EIGHT

So! Last day of job training. It went well. I am really glad that I don't have to get up at 7 AM any more, because it was really doing a number on my sleep schedule. Not built for that. I start my actual super-sweet field work tomorrow, and my first paycheck should be coming in about a week after that! So if you didn't fill out your Census form and send it back, watch out! I'm going to be knocking on your door and like, asking you questions and stuff. With authority. Working a job that involves so much paperwork and so many acronyms and codes feels really official. So does this:


The last day of training involved a sort of quiz about what we had learned this week I missed two questions out of the 30, and they were the two that everyone else also missed and our supervisor agreed were poorly worded/wrong, so I felt pretty good about that. And just a quick word to the dude that sat next to me, just because you don't know an answer does not mean that it's a trick question, or even "tricky tricks", whatever that means. I'm just saying, muttering under your breath like that all the time is probably not necessary.

Oh yeah, and final exams are next week. So I will be writing a couple papers this weekend, and then hopefully going to class and doing real well on any actual tests. And this semester will be OVER. Finally.

(MUSIC) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: Illin'-Noise: The Sufjan Stevens Remix Album, by mcDJ(aka Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover). This is, as you may have guessed, a remix album of Sufjan Stevens' Illinois. This guy is way talented as a musician, writer, and actor, and this album ends up being some pretty cool house-y techno with well placed samples.

SEVEN

Fingerprinting is one of the most awkward processes you'll ever go through. Not awkward in the sense of really embarrassing, just awkward because you feel like a little kid. It's something you could easily do by yourself, but someone insists on holding your hand and helping you, which makes the entire thing more difficult. At least I didn't have to do it for the cops!


First day of job training was slow at first. Actually, it was fairly slow the whole time. An hour for lunch was real nice, but sitting around for an hour waiting for the aforementioned fingerprinting wasn't the best. All in all, it was just that, a huge amount of signatures, and a fair bit of listening. I can totally do that this week and get paid. Sounds good to me.

(FILM) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: Inglourious Basterds. Just in case you haven't seen it yet, it's quite good. If you like any of Tarantino's other movies, you will love this one. The acting is amazing, and it just might be my favorite of his films.

SIX

In keeping with my recent trend of single-minded posts, this one is about video games! Also, my mom told me that she found my blog. Hi mom!

I have a PS3 and a pretty nice computer, but I really haven't had the money to keep up with all the latest games for either of those. However, I did really enjoy one of the last games I bought, (Mass Effect 2) and today I decided to grab this:


BioWare games are usually a solid bet, and I have heard plenty of great things since the game came out (plus the Zero Punctuation review was hilarious), so I am looking forward to trying it out. Now you might be saying, "Connor! What the hell are you doing buying a new game, you have job training this week, and a bunch of stuff to do for school!" This is certainly a valid objection, but in the extensive library of information about myself that I have gleaned from years of being me, the more things I have to focus on, the better I am at focusing on any one of them. We'll see how well that experience serves me in this case.

(TELEVISION) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: Lie to Me, on Fox. I was very tempted to recommend ABC's Castle just because tonight's episode is SO SO SO GOOD, but Lie to Me is definitely a better show overall. Amazing cast, and there will finally be a new episode this Wednesday. Get into it.

FIVE

This post is mostly/completely going to be about football. Just a heads-up.

I'm writing this as I'm following the second day of the NFL Draft. I have just a few thoughts on the first round. I am pretty pleased with how it worked out for my Seahawks, they addressed two big needs with two very good players. Hopefully this trend continues, so that those picks matter this season. The main reason I was watching the draft was to see where Jahvid Best would be drafted. He is one of my all-time favorite players, from my favorite college program, so I was extremely glad to see him drafted in the first round, but it was a little bittersweet. Why?


Because it was the Detroit Lions who picked him. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The team has some serious weapons on offense, but it remains to be seen whether injuries will complicate their season again. Plus, if the defense is still giving up 40 points every game, Best won't have any opportunity to actually run with the ball. If you haven't heard of this kid, go look up a highlight video. You'll be sold.

With their second round pick, my team selected Golden Tate from Notre Dame. Not a bad choice, we needed some help at receiver and I'm surprised he fell that far anyway. Without a third round pick, that's it for today unless some trade happens later on.

(BOOK) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. This one is a bit of a cop-out since I'm not reading it right now, but it might be my favorite book ever, and even if you don't usually like fantasy novels, you absolutely need to read this.

FOUR

I was talking to my cousin last night about blogging, and though she is a very good writer, she said the reason she has never started one was that terribly interesting things didn't seem to happen to her on a daily basis. However, that is the same issue I have, and yet here I am. That got me thinking, and while it seems to me that people certainly like to live vicariously through others by reading about some epic adventure, they also like to know that other people out there deal with the same things that they do. I think this is the main reason blogging is such a big thing now. People like to write about their lives, and they also like to read about other people's lives, whatever the subject matter. Another benefit of this is that blogging is probably putting companies that make journals out of business, and do you know what happens if people stop making journals? We save ALOT of paper.


If you don't get that joke, you need to drop what you are doing immediately and read this. No need to thank me, I'm just doing my part to make the world a better place.

In other news, the 2010 NFL draft begins later today, and my Seahawks have two picks in the first round. Hopefully these are used wisely, but you will have to come back tomorrow to find out! Or, you know, look anywhere else on the internet. Either way.

(TELEVISION) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: Justified, on FX. Timothy Olyphant is one of my favorite actors, and he does not disappoint here. It's a cop drama with engaging characters and a touch of that Southern hospitality. Or something. Whatever, it's a good one.

THREE

I love the rain.

Seattle is pretty much my first choice for where to go when I'm done with my time in Flagstaff, for this reason and others. Plus, there it probably won't hail(and then snow, seriously what the hell) immediately afterward. I can't tell whether this weather is making me more or less motivated, but it is making me happy so either way is cool I guess!

(BOOK) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: One Bloody Thing After Another, by Joey Comeau. It's a horror story, and it is scary, but it's more than that. It's sad, adorable, and darkly humorous all at the same time.

TWO

There is a gang of squirrels in my back yard. At first I didn't really know why they were hanging out back there, smoking cigarettes and looking menacing, but after I nearly died earlier it became clear to me that they were probably just biding their time until I took a nap or hurt myself, at which point they would rush in and take the house. What was this near-death experience, you ask? Well, sit back and brace yourselves for the riveting tale.

It was high noon. I was making scrambled eggs. I wasn't terribly hungry, but that didn't stop me. Everything was going smoothly, the frying pan was heating up, I was mixing the eggs/cheese/milk, I even had a plate sitting out before I started the cooking process. That's what I call being prepared. As I began to cook the eggs, I noticed the pan was a little too hot but there ain't much you can do about it at that point, so I continued scrambling. Shit didn't start to get real until the process was nearly over. I took the pan off the burner and moved my plate over in order to begin serving. When I was nearly done moving my eggs to the plate, I began to hear a sizzling sound.

My mind in its infinite wisdom, came up with something along the lines of, What? The eggs are cooking themselves on my plate? How odd.

But obviously, this was not the case. For someone who almost certainly has mild OCD, I can be pretty damn retarded. I had set my plastic plate down directly on top of the burner I just removed the pan from. When I realized this, I quickly grabbed the plate and proceeded to take a huge whiff of the acrid, horrible smoke that was beginning to rise; because that seemed like the best course of action, you know? So as I was trying to scrape the eggs back into the pan and breathe real air at the same time, it seemed to me that I had surely just given myself at least eight different types of cancer and would be deceased sometime in the next ten minutes.


After throwing the plate away, turning on the fan above my stove and opening a couple windows, I sat down to eat. The eggs themselves weren't bad, but my enjoyment of them was tempered by the persistent voice in my head. Do these taste like plastic? No, they definitely don't. Wait, do they? My stomach is going to explode. Blaaaargghhh.

Four hours later, and I still have not keeled over. So in short, I'm watching you, squirrels. I'm onto your games, and you can't get rid of me that easily. Why not just ask me for some bird seed or something? Shit. I'm going to go watch Jeopardy.

(MUSIC) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: 99 Songs of Revolution: Volume 1, by Streetlight Manifesto. A really awesome covers album by a really awesome ska band. What more could you ask for?

ONE

"Big Gulps, huh? Alright. Well, see you later!"

As of today, I am employed. The last time I really worked was almost three years ago, but this morning I officially started my job with the US Census Bureau. In what I suppose is typical government fashion, I was asked to drive to the mall to sit down with my supervisor and fill out thirty minutes worth of paperwork, a task which likely could have been completed during any of the four 9-hour training sessions I will attend next week. Was it the most efficient way to do this? Maybe not, but I got paid for time and mileage so I'm not too concerned with it. It will be very nice to have an actual income, so I can do silly things like eat and pay my rent this summer.

School is taking up the rest of my time and effort. You'd think that 12 credits at a community college would be pretty easy to handle, but for me this is apparently not the case. Staying motivated to go to class and actually do any of the work has been a huge struggle since Spring Break, though that is always at least a little hard for me. Now that I have my schedule for next semester, I just want to be done with this one. The fact that I have been putting off so many assignments isn't helping with my motivation as far as getting caught up goes, especially since I will have to miss classes next week for the aforementioned job training. All I need to do is pass these classes and I will be able to feel like I have my life on track.

I guess you can only underachieve for so long before it makes you crazy. This semester has really been a whirlwind of bad time management where I have accomplished a whole lot of nothing and still felt rushed. Where's the happy medium? Seems like I can't sleep at all or have trouble keeping my eyes open. I either put all my focus and effort into a project or can't even find time to start it. On the bright side, at least the weather is getting to be really nice. Took a nice trip out to Lake Mary with some friends this weekend, and had a barbecue for my roommate's birthday.

(BOOK) RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Haunting, beautiful, terrifying and one of the best books I've read. I love me some postmodernism.