Can’t Upsell the Master

After working the lawn yesterday, I was worn out.  I had a twelve-hour sleep! Thankfully, I went to bed at midnight, so was able to get a lunch before it was too late.  Again today is Sunday, and in the usual cases of Sundays its my day of rest.  So there isn’t a whole lot to report.

I did pick up a converter box at Best Buy. However before that, me and Michael went to Macy’s to pick up a few things.  Let me tell you something, after working in retail so often, you pick up on a few things.  For instance, upselling.  I worked at two different jobs where upselling was necessary, or you’ll lose your job.  I can upsell like no other, but in the end, it really enhances your perception to others trying to upsell you.

Michael was buying some brown shoes…that could work as casual, but at the same time be dress shoes.  This guy that worked there was persistant on him buying the most expensive shoes there, a pair of 175 dollar shoes… He said that any other shoe there would wear out in a matter of 6 months.  PLEASE.  My shoes that I wear now I’ve had for years, and I got them at Wal-Mart, no ones going to believe that crap.  Well he did end up buying a pair of 125 dollar shoes.  Before you go “What??” Let me assure you that he works at Macy’s and has “Macy Bucks” after working there for so long, he was able to use them on the shoes and get them only for 60 dollars.  Not too bad.

The converter box works great.  The only problem with it is…with fullscreen programs on HD channels, they are in a boxed frame, and there is no way to zoom in.  There is a zoom button but every time I try to use it, it says “Zoom does not work on this channel…” So I don’t know, at least it’s something for the new TV season.

Mr. Weed Wacker

Awoken by the sound of music (and by sound of music I mean construction.) You see this house is so close to construction that it makes the house shake like an earthquake. I woke to an almost empty house. Though Julia has already left, she has left me a list of things to do here still.  Today I am going to Macy’s to try to get a job.

This morning, because I’m taking over Julia’s room, I took everything from my temporary room, and moved it to hers.  Now her bed does have hearts on the frame, but thanks to my ingeniousness, I was able to cover them up, and make it still look like a bed, because it all matches. You see I am both decorative, AND masculine.

The temporary room still has my computer, and the TV, but that’s basically it. I was told that if you spend all your time in one room, and go to sleep in another, it will help with insomnia. That’s a theory anyways.  I guess I’ll attempt to solve that mystery.

So I went in to Macy’s around 11:30 in the morning.  I wasn’t able to get an interview, but I did send in an application.  Though the application was pretty confusing so I had the manager help me out with that. He asked me a few questions about myself, so it was kind of a mini-interview, he pretty much said I’ll have an interview either on Monday or Wednesday, so that’s good.  Bad news, I did get a rejection email from Target…and I thought I did so well too.

When I got home, I helped the folks here do some lawn work.  That’s right, the first time I ever mowed the lawn, and used a weed whacker.  Intense…I think I kind of sucked at it though…(looks left…looks right) Yeah in the end I was sweating, I was bleeding, but I feel more like a man. Anyyyways.  I also fed some birds, and picked up a cat.  Just little facts for you to think about.

Later on, I had dinner, and attempted to watch a movie from Netflix.  Unfortunately those pesky Netflix people send you scratched up disks so you can’t really watch anything.  Ahh well, peace out

100th Post

Here it is…Friday.  The last day Julia is here before she ships out tomorrow morning…at 6:00 A.M. I won’t even be awake at that time. So I got to make the best of the day that I can.  It’s going to be difficult after she leaves, just because she’s been really helpful with helping me start a new life.  I don’t have a job yet, unfortunately.  It has only been two weeks since I’ve lived here, of course, but I would be less nervous if I knew I had that going for me.

Another thing is Financial Aid.  School begins pretty soon, and I haven’t received any Aid.  All the school’s website says is “Pending”.  Stop pending! I need that money before I go to school. I am about 95% sure that I’m going to have to take out loans…and fast. At this point I’m not sure if I’m going to even receive the money, so if I do, that will help a lot with paying back the loans…if I don’t, at least I can pay for my classes.

So I’m nervous with all that.  Cause it doesn’t take much to stay here, but I do need to be in school and have a job… So I’m fighting to make this work. Everyone here assures me I’ll be fine, so I hope they are right.

The goodbye party was great.  All it was, was a small get-together of friends laughing together and eating Grilled Hamburgers and Hot dogs…I’m seeing a pattern here…and I like it! We even had some Root Beer Floats…which I hadn’t had in a long time, and I just downed it.  In the end it was a bit emotional for her, since this is the last time in a long time she’ll be seeing her closest friends.

When we got home, of course it was some last-minute tiding things up.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to see Smallville, which I’m bummed about, cause the next episode was going to be great. One of my favorites.

So here I sit. I don’t know what’s in store for me next, its all a grand adventure.  I think it’s going to be great.  Peace out, guys.

Cleaning Day

After a disturbing dream where I had to be sent back home, I awoke Thursday morning and did some laundry.  Unfortunately by 8:00 in the evening, neither Caribou Coffee nor Target had called. Both had said they would have called by now, yet neither of them did.  So this means one of two things…I didn’t get the job…or they want me, just not excited enough to call when they said they would.

So today wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be.   Never did go see Terminator, but that is okay, I have see it before.  I was told we might even see Star Trek tomorrow…which was my favorite movie of the summer, so that sounds like fun…then Julia is leaving this Sunday.  Anyways, I took a nap this afternoon and dreamt about TobyMac and Toothpaste.  I’m not sure why…I just did.

For lunch this afternoon, I actually had two different meals…it was so fantastic.  After last night’s hunger strike, I was actually still hungry.  So I made myself a tortilla with a ton of cheese and pepperoni…it was the ultimate fantasticleness.  Then Julia made a pizza to share, but after that tortilla, I was super-full, but I had a couple pieces of the pizza any how. Dinner was equally as good as I had some noodles with chicken with alfredo sauce…actually very tastey.

Later on, because I am going to be living in Julia’s room after she leaves, we spent the night cleaning out her room.  It’s really interesting because, I was never part of her past, but I find it intriguing sometimes to go through peoples stuff.  It is an invasion of privacy, I know.  But I can’t help myself sometimes, I am a really curious person, and I do like getting to know people better, what better way to learn through their past? This really goes for anyone and anything.  That’s why the museum of art was fascinating. These items may not be 500 B.C. but they are my friend’s past before I knew them. I don’t know…it’s just interesting.

Tomorrow will be my 100th post, which actually is perfect because it is also Julia’s final day here. So I should have an interesting enough blog post.So I guess looking back, the best part about today was the food! Also, if there is anyone out there reading my stuff, let me know! I’d love to hear from you, and it helps to know I’m not just talking to myself.  So you can either submit a comment below, or go to the Contact Me tab above! Well that’s all for now, peace out!

A Film and an Interview

After last night’s battle with boredom, I was afraid today might be just as awful. Thankfully, however, I had a few things in store for the day that would make it a good one.  First and foremost, I had an interview planned for 3:00 PM, then perhaps go to a movie at Minneapolis’s Kerasotes Showplace 15. Let me start at the beginning.

Around 2:00 PM, we set out to the bus stop.  Now this is my very first time using the public transportation in this city.  For a first time, I actually understood it pretty well.  The only problem was the bus fare cost $1.75 a dollar more expensive then back home.  Anyways, we got to Target a bit early.  What’s interesting about Target is this location was very diverse with it’s employees.  Especially Muslim women, pretty interesting, I don’t see a lot of that back home.  So when I got there, they had me finish some more online questions…as if I hadn’t already done enough of them. Then it was time to wait.

Finally, I was called in for my interview.  The man who asked the questions was named Kyle.  He seemed nice, but didn’t seem to have a sense of humor.  That’s understandable, seeing he wants the most qualified people to make the team. Then this is interesting, on the spot, they had me do a second interview with I guess somebody from HR.  Her name was Libby, and she was less uptight then Kyle.  She seemed to be pretty much down to earth with a good sense of humor.  At the end she told me that the main HR person would be in tomorrow morning, and they will call me by then letting me  know.

After the job interviews, we went to the move theater to see “The Ugly Truth.” I thought it was funny, but predictable, Julia was pretty much saying “blah.”  Then we went home and watched Smallville, finishing the first season, and beginning on the second.  Then I had a hunger strike.  First I got weak, and then I started to sweat, felt like I was gonna pass out, so I made the heaviest sandwich in the world…lots of meat on that sucker.  That made me feel better.

So the Caribou Coffee place never called today, like they said they would.  I have her card…maybe I’ll call her tomorrow, maybe I won’t.  A job at Target would be more fulfilling…probably get more hours in the long run.  So overall a good day, thank goodness it wasn’t like yesterday!  Tomorrow, I might see Terminator 4, peace out!

Just Me and the Internet

Who out there knows what I’m talking about when it comes to complete boredom? I mean if the phrase “Rock Bottom” referred to boredom, that would be the state I am in now. Today is Tuesday, and what have I done today? Had a Taco to eat? Maybe two? The point is, that was eight hours ago, and the highlight of my day.  The rest of it has been spent in here.  Waiting and wondering when something fun might happen. Nothing ever happened.

Julia finally got back home, and even brought a friend home with her. I thought, finally, the day doesn’t have to be dull anymore! But No, nobody invited me to hang out with them…here I sit, rambling on and on to God knows who, feeling kind of banished, knowing they don’t really care.  So why am I saying it? I’m just trying to escape the chasm of boredom, and still failing.  I try to talk to others online, but they leave within five minutes. I try to talk to myself, and that doesn’t work. Folks, today is just not my day.  I envy you, Jack Bauer.

Tomorrow better be good, or I’m going to get angry. I know I have the one interview at Target…that’s something…but it better not be all. Sitting here, listening to everyone have so much fun downstairs…not my ideal of having a great time.

Everyone left, but before doing so, they said to each other…”Hey, let’s do this again tomorrow!” I just stood there, staring at them with disbelief.  Fine, they had fun, I don’t hold that against them, I’m just fearing tomorrow now, and hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself. So later on, after everybody left, Julia suggested we watch some Smallville.  Best suggestion I’ve heard all day.  I quickly make some ramen, and head upstairs and waited for her.  Then waited some more.  Finally, after I’ve finished the ramen, and drank the rest of it, I go downstairs.  She’s down there, I’m up here.  It didn’t go exactly as I hoped, but she eventually came up and watched some Smallville (Around an hour later). Sure it calmed my nerves a bit, but not enough to disregard this whole blog post. Today sucked.

On a separate note, there are three more posts until my 100th post on this website.  Sure, most of the posts are my actual video journals, but who cares? My 100th post is coming up, so look out for that! Peace Out

Breaking a Habit

The start of this week was not something I should be proud of.  A well-known website most of you know as “Craigslist” caught my eye earlier last week, but as every day inched along, I’ve been checking it out more frequently.  In fact is has become some thing of an unhealthy obsession.  They have got anything you can imagine on there, it’s ridiculous.  First and formost, my favorite bit is the “Talent Gigs” – That is how I got the gig for dancing to MJ.  Secondly, the “Free Stuff” tab.  You have no idea how much stuff they give away for nothing! Just this morning and late last night, there was a posting for 30 free cans of soda pop.  Of course an hour later, it was all gone.  They got a ton of other stuff usually going for free, perfectly good furniture…perfectly good analog TV’s, though I did see one or two HDTVs that were preveously sold. Fridges, washers, dryers, you name it, they got it…if you are homeless…look up craigslist…you may not be homeless for long!

Anyways the point that really made the obsession worse is the job ads.  You never know if one is fake or not, but usually the posts look like great opportunities.  Being new in this town, I thought maybe I should check this out, get me started a little bit.  Well one of the job ads brought me to a separate job-applying website.  I didn’t pay much attention, and thought I was filling out an actual application…well I was…just for an education.  Before I knew it, some education person called me up and set me up with 3 different schools, who one by one took turns calling the house asking for me.  Thankfully no one else was here, and I politely told them it was all a mistake, and that I was not interested and they understood.

Well, I learned my lesson when it comes to CL jobs.  Some are real, some aren’t, but this is no way to hunt for them.  Although, I still think the free stuff is fair game.  Even most of the talent gigs are real, but yes, I have found some scammers in that area.  So my main focus is the free junk! I am not the richest man in all of america, so if I end up finding something good…I just may go for it!

An Interview & A Dance

Saturday, I woke up early again.  Mostly because I actually went to bed at a decent time, thanks to the Sand Man. Anyhow the first thing I learned today, was Caribou Coffee gave me a call. Probably around 10:00 in the morning, and I have an interview lined up at noon.  Later today, I have the Michael Jackson gig, so today should be a pretty good day.

I left the house around 11:40 in the morning and went to a Caribou Coffee inside of a grocery store, because I believed that was the place I was supposed to go to.  I was surprised to find out that I needed to run a couple blocks to another Caribou Coffee, I went to the wrong one.  Thankfully they knew my name and where I was supposed to go.  The interview went well, they asked all the usual questions (Why do you want to work here? How long do you want to work here, what do you think it’ll be like?) Blah blah, there were two tough questions.  One was what makes our customers choose us instead of Starbucks.  That one caught me by surprise.  I ended up saying Caribou Coffee is way more comfortable, and friendlier.  Another question was, what do I expect to get out of working here.  I had to take a moment to think about that.  Honestly, I said two things, being a part of making everyone’s day, and money is also important because I only just moved to Minneapolis. I made sure to let them know that it’s not the only reason, it just is pretty important. I think they understood.  I did get a free coffee, so that was nice of them.

When I finally got back home, I got my own set of keys for everything. Which is good considering I live here now. We again had grilled dogs and burgers, which were absolutely fantastic. Here’s the kicker, twice in one day I was called in for an interview, this one is on Wednesday at 3:00 PM for Target. I’m thinking about maybe taking both jobs…but I really doubt it.

The dance was absolutely fantastic.  I was able to get 6 people in for free, including myself.  Originally, it was only going to be a moonwalking contest, which I didn’t even see, but you can say I am the entertainment.  I was payed 50 dollars, and took everyone out to eat later. The most memorable things for some reason was a conversation I had with some random girl it went like this:

Her: “Do you work here?”

Me: “Just for tonight.”

Her: “Do you have any idea when the contest starts?”

Me: “Not really, just when a lot of people show up.”

Her: “Okay, do you know when the impersonator shows up?”

Me: (Waves)

But I ended up dancing to Smooth Criminal, the first dance, around midnight.  Now this is great, because another unpayed impersonator showed up and got on stage with me, and had kind of a dance off.  I showed him up, cause I actually knew the dance to the song, he only knew MJ moves.  He was good…just not good enough. I was cheered on like crazy.

It was a very nice club, and I got to meet everyone before hand, and they were all really nice. So anyways, the next dance was Thriller, now the other guy started off onstage, and everyone was cheering him on, so I guess it was my turn to interupt his 15 minutes of fame.  Thriller is a very good song, and you really do need to know the dance to it, its famous.  Again, I knew it, he did not…I killed.  Lastly before we left, I did a little Billie Jean.

I have to say that overall, this was a very fun night, the only negative things I have to say about it, is the old creeper following me around trying to talk to me, and of course the sweat…You can guess how much sweat I lost that night, but it was all worth it.  Later that night, I had trouble sleeping because of how much fun I had.  I tried to listen to my ipod to calm my nerves but all that was on there was Smooth Criminal…didn’t work.  I ended up getting my second migraine of the month, which came out of nowhere, didn’t get the time to stop it, so it was pretty bad. After it dulled down, I took some meds in hope to completely stop it.

Now Sunday was kind of my day of rest.  I was super exhausted from the night before, and Julia was kind enough to make a fantastic breakfast.  Eggs and Pancakes…what more can you ask for? Later on I took a nap, watched Smallville, and again at grilled Dogs and burgers. Still great.

Week Numbero Dos

So this week, I got a little side tracked when blogging.  So when in the later days you only see a paragraph, it is because I didn’t write until the end of the week, and forgot a lot of the things that happened.  Next week I’ll try to do better, and split the posts into separate days.  This weekend should be a good one though

Monday

Rise and shine Monday morning as this family has a cleaning lady that comes by every other week on Mondays. I had to clear my temporary room so the cleaning lady could get in and vacuum. All I have to say is at least I got some good sleep, and didn’t have to wake up as early as the last couple of days. Of course the cleaning lady never came to my room. I must have scared her off! So the rest of the day was pretty much a stinker for one single reason, it was hot.  So hot I didn’t feel like moving, and when watching the fan it looked like it changed shapes hot.  However today I did happen to manage to write the first chapter in my next book, Extraordinary: The 2012 Massacre. We also ate some delicious grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. Then I ended the night starting Smallville season 1 over again.  Of course I skipped the pilot because I’ve seen it a bizillion times.

Tuesday

After I went to bed Monday night, we were surprised to hear the next morning that our garage had been broken into. Apparently they jumped our fence and went into the garage through the open back door. Even though the keys were actually still in the car, whoever broke in thankfully didn’t notice, or didn’t want to wake us by opening the garage, because all they ended up taking was some money that was apparently in the garage. They didn’t even take a bike. Later in the day we had to speak to the police.

After struggling to get my internet working again this morning, I started a to-do list on the internet split off in separate segments such as groceries, chores, school, and other. I may be getting a planner for college, but I am not entirely sure yet, and besides, I always start to use them, but always stop. Yes I know, I am a slacker. So anyways, here I am sitting with a set plan of what to do today. At some point I plan to do the laundry, I also plan to apply for more jobs, and when the day is over and I still got time, I plan to watch more Smallville.

An interesting thing happened to me this morning. I sat at the computer and “Unknown Number” popped up attempting to call me through my Skype. This is interesting, because I turned off my Skype months ago, but I do still have my online number until January of next year. Does this mean someone can call me, but I cannot call them? And do I have unlimited minutes for incoming calls? Well anyways, after I get a job here, I plan to also get a phone. I have also been told I’m going to have to start a new bank account. There aren’t any National City’s here in Minneapolis, so that sucks. So I tried to change my place of residence legally online, but apparently to verify that it’s really me, they need to charge a dollar off my credit card. I don’t even have a dollar, how sad is that?

After lunch, they day pretty much dulled down. It was about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday, but still pretty hot. I am only worrying about the winters here. Someone told me it got to -40 wind chill last year, I’m not looking so forward to that. For dinner we made some delicious Tacos. In the end, I did all my errands, except the laundry again.

Wednesday

Wednesday wasn’t as exciting as Tuesday. I woke up rather early, but the day itself moved by slow. I applied to a bunch of places again, did my laundry and ate chicken. Later I watched Smallville, but that was about it. From what I understand we are heading to the Mall of America tomorrow, and to Southdale Mall as well to try to get a job again, so tomorrow is looking to be much more exciting.

Thursday

As imagined, Thursday turned out to be quite the exciting day. First I woke up at 9:00 in the morning. The next thing I know, I was heading to Julia’s mom’s work. She teaches third graders French…yeah I’d fail that class miserably. Anyways, she was apparently moving to another classroom, so we had to pack everything up in boxes, and move them to the hallways. Well, after about an hour and a half or so, we packed so much, and yet, there is so much left.

After that we went to a restaraunt, Perkins to be exact, and I had an incredible Chipotle sandwich…yum. When we got back, I filled out more apps. Honestly, that’s all that happened on Thursday.

Friday

Friday was pretty cool, I was actually able to book a dancing gig at a bar.  I’ll be going to the bar on Saturday at 9:00 PM to dance like Michael Jackson.  I’ll be payed 50 dollars.

Minnesota Welcomes Me

With tensions rolling high, we departed Indianapolis at 8:30 Saturday morning after eating a hearty breakfast. Originally we were going to make a stop at Milwaukee, but unfortunately plans were changed.  The trip took a whole ten hours, give or take a half hour. One of the first things that came to mind while on the road was the sudden realization that I was going to be living out of state.  The first time in my life I wouldn’t be living in Indiana. First off, I would like to try to explain this house.  This is the first house I’ve ever lived in, and it is a pretty nice house.  It has three levels, and they insist on calling the first level a basement, even though it doesn’t go underground.  The second level is where the living room area and kitchen is, as well as bedrooms.  And the third level used to be a one roomed attic until they built on to it, and made it simply look like another floor with three rooms and a bathroom. They also built the stairs that lead to this floor.  Interesting, although I would have never guessed they did it.

The first act as a Minnesotan Resident other than painfully loading boxes in the house was to go to the theaters to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I actually have seen every single Harry Potter film, in one night, in reverse.  So they all blend together to make one super movie, but they are all very good, including the latest film. Later that night, I was finally able to catch up on some missed TV, and then went to bed.  The next morning I woke up early once more.  Although, this Sunday was no day of rest.  Sunday was even more hectic as I started to put together a bed. You know those boxed chair sets and simple table put-together sets? Well this was a make a bed set, with drawers and everything, that alone took all day.  I also had to tear up the several large boxes that held the bed, and fit them into tiny little paper bags.  Not as easy as it may sound.  We also went around town and the internet picking up applications and filling them out.  All though, I should have no problem getting a deli job in Southdale Mall, I just have to wait until Wednesday for anything to come of that.

Later Sunday evening I was entertained by Julia and Michael as they relentlessly attempted to kill a fly with magazines and newspapers, even towels.  All the while I sat back and laughed at them, because they were honestly annoyed at the fly, but the sight was just entertaining. At the end of the night, I went back to my usual schedule of watching some TV, and then I went to bed.

Also, a couple other things have come up that aren’t exclusively for the weekend.  They are just a few things I’m trying to get dealt with.  While I was still in Indianapolis, my mother informed me that I have jury duty on August 11th.  In South Bend.  I have been wanting to sit in a jury for the longest time, and the one chance I get, is after I’ve already left.  So pretty soon I have to call up the court and find a way to cancel it.  I have a change in residence, I just need to prove it.  I heard there is a way to change your address on a website, but I’m also going to have to get a state ID.  Another thing that I need to deal with is Financial Aid.  I have all the paperwork turned in in order to receive the aid, but I might not receive anything until mid September, and school begins late August.  This means that I’m going to have to take out loans to pay for schoool, and then pay the loans back with the financial aid.  BLAH BLAH BLAH I know.  That was this weekend, catch you guys later. Peace Out