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
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
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?
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.
Had to take a bit of a break from the internet for a while, my mom was visiting me in Chicago this week so I was kind of busy. She just left this morning, though, so now I have more than enough free time to write.
I've been in a bit of a bad mood because my job-hunting is so discouraging, and I just found out that Kaz has to go on 2 consecutive business trips starting Thursday. Three weeks in California, and two in Mississippi. I don't know anything about Mississippi except that I don't like writing it, and their king is sort of a douchebag. Also, there are a lot of werewolves. I'm very much not looking forward to all this impending me-time, but I'm going to at least try to stay optimistic. We'll see how that goes. （￣～￣;）
Anyway, last Saturday we (Kaz, my mom, and I) went to Mitsuwa after picking her up at O'hare, apparently they don't sell Kewpie mayonnaise anywhere in Easton. I picked up July's Ray magazine, and was reminded of how much I hate certain fashion trends that are popular right now. Overalls, for example, do not look good on anyone. STOP IT. Marine-themed stuff is majorly fug as well, but marginally less so.
After that, we went to go see Walking With Dinosaurs at Allstate Arena. Kaz bought us tickets because he knows I like dinosaurs. ♥ It was pretty cool, and I managed to get a few pictures that weren't blurry beyond all recognition. It took me way longer than it should have to realize that the Utahraptors were not animatronic, but just people wearing very convincing costumes. I was a little disappointed, because before I noticed the human legs sticking out, I was like, "WHOA, technology is amazing!" and all that. Here's a picture of some Brachiosauruses. (Also, lol, spell-check corrects Brachiosaurus to Brontosaurus. Silly spell-check, you don't know anything, do you?)
They do move in herds!
On Sunday, we ventured forth into Chicago, that was actually the first time I've used the train here! It was surprisingly not terrible, and I have relatively high train standards. It took under an hour to get to Union Station, and then we pretty much just walked around and took pictures all day. Chicago looks like this, evidently.
It was very nice out, but it got really hot towards the middle of the day when there wasn't any shade to walk in. We didn't go to any museums or anything, just walked around and enjoyed the scenery, so I got a lot of cool pictures for once. Took sooo many pictures at this fountain...
The rest of the week was largely uneventful. Kaz had to work every day, so my mom and I just did a lot of shopping and I got to drive around our area more. I guess that was good, because I tend to just stay home when I'm by myself if I don't have a specific reason to go out. I'm a lot more comfortable driving to places around here now, at least. We went to Sakura for Japanese food with Kaz's family on Wednesday night, and then on Thursday my mom and I took the train into the city again to do the Chicago river architectural tour. I took another billion pictures, but they're 99.9% pictures of buildings, so I wasn't in a rush to resize and upload them.
I also got a haircut on Wednesday, that was long overdue. The salon was a little pricey and google directions made me miss my first appointment the previous day, but it worked out eventually. My hair looks a lot healthier now, and it's not too much shorter. ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/
I guess I'll have to start looking at jobs again come Monday, but there's not much to be done about it now. And on an unrelated note, somehow a wasp got into the bedroom and is flying around by the window. At least, I assume that's what it's doing. I noticed it this morning and fled into the living room in terror, then barricaded the door. Horrid things, wasps. Bees too, for that matter. I'm not opening the door again until it's gone. Very unfortunate, since my phone is down to one bar and the charger is right next to the wasp window.
But hey, speaking of bugs, I found this while I was in Chicago last weekend...
Butterflies are the shit.
And I guess that's all I have to update about. I'm sure I'll write more in the upcoming weeks, since I'll be home alone pretty much 24/7. ...Unless the wasp gets me first.
...is a pretty cool movie! Kaz and I went to see it this afternoon, we both really liked it. I guess I'm kind of late to the Leonardo DiCaprio fan club, I never cared for him when Titanic came out and all my fellow junior high-schoolers were in love with the guy. But I just recently watched Shutter Island which I also liked, and this movie was enjoyable as well, so I guess I'm a Leo fan now. I have to say, though, just based on the two most recent movies I've seen of his, Rose should have considered herself fortunate that Jack didn't make it to America in Titanic. His marriages never seem to end well. Inception is one of those movies that really sucks you into it, though, I felt out of touch with reality for a while after it ended. （￣〜￣;） After we got back, we made beef with broccoli for dinner, it was amazing! I made it once before, but I think it came out better this time. 
The recipe was from here, I recommend it! We did add quite a bit of extra stuff, though. Onions, extra garlic/garlic powder, scallions, mushrooms, and a little orange juice. It's so easy and quick to make. ♪ I'm sad the weekend is over though, back to job-hunting tomorrow. Ugh, fml! ヾ(;´Д`●)ﾉ
