Wow, its September?

I really cannot believe it’s September.  Where has the summer gone?  Oh wait, I know, me trying to find a job with still no luck.  That’s as pessimistic as I’ll allow myself to be.

One good thing over the last month, I have been writing.  It’s incredibly rough and I’m making notes of what I think needs to be fixed as I’m going, which is more progress than I have made in literally years.  I usually end up stalled before I reach ten pages.  So it’s been a surprising success for myself.  I’ll definitely be closing on 40 pages before the day is out.  I did read through what I have written so far and it didn’t make me cringe, which was nice.

As September comes along it brings what ultimately happens in October.  October is our anniversary.   It will be eight years now.  That’s right.  Eight years.  We’re twenty-five and twenty-four, so yeah, we’ve been together for a while, ha.  I sometimes forgot how long its been.  We like to joke that we’ve been together longer than most marriages last.  We’re two loner type people, I imagine it would be weird for other people to see us as we often are in isolated little bubbles while being in the same room.  It just works, lol.  I’m just glad I found someone who isn’t bothered by silence and is quite supportive of my writing.  It also helps that we share the same hobbies.  So, looking forward to October.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a place down on Elmwood Avenue called Wasabi because we were crazy and went to the Blue Monk on a friday afternoon and we didn’t feel like waiting for an hour and  half.  I think, unless that was two separate occasions that I just merged into one.  But either way, to Wasabi we went.

They were small, maybe ten tables at the most in there with a bar in the center.  Nothing astounding on the menu.  I think I’ve seen the same menu at nearly all of the sushi places here, perhaps a slight variation here or there.  I kind of liked the smallness of it.  Dustin thought it was kind of cramped but it was comfortable for me.  The plum wine was nice.  They also had some tables out the front so seating was reasonable I think, though obviously in winter those tables would be gone.

The sushi was good, in my opinion.  I haven’t been wowed by anything since we moved here.  I’ve just been enjoying things done well, as they seem to too often disappoint.  The rice was nice, a fair amount, not too much and not dry.  The fish was good,   I’d say fresh and a good quality fish overall.  I remember going to one sushi place and there was a noticeable fishy odor, it was an unpleasant night after that.  I would recommend Wasabi, though I think things were just a little to clustered for Dustin’s liking.  But overall a good, solid sushi place on Elmwood.

Speaking of sushi, we’ve been talking about it for ages but I think for our anniversary we’re finally going to order a boat of sushi.  Every time we go on a trip or we go out for sushi for some celebratory reason, we’re like, let’s get a boat!  And it never happens.  But this time, we definitely will.  Now its just a matter of picking which one to go to.  If we want to really up the ante we could always go to Toronto as that’s pretty close to us now as well, so options just shoot through the roof that way.  I think I’ll pick up some bottle of sparkling sake instead of champagne.  We’re both not too fond of champagne and I rather liked the sparkling sake at Sake Cafe, I think that’ll be a more appropriate celebratory drink for us.

Now enough dawdling, back to writing! *Triumphant pose*

Another month

So now it is August 10th and I still don’t have a job.  It really is becoming laughable.  In a depressing sort of way.  It brings to mind questions that are just bugging me.  Am I underqualified for the jobs?  Overqualified somehow?  Is my resume shit?  Do they find my degree and experience useless?  Is the fact that I haven’t worked since May stabbing me in the back and the front and desecrating my still warm corpse in the selection process?

Of course just puttering around the internet has revealed a ton of jobs in Toronto that I think I might actually have a shot at getting except we live an hour and a half away and only have one vehicle and I’m not sure how most companies would feel about someone commuting across a border to work.  I am Canadian so there wouldn’t be any issue with ability to work there.  But that’s not really here nor there in the current scheme of things.

God bless my other half for being an understanding and patient person.  He’s said he’s alright with carrying my dead weight around until I can get some employment.  I’ve run out of things to watch and have moved on to Midsomer Murders.   It’s slowly getting on my nerves and its only the fourth episode.  It’s just that the main detective is oh so clever and has to constantly remind his slightly bumbling young partner of how much more clever he is than him.  And isn’t it sort of unprofessional to discuss his open investigation with his family over dinner?

I’ve changed the name of this blog because the other, though coming from a humourous moment several years ago, was a bit long.  This one is pretty much straight and to the point.  I am unemployed and a writer.  I like the title of writer.  Anyone can call themselves one.  One day to hopefully be published but will that day ever come.  I can’t say so.  Though I did actually write something that didn’t disgust me after I re-read it for mistakes, which there are many.  I am always painfully aware of how much I use the comma.  Its a punctuation tool that I am subconsciously obsessed with it would appear.

We went to SPOT Coffee in Buffalo recently.  Lovely place Elmwood Avenue.  Interesting shop.  Very much hipster central.  I would describe SPOT as pretentious as Starbucks use to be before it essentially became a high-end dunkin donuts.  I had a chai so I can’t attest to the quality of the coffee so they could be good or just as awful as starbucks.  Though the cinco shake dustin had got was really quite good.

We had a meal at the Blue Fin Asian Bistro right next door.  Average prices slighty on the higher side, very nice inside.  Sort of a sleek and soft modern mixed with industrial by way of the open ceiling.  It was kind of funny that they had a sign on the glass way separating the door from the dining area.  I would guess they had a problem of people walking into it.  That’s funny.  It was essentially the same menu we’ve been seeing at every sushi place in the area.  To be fair, you can only have so many options.  Though of the places so far, I think I would take the Fuji Grill over the other places.  The atmosphere was comfortable and the sushi was good.  For once a california roll has appeased him without having too much of one ingredient over the other.

Also personal blog so no comments allowed, if for some god forsaken reason anyone reads this and feels oddly compelled to say something to me there are other ways.  Though I doubt that’ll be an issue.

Where I am right now

It is currently July 21st.  I am jobless, by my own decision though I never really intended to go on this long but those are the cards I’ve been dealt and not much to do but to keep on.  At least one of us has a job, thank god for that.  We won’t be completely destitute.  I possibly might have an interview, as not promising as that sounds.  So far I have had only one call back, incredibly disheartening.  Though I do get some kind of sick satisfaction when I got an email reply for job I actually wanted passing me over, most likely because I don’t have a Masters or attend the university, to see them have to re-post the job again.  When I applied, it was on its second re-posting.  So I say suck on that.   On a sidenote, I have a love/hate relationship with the idea of applying for my masters, I hardly think I’d get accepted, grades weren’t too great, but they were good in my major.  Though having spent most of my life in some form of the education system, the quality of North American schools on a whole is incredibly lacking.  I also find the grading system to be incredibly flawed.  But that’s a discussion I’d rather not get into or I’d be here all night.

 

So to bring everything up to speed.  I am 24.  Up until May I was working as a Home Finder.  It had its good days and bad days.  Not something I wanted to make a career out of but once you’re in  you don’t really have a choice of not busting your ass for it.  I felt terribly inadequate with no social work background at all, but I did my best.  So after consideration with my significant other, we decided to move from the “north country”, to a larger area,  close to Toronto but still in the states.  So bob’s your uncle, we decide on Niagara Falls.  We got a bit of money saved up so we decide first of May, we’ll do it.  Granted much of this decision was made whilst making our way across Ireland, England and Italy, so was it the best thought out?  Perhaps not.  But we’re young, better to make stupid, ridiculous decisions at a time when we can still bounce back from them.  And after going through crippling psychological moments in my youth, I am almost disturbingly unafraid of failure.

 

So May goes by, little job hunting as we’re unpacking and trying to familiarize ourselves with our new surroundings.  Also Anime North at the end of the month, so much to do.  June rolls around, once again, job hunting in full swing, no bites.  At least not for me.  Him on the other hand is more successful.  Of course more opportunities for someone with a business degree.  Nobody sees much value in a Bachelors in Anthropology, I suppose.  Damn me and not going for my masters apparently.  So end of June or early July, I really don’t know when, my sense of time has gone totally to shit, he lands a job.  Full time thank god.  The only thing I’ve learned besides people not calling back is that apparently I’m not fit to sell jewelry, which is hilarious and sad at the same time.  Though personally its a sadness I don’t mind.  I know I’d be shit at it so I agree with them.  Not to nit pick about jewelry stores, but is it just me or do people that work in them seem to be real dicks unless you’re buying something right then.  The only person that didn’t seem like an ass was the woman that kindly showed me around and explained how things went.  But, c’est la vie.  I’ve been saying that a lot lately, I feel like I should get that tattooed somewhere.

 

My family’s visiting next week so that’ll be a little nice reprieve from myself.  For the last two weeks its been myself and the cats during the day.  I seriously need to meet people or at least talk to others even if its over the internet.  I’m turning into that person that carries out conversations with the bank teller.  Nothing wrong with that, but I’m realizing my desperate need for conversation.  Maria was a very nice woman, she showed me a picture of a cake she had made and her experience with fondant.  Very nice with a fondant ribbon, though she said she would never work with it again.  I concur, fondant is a bitch.

 

I didn’t work in college, I was blissfully able to make it through without having a serious job.  There was my half day as a telemarketer for a local Electrolux shop.  I spent barely a month at UPS and I worked off and on for at least a year for a marketing firm in California, doing online marketing assignments.  Clearly I’ve been spoiled.  Since then I’ve worked in a casino as an intern for the food & beverage department, I’ve worked at a TJ Maxx and for DSS.  Colourful and hilarious I’m sure.

 

So now I just watch Kitchen Nightmares and apply for jobs.  I also cook to keep my sanity, more on that another time.