I had sort of found myself in a rut in the past month or two. It was due to a combination of things: the job situation, relationships, friendships, money, family, blah blah blah. I guess it all pretty much hinges on the job front though. I had been previously stoked about my interviews; however, I was hit by a flurry of rejections: “Sorry, we don’t have any positions for you at this time.” or “Someone was better qualified for the position.” It doesn’t feel great to hear that you aren’t up to their standards. And then that just kind of bowled me over into a slump where I hardly wanted to get anything accomplished. I felt like I had no self-worth, and that I can’t really move forward in my life without a new job. I hate pity-parties, so don’t feel sorry or whatever. It’s just how I’ve been feeling and nothing could have prevented it.

Yeah, so that made me really upset. All that doubt and depression combined with doing nothing in the house all day drove me kind of crazy. It’s good that I have some friends I could talk to, so that helped a little. But overall, I wasn’t really happy.

However, a couple days ago I had the fortune to fly down to Florida and help work at the storage business my family has down there. I’m really glad I’m here. It’s gotten me out of the house and somewhat busy. I feel recharged and enthusiastic about getting things accomplished. Also, while it’s raining some days, I had a chance to enjoy the beach a couple times… love that sun and sand. I’m not sure how long I’ll be here, but I’m glad for the change in my dreary routine.

Oh yeah, and as a side note, I had recently bought a scanner and scanned in a lot of photographs. Check em out here if you’re interested in seeing some random pics.

Also, I hear about all the cold and snowy weather back home… now I’m really glad I’m here.

Here’s something new I did recently: I went to a Wizards game! I’m not really a basketball fan by any means, but I thought it would be fun to go see a game with my brother. I actually had fun! We have season tickets… we usually don’t use them, but I’m thinking we should again soon. The Wizards aren’t by any means a great team (although I know absolutely nothing about any of the players or any other team for that matter), but they’re DC’s team and I gotta root for ‘em. I took a couple pictures, of course.

There’s also been plans being formulated recently concerning my job and immediate future. Nothing is actually set in stone, but I’m kind of excited about the prospect. I’ll post more about it as it develops.

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• Pretty much nothing. Just relaxing, being lazy, and just generally turning my brain off for as long as I can.
• I’m taking phone calls from potential employers that found my resume. Unfortunately, I don’t have a computer at the house (right now I’m at a friends’) to do research and do proper preparation for my interviews, but oh well.
• Our little pomeranian died the other day. My mom is pretty upset about it. She seemed fine, but she just stopped breathing and died. I’m still a little sad about it… She was still warm when I saw the little furball wrapped up in a towel.
• Saw some dolphins in our backyard. I tried my best to take a picture of one grabbing a fish out of the water.
• Saw a space shuttle launch at the JFK Space Center. It was pretty bitchin. And loud. And awesome. I’m glad I saw it. We know someone who works for NASA, so we got the hook up and were able to get into the hot spot to watch the launch.
• The best part of Florida right now has to be just laying in the hammock at the pier at the back of the house. It’s still hot, but the shade and the constant breeze just make it perfect to lay about for hours on end.
• I decided to stay another week here. My parents just left this morning, so I got the whole place to myself.
• I’m flying out to Chicago from here next week. Then after another week there with family, I’m looking to hang out with my friend in Vegas for a weekend… I am in no rush to come back to MD! lol

Yep. I got some pics up. So yep. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’m probably gonna go out and try out some of the bars by the beach later tonight…

So, updates. Nothing new, really. Still looking vigorously for a new job. It gets tough when you have interviews then don’t hear anything from the employer after that. But I gotta keep plugging away. If worse comes to worse, I’ll have to go back to being a bank teller… :

I’ve started playing Final Fantasy XII finally. That game is actually fun. And I love the new battle system. It is just way more smooth to execute. And in terms of my favorite FF games of the series I’d say it’s right up there with VII and X. Tactics is my favorite of them all though, and it just got released on the PSP. I just got that, too, and it is just as awesome as when I played it on the PS1. The music and story just make it one of the most memorable games I’ve ever enjoyed. So yeah, with no work, I’ve been spending a lot of time playing video games for a change.

I’m actually leaving tomorrow for Florida. I’m taking the PS3 and PSP along to keep myself occupied when I’m not busy seeing the sites and what not. Looking forward to the nice, warm beach down there. ^_^

Also, my cousin recently asked me to be part of a dance routine for the Philippine American Association of Delaware (PAAD). I am reluctant. I have no coordination for a choreographed dance. lol. Only perk being that a girl I had a crush on will be involved. hahaha. Now what kind of dance are we talking about? Well, there’s going to be tinikling, of course, but she says she going to take a large part of the moves from this:

Yeah, baby! Lookit them dancing Filipinos! They’ve got some sick moves. LOL. So I am undecided on that. I don’t know if I’ll have the time to dedicate to practice actually. I’m in the midst of deciding whether or not to pursue my trip across the country. After Florida, I am more than likely taking a plane from there to Chicago. From Chicago, either NYC or California. Gotta hear back from some people first. We shall see.

I had spent the past week watching the parents’ house. The family had went down to Florida, and I was left all alone by myself. Heh, it was fine. At least I got to relax on the back porch when I got home from work, catching up on A Storm of Swords. But the week ended with some great company.

Friday was probably the best night of the weekend. The whole evening was spent in the company of a very special and wonderful friend: we walked a little bit in Ellicott City; bought some toys for a friend who’s away; had a terrific dinner; saw her dad’s band play at another bar; and topped it off with a trip to White Marsh to get her copy of HP 7. It was a midnight release, and we had met some other friends who were waiting in line for her. The line was a bit long, but it started to move once we got there. There were, of course, some people who tried to drive by and shout some lame spoilers, but they did a poor job of it, ending up sounding like crazy maniacs than anything else. lol, the line from the title is from me after trying to come up with a silly spoiler to yell out. And it kind of makes sense… Dementors being made out of marshmallows and rainbows… lol… And there’s just something about being in the company of so many people who share the same interest and passions as you do… it was a nice crowd and getting her book went off without a hitch.

I got my copy in the mail the next day. I couldn’t start reading it right away, even though I really wanted to. I had to install a new mailbox and post at my parents’ house. Spent a good 3 hours going to Home Depot two times, putting the post together (which ended up being put in the wrong way), and giving up entirely in frustration of learning that the mailbox and post that I bought were incompatible. >:( But that was a minor setback to the day. I spent the rest of the afternoon starting in on my copy of Deathly Hallows. I didn’t want to stop until I finished, but I had made plans with some friends to go out for the evening. I drove them to D.C., Georgetown, specifically, and ate at a really nice Italian restaurant. We walked around a bit and ended up at a bar, getting a couple beers, then called it a night. I had wanted to take them to the lounge I took my other friends the last time I went, but, unfortunately, one of them had shorts and flip flops which were against the dress code. Oh well, next time.

By Sunday, my family had come back from their trip. But I spent the whole day by myself to dedicate to Deathly Hallows. I isolated myself from any distractions and avoided any contact from anyone who was trying to spoil the book for me. I finished it late into the evening. And Oh. My. God. What an AWESOME book. Rowling really knew how to finish this one. I want to post my reactions and favorite parts, but I’ll save that for a little later. I want to savor the moments from the book. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re not, then you are really missing out.

And as a side note, I’ve made some little updates on the site. I’ve put the Pics page back up, but I password protected it. Don’t ask me why, I just did it. To be able to get in, you’ll either need to register or get in with the account I set up: The username is guest and the password is… lol, well I can’t just give that away, right? Well, if you know me and I know you, you’ll know the password by now: it’s my current AIM screenname. I also made some small updates on the links page and added more songs to the music page.

What else is new? Nothing, really. Oh yeah, check out my friend’s new blog: autocosmica. I gave him some webspace to play around with. He has some pretty interesting musings, to say the least…

I installed a pre-made picture gallery script. It’s way more robust than the one that I had made up. I added a crap load of pics. Give em a browse.

In the news that is my life, the past month and a half has been a bit crazy. I finished up all my classes at UMBC. Now I work full time at where I had my internship. Nice benefits in addition to my much beloved salary. I moved back to Annapolis with my family. I’m starting to look around Annapolis for a house as soon as I get some savings. I’m aiming to have a house by January at the latest. This past weekend my car got hosed as soon as I arrived in Delware to help my cousin move. It’s at the mechanics now after it got towed back to Maryland, and it looks like it had a leak in its transmission… I hope it’s not too serious and I can keep it. I love my car! Everyone at Delaware kept telling me to get a new one, but I’m trying to keep mine…

For those who don’t know: I gave up and finally got a damn MySpace account. Fuck. I couldn’t help it. There’s a lot of good bands and musicians on there! I have family and friends on there too, so it’s nice to keep in touch with them.

Also this past weekend I went to the Baltimore Comicon. Wasn’t as fun as the past ones, but it might be because I went on Sunday rather than Saturday. I didn’t get any sketches since many artists were already full with work, but I got a nice load of prints… It’s a good thing pay day is coming up, some of these prints and sketchbooks are getting expensive!

That’s all I can think to write up right now. I gots the work in the morning, so I should get to bed. No more late night binge drinking for this guy! Jk!

• I picked up Jump Superstars for my precious DS Phat.
• Saw the Entertainment System rock out at the Sidebar
• Got some neat sketches and a couple of prints from Artist Alley.
• Had quite an experience at the rave. Lots of awesome moves and my first experience seeing some glowsticking.
• Played a whole lotta Pictochat. Hehe… From that, I managed to create Mr. Cox:
  
  
  
  Aw, ain’t he cute?
• Last night, we got locked out of the garage! @_@ We had to get a ride back.
• Today, the last day, we spent at the Art Auction. It was pretty fun. I also happened to bid on a particular One Piece print that is just awesome. I’m very happy with it! Thanks so much to the artist for it!
  
  
  Schweet!

I guess that pretty much sums it up. I’ll definitely go again next year. I might cosplay as well… I’m already thinking of either Ness from Earthbound, Afro Luffy of One Piece, or one of the students from Battle Royale. Hehe.

For those who care, I’ve redone the pictures section. I’ve made use of my databases this time to give the thing some sort of organization. I coded the whole thing myself in php. I’ve added a whole bunch of pics in there, so go ahead and take a gander.

That’s pretty much it.