Media Am Stupid

There are so many articles on how John Edwards ran a noble and honest campaign (here are three). Too bad there weren’t many about him when he was still in the race. If these writers really believed that his campaign was so fantastic then why didn’t they bring it to more people’s attention? Ugh. It’s just like one of my old workplaces — the priority is on pumping out articles that are popular and get traffic instead of articles that are informative and serve the reader.

Gimp Waiting

Yesterday I woke up with a swollen ankle. Actually, the swelling is somewhere between my ankle and where the foot and leg connect. I was mostly immobile yesterday.

Today I could hobble around a bit, so I decided to go to the post office and grocery. Getting down the hill to the bus stop was quite a chore. I was still in pain on the bus. After I got off the bus and hobbled to the post office I decided there was no way I was going to make it up the hill on the way home. So I decided to get a cab after buying groceries. One cab company made me wait 45 minutes, so I called another one and got a cab in five. I was impatient and in pain while waiting for the taxi. So I wasted way more time getting a few simple things done. On the plus side, I saved 48 percent on my groceries.

Child-Man

P Andy has accused me of being a child-man. This is my favorite lines from the article.

The behavior is encouraged and reinforced by pop culture — television and the gaming industry in particular.

Believe, Believe in Me, Believe

That meeting on Friday was fun, but not what I was looking for. As I mentioned, they didn’t have enough money to hire me full time, so they want me to freelance. On the positive side, it’s a fantastic outlet to have on my resume and it will help me get some attention from the companies that have forgotten me. Still, it doesn’t bring me closer to any of my goals. This left me a bit despondent.

On Saturday I had a nice talk with my mom and yesterday Andy’s girlfriend randomly gave me kind words of support and encouragement. Sometimes it’s hard to believe, but it’s easier when I feel people believing in me. Hopefully some kind of progress is made this week. It’s getting hard and I fall into these arresting bouts of despair that leave me useless for an hour or more. I will take a lesson from Journey — “Don’t Stop Believin’!”

Here’s a cute picture of Noot’s night out with Pin and Cha. Pin was angry at Martin and wanted to go dancing. So she dragged Noot and Cha with her. This left me alone with my excellent friend Kenny, which was fine but I still gave Martin a ton of crap about it anyway.

Opportunity Scratches

Well, she’s not exactly knocking, but at least I have her attention (somewhat). I have an interview on Friday. The good news is that it’s with a really powerful brand that could do a lot for my career. The bad news is that they don’t have money to offer that’s commensurate to my experience. The potentially good news is that we’re exploring things to see if we can work something out where I’d work for them on a limited basis, but still be allowed to make money from other outlets. If I could somehow get benefits thrown into there, that would be quite a coup. May the gods of negotiation be with me on Friday.

Same Old Ruts

That job I was hoping to land in January will not exist until May/June. This is not good. I gambled with the job I was offered, but didn’t want, and waited this one out. Sometimes, gambling sucks. I’m trying to keep positive (though it’s not going very well) and applying for jobs left and right. It’s just frustrating and scary. I need a job. I need to get health insurance so that might future wife will be covered. I need to be able to pay for all the immigration paperwork after she arrives. So I’m back in that rut of worrying about all these things, missing my girlfriend, and being generally depressed.

On a side note, does anyone else think that Barack Obama’s voice is similar to The Rock’s?

Back in Black

I’m back in America. Similar to previous returns, I’m freezing, I miss my girlfriend so much, and I’m stressing about job stuff. Jet lag is hitting me pretty badly too. My last two trips gave me the worse jet lag ever (also due to my advancing age *sniff* *sniff*). However, there’s much more hope this time, because next time I see my girlfriend, she’s most likely coming back with me. I hope everything goes as planned. Please wish for me!

I’ve posted two sets of pictures. The first is from the zoo at Tagaytay Highlands. The second is a bunch of pics from my parents’ condo in Manila. I’ll post a few here as well.

Sink of Life

One of my favorite features of my parents’ condo in Manila is the bathroom sink. It’s awesome. I’m pretty sure I could spend a few hours every day being amused by this sink, but I don’t want to waste too much water. Check it out!

Madder Dash

Wow. Monday was just crazy. After Noot got back from the village, we examined the papers over the weekend and made an ambitious attempt to finish three major steps on Monday. It all got done! The only downside was that it cost more than I expected. Here’s the breakdown.

- Woke up at 4:30AM to catch a 5:30 bus.

- Took a taxi from the bus station to the hospital.

- Noot went through a battery of tests required by the government. This took about three hours. It cost more than what was listed because she had to get a bunch of vaccinations.