FASTEST. JOB. REJECTION. EVER.

Wow – I can think of a lot of words to say about this, but since I have a lot of respect for these companies, I’ll refrain from saying them.

Calling out to my friends for help…

Ok, I’m stuck.

It’s past my deadline, I STILL don’t have work (I know I won’t be getting any calls until Wednesday), and my unemployment switchover was on Thursday, so I don’t know what, if anything, I will be getting as a result of a very short season this year.  I’m equally frustrated both by the job hunt, for which no one is calling for an interview, and closeness of my transportation goal – it’s in sight, yet I’m stuck in the mud because of all of this financial BS.

If you have a job, and know of positions that may be opening soon or already are open, and are in the Northern Illinois area (It’s expanded due to how short of time it will take me to get my license back and a vehicle to drive); or if you are unemployed but have heard any rumors of places, please let me know.

Right now only McDonalds (which I have worked at 3 times) and West Telemarketing (for which I was terminated and was blacklisted from the company, thus never being able to be rehired at) are the only two places for which I know I won’t be applying at, both due to reasons that may/will prevent me from being hired at.  Beyond that, I should be open for almost anything.

After Wednesday, it’ll be ok to call – otherwise, send me a message.  Need this help ASAP.  Thanks.

A friend of mine got me thinking….

I had a realization today while trying to come up with an argument for a friend of mine should not have yanked his MySpace page that maybe I need to change what I do.  Counting this blog posting (and the one I am in progress with – hopefully I can finish and post it by Friday) I will have 287 posts on MySpace and 158 posts on WordPress, some of which overlap.  (I don’t count my notes on Facebook, due to the fact that all of them are the same as my MySpace Blog Posts.)

Old Songs I Wrote From College

As many of you are well aware, I’ve been writing stories, articles, and song lyrics for years now. None of it has been published, however.

As I was showing Shauna my pictures this past weekend, I came across a few things I did in the past. Although it’s unlikely any of these will go beyond where they’re at, it’s handy to show the progression I made in my lyric writing, as well as the mental state of my time when they were writtned, back when I was going to Rock Valley College. Although they have no dates on them, it is assumed they were written between 1997 – 2001.

Dreamer’s Birthday

This poem was written for, given to, and is dedicated to Shauna Beeh, my girlfriend, whose birthday was recent.

Joelle’s Failure: A Lesson In Partnerships

Last night a good thing and a bad thing happened on the Biggest Loser.

The Significance of MLK’s Birthday…

As I write this, we’re only a few hours away from a certain history maker’s birthday and hours away from actual history itself.  I think this story I have for you, though, may give a partial understanding of a failure I am seeing in our lifestyles.

I was sitting at Spring Garden Friday night, and happen to watch some people leave, when I noticed a couple of young black men heading towards the door.  One of them asked why they have Monday and Tuesday off from school.  His buddy had no clue.  It was their girlfriends – who are white (and the reason why I was looking in the first place) who told them that Monday was Martin Luther King’s Birthday (as it is celebrated – according to the news, it was actually Thursday.)  To make it worse, the kid who asked argued with her that it was actually the following Monday as they walked out the door.

Now, barring any sort of tragedy that follows within the next 48 hours, we will be involved in what will be the most historic event in the civil rights movement since Dr. Kings assassination, and yet these two young kids pointed out a jarring thought:  How many people really understand why we celebrate and have these holidays?  For that matter, how many holidays do we have that bare little to no meaning to those who should celebrate it?

The most obvious one to me is Casmir Pulaski, which is celebrated on the first Monday in March in schools, and the reason why we celebrate it I can never remember.  We celebrate President’s Day in place of both George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays, which are mere days apart and whose presidencies are mostly remembered for the first two major wars America remembers.  (For those who don’t – and if you ever catch “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” – or even catch the commercials in which show clips of him “Jaywalking” – you know there are people dumb enough not to know this, Those wars would be the Revolutionary war that brought our independence from Britain, and the Civil War, which was mainly fought because of slavery.  And for those of you smart enough to know I oversimplified it, don’t get offended because I didn’t drag out a few books and researched it to satisfy your needs.)  Then there’s Christopher Columbus’s Birthday, celebrated in similar fashion usually around the second Monday of October with a day of school, whose historical significance came prior to the first pilgrims landing here with the “discovery” of America.  (I say that in quotes because it could be argued that the ancestors of Native Americans, still often called “Indians” even though there’s little in common between them and the ancestors of the actual country, originally travelled to America when there was a landbridge between Russia and America that was connected near Alaska – and of which is another separate discussion.)  I am unsure if St. Patrick’s Day is a Birthday or not, but it’s obvious the importance of the day to Irish people (besides the requirement of green clothing and green beer, the latter of which I have still yet to try.)

The rest of the holidays we celebrate have no significance to historic people, so far as I know.  Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July were all created for soldiers and wars of different eras, Labor Day is supposed to be for the hard-working people, and Mother’s and Father’s Days are pretty obvious.  Valentine’s Day as also a Holiday I am unsure of.  Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are religious holidays (if I remember correctly), as is Easter – since I am not religious, I won’t step on sacred ground and give info I myself am unsure of.  (Or, in other words, I’m not going to waste time arguing between you nutcase Christians and you nutcase Pagans who believe that Christmas is supposed to be YOUR holiday – it’s not that important to me to figure out which side is right.)  I’m sure that April Fool’s Day and New Years Day, however, have absolutely no connection to historic Birthdays that we currently celebrate.

With all of the holidays we do celebrate, it’s easy to lose awareness of why we celebrate these holidays – and in some cases, we shouldn’t care about the roots of that holiday.  (Seriously, do you think that if Jesus Christ were alive today he’d want people bickering over why we celebrate his birthday or whether it came from a Pagan holiday or not?  I seriously doubt he’d be that much of an asshole – or that God would be that anal, if you believe in him, either.) However, I do think we often forget why we celebrate these holidays beyond Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day – especially when the holidays don’t involve drinking or remembering someone of some sort.

Sometimes, we forget the reason why we celebrate that day, or what it is we are supposed to remember, which is why MLK’s Birthday bothers me.  It’s not uncommon to hear black people use the same racial slur that White people used to use as a derogatory remark about them to talk between each other, or to hear how they often refer to their women as derogatory remarks and possessions.  I thankfully don’t see amongst everyone who’s black, and I’m just as equally thankful that it doesn’t go on in other races – I don’t see spanish people putting themselves down, or chinese people insulting themselves, for example.

I’m often offended by it, as many of my friends who are black have worked hard to not be considered the same way that people who talk like that often refer to them as.  If I bring up that I’m offended by it, I’m labeled racist – after all, I’m a big fat white guy.  Doesn’t matter if anyone else notices or not.

Martin Luther King Jr. died because he was trying to quit the oppression of white people over anyone who was colored – not just blacks.  He tried doing it in peaceful, non-violent ways, which was part of the reason why he is remembered today.  Among the people who fought for the Civil Rights movement, he is the one we celebrate, and it’s his birthday for which we celebrate that fact and his principals.  If this is where America is heading, where the people for which we celebrate and recognize are forgotten by the very people who should be remembering it – when more white people remember what should be a black holiday – there’s a problem.

Most of you who will read this know I’m not being racist and know I’m not judgmental on a person’s color.  Most of you also know your history, know the significance of the things we celebrate, and are aware of what’s going on in the world today, and most of aren’t bigoted either.  I also know, though, that most of you see these things as I have been seeing them, that we’re putting more importance for people who are bring us down.  This isn’t limited to blacks who are forgetting when MLK’s Birthday is while listening to rap; there’s still a significant number of whites listen to or believe in hateful ways, who are part of supremacist groups.  There are people of other races who believe they can not get out of their ghetto, and who believe they can not escape their surroundings any other way than by being badasses.

Right now it’s an hour before midnight, The Steelers and Cardinals have played their way into the Superbowl, and in a couple of days we’ll have sworn in out first Black President.  The majority of people won’t be celebrating tomorrow or even Tuesday, due to the fact that we have jobs and responsibilities in our lives to which are more important and significant right now.  Most of us normally wouldn’t be making a big deal out of this – to kids and some government workers, it’s just another day off from school or work, and for a good chunk of us who were never involved, or didn’t have relatives involved in the civil rights movement, it’d be just another day.  I think we need to change that.

I think tomorrow, whether you’re black, white, spanish, asian, or even alien, we need to start acknowledging and recognizing why tomorrow – which, byt the time you read this, may be today – is so important and significant.  We need to recognize not just the man whose birthday we are celebrating, but the people who paved the way for Barack Obama to be president, who fought for the rights to allow one of my cousin’s to make it into a university so that she could study law, who fought for the rights that allowed me to meet many of my friends that I met at school or work, or who paved the way for a good chunk of the music I listen to, the TV and Movies I watch, the video games I play or books that I read, to be made the way they are.   We need to get rid of the hate we are used to seeing everyday,not in the music, art, movies, TV or books, where that belongs, but in our own actions and our interactions with other people.  We need to remember the reasons we celebrate or recognize these holidays, not just the ones where we celebrate dead president’s, figureheads of religions, or patriots, or the ones we use as an excuse to get drunk, stoned or stupid.  I wouldn’t be so worried about this if I didn’t know how stupid or forgetful we as human beings are, as this story, and history itself, illustrates.

In short, we have a day in which to preach about how to treat each other as equals, not just by skin color, but by age, gender or sexual preference as well.  Let’s start remembering it and using it for that.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tips for the New Bus Rider

With gas prices being ridiculous for the last few years, more people are riding the busses than ever before.  Unfortunately, more people means more headaches.

Take, for example my day yesterday.  Bad enough I had to go to the doctors in the rain, but the bus rain a little late as well.  We get to North Towne – where I was supposed to transfer to the North Main Bus -only to have the bus drive off without me.  (This is in spite of the driver radioing it in.)  Luckily, another bus that got downtown faster was there, and I was able to get down to the terminal before three.  This should have been enough time to hit the rest room, but as luck would have it, some guy hogged the toilet the whole time I needed it.  So, I got on the bus I needed (the East State Street Bus) and sat down.  Unfortunately for me there, they had to remove me from my seat so a wheel chair could get on.  As soon as the wheelchair got off a few blocks from Swedish American, a few of the other travelers who had gotten on after me – as well as a lady who hopped the seats – grabbed the seat I needed.  So, I stood the whole trip from Down Town to Swedish American.

I’d also add more about missing the bus after the appointment to head back downtown, as well as walking home from North Towne mall later that night, but those are typical days for me, and far from the points I want to address.  Had I not known my way around, I would not have had those opportunities taken away from me, and had I not been patient, I might have had to walk from Loves Park.  Compared to most new and experienced riders, my day was not totally bad.

It does, however, bring in a lot of headaches that are very unnecessary.  Hence, why my bored-filled mind decided to write this:  To help you, either the new-by looking to save money on gas, or the experienced-yet-unsure person, to get to where you want to go.  Follow what helps me, and you might be a better rider.

Expect something near the end of August.

I haven’t had much time or use of this blog as of late, aand I can’t promise much yet.  I am debating on what I will do with this, as much of my stuff now resides on MySpace.  Keep your eyes peeled – If I don’t kill it, you will know by the end of August what will be going on here.

Simple Request

To all of the sick-minded idiots out there (I’m being extra nice here, since I am at a public library) who must insist on adding their latest gadget, sick porn, or other odds-and-ends that have no pertinence to my life (or, for that matter, hopefully not yours either):  I may not update this as regularly as I used to, but I do check this, and remove those of you idiots who do it.  Please quit wasting my time, and find something constructive to do with your life.  If you can not do this, do everybody a favor and blow your brains out, as I am sure I am NOT the only person you are upsetting.

Thank you.  – Wayne

A Message for our Idiot Governor

Dear Mr. Not-Getting-Another-Vote-From-Me:

Return to the Movies

Just for the record, I decided to change the scale of how good a movie is. Previously, I only had 4 settings: Worth paying full theatre price to see, see it at reduced price if you can, rent on DVD, and see it at the dollar theaters. After this weekend, though, I decided to add a few new rankings: So good it’s worth seeing at full price multiple times, Worth downloading but not worth paying for, and downloading is its own punishment. One of the two films prompted the new additions to the scale; the other wasn’t nearly as bad…

My Resolutions for 2008

First off, let me say that, of and for the record, I wrote 2007 off 2 weeks ago after delivering the last of my Christmas cards – that’s how disappointed I was with my year. There was a lot of directions I was expecting things to go to, but where I am at now is not one of them. The bright side is that a few of the directions I expected to be were worse than I am now: I’m not dead, I’m not staying at a shelter, and I’m not at that place I was at a year ago.

Beware The Man Asking “Can I Have A Quarter?”

Let’s pretend you were working in a national fast-food restaurant – say, McDonald’s, for example – and you’re out in the lobby (where the customers sit and eat, for those who’ve never been in a fast-food place) cleaning tables.  During this time, you overhear a conversation between two grown men, old enough that they should and could be working but not old enough to look like they should be retired.  What they’re talking about is bumming, swapping stories of cons they’ve pulled and bragging about how much more they earn than the average fast-food worker.

Unfortunately, I don’t need to pretend this one, because this was what did happen while working at McDonalds a few years back.  It took everything within me NOT to beat them up, NOT to kick them out, NOT to respond to them.  This isn’t the only time to be witness to some bum scams.

Five Sci-Fi Marvels I’d Like To See Come To Life…

Has anyone seen the latest issue of CPU magazine? This one has to be one of the coolest yet, in terms of articles about new technology: They break down Surface, Microsoft’s nice new tabletop computing technology, and Intel’s new technology to boost the resolution and improve the quality of video. One of these, however, disturbed me: an organization started by a college student in Japan is developing technology to allow users to be able to grab 3D virtual objects. Yes, I’d be lying if I didn’t see some coolness in it (such as grabbing a unique weapon in a sci-fi game like HALO for which there is no real way to re-create), but it brings us disturbingly closer to a Matrix-like future.

It got me thinking, though, just what would really be cool to see in real life. So, I made a list of it.

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A Message for those who wish to contact me…

Earlier this evening I had the distinct pleasure of losing an important number, left by someone who was trying to contact me via the IM doodads I have on my blogs.  The machine I was on – my friends machine – crashed, and all of the messages that had opened on meebo.com were lost.

More coming soon

Keep up on my MySpace page if you want to know how I am…

Quick Update

As you can plainly see, I am still alive.

Just because I don’t always have time to update this DOESN’T mean it’s an open door for all of the scumbags to use as their personal SPAM posting.  (And, dumb—es, it would make sense to grab the most recent and relevant topic to comment on!)

For those who care, most of my stuff is going on my MySpace page.  For those who don’t I will be back soon enough.

A Lot to Say

A lot to say in a little time…