寒くなってきた…

We've been having really weird weather the past few days. First it was cold, then it went back up to the 90's, then we had a bunch of strong storms, and now it's cold again and obnoxiously windy. Why is it always so windy here?! I'm already having bouts of Raynaud's, even though it's only been in the mid 60's. I'm really dreading how this is going to play out once winter gets here. ヾ（。＞＜）シ

Kaz is finally home from his extensive business trips now, it's nice to finally have things back to normal. We were thinking about actually going somewhere this weekend, but I have no ideas as to where. We could feasibly go to Chicago, or to Wisconsin, but what the hell is in Wisconsin? I'm asking because I genuinely don't know. There's not much of anything in the Midwest, really. Hopefully we can think of something, I'd like to be able to get out of the apartment for a little while. But check out the sweet t-shirt that Kaz got for me while he was gone!



Hah, every picture of me always looks the same, but at least I have an awesome t-shirt in this one. For those not in the know, it's the same t-shirt worn occasionally by the main character in True Blood. I like it because it makes me a total dork, but no one except people as dorky as I am would realize it. It's the perfect crime. ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/


Now that I've finished Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, I've started playing 牧場物語「双子の村」/Harvest Moon (Twin Villages). This may end up being review-worthy at some point, if I actually finish it. I have a bad history of not finishing Harvest Moon games, or at least taking forever with them. This one seems a little different, though, because time in the game goes by so much faster. The one really annoying thing is that you can only save the game before sleeping, it's SO ANNOYING. Hopefully it doesn't ruin the game for me. I think the fact that it has alpacas will make everything better, though.

I'm finally getting around to watching all the episodes I missed of the last season of House, I forgot how much I love this show. I'm going to need to have a marathon to catch up before the next new episode on Monday. Still not entirely sure why House and Wilson are living together, all I know is that I love it. 8D

Ugh, I really don't have much else to write about, I really REALLY hope I get a job soon. I went on another interview this morning, which was preceded by a phone interview and one with HR. With any luck, I'll hear something good next week. No one should ever be unemployed this long unless they want to be. D:

Okay, time for more Harvest Moon! The best part about having to go to interviews is the feeling of relief you get once they're over. (￣▽￣)ノ

Nothing to see here, move along.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've written anything here, I thought time was only supposed to fly when you're having fun? Things have been going pretty predictably lately, so I haven't had much new to report. I'm guess I'll get started on part 2 of my previous post, at least.

I managed to drive to O'Hare to pick Kaz up last Friday, that was an adventure. I'm such an inexperienced driver, so I try to take back-roads whenever possible. Especially when there's toll-roads involved. In retrospect, it probably would have been significantly easier if I had just sucked it up and taken the highway. Oh well!

Didn't do a whole lot worth mentioning over the weekend, and this week has been pretty low-key so far. All of the job listings I've found this week are particularly useless, they're all for really specific jobs like bus driver, welder, or "entertainer for upscale gentleman's club." And they're largely posted by people who write at a third grade level. Third grade is even generous for people who write things like "Seeking a experience Dental Assistant!!" I don't even know what that means.

In other news, I'm really relying on our crock pot to do most of my cooking lately. Two of the easiest and best meals I've made (Pork & sauerkraut and BBQ pulled pork) involve dumping all of 3 or so ingredients into the crock pot and letting it cook for a few hours. This leads me to conclude beyond all reasonable doubt that pork + crock pot = success. Doesn't make for good food photography, unfortunately.

Kaz has to leave again on Sunday for some business trip to (wait for it) Guntown, Mississippi. I looked it up on Google maps and it has like... 2 streets. It's like something out of an RPG game, but more ghetto. There's a post office, fire department, school, a few houses, a store, and the mayor's office. And a cemetery. So even though I'm unemployed, at least I don't live there.

Alright, pointless update is pointless, now back to scouring the internet for jobs I won't get. Cheers! 8D

The most annoying catch 22.

I've now been unemployed for almost five months, and have been job-hunting seriously in this particular area for a little over two of those months. That said, I think I have done adequate research and come to the conclusion that I have identified the most irritating catch 22 in the universe.


You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job. No exceptions.


...Okay, maybe a few exceptions. I guess if you have extremely good luck, shady connections, or rich parents, you might still be able to get a job. But I don't have any of these, so I can't be sure.

It used to be the case that if you had a college degree, that actually meant something, and you'd at least be able to get your foot in the door with a crappy entry-level job. Apparently, those days are no more, they must have ended just around the time that I graduated from Penn State with massive amounts of debt. I've seriously been applying to the most basic, barely over minimum-wage, clerical jobs, and 99% of them never even contact me. Of the few I've actually had interviews with, the consensus has generally been "Sorry, we hired someone with more experience." This really makes me want to smash my head with a blunt instrument. These are jobs that BARELY require a high-school diploma and a pulse. One or the other, in some cases. How much experience do you need to answer a telephone? It's starting to look like the only options remaining are either a) work at a call center, b) hang myself, or c) all of the above. Probably in that order.

(And no, I was not being serious just now, merely trying to make a point of how much I do not want to work in a call center.)

Technically, I do have some experience, but for the most part my employment history tends to work against me rather than for me. I didn't really work when I was in high school because I didn't need to, I barely worked when I was in college, save for some part-time jobs that I can't list as references because I didn't even know my co-workers' last names, and then there was the icing on the cake, teaching in Japan. Which seemed like it would look good on future resumes, but actually does not. Unless you're planning on going into the education field (which even if I wanted to, I couldn't, because I don't have a teaching degree) when you get back, or are good enough at Japanese to actually get a job using it, it really doesn't help at all. Potential employers will either be mildly impressed, as if you just told them you can eat 200+ hot dogs in 5 minutes, or they won't mention it at all. And if you're filling out job applications online, it's extra frustrating, because those little drop-down boxes in the "Employment History" section almost invariably do not have overseas options. Meaning, you end up being forced to list your previous employer as being located in "Tokyo, Pennsylvania", since Chiba prefecture is not one of the options and you can't proceed without choosing one.

And if your company is anything like mine, you can forget about listing them as a reference when you get back. They'll tell you flat-out that even if you were a model employee, they can't be bothered with that shit. But that's another story for another time, probably to be mentioned in my inevitable blog post about "Should you become an ALT in Japan?" Ahem.


So that's where I am right now. Anyone else experiencing this unfortunate phenomenon?

What day is it?

My perception of time is starting to get distorted from being unemployed so long, it's trippy. I had another job interview for a receptionist position on Friday, but they ultimately decided to hire someone that had more experience. I'm not sure much experience is required to answer a telephone, greet people, and generally maintain a body temperature of around 98.6, but apparently it's a lot. I'm annoyed, but also thankful that they actually took the time to shoot me an e-mail, since so few companies actually do, nowadays.

Oh well, back to the drawing board for the 9000th time.

This past weekend was nice, because Kaz actually got to come home from his ridiculously long business trip in California from Friday to Sunday evening. We found what is undoubtedly my new favorite Thai restaurant, which is delightfully close by. I was skeptical at first because of the name, Oishii Thai, and the fact that a Thai restaurant was offering sushi. But the food and service were both extremely good, I highly recommend it if you ever happen to be in the area. (though really, why would you? o_O)

On Saturday, I made 잡채/japchae, my first attempt at making Korean food. Back when I was at PSU, I'd get japchae pretty regularly at the Korean restaurant near campus. I found the recipe here, and followed it pretty closely, though I didn't have any sesame seeds. Did you know that a small bottle of those bad boys costs over $7? What. But anyway, lacking ingredients aside, it turned out great! I highly recommend that recipe, if it sounds like something you'd like to try.


Sometimes I think I like photographing food more than eating it... D8


...Jesus Christ, all I talk about lately is food. My apologies.


Anyway, we also went to see Piranha 3D on Saturday night. It was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be, no more, no less. Although we didn't consider how expensive 3D movies are, so when the guy was like "That'll be $30." for two tickets, we were both kind of floored. And then, I made the mistake of wanting a bottle of water and minuscule box of Reeses Pieces, which came out to over $8. Where do movie theaters get the balls to charge $4 for a bottle of water? I should have been paying more attention to the prices, no one needs bottled water that badly.

I won't really bother reviewing the movie, because I am lazy. All you need to consider is blood and tits. If you like either of those things, you will probably like Piranha.

Kaz left again for CA last night, and apparently the taxi driver who drove him to O'Hare was extremely fascinated about him dating a white girl and wanted to discuss at length everything there was to discuss about interracial relationships. So that was a little creepy. I'm not sure what I've even accomplished since he left. Today sort of flew by, and all I have to show for it is the eBay listing I made for one of the items Chieko gave me to auction off.

Anyone in need of a Toby Keith flask? No? Okay, cool, didn't think so. But if you change your mind, you know where to look!

Guess I'll get back to whatever it was I was doing before I started this. If I can figure out what that was.

Daytime Television

While I've been home lately, I've been leaving the TV on in the background because I abhor silence and enjoy rotting my brain. For those of you that don't have the pleasure of being jobless or just don't watch television, the commercials they put on while normal people are at work seem to be targeting very specific groups of people. According to my extensive research, there are 6 types of advertisements you will see while watching TV between roughly 8AM and 4PM.

#6. Vonage

Because people without jobs can't afford telephones. Makes me feel better about myself, because I have a phone.


#5. Beauty/Weight loss Products

Shady-looking ads for products with funny science-y sounding names that promise to get rid of stretch marks, vericose veins, dark under-eye circles or whatever else ails you. Either that, or diet products that don't work. This also makes me feel better about myself, because I wouldn't need to buy them even if they did work.


#4. Structured Settlement Ads

JG Wentworth, Peachtree, etc. So if you filed a lawsuit and won money, you can get a lump sum to pay off loan sharks or your dealer or whatever. These commercials make me feel bad because they operate under the faulty assumption that I have money coming in at all.


#3. Community Colleges

These will either be ads for ITT Tech, University of Phoenix, or local community colleges. They all feel very strongly about the importance of a degree of some sort in either a) criminal justice, b) engineering, or c) criminal justice. They really push that one, because it sounds fun and if you're sitting at home watching a Law and Order marathon, very achievable. These commercials make me feel annoyed because I know they're full of crap. Also, I can't afford to go back to school, not that it'd be ITT Tech if I could.


#2. Credit Score/Bankruptcy Commercials

Evidently, everyone watching daytime TV has very, very bad credit. Except me, I think mine is okay. Makes me feel good about myself, because I don't need to file for bankruptcy. Yet.


#1. Binder & Binder
These commercials are bizarre and poorly executed, which I guess appeals to old people. They must be doing pretty well for themselves, though, because there's at least 2 of them every commercial break. There's one on as I'm typing this, as a matter of fact. I feel like there's some hidden significance to the guy putting on his weird Indiana Jones hat as he's talking to the camera, but I can't seem to determine what it is. I'm guessing it's a secret message that only people 65+ can understand. Something to look forward to, I suppose.


Now if you ever find yourself home from work with the flu and watching TV, you know what to expect!