The Wastebin Journal

[wastebinjournal]

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Resumes

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If you're interested, please contact me at [email protected] with the type of work you'd like done, as well as a guideline of how soon you'd like to see the work completed. 

[wastebinjournal]

That was fun

Now, back to reality. 

We hit up a couple of shows, namely Frank Marino's Divas and Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity shows. Divas was pretty awesome, and the performers looked better than the original artists for a lot of the acts. Zumanity? It was sexy and a bit raunchy and altogether a lot of fun.... but I wouldn't take anyone there who wasn't down with seeing a lot of skin and bodies grinding together. 

Hotel was pretty good, too. Stayed at Bally's and upgraded the room a bit. It was fancy, so no complaints there, either. 

Overall, awesome trip. Definitely gonna go on another vacation with Alex again, and definitely hitting up Vegas again with more cash next time. 

If I remember correctly, this picture here is from the Shania Twain impersonator's "Man, I Feel Like A Woman". Seemed suiting for a drag show. 

[wastebinjournal]

Concerts and kittens and birthdays (oh my)

I think I'm failing at being deep or anything on here. Whatever. You're now reading my diary. 

Busy day today. Did a bit of shopping, made it to Calgary in good time, hit up the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (again), went and played with four incredibly adorable kittens, got me some Tubby Dog, and hung out with some sincerely awesome people. Not a bad day, for sure. I'm currently trying to pack up for my Vegas trip with Alex, and I'm pretty much done. The nice part about packing for a 3-day Vegas trip is that you can basically get away with not packing much, and just buy stuff there if you need it. And I probably will, once I hit up the bars and the buffets. The only saving grace on this one is that I'll get to dance my butt off (hopefully literally). 

If I dont' post while I'm in Vegas, here's to hoping it's a fantastic trip. 

[wastebinjournal]

I'm just tired

So don't expect anything super-interesting for tonight's post. Anything that I want to post right now isn't public-blog suitable, so uhhhh... yeah. Go look at kitten gifs or something. That's what I'd probably do. 

[wastebinjournal]

Being the big brother

Went and saw my sister today. 

Sometimes I like just being the big brother about some stuff. I'm told I used to bring her her bottle when she was crying when she was little, and I'd try to take care of her when I could, even though I'm not really that much older than her. Things are a bit different now - I set up her LinkedIn page, changed her notification settings on her Facebook, and added some washer fluid to her car for her. It might not be much, but I like having someone who I can just take care of in little ways like that. It's not that she couldn't do all those things herself, but I just make life easier, and that makes us both happy. 

[wastebinjournal]

A Birthday

Today was my birthday.

I haven't much enjoyed my birthdays ever. It tends to be a time when I start to realize that I haven't done as much as I'd really like to have done in my life. I'll blame it on being a student or something like that. I get older, and get a bit more jealous that I'm still not as successful as I would like to be. But hey, whatever. I know I have enough going for me, I just have to wait it out a bit longer and I should be more successful than all of those people I get jealous of. 

Today, well, it went alright. It was the first birthday in about 8 years where I was actually with my family on my birthday, so I got spoiled with a new jacket and some money for my impending Vegas trip and they took me out to my favourite Greek place for dinner. All together that was pretty nice. If I could improve it, I'd have my boyfriend here with me, but it couldn't be done, so I'll survive. 

I also took an afternoon trip to the Calgary Zoo, one of my favourite spots to just go for a smile. It is really, really hard to be upset while watching penguins and red pandas. Seriously. Try it the next time you're down. You will be amazed. 

Aside from that, not much else today, except getting the tablet running. You'll have to excuse me getting into actually drawing on it and feeling like I'm good enough to share stuff. 

[wastebinjournal]

I hate you, Windows Update

I wanted to download a drawing program to my tablet tonight, so I turned it on around 6:30 or so to boot it up and snag something off of the Windows app store. 

Windows Update had different ideas. It needs to configure an update.

It's now after 1:00 AM, and it's still working on those updates, by the way. 

Dear Windows 8 - screw you. 

[wastebinjournal]

I think my new Tuesday theme is just going to be "I know talented people." Here's part 5 of HAUNT. 

[wastebinjournal]

The Time Change Dichotomy

[wastebinjournal]

I am so classy

Class. That's me, right here.

I had the honour of going to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra tonight with my friend Martine, which was pretty fantastic. The repertoire for the night was Hungarian-inspired so we got a taste of some Brahms, Liszt, and the like. Most importantly though, we went as guests of the humble-yet-talented Conrad Tao, the guest pianist for this weekend at the CPO. 

While I haven't gone to as many classical concerts as some, I don't think I've ever had as much fun or been as impressed with something billed as purely classical as I was with this performance. There wasn't a slow piece in the entire set, and wow - I have never seen anyone move their hands so fast in my life as with Conrad playing Liszt's Totentanz. If he ever comes back this way again, or I have the chance in another city, I'll definitely be checking out his performance again. That, and hopefully he'll let me buy him a cup of coffee to say thanks for invitation via Martine. 

Wrapped up the night with a trip to Village Ice Cream. If you haven't Village'd before, you're missing out on one of the best-kept-frozen secrets in Calgary. I scooped up (ha!) a dish of their new and hopefully not limited Toasted Coconut Ice Cream, and it was better than... it was phenomenal. 

Overall, I had a great night out. If you've never done the CPO or Village before, maybe give it a shot next weekend in combo - there's a Celtic-themed concert on, and people under 29 can get matinee tickets for $14 a pop at the CPO. I'm sure Village will have something green on the menu for St. Patrick's Day, too. 

[wastebinjournal]

Maybe I can have cute-themed Fridays?

Here's an adorable baby polar bear from the Toronto Zoo doing exceptionally cute things. As if baby polar bears do anything except exceptionally cute things. 

In other news of things that brighten my day, it's finally warming up in Calgary to seasonal-ish temperatures. I know I've lived in much colder climates before, but the tug-o-war we had this winter between deep freezes and chinooks has left me wanting to move somewhere that doesn't require a block heater on your car

[wastebinjournal]

I managed to acquire an interview tomorrow. I was super excited, but then I also found out that the company probably isn't really up for paying a wage so much as having me on commission, so I'm less enthusiastic about that than I could have been. Oh well. I'm going to reassess the situation in the morning and decide if I'm going to call in to cancel, or go in and see if they'll offer me more than just sheer commission. 

(And yes, I did make the pic myself. Because everyone deserves a little 8-bit version of themselves in a suit, right?)

[wastebinjournal]

On the upside...

On the upside of being virtually unemployed, I'm catching up on a lot of baking and cooking I've been wanting to do. Taught myself how to make bread, made a couple dozen batches of cookies, and tonight I baked a carrot cake. So, I guess that's a good thing? It's not really helping me towards any goals of losing weight or anything like that, but I enjoy cooking, especially when other people appreciate it. 

[wastebinjournal]

I got a bit lazy/busy today, and never posted during the hours normal people are awake. Whatever. Anyway, my friend Elaine is a genius artist/director, and she released part 4 of her current project today. It's warped and fantastic and I'm really proud of her. I guess there should also be some sort of NSFW label on this too. There's no nudity, but if your boss sees you watching this, well, good luck unless she's a bit of a freak too. 

[wastebinjournal]

Job Hunting and Resumes or "Why Won't You Just Hire Me?!"

I'm sort of in a limbo situation right now. I have way more education than about 97% of people, and I'm searching for a job. A law degree being my highest education, I'm vastly over-qualified for most jobs that aren't being a lawyer, but until I get my accreditation certificate to practice in Canada, I'm also under-qualified to actually work as an attorney. Sure, I'm working about 15 hours a week selling watches and handbags and the people there love me, but trust me when I say there is nothing less satisfying than getting paid about a third as much as what you could have made before you spent three years in law school.

Regardless, I still need more work. Jobs I've applied for now include:

Front Desk staff at a gym

Customer Service for an airline

Landscaper for a developer

Telemarketer for a landscaping company

Bartender at a restaurant

Golf course attendant at a public course.

I'm also probably short-listed to work the same landscaping job as last summer. I try not to have too much pride, but it still hurts a lot knowing that I could do so much more.  On a side note? I'm now trying to get "clients" and maybe start reviewing/writing/formatting cover letters and resumes for people and eventually make some cash if I can't get someone to hire me for real work. It turns out I'm pretty good at making these things, after having applied for more jobs than I can even count over the last 10 or so years.

[wastebinjournal]

Spring Break: T-minus 2 weeks!

Yes, I've graduated, but the advantage of having younger friends is that you sort of rejoice over breaks at the same time they do, and weep as school comes back in. That being said, I'm off on Spring Break with Alex  in two weeks. Where to? 

Las Vegas, Sin City, whatever you wanna call it. I'm so looking forward to it, just because it should get me out of the whole world of family stress and drama and give me a few days to unwind. I'll still be keeping tabs on my boyfriend and all, but I'll happily do that while just being totally chill for a change. 

Plans so far include eating and drinking a lot, maybe outlet shopping, and very likely a drag show that Alex wants to see. Oh, and not being in sub-zero weather. That's big on my list of plans. Because it's really nice not being in an environment where skin freezes in less than 10 minutes. 

[wastebinjournal]

Pilot

Beginning to write has always been the hardest part of creating for me. I've got lots of ideas, and I want to put them down, but I get caught up wondering how I'm going to introduce them. So here it goes. The "pilot" post. The premier, the alpha, the first of hopefully many to come. I've spent almost my entire life in school, and I'm almost 28 years old. I technically graduated back in May 2013, but then I still found myself studying for exams that I wrote this past January (I'm still waiting on those results, FYI). I am so ready to not be stuck playing this perpetual waiting game of wondering when I can finally grow up into this adult with a somewhat promising future. I want so many things right now: a career job, my own home, a relationship that isn't long-distance. I want to help people, have fun with my friends, and keep learning and seeing and doing new things. And I want to share that stuff when I can.

Which leads me to here, or you to me, however that works. I want to write about things that matter to me, or draw them in my terrible neanderthal fashion from time to time, and put it here, and have someone else say something like "I can totally relate," or maybe just share a post, or feel better or worse or just feel something during their day. That's it. 

I don't know how long this will last. My creative projects don't come with expiry dates, but so far they haven't come with promises either. For now though, I'm here. 

Thank you, and enjoy.