Well, at long last, my family was able to lay my grandmother's ashes to rest on Saturday, ending a long struggle with Green Hills Memorial Park in Palos Verdes. The atmosphere was strange; our feelings of anguish resurfaced, bubbling through and overtaking any feeling of closure. With Granny in the ground now, her death has become a startling reality, even after seven months of mourning. That feeling was definitely prevalent as we stood around her grave and the rain began to fall, first as a slow sprinkle and becoming a steady shower when we finally left the cemetery. With that, I think things will be a lot less melancholy around here. I still miss you, Granny.
I'm going to try to go without a Nintendo 3DS as long as possible, mostly as an attempt at self-improvement, but also to see how severe the withdrawals will be if I go without purchasing a new Nintendo device altogether. As of right now, it's manifesting itself as a tiny pain in my heart, ebbing and flowing with each commercial viewed or review read. It helps that I suck at Street Fighter, which appears at the moment to be everybody's highest-rated 3DS game.
Being the philistine that I am, college basketball normally doesn't carry much weight with me (unless the alma mater is involved), but this year I've found myself increasingly invested in the drama of the tournament. It could be (and probably is) that the competition really is unpredictable this year, with all #1 and #2 seeds knocked out of the Final Four. It could also be that this year's tournament is more accessible than ever before, which was an absolutely brilliant move on the part of the NCAA. Their smartphone app is probably the best thing I've ever seen. If the NFL or MLB were able to find a way to work out something similar, I'd probably have to find a way to prove to myself that I haven't died and gone to heaven.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A Bittersweet Moment
It gets to be very difficult to find things to post about after a couple of posts. You think you have enough lined up to fill the blog on schedule every time, but that well creative well dries up fast. So my apologies to you, readers, but I'm quickly learning why veteran bloggers get paid so damn much.
I've been trucking along with the job apps, but so far I haven't heard from many of my potential employers. Many of the jobs to which I applied noted that it would probably take a while for them to properly review every application, so I'm not too worried. I can always get in contact with them if I think I've waited long enough.
Saturday is going to be somewhat of a bittersweet moment for my family. After a long battle dating back to August, we are at last able to lay my grandmother's ashes to rest in the same plot as my grandfather. It's a bit of a long story.
After my grandmother passed away, my mother thought that getting her mother buried would be nothing more than notifying the funeral home and letting them take care of the rest. She and my uncle had, after all, already filled out the necessary paperwork and planned well ahead to make the process as painless as possible. Unfortunately, things did not quite go the way they had intended. They discovered, to their complete shock, that the funeral home had sold them a plot that legally belonged to someone else entirely. My grandfather had been buried there by special request, and the owner of the plot had long ago passed away.
In fact, when my mother and uncle reviewed the documents, they discovered that the salesman who had originally made the deal with them had forged several documents. He, too, had died since the deal was made. The funeral home would not budge on the matter - they couldn't let us bury Granny with her husband.
The whole matter was sickening - we were forced to stand by and watch helplessly as my grandmother's final wishes were left unfulfilled. It really was a gutcheck after the pain of dealing with Granny's death.
My mom then hired a lawyer to see if anything could be done about the situation. She did so, and the lawyer knew exactly what to do, but he failed on multiple occasions to act without a prod from the family. We would go weeks without hearing from him, and it wasn't until my mother would call him that he would finally act on our behalf. At last, he goaded out of the funeral home an offer of the proper burial with a written apology to the family, with the stipulation that the family would not sue. All we wanted was for our beloved family member to properly rest with her husband, so my mother and all of her brothers approved the offer.
After that, the matter of settling the date was yet another headache, as the lawyer once again failed to correspond with the family properly. It took yet another rather heated call from my mother to get the deal finalized, and now we have the set date. After all the pain and frustration of dealing with this ludicrous situation, it will be nice to finally have some closure. I think the actual event will be somewhat somber, but that mood will be coupled with relief and peace. That's all we could have ever hoped for.
I've been trucking along with the job apps, but so far I haven't heard from many of my potential employers. Many of the jobs to which I applied noted that it would probably take a while for them to properly review every application, so I'm not too worried. I can always get in contact with them if I think I've waited long enough.
Saturday is going to be somewhat of a bittersweet moment for my family. After a long battle dating back to August, we are at last able to lay my grandmother's ashes to rest in the same plot as my grandfather. It's a bit of a long story.
After my grandmother passed away, my mother thought that getting her mother buried would be nothing more than notifying the funeral home and letting them take care of the rest. She and my uncle had, after all, already filled out the necessary paperwork and planned well ahead to make the process as painless as possible. Unfortunately, things did not quite go the way they had intended. They discovered, to their complete shock, that the funeral home had sold them a plot that legally belonged to someone else entirely. My grandfather had been buried there by special request, and the owner of the plot had long ago passed away.
In fact, when my mother and uncle reviewed the documents, they discovered that the salesman who had originally made the deal with them had forged several documents. He, too, had died since the deal was made. The funeral home would not budge on the matter - they couldn't let us bury Granny with her husband.
The whole matter was sickening - we were forced to stand by and watch helplessly as my grandmother's final wishes were left unfulfilled. It really was a gutcheck after the pain of dealing with Granny's death.
My mom then hired a lawyer to see if anything could be done about the situation. She did so, and the lawyer knew exactly what to do, but he failed on multiple occasions to act without a prod from the family. We would go weeks without hearing from him, and it wasn't until my mother would call him that he would finally act on our behalf. At last, he goaded out of the funeral home an offer of the proper burial with a written apology to the family, with the stipulation that the family would not sue. All we wanted was for our beloved family member to properly rest with her husband, so my mother and all of her brothers approved the offer.
After that, the matter of settling the date was yet another headache, as the lawyer once again failed to correspond with the family properly. It took yet another rather heated call from my mother to get the deal finalized, and now we have the set date. After all the pain and frustration of dealing with this ludicrous situation, it will be nice to finally have some closure. I think the actual event will be somewhat somber, but that mood will be coupled with relief and peace. That's all we could have ever hoped for.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Movin' on
Let me start off by saying that comments (provided they're constructive) are appreciated and encouraged. I take your input very seriously, readers.
As I mentioned in an edit to Tuesday's post, I got neither job to which I last applied. Both came as a result of general incompetence on my part, but at the very least, I gained a little bit of knowledge from the whole experience.
The big goof-ups I'd rather not go into, mainly because there isn't too much to gain from those behind some obvious corrections which are already in progress. Suffice to say that if you start a new e-mail account, you'd better be damn sure you have a way to check it regularly.
I've only had one face-to-face interview so far. That was the one from which I garnered the most information. The main nugget of information I garnered from that particular session was that, for the love of GOD, do not show up to an interview in anything other than a relaxed, alert state. I was certainly alert for that one, but "relaxed" was the last thing I would have ever described myself in that instant. I was so rattled primarily because it was my first interview, but also because there were a couple of last-minute hitches in my plan to get there that had me literally yelling in exasperation.
That's not to say the interview went badly; the position was advertised as an entry-level position, so the interviewer was perfectly aware that she would see her fair share of jittery applicants. She assured me throughout the interview that she had gone through the same bout of nerves the first time she had interviewed for a job. It made me feel a lot better.
Despite the employer's insistence that I had no reason to worry, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure, especially when it came to the question that I would be fine with committing to the organization for a career. It didn't sound so bad during the interview. But afterward, the more I thought about it, the more I realized what a daunting prospect it was. The position itself seemed like little more than hawking free offers to Home Depot-goers, and I don't know if that was "it" for me.
Regardless, things didn't quite work out and I didn't get either job. Just going to shake it off, learn what I have to learn and get to it again. I'm going to try to multiply my application output this time around.
As I mentioned in an edit to Tuesday's post, I got neither job to which I last applied. Both came as a result of general incompetence on my part, but at the very least, I gained a little bit of knowledge from the whole experience.
The big goof-ups I'd rather not go into, mainly because there isn't too much to gain from those behind some obvious corrections which are already in progress. Suffice to say that if you start a new e-mail account, you'd better be damn sure you have a way to check it regularly.
I've only had one face-to-face interview so far. That was the one from which I garnered the most information. The main nugget of information I garnered from that particular session was that, for the love of GOD, do not show up to an interview in anything other than a relaxed, alert state. I was certainly alert for that one, but "relaxed" was the last thing I would have ever described myself in that instant. I was so rattled primarily because it was my first interview, but also because there were a couple of last-minute hitches in my plan to get there that had me literally yelling in exasperation.
That's not to say the interview went badly; the position was advertised as an entry-level position, so the interviewer was perfectly aware that she would see her fair share of jittery applicants. She assured me throughout the interview that she had gone through the same bout of nerves the first time she had interviewed for a job. It made me feel a lot better.
Despite the employer's insistence that I had no reason to worry, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure, especially when it came to the question that I would be fine with committing to the organization for a career. It didn't sound so bad during the interview. But afterward, the more I thought about it, the more I realized what a daunting prospect it was. The position itself seemed like little more than hawking free offers to Home Depot-goers, and I don't know if that was "it" for me.
Regardless, things didn't quite work out and I didn't get either job. Just going to shake it off, learn what I have to learn and get to it again. I'm going to try to multiply my application output this time around.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
It's Going to be a Long Battle
So, after much deliberation, I decided on a schedule for this thing. I thought that at first, I would try to update the blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but I think it would be prudent to go ahead and try Tuesdays and Thursdays first, if only because something is more likely to happen two times a week than three.
I've also gotten critical advice from some of my friends, most of which has been pretty helpful. So I'll take that into consideration, as well.
There are times where the only voices that will get through to you will be those from your family. That rang very true last night. My dad sat me down and we had a really eye-opening discussion. I needed it, and I kind of realized how long it had been since I'd had a discussion that meaningful with my father. Or anybody in my family, for that matter.
I've had several friends give me advice and guidance along the way, and I don't intend to cheapen your contributions. I've followed your words closely, but when someone in your family calls you out, it hits home more than anything else really could.
What's most frustrating to me about this whole situation is that I've come about as close as humanly possible to people literally holding my hand to guide me along my post-collegiate journey. Several of you would agree with that. I've had people pull me aside and help me set goals and try to find motivation for the things I need to do with my life. While I thank my friends and family for that help, it still reflects poorly on myself that I sort of entered such a depressed state after school ended.
I'm not saying that I was miraculously cured of my shortcomings overnight. I have a LOT to work on, especially with regard to my attitude and my relationship with my family. But acknowledging that such faults exist is a hell of a start.
EDIT 10:27pm And no, I did not get either of the two jobs mentioned in the previous post. It was a learning experience, let me tell you.
I've also gotten critical advice from some of my friends, most of which has been pretty helpful. So I'll take that into consideration, as well.
There are times where the only voices that will get through to you will be those from your family. That rang very true last night. My dad sat me down and we had a really eye-opening discussion. I needed it, and I kind of realized how long it had been since I'd had a discussion that meaningful with my father. Or anybody in my family, for that matter.
I've had several friends give me advice and guidance along the way, and I don't intend to cheapen your contributions. I've followed your words closely, but when someone in your family calls you out, it hits home more than anything else really could.
What's most frustrating to me about this whole situation is that I've come about as close as humanly possible to people literally holding my hand to guide me along my post-collegiate journey. Several of you would agree with that. I've had people pull me aside and help me set goals and try to find motivation for the things I need to do with my life. While I thank my friends and family for that help, it still reflects poorly on myself that I sort of entered such a depressed state after school ended.
I'm not saying that I was miraculously cured of my shortcomings overnight. I have a LOT to work on, especially with regard to my attitude and my relationship with my family. But acknowledging that such faults exist is a hell of a start.
EDIT 10:27pm And no, I did not get either of the two jobs mentioned in the previous post. It was a learning experience, let me tell you.
Monday, March 7, 2011
It Begins
Well, after much humming and hawing over entering the job market, I'm finally ready to put myself out there. It took a lot of work and a lot of help along the way, but those who helped were glad to offer their assistance along the way. I thank you folks for that; you know who you are.
So far, I've applied to two places: a game company in the Bay Area, and an event management company in Anaheim. I haven't heard back from either, but I know it'll probably take a while for these guys to get back to me.
I've set up a personal schedule that I should ideally be following every day until I finally do secure employment. While searching for a job is my top priority, I also want to try to maintain an exercise schedule. My health has taken a backseat lately, so it's time to re-prioritize.
Having planned to go back up to Berkeley for a while now, I finally made the trip to my alma mater for a couple of days last weekend. There's something magical about that campus, especially with having been away from it for a few months. It loses its luster when you're constantly going to class and have a destination when you set foot on campus, but when you're simply there to visit, the whole structure takes on a new sort of beauty. I'd like to take the trip back a little more often, especially during football season if I don't wind up living there.
Lately I've been hooked on the simple little app "Angry Birds" for the iPhone. I'm incredibly late to the party, but it takes a lot of creativity and work to take something as simple as catapulting vengeful birds into kleptomaniac pigs and turn it into the moneymaking (and time-wasting) machine that occupies nearly every Smartphone currently in human possession.
It's an incredibly windy day today. The weather has been warm recently, so the air was full enough of pollen as it is. Now, it's like Mother Nature has launched a full-on assault on my allergies. And Mother Nature always wins.
So far, I've applied to two places: a game company in the Bay Area, and an event management company in Anaheim. I haven't heard back from either, but I know it'll probably take a while for these guys to get back to me.
I've set up a personal schedule that I should ideally be following every day until I finally do secure employment. While searching for a job is my top priority, I also want to try to maintain an exercise schedule. My health has taken a backseat lately, so it's time to re-prioritize.
Having planned to go back up to Berkeley for a while now, I finally made the trip to my alma mater for a couple of days last weekend. There's something magical about that campus, especially with having been away from it for a few months. It loses its luster when you're constantly going to class and have a destination when you set foot on campus, but when you're simply there to visit, the whole structure takes on a new sort of beauty. I'd like to take the trip back a little more often, especially during football season if I don't wind up living there.
Lately I've been hooked on the simple little app "Angry Birds" for the iPhone. I'm incredibly late to the party, but it takes a lot of creativity and work to take something as simple as catapulting vengeful birds into kleptomaniac pigs and turn it into the moneymaking (and time-wasting) machine that occupies nearly every Smartphone currently in human possession.
It's an incredibly windy day today. The weather has been warm recently, so the air was full enough of pollen as it is. Now, it's like Mother Nature has launched a full-on assault on my allergies. And Mother Nature always wins.
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