuff... i got a cargo net and a cargo tray, to prevent shit from rollin around in the back. UPS tracking says i'll get it on Friday... i wonder if they ship on Christmas Eve? Anyway, it'll be nice to get new car stuff. Next up... tint my windows. Hehe.

Anyway, i guess that's all... lookin forward to the holiday weekend, even though i dont do anything for Christmas. Luckily, plenty of exciting sports games to watch. Vikes/Packers should be fun... and then the big Lakers/Heat game on Christmas day. That's gonna be great =) Oh well... that's it. I should get to sleep. G'Nite!

Work Man Stan

Alright, so i'm 2 days into my new job, and so far so good. I haven't had to do anything yet as far as what my job will actually be, which will be replying to customer emails. So far its just been a lot of training, with a couple of guys telling me all the basics, how to use the software, and going over the type of problems that i'll be seeing and how to reply to certain things. Other then that, they've also let me get in a few hours of game time, so that i'll be familiar with all the games that i'll be supporting. So i've gotten to play some World of Warcraft at work, and they gave me a few collector's cd keys and some game cards for free play, so i don't have to pay the monthly fee, and a couple for some friends. Along with that, they gave me all their games for free, so i got the Battlechest sets for Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft. Pretty darn cool!

Anyway, enjoying things so far, although that may be since i havent had to actually work. But still, its a pretty cool environment. The offices are pretty cool, there are fridges filled with free soda, and everyone there is pretty nice so far. I really thought at first that i would be one of multiple new hires, but as far as i know i'm the only new one. So that's pretty neat... i guess i did better on my interview and my test then i thought. I'm still only temporary, so i dont have access to certain things, but that's alright. All around, the place just rocks. I'm under NDA so i'm not allowed to say anything about anything in particular that i see inside (yay i get one of those electronic key access things!), nor am i allowed to say anything about what they're working on. Still, its great to be on the inside of a video game company. I hope i do well and can stay there for as long as i can, because it really is a dream come true type of deal.

Aside from that... not much going on i guess. With all of us playing WoW now, i hope it doesn't consume too much of my life. At the moment, it's pretty neat, but not interesting enough for me to play non-stop or anything like some people. Too much walking around takes forever and gets kind of boring for me. I'm sure i'll keep up playing it on a nightly basis though... gotta keep up with everyone on their winter breaks who won't have anything else to do but play =P And it's not like i have much else to do... although i did call Fenny and hopefully we'll get to do sumthin next weekend.

Nothing else new except my new job... which obviously will occupy most of my time now. There's a lot of overtime there.... most of it is voluntary, so i can stay an extra 2 hours on certain days if i want. And a few mandatory overtime days, mostly for the holidays and the increase in support, and also since the game has sold ridiculously well. Hopefully the numbers stay high so they need to hire me permanently =) But so far so good, i'm lookin forward to next week when i'll get to start doing what i do. It's late... i'm tired... off to sleep.

Enjoying my days...

With work starting on Thursday, and my hopes to turn it into something permanent, its going to suck losing all the free time that i've "enjoyed" while i've been unemployed. Especially since my new job will apparently involve a lot of overtime, and working weekends and holidays. Not that i currently mind so much, since my social life isn't exactly booming or anything. But i'll miss the opportunities to relax at home, watch a DVD, catch some ESPN in the afternoon, head to the basketball court, go DVD shopping on Tuesday's with Jon, make myself breakfast... you get the picture. As much as i hate boredom and all the suffering i've been through the last few months, i know it'll be hard losing all that freedom. But i guess that's life after college... for most of us anyway. Work all day, enjoy a few hours in the evening, sleep, and repeat. Relax on weekends when you can. I struggled through that when i worked over the summer... it felt like such a culture shock, losing so much time like that, being unable to just sit around the house like you can when you're in school, have summer breaks, vacation days... it's going to be hard getting back into that. I feel like i'll be so limited in what i can do now, being unable to just run out whenever i feel like it.

That said... i can't help but look forward to what i hope is the beginning of a new life. If things work out like i hope, this is where i want to be, and what i want to be involved with. If there's one thing i learned during my temp work last week, is the importance of doing something you can enjoy, or do something that you're good at. The worst thing to have is to dread going to work everyday. Don't give yourself reasons to hate work. It sucks waking up and sulking because you know the long day ahead of you is going to be terrible. Or to be half way through the day at a desk and just lower your head because you can feel how unhappy you are to be at your position. Granted, i know that feelings can change... and it's remarkably easy how something you once enjoyed can turn sour. But at least i know that i'm heading into this job to do something i'm good at, something i'm accustomed to, and something i know i can excel at. There's a gratification i have in that, that i wouldn't get if i found myself doing something like banking or accounting. It's hard to get interested in transfering money, or staring at numbers daily. But i CAN get interested in seeing games being developed, helping people have fun, and being a part of an industry that i've grown up appreciating.

And yet, while i know i'm getting ahead of myself as far as expectations and where this lowly position may lead, i can't help but be excited. For the first time in a long time, i'm happy, excited, and have something i'm looking forward to. And how great is it that i'm looking forward to work? It's a wonderful feeling to have. I know that attitude can change quickly, but hell, i've had a terrible last 3 months, and i'm going to milk it as much as i can, even if i am still alone.

Meanwhile... picked up I, Robot and Collateral today. I was hoping to avoid Collateral, but i just enjoyed Tom Cruise so much when i saw the film in theaters. Watched I, Robot with Jon at his house (mmmm, wienerschitzel for lunch), and since i was out, headed over to Target to visit Anh-Thu working, and hung out with her and Nik on her lunch break. Then finished running my errands at Stater Bros. and Kmart. Watched Collateral when i got home, then the Laker game, and now downloading House so i can hopefully watch that. And tomorrow, i have to pick up my brother from LAX at 11, so that'll be interesting to have him back. That's pretty much everything and anything interesting going on...

How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart... you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold.

BLIZZARD

I GOT THE JOB AT BLIZZARD!!!!!!! HELLLLLL YEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Suddenly, the world is shining a little brighter =)

Weekend Update

Whoa, haven't updated for a week? Yikes! So what's been going on...

Wednesday, caught Blade: Trinity with Abe and Jon. Somewhat dissapointing movie, as the first two films were far better. The director, David Goyer, was directing his first film and it shows. Some nice ideas, just extremely poor execution. Far too many plot points that ended up being tossed aside or forgotten, and there was never much of a threat from the lead bad guy. Still some cool action and some funny moments from Ryan Reynolds (vampire pomeranian!), but it just could have been so much more.

Thursday and Friday i've been working as a temp for a company called Masimo. Basically i've just been working on finding tax exemption certificates for hospitals and medical centers, and making copies of them. I finished that up on Friday, and the guy asked if i could come back on Monday, probably to input all the information into a database. Pretty boring work, but i'll make a couple hundred bucks, which will be nice.

On the job front... nothing from Blizzard yet. I emailed the guy back on Tuesday, and haven't gotten a reply. I'm hoping he's simply waiting until a decision is made on who to hire before replying.... i don't want to email again and feel like i'm bothering him. Hopefully i hear something next week. I missed a message from the State Insurance Fund on Friday, asking if i wanted to interview for their job opening. So i need to call back on Monday and hopefully schedule an interview for Tuesday. Other then that, no other news to report on job wise. I really hope i find something by the year's end.

Saturday, me, Abe, Andy, and Kevin went to the Lakers/Clippers game at Staples. My first time at Staples, and it was pretty cool. I really want to go to more sporting events when i have the chance. Maybe try and get to more Dodger games or maybe more then one Angel/Dodger games when interleague play comes around. Anyway, even though we were in the upper level, the visibility was surprisingly great. I didn't bring my camera thinking i wouldnt be able to zoom in enough, but i was dead wrong. A great, close game, and i got to see Kobe dominate to both boos and cheers. Real fun time, i want to catch another Laker game before the season end. Staples is a nice arena, just a pain to get up and down from the top levels. They need more stairs or escalators or whatever.

After the game, went down to Spectrum to meet up with Nik and Anh-Thu for some snacking and drinking at Dave and Busters, and then a little game playing. Anh-Thu kicked my butt at basketball =(

Also washed my car the other day, making it look spick and span again. I read that if you use newspapers and a little window cleaner on your windows, it does a great job at keeping them streak free. Worked pretty well for me, although it does leave your hands all black from the ink. Still, kinda nifty.

Today, just resting and watching football, and a Laker game tonight. Feeling tired after staying up late last night, and tomorrow i need to be up by 7 to set up that interview, drop off my time card from last week (yay 16 hours x 11.50 an hour) and then spend another day working. I think that'll be my last day at that temp job. Tuesday hopefully i'll have an interview, maybe pick up the DVD for I, Robot, and try and catch up on more DVD watching. With The Ultimate Matrix Collection, and the Extended Edition of Return of the King (4 freakin hours!) that i got early in the mail, i have a lot of movies to watch.

So that's been my last week... Harriet should be coming back in a less then 2 weeks! Yay! Anyone have some christmas present ideas?

Rain Rain

Just chillin and relaxin. I'm not too sure how well my interview with Blizzard went this Friday. For the first 40 minutes or so, i had to take a written test gauging my technical knowledge. Pretty much a slew of questions asking how to do certain things in Windows, like how to change resolutions, disable a sound card, how to run or get to certain programs. Pretty simple stuff, i think i knew most of them, outside of some oddball Windows NT questions and no experience with the Mac OS. Also a few questions about Blizzard's own games, that i had to guess on a little bit. After all that, interviewed with the hiring dude Jason and this other guy that was in charge of online support. Pretty straightforward, as they explained the job and asked me a few things, as far as what kind of games i like and how comfortable i am with particular computer things. I wish i got the chance to show them more of what i know though. He said that there are a few people who applied that have real experience doing this stuff, something i don't have. But hopefully i showed enough knowledge and interest. Unfortunatly, i won't find out for another week or so if i'm hired, which is going to be a pain since i'll be left pretty anxious about it all. I can't say enough how much i would want this job. Anyone think of some questions i can email the guy about to show i'm really interested?

Remember that State Compensation Insurance job? They have a terrible way of handling their job openings. I got those test results back like a month ago... just the other day they sent another official letter pretty much just asking whether or not i want to be considered for the job. Pretty lame. So i had to mail back another form to them saying i'm available for the position. Bleh. More waiting from them...

Didn't hear anything from the places i sent my resume to last weekend. A little dissapointed that i didn't even get a call or an email from PC Club or whatever. Tomorrow morning i'm meeting with another woman that called me asking if i was still looking for a job. It's another staffing agency, but she mentioned something like document processing that paid 15 an hour, and she was very friendly and personal about everything, so i figure i might as well see what kind of jobs are available through them. Hopefully this will work out better then the other staffing agency, that really didn't help much (although boosted my ego thanks to my uber computer testing scores).

Popeyes chicken was pretty good. I like spicy. Good stuff. KFC's potatoes are better. Mmmm, gravy.

So i have that meeting on Monday... Tuesday i'll get to pick up The Ultimate Matrix Collection DVD (drool), and Wednesday we should be going out to watch Blade Trinity. Saturday is the Lakers/Clippers basketball game. And also, Ocean's 12 comes out this weekend so hopefully i'll get to see that (hopefully i can go with Jennifer and it'll be far more pleasant then last time). Wow, for once i have plans and stuff for most of the week. Cool. If only some of those involved making money :(

Hmm... my brother comes home in a week or so also. Hopefully i have a job by then so i don't have to share my car so much. It's been so nice having something to call my own and tailor to my own taste. Everything in its place, the way i like it. All mine!

Everyone's got finals this week... good luck everyone. That's certainly one part of school i don't miss. Anxiety over a final, especially when it could determine whether you pass or fail. Of course, that's not a problem for some assholes that get straight A's all the time. Haha. Overachieving bastards!

That's about it... cleaning up my desk and shelves and stuff.

Why do Girls get so BITCHY?

Alright, i'm particularly high strung today, so rather then be all vague and general about things, i'm going to just let loose. Maybe its because i'm uncertain about my job interview today, but whatever. I'm pissed and annoyed, so i'll take it out publically on Jennifer. Seriously, i don't understand how girls can get so god damn bitchy over things. I know i can be pretty moody at times and let little things bug the hell out of me, but honestly, ususally its a matter of feeling disrespected or ignored. This is a case of giving me attitude for no reason. We're not even a fucking couple anymore and she's going to take a bitchy attitude with me just because i don't want to weave in and out of traffic to get to The Block quicker. Give me a fucking break. For someone that always tells me how much she hate's her sister because her sister is ungrateful and selfish, she sure doesn't realize that she could be the same damn way. I spend two hours Wednesday night helping her with her paper, i still take her out for food and movies all the god damn time. And she still has the audacity to give me shit about something lame like driving? I'm the one driving, i'm the one that's gonna pay for dinner tonight, i'm the one that's going to pay for the movie. I'm the one that tried to make her mess of a paper a bit more reasonable. And after all that, she can't show me a little bit of gratitude?

Don't get me wrong... i'm ususally someone that just keeps quiet and deals with these things myself, but i've spent an evening with her when she decided to be bitchy with me the whole night. And honestly i don't really feel like dealing with that bullshit again. And quite frankly, i don't give a shit about some excuse like PMS or whatever the fuck girls want to blame their shit on. I try and do a lot for this girl, and i do it willingly. Honestly, i try and do so many little things for her when she asks, even going out just to pick her up some food. The LEAST someone can do is put their shit aside for one fucking night so we can have an enjoyable evening and i can relax without feeling anxious about being unemployed or alone. I guess this goes back to one of the same reasons we broke up to begin with. She never seems to show that she cares or is grateful. I'm glad she's still my friend after we broke up, and i value her company so much. So much that i don't mind paying for things because her input and conversation means so much to me. But no fucking way in hell am i going to put up with a condescending attitude like that. I don't need to deal with that shit anymore. I have a Laker game to watch.

When you decide to be normal again, let me know so we can still watch a movie. >=|