Posted on
by

Exactly twenty-one years ago (to the minute), a new, shining star came into this world and blessed it with his presence.  His arrival upon this earthly plane has brought forth an era of prosperous and joyous living.

Who is this strikingly handsome, intelligent, and most wondrous specimen of the homo sapiens sapiens race?

Me

Twenty-one at long last.  Giving myself the day off from having to write anything of real substance.  For the time being, bask in my glory, and know that all is better because I am here.

Posted on
by

On this eve prior to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I am going to make a prediction that will be accepted by some and rejected by others, as all literary theories are. I have no inside information (and want none, therefore I’ll be disabling commenting on this blog from tonight until I get done with the book) and there are no spoilers here. I will have assumed, however, that anyone who reads has the last five books, so don’t go complaining to me if you haven’t. See you on the flip side.

Continue reading →

Posted on
by

Although not unexpected, it would seem as if some people have nothing else to do.  With the imminent release of the final Harry Potter book (coinciding with my birthday no less – 2 days!), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, spoiler kiddies are on the rampage.  People have been going around posting from what seem to be spoilers to entire “scanned” pages of the book.  Now, obviously, some of these spoilers are fake.  However, I’m willing to bet the entire amount of my bank account converted into knuts, sickles, and galleons that some of them are true (good thing my bank account is rather empty right now if I should be wrong).

None of this was unexpected.  With the rise of Harry Potter’s popularity, it’s become something of a target for the few chosen ones who’ve received advance copies of the book (listen up, librarians and book warehouses!).  So, it is not surprising the the final leg of the series would see an upturn in the amount of spoiling, be it real or fake.  Still, this is no reason to spoil something.  Now, I know that such things are common with movies, sometimes with whole portions of spoiler websites dedicated to doing this.  No author/studio/whatever really likes it, and neither do half the viewer/readership.  But this situation is different.  At least with movies, there are usually very large, very colorful font-faced warnings proceeding your entry into a spoiler.

Not with Harry Potter, or at least, not with this book of Harry Potter (though the last one saw its fair share of surprises).  No, here you have idiots going around and posting spoilers when some people may not want to see them, and without warning, too.  They could at least put them in spoiler tags, or have a warning, but no.  They think it’s sooo funny to going around and ruin a person’s experience.  I have no problem if someone wants to read spoilers.  That’s their right, they can do it if they want.  Even I am sometimes tempted by them, and yes, I do give in, I admit it.  But, in those times, it’s been by my choice to read it.  For the most part, reasonable people have been posting anything they think might be a spoiler with proper methods.  But, once in a while you have an asshole.

I do feel bad for staff member of websites who may be HP fans (I know, I’m one of them), especially with those containing forums , because it is their job to moderate, and they may be forced to see it (especially on smaller sites).  I know that around the time of the last book’s release, one of Mugglenet.com’s Chamber of Secrets forum admins got real spoiled (think it might of had to do with Dumbledore dying, as that was a big one going around then).  So, they saw it when they didn’t want to see it.

So far, I haven’t gotten any surprises (thump on wood).  However, unfortunately, even forums that I thought might have been safe may no longer be as such.  So, it goes to say that for the next three to four days, I’m treating any Harry Potter forum or topic like it contains the plague.  Not…touching…it.  And though my little voice will probably be unheard, I plea to anybody who would spoil the Potter series, I’d rather you not.  Though, that goes against what I said, so I say to the minority who’d ruin it for those of us who don’t want to know, don’t go posting surprise spoilers.  It’s rude, and inconsiderate.  You should get a life, get a girl/boyfriend, and do something else.

Well, there it is.  Let the final countdown begin…

Posted on
by

So, I suppose a lot of it is my fault, but if some of these places would ever call for an interview (and yes, I’ve been a good boy and done the week-after followup after sending in an app), I might have a summer job right now. See, I’m not looking for particularly skilled work. For a summer gig, I’d be happy doing cashier, or stocking, or something of that sort. Yet, it seems that every place I’ve applied to will not call me! Take this, for example:

There’s a new gas station in town (friends from town – it’s on Adams Street). The sign says they’re hiring, so I apply. I call back a couple time, and every time it seems like the manager hasn’t looked at the applications yet! What are they playing at? If you say you’re hiring, actually start doing it. I’d understand if I didn’t get the job because I don’t qualify or something, but at least call within a respectable amount of time.  Then again, come on, how hard can it be to cashier or stock a gas station convenience store?

Another example: Ocean State Job Lot. They have a sign saying they’re hiring, so I go in to apply. One of the customer service people tells me that the manager just ended hiring, but invites me to fill out an application, which I do. Well, I thought then that they should have taken down the sign pronto, and I still do. Why? Because it’s still up there! Just went back with the family this weekend, and it was still there.

Finally, I’ve had three interviews so far, two at Circuit City (after which the manager said they couldn’t just hire for the summer – why did I waste my mom’s gas going for the second interview?) , and one at Barnes & Noble in the mall. Well, the B&N manager seems to have a rather erratic schedule, since it took me nearly two weeks after the interview to find out they’d hired somebody since my interview. Whenever I called, she wasn’t in for some reason or another, or had just left for the day. Ugh. Would have liked to work there, too, especially with the upcoming Harry Potter release! Oh, well. Now I can have my pool party on Saturday, at least.

I’d just like for some consistency from the managers. Actually call your applicants for interviews. I guess in defense of the gas station, they might simply have gotten a lot of applicants. Still, like I said, the last time I called, they still hadn’t looked at the applications. I do need to call a couple places again, though my hopes are now not high for getting a job, what with about a month and a half to go until I return to Eastern. If there’s any consolation, though, I think I now know what I’ll have to go through when actually looking for a job in my field.

Posted on
by

I’m hoping that when I get to Rocky Hill tomorrow morning, I will be presented with the sight of the full news staff there.  Ever since I started working there on Wednesday, I knew I couldn’t wait for newscasts to start from there.  I’m not entirely sure what prevented them from starting there Wednesday, but I am guessing it’s something to do with everything not having been there.  So, hopefully this weekend was a time for them to move things and set it all up, so that they’ll be ready on Monday.  We shall see, however.  I’d hate for it to be another day like Wednesday, with news still up in Hartford, so that there’s not much to do (though I heard tell Wednesday that one of the assignments editors might have started there last week, so there might be things to do).  But, we’ll see.

Now, off to put my clothes in the dryer, so I can get up at my ridiculous waking time.

Posted on
by

Ok, not really.

A while back, I played a game where you could make your own country, and decide on its fate by answering issue questions. An unofficial accompaniment to this game is a wiki where you can create your nation’s history, and expand on information about the country, its leaders, etc. Well, after time, my interest waned in the game, although not writing about the country itself. So, it was to my great interest when I finally found a different wiki un-related to the game that’d allow me to do this. I changed the name of the country and some aspects of its history (as to when it was created, which before was an in-joke to a website I help run). Check out the new article. I plan to expand upon it soon.

Posted on
by

As if I wasn’t already a little miffed by the longer trip I need to take to my internship (though now I take some of it back now that I’ve actually seen the place – it was worth the trip), I’m now angry at the idiots over at CT Transit, the company who runs public transport here in Connecticut. I asked twice, once on Monday, and once on Tuesday, whether I’d be able to transfer buses in Hartford to get to Rocky Hill without paying any more money. Both people said yes. I thought this was great, not having to pay any more money to get to my destination. Turns out either I was told wrong, or the bus driver hasn’t been updated on the policies lately.

I get to Hartford, and onto the bus going to Rocky Hill, and put my transfer ticket into the ticket taker. The bus driver is like, “$1.00 please.” And I’m like, “What? I was told I didn’t have to pay any more.” And he’s like, “This is a commuter bus.” So, what the hell can I do? I had to pay it, or I wasn’t going to Rocky Hill. But what if I didn’t have it or the exact change of it? What then? I’m stuck in Hartford?

CT Transit is getting my call tomorrow to yell at them for the incorrect answer to my question.

Posted on
by

No, I’m not going to grandma’s house, but it sure feels like I’ll be jumping through hoops and traveling on all roads to get to my internship the next few weeks, starting tomorrow.

Right now, Channel 3 is in Hartford, which is easy enough to get to. I don’t have a car or license yet, so I take the commuter bus, which is easy since there is a commuter lot at Buckland which goes to Hartford. Great. But, now Channel 3 is going to Rocky Hill. Instead of catching one bus, I’ll have to catch two. One to Hartford from Buckland, and then from Hartford to Rocky Hill. Thank god you can transfer to the second bus for free.

However, it doesn’t end there. Not only will I have to get an extra bus now, I’ll have to wake up an hour earlier to do it, since the route to Rocky Hill has only two (2) times that it leaves from Hartford in the morning, and in the afternoon as well, and neither is anywhere close to when I was getting into Hartford before. So, I take two buses, starting an hour earlier, and as a result, end up getting to Rocky Hill about an hour earlier than I used to get to Hartford. I then have to walk half a mile up some street (which I kind of hope has a sidewalk) to get to the building, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere.

I love Channel 3, working there on my internship and all, but why they chose Rocky Hill, I’ll probably never know (probably something to do with taxes). I hope doing all this shows them my dedication to getting there, haha. Let the games begin…

Posted on
by

I end the second annual Independence Week with a story that I won’t be able to talk about for another one thousand years (assuming I’m alive then).

Certain days are always ones that couple seem to target for normal activities in the world, including weddings and…ummm…baby making. As it turned out, Saturday was 7/7/07, possibly the luckiest day of the all. But, wouldn’t it be luckier if your baby was born at 7:07:07? Or, there were born at 7lbs, 7 ounces? Well, that happened in at least one case around the world. Newborn Jack Falkner was born Saturday, weighing in at exactly that weight. Obviously, the mythology of the number seven’s luckiness goes back far. Not sure how accurate this is, but according to Wikipedia, the number seven is lucky, at least in biblical terms, because it represents the union between a man (the number 3) and women (the number 4). Not that I exactly ever look closely into the bible, but there’s one reasoning. Take it or leave it, I guess. All I can say is that I hope Jack Falkner finds luck in life!

So ends the second annual Independence Week. I definitely did better this year than last, since I completed an entry for every day! I’d like to continue this trend (one entry every day, that is) even when it’s not IW, but we’ll see what happens! Until next year, this has been Independence Week, signing off!