So it's been awhile since I've put anything up here, I'm not going to bother going over all of the things that have happened since my last post, but the largest change has probably been that the Chase project ended a couple of days early, so right now I've been unemployed for a week. Finding a job has been a little more difficult than expected, but I have to keep in mind, I've only been looking for a couple of weeks and I've only been out of work for a week, need to keep a calm head and prevail.
Today was a very calm day, got up, did some work and waited for a phone call about a job, which turned into some more phone calls about a job, and a couple of hours of working on my resume and email sending. Also in there was a phone call with someone else! After the job hunting part of the day became the adventure part of the day, I head out to the library to pick up a book, then proceeded to walk around town a bit for exercise and look for some local eating establishments. Which, faired somewhat odd, not a great success I think, but also not a failure.
The rest of the day I spent reading, more time on the phone, and then playing Left 4 Dead with Ryan and Alex, which brings us up to right now. I'm finishing this up then heading off to bed because I'm feeling a little more tired than normal. So it's off to rest up, then prepare for another fun full day of doing proably the same things I did today, tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Yeah! Some Pics!
So here are some pics I've recently taken:
LeVeque Tower
German Music thing at the library last night
Soontar playin him some WOW
Messy Kitchen Is Messy
Messy Brandonamp desk is messy
LeVeque Tower
German Music thing at the library last night
Soontar playin him some WOW
Messy Kitchen Is Messy
Messy Brandonamp desk is messyBrandonamp Starts To Write
And doesn't freaking stop, you better go to the bathroom first because we're not stopping until we're done.
So this marks the first real post I've made since I've left home. I'm in the apartment right now, it's a Wednesday night. An ambulance just went by and I've said goodnight to someone as I settle in to write for the night.
Soontar is in the other room, listing to music and doing something in Sketchup. I'm not quite sure what he's listening to, it's good though, but I'm not being inqusitive because I have a need right now to feed the mystical nature of the unknown. The force that keeps things in this universe unknown and to never be known. As much as I want to know, I think it's only fair that I feed the beast of inevitability and give into her ways and embrace the concept of not being able to control everything. And it is in a perverse way quite comforting, giving up on trying to understand and control everything turns you over to the willing hands of fate to see where the world will take you. But enough with the rhetoic, or perhaps not...
I'm also finding a pleasing calmness in my current lack of internetage, to think this is almost how people lived 20 years ago, or maybe it is. I'm using Q10 (Found by Soontar) set to green console text, so perhaps it is rather reminiscent of the late 1980's in more ways than one. A person then wouldn't be writing a blog, but a zine for priting in some back alley printer by some guy named Mitch who probably smoked a little too much that day. The lack of constant information being pressed into my lobes gives me somekind of clear mind, but it also unsettels me to a very large extent, I've grown so accustomed to the net that I would consider it's absense a major detriment to my being. However, with the lack of internet access I've been going through all the old folders on my computer and deleting, cleaning up, and moving things around, something I don't do often enough which results in a sort of digital crud being accured around the edges of my disk platters, forgotten notes, papers, pictures, just sitting there because I needed them for a second or less. A fine patina of digital distress spread across the electrons of my disks.
So what's been happening recently you ask? Well, lots of things. I'll pick up with last week, (I promise I'll blog about the other stuff I haven't done yet too!) Friday night I got a call from a good friend of mine and went over to see her at work, after some very long talks we finally got alot of things resolved, which is good, that's been one of the things that's been stressing me out lately, and I'm glad it's resolved. I'm hoping that it stays that way and continues to grow, because I'm happy now, I have my 3 things that I need, and I'm content with my life. More on this later, but I'm pretty sure if you've talked to me recently, asked the right questions, and have half a brain you could figure out what this is about!
Monday was the day of moving in, and I 'officially' became a resident that night. Soontar and I hit the town for supplies and equipment, like chicken, microwave, and a new chair. It was a good adventure that took up a good portion of the night, but that's okay, not much else here to do. Since then after work it's pretty much been goofing off around here, which has been okay and relaxing, while fun though I'll be glad to get the internet back, I need my opiate, I need it now!
Soon though, perhaps as soon as I post this, or even during, I'm back to combing the internet for jobs. I'm bummed that I was lied to about this position as they're cutting our hours to avoid paying us overtime, which really really sucks, but I guess I'll have to deal with it. So back to the job search it is, not something I enjoy, but it's required for survival. I'm hoping I can find another somewhat cushy contract job. After having worked this job, I find the appeal in contract jobs, they're in a sense, much more fun, you feel much more free, accomplished, and you get to in some extent, exist outside of the corporate structure, it's great. And it's not just the jobs, it the different people and tasks you can encounter, new challenges, idea, thoughts. It's like traveling, but instead of states or continents, you're traveling between worlds of different minds. Well hopefully you're working with smart and decent people adn that will happen, I've definetly ran into a couple so far that I wouldn't want to travel to their worlds! Now that I'm up here though, I'm going to be focusing less on out of area jobs, although if there were a good position down south I'd take it, get to visit with some friends down there, and besides, I'm a traveler and I need to move.
Looking around the room, I find I've yet to actually unpack alot of things or put some things away, my books and games really need a shelf to be on, which those are back at Interstitial South, some boxes which should be broken down and dealt with and some trash, which I'm putting in the waste basket right now. To me right now, this is more just of a room, I'm curious to know how long it will take me to think of it as a home, hopefully fast, because if I have to be here for a year, I need to feel like I have a place that's truly home. But realistically, do we have a place that's really home? I think the transition should go fast though, because I already feel much more comfortable here than I have anywhere in a long time. I don't know if that really means anything or not, I've noticed as of late, I seem to be becoming more and more comfortable with the nomadic lifestyle, once you're torn from a certain setting enough, you being to learn to live without roots. I realize that that sounds much more emo than I meant it to be, but if you take that statement and don't really look into it alot, it begins to reflect more of what I meant, not that you lose your connection to everything when you keep moving, but when you keep moving, your connections tend to change and grow into something different, something less physical and into something more emotional or metaphysical.
But enough with this rambling, I'm getting tired and I'm going to turn in early, good night internet!
So this marks the first real post I've made since I've left home. I'm in the apartment right now, it's a Wednesday night. An ambulance just went by and I've said goodnight to someone as I settle in to write for the night.
Soontar is in the other room, listing to music and doing something in Sketchup. I'm not quite sure what he's listening to, it's good though, but I'm not being inqusitive because I have a need right now to feed the mystical nature of the unknown. The force that keeps things in this universe unknown and to never be known. As much as I want to know, I think it's only fair that I feed the beast of inevitability and give into her ways and embrace the concept of not being able to control everything. And it is in a perverse way quite comforting, giving up on trying to understand and control everything turns you over to the willing hands of fate to see where the world will take you. But enough with the rhetoic, or perhaps not...
I'm also finding a pleasing calmness in my current lack of internetage, to think this is almost how people lived 20 years ago, or maybe it is. I'm using Q10 (Found by Soontar) set to green console text, so perhaps it is rather reminiscent of the late 1980's in more ways than one. A person then wouldn't be writing a blog, but a zine for priting in some back alley printer by some guy named Mitch who probably smoked a little too much that day. The lack of constant information being pressed into my lobes gives me somekind of clear mind, but it also unsettels me to a very large extent, I've grown so accustomed to the net that I would consider it's absense a major detriment to my being. However, with the lack of internet access I've been going through all the old folders on my computer and deleting, cleaning up, and moving things around, something I don't do often enough which results in a sort of digital crud being accured around the edges of my disk platters, forgotten notes, papers, pictures, just sitting there because I needed them for a second or less. A fine patina of digital distress spread across the electrons of my disks.
So what's been happening recently you ask? Well, lots of things. I'll pick up with last week, (I promise I'll blog about the other stuff I haven't done yet too!) Friday night I got a call from a good friend of mine and went over to see her at work, after some very long talks we finally got alot of things resolved, which is good, that's been one of the things that's been stressing me out lately, and I'm glad it's resolved. I'm hoping that it stays that way and continues to grow, because I'm happy now, I have my 3 things that I need, and I'm content with my life. More on this later, but I'm pretty sure if you've talked to me recently, asked the right questions, and have half a brain you could figure out what this is about!
Monday was the day of moving in, and I 'officially' became a resident that night. Soontar and I hit the town for supplies and equipment, like chicken, microwave, and a new chair. It was a good adventure that took up a good portion of the night, but that's okay, not much else here to do. Since then after work it's pretty much been goofing off around here, which has been okay and relaxing, while fun though I'll be glad to get the internet back, I need my opiate, I need it now!
Soon though, perhaps as soon as I post this, or even during, I'm back to combing the internet for jobs. I'm bummed that I was lied to about this position as they're cutting our hours to avoid paying us overtime, which really really sucks, but I guess I'll have to deal with it. So back to the job search it is, not something I enjoy, but it's required for survival. I'm hoping I can find another somewhat cushy contract job. After having worked this job, I find the appeal in contract jobs, they're in a sense, much more fun, you feel much more free, accomplished, and you get to in some extent, exist outside of the corporate structure, it's great. And it's not just the jobs, it the different people and tasks you can encounter, new challenges, idea, thoughts. It's like traveling, but instead of states or continents, you're traveling between worlds of different minds. Well hopefully you're working with smart and decent people adn that will happen, I've definetly ran into a couple so far that I wouldn't want to travel to their worlds! Now that I'm up here though, I'm going to be focusing less on out of area jobs, although if there were a good position down south I'd take it, get to visit with some friends down there, and besides, I'm a traveler and I need to move.
Looking around the room, I find I've yet to actually unpack alot of things or put some things away, my books and games really need a shelf to be on, which those are back at Interstitial South, some boxes which should be broken down and dealt with and some trash, which I'm putting in the waste basket right now. To me right now, this is more just of a room, I'm curious to know how long it will take me to think of it as a home, hopefully fast, because if I have to be here for a year, I need to feel like I have a place that's truly home. But realistically, do we have a place that's really home? I think the transition should go fast though, because I already feel much more comfortable here than I have anywhere in a long time. I don't know if that really means anything or not, I've noticed as of late, I seem to be becoming more and more comfortable with the nomadic lifestyle, once you're torn from a certain setting enough, you being to learn to live without roots. I realize that that sounds much more emo than I meant it to be, but if you take that statement and don't really look into it alot, it begins to reflect more of what I meant, not that you lose your connection to everything when you keep moving, but when you keep moving, your connections tend to change and grow into something different, something less physical and into something more emotional or metaphysical.
But enough with this rambling, I'm getting tired and I'm going to turn in early, good night internet!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Is Back, Somewhat
Field Officer's Report
Date : October 14th, 2009.
Location: Columbus Metro Library Forward Base
It's been a rough past couple of days here without the internet, and my internet addiction withdraw is at an all time high. Right now I'm reporting in from the forward operating base we've set up in the library a couple blocks from base, situation was grim earlier this week but we're having hardline installed to the base tomorrow between 12 and 4. Hopefully tomorrow when I get back home from work we should be wired up and I'll be back online permanently! Operating in such a crippled mode is taxing on the body.
A lot has happened in the past couple of days, or few days I should say, time has flown by with the absence of my drug of choice and being constatnly underattack from surrounding sources. I'm not sure really where to start, but I had a very good night Friday night with someone that led to a lot of progress I think. Saturday was being tired, packing and sleeping, and Sunday was moving. Monday was work and final move in, and the days since have been just goofing off and working. Monday and Tuesday nights Soontar and I ventured out into the field to take on some much needed provisions and equipment for our survival. Commander Soontar has also been battling Time Warner for some time now on several fronts but I'm pleased to report that he has successfully broke through their lines and we'll be back online soon. So time has been spent rather well I think. Soon I'll blog more about the details of the recent days but for now this is all I have time for. Or maybe not, I've got an hour left to catch up on several days worth of news and information and backlogs of stuff to do.
Anyways, this is Commander Brandonamp signing off from the FOB at CML.
Date : October 14th, 2009.
Location: Columbus Metro Library Forward Base
It's been a rough past couple of days here without the internet, and my internet addiction withdraw is at an all time high. Right now I'm reporting in from the forward operating base we've set up in the library a couple blocks from base, situation was grim earlier this week but we're having hardline installed to the base tomorrow between 12 and 4. Hopefully tomorrow when I get back home from work we should be wired up and I'll be back online permanently! Operating in such a crippled mode is taxing on the body.
A lot has happened in the past couple of days, or few days I should say, time has flown by with the absence of my drug of choice and being constatnly underattack from surrounding sources. I'm not sure really where to start, but I had a very good night Friday night with someone that led to a lot of progress I think. Saturday was being tired, packing and sleeping, and Sunday was moving. Monday was work and final move in, and the days since have been just goofing off and working. Monday and Tuesday nights Soontar and I ventured out into the field to take on some much needed provisions and equipment for our survival. Commander Soontar has also been battling Time Warner for some time now on several fronts but I'm pleased to report that he has successfully broke through their lines and we'll be back online soon. So time has been spent rather well I think. Soon I'll blog more about the details of the recent days but for now this is all I have time for. Or maybe not, I've got an hour left to catch up on several days worth of news and information and backlogs of stuff to do.
Anyways, this is Commander Brandonamp signing off from the FOB at CML.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Chase Corporate Creche
So, it finally happened, I ended up getting a job. Rejoicement right? Well, not necessarily. I've been working at the Polaris office of JP Morgan Chase for a little over a week now and I guess things are going good. Not to say I don't like it, I highly enjoy working at the McCoy Center (Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not an investment banker!) and would relish the opportunity to continue my stay there, be it additional contractor work or full time employment, either would be okay with me, but the chances of that are slim, and I realize that my time there will be fleeting, but time I will most likely remember well. I'm already looking for more work, and will hopefully have another interview lined up soon, but that is neither here nor as they say, there.
It's suprised me how fast I've slipped back into corporate life, the early mornings, the tucked in shirts, the monotony, the drilling new information into my head day in and out, in a way I guess, it's somewhat like being back at DeVry, only without all the crap of college, and I'm getting paid. I thought it would take me weeks to get back into the swing of things, maybe this really is the world I belong in. Corporate life seems to suit me I guess, or atleast the good parts of it do.
I got news from Soontar today, that so far we're go for this apartment, which is good, I'm looking forward to moving out, I still like living at home with all it's homey comforts, but I still feel it's time to make a jump, and being closer to work will give me more free time to do fun stuff after work so I'm not spending every free minute away from work sleeping. I'm not sure really what I'll do with this new found free time, I've decided that I'm going to take up an old hobby of mine, and besides that I imagine I'll probably just play games.
I'ts getting late now, and I know I had somemore stuff I wanted to write about, but I've forgotten now and have to start getting ready for bed, I'll be bringing you more in this series soon with more stories about work and my life as of late, I promise!
It's suprised me how fast I've slipped back into corporate life, the early mornings, the tucked in shirts, the monotony, the drilling new information into my head day in and out, in a way I guess, it's somewhat like being back at DeVry, only without all the crap of college, and I'm getting paid. I thought it would take me weeks to get back into the swing of things, maybe this really is the world I belong in. Corporate life seems to suit me I guess, or atleast the good parts of it do.
I got news from Soontar today, that so far we're go for this apartment, which is good, I'm looking forward to moving out, I still like living at home with all it's homey comforts, but I still feel it's time to make a jump, and being closer to work will give me more free time to do fun stuff after work so I'm not spending every free minute away from work sleeping. I'm not sure really what I'll do with this new found free time, I've decided that I'm going to take up an old hobby of mine, and besides that I imagine I'll probably just play games.
I'ts getting late now, and I know I had somemore stuff I wanted to write about, but I've forgotten now and have to start getting ready for bed, I'll be bringing you more in this series soon with more stories about work and my life as of late, I promise!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Brandonamp Citifies, Chicago: Part 1
As some of you may already be aware, it's been an eventful weekend for me, the adventure started on Friday when I met up with Soontar and headed up to Columbus. We were originally slated to leave Friday night, but because of some planning oversights, we were forced to push our departure date back, which in the end I think worked out better, since we then found out we were able to bring another adventurer along.
Soontar had to take some exam for Columbus State, so I dropped him off there and explored the city a bit looking for the building that had another apartment in it, after looking around a bit I finally met up with the person who was showing the place. It's an okay place, and I guess the price is good for including all the utilites, seems to lack parking, but that could be remedied.
After seeing the place, I met back up with Soontar and gave him a rundown of the place, complete with my rather poor sketch of the floor plan, we then set off to find some food and wifi, which led us on a rather fun and speedy adventure through the heart of downtown, full of my breaking of several traffic laws. We finally settled to split some Subway and bunkered down in a nearby Starbucks for some Wifi and table access, the wifi was pay only, so we just looked at pictures of the place and ate. After that it was back to Logan and then home to get ready for the trip.
We'd decided to leave at 4am on Saturday, so once home I set about furiously packing, had some quick dinner, some exercise to wear me out then off to bed for about 5 hours of sleep. Suprisingly somehow I was able to get up about 2 minutes before my alarm went off, aparently I'm getting better and better at getting up! After final preperations it was off to Logan to pick up Soontar and Convenience Store and head out, the trip took a bit longer than expected, who knew there was so much wild life out at 3 am? We all pilled into my car and then set off for Chicago.
Convenience Store
Some mural in a Columbus alleyway
Some mural in a Columbus alleyway
Soontar had to take some exam for Columbus State, so I dropped him off there and explored the city a bit looking for the building that had another apartment in it, after looking around a bit I finally met up with the person who was showing the place. It's an okay place, and I guess the price is good for including all the utilites, seems to lack parking, but that could be remedied.
After seeing the place, I met back up with Soontar and gave him a rundown of the place, complete with my rather poor sketch of the floor plan, we then set off to find some food and wifi, which led us on a rather fun and speedy adventure through the heart of downtown, full of my breaking of several traffic laws. We finally settled to split some Subway and bunkered down in a nearby Starbucks for some Wifi and table access, the wifi was pay only, so we just looked at pictures of the place and ate. After that it was back to Logan and then home to get ready for the trip.
We'd decided to leave at 4am on Saturday, so once home I set about furiously packing, had some quick dinner, some exercise to wear me out then off to bed for about 5 hours of sleep. Suprisingly somehow I was able to get up about 2 minutes before my alarm went off, aparently I'm getting better and better at getting up! After final preperations it was off to Logan to pick up Soontar and Convenience Store and head out, the trip took a bit longer than expected, who knew there was so much wild life out at 3 am? We all pilled into my car and then set off for Chicago.
Convenience Store
Some mural in a Columbus alleyway
Some mural in a Columbus alleywayI'll have more of the report later, but this is it for now, expect the next installment sometime soon!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Brandonamp Goes To The Fringe
So tonight, or rather, RIGHT NOW, is the season premier of Fringe, and I'm writing this during the commercial breaks. So far, the show is off to an excellent start, and when I saw excellent, I mean mind boggling, mouth watteringly, beautifully awesome. I'm not going to say anymore than that so I don't spoil it for anyone, but it's a simply great episode.
I'm also seeking refuge here from writing a cover letter, I've still been looking for more jobs, and I've finally encountered two jobs that actually require me to write cover letters, one I can understand as it's a little higher brow than the others, but the first is for a level 1/2 tech support position, and one of the requirements is also a bachelors degree, which makes no sense at all. I'm pretty sure I don't want to waste two hours writing a cover letter that probably pays considerably less than my last job, but I'll do it all the same.
Anyways, tomorrow, is still hopefully the trip to Chicago, which will be quite interesting and I really can't wait, I've also realized that I'm rather unprepared also, well, that's okay. If I were prepared it probably wouldn't be as fun. But this is going to be a good time, a final hurrah so to speak before I go back to the working world. And it should also help me get my mind off of, well, things that are happening recently, things I'll be glad to get my mind off of.
I'm also seeking refuge here from writing a cover letter, I've still been looking for more jobs, and I've finally encountered two jobs that actually require me to write cover letters, one I can understand as it's a little higher brow than the others, but the first is for a level 1/2 tech support position, and one of the requirements is also a bachelors degree, which makes no sense at all. I'm pretty sure I don't want to waste two hours writing a cover letter that probably pays considerably less than my last job, but I'll do it all the same.
Anyways, tomorrow, is still hopefully the trip to Chicago, which will be quite interesting and I really can't wait, I've also realized that I'm rather unprepared also, well, that's okay. If I were prepared it probably wouldn't be as fun. But this is going to be a good time, a final hurrah so to speak before I go back to the working world. And it should also help me get my mind off of, well, things that are happening recently, things I'll be glad to get my mind off of.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Brandonamp Needs New Butt Rest
Okay, so it's finally happened, I'm getting a new chair ASAP. Here we have a photo of the lovely repairs I had to perform last night. I've had this chair for much longer than I can remember, I know it's been faithful in service since long before high school so it's definitely old.
So far today, I've been minorly productive, painted the bathroom vanity and cleaned some, but it's times like right now when I don't have a real project to work on that I tend to ask myself.
"Brandon, what the hell are you doing with yourself?"
Well, I'm going to finish this painting and then go for a run, after that, well I might go into space.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
On The Precipice Of Volatile Events
This poast actually has been divided into multiple meals!
Many things have happened in Brandonamp land since my last post over a week ago. It feels much more like a month than a week though, things have been happening so fast and so much that I'm not sure about what days go where, but I'll try and get everything together as much as I can. I seem to be experiencing a weird form of soul delay, probably from my continuing inability to sleep, or perhaps from the ever increasing levels of stress I've been again experiencing. Or perhaps a combination of both.
Last weekend, I don't remember alot of, but I know that I went for a late canoeing trip with Soontar, Convenience Store, and Catbuttgirl. We weren't out for a long time, and it got dark pretty fast, but it was tons of fun, except for the part where my butt got wet, but that's okay. After that we went back to Catbutthouse, where we tore through the forest at high speeds and got hit by trees. This event was actually much more fun than I'm describing it. After that, we watched some movie called The Guns of Navarone, which wasn't too bad I guess, but the acting and film was par the course for the 1960s, lame, but it was still funny and pretty interesting. Unpon finishing the movie, we broke off and headed on home, where I slept for awhile to only awake feeling like I hadn't.
Sunday was a fairly uninteresting day, trip to hospital for more time sitting around basically doing nothing. I don't remember much of the day past that but I don't think anything really happened. Also at some point in time, Soontar and I drove back up to Columbus to go see another apartment, this place was, kinda meh. I think it's a worse neighborhood than the last place, it is however cheap, but it's also small, and of questionable quality and security. I wish there were more convenient and nicer housing options available. Perhaps some sort of pod to live in. That would be okay.
Monday morning I woke up to find out that Grandpa Interstitial had died earlier that morning. So began the ordeal of funeral planning. Nothing else really happened that day, helped parents with more things then went fishing with dad later in the day. Which was a good way to kill a few hours, even if I didn't catch anything. I got to walk around and listen to a good chunk of Pattern Recognition.
As possibly previously mentioned, I'm going through Pattern Recognition again in anticipation of the new Gibson novel coming out and wanted to re familiarize myself with the universe. Although, I don't get to listen to it alot, I could probably finish it faster if I was actually reading it instead. So it's taking me the better part of forever.
Perhaps the best thing to happen in the past week has been my new job! I found out Tuesday afteroon before getting ready to go out for the day that I was hired for one of the jobs I'd applied to. I'll be doing level 2 help desk for JP Morgan Chase bank starting on the 22nd. Unfortunately, it's only a 6 week long job, but it pays alot, and it will provide me with the much needed income. I'm still looking for jobs though, I'll need another one to start almost immediately after the 6 weeks are up, it's been hinted that there are possibilities for full time employment at Chase, but it's not anything solid. And if I want to move out, I need some solidarity.
Wednesday morning and early afternoon was spent driving around helping with errands and stuff getting things ready for the next two days. That night I went to see Gamer with Ryan, Soontar, Convenience Store, Catbuttgirl, and some other people. Ryan and I got there early and just messed around in the mall for a bit, finally spotting Soontar and the Convenience Store, we followed them around, acting like we were trying not to be seen, but still totally in plain sight.
I'm still not quite sure if Gamer was a good movie or not. I guess to keep in the spirit of talking about a movie about gaming, you could say this is a consolized version of a game, and by that, I mean dumbed down. The basic premise of the movie is strong, survival of humanity, changing world, etc. But it feels like the show was gimped. I'm sure if the movie spent the time used on explosions and tits to further the story along, we could have gotten a much better movie, and not just much better, a movie that could be on par with the likes of Blade Runner in terms of dystopian futures and stories about the human condition. But it's built so it feels like it's targeted towards the 13-18 year old age group, and of course, that's all 13-18 year olds care about, tits and explosions.
The rest of the week was funeral, funeral planning, and getting ready for the funeral. Thursday we had the viewing, which was good I guess, good in the way you're faced with about 20 people you haven't seen in 5 years, and only about 3 of which you actually remember. So I talked with a ton of people, actually remembered some guy I met like 10 years ago who was in IT also, and we talked alot too. It actually ended up being not that bad. But afterward I was exhausted and just wanted to collapse and sleep for the next 18 years.
Friday was the actual funeral, which went okay, more meeting and talking with people. Wash, rinse, repeat. The police escort was pretty cool, first time the cops were actually not trying to pull me over! Weather was good too. After that was the drive home, stopped at Olive Garden and had dinner with the parents, food wasn't that great, but I did get to try the Octoberfest beer by Samuel Adams, which is really quite a good beer. I napped on the way home and that was that.
So that's all I have for now, I'll follow up later with some more, but as I've been writing this I've been getting progressively more and more tired. So I'm going to watch some Top Gear and drink some of this coffee and maybe nap.
Many things have happened in Brandonamp land since my last post over a week ago. It feels much more like a month than a week though, things have been happening so fast and so much that I'm not sure about what days go where, but I'll try and get everything together as much as I can. I seem to be experiencing a weird form of soul delay, probably from my continuing inability to sleep, or perhaps from the ever increasing levels of stress I've been again experiencing. Or perhaps a combination of both.
Last weekend, I don't remember alot of, but I know that I went for a late canoeing trip with Soontar, Convenience Store, and Catbuttgirl. We weren't out for a long time, and it got dark pretty fast, but it was tons of fun, except for the part where my butt got wet, but that's okay. After that we went back to Catbutthouse, where we tore through the forest at high speeds and got hit by trees. This event was actually much more fun than I'm describing it. After that, we watched some movie called The Guns of Navarone, which wasn't too bad I guess, but the acting and film was par the course for the 1960s, lame, but it was still funny and pretty interesting. Unpon finishing the movie, we broke off and headed on home, where I slept for awhile to only awake feeling like I hadn't.
Sunday was a fairly uninteresting day, trip to hospital for more time sitting around basically doing nothing. I don't remember much of the day past that but I don't think anything really happened. Also at some point in time, Soontar and I drove back up to Columbus to go see another apartment, this place was, kinda meh. I think it's a worse neighborhood than the last place, it is however cheap, but it's also small, and of questionable quality and security. I wish there were more convenient and nicer housing options available. Perhaps some sort of pod to live in. That would be okay.
Monday morning I woke up to find out that Grandpa Interstitial had died earlier that morning. So began the ordeal of funeral planning. Nothing else really happened that day, helped parents with more things then went fishing with dad later in the day. Which was a good way to kill a few hours, even if I didn't catch anything. I got to walk around and listen to a good chunk of Pattern Recognition.
As possibly previously mentioned, I'm going through Pattern Recognition again in anticipation of the new Gibson novel coming out and wanted to re familiarize myself with the universe. Although, I don't get to listen to it alot, I could probably finish it faster if I was actually reading it instead. So it's taking me the better part of forever.
Perhaps the best thing to happen in the past week has been my new job! I found out Tuesday afteroon before getting ready to go out for the day that I was hired for one of the jobs I'd applied to. I'll be doing level 2 help desk for JP Morgan Chase bank starting on the 22nd. Unfortunately, it's only a 6 week long job, but it pays alot, and it will provide me with the much needed income. I'm still looking for jobs though, I'll need another one to start almost immediately after the 6 weeks are up, it's been hinted that there are possibilities for full time employment at Chase, but it's not anything solid. And if I want to move out, I need some solidarity.
Wednesday morning and early afternoon was spent driving around helping with errands and stuff getting things ready for the next two days. That night I went to see Gamer with Ryan, Soontar, Convenience Store, Catbuttgirl, and some other people. Ryan and I got there early and just messed around in the mall for a bit, finally spotting Soontar and the Convenience Store, we followed them around, acting like we were trying not to be seen, but still totally in plain sight.
I'm still not quite sure if Gamer was a good movie or not. I guess to keep in the spirit of talking about a movie about gaming, you could say this is a consolized version of a game, and by that, I mean dumbed down. The basic premise of the movie is strong, survival of humanity, changing world, etc. But it feels like the show was gimped. I'm sure if the movie spent the time used on explosions and tits to further the story along, we could have gotten a much better movie, and not just much better, a movie that could be on par with the likes of Blade Runner in terms of dystopian futures and stories about the human condition. But it's built so it feels like it's targeted towards the 13-18 year old age group, and of course, that's all 13-18 year olds care about, tits and explosions.
The rest of the week was funeral, funeral planning, and getting ready for the funeral. Thursday we had the viewing, which was good I guess, good in the way you're faced with about 20 people you haven't seen in 5 years, and only about 3 of which you actually remember. So I talked with a ton of people, actually remembered some guy I met like 10 years ago who was in IT also, and we talked alot too. It actually ended up being not that bad. But afterward I was exhausted and just wanted to collapse and sleep for the next 18 years.
Friday was the actual funeral, which went okay, more meeting and talking with people. Wash, rinse, repeat. The police escort was pretty cool, first time the cops were actually not trying to pull me over! Weather was good too. After that was the drive home, stopped at Olive Garden and had dinner with the parents, food wasn't that great, but I did get to try the Octoberfest beer by Samuel Adams, which is really quite a good beer. I napped on the way home and that was that.
So that's all I have for now, I'll follow up later with some more, but as I've been writing this I've been getting progressively more and more tired. So I'm going to watch some Top Gear and drink some of this coffee and maybe nap.
Friday, September 4, 2009
From The Archives: Brandonamp Is The Law
Brandonamp Is The Law
I originally planned to write more about the events of the past couple of days, but while they've been fun, there are somethings that are bothing me a little bit with the here and now, things I don't really care to think about more. So instead, I'm bringing you this treat from the long lost archives of blogs that never happened!
As you've probably read / know, several months ago, I was chosen to be a petite juror on some federal cases, that's right. Federal, big government. A few weeks ago, after some rounds of selection, I finally was called in for FINAL SELECTION. So I had to get up at 4AM and be in Columbus at the federal courthouse by 7. Waking up was surprisingly easy, got up and set out on the journey up. The drive up was about as entertaining as it ever is, same roads that I've driven hundreds if not thousands of times, pretty boring stuff until I was able to get into the city, driving around that area of Columbus again was fun. Being super early, I decided to explore the area a bit, experience a different city in the morning.
Cities in the morning always have that rather calm feel, the sleeping giant so to speak, huge lumbering beast of progress slowly waking from it's sleep. The air barely tainted with the hydrocarbons of the early risers of the world. Police on patrol, refuse collectors rumbling through the alleyways. You can almost smell the coffee being brewed in a thousand pots in a thousand offices.
So I finally parked in the garage closest to the courthouse, ate some crackers and packed up, having to leave all my electronic equipment in the car, it being banned in the court. Inside, I got my bag X-rayed, and walked through a metal detector, conveniently forgetting to take my watch off so I required extra scanning. After that it was stand and wait, actually, I went to the bathroom first, then stand and wait. The courthouse is, rather beautiful in that old sort of gothic way, lots of stone, lots of high ceilings, lots of age. Conveys the power of the state. I actually recommend if you get to go there you should, as it's a rather nice building.
So after the standing , we were ushered into the first room, where we were treated to doughnuts, fruit, and coffee, and were forced to watch a documentary about being a juror, which had all the pinnings of a late 80's middle school educational movie. We watched that then proceeded to do some more sitting and waiting, briefings, sitting, talking, sitting, and boringness. Luckily I recently acquired a Japanese textbook from Soontar, so I read that and learned me some Nipponese while waiting.
After that sitting, came VOIR DIRE, which in real terms would be called: SUPER MEGA FINAL SUDDEN DEATH SELECTION. So we sat in on the cases we had been assigned to and the Lawyers and Judge talked to us about the case and asked us if we had any opinions, questions, or issues, to determine if we'd be suitable jurors. Silent Branodnamp just sat there and said nothing, asking nothing, enjoyed the show because he was being totally impartial and taking in the experiecn. The courtroom itself was pretty cool, they even had white noise generators for when private conversations between certain members of the court.
My biggest source of entertainment was just taking it all in, and secretly looking at one of the interns in the court. I'm guessing she was some sort of legal intern to the judge, since she was constantly hovering around her at all times, what made it interesting though is that she looked so sad. I don't think I've ever been so moved by someone's emotion, but if I could have I would have just walked up there and hugged her. I'm pretty sure she caught me looking at her more than once, which probably lended to me being dismissed from duty.
So after about an hour or two, they made their decisions and those of us who weren't selected were dismissed and we were done for the day. So me and some other guys I met, (note, I was the youngest person there, by a VERY wide margin.) We hung out for a bit, raided what was left of the doughnuts and fruit, and left for our cars.
So I drove around Columbo a bit, cased LeVeque tower a bit since I haven't seen it in a long time, scoped out an apartment Soontar and I were looking at, then I drove on home. Good adventure. Or should I say it was a blast?
I originally planned to write more about the events of the past couple of days, but while they've been fun, there are somethings that are bothing me a little bit with the here and now, things I don't really care to think about more. So instead, I'm bringing you this treat from the long lost archives of blogs that never happened!
As you've probably read / know, several months ago, I was chosen to be a petite juror on some federal cases, that's right. Federal, big government. A few weeks ago, after some rounds of selection, I finally was called in for FINAL SELECTION. So I had to get up at 4AM and be in Columbus at the federal courthouse by 7. Waking up was surprisingly easy, got up and set out on the journey up. The drive up was about as entertaining as it ever is, same roads that I've driven hundreds if not thousands of times, pretty boring stuff until I was able to get into the city, driving around that area of Columbus again was fun. Being super early, I decided to explore the area a bit, experience a different city in the morning.
Cities in the morning always have that rather calm feel, the sleeping giant so to speak, huge lumbering beast of progress slowly waking from it's sleep. The air barely tainted with the hydrocarbons of the early risers of the world. Police on patrol, refuse collectors rumbling through the alleyways. You can almost smell the coffee being brewed in a thousand pots in a thousand offices.
So I finally parked in the garage closest to the courthouse, ate some crackers and packed up, having to leave all my electronic equipment in the car, it being banned in the court. Inside, I got my bag X-rayed, and walked through a metal detector, conveniently forgetting to take my watch off so I required extra scanning. After that it was stand and wait, actually, I went to the bathroom first, then stand and wait. The courthouse is, rather beautiful in that old sort of gothic way, lots of stone, lots of high ceilings, lots of age. Conveys the power of the state. I actually recommend if you get to go there you should, as it's a rather nice building.
So after the standing , we were ushered into the first room, where we were treated to doughnuts, fruit, and coffee, and were forced to watch a documentary about being a juror, which had all the pinnings of a late 80's middle school educational movie. We watched that then proceeded to do some more sitting and waiting, briefings, sitting, talking, sitting, and boringness. Luckily I recently acquired a Japanese textbook from Soontar, so I read that and learned me some Nipponese while waiting.
After that sitting, came VOIR DIRE, which in real terms would be called: SUPER MEGA FINAL SUDDEN DEATH SELECTION. So we sat in on the cases we had been assigned to and the Lawyers and Judge talked to us about the case and asked us if we had any opinions, questions, or issues, to determine if we'd be suitable jurors. Silent Branodnamp just sat there and said nothing, asking nothing, enjoyed the show because he was being totally impartial and taking in the experiecn. The courtroom itself was pretty cool, they even had white noise generators for when private conversations between certain members of the court.
My biggest source of entertainment was just taking it all in, and secretly looking at one of the interns in the court. I'm guessing she was some sort of legal intern to the judge, since she was constantly hovering around her at all times, what made it interesting though is that she looked so sad. I don't think I've ever been so moved by someone's emotion, but if I could have I would have just walked up there and hugged her. I'm pretty sure she caught me looking at her more than once, which probably lended to me being dismissed from duty.
So after about an hour or two, they made their decisions and those of us who weren't selected were dismissed and we were done for the day. So me and some other guys I met, (note, I was the youngest person there, by a VERY wide margin.) We hung out for a bit, raided what was left of the doughnuts and fruit, and left for our cars.
So I drove around Columbo a bit, cased LeVeque tower a bit since I haven't seen it in a long time, scoped out an apartment Soontar and I were looking at, then I drove on home. Good adventure. Or should I say it was a blast?
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