Masks...

( My Interests Collage! )

Yeah, just chill'n. I spent last night researching new hardware/software gear for building up a home recording studio, and at least putting a budget together. It's totally feasible so I'm excited. Now I just gotta figure out what I want for sure, brand-wise and price-wise. I totally need some outside opinions on this one or some experience using different brands. The books and online sites I read all recommend certain ones but I guess I just need to feel right about it. I'm looking for either a Firewire box or a PCI box for my computer. That and a decent recording software. My computer can totally handle 16 tracks with the processor and RAM i've got so that's not the problem. Just knowing what hardware and software to pick. BLARGH! I wanna go shopping. Spending money makes me feel fuzzy. :-)

Okay, so I'm getting a lot of headaches lately. Probably work related. Working 2 doubles and then a morning right after tends to take a lot out of a guy. This is now my recharge time so I need ample support from friends and family. However, the family side seems to be mostly supportive when it has to do with video games. Kinda boring after the 10 millionth game. I need to go shopping or something. That always makes me feel better. Spending money. On a positive note, the apartment thing is running smoothly. Already picked one out and ready to move in. Just gotta get the security deposit taken care of and I'm ready. Even got 2 months free and $200 credit for using rent.com and being a 'preferred client'. Wonder how that worked out. Soon... soon. I'll probably be looking to work 'full-time' at the Hospital for sure. But then again I'm looking for a new job in Ann Arbor, one closer to the apartment and something I'd be interested in, that and pays well. Getting ready for the GRE again is going to be taxing, but it must be done. Lots of things yet to come so hopefully all goes well smoothly. I need a vacation.

So I had a pretty good day at work. It is a rare happening that a good day would come along, but today was that day. Started off well rested, had some time to relax, share some time with my brother, work was without problems, and I got to physically manage a kid who was ticking everyone off. Couldn't get better than that. And on top of that, I get tomorrow off. Yay! I'm leaving it open to much earned relaxing and creativity. You should all be envious of me. :-)

So i've been slacking on my writing responsibility lately. But i'm still alive. Work has been soaking up most of my time. It would be a lot easier with a Day schedule rather than the afternoon and evening. I'd rather get up early than spend all my best part of the day at work. Ah, but my fruits will pay off once the cash comes'a rollin' in. Plus, I get a lot of days off coming up, so I'll be spending it relax'n and getting those things done that i've been putting off: Shopping, reading, writing, and gross amounts of veggin' out. GROSS, i tell you. So, come memorial day i'll be lounging about. Right after the 16 hour shift i'll be working Sunday. *shudder* wish me luck.

It's almost 7:30am, i'm frick'n tired, and i have to go to the hospital for 8 hours for a class. I'm defininitly not a morning person.

I'm very tired right now. Having been off work for a while doesn't seem to be making me have any more energy, so I'm thinking that something else is draining me. Probably the fact that I moved both my brothers back into the parent's house for the summer. Jeff will be going off to South Africa for a study abroad program and Chris will be looking for internships. Lots of lifting and mind-numbing packing and unpacking later I'm still tired. Go figure. Everything feels like a chore. Today I mowed the lawn and cleaned the house while my parents went to a wedding. But for the most part I spent the day with my brothers in jovial brotherly bonding. At least as much as we're capable of. Hopefully my fatigue changes soon though. I start my hospital orientation monday so I'll have something to keep my mind on, at least. Even picking up the guitar drains me. I need to sleep for an entire day. But no can do, since I'll be helping my parents put the dock together on the lake tomorrow. One thing after another here. Another reason why I can't wait to get outta here.

Seems like the last few days have been pretty eventful for not having to work. Chris brought his roommate and friends here and we ordered lots of pizza, played lots of video games, played their role playing game, played lots of music, learned some songs on guitar, etc. It was a fairly social time for me, so I'm not complaining. Now that everyone went back to Detroit to finish their projects for school it seems kinda lonely here. I think I'll be going back to Ann Arbor soon to visit them again before work starts up again for me.

I've been feeling very hot and bothered for the most part today, so it's been hard to focus on anything. Maybe it's a phase of the moon or planets aligning or something. Not much I can do about it though. I need something to keep my attention on. I wrote a cool song last night though. It's not inspiring or anything, but just has a cool feel to it. I'll probably re-write it a billion times before it becomes the way i want it. I wanna play some poker too. I gots all these chips and cards here and no one to play with. I need lots of people though if I wanna have fun with it. :-P

I finally got my paycheck on thursday. $638.47 For two weeks, well it's a lot nicer than what i was getting before. Unfortunatly, now that my unit orientation is done i'm not scheduled until after my actual hospital orientation on May 8th. So i got a little vacation in the meantime, so I might as well use it to either A) go to Ann Arbor B) write some songs and practice the guitar or C) sit around and relax. So, I'll just do all of them.

I've already been to ann arbor. It wasn't the most eventful time I've had, but at least I didnt spend that much money aside from the pizza and trip to meijers. Leah and I had some time to work on songs for the most part even though she was sick to the point of hacking up lungs. So i tried to nurse her back to health while i was there, being her one and true comrade and all. Overall, had a nice time and have lots of nice time yet to come until i start up work again.

Yeah, i know, it's not friday. But I didn't have a chance to make my friday entry until now. So, wednesday night I got to say my farewell's to Steph before she hit the road to New York City. And thursday night i got to drive down to ann arbor with my parents consent since for some reason i need it. Leah, Tif, Nick and I spent the night drinking and hanging out on the porch as usual while I strummed away the guitar. Friday was fun because I got to see 2 movies: V for Vendetta, and Silent Hill. Two very dramatic movies. I must say I was impressed with V for V for being a Wakowski Bros. movie. But then again I get entranced in a lot of movies merely to get their full effect and not be biased. A trip to Taco Bell, McDonalds, and the Salvation Army, playing some Yu-Gi-Oh! and Xbox later and then it was time for me to go. Very busy day and my wallet is empty, but my heart is full.

So I'm working tomorrow MORNING instead of the afternoon. Which means I just got off of work and am going to bed and will wake up just to go RIGHT BACK TO WORK AGAIN! AGH! It shouldn't be too bad though. These kids will be drowsy and less active. Except I hear that most of them have more problems with staff in the morning schedule then when they have a chance to wind down later in the day. Oh well, it'll be a good experience for me.

Anyway, I played a new game I got for easter called Oblivion. It's pretty impressive. And it even has a guest voice appearance by Patrick Stewart. *drool* That's good enough for me. So I played a little before work and feel that I can play a little bit every once in a while until I either get bored with it or addicted to it. Hey, it's happened before, it'll happen again. :-) But otherwise it's been a good day.

Day #4 at Havenwyck. I'm sure one day this will make my parental skills iron clad, but right now these kids don't see me as much of a staff member. Of course, I'm not the one really giving most of the commands. Still, I've been trying to remain oddly adult to them so that I don't risk losing their obedience. I can see that's one of the main driving forces of the unit so I'm not about to screw that up by being their buddy. It's not exactly how I'd do things, but I've never done this before so I'd rather work up to my own methodology gradually.

ANYWAY, I'm sick of talking about my job. I'm just looking forward to my days off all the more. And alcohol. Oh the sweet mind numbing helper I need to relax. But I'm going to have to start making up a budget once I get my first paycheck so as to find out when I buy my first keyboard. Mmm... music equipment. *drool* That'll start putting things into perspective for me. :-D

OKAY! So I'm working at Havenwyck. Today is my 3rd day and I'll be working ALL frick'n week. Except for sunday, cause I'm going to the Pistons game and having easter with my family and leah's family. JOY! It'll be nice to have sunday AND monday off too. Hopefully, I don't end up working full-time at this place cause I just get so bored there. I mean, yeah it's interesting cause the kids are fairly screwed up, but at the same time all I'm doing is watching and observing and setting limits and boudaries for them. I pretty much their parent for the shift I'm there. How exciting. ZZZzzz.

Aside from that, I learned how to drive stick this morning with Steph, instead of sitting around all morning doing nothing. I have to learn how to get up early and do something in the morning. I'm just not used to it. I'm an afternoon guy, but now work has taken that away so I gotta adapt. Otherwise, I just hope these kids don't ruin this nice day out. I'd rather be outside playing than inside babysitting.

yes, i accepted the job at havenwyck. got a grand tour today with all the stressed out staff they have. got to meet some of the angsty youngsters and got ANOTHER physical. I'll be starting training and stuff at the end of the week, most likely. I'm still waiting on the ann arbor job though. I'm hoping they give me a ring soon. I'd like to know now, not later.

But i DID get to visit ann arbor yesterday with Steph. That made my day. Listening to Bob Dylan while sitting in construction was well worth the wait. Course, I wasn't driving. Seeing Leah, Tif, Nick, and Mira was rewarding, especially since I hadn't been there in a couple weeks. It's just what I needed too, cause i was close to snapping cooped up here with my parents. I was just glad Mira made what little time she had to hang out on a weeknight.

And of course we watched buffy the vampire slayer til all hours of the night and drank WAY too much wine. It's too bad Steph didn't come over. I mean, we were both drunk at the time anyway. Plus I never get to see her drunk and it's always nice to see her social and happy. :-)

Overall, I needed it and got it and made it back in time to get all my responsibilities over with for the day. Just makes me want to live in ann arbor all the more.

BLAH

Well, I did nothing today. Whooptie doo.

Yup, got word back from my Ann Arbor job opportunity that she's finishing up phone interviews still and she'll be scheduling in-person interviews this week. How glorious. Which means that I still don't know for sure. So the question of the day is, should I take the part time job i have now and still try to get the ann arbor job or give it a little more time. Seems that i have to let havenwyck know something about what's going on. Otherwise i may lose that opportunity altogether.

So that's all i've been doing today, trying to contact ann arbor and find out i'm still being considered. I still don't know what to tell havenwyck though. I'm just cranky and bored and confused and annoyed with my parents about pressuring me about taking the job i got and be happy with it while being ambitious at the same time for a better one. They're so contradicting it's maddening.

Okay, this isn't getting out of my system anytime soon so i gotta figure something out. I'll just call havenwyck and take the job and blow them off if i get the other one. That's what my parents want, that's the only way to fix everything, so that's what i'm going to do. Who cares if i burn a bridge in the process by alienating the director by blowing him off in a week. I mean, it's not like i'll care after working in ann arbor. I'll be long gone. So there's my sorry-ass answer.

Amen

So yeah, i got the job at Havenwyck Hospital.

...

Well, i'm awesome. I knew they'd hire me. But I'd rather get the job in ann arbor cause it's FULL TIME. i mean, doesn't that sound a lot better to work full time in the city where all your friends live and away from my parents house on my own for $30,000+ a year versus a PT job with no benefits and living at home forever. At least that's how i see it going. So right now I told the director I'm waiting on an answer from this other job which depends which job i work at. At least i have the plan B in order.

Otherwise, I plan to keep myself busy with my guitar and my japanese books. The only problem is not tearing my hair out every time my parents re-mention what i'm NOT doing with my life. "take the job at Havenwyck", "don't stop to think about it", "you can just continue to pursue another job while working at this one". Yeah, sure, that's great advice. I mean, if I do commit to being a mental health technician at the hospital, it sounds so convenient when I tell them 3 days after being on the job that another company offered me a position so they can go take their job and shove it up their asses. My parents should be worldly reknown for their views on etiquette. Which is why i go on choosing to ignore they're skewed view on morality and automatonic behavior. I mean, it's not like i have my own opinion or anything, god forbid.

So yeah, good news, kinda. I'm just waiting for my friends to pick me up from ann arbor and take me away for the weekend. We'll see how well that goes over with my parents. I think this chinese food is going to make me vomit.

Wonderful! I got lots of feedback from you guys. COOKIES FOR ALL. Now all you have to do is come visit me to get them. I'll be making a fresh batch tomorrow, so you're all welcome to have some. Unfortunatly, I'm in Lake Orion at the moment and not scheduled for an Ann Arbor arrival until this weekend, so if you're not close to either of those places, then you'll have to take a rain check.

On the other side of news, I have a job potentially lined up with Biotronic for ANN ARBOR! My over the phone interview went well and I took some tests online for them. They expect to hire by the first week of April, so at least I'll find out for sure soon. It's full time, unlike these mental hospitals that have been taking their sweet time with hiring, and pays lots and lots. If I'm going to be working full time somewhere, it might as well be for lots of money. So yeah, hopefully that lands. I've got a place lined up with my Ann Arborian friends in a cheap 3-bedroom apartment off of Packard Rd, so hopefully this all falls together like an awesome game of Tetris.

My friend Steve Peterson has also returned from Texas with intentions of going on an extended 6-month cruise until September to play trombone. Sounds... long to me. But I'll get to visit him tomorrow when he comes over to hang out. I don't know what we'll do exactly. I mean, we're in Ann Arbor and I'm dirt poor. Not a whole lot to do. We'll probably play ping pong or pool, and maybe break out some beers and watch the matrix or something long and easily made fun of. Hmm... this is sounding better already. I wish more people were in town. *sigh*

Anyway, back to reading my book.

You scored as Rupert Giles. You're very wise. Though you've only recently begun thinking about yourself, you're always there to help. Everyone around you holds you in high regard. You've always pulled through. </td> Rupert Giles 71% Tara Maclay 71% Buffy Summers 63% Willow Rosenberg 63% Dawn Summers 63% Spike 63% Anya 50% Xander Harris 50% Which Buffy The Vampire Slayer Character Are You Most Like!? created with QuizFarm.com

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