laura is bored.

Well it’s almost 7am, so why not write an entry? Excellent.
I could make an excuse that I’ve been busy working, but…I haven’t. I haven’t been fully employed since July. And honestly? IT BLOWS. Of course I’ve been searching and applying relentlessly (I hate people who ask this. “No, I haven’t been looking, I LIKE being broke and not having any full-time employment prospects! It makes me happy, like bunnies happy! …dick.”)
I’ve had several interviews, even got HIRED once (thank you, Starbucks manager for your “error”…walked in first shift and apparently they “made a mistake” and couldn’t hire me anymore. I swear that happened) …sadly nothing has stuck.
I KNOW YOU PEOPLE HAVE MY RESUMES, MAKE WITH THE PHONE CALLS!
I’ve been making due with money saved and little side jobs. It’s not glamourous but it pays dem bills.

And on another happy note, I’ve been single since Nuit Blanche. (Wah.) This was the first boyfriend who I lived with, so naturally neither him or I took it well. It actually got pretty ugly several times, to the point where we’ve had to sever contact recently which I genuinely believe is needed sometimes. We loved eachother, but sadly failed at communication when it was deperately needed and realized we weren’t exactly happy in the end. I don’t wish him any ill-will at all, though I admit there are times when I’ve definitely thought otherwise. I’m only human. In the end, it was a year of my life that I’ll remember fondly. Maybe one day we’ll cross paths again when we’re both more mature and have our respective shit together, and *gasp!* have a good time…and who knows, maybe eventually he’ll even fix the typo for my blog URL on his website.

One side effect of the breakup was my hesitant deletion of every single Sims game I own. Sims 2 with all the expansions, and Sims 3. In the 8 months that Dave lived here we both played an absurd amount. (Do you REALIZE how much custom content that is!? Like a billion.) I did it as some sort of therapeutic measure since I haven’t played at all since he moved out, and it was more or less our “thing”…not to mention, those games take up ALOT of space. Which brings me to my cool point. After all the games, custom content, and (while I was at it) any other rogue files I didn’t really need anymore were deleted, I ended up freeing FOURTEEN GIGABYTES (14GB for the laynerds) of HD space. That’s a bittersweet moment if there ever was one. I think…

And take note, people: Even if you trust the place where you’re partying, not everyone that walks in there is going to be trustworthy. Case in point: Two weeks ago I had my purse stolen. Literally picked up and taken out of a party I was attending at Playdead Mansion. Like any normal person would do, I freaked out, ran around like an idiot trying to find it, looked everywhere at least 5 times, and spent the cab ride home wondering “How in the fuck.”. Thankfully I don’t own any credit cards, so all I had to do was get a new bank card, health, and SIN cards which were all easily replaceable. Thankfully again, I had some cash at home so I went out and replaced some necessities (wallet, purse, basic makeup, etc). Two days later, I’m literally walking in the door, and I get a phone call from a number I don’t recognize.
Someone found my abandoned purse on the subway, with everything but the cash I had on me at the time still inside. My guess is when they discovered I had no credit cards, or really anything in there they could hock for cash, they ditched it on the TTC.
JOKES ON THEM FOR ROBBING THE POOR KID! Har har.

Last and final update: My mom got me an iPhone 3Gs for Christmas. It is IPWN, and it is the best thing ever. Here’s some random pictures because I like bragging.

Oh, yeah. I still hate winter as much as I ever did, my new space heater sucks, and it’s always cold as frig in here. Do not want.

*I forgot to publish this on October 28, So you get it now.*

Ever hear of Ashley Madison? It’s like a dating site for people who want to have affairs.
Anyway.
I got an interview for a web design position and was asked to submit some work, and whoever had the best submissions between myself and the four others that were interviewed, got the job.
Alot of people told me that was kind of sketchy – and while I agreed, what did I have to lose, right?
So here’s some of the stuff I submitted:

Anyway. Didn’t get the job, since they wanted someone with more Flash experience (note to self: learn Flash.) But whatever.

So I go home, and WAIT OMG. The HR guy had my phyical portfolio. Which contains a few things that I have no digital copies of. I shoot over an email right away asking him if I can either come pick it up, or if he could kindly mail it to me.

2 weeks go by…nothing. I have another interview and I’d kind of like my portfolio back. I email him again, asking if he recieved my last message (durr) and reminding him that I gave him that portfolio with the pretense that he would return it once the people that needed to view it did so, and that it contained sole copies of a few things. Finally, I get a reply:

Hi Laura,

 Sorry for missing your earlier email. It may have found it’s way into my spam filter as my systems admin hardened the rules recently.

 Unfortunatly, I do not believe that we still have a copy of your portfolio. I may have purged the files post interviews. I’ll take a look to see whether they are still at the office. I will get back to you shortly.

 Thanks,

Douchehole HR Guy

Aaaaand guy threw out my portfolio. INTO THE GARBAGE. TO BE GONE FOREVER.

Yeah, he never got back to me, as I assumed such. So I lost some work I will never be able to show employers ever again.

There is a special circle in hell reserved for people like you, Douchehole HR Guy.

Also you might notice I took down the design section. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that/my actual portfolio which sucks horribly and is outdated as heck… it’s really frustrating to show people something that hasn’t been updated in forever due to feelancing being a pain in the ass…that, and…I’m lazy.

Wanna see something hilarious? This is the website I made for my high school in my O.A.C. year (that’s grade 13 for you non-Canadian kids, we used to have that).

The best part is the super awesome HIGH DEF photos i took with my webcam. I think it was an Intel Pocket PC Cam. That thing ruled.

Anywway, here it is, in all it’s majesty.

I feel sad I have abandoned my blog. I’ve got some things I need to smooth out, then I promise I will be back.

Maybe I’ll even have a camera by then. Woot.

<3

Late last night, a few random updates started popping up on my facebook, saying Matrin Streek had died.

Wait, what? Martin Streek, from 102.1, who’s voice I had heard for as long as I can remember blasting from my stereo ? A posted link via Toronto Mike led to a chilling and cryptic post that Martin, after leaving a saddening, “So…I guess that’s it…thanks everyone…I’m sorry to those I should be sorry to, I love you to those that I love, and I will see you all again soon (not too soon though)… Let the stories begin.” as his facebook status update, had apparently taken his own life.

Facebook was now covered with questions, demands of verification, condolences…checking back to Mike’s site, my heart sank when he replied to his own original post with a Twitter update from a friend of Matrin’s confirming that this was, in fact, true. Another friend who was formermly employed at 102.1 called Alan Cross, currently on air. Another confirmation.

Two months ago, Martin was fired from 102.1 after over 20 years “in a round of downsizing”, along with Barry Taylor, another household name in local rock radio. He was the host of several live-to-air events in both Toronto and Burlington, and hosted several shows on-air, most notable were his weekly countdowns.

Today on 102.1’s All-Request Nooner, rather than requests, a mix-tape mashup of songs dedicated to Martin were played for the full hour.

12:56pm Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Redemption Song
12:48pm Rusty Wake Me
12:44pm Rage Against The Machine Guerrilla Radio
12:41pm Nine Inch Nails March Of The Pigs
12:32pm Jane’s Addiction Jane Says
12:27pm The Tea Party Fire In The Head
12:22pm Smashing Pumpkins Mayonaise
12:18pm Nirvana All Apologies
12:09pm Johnny Cash Hurt
12:07pm Sloan The Good In Everyone
12:01pm Tool Forty Six And 2

The radio station has a memorial page set up in his honour for anyone who wishes to comment.

I first met Martin in December at a Jager event we were doing at The Phoenix. I immediately felt comfortable around him, which if you know me, is rare. Thousands of people felt the same way – he was kind, caring, funny, and every other positive attribute you could possibly fix to a man. He will be deeply missed, and the Toronto radio scene will never be the same without him.

Now that the news has gone completely public, people are blaming the loss of his job as the reasons for his death. Sadly, no-one will ever really know. My heart goes out to his friends and family.

RIP, Buddy.

Rest In Peace, Martin. We’ll miss you.

Listen guys. I know I’ve expressed my love for seeing such celebrities as Rhianna, Kim Kardashian, Daniel Radcliffe (wtf?) and others, in the nude. But do you REALLY have to keep reminding me of that? I feel guilty enough without you posting the links in my comments. Also I don’t feel that it is appropriate to make fun of my weight problem by posting that website I go to every day called 12345 weight loss or something.

Re: I AM GETTING MORE SPAM THAN COMMENTS THIS IS NOT COOL.

Anyway. Some poor sod decided I was employable, and now I sell you nerds video games. It’s not EB or a big chain, that would blow. It rules, my boss rules, my co-worker is a cute nerd, I can walk to tons of different places on my break, and I can sit and play video games when there’s no-one in the store I need to help. Also within my first day there, I was put in charge of the online social networking sites for the store, and designing any posters. I know, I’m good like that. In short, I love my job. But the last 2 shifts, 18 hours in total, I opened, took out the discs, put said discs in sleeves, put price stickers on both case and sleeves, put cases on shelves, alphabetized, and finally put in a drawer, something like 800 games.

I took this after about 400(?):

I am not amused.

Mhmm. 18 hours.

Oh, I also wanted to toss in a note about the show True Blood. If you don’t watch it, you are lame. End of story. It has vampires, bad southern accents, a fantastic gay dude named Lafayette, and Anna Paquin’s boobs. That’s not all, either. Just watch it and thank me later.

Looks like someone is in a bit of trouble. While Apple has tried desperately to keep the specs of the new 32 GB iPhone 3Gs under lock and key, T-Mobile in the Netherlands, for some reason, has decided to post them for all to see on their website. Apparently this isn’t the first time T-Mobile Netherlands has published info Apple has refused to.

Boasting a 600 mHz processor and 256mb RAM for the OS, maybe people will stop bitching about which is better, the iPhone or the Palm Pre. They both now have equal processors. ENOUGH.

Personally, I don’t own one of these cursed things, but if I wasn’t so afraid to leave Telus, I probably would. (I don’t mean it Telus, baby, you + me = 4ever.) Team Blackberry FTW.

The all-encompassing “Patio Beer”. I dig it. You all dig it. I finally made it out for my first of the year with Dave, my partner in all-things-ridiculous-and-also-snuggling, and we first decided to check out the Duke of York down the street. I like it there because it’s fancy (for a pub) and the patio is all enclosed so there’s no wind. I have an issue with wind, we hate eachother. I’ll maybe get into it later.

So we sit down, the waiter cleans off our table, and hands us the brunch menu. I ask if they have any pint specials. He looks at me wierd and says no. So what I did, was say we changed our minds, and headed over to Gabby’s across from the ROM. The front patio is small, only 5 tables, but I like looking at dinosaurs while I eat. Don’t judge me. I miss Christie. My last patio beer was with her. She just came back to the city today so that makes me happy and stuff.

I foolishly ordered Dave and myself two pints of Rickard’s White, not paying attention to the fact that they were SIX DOLLARS EACH (I’m on a budget here, people). I got “Gabby’s Ultimate Salad”, which is tasty as all hell. I contemplated how long it would take for myself to get a sunburn at our table. By the time I finished my lunch, sure enough, my arm was nice and pink. I took some pictures with my cell phone, because my camera still lies dead on my desk and I still am too lazy to call and find out how much it costs to fix it/wether I should bother.

When the bill came, I went to the ATM inside. Broken. Lovely. Then, a lovely homeless man begging for change outside McDonald’s told me where my closest two ATM options were. Down to Bay St., or back to Bedford. I swore to myself, and luckily a waitress at Gabby’s remembered there was an ATM inside the Intercontinetal Hotel next door. Yay! So away I went, back, and paid the server. $36 gone. Sigh.

So then, in a moment of weakness, I saw the ice cream truck around the corner by the ROM, and got Dave and myself some ice cream cones. I forgot how good those tasted. Holy eff.

I guess the  moral of the story, if there was one, is to always check the prices of beer when you’re on a budget before you happily announce you want two. And always remember… if an ice cream truck is near, you MUST purchase something or you’re a terrible, soulless person. Oh. And super pale kids get wierd glances when outside on a nice summer day.

Also, there was some dude in a cartoon dinosaur costume walking around outside the ROM briefly. I do not know what was going on, but I would like to see him again.

It’s really difficult to get this whole thing kickstarted again without my camera. I miss it dearly. I haven’t even figured out if repairaing it will cost more than just buying a new one. The shutter has been damaged from water, I’m not getting into where/how, but it was a very sad night, and my little purple buddy was only a month old.

This afternoon I had a huge smoothie craving from Booster Juice. Then I remembred the things cost like $7, so I went over to whole foods and purchsed this ridiculously good berry lemonade. Seriously. This stuff is like the elixir of the Gods. Num Num. I also got these things called “Pita Chips”, which are also suprisingly good. My attempt to stop eating like a fat kid has been dismal to say the least, so I find myself checking the nutritional panel every time I buy something now. These things actually TASTE good for you.

I seriously live in the best neighbourhood. I’m a block away from Yorkville/Avenue Rd, so when I head over that way I’m surrounded by immaculate homes with equally immaculate front lawns and gardens and flowers and everything is SO pretty and smells so nice.
Maybe I’ll bring one of those camping chairs and just park it on the sidewalk one day, see if anyone says anything.

Well, it took the majority of today, my BFF, terrible sushi, a bruised tailbone and alot of swearing, but…this is it.My site, is finally up.
Everything is here. Blog, portfolio, SG stuff…I am the internet, or something.

But really, here’s what happened to me today. I was awake early, and it was nice and rainy-ish. I like that kind of weather, so I decided to walk down to TimHo’s and get a yogurt. I noticed they had those huge cinnamon roll things, too.

…

Oh, why not.

…That was over 12 hours ago, and I just now looked over and gave a disdainful glare at the remaining half of it. I don’t know if I want to finish it…or if I can…

I ordered sushi from a new place today. Kokio on Yonge St. Now, I’ve eaten there before, and enjoyed their food and had no problems. Today, The pre-wapped chopsticks had an overwhelming chemical smell (!?), and the chef, for some reason unknown to me, decided to sandwich the pieces of fish on top of the rice with a giant chunk of wasabi. I’ve never heard of this existing. I didn’t know it existed, until I was suddenly SEEING THROUGH TIME via my sinuses. I seriously thought for a moment I was going to fall over. Anyway. I scraped off as much of it as I could from the remaining food and finished it with the smelly poison chopsticks, discovered their salad dressing was AWFUL, whined to Dave about it, and decided to sit down and start tweaking out the code for this damned thing.

Which brings me to another sad story of today, which involves sitting down. Apparently, somehow, the other day, I casually sat back on my bed, which is currently a mattress on the floor (I know, right), a little too hard, and must have hit the floor. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, because, well…I didn’t hurt. I woke up yesterday and my tailbone was rather sore, but shrugged it off and went about my things. Today, though, it got much worse. I didn’t realize that fact, until I stood up from this very chair and almost collapsed back down because standing up was REALLY. FUCKING. PAINFUL. Of course I Googled, and lo and behold, that kind of thing is totally normal when you bruise your tailbone, as it shifts when you stand up.

Well isn’t that nice. I’ve been dreading standing up all night because pain shoots up my whole lower back. I have a Jager/SG event tomorrow I’m supposed to go to. Let’s see how well my bruised tailbone can handle advil and booze! Probably not well, but it’ll be worth a shot.