Countdown to happiness!

FANGIRL SQUEE!!!

John arrives tomorrow! And he's staying for good!*

He was supposed to move in today, but U-Haul offered him a half-priced rental if he took it for Monday. And since he's in no rush, why not?

I am dancing around the place, arranging and rearranging things, trying hard not to clean things up since I'm going to have to vacuum again anyhow after the move. I'm a happy, but unemployed, Vicki.

Also, I like my fandom - it's keeping me busy, in case you can't tell.

*Unless he goes away again. Which would be the opposite of FANGIRL SQUEE! More like BIG BABY WAAAAHH!!

I'm so proud...

I taught myself Photoshop! Now I can feed my fandom with a balanced diet of fanfic, manips, fanvids, icons, and more!

And yes, I did do the above manip. Because I'm INSANE. And unemployed. And a big nerd. Got a problem with that?

Dammit, why won't someone pay me to do this stuff?

(Could be worse - I could have an obsession with reality TV or Desperate Housewives. Or CNN. Brrr...)

Homegrown talent!

If you're Chinese, you MUST watch this short, hilarious 25 minute documentary, testing Asian stereotypes, made right in Toronto by a U of T student.

Appropriately titled: A Chink in the Armour.

Watch it! WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT!!!

Unemployment + fandom = things you don't need to read about

Since I'm so thoroughly into the ATLA fandom now, (and my readers are going Aww hell, not again!) I've made icons for use on my LiveJournal - in order to share them with the newly formed Zuko Needs to Get Laid community, I need to host them somewhere. Ergo: here they are.

P.S. I know my graphic design skills are horrible. I'm working on it.

(Why won't someone pay me to do this kind of thing?)

Where they've gone before...

More Trek movies? Are they serious? Didn't they cancel Enterprise? Are they seriously even thinking about introducing a "new" series when it's obvious people are sick of the pro-American happy days of Trek, and turning to angsty, dramatic cable revival series Battlestar Galactica?

Gene Roddenberry's ashes are spinning in geosynchronous orbit around the planet.

I'm the Biggest. Nerd. Ever.

My second fanvid is complete!

Another fun Avatar: The Last Airbender music video... this time, using music from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode "Once More With Feeling."

(Ahh, being unemployed is too much fun...)

Feed my fandom! FEED IT!!!

On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtGLwYs-25k#GU5U2spHI_4
On PutFile: http://media.putfile.com/Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Walk-Through-The-Fire

...Oh, and just so that everyone knows: I've converted at least 7 people to the cult of Avatar. BWAHAHA! Mine is an evil laugh!

*sigh*

Didn't get the job I had applied for with Habbo Hotel. Bummer.

So it's back to pounding the pavement (figuratively speaking) and doing fruitless, daily searches over the internet for THE JOB. If I never find it, I won't be surprised.

Meanwhile, I've decided to take a plunge and try out for some extra work. Just for fun. I know some agencies could possibly rip me off or exploit me in unflattering and parent-unfriendly ways, but I'm going to do an interview on Tuesday next week anyhow, just so I can say I did. Even if the guy takes one look at me says "Oh god, no! What are you even THINKING?" it would make great blog fodder.

Worst. Job Fair. Ever.

I brushed off my resume and blazer and made a trip down to the National Job Fair and Training Expo at the Metro Convention Centre. It might as well be called Workopolis Live - there was no one there worth working for... as a writer, anyhow. All the jobs were for administrative assistants and sales people and financial experts. I swear, is that all the work that's available out there? How many sales agents does the world need?

The highlight of the fair was going to each of the agencies and being asked, "So what kind of job are you looking for?" To which I'd reply, "Oh, I'm a writer..." and they would give me this disapproving look like I'd just told them I killed puppies for a living and say, "I can tell you right away we never get openings in publishing or printing or media." And then they'd give me their branded merchandise - a highlighter for circling jobs in the newspaper, or a magnet for polarizing my needles. Yay.

On the upside, if you want a job in a retail store, they have a whole pavillion dedicated to retail shops like The Shoe Company and Loblaws and Laura Secord. While I like money, I'm not desperate enough to work retail just yet.

Meanwhile, I'm still on the hunt for THE job for me. It may come later rather than sooner, but I've been so busy putting the new apartment together, I don't know where my time is going. And I'm still really, really, REALLY agonizing over my last job. I find myself clenching every time I even THINK about it. Grr. I hate stress.

But life goes on, as it must, and so I go with it.

Safety vs. Compassion

The other day, I was standing on the corner of Bloor and Church, waiting for my sister, when I saw a man - fairly dissheveled and in need of a shower, new clothes, and a haircut - reach into a garbage bin. And he was really reaching in there, and it was one of those bins with the 3" x 10" flap openings for paper recycling, cans and bottles, and litter, so it wasn't easy.

So he reached in there up to his armpit and extracted two cups - a Starbucks grande cup, and a Tim Hortons large ice cappucino cup that was 1/3 full. He promptly popped off the lids and drank the dredges in each of these cups before starting off again.

Now, I was standing there, watching this with great horror and pity, and was about to put some money and my Kit Kat bar into the man's hands when the little "big city" alarm bell in my head went off. It said: WARNING - CRAZY MAN AHEAD. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT. DO NOT APPROACH. DO NOT PITY, FOR HE WILL KNIFE YOU WITH A SHARPENED SPOON FOR WHATEVER ELSE MIGHT BE ON YOUR CORPSE.

He was gone before I could reconsider, and I felt bad. Then again, I might have avoided disaster: one night, I was practically mugged by two homeless men when I conceded to give one a fast food voucher and he insisted I give him and his friend money instead. Another time, I ended up giving a very young couple 20 bucks when I said I'd give them the change in from my groceries because the girl was "pregnant and needed to go home to Oshawa." (I swear, if she isn't taking good care of that baby and used the money on drugs instead, her uterus will fall out of her.)

Did I do wrong? Should I have given this shifty character my 50 cents and the nutritionless candy bar?

Published!

Yes, I did write this for Canadian funny website iLaugh.com - Victoria Essex is my pornstar name.

Weapons of Mass Katamari in Iran!

Denise, I blame you for this inspiration.

Ugh...

Holy shit: (glimpsed from Fark.com) This is how Mother Nature gets her vengeance on.

Signs warning of bird droppings were posted along a stretch in downtown Orlando this week after cars, benches, sidewalks, plants and even people are hit and covered by the white bird waste, according to a Local 6 News report.

The problem began when city workers removed cypress trees on "bird island" at Lake Eola in Orlando. The trees had to be removed because the bird droppings were polluting the water, according to the report.

Now, the birds have moved into the city and are covering anything and anyone between Lake Eola and Central Avenue with droppings.

"You have to brace yourself for the smell," downtown resident James Taylor said. "It is a really bad stench. It is disgusting, absolutely disgusting."

"I was walking the other day and got pooed on walking under these trees," Orlando resident Lisa Valentine said. "Somebody told me it was good luck.""The white film cakes the light posts along Lake Eloa," Local 6 reporter Todd Jurkowski said. "It is on the sidewalks and on the plants."

Officials said Orlando city workers pressure wash a stretch of the sidewalk at least twice a week.

Signs with the warning, "Caution -- Entering Bird Dropping Area" were posted Tuesday."Don't sit on the benches, unless you are very brave," resident Jeff Miller said.

Some people don't let the bird droppings bother them and continue to eat lunch around the droppings."Based on what I saw on that car, I got to believe there is no (expletive) left in them," resident Alex Hartley said.

Federal law prohibits the bird nests in Orlando from being disturbed.

Sprung

BUNNNNNNYYYY!!!
via Michelle.

Meanwhile, life for me continues. Spring forward has consumed one hour of my precious life away, but that means one less hour that I'm alive and not costing anything.

Sadly, I've yet to find a new job, and I'm starting to feel the pressure, not because I'm absolutely strapped for cash, but because I'm not used to the idea of spending more than I earn. I guess all those years of being cheap and saving what I can in my bank account are paying off, though.

Over the past few days, I've been setting up the new basement apartment, and it's just about ready now. I've moved in, and have spent 4 or 5 nights down here so far. There's no phone yet, and my cell doesn't work down here, but I've got internet. Yay!

The writing continues, though I've hit a bit of writer's block, which was bound to happen in the creative vacuum I've created in my little basement apartment. Even the fanfic is suffering.

So that's the summary of my life as it stands right now. Yup. That's it.

Oh, and please continue to not tell my parents about my joblessness or I'm screwed.