Dec 30th, 2008 9:21 AM

So a very belated Merry Christmas to those that still read this.

I've come to think that I really have no clue who still reads this and it's simply more like a personal journal where I can vent freely without fear of any kind of retribution. I've also been able to use it as an archive to see where I was at certain points in my life and remember how things were, not all bad, but not all good either. Anyway holiday recap.

I managed to snag a week off by taking only one day off, yesterday, which was used to recover from a lot of drinking. I remember why I don't drink rye any more, did the large majority of a 2-6 by myself while playing games with friends before we headed out to see Markus Schulz on the 28th. Man did my head hurt yesterday, and tomorrow is new years eve..... am I going to avoid drinking? I think so.

Christmas was spent quietly, went over to a friend's for dinner, his parents were in town and my roommate and I got an invite to it. Was a pretty good meal and a decent time.

In the mean time, I have found Starcraft the board game. Let me tell you this game is so insanely fun to play. Easily the most versitile board game that I have played that involves research, movement, and battle all at the same time. It's very close to the video game but at a bit of a slower pace and allows much more time/flexibility to provide counter measures and tactics. I haven't been this mentally stimulated in a long time. Mind you we've started the game twice now and never actually finished one game yet, because we keep teaching new people, but god is it ever fun.

New Years Eve is still currently up in the air, not sure where I'll be, but most likely at a party. Plans to be solidified today or tomorrow I guess.

Happy New Years Everyone! Play safe.

- Sorean

Dec 18th, 2008 10:00 AM

2 weeks have come and gone and frankly I find myself hating driving in the winter more and more. Why? Because of the people out there that do not remember how to drive in this weather. It snowed heavily a few days ago and people just suddenly don't remember how their cars move on the roads. 2 days ago it took me an hour 45 to get home. Usually on my worst days it only takes an hour. Even getting to work lately has been kind of painful, yesterday took an hour whereas in the past it usually only takes 45 minutes at the worst, averaging 35 on normal days. So yeah, past few days I've been late.

Last weekened was freakishly cold and it was another donation of blood and a friend's birthday. Because of the bad weather not many people showed up and I felt bad for her, but it was still an enjoyable time of poker and a little bit of rockband.

Far as work goes, couple more things/features were requested and they aren't big things, but something that requires time hopefully I'll get it done before the end of the year. I am happy that I can use my brain and have this much flexibility in my job. Although once this project is complete I have a minor little project to do next and then I'm not sure what else they will need me for :S Call it a bit of insecurity. Despite that though I'm sure I can find full time work regardless of what I will be doing, I'm too skilled and too much of a people person that I won't be noticed :) Yes, that's a bit of arrogance shining through there.

In case I don't post before the Christmas time, I wish everyone a happy holidays and a happy new year!

Just because it is currently playing in the background: Sunlounger - Lost Easily the best track relased this year and such good lyrics too.

- Sorean

Dec 9th, 2008 3:45 PM

Oops, I've been a little busy. The second job isn't so bad, but it does cut into my game playing time. I'm not missing assignments or anything, but yeah, cutting into time :P

Ummm past few weekends have been kinda uneventful. Friend's getting a new house, housewarming there. Another dinner at the McKenna's place. Good times, good socializing and relaxing. It's always nice to do stuff like that with a bit more of a mature crowd. I will admit though it seems a lot less rowdy than it used to be and people are calling it a night a lot earlier then we used to. Yes yes, I know symptoms of growing older, but what can you do? I'm trying to maintain my youth :P

So the Christmas season is around the bend again and I'm not done shopping yet, although I'm pretty sure what I'm getting people this year. Though this year I think it's gonna be a really quiet time around. Markus Schulz is coming to town on the 28th so that will be pretty awesome. Nothing solid yet for the NYE celebration, though I just might take some time off anyway.

Work is going good, current completion of my new project is still going well. However with one of our major customers there requires a bit of integration since it doesn't use any of their old technology, it will be a little tricky because the older engine does not allow the integration of the new utilities of the stuff I'm using for my project. Then again, they could just live with what they have. Maybe I'll talk them into paying for the time for the new stuff.

- Sorean

Nov 20th, 2008 4:30 PM

I swear to god this could have been a movie.

So I had the strangest dream last night that I was a knight in King Authur's court and we were defending the castle from 2 dragons, red and blue.

I remember this one part where the red dragon had a good chunk of the army caught in an open area on the top of the castle and started sweeping with fire. I ran and ducked into an opening so I wouldn't get burned. All of a sudden I was really high up and the blue dragon was underneath and about to fill that area with flame. I jumped out what felt/looked like a good 40 feet, bounced off the dragon and rolled safely.

I then run towards a group of civilians/peasants as the dragon was breathing and for some reason thought I could protect one of the women by hugging her and having the flame go around me. Flame hits, it's hot, she burns in my arms and I'm still alive. As this woman is dying in my arms she mentions something to the effect of, "her heart has always belonged to me" and I flash back to a memory of her and I sharing a moment in the castle, it wasn't sexaual or anything, just a moment that we're passing in the castle. Possibly the first time we saw each other. As she passes on I lay her body down and I feel the anger inside me rise. I turn around, grab a sword off the ground to charge the blue dragon and see the red dragon fall from the sky and land in the middle of the castle with a crash that shakes the ground enough for me to stop to regain my stance. The blue dragon that I'm charging at takes off, flying away. Next thing I know Arthur is in a field and I go to talk to him, but before I can get any words out my alarm goes off. Talk about a bummer...

That's all I can remember from it, but wasn't I right? It could have been an awesome action scene in a movie.

- Sorean

Nov 17th, 2008 11:13 AM

Not a bad weekend, the last of a close circle of friends had his GTFO get together so none of us are at that previous company any more. Sushi dinner on Saturday night at a friend's house, and a relaxing Sunday.

Well the new World of Warcraft expansion came out and it's definitely been a really fun experience. I got all my SAIT work done so I'm good on that front to level as quick as I can. I have put together a pretty solid group and I do well leading them. It will be fun when we get to the end, I'm looking forward to doing the challenging stuff again. Well that's all that's new, pretty boring lately but busy, helping a friend move next weekend and another punk show possibly on Friday night, but we'll see how I feel about it.

- Sorean

Nov 11th 2008, 11:11 AM

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

May we never forget the sacrafices that those who gave up their lives made for us so that we could be free.

- Sorean

Nov 3rd 2008, 12:52 PM

Weekend recap again I guess, Halloween was spent pretty quiet, went over to Andrea's place and we watched Silent Hill and the original Psycho, the latter was awesomely done. For it's time it was such a great movie, no wonder it is so acclaimated by so many.

Saturday was Max Payne and hanging out with Dave for a bit. Sunday was Lindz Birthday, met up with him and his friends at Flames Central, looked different than from when PVD was there a week ago. Much more.... like a restaurant, wasn't too impressed. Decent food, but not worth the price. Probably dropped close to 300 bucks this weekend I think. Did some impromptu shopping, but found some nice hoodies that I would wear and a nice shirt. Not my usual style but nice enough that I like them. Man I haven't shopped at Bluenotes in a while and I miss some of their clothes.

A quiet week ahead and hopefully a quiet weekend where I can get some work done in prep for Warth. By that I mean get most of the work for my part time job done so I can play more games in 2 weeks time when Wrath comes out. 10 days and counting.

- Sorean

Oct 27th 2008th, 11:18 AM

Another weekend gone, and another one filled with events and I am one tired boy. Hey look, it's the same as last weekend! Halloween weekend is coming up and I don't know what I'm going to do yet.

Paul Van Dyk was in town last night and man, what a show. Rivals Armin's that's for sure. Was dancing pretty much the whole time. Got home at 3, @ work at 9 right now. Friday night was spent at a birthday party of a friend's girlfriend, but I ditched out early because I just wasn't feeling it. Got home about 10 or so and just chilled and relaxed. Saturday was video games and more work for the part time job.

The weekend isn't here yet and I got plans for Friday, Saturday and Sunday if I so choose. Halloween party or two, movie plans with some friends on Saturday, and a hanging out with another friend on Sunday. I'm not sure how much I want to go party on Friday as I'm getting invited to another party type of thing.

Well it's time to get to work, coffee is kicking in now :)

- Sorean

Oct 22nd 2008 2:28 PM

Another weekend gone, another one filled with fun events and a day to recover.

I spent most of Friday night working on my second job. It was kind of funny as my mom called me later on that weekend and asked me how I was, what I was doing and when I told her I was working a second job she got all flustered and asked why I needed to pick up a part time job. In all reality, it's more that I can and at the moment have nothing else to do with my spare time. My life is busy to the point where I'm constantly having something on the go and well, I enjoy it. To finish off the weekend recap, Saturday went and gave blood with my friend Dave. Then went to a wine and beer festival that same day. But I was responsible because I had a punk show I had to go to later that night. We were at the festival for a good 4 to 5 hours. Sad part is that I felt tipsy after 4 or 5 samples of wine.... within the first hour. Each sample was only a couple sips, but man it was pretty awesome. Got to sample some 100 dollars a bottle whisky and damn was it tasty. Anyway, had a great time at this thing and then went to see SNFU where my friend Sonya's band opened for them, she plays the Bass guitar. Sad part is I missed their opening act :( Told me they started at 10, got there at 10 and the second band was already up. Made me sad. Up part was that SNFU was pretty rocking. Chi Pig is a funny as hell guy. Saw a Canadian guy named Mr. Plow, as an opener too, he was pretty freaking funny.

Alright, so mini-rant about the busy-ness of life. I was talking to a friend earlier this week and we both realized that we're so wrapped up in our lives and what we're doing that makes our lives enjoyable that it's going to be damn hard to find someone to go with it. At the rate he and I are going, we're going to either meet someone through work, sports, or friend of a friend, or it will be a shotgun wedding down in Vegas because it seemed like a good idea at the time. If any of you watch the show How I Met your Mother, I feel like Ted a lot of the time. Although not quite in the same hilarious arc his story seems to go, but just in general. I've had a few friends try out this e-harmony thing and I'm tempted to give it a go. Why? Because as I said, my life is busy and I don't really have random time to invest into people that might not work out. For some reason I feel like I've done this rant before..... Anyway a friend of mine put it this way, when you're looking for a job you use every resource available, including websites. Why not do the same for relationships? He wasn't refering to looking for that other person as a job, but more of what resources you use. See I could get a job through my friends (which for my past two I have), cold calling companies, or by looking online. Well I could meet someone the same way, but instead of cold calling companies you'd be chatting up random girls at the mall or <insert random location here>. It's becoming more common place to say that you've met someone online because of the culture that we're in. And for someone like me, I might find someone I have a lot in common with and we might hit it off and get along. Who knows? I haven't done it yet because I'm still contemplating if I want to deal with a potential relationship right now. Hard to believe that it was almost year ago that I ended it with Maggie. Probably why I saw her in a dream last night.

Dreams are funny things, I don't remember much of it, I just remember seeing her in the dream, and something about what what going on and that we wouldn't do it for a thrid time. Weird right? I mean who still dreams about their ex's. Especially when you don't even talk to them. I haven't talked to her in a long time, I don't even know how she'd react if I did. The last interaction I had with her was wishing her a Happy Birthday on Facebook months ago and I meant to reply to her thanks for keeping to her request, but I never got around to it and by the time I remembered, it was like 2 weeks later and the window to reply had closed, at least in my mind. Hell I don't even know if she still reads this. I know she knows it's here, this website has been alive for the past 5 years and hasn't changed. It's kinda what lead to our first break up, she found out more about things going on from what I'd post than what I would talk to her about. I learned from that mistake the second time around. Live and learn right? I guess the question is, just how much have I learned in these past 7 years? I'm not counting anything before high school for those wondering why I said 7. I learned more in those 7 than the 18 prior. Okay, now I'm just rambling on. Take care everyone.

Current track: Orjan Nilsen - La Guitarra (Beautiful acoutic guitar in this track) The artist dedicated the song to his brother who passed away and is meant to remind him of the good times they had together. Just put it on and listen, it's a beautiful melody.

- Sorean

Oct 14th 2008, 9:15 AM

Dang, 12 days since I last posted, okay, so continuing sick week, the rest of the week was pretty brutal, I've learned now that I really need to just stay home and get better. Went back to work probably a day earlier than I should have and well, wasn't 100%. Next time, just going to stay home until I'm completely better. Stupid childhood rearing :P When I was a kid I was forced to go to school almost every day, even when sick. I think I missed a total of may 7 days when I was a kid, 3 for a really bad eye infection, and a few for my Grandpa's 90th birthday when I was in high school. Never got to skip class cuz I was sick, mom didn't allow it. Gave me great work ethic, but it's a different culture and what not now.

Alright, so that weekend went by, I got better, and Monday rolls around.

Monday, Talia gets here at 6:15 in the morning, went to work, dinner, etc. 24 hours later, Ed gets here. Breakfast, work, repeat. Wednesday is the start of my time off, we go out and do stuff, what I can't remember, but we waited for my friends from Bozeman, Montana to show up. Oh yeah, I went to go sign a contract to start work for a local university for online course development. Yay for extra income! My friends get here, we start drinking, and then it's off to a night at Armin. What a sweet show. Thursday was the start of people leaving, but we were still out doing the food thing and stuff around town. Friday the Bozeman boys leave and dinner plans (which I forgot about until Agnes called at 4 to remind me for 5). After dinner was thinking great! Time off tonight to relax and recover. Nope, get called/messaged by Grace and Dave wanting to go out. Make a showing at both, get home at 3:30 in the morning.... went to Chad's show on Saturday night, get home at 2:30 in the morning. Sunday is Thanksigiving dinner. And yesteday I had off and relaxing, minus watching the Riders having their ass handed to them.... that was disappointing.

On top of all this a very strange dream that would take way too long to explain, except that in involved me trying to teach a baby to 2 year old (couldn't really tell except that the kids foot kept getting in the way of me trying to break) how to drive a car and the car was going 70 km/h in a residential zone.

So you're all caught up now and I gotta get back to work. I love my job :)

- Sorean

Oct 2nd 2008, 2:41 PM

Being sick sucks balls, like major hairy ones. A chest cold, combined with fever like chills and a dull headache at the base of my skull adds up to a pretty miserable few days so far. I really need to kick this before Monday rolls around (explained below).

Last weekend was pretty down and low key, which is what I need this weekend to be as well because here is the plan for the rest of the month: 6 to 13th or later, people coming in and out of the place. Going to see Armin with a bunch of friends on the 8th, took the Thursday and Friday off as well. Roommate plays a charity gig on the 11th, throw in Thanksgiving after that. Weekend after that my co-worker is opening for a popular punk band known as SNFU on the 18th. Weekend after that is a birthday party, and then it's halloween. I should do something for halloween, but not sure what yet....

Going to be starting a part time job soon working for one of the local universities doing online course management stuff. Sad part is that it pays more than my regular job, but that's what contracting jobs are like. Juggle a full time job, part-time contract work, 2 volleyball teams, and a bit of a social life... where is the rest of my free time? I found myself fairly bored last weekend, why? Because I wasn't doing anything, nothing was going on, and I had 2 quiet days to myself. I really had issues trying to find something to do to occupy the time. Thank god for movies.

- Sorean

Sep 21 2008, 10:27 PM

Man am I tired, talk about a busy weekend.

Friday night was partying with Renny, Grace, and her friends I played the nice guy and drove, man a van full of drunk people..... /sigh not all that fun, but I had friends meet me at the bar and had some fun. Didn't crawl into bed until like 3:30 in the morning. Saturday was spent getting ready for a spy party, was pretty awesome and fun. Pictures can be found here. Spy themed party, dressed up as Solid Snake, wasn't too bad of an outfit, but would have worked a lot better if I had a parachute harness, but whatever. For a costume that I threw together for 20 bucks it worked out really well.

It certainly has been an interesting weekend. It's been eye opening and very telling of people and kinda made me sit back and just go "huh, that really surprised me". I will have to say, the second party, the spy one, was really fun. I met a lot of new people, really suited for where I'm at I think. Just getting to know new people is fun, definitely a good thing, was so drunk last night, bottle of wine and a few beer later and I crashed at 2 or so, they called it at 4 I think, and I've just been tired all day.

"Ignorance is bliss" Sometimes this line is so right, there are things I wish I didn't know, and things I wish I did. The week has been full of ups and downs because of things I know and things that have happend. Lets call me slightly confused, but still with a sense of direction.

- Sorean

Sept 16th 2008, 3:23 PM

"Overindulgence is a matter of subjectivity. A nymphomaniac is someone who is simply having more sex than you are." I read this today and busted out laughing pretty hard.

Past 5 days have been low key, fixed a computer on the weekend, watched the riders drop a close game, and relaxed. Started to clean up for the big month of October coming up. Got a number of people traversing through our household, for concerts and whatnot. People are going to be coming in and out, and it's going to be a crazy month. Throw in a Thanksgiving in there and well, I think my month of October is completely disappeared. And this month isn't even over yet. Saturday is supposed to be a dress up party (Spy themed... are there Asian spies?) And then a birthday party that I said I'd make a showing at too. I guess it's all about meeting new people at the first one, second one I've hung out with them once before, but that was like early in the year. Oh well, show up, buy the birthday girl a drink, hang out, disappear. Might stay longer if the bar I enjoy the music of. Haven't been to a bar in a while though, however, at Armin, I fully intend to be drunk off my face.

- Sorean

Sept 11th 2008, 10:47 PM

I apologize for the lack of updates, been extremely busy. Last week it was spent fighting with a computer for a good couple of nights and then the weekend just came and gone. Saw Bangkok Dangerous on Friday night, Nick Cage needs some better roles. That movie was kind of unsteallar for him. It was a decent movie, but a really interesting ending.... Saturday was spent hanging out with friends who are moving to London, I admire those kids. Holly and Matt who graduated with Ed from their drama major are making the move ahead of 2 others. Where else better to start their acting careers?

Volleyball started this week, Monday was pretty rough, I was so rusty that it was bad, and I was feeling sore the day after, I guess that happens when you don't play for a month and only get out twice to exercise during that time. Last night had another game playing for another team and well, I'm a hired gun pretty much. We beat the first place team last night and the team was pretty happy about it, it seems kind of fun to play for that team. Not the first place team, that team from last year seems to be filled with a bunch of jerks, especially the tall guy. It was nice to finish the last game point with a back row attack that pinned the back line, felt good.

Out side of that, my co-worker has taken this week and next off, now I understand why they need two developers and that after a while we should be reviewing each other's code to make sure we know what the other is doing.

I had it in my head the other day that I was going to some long rant about people playing it safe when it comes to relationships and how nothing ever really works the way you plan out, and after watching What Happens in Vegas last night, I realized that it's mostly true, you don't put yourself out there, you don't get hurt. Question is do I stick by it or do I try again? The last relationship was, well ....evolving for me. Have I changed since then? Definitely. How will I approach relationships differently? I'm not sure yet, depends on the girl I guess. Stupid game, so hard to play.

Current favorite track: Sunlounger - Lost Very relaxing and just a great tune overall.

- Sorean

Sept 4th 2008, 4:15 PM

Yay Server is back up and running, motherboard died and had to put a new machine together, yay to Renny for having spare parts around. Now it's time to tweak this machine so that it is a full server/media center machine and no other junk on it. I also started a huge cleaning spree, one thing at a time, and minor changes to my place but hopefully my place will look more organized when I'm done. That's it for now.

- Sorean

Sept 1st 2008 12:15AM

I swear to god, time just keeps disappearing... more than a week has passed since I last posted and it's just been business.

So last weekend, the 23rd was a donation of blood and a friend's birthday that night, was a pretty good time and relaxing, she was happy I was there and that's good. I don't even know why I feel like giving blood, but it's just something I feel is right to do. I abstained for a long time, because of various reasons, but now that I'm back in full physical health with nothing affecting my body, I feel healthy and it just seems right to do. Not trying to be self righteous or anything like that, it's just what I feel.

Can't remember much of what I did, Wings on Wednesday as per every 3 weeks or so with the old work guys. We've all moved onto newer things and for the most part, better. The one thing that still bugs me a bit is the pay scale, but I just have to keep reminding myself that I took a giant step back in becoming a junior developer even though I'm a few years past it. I know that if/when I end back up in a more advanced development role, IE Project management over developers my mangement training/experience from the past 4 years will still be there. I will still remember how a call center works, how people need to be treated, all the little things that made me a good manager. It's kinda funny, people always ask me for a reference and of course I give it to them, I just don'e remember how many I've done in my lifetime. It's weird, I feel so old by experience basis now, and something about that doesn't seem right, at least to me.

Went and saw The Mummy 3, sad that the original Evee wasn't in the 3rd. I was wondering why they didn't show her in the trailers, I assumed they changed the actress or she died, I'd rather she'd have died :P It just seems wrong to have the person change, but I guess you can't control those things to if people stay or not. Kinda like Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Homes in the Batman sequel. Although in the batman case, it doesn't really matter, you don't really watch that movie for the love story :P

What else in the past week..... work has been good, playing with new programming toys that have me really excited because I'm getting to the point in my project where thing are really starting to roll hard and fast. A few things done each day make it feel like I'm really doing something major :) I might make a mock up and have it hosted on my home machine here or just take some screenshots of what I've done so far, but it's pretty awesome looking, but you really don't appreciate it until you use the Virtual Earth options and tools that it comes with. It looks really pretty so far, I just need to parse the data and make it useable.

Volleyball starts on the 9th!! Yay!!!

Time to enjoy what's left of my weekend by going to bed, I'll try to update again later.

- Sorean

Aug 22nd 2008 2:00 PM

Hmmm I'm pretty good at making time disappear lately. This week has been a blur and the weekend is going to be busy visiting friends and heading out to events like Shakespeare in the Park, which was done really well by the way, Kudo's to the people that put it on. Kinda makes me sad that I missed Ed's performance of it back home. The weekend consists of a troubleshooting call and a birthday to attend, and next weekend is already partially booked. As my friend Christine says, it seems like I'm always busy. I'm glad I have friends that I can share my time with. It is fun to do all these things.

This game reviewer is pretty funny, very worth the time to watch his reviews, but if you're not a gamer, skip the link.

I'm excited that the next World of Warcraft expansion is coming out and really, I'm not sure why, it's a fun game to play and I never thought that I would enjoy a game for this long. But that being said, I played counter-strike and team fortress for years when it first game out. Even now, every now and again I'll launch up counter-strike and do nothing but play that for a few hours a night for a few weeks. It's kinda funny really, I used to never be able to get to bed without a few rounds of killing. It was almost.... relaxing. Maybe I'll go back to this game and then my weird thoughts in my psyche will disappear much like the pixelized dead bodies of people I've killed. Like that doesn't send up issue flags.... Having taken a psychology class in the past sure doesn't help when you're trying to analyze one's self. I'm sure I'd be better off for not taking that class, but trying to figure out who you are and why you're having certain thoughts, or decyphering the most recent dream you've had is not going to make yourself better. In fact, I'm almost sure it makes you worse, blah to all this psycho babble that makes no sense to anyone but yourself. It's like one of those 'zen' things, "If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a noise?" "Yes" "But what if no one is around to hear it...?" That's supposed to light up your 'ding' moment there, but even that is flawed. Simply physics will tell us that, regardless of the fact that no one is around to hear the tree falling, the tree still makes a noise that disapates before it reaches anyone's ears. The physics is still there. Science > all? Sometimes being ignorant is more fun. Do people of intelligence become burdened by their own minds? Would life be simpler if a person wasn't as smart? This is left for another day to rant about.

- Sorean

Aug 18th 2008, 2:00 PM

Bit of another whirl wind weekend, but fun nonetheless. saw Hancok and watched the Dark Knight again, this time in Imax, mand if I could see every movie in Imax I would. Did some rollerblading, for the 2nd time this year. 10 clicks in 90 minutes. Had to stop a few times due to my ankle, it really kinda sucked, but I set a goal and I hit it, pretty good even though I had to stop and rest my ankle. It was hurting pretty bad, had to take it out of the rollerblade :(. Ankle and legs feel a little sore today.

Went to two different bars in support of a friend and to drop off another, bouncing between clubs is something I haven't done in years :P Oh well though, met some pretty nice people and a girl name Sunrise or Sundance or something like that, she swears by it because her parents were hippies, only thing I remember about her though was that she had really long dreds. Random people on the street FTW :D I swear, sometimes just doing stuff on your own is so much fun.

Life is good :) On the overall scale of it that is.

- Sorean

Aug 15th 2008 4:30 PM

Dropped 3 pounds in the past week of just eatting differently. Woo hoo, still not back to Pre-UK weight, but better than I was a week ago. Mostly boring week thus far, finally started on the project that I was hired on to do at work.

Life has quieted down all week, but without volleyball in the schedule (which doesn't start back up until September) I'm going a little bonkers, yes I just used the word bonkers. Got all this extra energy that I don't know what to do with. Looking foward to a quiet weekend where I can go unwind for a bit, head down to Eau Claire and get some rollerblading done, it's supposed to be gorgeous this week. Unwinding aside, last Sunday I didn't really do anything and it kinda was kind of boring.... much as I enjyo having a busy life, sometimes it feels like spinning my wheels because I'm not 100% sure what I'm accomplishing.

Meh, life will go on and things will change, as that change happens you have to do what you can to adapt to it, or you fall behind it. "Adapt or get left behind" The law of evolution.

Lately though I've been having some really morbid thoughts, more so than normal. The good thing is, I don't listen to that voice, but I'm starting to think that I might have psychological issues. Just random thoughts that come up that are starting to distort my psyche. For the most part I'm still all here, but it's kinda concerning. Everyone has that little dark voice inside their head. Can't remember what movie I watched a long time ago, but it was pretty profound in it saying, "Everyone thinks that there is an innate good inside every single person, but don't you think that it's the complete opposite in this world? There's a little evil inside us all?"

- Sorean

Aug 08, 2008 11:36 AM

I apologize for the delay in posting, but it's been a really crazy time since I got back.

So yeah, came to work, the Football game on Saturday was awesome, the one last night... not so much, so much for the Rider's perfect season. But still, they only really played one quarter out of 4, they didn't really deserve to win that game to be honest, sure they are injury ridden, but they really didn't push until the end, but man, what a comeback it would have been.

So from the football game, Sunday was spent helping Andrea, Grace, and Mitchell move. You know how you rest boxes and things on your pelvic bone and there are muscles, well flesh there? Yeah, I somehow managed to bruised that, their 3 collective lives fit into two uhal truckfuls. It was certainly a long day and boy were my arms sore after that. 6 people, 5 hours, lots of heavy stuff, man washers are not fun. They don't have one, but the place they moved into needed one moved out of the house. It's not too bad really, but man, the thing was still heavy. Definitely not my max weight, probably about 60% though. I really should start going to a gym and do weight training, but then again, why do I need it? I need cardio to lose weight, but I guess it all ties in together. We'll see how volleyball pans out this fall, seems like I might have one team instead of two :( Must find some other type of exercise to do.

Fallout from the UK trip, I gained 6 pounds in a week :O I couldn't believe it, it was so weird, but I attribute it all to room service and fast food the entire week. Don't get me wrong, it was great, but man, I got fat :P The weight is coming off though, so I'm all good, just have to work a little extra hard in the coming few weeks.

Saw my old roommate, his computer finally died and we went and got him a new one. Man computers are stupidly cheap now, I'm tempted to go out and buy a laptop for a couple hundred bucks, but then I realize that I don't really need it.

Went for wings with some of the old guys from my previous employer. It's always good times when hanging out with them. Good joking, fun times, not so much for the girls, but it's definitely one of those guys nights out type of things. Didn't really think that that could occur, but it has and it's a great group to be around. It's really a shame that we don't still work at the same place, but a lot of them have migrated over to another company where I had interviews before but didn't get hired because they were not sure if they needed someone for the position I was interviewing for. I might consider them, working downtown is always nice, but I find it hard to give up the relaxed atmosphere of my current position. I will admit, I am watching my money a little more closely now. Man I wish I won the lottery this weekend, 43 mil for the 649, that woulda been super sweet :D It's always something you can wish for.

Last night was the rematch as I mentioned earlier, had some people over for the game and it was good, well the 4th quarter anyway. As far as this weekend is concerned, I am going to sit back and play games all weekend, or go rollerblading sometime because it's supposed to be really nice. It's time to just chill and relax.

- Sorean

Aug 1st 3:44 PM

I'm back in Canada, landed yesterday afternoon, had a good 24 hour day, had some of my special caffine drink and went to play volleyball. Came into to work today, found out I could have had the day off.... I shoulda stayed home.... I really should have. Haven't really done much except for a few minor bug fixes that people had found so a pretty laid back day. Tomorrow I start with.... I mean Tuesday I start with the new project I was originally hired on to do.

So sleepy.... Riders game tomorrow! Go Riders go!

Helping Andrea move this weekend, stupid landlords moving back to the city, I mean who wants to move back to Calgary when its so expensive to live here? I guess if they already own the house it's not a bad idea.

By the way, the story about the greyhound murder.... that man is seriously fucked up.

- Sorean

July 30th, 3:39 PM (London Time)

I've determined I haven't slept in the past week, just taking naps and running off caffine. Last night I crashed so hard when I got back to the hotel, it was literally a fall onto bed, pass out situation.

- Sorean

July 29th, 12:57 PM (London Time)

Photos found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=138564&l=3d5d7&id=814630087

I think the days have finally caught up to me, as well as the offset sleep pattern/schedule.

On the Friday I was here I had been up at 2AM and not been able to get back to bed. Most of my time here has been spent running off of caffine and things to do. For example, Day 4, the exploring day was run off of 2 cups of coffee in the morning, 2 red bulls during the day, and a small bottle of pepsi at night, just to keep going. Today however, I feel like absolute crap. I was once again wide awake at 2AM local time (Which would have been 7 Calgary) and was unable to get back to bed. Watched some TV and read until about 3:30 at which point I crashed again and slept until my alarm went off at 6:45. It's been rough on the body, but the thing is, I have 2 days left here and if I can tough it out, I'll be back in Calgary on Thursday night with very little disruption to my sleep patterns/life style.

Honestly, being in the middle of nowhere is good and bad. Bad in the sense that I'm in the middle of nowhere, but very close to work. Good in the fact that I'd probably be spending a lot of money if I wasn't out here.

Just to add onto something I neglected to mention before. I drive by Stonehenge too and from work every day. The first time I saw them, I was filled with a feeling that was and still is hard to describe. It was like awe, amazement, wonderment and wow all rolled into one. There's a slight mysticism that comes over you as you get near them. Very surreal. To behold a world marvel with one's own eyes is truly something you have to do for yourself to understand. Must travel to Egypt some time in my life to see the pyramids and the Sphinx sometime in my life. Preferably in the next 5 years... man time is passing like you wouldn't believe it. I have a promise that I have to keep within the next 18 months. Wonder if I'll be able to do it....

- Sorean

July 27th 2008 2:30PM (London time)

Day 4 in Salisbury:

What happened to days 1, 2 and 3?

Well it's been a little busy here. I landed on the Thursday (23) and fought jet lag and lost. Both my boss and I called it an early day and just went to the hotel and slept. Plane ride over was pretty uneventful unlike the plane that busted a hole in it midflight.

Why am I over here? Goodwill mission by our company to make sure that our stuff doesn't fail during the biggest exercise that they have conducted and to do some other things as well.

Day 2 was a full day down at the military base running around meeting people and starting to work on my first task. Back to the hotel and tried to fight jet lag some more.

Day 3 (Saturday) had to cab it to the military base because my boss was at the second site. Damn shit here is expensive, currently the exchange rate is 2 CND to 1 British pound. Finished the majority of the first task and just need clarification from some of the other techs when I get back in on Monday. Cabbed back from the base and spent the night back at the hotel.

People keep asking why I'm not out exploring.... well I'm literally in the middle of nowhere.

Day 4 Took me about 1/2 an hour to get out from the hotel to town (walking), but then I spent a few hours wandering around the little town of Salisbury. I have uploaded the pictures here with all their assoicated captions. I'll be transfering the pictures to the local server when I get back, but I kinda like Facebook's picture management and sharing tool.

The time zone difference is 7 hours, not bad, but enough to fuck with the sleep schedule. Gonna try hard to just tough through and just have a fucked up schedule for a few more days. I get back on Thursday and will hopefully adapt fast enough. Yay for a long weekend coming up, too bad it's helping a friend move :P Oh well, it's what friends are for :) Only a few more days here, but I don't think I have the ability to see much else more, at least without breaking my bank. Thank god most of my expenses are covered by my company.

There's a pretty funny show over here called "Snog Marry Avoid?" Pretty much takes girls that overdo the way they look when they go out and tones it down. There was this girl that thought she was an elf.... a wood elf... it was freaking hilarious. Something wrong wih it, but still funny. Look it up on Youtube, it's awesome.

Well time to relax a bit more before tomorrow.
- Sorean

July 22nd 2008 7:56AM

I sure do miss volleyball.  I've been playing for 2 weeks now, but sadly I'm going to miss this week.  The ankle is okay so long as I don't move it laterally.  Aside from that I'm fine.

Was able to make it down to Stampede with Grace, Renny, Andrea, and Mitchell.  Mmmmm mini-donuts are delicious, wouldn't trade them for anything!

Shortly after my last post I was informed that I would be going over to the UK on the company's dime.  One of our clients is the British Military and as far as I know, I'm going there to make sure things don't break during training exercises.  Sounds important.... :P  Going for a week so it should be pretty exciting, I just hope that I have time to do some exploring and what not.  I R excited :D

Riders are off to a 4 and 0 start and their game last weekend was freaking amazing!  Nail biter until the end.
It's going to be August and I've gone out rollerblading once.... (see a few posts down).  This summer has passed by much faster than I had though, lots of things going on and it just flashes by.  Hard to imagine that things would be so radically different. 

Current favourite song: Armin van Buuren & DJ Shah Feat. Chris Jones - Going Wrong  I know it's a trance song, but it's more of a Europop type thing, I urge all of you to listen to it. If you are a Linkin Park fan you must listen to this as well: Linkin Park - Shadow Of The Day (Blake Jarrell Remix)

- Sorean

July 10 2008, 11:45 AM

I have to admit, I kind of like this programming job it allows of a lot of freedom, but man do things annoy me when it doesn't work. Although I really like doing bug fixing and manipulation of existing code.

So lately I've become a bit of an advice guy for one of my friends and how he should handle his potential relationships, so far he's doing okay, I think. He hasn't gotten slapped or rejected yet so it's a good sign. Keeps telling me I'm a genius and I'm really good at knowing things about relationships. Shows what he knows, I'm the single one right now :P Though to be honest, probably entirely my own fault. Time to get out there and meet people, or get a bigger circle of friends.

Still haven't made it down to Stampede yet and it's almost over :( Damn to people not wanting to go and plans not working out right. I think maybe I'll saunter down there on Saturday and grab some of those delicious mini-donuts and traverse the park grounds for a few hours. Gotta see who I can convince to come with me.

Ankle is pretty much fully healed now, very little discomfort with it and I'll be headed to play volleyball tonight since my injury. Would have really liked to have taken another week off, but it's been 7 weeks since the night of the injury. Hmm the doctor was pretty good, it was 6 weeks, and then thanks to rolling it again it added another week to it. I'll be wearing a brace while playing of course, not going to let this happen again, I'll be trying to prevent it as much as possible. Maybe I'll go rollerblading too this weekend. /sigh I keep saying I'm going to get out rollerblading or swimming, but never make it, keep forgetting/finding other things to do. Good news is, even without playing volleyball for the past 7 weeks, I've only gained 3 pounds :) It's a lot less than I thought, however, it also is kinda showing me that volleyball alone wasn't helping combat the weight loss that much. Time to add something extra.

Current Favourite Song: I'll keep your memory vauge - Finger 11 Always been a fan of these guys. The song came out several weeks if not months ago and have really liked it since. It's on their new Greatest Hits CD which is sorta meh. I still find it hard to believe they've been around for almost 10 years, anyway, check out the song, kind of a soft ballad that is relaxing.

Edit: Another good song currently on my playlist: Into the Night - Santana feat Chad Kroeger

- Sorean

June 30th 2008, 10:45PM

I'm finding things to be a little boring lately.... I think it's just because I'm all laid up with some gimp ankle :(

So I picked up my guitar after having it sit for almost a year. What sparked this? I blame Rockband. It's a fun game, the guitar is pretty fun, but it makes me miss playing a real guitar. It's good to know that I can still kinda play after picking the guitar back up. It's now a matter of learning new songs and seeing if I can get any better at it. My fingers hurt from playing for an hour or so, all past calluses have gone away and been replaced by weaker fingers. Hopfully that will be remedied soon.

4 Day weekend thanks to the office complex being closed. Saw Wanted, pretty good movie, good summer action flick, but nothing more really. Really want to go see Wall-E still, but just need to get around to it.

So my friend Andrea got a dog for her mom for a present, we took the dog to a park yesterday and for a walk today too, and man, I'm like a human pincushion. I hate mosquitos.... a lot. Bites on the back of the neck, numerous on my arms and legs..... shoulder, and lets not forget the feet too, parts of the head, back of your hand.... god damn bugs.... stupid part of the ecosystem..... little bastards that annoy the crap outta people. The food chain works in funny ways and mother nature has a cruel sense of humour.

I really shoulda gone somewhere this weekend.... It's like I miss having trips on long weekends. Then again, it's kind of a good thing I'm not going anywhere either. I really need to finishing paying my aunt back soon. Least I'm going to be trying very hard, but with the pay cut I took with this job it's a little more difficult. It's not that I can't make ends meet, it's just a little harder. I mean it was an 8 grand hit. Almost to the point where I might consider going back to the old company in a different department and just be a testing jockey for a while, making more, have benefits, and a bit more stability. Right now, the lack of benefits kinda suck for a small company. But the flip side of that is that it is a small company and it is a very relaxed atmosphere and you are more closely tied to everything that the company does.

It's not the job itself that I dislike. I've been doing it for two months, hit the ground pretty much jogging (wasn't running cuz I was shakey at the start) and it's a good job. I like how I was able to manipulate what's already there to make it work the way we need it to (which wasn't an easy task since the previous person didn't leave any comments in his code..... made tracking stuff down fun :P).

I think this mostly is coming down to me being impatient. Like very much so. I know I can make more money doing what I was doing before or something close. It's not a big difference, but it's enough to make me think twice. What I really need to do though is put my nose to the grindstone and get some programming experience under my belt. Mind you right now I'm just doing VB work on an ASP webpages, but it's still programming, albeit simple, even in my mind. Oh well I say, I will figure where things are at come the new year. I think I can stick it out that long, although I'm hearing some rumblings in some places, so we'll see.

Man, my fingers are sore from the guitar.

- Sorean

June 23rd 2008 10:33AM

Another weekend has gone by and I think I set myself back another week in the injury department. I really hate being a gimp, but I rolled my ankle again while out for a walk on Saturday. Pathway drops off and it was just enough to cause me to roll it. If it was a fully healed ankle, it would have been fine, but no...... I swear, someone doesn't want me to play volleyball this summer. So I started wearing my brace again and have been trying to keep off of it as much as I can.

Work wise my roommate still say I complain, but not as much. Retrospec they're kinda right, but I'm more irritated that things don't work the way they are supposed to, but it's the nature of programming. I just need to get used to it. Last Friday I completed what I think is my last major bug fix/feature request for our reporting website and now onto the next task which shouldn't be too difficult either. But I need to learn to leave work at work and not take it home and be frustrated by it. It is definitely a different atmosphere and something I need to get a hang of. Working with one other person certainly has it's little bit of drawbacks. I worked in places where there have been a lot of people, where I was responsible and the daily interactions with a varity of characters always made the day interesting. I like to believe that I'm a very social person, and sadly I miss that social interaction.

Calgary Stampede is coming up, still trying to decide if I want to go, not a lot of my friends are ride goers :( But I will make it down for some carnival food, that stuff is delicious. Those that want to go, drop me a line/message.

Oh yeah, they started the 10 digit dialing in Calgary now too.... /sigh too many phones. Then again I should talk, I have 3.... one cell, one home, and one work :P

- Sorean

June 6th 2008 11:23 AM

Pictures from Saskatoon can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121720&l=dfd43&id=814630087

The week back has been nothing short of hectic. Just getting stuff done around the house and working. It's kinda funny. When I was in Saskatoon I was getting disconnected with my job, mainly because of the pay scale. But upon coming back here, it suddenly didn't matter any more. So what if I'm not making as much as I could be doing something else? The experience I'm getting here is valuable. Minus the fact that I'm cleaning up someone elses work and trying to make it customized for what my boss wants it to do before I'm given time to rewrite the entire page, which I really want to get on, but I need to sit down and develop it all in my head and give it a plan first. Laying it out and doing it right the first time means once done I won't have to do it again.

While back home a friend of mine offered me a pretty good opportunity, but it would mean moving back home and giving up the life I've grown accustomed to. It means a bit of a pay raise and being around all my good friends again. Don't get me wrong, my friends here in Calgary are great, and I've kept in touch with a lot of my friends back home and consider that I have really good and strong relationships with several of them, I guess it's just the history, but I am building a history with those here too.... man, life is complicated. Wish I won the lottery so it could be a lot simpler.

Anyway, trip was great, spent time with my good friends back there, Ed, Jason, Jantsen, Adam just to name a few, man I do miss those guys. It's kinda funny, to steal a term, it's like trying to fit as many 'dates' into as short amount of time possible because the time I'm actually back home is so rare, but when I do spend time with these people, it's like I never left and I really do cherish their friendship. Saying that kinda makes me regret one friendship I haven't tried to keep as well as I could have, but it is a difficult one to have tried to maintain.

Brother and his girlfriend were up here for the past 2 days, left today. They took some time off before buckling down for the summer. Went out for dinner and then played some Mario Party. I really need to get more batteries for those dang Wiimotes. Things are gonna cost a fortune :P I think it's time to invest in another set of rechargeable battery packs for the last 2 controllers.

What else... I can walk on my ankle pretty well without any pain, considering it's been two weeks now I think I'm doing okay. Jumping is a little tricky, but I really don't think there's much I can do until it's back fully, this really bothers me, I feel like I'm getting fat :P Another week and I think I can start walking to work again. /sigh Some things that you take for granted make you paranoid. I mean I'm still wearing my ankle brace so I don't accidently hurt it again, mind you it is still healing/sore/swollen. Man you should see it when it was purple, was pretty ugly, and fat too.

Was also at Steph's B-day before leaving 2 weeks ago, man time passes fast. Before I know it, the summer will be gone :S

- Sorean

May 31st 2008 2:28 AM

Okay, so that last post wasn't the end of the bad day. I got home, went to volleyball and sprained my ankle really bad, second degree, 3 days before I came back home to Saskatoon... next day at work, I take a chunk out of my finger..... it wasn't shaping up great. But so far the trip home has been awesome, I've taken many pictures and will properly update once I get back.

- Sorean

May 22nd 2008, 4:21 PM

As I sit here banging my head against a wall of code all day, I am getting increasingly upset. I write some code, it crashes, no biggie, restore, try something else, works. Save, code more, works, code again, crashes. Makes the same changes as before it works. God how I loathe computers and their logic sometimes. It is stupid how they process things.

These little patch projects and assignments are good, but man is it frustrating to work with existing code and make changes to make it work. I do realize that this job makes me think a lot more, but man does my head hurt. I'm going to stick with my goal of doing this for at least a year before I consider something else. At the very least I'll have it on my resume because it's something that I've done in school and now I can say I've done it as a profession too. But man its it ever annoying when it doesn't do what you expect it to, especially when you think you've told it to do it properly. It just doesn't listen, kinda like a teenager. Man, am I not looking forward to those years, hopefully the kid (if I have one) will be well raised by then. I guess in order to have a kid I gotta get with someone first.... mind you one night stands could work, but that's just not me. Would kind of defeat the romatic at heart that I am.

- Sorean

May 19th 2008, 4:44 PM

Asphalt and skin don't mix well.... first time out since winter, took a spill, shoulder looks like crap too, but these are the worst, don't click if you don't like seeing injuries, hand is worse, scars build character after all :P . Hand Knee Thank god I don't have volleyball this week.

Over all though, a decent long weekend, a bit of a tan, some relaxation, lunch with an aunt and cousin.

- Sorean

May 15th 2008, 10:09 AM

My time flies when you are into something new. So from the last post I was very nervous about the job, well within the first week I was able to complete a mini-project consisting of a customer request for web reports and the second week, a mini-rewrite for a patch. So all in all not too bad, it just takes time to get back into the hang of things. As the saying goes, If you don't use it, you lose it. I guess that's why it's a saying :P Started on a competative volleyball team on Thursdays and it's been challenging, everyone has to be at their best to make it work and man if I haven't had to work hard at it, but I tell ya, that stuff is fun, pushing hard working up a sweat, it's great.

I've also gotten Maio Kart Wii, I swear this game is stupidly hard. Only sweaked by with bronze and silver cups in some tracks and no matter how I try, you just can't win, it's like, yay I'm first, then blue shell, red shell, someone with a star, bullet, and all of a sudden you're 10th to last...... it's stupidly hard.

I will admit the extra commute time has been awesome, 2 books in 2 weeks is good, read Angels and Demons, the prequel to The DaVinci Code and it was really good. I say the books are on par in terms of entertainment level. There was a booksale last weekend, 2 bucks for hard cover and 1 for paperback. I bought 23 bucks worth of books thinking it will cover me for the year, but at the rate I'm going I think I'll run out.

Work also bought me a blackberry phone which is awesome. Partially because we need one to develop on and partially because it's a work expense for all employees here. It now doubles as my MP3 player as well as a video player. Yay for catching up on Anime. It does cut down into my reading time though, oh well, There's been a lot that I've downloaded and not watched, but here's my chance with this new device. It's a very handy tool I tell ya, I can see why people get hooked on them.

Enjoy the long weekend everyone!

PS. Yes Tal, I know I need to work on an RSS feed for this.

- Sorean

Apr 28th 2008, 8:45PM

Okay, it's been a while and the last little bit has been me relaxing, very much so.

Still don't have the pictures from hiking yet :(

Today was the first day of the new job, and honestly, I feel a little overwhelmed, BUT (and notice the caps) I feel comfortable enough that I will be able to get it set in a few days. I'm a little proactive and would like to get my first project done in a month. What can I say? I'm a bit ambitious. I'll be trying to take the laptop from work tomrorow too. Oh yeah, I get a new laptop with the job too. It's an XPS series Dell, and for any of the geeks out there, XPS is the series from Dell that used to be Alienware (gamer Laptops), so yeah, this rocks, although the machine is kinda big.... widescreen.

Leaving the last job was a very bittersweet moment, went for dinner with everyone from there and they gave me a card with a lot of nice sentiments with it. I do miss those guys.

So I'm also taking transit which is subtracting an extra 2 1/2 hours from my day. Oh well though, I need a lifestyle change that allows me to do what I can and not have it centered around a game, but it's a good thing. Today is a little messed up though, dinner at 9.... oh well. Here's to a new start!

- Sorean

Apr 8th, 2008 9:20 AM

Not even a week after I started looking, I found a job, I gave my 2 weeks on Friday and going to become a programmer. Yes it is a step back for me career wise and it's going to be a paycut, but I'll have my sanity. You know what the sad thing is? I've talked to my boss, tried to help her change her mind and behaviour so she doesn't lose any more... and she just didn't listen. There are so many things wrong with what she has done and it just boggles my mind that it doesn't sink in. I'm not the first, I won't be the last, but I'll be the biggest impact. Especially the product I'm a specialist for is due to release a new version 3 days before I leave. I can help out, but I really don't even care all that much any more. I'm helping the people that I'm loyal to, but no going extra any more. What's the point? :) I'm really confused as to what to do besides try to tie up any loose ends. What sorta makes me sad is that since I'm leaving a lot of people are sad about it, and it's both people in and out of my department. I really will miss the people here, but we do get together outside of work every couple of weeks for dinner and to catch up.

In between I will have one week between jobs so it's a mini break and I got enough saved up to get me through the next little while too. I cannot tell you how happy I've been since Thursday, I've slept well, I'm smiling a lot more, and things are just going great. It really is weird how something that is part of your everyday routine can have such an impact.

We went hiking this weekend, hope to have pictures soon, but will probably have to grab them from facebook when Grace puts it up there or just gonna steal the SD card.

Other than that, life has been full of random events that keep it entertaining and fun. Going to be back in Saskatoon at the end of May for my brother's grad. Going to see some friends so it should be great.

- Sorean

Mar 26th 2008 8:28 PM

That's it, I'm done, fed up with my boss and looking for something else. I never thought that I could be pushed so far, but I guess it can happen to anyone. I don't hate my work, I don't hate the people I work with, in fact the complete opposite. However, it's my boss that I can't stand. It's like they don't trust me to do anything and it's straight up stupid. All my employees have always thought I do well and give them what they need, however, it doesn't seem to be enough. I do my job, my employees do theirs, we are the hardest workers they have. She's already pushed 3 people out of the department to other companies and departments. 3 might not seem like a lot, but when it's 10% of your staff.... it's too much. I know I'm going to be losing another person within the next 60 days and with me going too, and another potential too, it does not bode well for this department. We all work well together, but it's stupid. I cannot stand it any more.

In other news I turned 25 on the 24th. Had breakfast with Andrea and Grace and then spent the day with Grace and it was pretty enjoyable, did some shopping, watched some movies, man I love Tim Burton films. Watched Sweeny Todd and it is just so good. Musicals are my guilty pleasure. Picked up some jeans now I just need a volleyball.

With the exception of the job thing life has been okay, only problem is, when your job is a third of your life, it makes things suck. I have a couple of options and hopefully things will work out. Right now, the only thing that is stopping me from straight up quitting is logic that dictates that I need money to survive :P

- Sorean

Mar 11th 2008, 7:12 AM

Time for another update. This past weekend was a joint celebration of Andrea and my birthday, although my doesn't really happen until the 24th it was still pretty fun. Nintendo/Disney themed I was dressed as Mario. I like how I was the "right size" to play the part, but apparently I don't have a big enough of a bulge in the middle. You will find pictures and recordings here: http://www.sorean.ca/Sorean/images/Pictures/25th in the larger video you can hear Grace continually singing 99 bottle of beer on the wall, she got down to 9 before the rule ran out. We were kidding about how no one has finished that song. C'mon, think about it, has any you know actually ever finished that song?

I took this Monday and Tuesday off as well as Friday to save my sanity from work. I know that I am getting annoyed with it and these past few days have been a good break. IT just irritates me that my boss is a very bitter person. When I went to my company I brought 5 to 6 people over, now that the year is up, two of them are moving over to the testing department for our software. It's a lateral move, but it gets them off the phones. Shortly after that, while out having a smoke, my boss painted all people that I brought over by saying something to the effect of, "All people from John's old company have poor work ethic, they won't do that well in testing." You know that phrase "leaving a bad taste in your mouth"? I've never really experienced it until then. What really got me was the next day I was told to "squash the rumor" that she said something like that. Too bad it wasn't a rumor and I heard from the person she told it to. I mean how unethical do you have to b to say something like that and then as soon as it gets out, you try to cover it? It just bothers me. As much as these petty little work politics bother me, I like my paycheck more at this moment, debts suck :P

In other news, my taking time off coincided nicely with the release of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, it's a fun game and the story is actually a little challenging and there are a total of.... 128 tasks to complete and numerous special characters to unlock. About an hour into the story mode and only 13% done. This is making out to be a really fun game. What else.... I might be playing on 3 volleyball teams this summer, and that's something I don't mind, it just makes for a much tigher schedule for me as I'm still one of the leaders in the game that I play on the side. Man, I'm committed to a lot of things, well a couple of things, but I like to be the best at what I do, damn my competativeness.

Aside from all that it seems like a typical single life, having issues with work, doing things outside of work, and hanging out with friends. C'est la vie.

- Sorean

Feb 23rd 4:01 PM

Oh my where has the time gone? Not that life is all too busy, just a lack of time.

So with the whole home invasion thing, that was the worst week of my life, the paranoia that you could leave home without fear of someone coming back, well the door is fixed and life has been back to relative normality for the past 2 weeks. Lets see what else has happened.... caught up with an old friend, haven't talked to her in a while which is kind of sad because she lives in the same city. Did my tax return and getting a nice chunk of change back, speaking of which, if anyone has basic income tax to do and on't mind using my computer, I can get them done since the program I bought can do 8 returns when I only need one.... /sigh stupid programs. Maybe I'll ask around. Ummm was sick for the past week, I have to say, of all the illnesses, coughing has got to be the most annoying. Aside from the coughing fits you're perfectly normal and healthy, but for 30 seconds every once in a while, you're rendered completely useless, annoying I say.

So one of my roommates has had 2 interviews with a place back home. They flew him back there for an in person interview last week and if he gets the job he'll be moving back. I don't blame him, I'm hoping he gets it because he's been stuck in a stupid job for the past few years where his talent is going to waste. I sort of want to get back into programming, but this management stuff is sort of what I do best. They say a person goes through an average of 7 different major careers in either lifetime wonder what else I'll be doing.

Well if the roommate ends up moving out, we've already talked things out and I'll just be moving my computer and stuff into my room, making it a little snug/cozy and then the other room downstairs can be used by the other roommate. If that becomes the case, I'll be saving a couple hundred dollars a month which will be nice because right now, even though I'm sharing the whole place with my roomies I'm still paying for 1/2. I guess the argument could be made that I have 2 rooms that I use as opposed to one. It doesn't really bother me, but it'd be nice if the costs were split a little more evenly.

Oh here's another interesting thing, I'm not sure what's going on, but Andrea's boyfriend is planning something for a joint birthday party coming up, all we know is that it consists of costumes but they won't tell me anything else. I'm curious and apprehensive at the same time, but I sure am not opposed to trying anything. It should be a pretty fun since it should be a nice big party. I'm out for now, take care everyone.

- Sorean

Feb 2nd 2008 7:40 PM

I swear I must have the worst luck in the world, but I feel worse for my roommates who both lost a laptop each, I only lost 60-100 bucks in cash I had in my dresser. In case you haven't guessed, my house was broken into on Friday. It sucks, and it wouldn't be so bad, but I almost would have rather it been a big loss. The above mentioned items were the only things taken. My TV was left alone, my digital camera was still here, iPods were left..... it just doesn't make sense. My only problem is they've seen everything else that's here, meaning they could potentially come back.

My roommate is a DJ, he lost all his music, that shit can't be replaced. I feel for him and wish I could help him out.

Now I can't even feel safe in my own house, especially when I have to go to work. I wonder if my boss will allow me to work from home for the week until we get our door fixed. They freaking tore the deadbolt outta the door. The door and door frame are completely smashed, there's no way to reinforce it. It just sucks, a lot. Aside from that, nothing major or new to report. I broke my computer chair, need a new one, stupid cheap things from Wal-Mart, actually the chair is fine, it's just the wheels :( The base is broken.

Hope I can work from home this week, won't find out until Monday really.... we'll see.

- Sorean

Jan 20th 2008 12:43 PM

So it's been a busy few weeks and I apologize for my lack of online presence although I can be found through MSN easily :)

Weekends have been full of hanging with friends and just basic around the house stuff. Volleyball has gone back to two nights a week after a bit of sickness last week. I think I can't have Red Lobster mashed potatoes :( With that and leading raids 3 days a week it's been a little hectic. Best part is, the leading that I've done, I've gotten us new boss kills. I like knowing that people listen to me and that I can lead people to success.

Work is a little frustrating because I don't like being micro managed, but god damn if it doesn't annoy me. Trust us to do our work and let us do it. Problem is now that a lot of people are looking elsewhere. A good thing is that some of them told me that if I left, they'd come with me too. We'll see how the next little while turns out because I'm entertaining some options put in front of me right now. Now my boss just told us that she's pregnant, does that justify being a total bitch though? Well she is supposed to be gone for 6 months on mat leave, but can I last until August without blowing up? I highly doubt it. Time to see what life brings.

- Sorean

Jan 1st 2008 9:00 AM

The start of another year, the time will slowly disappear.
A time to reflect and a time to plan. Will you make the year the best you can?
Don't dwell on the past of decisions made, the road ahead is just as well paved.
What will I do with the year to come? Dance, laugh, cry and play just to name some.

Okay, that's enough rhyming for a morning after you down an entire bottle of wine.... :) So my New Years Eve was a quiet one and one spent with one of my best friends and her boyfriend. Sorta like Christmas with them. I must say that I am very lucky to have her as a friend.

The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of Christmas preparations, Christmas itself, then going back to work to do nothing for a few days so I booked them off and go back tomorrow.

Volleyball starts back up next week and I so look forward to getting back into it. Although I am back down to 225 (pre-Toronto weight) so I'm kinda happy there. If I can just make the rest of the drop down to 200 by the summer I'll be happy. Hopefully I can stick to working out and that will get me into the shape that I want. Because although round is a shape, it's not really the shape I want to be.

To everyone, I wish you all a Happy New Year and that this year brings greater joy than the last.

- Sorean