Sunday, May 30, 2010

good/ funeral home/ sayings

May 27 Good: Today I finished a 3rd day of work in a row. That's good considering I haven't had steady work for the past 2 months. I got an extra shift tomorrow. I'm cautiously optimistic. This girl who works there, she got sent home early yesterday and today.

She may get cut out, but so could I because businesses can fire you without reason in the first 3 months of employment. Yesterday 2 people came and dropped off their resumes.

Interesting: One of the guys who dropped of his resume also bought a drink and started talking to me.

Guy: So how long have you been working here?
Me: This is my second day.
Guy: Yeah, you seem to enjoy working here.
Then I realized that it's Bradley, my co-worker from Call Centre #3. I haven't seen him since Jan.

Job search: I emailed my high school friend Kayle on Facebook about my job search, and how I applied to Telus.

Kayle: I think you applied for both of the positions that are available at Telus, they usually take about 1-2 months to give you a call to come in and take the exam, then another few weeks for an interview then another month to find out if you got the job, so its a long process. But yea sadly I haven't had much luck finding a new job either, so good luck.

I asked him what's on the exam.

Teen pregnancy: I was reading the Metro and the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada released info about the rate of teen pregnancy.

Canada: Teen pregnancy decreased by 36.9% between 1996-2006.
US: Decreased by 25% between 1996-2006.
England and Wales: Decreased by 4.75%.
Sweden: Increased by 19.1%.

Quality sex ed and access to health services would help a lot, the article says. The council is a registered charitable organization funded by Trojan condoms. The jokes write themselves.

May 28 Thief: I need to get back to my writing. I haven't written anything for Rain since Feb. I have written a little, but it's not typed up. When it's not typed up, it's not to the level that I want.

Dark Angel: Let's analyze characters who are thieves like Max on Dark Angel. In season 1 she did that a lot. Then in season 2 she did it once because the show turned all X-Files and X-Men. Max steals to make money in a post-apocalyptic world in 2020. That's how she meets her friend/ love interest Logan in the pilot when she breaks into his place.

She mainly breaks into place besides making money, but also to expose corruption. She has to break in to infiltrate and get evidence. It's also sexier to see Jessica Alba in tight black clothes and sneaking around. There's also suspense and tension of "Will she get caught?" And when she does, she fights so there's action there. It makes it more exciting. The first season was in 2000-2001.

Alias: In 2001, Alias came out about a spy. There is the same thing with action, suspense, and tension of "Will she get caught?" How will she get out of this one? Maybe she fights, hides, or talks her way out of it. When I was writing back then, I tried to write like Alias.

Then I realized, most episodes is where Sydney travels to places to break in and steal evidence and things.

She Spies: This is a comedy of 3 beautiful ex-cons who become spies to work for the govt. to get a lighter sentence. There's some breaking and entering, but it's not very often.

CSI:NY: Nelly Furtado guest- starred and in the last scene she reveals in a few lines of why she steals. She left an abusive relationship with no money. She then starts stealing to survive on her own, and she she got really good at it. Then she is able to make a lot of money doing that. You do feel sympathy for her character because she was in a abusive relationship.

Shopping: Get Set closed down in City Centre mall. It's been replaced by another clothing store called 360 degrees. It sells clothes, soap, vases, and frames. Fairweather started selling shoes with their clothes.

Urban Planet closed down in Kingsway mall. It's been replaced by Suzy Shier. Dynamite moved into another bigger location in the mall.

Grand and Toy will always be in City Centre. There's Staples by the mall, but it's not in it. Shoppers Drug Mart sells stationary, but they sell everything. G&T doesn't have a lot of competition. The Soup place closed down because it was just another restaurant. It was the only place to sell soup and sandwiches though. Now it's replaced by Fat Burger and there already are a lot of restaurants that sell that.

Capilano mall is a dead mall. I didn't get any call backs there. It's like back in the late 90s when my sister was looking for a job. All the call backs she got was from West Ed mall. I should try that as my last resort.

Funeral home: This is a mild rant. I got a call from this funeral home I applied to be an administrative assistant at earlier this week. Then I called them today and then they said that position has been filled. If only I called them earlier, I might have gotten a job there. I was kind of annoyed that I was procrastinating, but I was really busy with my job and didn't have time to call them.

I called them the other day, but I was told that the manager wasn't there and to call between these hours. I'm not putting obstacles in front of myself. I'll admit, I wasn't totally interested in working at a funeral home. When I told my dad about that callback, he cracked a smile at it.
When I got that call, I was kind of eh with it and put off by working there.

I did see this documentary with the host Jon Dore and they analyzed happiness. They talked to a guy who worked at a funeral home and he was really happy. It gets depressing and I wouldn't feel comfortable working there. There is still good job security because death will always occur.

May 29 Alberta Lottery Fund: I was going through the AB govt. website and found the Alberta Lottery Fund. It's made of govt. share of net revenues from VLTs, slot machines and ticket lotteries. It's managed by Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. They give the revenues to charities to help people.

I don't remember hearing about ALF before. This is a good thing to donate so much money to a lot of charities.

Organized: I organized my bookmarks of my links. One folder that has to do with film and the other for Youtube. I also finally went and created the questions for my password at MacEwan. Now that window would stop popping up every time I check my school email. lol.

Analyze: I know why I'm so angry that I didn't get the job at the funeral home, even though I didn't really want to work there. It's because I feel like I didn't give it my best shot by going for an interview. However, I will take this as a sign that though I don't have a college diploma to be an administrative assistant, I can still get a call back.

I wrote the above hours ago. I told my dad.

Me: This is proof that I can get a administrative job without going to school.
Dad: Yeah, well then again how many applied for that position? 1, 2, or 3 people? Not that many people would want to work there.

Sayings: I was reading my horoscopes in People magazine at a newsstand. It said: "Organization is the key to success." That's true.

I saw this HSBC commercial. It said: "I rather regret things I have done, then things I haven't done."

I was thinking about these sayings during my job search. In the movie The Matrix: "Know thyself." It made me think of all my abilities and skills and what I'm capable of.

I remember this saying a long time ago, but I don't know where: "You want to make money, you get a job that you like. You want to make a lot of money, you get a job that you hate."

I don't really believe that. There are a lot of people who have it both ways, getting a job that they like and pays well. In some cases, yes. When I was working at a bank, I got paid $15/hr, but I didn't like it or was good at it.

Savage Chickens: I was talking to my friend Jessica on the phone and she told me about how to beat writer's block. Read comics at www.savagechickens.com. It's kind of funny. I have to read everything from internet and newspapers to find something to inspire me.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

actors/ The Party Never Stops/ Facebook

May 23 Actors: I was watching CSI: NY rerun and I saw William Gregory Lee. He played Zack on Dark Angel and I saw him on one episode of a short-lived sitcom called Run of the House. The sitcom had Joey Lawrence (from the sitcom Blossom) playing a big brother. Coincidentally JL was also on this CSI: NY ep. Since he's the biggest guest-star, he's the guy who did it.

Though I thought it was creative ending. JL and Mac Taylor are on top of the roof where MT is trying to arrest him. Then JL falls down from the roof onto a police car, but his hands were cuffed behind him.

CSI: NY: I like that this show has continuity. There was an ep where Det. Flack has to turn in a dirty cop, and for every case that the cop testified in. The criminals will get a retrial because that dirty cop can't be trusted. That's how JL appeared on this show.

There is also the one where Stella got cut from glass in a crime scene and may have got HIV. Episodes later, DNA tests results come and she's clean. Then there's Stella and the Greek artifacts storyline. Craig T Nelson was on. He played a bad guy, but he didn't commit the crime, but his son played by Thad Luckinbill did it. Then they return to the storyline where TL's character gets kidnapped when a truck drives into the diner that he's in.

Then there are reoccurring characters like the rapper Nelly.

Saying: I remember this 2001 interview with the boy band Nsync when they were on Muchmusic.

Chris: It's not about the amount of money, but how you see it.

I could see that $9/hr is low because the min. wage is $8.80/hr. Do you remember the days of 2003 when it used to be $5.90/hr? Then in 2005, it was raised to $7/hr.

Friends: I spent all morning looking up my NAIT friends on Facebook. Then in the afternoon I talked to Lauraine at Grand and Toy. She filled me in on her schooling. Then I went and talked to Justin. He told me he did send my resume to his bank.

May 24 News: I went on Yahoo news and see that Brittany Murphy's husband Simon Monjack died. That is so weird because his wife died 5 months earlier. They say there's no foul play.

In lighter news I see that Yahoo Personals is closing down by Jul.21. They'll be moving to Match.com.

Sleep: I have to wake up at 6am tomorrow morning. The other day I put a cup of coffee by my bed before I went to sleep. Then when I woke up at 8:30am, I drank half a cup of it. I fell asleep, but woke up at 9:30am. After three cups of coffee, at 3pm, I had to sleep a bit. I fell asleep at the usual time of 3am. Then this morning I woke up at 9:30am and it was easier to get out of bed because yesterday I already woke up at that time.

The Party Never Stops: I saw this mediocre TV movie on Sat. night. It stars Sara Paxton as the lead who goes to college for the first time. It's an after school special about the consequences of drinking. SP was in the movie Aquamarine and an episode of Cribs. This TV movie came out in 2007.

I did like Nancy Travis who played the mom. I recognized Alexia Fast as the little sister in this movie and on the short-lived show Kaya. (Cory Monteith was on that show before Glee.)

The only good thing about this movie is that I learned how to write. When the protagonist's best friend dies at the end of the movie, I didn't feel sad. The best friend was 2-dimensional, and I didn't feel the closeness or realness of this friendship. That made me think of the good TV movie Confessions of a Go-Go Girl. It's similar with the lead being a good girl, and the friend being the bad girl. Except in that movie, I felt sad when the friend died. I then thought about the relationships between my characters in my writing. Does it seem real?

I felt Party was a string of scenes, and not really a movie. The lead writes in her online diary about why she drinks to fit in, and feel good about herself. The consequences are that she sleeps with a guy, and she doesn't even know his name, she misses classes, doesn't make it on the track team, ends up on a Girls Gone Wild video that's on the internet.

I saw the Tyra show, with the guy who makes those videos. There is a contract that you can sign that says you don't want to be on that video. The lead does get close to this guy, and towards the end of the movie he talked about how his drinking led to him losing his job, scholarship, and girlfriend.

Job search: I went to Kijiji and it lead me to Edward Jones to be a financial advisor. It took me a long time to set up a profile and account on it. Well at least it was a little fun by filling out the questionnaire. It asked questions like how much agree with these words that describe you.

Restaurants: Did you know that Booster Juice was founded in Sherwood Park in 1999? I was on Wikipedia. Taste of Mediterranean took over this empty space in City Centre. I then looked in my 2008 brochure to see what it replaced. There used to be Mr. Submarine there. There's a Mr. Sub in the other food court.

Mr. Submarine was what called before the 1990s and then it changed to Mr. Sub. It's also Canadian.

May 25 Crazy day: I wake up and I look at the clock and it's 6:24am, and I'm supposed to leave at 6:25 am to catch the bus! I did set the alarm and then I checked it after work, and it worked. I don't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, and for the past two days I was trying to get my internal clock back to waking up at 9am. I guess I was on edge and couldn't fall asleep.

Fortunately, I was wearing my black pants and had made a cup of coffee so I can drink it when I wake up. I changed my shirt and got to the bus stop.

That reminds me of some jokes. The Simpsons had Marge wake up.

Marge: We're going to be late for church. Fortunately, I slept in my church clothes when I went to bed.
She comes out fully dressed from under the covers.

Years prior to the show, it reminded me of the teen sitcom Hang Time. There was a promo for it where the alarm clock rings, and this guy comes out from under the covers in suit, and gets breakfast and his breakfast, and goes out the door.

New job: I like my new job making smoothies. I wanted to work from 10am-6:30pm so I asked my manager. She said yes. This place is like the Soup place. Same hours, mainly women working, downtown, same pay.

Job talk: After work, my dad gave me some job talk again. He said I probably won't last until next week because 3 other people got hired with me. They're probably going to cut out someone. I wasn't totally brought down, but it did make me more alert of the opportunities out there.

Dad: I don't think there's anything else I can do for you.
Me: Well you did a lot already by getting me to graduate out of high school with mostly average classes. Paying for my math tutors so I can pass math. Then you did pay for my college education.

May 26 Jokes: I was watching South Park, and the Jonas Brothers confront their boss Mickey Mouse. MM doesn't like what he's hearing so he starts beating up one of the brothers. It was funny and weird.

I was watching The Vampire Diaries. Damon thinks that Elena's uncle John is really her father.

Damon: It's between John, Elena, and Maury Povich.
That's a shout out to Maury's paternity tests.

Facebook: Betty White was on Saturday Night Live and she was talking about how a Facebook group got her on this show.

BW: I didn't know what Facebook was, but now that I do, I think it's a really big waste of time. The audience laughs.
BW: Back in my day we had a phone book, but I didn't spend all afternoon on it.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Facebook job search/ Odd Job Jack/ NAIT

May 21 Facebook job search: I IMed chat on Facebook with Cherie from college. I asked her about jobs, and she said she's in Calgary. We chatted a bit, and wished each other luck on our job searches. I then emailed all the people I had an email thread on Facebook asking if they know anyone's hiring.

I chatted a little bit with Dallas Medinger. We went to jr. high and high school together, but we didn't really know each other. He then went into writing with me. I told him I was looking for a job and he said he'll keep his eyes open.

I wrote the above hours ago. Wasan from college says she's in Vancouver and looking for a job.

Writing: I saw a new Family Guy episode which was mainly Brian and Stewie trapped in bank vault talking. There was no cut away. It was all held on one location, kind of like a play. It was kind of interesting to see only two characters in one location.

Actors: I saw Canadian actor Brendan Fehr on a new episode of CSI: NY. You may have seen him on Roswell back in the late 90s. He was in the mini-series Samurai Girl.

The rapper Kanye West was on an episode of The Cleveland Show. He played a teenage rapper named Kenny West. There was a rap battle between him and Cleveland Jr.

I was watching some Nick Cannon Wild N' Out. I only watch it during commercial breaks. I see Taran Killam. He was on MADTv, and he did date Amanda Bynes.

Clean: Maybe those episodes of Castle and The Mentalist has had an effect on me. You know where the wife kills deadbeat husband? I'm unemployed and have been doing more housework. I cleaned my room, mopped, vacuumed, recycled, washed windows, and washed the dishes.

Though my sister told me about it a couple of months ago. I wasn't working a lot, and she said I should contributing more to the household by cleaning. That's the way with my grandma. She doesn't work, so she does all the housework.

Odd Job Jack: I have mentioned this show before back in 2008. I was at a staffing agency, and the character Jack on this cartoon show does the same. Every week he works at somewhere new. It's voiced by Don McKeller and he has a friend named Bobby voiced by Matthew Ferguson (Birkoff from Nikita).

Now I just realized how unrealistic this show is. As in one week Jack works as a mortician and then next week he works by selling hot dogs out of a van. Most staffing agencies only give office jobs out like banks. However, working in an office is not as interesting for TV purposes.

IBM: I went to check out if there are any jobs at IBM, and most need a Bachelor's degree in math, computer science, etc.

Friends: I bumped into Chase again at the mall. I told him about my new job, and gave him my blog address. He helped me get excited about my job and told me that the blog should help my "creative juices flowing." I need to keep a positive attitude.

EI: I got some good news and bad news from the Edmonton Journal. 17,000 Edmontonians are on EI. I just filed for EI today. There has been less claims for EI because the economy improved, but at the same time people are running out on EI.

May 22 Stress: I was filing for EI, and I told them I was dismissed. That means I have to fill out this form and hand it into them on Tues so they could investigate it. That means I may have to wait even longer to get my EI check.

The good news though is that I picked up my call centre pay check yesterday.

Rant: I fell asleep watching Warehouse 13 because I was tired. I then had to go on the internet and read what the ending was. That was mildly annoying to miss the episode as it was on.

Joke: This was way back in 2004, and I was watching TV.

Patrick: Hey, what are you watching?
Me: Right now I'm watching Missing because there's a commercial break on Lost.
lol. Seriously, I was watching those shows.

I was reminded of this joke as I was watching Jay Leno and they made fun of Lost because it's finally ending after 6 years. They crammed the whole Lost show, and throw in stuff from Gilligan's Island, and other movies and TV shows into a video summary.

The ending was: "Lost. You should be."
The entire audience laughs.

Comparisons: Here's one. I watched one show earlier this week, and then the same thing occurs on another show.

Character knows how to read lips because of a deaf family member: I was watching Law and Order: SVU and this cop is able to read lips on this video. He says he has a deaf grandmother. Then today on Warehouse 13, Pete reads lips on this video. He says his sister's deaf.

Realism: I was doing my job search, and I got a flash back of the late 90s teen sitcom called Hang Time. The teens were helping a friend's dad look for a job. There's a subtitle that said "6 months later" and then talk about how hard it was to get a job. That was realistic. Sure, sometimes it can be easy to get a job. Like that time I passed out 20 resumes in 1 day and got a job at the Soup place. That was easy. Right now it's harder.

May 23 NAIT: I'm now looking up all my NAIT friends on Facebook. I specifically ask if they went to NAIT, what yr, and the program in the friend request. I only had two NAIT friends on Facebook, and it seems many of them are on it. One friend Lori just confirmed me.

I should have done this a long time ago. Well I'm making my job search a little bit more fun. I emailed and passed out many resumes. Now I must tap all the people I know and email them if they know anyone who's hiring. Yesterday I emailed 35 of my friends on Facebook if they know if anyone's hiring.It's kind of interesting to see who from NAIT is friends with who on it. I just friended 25 of them. There were some that just weren't on it.

The last time I contacted all of them was back in 2006. I apologized for giving their phone numbers to this bad pyramid scheme called Quixtar. Get 50 names and give it to this guy. No college eduction in business.

Look, I righted my wrongs by apologizing to them and I got back at the guy who got me into it in the first place. It's a good thing I only went to two meetings and didn't spend any money on it. I just checked my email and Amanda from NAIT confirmed me as friend.

I feel like by doing this, I'm getting a positive boost.

Leon's: Did you know that Leon's furniture increased in sales by 40% this yr due to the improving economy? I read that in the Edmonton Journal.

Money: Did you know that on average people spend $92 on movies a year? $300 on lottery tickets. I read that in the Globe and Mail.

Money tip: Don't spend money all week. That forces you to eat all the food at home and use everything you have. I got that from the Oprah website.

I was watching The Cleveland Show, and they kept all this money in a jar. There was $2000. Me: You should put that in a bank account so it could collect interest and make even more money.

Esthero: Last week this song "That Girl" by Esthero came on my satellite TV radio station. I then went and watched the video today. It's from 1998 and she's from Toronto. It's a good song, and now I'm listening to her music on Youtube.

Friday, May 21, 2010

poem/ motivation/ actors

May 18 Poem: I got this email from a guy on this online dating site. Months ago he emailed me a poem too, and I sent it to you. My friend Sherry said it sounded like Metallica:

Tis not only the moon that shines
like fiery embers in the night,
for even the Goddess Ceres envies thy bright beautiful eyes
For even if the devil himself tears out my heart,
it would still beat for you a million times
and call your name in the night

My review is that this guy is trying too hard to be deep and cool. I find it's unoriginal about calling your name in the night. You may say: "You're a writing snob." Well I do have a college diploma in Professional Writing. However, with writing and art, it's subjective.

Recession: I was reading the Globe and Mail and about this woman who used to be an administrative assistant and has become a Wal-Mart cashier after the recession. The thing is, technology was going to fade out administrative assistant jobs in the future, the recession sped it up.

These jobs aren't coming back because the computers will be able to make you keep track of your appointments. The other day I was talking to Patrick and he said: "C'mon, remember there was that guy who had his secretary in India? And he was in the US. It was on CNN."

This could be a sign for me to not become an administrative assistant. However, I still think people can still go to MacEwan and CDI college to take the course to become one. I see a lot people are still needed to be a receptionist at dental and medical clinics. I read the Classifieds in the newspaper and there are a lot of ads for it.

Motivation: I'm kind of friends with this man named Chase. He's 52 and works as a janitor at the mall. We talked once last month about how I got laid off at the Soup place. Well I bumped into him at the mall while he was on break. I see a lot of staffing agencies and I feel tempted to go to them.

Back in 2008, my parents and sister told me those staffing agencies are bad.

Chase: It's $18/hr for my work. $12 goes to me, and $6 goes to the agency for setting it up.
Me: Yeah, and that's why my dad says you might as well get a job on your own.

If you're really desperate for work, go to one. Avoid it at all costs.

Letter: I was reading a letter in the Edmonton Journal. This 24 yr old guy works at a big department store and gets disrespect from customers. Basically the letter says: "Don't go thinking I'm 24 and working here means that I can't get a job. I have a 4.0 GPA at NAIT, I work here because of the flexible hours. I'm trying to get a career in my field, but it's hard because they want people with 2 yrs of experience. If they just give me a chance, I can prove myself."

Reminder: I was watching Glee tonight and there was a line that said (paraphase): "You hope you can get a entry level job." That reminds me of my dad telling me to get an entry level job.

May 19 Funny: I'm getting frustrated with my job search, so I'll think of funny things to keep my spirits up. I was watching CSI:NY, and the funny part was what happened off screen.

Cut to construction workers fighting each other.
Patrick: What is this? Scabs vs. union?
Me: What?

Cut to after the fight.
Det. Flack: It was scabs vs. union.
Me: What does that mean?
P: When a union goes on strike, the workers stop working. But then there are the people who continue to work because they need the money. They're called scabs.

News: It's official, Melrose Place has been canceled. I read it in the Globe and Mail and then went on Google. The news was confirmed 20hrs ago. Then I made sure Flashfoward was canceled by checking the internet too. Both shows aren't really bad, but the ratings weren't that good and won't get a second season. Scrubs is finally getting canceled after it's been on for years.

Job info: The Edmonton Petroleum Club is hiring bartenders and banquet staff. You can email Mr.Stanhope, sstanhope@shawbiz.ca. It's too far away for me. I always see this ad in the Job Classified newspaper. You can learn how to bar tend at 10507 81st. The spring special is $425 for a 2 week class. You can get your Pro Serve certification there. That's what you need if you're serving alcohol in Alberta.

I also saw an ad www.firststudentcanada.com to employ school bus drivers. I went to the site and they look for mechanics/ technicians, operations management, etc.

May 20 Blog: Someone other than my friends and family read my blog. Someone by the name of Dinah Bee Menil said: "like to read it again and again..." It's about my last post called "inspiration/ comparison/ friends."

I then clicked on his name and it lead me to elegalsite.com about law.

Data entry: I was on the internet and looking up positions like "data entry work at home." I asked my dad if that is legitimate work. You can make $300/day, but there's lots of scams out there. I then went on Yahoo.com and they gave safe job search tips:

Give out your social security number AT THEIR OFFICES and not on the phone or email.
Go to the Better Business Bureau to see if they're legit.

New job: I got a new job today. I thought I didn't get the job because they were supposed to call me yesterday, but they didn't. I decided to call them and I did get hired. I hope this job will work out.

Donair: I went and tried a donair at Queen's Donair. The poutines are good. The donair was good too.

Call centre: I found this old ad from 2007 that I cut out. There's a call centre at Westmount Centre called QCCS #700. It's a subsidary of the Neiman Marcus group. I remember reading an article in 24 about Westmount being a dead mall and how it has a call centre in there.

If anyone's interested, go to: hr@qualitycallcare.com.

I was cleaning out my desk and I found this other 2007 ad from GE call centre. I looked it up on the internet, and the Edmonton branch was closed down last year and laid off 250 people.

Just Energy: This keeps popping up. I applied on the internet awhile ago. I then found an ad in Job Classifieds and called it. The ad didn't mention the name and it was Just Energy. Then I found a 2007 ad from Job Classifieds and I called the number. It was them again.

When I went to the interview they said they lasted through the recession. They certainly lasted longer than the call centres did.

I was reading old job magazines I got back in 2008. I told you I was cleaning my desk. There's lots of inspiration there.

May 21 Actors: I was watching Flashpoint, and I saw Ennis Esmer (Toby's sidekick from The Listener) on. The younger version of Toby was on FP too. Both shows mention Tim Horton's. If you watch both shows, they're in Toronto and both shot with the same camera.

Meredith Henderson who played Shirley Holmes on the The Adventures of Shirley Holmes was on it too. MH was also on The Best Years also shot in Toronto. Shirley Holmes was a good kid's show with good mysteries.

I was watching CSI:NY reruns that I missed and I saw Jordano Spiro where she plays a bad guy. I first saw her on The Huntress with Annette O'Toole back in 2000. They played mother- daughter bounty hunters. It was comedy- crime and very funny and good. O'Toole is the Clark Kent's mom on Smallville.

I then saw Bree's long lost son from Desperate Housewives was on. He also played a bad guy. On the same episode, there was this Aboriginal man on it. He was on In Plain Sight and The Mentalist. Michael Trevino from The Vampire Diaries made a guest- star on this show too.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

inspiration/ comparisons/ friends

May 15 Inspiraton: I was reading the book Writing your Screenplay by Lisa Dethridge. She talked about the movie Run Lola Run: "That a protagonist can change their world and succeed against the odds, depending on how alert they are to the possibilities. Luck is what you make of it."

Job info: I looked at other credit card companies to work for. Visa jobs are only in Toronto. MasterCard jobs are in Toronto and Windsor. American Express has one in Calgary.

Reminders: I have random reminders of my job search like I was watching Family Guy, and Quagmire loses his job.

Did you know that Kevin Eubanks, the guitar player from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno is quitting after 18 years? I remember watching this Tru Calling episode with audio commentary and Jason Priestly was talking.

JP: I see years of my life going by on this morgue set, kind of like the Peach Pit.
lol. JP was on the TV show Beverly Hills 90210 and the Peach Pit was the hang out. He was on 90210 for 10 years.

I can relate with the Soup place for me. However, I was there for 2 years.

Feelings: I feel anxious and restless. I applied for a position at a bank today online. I probably won't get it. Today I felt restless so I went out and applied to two restaurants in downtown that are hiring.

Deja vu: This feels like summer 2007. I had trouble getting and keeping a job. I picked jobs that I didn't like. I worked there for 1-3 days and then quit for something else. This summer I was let go from them. The thought of going all the way to West Ed mall as my last resort to get a job is appearing in my plan.

I must remain positive. In summer 2005, I only had two jobs. Then I got a job at Roots at West Ed mall. I couldn't get a job in downtown that's why I went to West Ed. I have gained a lot of confidence. I can get a job in downtown. I must find it. There is the saying: "Opportunities will always surround if you if you know where to look."

May 16 Website: I decided to go on Craigslist and look for a job. I checked out Kiiji. I looked up writing jobs on Craigslist and they said they're looking for writers for the website www.cheateralert.com. The posting said: "Read some articles and write for us."

Expired food: It's time to write about something totally different from my job search. I've been eating expired food. I ate KFC fries that were 5 days old. I ate cheese that expired 3 months ago. As long as it stays in the fridge, food doesn't really go bad unless it's milk.

May 17 Cliche: I was watching Desperate Housewives, and instead of "Wall of Crazy", there was a "Scrapbook of Crazy." That means a scrapbook that has pictures and newspaper clippings.

Comparisons: Here is some more comparisons of similar ideas in TV and movies:

Training kids to kill: I was watching the movie Hit Man and it's about a guy who was trained to kill since he was a kid. In the movie Ninja Assassin, that was the same. So was the TV show Dark Angel where kids were born and raised to be supersoldiers. The bad guy Lydecker said it in the season 1 finale: "Why send 1000 soldiers out and lose 100 when you can send 10 soldiers out and not lose any?"

Then again it is true to life. Patrick got a book that analyzed warriors in history. Samurais learned to fight since they were 5. Knights at the age of 7.

Group of kids kill one of their friends: I mentioned this way back in season 1 of Castle (last year). There is a group of friends and one of them dies. Now the cops have to figure out which one killed the kid. In The Mentalist, it turns out the whole group killed the one kid.

A series of murders occur on an island: I was watching Criminal Minds the other day, and the BAU team has to go to Alaska and catch the serial killer. That reminded me of 2009 mini-series Harper Island. Except there was a wedding, and people don't start noticing the murders until 5 episodes in.

Finding a dead body in concrete: I saw that on CSI: NY a couple of weeks ago. A construction team was drilling into the concrete, and blood was spurting out at the beginning of the episode. On The Mentalist, the tip of the nose was sticking out of the concrete. It was found in the last half of the episode.

Wife gets back at dead beat husband: I was watching The Mentalist and this scientist died. Then it turns out his wife killed him because he couldn't get a job. The scientist was so smart, but he couldn't teach in front of a class because he was so shy. She was working 50hrs a week to support both of them.

That totally reminded me of Castle last season. This daughter gets kidnapped, and the husband was busy painting and listening to his iPod. The window was open without bars so the kid got kidnapped. The wife did it by getting her sister to kidnap the kid. The husband wasn't selling his paintings. He said he's going to stay at home to take care of the kid, but he doesn't. He just puts the kid in front of the TV, and doesn't work. The wife works 15hrs a day at a bank to support all 3 of them. She wants a divorce, but he will get half of her money. She goes to a lawyer and he tells her to prove that he's a bad father.

The lesson here is: If you're a guy and your wife is making all the money, you should be taking care of the kids or the home. It's okay if a guy makes less money than his wife, as long as he's responsible with his money. Don't go hitting her up for cash.

Money tip: I have read with Ann Landers advice column: The person who makes more money should be paying for rent and mortgage. The person who makes less money should be paying for groceries.

Fact: I was watching financial expert Suze Orman on Oprah.com. She says: "Did you know that 40% of women are primary breadwinners?" I didn't know that.

Reitman's: I was looking through an old email from my friend Sherry. She said if you work at Reitman's long enough, you get benefits. Maybe after 6 months or 500 hours. Maybe I'll apply there.

Job interview: I wrote the above around midnight. Now it's the afternoon. I had a job interview at a drink place in downtown. I must not put obstacles in front of myself. I need to focus on the positive like I don't have to buy clothes. They give you a shirt and an apron. I can wear my black pants and shoes. It's in downtown so it's close. I had previous work experience at a restaurant.

The bad things I see was that it seems a bit overwhelming and nervous about it. There are 5 people up for 2 positions and it's fine if I don't get the job.

Friends: The highlight of the day was that I bumped into Maygen in the food court. She was with her friend Caitlin. C has a job in Zara and it pays $10/hr with commission. Sometimes she makes $50 on commission. The clothing discount is 15% which is bad. At Roots and Urban Planet, the discount is 50% off, but no commission.

Forever 21 is 10% off the clothes because it's cheap already. No commission. Zara's clothes are really expensive, and it should be a higher employee discount.

Maygen still has a lot of schooling to attend to become a nurse. Caitlin is taking an medical administration course so she can work as a receptionist at hospitals. This is a sign for me to get into a program at school and take those classes so I could get that kind of job.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

teen pregnancy/ new job/ news

May 11 Teen pregnancy: I decided to check out what people were talking about TV shows other than 16 and Pregnant on twop.com. I then went on the Tyra Banks show and a person made a comment about a teen pregnancy ep so I had to comment on it:

Person: She's talking to teen pregnant girls. She's treating them like complete idiots. One girl said she left her mom a note in the bathroom and Tyra acted like the girl was an idiot. Sure she's young but seriously that's how most 15 year olds are... immature.

I had to post this:

Me: "I kind of have to side with Tyra. My reaction would be like her's like: "What?" Then again I have seen the TV show 16 and Pregnant, and the girl Maci told her mom she was pregnant through text message. My reaction was also: "What?"

I didn't think that Tyra was treating the girls like complete idiots. I'm sorry, but if a girl got pregnant as a teenager, she's most likely not very smart. That's just my opinion."

It seems that every time someone disses Tyra on the thread, I often come along and kind of have to defend her. I'm not even that big of a fan of hers, but I do kind of like her. I feel like a lot of stuff she says I would.

I think this was the same episode. There was this black girl Jessica and she was talking about wanting to have a baby.

Tyra: Why do you want to have a baby?
Jessica: Well I had two abortions and a miscarriage.
T: That's interesting how you said it. You sounded like you were saying: "I had a sandwich, a can of pop, and a bag of chips."

Seriously, that's how J sounded. It's like what she went through was nothing. However, she wasn't an out of control teenage girl like the one on Jenny Jones. You know where JJ asked this girl: "You got pregnant when you were 13?" And the girl said yeah like JJ was asking: "Did you pick up the milk?"

The important thing is that girl Jessica came back 6 months later and said: "After I saw myself on TV I realized how stupid and ridiculous I sounded and looked. I realized I'm not ready to have a baby." She starts crying. "Thank you Tyra for having me on your show."

May 12 Fun fact: Did you know that the US president and his family pay for their own food in the White House? Laura Bush was on Oprah last week and she said that. They get to live in a huge house rent- free, but they buy their own food. That's good to tell the American citizens that their tax money isn't paying for food.

Laura Bush: Did you know that Laura Bush accidentally ran over somebody in her car when she was 17? I remember seeing that as a joke on Family Guy, but I thought that was just a joke. Turns out it was true.

May 13 New job: I went to that new call centre job and I don't really like it. I signed a contract where I have do training for 3 days, then show up for a day of work, so I can get paid for all 4 days of work.

It's kind of like with Call Centre #2. There's 1 day of training, and they will pay you for that day of work when you show up for the first day of work. Don't go thinking you can show up for one day and not do anything, and get paid for it. I changed it to part-time 5pm-9pm, because I just did 1pm-9pm and that was a lot for this kind of job.I call people to donate money to charities.

This is harder than calling people to do surveys. People don't want to give money or their credit card numbers. They will give time to do surveys. Last Friday someone called me to do a travel survey for Alberta and I did it because it was 3min long. I was still fresh from getting over Call Centre #4 not hiring me. But I will still do a survey.

I would have to work 20hr for $9/hr and then I will get paid $180. I would still get EI because it's part-time.

Job search: After yesterday at work, I am motivated back to looking for a job. I took the past few days off because I had secured this job. But now since I don't like it, I'm back on my job search.

Charity: I get a lot of calls from charities. I used to donate a lot of money to charity from 2005 and 2006. I cut down in 2007. Then in 2008 and 2009 I don't donate. It's kind of ironic. When I didn't make a lot of money I donated a lot to charity. Now that I make more money, I don't. It's kind of a balance.

Not to mention I'm collecting EI so I can't donate. It's also kind of interesting when I was at work. I realized this is the probably the office where people call me asking for donations and I used to get these calls. Now I'm making the calls.

Good: It's been hours since I wrote the above and I was let go from my call centre job. Yeah, that's a good thing. I will still get paid for 10hrs of work.

Weird: It was kind of weird today. I got a cell phone last month. I don't really use it. I was deleting some numbers from my phone, and then it rang in my hand. I got an interview for a server job. We'll see how that goes.

May 14 The Vampire Diaries: I saw The Vampire Diaries last night. I saw the first half and then let my sister watch her shows. Then I saw the last half on Youtube today. It's great! There are a lot of cliffhangers. I hope they won't experience the "sophomore jinx."

That means the first season is really good. But then the second season isn't so good. It's kind of like with the show Dark Angel. Season 2 was bad, and it was on Friday night. It was also on Fox and they cancel everything pretty fast, so that's what happened. Alias did good the first two seasons. Then it got bad in season 3. They postponed the sophomore jinx by a year. That's my opinion.

Furniture stores: It's a weird coincidence on Sunday. I got a call from Leon's furniture and they had stores in St. Albert and Millwoods. It's too far away so I turned down the job. I then got a call from another furniture store The Brick.

Guy: It's a 100% commission.
My dad said I wouldn't do well selling furniture. I didn't think I could do that well selling furniture to the point of my pay being 100% commission. Selling clothes is kind of hard. At least I would get paid per hour at a clothing store.

I turned down the Brick. I then asked Patrick yesterday about 100% commission and if I would get paid by the hour. He said I wouldn't get paid by the hour. Did you know the Brick has benefits? There's one in downtown and West Ed mall. If you're interested, go apply.

Server: I applied to be a part-time banquet server at the Shaw Conference Centre. I got a call to do an interview the other day. It's in downtown, I don't the know the pay. I called to ask what were the shifts like. He said it's late night and I told him I didn't like waiting for the bus at night. We canceled the interview.

I'm not putting obstacles in front of myself. I'm willing to stay as late as 9pm for a job and wait in a well-lit, high traffic place in downtown.

May 15 Fun: It was kind of fun yesterday. I tried a falafel for the first time. It's like a pita bread with veggies and chicken in it. I looked it up on dictionary.com and it's also described as a shawarma. It costs $5.78. I could get a donair from Souvlaki Express and it's $5.50.

Have you ever noticed that they never sell donairs on TV? It's from the new restaurant that opened in City Centre. It's called Taste of Mediterranean. I got to talking with the manager and he said they're hiring for full-time and pays $9/hr. Maybe I'll apply there.

Money: I got my tax refund in the mail today. I also got my pay check from Call Centre #4.

News: Did you know that Heroes is getting canceled? I read that it maybe getting canceled due to decrease in viewers, but it was doing well in dvds. There isn't going to be a finale. I'm not really disappointed, because I didn't like the season finale's direction. I'm a little sad, but at least everybody on this show will go on to do other things.

I know NBC is also canceling Trauma and Mercy. They're also canceling Law and Order after 20 seasons. Yeah, that's right. But if you're going to cancel that, you must replace it was Law and Order: Los Angeles. They're calling it LOLA. lol. They're picking up Law and Order: SVU for a 12th season.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Back-up Plan/ Warehouse 13/ names

May 9 The Back- up Plan: I'm experiencing writer's block. So I'm going to write about other works. I read a review about the movie The Back- up Plan. It turns out the writer who wrote it, wrote sitcoms. The reviewer said that person should stick with writing shorter pieces. That sounds like advice I get from the Writers in Residence at the Edmonton Public Library.

Another review dissed it saying it was unrealistic. Whenever someone says: "I have something important I want to tell you", you don't go and say: "But first, I want to show you my cheese collection." That's what happened in the movie.

I will give this movie points that the lead woman works with animals instead of in the fashion industry like all those other romantic comedies have women work at so they would have nice clothes. I remember Natalie Portman said that.

Warehouse 13: This is a new show that airs on Friday nights. It's co- created by Buffy writer Jane Espenson. She wrote good funny Buffy episodes like "Superstar" where Jonathan becomes the hero of Sunnydale. Though she did write a poor episode "Double Meat Palace" where Buffy gets a job at the fast food place.

The show is supernatural. It's kind of like The X-Files with two FBI agents solving mysteries. You got the straight-laced Myka who is played by Canadian Joanne Kelly. I've seen her in the Canadian TV movie Selling Innocence. She played a bad guy who later redeems herself.

Her partner on the show is played Eddie McClintock. He plays Pete, the fun guy. Saul Rubineck plays the brains of the operation Artie. He runs a warehouse out in the desert called Warehouse 13. It houses all these supernatural items. There are already a few episodes out. It's an average show. I'm watching it due to the loyalty I have of Buffy writers.

Unlike when I saw Dollhouse, created by Buffy creator Joss Whedon. I have a loyalty, but I also found that show to be really good. I watch other shows with the writers like David Greenwalt. He created the short-lived show Jake 2.0. It's sci-fi and it was average to me. There was the show Wonderfalls and it was created by Angel writer Tim Minear. It was average, and short-lived.

I think this show is shot in Canada because I already saw three Canadian actors play the smaller roles on this show. I saw Simon Reynold's (Jude's dad from Canadian show Instant Star) play one of the supporting characters. He's like a boss to the agents.

Desperate Housewives: I liked that the show fast-forwarded 5 years into the future so there could be more story lines. Let's show the kids become teenagers. But I don't know if you noticed this, there are certainly more flashbacks over the 5 years that we didn't see. That's fine, because this show has always been consistently good.

Stay positive: I'm over getting let go from Call Centre #4. I also can look back at Call Centre #3, and think that this supervisor got laid off too. He's the one who told me to: "Lie your ass off (to get completes)."

Etsy.com: I was told about this website from my friend Jessica. She's the one who's planning on making jewelry and selling them. It's a good arts and crafts website to check out. I realized it would be good for Mother's Day, though it's today and it's kind of late by the time I send this weekly email/ blog post out.

May 10 South Park: I was watching South Park, and Cartman hides his cat in the attic.

Cartman: Here's a journal so you can write in.
I laughed out loud at that shout out to Anne Frank.

Then they made a shout out to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." I remember reading this for school way back in gr.8. They're supposed to stone this woman. A woman hands this little boy a rock.

On South Park, people were taking pictures of Britney Spears. A woman hands a little boy a camera as a way to kill her. They were taking pictures of BS, as a way to stone her.

Then there was a towel who wrote a story called A Million Little Fibres. Then he goes on Oprah which is a direct shout out to James Frey and his book A Million Little Pieces. However, I didn't really like the episode because it was about Oprah and not about the 4 boys.

Little joke: I was watching Jay Leno and they made fun of Goldman and Sachs who are being investigated for fraud.

The camera pan to the executives, and then it stops at Mr. Burns from The Simpsons!
The audience laughs.

May 11 Writing: This is a mild rant. I emailed Chris Craddock my The Hunter script. He gave me a few lines in the email. The thing is I know this all just bits and pieces of scenes. It's not like the completed script The Fighter or even the 60 page script Rain. I could look at things negatively or I can turn it into something positive. Next time I send Chris something, I will send him a complete script.

Compelling plot: I thought of this term when I was reading about TV in the Globe and Mail. The article said that Accidentally on Purpose may get canceled because it doesn't really have a compelling plot. It's a sitcom, and most sitcoms don't have that.

However, dramas do like Flash Forward. What if the whole world blacked out for 2 min and saw their lives 6 months into the future? Doesn't that sound interesting? Or Lost about a group of survivors that land on an island where their plane crashed. Will they be rescued?

EI: I got $342 from EI deposited into my bank account today. That's way more than last time where I only got $145.

Fat burger: This is the name of the restaurant that's taking over my old Soup place. That's like A&W's burger called "chubby chicken." I feel like Jay Leno is saying: "How fat are we getting?"

Names: In summer 2007, I met my manager named Aziz. Then in 2009, there is the actor Aziz Ansari on the TV sitcom Parks and Recreation. Then I was watching The Bridge, and one of the characters name is Aziz. I named a restaurant manager in my Rain script Aziz.

I was reminded of an old character name Twitch. It was back in 2001-2002 and he was supposed to be a bad boy. I think I was trying to be like The Matrix with their names. I remembered it because I was watching South Park and there was a character named Tweek. He drank a lot of coffee and was always jittery and twitching.

I haven't thought of that name Twitch and the script in years. It was never as developed as my other scripts I wrote.

Kingsway: I went to Kingsway mall and saw the new store Teopia. It sells tea and tea pots. I also saw a sleeping parrot which I have never seen before. I saw a Lamb- Chop puppet. You know Shari Lewis had her TV show called Lamb- Chop's Play-a- long? I watched it when I was a kid. Though SL did die of cancer.

Break: I took a break from my job search for a few days because I secured another call centre job. We'll see how this one goes before I resume the job search again.

May 12: I was reading my horoscopes and it said: "If the goal you are pursuing is a goal others have persuaded you to aim for it's unlikely to lead to happiness."

The astrologer Sally Brompton put it so eloquently. My friends like Leslie have said: "Your parents tell you what to do, but what do YOU want to do?"

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

"Live for Today"

My friend Sonia sent this to me, and I sent it to all my friends.

A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package: 'This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package.'

He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.' She got this the first time we went to New York , 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on , was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died.

He turned to me and said: 'Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion'. I still think those words changed my life. Now I read more and clean less. I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.I spend more time with my family, and less at work. I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through. I no longer keep anything. I use crystal glasses every day...I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like it. I don't save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever I want to.

The words 'Someday....' and ' One Day...' are fading away from my dictionary.; If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now.....I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning, this nobody can tell. I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends. She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels. I'd like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favorite food. It's these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come..Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

Live for today, for tomorrow is promised to no-one..If you got this, it's because someone cares for you and because, probably, there's someone you care about. If you're too busy to send this out to other people and you say to yourself that you will send it 'One of these days' , remember that 'One day' is far away... or might never come......No matter if you're superstitious or not, spend some time reading it. It holds useful messages for the soul.

Happy being a woman day!

I got this from my friend Sherry in an email. I then emailed all my friends it too.

Subject: One flaw in women

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS & MOMS TO BE

THANK YOU FOR BEING “MOTHERS, MOMS,GRANDMOTHERS,AUNTS, AND FRIENDS”

WE LOVE YOU ALL !!!!


This was a favourite story of mine for Mothers Day while I was enjoying
My 32 years of teaching ...
It is still relevant today


ENJOY
GOD BLESS ALL OUR MOMS
PEACELUVNHUGS


ROBO JOE



ONE FLAW IN WOMEN

By the time the Lord made woman, he was into his sixth day of working overtime. An angel appeared and said, “Why are you spending so much time on this one?”

And the Lord answered, “Have you seen my spec sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic, have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable and able to and able to run on diet coke and leftovers, have a lap that can hold four children at one time, have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart – and she will do everything with only two hands.”

The angel was astounded at the requirements. “Only two hands!? No way! And that's just on the standard model? That's too much work for one day. Wait until tomorrow to finish.”

“But I won't,” the Lord protested. “I am so close to finishing this creation that that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND can work 18 hour days."

The angel moved closer and touched the woman. “But you have made her so soft, Lord.”

“She is soft,” the Lord agreed, “but I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish.”

“Will she be able to think?” asked the angel.

The Lord replied, “Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason and negotiate.”

The angel then noticed something, and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek. “Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one.”

“That's not a leak,” the Lord corrected, “that's a tear!”

“What's the tear for?” the angel asked.

The Lord said, “The tear is her way of expressing her joy, her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love, her loneliness, her grief and her pride.”

The angel was impressed. “You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything! Woman is truly amazing.”


And she is! Women have strengths that amaze men. They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up to injustice. They don't take “no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution. They go without so their family can have. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards. They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding. Their hearts break when a friend dies. They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left. They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colours. They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how much they care about you. The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning. They bring joy, hope and love. They have compassion and ideals. They give moral support to their family and friends. Women have vital things to say and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN, IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

PLEASE pass this along to all your women friends and relatives to remind them just how amazing they are.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

sayings/ flashback/ The Perfect Assistant

May 6 Sayings: I was looking for a job as usual and Safeway advertises: "Your future starts now" and "It's not about work, it's about working your way up."

May 7 News: Did you know that Nate Berkus is going to have his own show? He's the guy who gives interior decorating tips on Oprah. I was watching it today and anyone who's been with Oprah, they get their own show. For example: Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, and Suze Orman. Dr. Phil also shaved off his mustache for the first time in 38 yrs. Well, I'm still not going to watch Dr. Phil.

Motivation: Dr. Oz did say: "People think you need to get motivated, and do something. You should do it first, and then you'll feel motivated afterward." Good advice.

Rant: When I'm stressed out, I dance. When I'm angry, I write. I'm still mad that I didn't get hired at the call centre. What do I want to do? Throw an egg at their office window. Of course, I'm not going to do it. That's stupid. Instead, I will do the passive thing and wish the place would close down.

I'm mad because it's the best job that has come to me after I got laid off. I didn't care about the two restaurants I worked at because I didn't really like it. This job was at a call centre, paid $11/hr, and it was in downtown. I must focus on the negative things about it. Well the guy who trained this woman and I. He said there used to be a woman who got great flow rates, until he listened in on a conversation. It turns out that woman called up a house, got someone who didn't speak English. Then she started filling out the survey on her own. She was falsifying data. That is so bad. She got fired on the spot.

At least when I got let go, it's because I'm not good enough, not because I did something bad. I have to use this as motivation. When I thought I got hired there, they gave the usual night hours of 5-9pm, and it's part-time 20hrs a week. I must push myself to get a full-time job and do well at it.

EdmontonJobShop.ca: I was going through the listings of 700 jobs on that site. It took me a week. A lot of it was from staffing agencies, and I have to stay away from them.

Lyric: I was thinking about that song "Superhero" by the Canadian pop duo Sky. The lyric was: "It was easy then, it ain't so easy now." That applies to my job search.

Flashback: Back in 2006 when I got laid off, I managed to get a job within 9 days. Back in summer 2007, I managed to get 5 jobs in downtown. It was kind of a rough summer with poor choices in jobs. I job hopped a lot that summer. Yeah, well at least I didn't take one more job because it required me to wake up really early in the morning.

In 2008, I got a job at a store within a week. But then my dad told me to not take it. Then 3 weeks go by and I still couldn't get an office job. Then I got the store job. Then I was let go after 3 weeks. That's fine because it led me to go and work at the Soup place. I passed out 20 resumes in 1 day, and got the Soup place job.

Then the recession hit in late 2008. I then started looking for an office job again in Jan. 2009. It took me 10 months to get a call centre job in Oct. 2009. In Nov.2009 I started looking for an office job again. I'm 7 months in and still didn't get hired. I have been looking for a regular job since Jan. 2010. I managed to get 3 jobs, and work for one day. Now it's 5 weeks of unemployment, and I can't get a steady job.

Simplyhired.com: I went to this site as I was going through my desk when I found an old Globe and Mail article I clipped out. If I put "writing" in the job search engine, I get a bunch of listings. I need to specify "writer" and I get 2 pages. None that I qualify for.

Good: My friend Chamnouer emailed me on Facebook and told me about a call centre. Alright, I'll go apply there.

May 8: This morning I woke up at 9am and went to downtown to pass out my resumes to cafes. I emailed my friend Jessica because she told me she'll be making and selling jewelery. She had to turn me down because she got 3 people that she's working with already. That's fine.

The really good thing is that I passed my resume to that call centre, and I got hired. It pays $9/hr, and the call centres I've worked at or know about pay a couple bucks higher than min. wage. The others ones I work at are where I call people to do surveys. This is the one where I call people and ask for donations to charities.

The guy who worked there said I seemed "assertive." There are 3 days of training, and I get paid for them when I start working. It's like that time at Call Centre #2 and they pay you when you show up for work. I can also get full-time.

Abortions: I read this in The Journal. You can get abortions at the Women's Health Options in Edmonton. There are also two places you can get in Calgary. The article was about lack of places to get abortions in Alberta. If you don't live in these two cities, it will be harder to get one. The woman is supposed to spend her own money to get into the city.

May 9 The Perfect Assistant: I saw this TV movie a couple weeks ago. It's like Fatal Attraction, Swim Fan, and Obsessed about a woman who's obsessed with her boss. It stars Josie Davis as Rachel, the stalker. The movie got a 4.2/10 rating from 274 votes. It probably got a low rating because the lead is the stalker. The movies I listed above are about the man or a woman, and the stalker is the antagonist, not the protagonist.

Sure, some movies have the lead as the bad guys like Shattered Glass. The lead was about Stephen Glass who made up fictional stories for the magazine The New Republic and got them all printed as fact to further his career. It was based on a true story. The audience doesn't feel sympathy for the lead in both these movies.

I have seen Josie Davis on CSI: NY and an ep of Fear, Itself. You know this woman's crazy because in her closet she has the "wall of crazy." It's newspaper clippings of her boss David played by Chris Potter. CP was on Heartland, playing Amy's dad. I had a nitpick because the movie starts off with David's wife going to the hospital. It turns out she is terminally ill. When she does wake up from the coma, she isn't going to be the same as she was before. 20 min into the movie, Rachel the stalker then injects penicillin into her which kills her. Where did she get the penicillin? R then puts herself further into D's life, by being like a mother to his daughter.

R lives with her cousin, and it's revealed that her aunt and uncle took R in after her parents died. Later R ends up pushing her cousin down the stairs in a fit of anger which ends up killing her. I kind of predicted that earlier in the first half of the movie. It didn't happen until the second half of the movie.

Former supermodel turned actress Rachel Hunter is in it playing an executive. There was a good climatic ending. R is scheming and manipulative. In the last quarter of the movie, the people start figuring it out, and D fires her. I recently saw the movie One Hour Photo where the lead character loses his job. When someone loses their job, things get really bad. That is what I should put in my script. I kind of do, but I should structure it into the end of the movie. Then R confronts D in a private room in a restaurant. The other employees are there eating dinner. R pulls out a gun, and D tries to calm her down. Someone manages to call 911.

R shoots Rachel Hunter's character in the shoulder. The waiters hear the gun shot, and get through the locked door. The end is R in a mental institution writing a love letter to D. It's a mediocre to average movie. It loses points because the lead isn't a sympathetic character.

It gains points because it's creative that it's through the stalker's point of view, and not like the other movies where it's the stalker's victim point of view. It cuts both ways. The characters took a long time to figure out that she was bad, because she was so good at hiding it. It doesn't undermine the good characters and make them look stupid. It's still a entertaining movie to watch if you don't have anything else to do.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

personality test/ little jokes/ weird

May 3 Personality tests: Today I got a call from Payless Shoes to do a test, and it's more about personality. A question was: "What is the main reason for your failures?"

-Lack of ability
-Didn't try hard enough
-Bad luck

I would say lack of ability. I always do my best, and sometimes that isn't enough. But I know that giving your best effort is something that I can definitely control and do. If I didn't give my best effort, that's my regret. Lack of ability has some control, like you have to work harder at it. Sometimes you're either good at something or you aren't.

I would say that about math. I give my best, and that's how I pass. I'm not good at it. I wouldn't say bad luck. lol.

The Source has an online personality test too. Sunlife Financial has a test and there was a question:

1. The success I earned, I got a lot of help from others.
2. The success I earned, I got some help from others.
3. The success I earned, I got a little help from others.
4. The success I earned, I got no help from others.

I would have to say the first one. I had my parents pay for my college tuition, math tutors, my sister tutoring me in math, she give me tips on how to get a job and helped me get into college. I had a lot of financial help and schoolwork help from my family.

Well I wish I could be like my sister who works hard and is smart. She only really needs financial help from my parents to pay for school, and not homework help. Same with Patrick, but he has some homework help.

Stereotypes: I noticed this stereotype of a sassy grandma. There's one on Castle, and Jessica Walters plays one on Arrested Development and on 90210, so she's typecast.

Then there's the quirky female lead for sitcoms like My Life as Liz, Alice, I think, and Maybe it's Me.

I remember a long time ago in the movie review Heaven on Earth: "There's a black woman as a judge, because lots of judges are black women." I noticed that on an episode of S Club 7 in Miami.

I even remember The Jamie Kennedy Experiment where this trick was played on a young black woman. She was the personal assistant to 7th Heaven star Beverly Mitchell. The joke was: "Will her personal assistant take the fall for shoplifting so BM won't go to jail?"

She said: "I can't. My aunt is a judge. After this job, I'm supposed to become a teacher, and I can't have a criminal record."

So she did the right thing, and didn't take the fall for BM.

The above three stereotypes are not bad or sexist. There actually good stereotypes if there is such a thing as that.

May 4 Rant: Here's a mild rant. It's snowing in May. The thing is, I never really put away my winter coat until way later like June. One time when I was in Professional Writing, I put away my winter coat and got it washed. It was probably in April. Then next week it snowed and got really cold.

It was a hassle to take the winter coat out again. That's why I procrastinate in putting it away. Living in Canada has an effect on me. I always have to dress warmly in case it gets chilly, even in the summer.

Motivation: Producers and writers is like a dating relationship. I sent Josh Miller my The Fighter script in Mar. 2009 and the revised draft in Nov. 2009. He says: "Send a new script." It's like telling me to: "Lose some weight."

I'm getting myself motivated. I either send a script to him for free, or I pay $50 for some screenwriting contest. You know I'm cheap.

Proserve.com: The cold weather will make me stay in and focus on my job search. I found this site and was told from Sicilian Kitchen to work there, I needed to get this license to serve alcohol. It costs $50 to attend this seminar. I don't want spend money on something I probably won't use. Not until I do get hired at a restaurant, and they tell me to attend this class, I will.

Break: I kind of took a break today. I set up an account on a company site, and applied to two jobs there. I got a lot of phone calls and did little interviews over the phones and got information about the companies. I'm going to start my new call centre job tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

If it's bad and I don't like it, then that will be a push to get back on my job search. It was kind of like that restaurant job I got at the beginning of last month where I only worked for one day. After one day there, I pushed myself all Easter weekend applying to banks. lol.

May 5: Today I woke up really late like at 11am. I have work today so I might as well enjoy the free time I have left. Also I know this morning I won't be looking for a job. I should be working on my script now that I got the most important task of getting a job out of the way. But I kind of procrastinated.

Fight: I checked what the new CSI: NY ep is tonight, and it's about "underworld of hardcore fighting"! That's just like my Fighter movie. I squealed with excitement.

Bad guys: Chris Craddock told me that my bad guys in my scripts are very business like. I sent him two scripts. I sent him a 3rd one, and he may say the same thing. I feel like I'm a goody two shoes and I can't write characters to be mean. If you're going to do something bad, make a profit of it. There is a strong reason. Greed is one of the deadly sins.

I like Damon on The Vampire Diaries. He's a bad guy. He kills people and doesn't feel guilty about it. He does have an agenda like bringing his vampire lover Katherine back from the dead. He also has a snarky sense of humor.

Little jokes: I saw this on the tail end of the show Crank Yankers. The puppets were working at a restaurant called "Subweigh." I burst out laughing at that. My nitpick is that when you say it, it's not immediately funny, you have to spell it out.

Unlike on the cartoon Dilbert (based on the comic strip), they went to "Homeless Depot."
Then there's South Park where Cartman's mom goes to "Unplanned Parenthood."

Or even when Michael Buble was on the Juno Awards red carpet.
Girl: What kind of Canadian music do you like?
MB: I think the band's name is Down with Dexter.
Girl: It's Down with Webster.

Or the time back when my math teacher Mr. Stabile said: "I think his name is like what uh, 5 Cent?"

Then there was The Simpsons episode where Marge tucks in Maggie. There is stuffed wolf.

Marge: Goodnight Justin Timberwolf.

May 6 Weird: Yesterday I started my new call centre job. I really liked it and was there for 7hrs. The office is great. After wards, I went home thinking: "If this place closes down by Dec. that's fine. Even if I lose this job this month, that's fine too."

Cut to today and I get a phone call where he said: "I heard some of your recordings, and you don't really seem to be right for us. I'm letting you go." I hung up and swore: "s---". I'm good. I did 9 completes for them.

I then thought: "If they let me go after one day, then that might have happened back in 2007. I went to Call centre #3 because they hired me with higher pay. Then they let me go. If only I went to Call centre #4, that wouldn't have happened." Well now it has. I had taken a day off from my job search yesterday because of work, but now I'm back on it.

Anger: It's been a few hrs after the phone call. I then called to clarify why I was let go.

Me: I did 9 completes for you.
Guy: Yeah, well there are people who got way more than you did.
(9 completes is a lot, but it looks like I'm in another ball park.)
Guy: You also skipped some parts of the survey.

I was talking to this man on the phone and he said: "Get right to the questions." So I felt rushed so I skipped this blurb that explained it. I gave it my best shot.

After I hung up with work, I swore again and said: "F--- it." I need to get angry and hate this job to be able to get over it. Now I'm over it. Though I will probably end up applying to Call Centre #4 again next year. I did that with Call Centre #3 until they laid me off last month.

You're probably thinking: "You're a masochist. You just keep going back to call centres even though they closed down on you, lack of job security, and let you go after one day." I like calling people up to do surveys. To console myself, I say: "This call centre will probably end up closing down later this year."

Monday, May 3, 2010

Wes Brown/ Alex Lacasse/ Blake McGrath

Apr. 30 Wes Brown: I found this actor on an episode of Criminal Minds. It's kind of cool, I checked my blog to see if I wrote about him, but I didn't. Then I saw someone other than my friends and family read my blog post on Nov.19,2009. The guy Carlo made a comment about the show.

So back to Wes Brown. He was in my favorite episode "Slave of Duty" where he plays the serial killer. The first time I saw him, I thought he was average looking. I was really impressed with his acting. He's very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. First he seems so nice, and then he goes crazy. Below is a video clip that shows his great acting. After the episode, I find him hot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unvXQ6Brj7w

I have kind of become obsessed with him. He was on some True Blood season 2 episodes, and I asked Leslie for them. She says I'll have to buy some DVD-R so she can burn them for me. At Grand and Toy, it costs $30 for a pack of 25. Then I went to Staples and it costs $20. I decided I'll wait until Space Channel shows it.

I then went on Youtube to watch him. I'm now kind of spoiled to what happens to him on the show. I also saw a little bit of him on CSI: Miami. His character dies at the beginning. Also Dean Cain (Clark from Lois and Clark: Superman) guest- starred in it. However, he didn't commit the crime. When DC guest- starred on Law and Order: SVU, he did it.

Educationcanada.com: I found this site as I'm looking for a writing job. I see a lot of writing teacher jobs. I don't seem to fit it.

Investment Groups: They called me this morning and the guy said he's going to email me a test to do. He said they're willing to train me, and he sounds very confident about my abilities.

Credit card company: The other day I emailed my resume to work for this credit card company QMM that pays $14.50/hr. Then a woman from there called me. She says it's selling credit cards at Superstore. It's kind of like that CIBC pavilion job, but it's where you work for a bank selling financial services. As she was telling me about this job, I realized it's not for me. I'm not good at selling. Or maybe that's just my dad talking. Well it's also at Superstore, and that's quite faraway from me. Something about taking the bus and the LRT to get there. That's a lot of effort. I can see myself getting the job, but not doing well at it. I turned it down.

Am I putting obstacles in front of myself? I know myself, and I found two reasons for not going for it. I know my abilities and I know I won't do well in it. I don't like traveling really far away for a job.

Edmonton Public Library: I see that Patrick is looking for a job there, and I saw the 3 job postings. It's all finance and I don't have the requirements.

Safeway: I talked to my friend Chamnouer on Facebook. She said she's working at Safeway part-time and get paid $11.15/hr in the bakery section. She said she only gets a few hours, but didn't specify when I asked. She had already logged off.

I was talking to my friend Meghan from Professional Writing last summer. She said she worked at the meat section of the store and got paid $11/hr.

May 1 Shoppers Drug Mart: I'm sure all of you heard about this store slashing prices for generic drugs. They're laying off staff, and cutting down hours. It's only in Ontario. It does have a ripple effect on the mom and pop stores that makes good money off the generic drugs. It kind of has a ripple effect on the other Canadian locations. I won't hold my breath if I don't get hired there.

Writing: I totally noticed this a long time ago. I wrote 60 pages of Rain, and her talent is to break and enter. Yet, she doesn't do any of that in the entire script. I either write it in, or think of another illegal talent.

It's the same with Melrose Place. Riley is an elementary school teacher. It's respectable, and she talks about it. However, they never show her working there. Well it's not very fun or exciting for a TV show like this. So they showed her become a model, and then a personal assistant to a guy. This is an average show I watch casually, but it has taught me a lot.

EdmontonJobShop.ca: I set up an account there and looked for jobs. Then I found this link there that said: "Email your resume to thousands of companies." It took me a few min. to fill out that part, and then it turns out they're charging you $50 for it. So I didn't do it. You can access and set up a free account on this site and look for jobs.

Tooth: Last month there was this big tooth at City Centre mall. It was advertising for www.thesensitvetooth.ca. I went to the site today, and it's kind of fun because it's interactive. It's a talking tooth on the site, and the display had the tooth talking.

May 2 Job talk: I was talking to my dad and asked if it's okay to sell credit cards and he said yes. However, I told him it was at Superstore. He says there are 4 locations, and they're all really far away so that's not good. But wait, I decided to right my wrongs. I then emailed QMM and asked are there any locations other than Superstore? If not, then I know I gave my best shot. That's when I know for sure I'm not putting obstacles in front of myself. I need to find all the other possibilities of working there.

Today I called Justin at work. I dropped by his cafe on the weekends, but he's not there. I asked if he got my resume and he said he didn't. Then he gave me his email address again, and I realized I put a dash instead of an underscore. Well I got that all fixed and emailed him.

Justin: Yeah, well it's easier to get a job when you already have a job.

That totally reminded me of Secret Life of the American Teenager. They said that line on the show. Well when I was at the Soup place I was looking for a job, and managed to get a call centre job until it laid me off. Then I got another job at a restaurant, and after working there one day, they said they didn't need me.

May 3: This morning that investment group called me again. This time a woman told me to come in to do an interview, and asked if I had a car. I didn't and she said I needed one to drive to meet clients.

Me: But, I thought I would be in the office, and they would come to us.
Woman: Sometimes.
Me: What, I can't take the bus?
Woman: No, that wouldn't be possible.
Then we hung up.

I can look at it this way: One company believes in me being a financial planner. Another company will.

Alex Lacasse: I heard his song "Like this, Like that." He's Canadian and he's cute. Check out his www.myspace.com/alexlacasse. I really like to dance to this song. He's got a ballad "So into you."

Blake McGrath: I was watching TV, and I saw some of his debut video "The Night." He's got some So You Think You Can Dance Canada dancers in his video and his sister. I only saw the vid once and I was only looking at BM and his dancing. I had to read the comments to know the above info.

That's great that he finally got his video out. I know he's been pursuing a music career since 2006. I found his myspace page back then and he had some songs up like "The One" and "Dance with Me." Good dance songs. He has a ballad "Silently Waiting."

He's been busy with being a judge on the SYTYCDC show. He also danced for Britney Spears and Janet Jackson.

Good song: I heard this song on Hot 107. It's called "Fantasy Girl" by Baby Bash feat. Marty James. It's a good dance song.

Saying: During the job search, I thought of this saying: "The best way to predict the future, is to create it."