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absent Tuesday January 25
every now and again i take a small hiatus from posting. it is said that we have time for what we make time for, and i am just trying to keep ends together at this point in time. i have 3 pitchpipe projects that are all in full swing, i am starting a new full time job soon (hopefully) and am in quasi-training for that, and i am still working at merry ann's.
unfortunately, i'm going to have to quit merry ann's soon enough; or at least, only work one day a week. that's more favorable to me. however, i will understand if the management isn't willing to make that kind of concession.
i like posting to my website, though, and i like putting up new pictures for everyone. this begs the question, "then why work so much?"
that's how i was raised. at merry ann's the other day, it was snowy out, and customers kept tracking in snow and dirt and salt. and i kept mopping it. gloria doesn't speak any english, really, but she told erika to tell me that she thought i was a great worker. my mom has told me a lot of things, but one of them has always been that if you're going to work, do it well.
i say "told" instead of "taught". the process of learning things from your parents isn't always perfectly seamless. there have been times where i have done slipshod work, and i have let myself down in those times. why do anything that does not make you proud?
that is why i am a workaholic (currently, for the next few weeks). i am proud of what i do and what i can do, and it just happens that it's all culminating at the same time.
crossroads Saturday January 15
utah phillips noted that things don't just happen in a year, or in a decade, and that we merely package time as a convenience. i agree with that, but after a full year where things didn't necessarily turn out too well, i think that my life is finally coming around.
monika has officially accepted the position in campus development, and i had a meeting/interview (and that is what they termed it, slash and all) last thursday to act as visiting auditorium manager while an official search is conducted. there would be a lot of responsibility in her job; i would manage the staff (people who are now my co-workers), run events, and plan events with student groups and academic departments. i will find out early next week what they've decided to do. it is very likely that i will be fully employed with benefits, and i will try to save a lot of money this spring.
oh, heck. let's just do the laundry list of items that indicate mark's life is on the upswing:
- there is a high potentiality that i will be fully employed in a month.
- i walked back into espresso today and began to feel like i owned it again. lost my turf for a little while; starting to regain ground.
- wilco's coming to foellinger again, and that's monika's last event. i'm glad she's running it, though, because that will leave me free to, uhm, watch it.
- now i have two merry ann's t-shirts. the first one i will keep, the second one goes to justin when it's a little more worn out.
- justin is no longer in iraq*, and i will see justin on february 5th.
- nate and ashley. need i say more. apparently everyone who wants a speech gets one!
- i mailed out another japan program application. this one costs money rather than paying it, but i need options, people. if JET fell through, i'm going hook-or-crook.
- i have a great group of friends down here now. surprised i never hung out with those kids before. monika said that if i get the new job, i will need to curtail some of my activities with these kids, and i know she's right. sad day. but sacrifice is the key to success, and i know that.
- i just moved in with a bigger food and drink snob than myself: plinko. i just introduced him to the above-mentioned friends. i was happy that everyone liked each other and got along.
- yerba mahte. end of story.
* justin said to me a week or so ago, "i'm leaving iraq in a week". i don't know where he is exactly, or if he is in roscoe.
moving day Wednesday January 12
i'm moving into plinko's apartment today. sad to see this place go. i'll revise this post with pictures when i finish.
adware and spyware Monday January 3
apparently the state of california, progressive as they are, decided to make spyware illegal, punishable by a $1,000 fine for each count.
i have three comments. first, i haven't checked my computer for spyware for months, and then i just ran ad-aware and found nothing. i love you firefox. second, someone on plastic had a good comment. this is a wolf in sheep's clothing: while you have banned spyware, you have also legitimized "adware" by defining the legal boundaries. third, most of the malicious spyware is run by offshore firms, so there's no use in passing laws. instead, we need to bring in the marines. don't mess with texas america.
relatives Sunday January 2
one fateful day in late april, i was working on a final paper for a class when leslie messaged me telling me to join the facebook. i had initially avoided friendster, and the only reason i got on friendster in the first place was to test to see how long it would take friends to find me. friendster was merely a gateway drug to facebook.
the facebook is cool because it is grouped by school, so you can see people in your major, in your classes, or who share similar interests. however, it can also be very stalker-friendly, and you have to watch just how much information you put out there about yourself. i have a problem with this, because as i say, i am an open book.
at tara's suggestion, i searched for other people with my last name; i was shocked when i found another one. by the name of michelle.
so i sent her a message, and we've gone back and forth until i figured out that she is my third cousin. small world, right? at least, facebook makes it one...
new year's day Saturday January 1
'tis 2005, or the beginning of the second half of the decade. certainly, i remember 1990, but for some reason it feels like i should have a stronger grasp on this decade than the last.
and then it occurs to me that, simply, the farther i get from these memories, the more faded they become, and that the memory of me typing this, listening to cake, on the first of the year 2005 will fade, too, to nothing more than something i can pretend to remember when i re-read this years from now.
in a way sometimes i feel cheated by memories and life, because you spend all your time experiencing all of these things, and then you can't even narrate them later. i think that's why i tell stories, because if i didn't, then i'd slowly even forget the events that were so memorable that they required a story.
then i have to argue, what's the point of having memories anyway, then? if my brain is subconsciously making links and connections of learning based on my experiences, then does it matter if i remember them consciously later? or rather, that my brain has already been loaded with whatever learning it could garner from that experience?
okay, this post is getting ridiculous.
2005 is a good turning point, i think. done with school, time for a new chapter.
