lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

ARD Entry #6 - Wrestlemania 33 Predictions And Picks

I haven't done one of these in a while, so if you'll indulge me, I'm going to write a disgustingly long entry about Wrestlemania 33 and give my picks for who I think will win these predetermined matches of a so-called fake sport.

Before I get started on the picks, though, I will say that this show has a thoroughly impressive card. To me, it almost feels as though none of the matches should be pushed to the pre-show, since it almost feels disrespectful to the performers involved.  This is especially apparent for the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, since Big Show worked his ass off to get into amazing shape for his purported match with Shaquille O'Neal, only for the match to be scrapped.  So Show is relegated to the pre-show in what must be one of his final matches.  I can't imagine how his body is holding up after twenty years in the business.  So I'm a bit disappointed that there even has to be a pre-show at all. I would have rather had a five hour main card than a two hour pre-show with two matches and 90 minutes of filler.  But that's me.

With that being said, let's look at the card and make some predictions!

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

I remember hearing someone saying that this was the most stacked battle royal in a long time.  Well, let's take a look at the competitors...we have Big Show, Braun Strowman, Sami Zayn, Mark Henry, Mojo Rawley...uh...Jinder Mahal...erm...the entirety of the Smackdown tag division...okay, so this match has like three people who could feasibly win the match and about two dozen jobbers.  I'm disappointed enough that the Smackdown tag titles aren't even being defended.  Really, though, those titles have fallen into obscurity ever since the Wyatt Family lost them to American Alpha late last year.  I'll get into THAT storyline later on.  So the vast majority of this match is full of jobbers and tag teams.  Which means that there are probably only one or two possible winners here: Big Show or Braun Strowman.  I'd like to give Sami Zayn a chance of winning, but I feel like Braun is just going to eliminate him.  And seeing as how, out of all of these competitors, Braun likely has the most to gain out of winning this match, I will give him the nod for the victory.

Winner: Braun Strowman

Cruiserweight Championship Match – Neville vs. Austin Aries

While I think the apparently annual tradition of the Wrestlemania ladder match should have gone to the cruiserweights, this is a very suitable substitute.  I'm rather saddened that this is a pre-show match, since it continues the feeling that the cruiserweight division is treated as second-class citizens in the company.  But I will attempt to focus on the match. These two have built up a fairly strong feud over the past few weeks, and Aries has looked spectacular since his return to active in-ring competition.  And ever since adopting his heel persona, Neville has been better than ever and finally relevant in the company after being neglected for such a long time.  If you want to talk about show-stealing matches, this has the potential for that so long as they're given fifteen minutes or so.  If not, it will feel like a rush job, and that is yet another disappointment for the cruiserweight division.  So who wins?  My heart wants to go with Neville, because the cruiserweight division has been very unstable ever since its inception last year, what with there having been four champions over the course of seven months.  I feel like Neville could provide the stability at the top of the division that the other competitors desperately need.  Then again, with Neville already having gone through two of the top faces in the division (Rich Swann and Jack Gallagher) and Cedric Alexander out with an injury, it would probably make more sense to put the title on Aries, since he could feud with guys like Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, and The Brian Kendrick, among others.  So I suppose I'm going to pick Austin Aries to win, because Wrestlemania is usually about feel good moments, and this would be a great one.

Winner: Austin Aries

Smackdown Women's Championship Six Pack Challenge Match – Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs. Carmella

The fact that it took until the week before Mania to decide on the stipulation for this match is unfortunate.  For weeks, this match was so nebulous that I wished they would have just called it a gauntlet match or, hell, even a women's ladder match.  But at least we all got some peace of mind with Naomi making her return to the ring, which, considering she had to relinquish the title less than two months ago, makes things feel a bit wonky.  Still, I'm glad that the women of Smackdown had their match moved to the main card thanks to overwhelming fan support. Women are taking part in three matches this year, which is seemingly far more than in previous years.  Sure, one of those matches is a mixed tag match, but still, it's a step in the right direction.  I just wish that one of the title matches would have been a singles match as opposed to a fatal four way and a six pack challenge.  But it's better to have as many of these awesome, talented women on the card as possible.  So who wins this match?  I'm quite certain Alexa Bliss won't be retaining her title today.  And as much as I'd like to see either Mickie or Natalya win, since there have been rumblings that both women may be winding down their careers in the next couple of years, I feel like the hometown advantage will be the way to go despite how WWE always seems to make people lose matches in their hometowns.  Naomi shouldn't have had to relinquish the title in the first place, and I'm betting she'll win the title back at Mania.

Winner: Naomi

By the way, I should probably mention that I'm taking my match list off Wikipedia, so if something has changed or is inaccurate, I do apologize.

Raw Tag Team Title Triple Threat Ladder Match – Gallows and Anderson vs. Enzo and Cass vs. Sheamus and Cesaro

I really hope WWE isn't going to try to capture the lightning in a bottle they had with the Triangle Ladder Match they had many years ago with the Hardyz, the Dudleys, and Edge and Christian, because that will never happen again.  However, this should still be a pretty good match.  Enzo seems to always love flying around the ring, so I'm expecting at least one spot where he either leaps off a ladder or is tossed off one.  And we all know how ridiculously athletic Cesaro is, so I'd imagine he'll have a spot or two to show off.  All that being said, I still don't feel like this feud has the fire and intensity behind it that others do.  Ever since The New Day lost the belts, the Raw tag division has felt adrift in a sea of uncertainty.  Not even remotely close to the level of the poor Smackdown tag division, but still, there isn't any stability in the division.  While chaos might sometimes be a good thing (like in the Smackdown women's division, where it feels like every competitor there is on relatively equal footing and any one of them could win the title on any given night), ever since The New Day broke the record for longest reigning tag champs in WWE history, the titles have felt a bit less important.  Not that Sheamus and Cesaro or the Club are bad teams.  Sheamus and Cesaro have turned into one of the most entertaining teams in the world today, and the Club are pretty much THE heel team in WWE right now.  I just kind of wish that The New Day had held on to the titles until Mania (or at least the Rumble) and lost the titles at one of the major shows.  But oh well. As much as I'd like to see Gallows and Anderson retain, I have a weird feeling that Enzo and Cass are going to walk out as Raw Tag Team Champions.  I'm a bit sick of their schtick, but maybe putting the titles on them will bring them back to prominence.

Winners: Enzo Amore and Big Cass

Intercontinental Championship Match – Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin

One year ago, Baron Corbin shocked everyone by winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal as a seemingly random entrant, while Dean Ambrose had a shitfest match against Brock Lesnar.  Since then, Ambrose has been WWE Champion and has held the IC belt for far longer than necessary.  After that fantastic feud between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz last year, having Ambrose hold the belt for as long as he has has basically helped us forget that the title even exists.  I actually cannot remember the last time Ambrose defended the title.  It wasn't defended at either the Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber, since Ambrose was a participant in the Rumble and the Chamber matches.  Corbin, on the other hand, has had a slow but steady build to this point.  He started out as Just Another Big Dude, but has found his footing in recent months, and both his in ring work and promo skills have improved drastically.  Six months ago, when JBL kept yelling that Baron Corbin would be a future world champion, I scoffed at the idea. Now that Corbin is heading into an IC title match with Ambrose in what has been a pretty well-built feud, I could feasibly see Corbin winning a world title in the next two years.  But the journey to the world title begins with the IC title.  Baron Corbin HAS to win this match.  And I believe he will.

Winner: Baron Corbin

Mixed Tag Team Match – John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse

Say what you will about the motivations behind this match, but it has been built up surprisingly well.  The Total Bellas parody vignettes, while incredibly dorky, I found quite amusing.  Maryse has really been the shining star of this whole feud. Back when she was an in-ring competitor, she just felt like just another model turned poorly trained wrestler.  But ever since she returned, she's been a surprising breath of fresh air.  She's a strong independent woman who don't take no guff and stands up for her man when he won't stand up for himself.  She's a badass, and I respect the hell out of her for that.  Miz and Cena have had some blistering back and forth promos over the past month, and while Miz has always had great points and moments, it's basically impossible to hold a candle to Cena in the promo department.  Say what you will about his in-ring style or the fact that he definitely has a particular cadence and formula to his promos, but he can turn a crowd at the drop of a hat.  He might actually be the best talker in wrestling history not named Paul Heyman.  This should be a pretty entertaining match, but I think we all know what's going to happen. Cena and Bella win, and Cena proposes to Nikki in front of 70,000 people.  If that doesn't happen, I'll be a bit surprised, but it really feels like that's what this entire feud has been leading towards.  So I suppose we'll all see what happens, but Cena and Bella are definitely picking up the win.

Winners: John Cena and Nikki Bella

United States Championship Match – Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

Jericho vs. Owens could very well be an early candidate for feud of the year in my book.  Their Festival of Friendship was the crowning moment in this friendship-turned-blood-feud that we all knew was going to happen but never knew WHEN it was going to happen.  Personally, I would have preferred to see these two feud over the Universal Title, but that's me.  And with the winner of the Universal Title match being a part-timer anyway no matter who wins, it's going to mean that, just like right after the brand split before the Universal Title was created, the US Title was the top title on Raw.  And seeing as how Owens carried the Universal Title for six months (say what you will about how he kept the title, it's still an impressive feat to hold a title for this long nowadays), he'd be the perfect person to hold what will essentially be the top title on Raw for the foreseeable future.  Besides, Jericho is going on tour with his band, so this will be a great blowoff to a stellar feud.

Winner: Kevin Owens

I'm halfway through the card.  I may be able to finish writing this entry by the time Summerslam rolls around.

Raw Women's Championship Fatal Four Way Elimination Match – Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

While I would have preferred to see a singles match between Charlotte (who would have held the title until now) and Bayley to have Bayley win the title and end Charlotte's caveat-filled PPV undefeated streak, I suppose this will have to do. I still think Nia is FAR too green to be on the main roster, let alone in a match at Wrestlemania, but I'm not booking the show. Sasha has been teasing somewhat of a heel turn for a few weeks, what with her basically helping Bayley cheat so Bayley could win and retain the title, and it's entirely possible that the turn could happen here.  Or it could happen tomorrow night on Raw.  Either way, it seems almost a foregone conclusion that there's going to be a Bayley vs. Sasha feud in the near future, sort of as an extension of their apparently epic feud in NXT.  I was not watching NXT at the time, so I haven't witnessed their feud myself, but I certainly would like to when I have the opportunity.  Anyway, I'm glad that women are getting more and more representation at most WWE events, and this should be a hell of a match.  Charlotte is one of the best wrestlers in the entire company, Bayley is the perennial fan favorite, Sasha has all the potential in the world, and Nia...can knock people down really easily.  Of course, with the elimination stipulation thrown in, this makes everything a bit weirder.  I kind of get the feeling that we're either going to see Bayley somehow squeak out a victory or have Sasha screw Bayley out of the title and win it over Charlotte. Then again, if WWE is going with a slow burn Sasha heel turn, then Bayley is definitely keeping the title.  Let's go with that.

Winner: Bayley

Singles Match - Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles

While I would have significantly preferred Styles to be in a title match (let's just forget the whole mess with Orton and Wyatt and the Rumble for now), I will say that, even though dirt sheets knew about this match weeks ago, the build has actually been halfway decent.  Though I will ALSO say that the line between face and heel is very awkwardly skewed.  Styles has a legitimate gripe about not being in the WWE Title match after Orton basically forfeited his Rumble victory, then saying, “Nah, just kidding,” after Styles won the right to face Wyatt at Mania.  But I did say I was going to forget about that whole mess, so let's just focus on the match we have.  Styles is easily the best in-ring performer in the company, and as a shrewd armchair booker who has never stepped into a wrestling ring in his life, I think he should have a more appropriate opponent for the biggest wrestling show of the year.  Don't get me wrong; Shane is still a surprisingly agile man for his age.  But he was never a technical wizard or a charismatic enigma.  He was a kid who took ridiculous risks for the spectacle, and now that he's in his forties, he can't really take those risks.  I mean sure, he jumped off the Hell in a Cell last year, but it just didn't feel all that spectacular.  And seeing as how he's had all of two matches in the past year while Styles has been WWE Champion and has pulled stellar matches out of everyone he's faced, it just feels like Styles should have a more appropriate opponent for Mania.  Like Samoa Joe.  Or John Cena.  Or Finn Balor. Or Shinsuke Nakamura.  Especially considering Styles' age, I can't imagine he has TOO many Manias left in him.  He's still the best wrestler in the company, but the full time schedule is going to wear on him, I'd imagine.  So there will probably be a couple of awesome spots, a few good strike exchanges, but in the end, I can't imagine Styles losing this match.

Winner: AJ Styles

Non-Sanctioned Match – Seth Rollins vs. Triple H

To think that had Samoa Joe gone to Smackdown instead of Raw, we would have had a far better build for this match and what would likely have been a knock-down, drag-out fight between these two.  But a freak accident messed up Rollins' knee, so we have a “Non-Sanctioned Match,” which as far as I can tell, will basically be the same as a No Holds Barred match?  I guess?  It probably just means that Samoa Joe can interfere, seeing as how he doesn't have a match on the card (which is a travesty in and of itself).  There will probably be weapons, run-ins, and other assorted shenanigans.  These two COULD have torn the house down in a passing of the torch moment, but instead, we're getting what will probably boil down to a car crash.  It could still be great, especially if both guys get really brutal with each other.  But I'm not holding out a ton of hope for this match to be as good as it could have been.  Who wins?  I think Rollins has to win, since it's wrestling and the good guy should triumph in the end.

Winner: Seth Rollins

Singles Match – The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns

If WWE Creative is trying to turn Roman Reigns heel, this would be the perfect opportunity.  While there are MANY others whom I would have chosen to face Taker (Styles, Joe, Cena, Balor)...I actually don't have a second part to that statement. Reigns is actually much better than a lot of people give him credit for, but he still needs a great partner to work with in order to perform at his best.  His matches with Styles were fantastic, but Styles could make ME seem like a competent wrestler.  And Reigns' feud with Rusev was actually going fairly well up until Reigns won the US Title, but again, that's because Rusev and Lana are just plain amazing.  At this point in his career, Taker likely needs someone to carry him to a decent match, but since Reigns ALSO needs a good partner, I'm a bit worried about how this match will go.  And seeing as how Reigns is like Cena in that he always wins lol, it's difficult to choose a winner.  Though ever since Taker lost the streak to Lesnar, it does seem like he's probably ready to hang it up.  Then again, we've been saying that for about a decade now, and he's still going somehow.  I don't expect this to be a good match.  But you never know.  As to who wins?  As much as my heart wants to go with Taker, I just can't help but shake off the feeling that Vince wants Reigns to be the next face of the company by any means necessary.  I don't like saying this, but I think Roman Reigns might actually win.

Winner:  ...Roman Reigns

That felt awful to write.

WWE Universal Championship Match – Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar

I would have been perfectly happy to see this feud end without a title on the line.  Hell, I would have been perfectly happy to not see this feud crop up at all.  Goldberg has been great on the mic, Paul Heyman has been Paul Heyman on the mic, but in the build up to the two encounters they've had, the payoff just feels so lackluster.  Goldberg has had roughly five minutes of actual match time across two singles matches and the Royal Rumble.  So we simply don't know if he can even last ten or fifteen minutes.  The guy is still in awesome shape, especially considering he's fifty years old.  But I just can't imagine this match being anything other than an utter train wreck.  And really, no matter who wins, in the long run, the fans lose.  Because either Goldberg retains and very likely promptly retires, sending the Universal Title picture into utter chaos again, or Lesnar wins and we have him once again show up four times a year to perform the exact same boring match against whichever sacrificial lamb Creative decides to send to the slaughter.  Sure, it'll pop ratings for a week or two, but how are things going to go for the next four months leading to Summerslam?  I doubt Vince thinks that far ahead these days.  This will either be another two minute Goldberg squash match, or maybe five minutes tops of Lesnar tossing Goldberg around.  Not exactly Universal Title match material, methinks.  As much as it pains me to say this, probably Lesnar will walk out Universal Champion.  Blech.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

WWE Championship Match – Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton

This is a feud that could have lasted another year and it would have been THE feud to look forward to in 2018.  But you know how WWE loves to rush feuds for the sake of PPV buys (even though PPV buys don't really exist anymore what with the WWE Network and all), so they had the Wyatt Family drop the tag belts to American Alpha and hurried this feud to its logical conclusion about a year ahead of what I would schedule.  And it definitely feels like they cut huge chunks out of what could have possibly been a fantastic, nearly two year long feud.  The whole thing went from Orton being the servant one week to Orton burning down the Wyatt compound the next week.  That could have been like four months' worth of build, but they crammed it into a week.  And it just all feels so rushed.  Don't get me wrong here: I LOVE Wyatt as champion.  I just would have liked to see him hold it for, say, nine or ten months, just utterly dominating Smackdown alongside Orton, Harper, and possibly a returning Rowan.  But here we are.  I desperately want to see Wyatt retain, since he's deserved a world title run for years now, and an Orton victory would be Just Another Orton Victory.  What I wouldn't mind seeing is this match getting overbooked to hell and back, with possible run-ins by Harper and Rowan and (if things go the way I would want them to go) the Broken Hardys.  But that's fantasy booking, and I would have written a fantasy booking entry, but this week has been super busy.  Against my better judgment, I am going to go with my heart and say Bray Wyatt retains.  There's no logic to this pick.  I just don't want to see Orton standing tall after a truncated, disappointing feud.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

Well, there you go.  That was probably the longest entry I will ever write.  At least until next year.  Or unless I feel like writing a post-Mania entry.  But even if I do, I doubt I will have time to do so until later in the week.  I have a LOT of stuff coming up, and those things take precedence.  If you managed to read this entire gargantuan entry, thank you, and also I'm sorry you had to read so much.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

ARD Entry #5 - Moving Quickly

I realize it's been several days since last I wrote on this blog.  That is not to say that I have not been writing at all.  I've just been writing other things in other places that, quite frankly, take precedence over this blog at this time. Doesn't help that the past few days have been very busy.  All of Thursday was spent at the adult education center where I spent the majority of last year.  And after teaching a class there, I was taken to dinner by my instructor, who was meeting three of his other former students.  And since the restaurant was a thousand miles away from my place, I did not get home until after 9 PM.  So I spent over 13 hours out of the apartment that day.  And yesterday was chaotic as well. On the plus side, I FINALLY got some nice shoes that will be perfect for any job interview.

Speaking of which, since it's apparently actually been FIVE DAYS since I last wrote here, I may as well mention now that I did hear back from one of the prospective employers, and after a phone interview a few days ago and a video interview which I completed earlier today, I am going in next week for a sort of group interview/meeting thing.  The recruiter with whom I spoke both online and over the phone seemed like she was interested in having me join their team, since she invited me to said group interview.  But I don't yet know if that means I will make the final cut.  What it DOES mean is that I do technically have a job interview soon!  I'm not sure how well I performed on the video interview, since it was just me talking to my webcam answering questions that a website asked me.  And I'm fairly certain I answered at least one of the technical questions wrong.  But I'm hoping that the group interview on Monday will push me into a spot where I am asked to join their team.  Because that would mean my job search would be over for the time being.  If they do offer me the position, I have no intentions of turning them down.  The place (at least from the various videos I've seen online) seems to have a great attitude and a lot of potential for growth.  In fact, when I brought it up at the dinner with my instructor and his former students, one of them informed me that another of his former students actually works out there and loves it.  So it gave me a lot more confidence moving forward with them.

The best part about this place?  It is super easy to get to using public transportation.  For those not in the know, my city's public transit system is...well...shit.  We have two light rail tracks that only cover a small percentage of the entire city, and the bus system is a mess.  Another job I applied for would require me to take two buses and one of the light rail tracks to get there, and it would take me about 90 minutes to get to that facility from my apartment.  This job I'm going in for on Monday is significantly easier to get to.  It's still a bit of a trek, but all I have to do is ride light rail, then walk a couple blocks and I'm there.  I took a quick trip out there this morning to see how long it would take, and while it took a while on surface streets, I know exactly how to get there using public transit, so if I am offered the job, it should be relatively easy to get there.

I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have the job yet.  My mind keeps drifting to all these plans I'm going to start on once I'm hired, like paying off my credit card bill and finally putting some money away in savings.  But I have to stop myself and keep my mind in the present.  I can't plan for the future until the present is taken care of.  And we shall see what happens very soon.  I really do hope they consider me for the job, because it would make life about a thousand times better.  And it showed me that putting in the hard work and diligence potentially paid off.  But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Soon, I will know where my fate lies.  I do hope it's with the company I'm interviewing with this week.

I'm at the point in one of these entries where I know if I push forward for just a bit more, I will hit my thousand word mark.  But that isn't the point of this blog anymore.  So I will leave you with that, and hopefully the next time I write here, I will be employed.  Keep your fingers crossed for me. This could be the first step towards the rest of my life.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

ARD Entry #4 - With Good Reason

Yesterday was the first time in over a year where I didn't post anything.  Nearing the end of the day, it felt kind of odd knowing I wouldn't be bothering writing anything. But I'm okay with it.  Besides, I got all my talking out yesterday by recording an episode of my video game podcast.  I just didn't have it in me to bother saying anything else.  Which reminds me, I really need to go back and do a few minor edits to it so it can be posted tonight.  I don't want to let it sit on the shelf for several days. I want to have a relatively quick turnaround between recording and posting.  So once I'm free to do that (which won't be until a bit later in the day), I shall go about doing that.

Still no word from either prospective employer.  I'm starting to get that little nagging feeling that I may not hear back, and my search will continue.  Not that I've stopped applying since hearing from them.  Though I will admit that my application rate has slowed somewhat.  I need to get that back into gear in case neither of these jobs pan out.  I do hope at least one of them does, though.  It would be nice to have a steady income.

I think that's all I have for now. Just wanted to write a little something, since the urge to write is still within me.  Just not the urge to write massive novel-length entries like I had been before.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

ARD Entry #3 - Get A Haircut, Ya Damn Hippie!

I forgot to mention one thing that happened yesterday that was probably way more important than anything else I wrote: I got a haircut.  It's been a long time coming, and while it does feel a tad bit odd, I do prefer having my hair at a much shorter length.  It had been roughly eight months since my last haircut, and my hair was basically doing whatever the hell it wanted to, and nothing I did could tame it.  So it's great to have it mostly under control now.  At least for the next month or two.

Last night, I was determined to go to one of the 75 fast food places within walking distance this morning and get some breakfast.  Upon waking, I realized I did not want to go.  However, after most of my morning ritual (still haven't showered yet, still need to), I remembered I didn't really have anything to eat in my place.  So I put on clothes and started out towards a place I had coupons for.  However, when I crossed the street into the parking lot of the strip mall where a bunch of those fast food places live, I suddenly decided again that I did not want to go.  So I stopped in at the grocery store, didn't pick anything up, and went back home.  So on the one hand, I'm proud of myself for not giving in to temptation and at least attempting to remain strong.  On the other hand, I have no food.  On the third hand, that's okay, because I probably won't really need anything in the morning.  On the fourth hand, I'm kind of disappointed in myself for wanting to go to one of those fast food joints in the first place.  In the end, though, I merely sit here knowing that my final decision was likely for the best.  Unless it turns into one of those things where I start to obsess over fast food until I go crazy and spend way too much money at one of those places.  In which case my decision today will have been for the worse.

I guess we'll see how that turns out soon.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

ARD Entry #2 - Sprouting

This new era of shorter entries is actually kind of a relief.  I don't feel any pressure to write more than necessary.  Though I can't really shake the idea of not writing SOMETHING on any given day.  Even with a day that was a bit of a roller coaster ride.  Had a bit of a rough morning, a pretty good afternoon, and an evening that was marred by my accidentally breaking my last good ceramic bowl.  So I have no way to eat things with liquid in them.  I mean I have a couple of small bowls, but they just don't cut it.  So I'm going to have to find a new good bowl...not the greatest experience.

What IS great is that I heard back from another prospective employer.  This one also is putting me through a bit of a recruiting process, which is fine.  I'm hoping to hear back from them in a positive way, since I would be working at a company that partners with several international businesses, and that would be pretty neat to me.  Also, the commute for this place would be MUCH better than the other job.  But I will certainly not be picky.  If either one of them offers me a job, I would have an incredibly difficult time turning them down at this point.  They're both really cool companies, and I would be honored to work for either of them.

Last thing for the day: Brussels sprouts are delicious.  I know how to make them so.  I've heard horror stories about people hating them because someone cooked them improperly, and I just shake my head and wonder if they would give Brussels sprouts another chance if they were cooked properly. Anyway, I had Brussels sprouts and pasta for dinner.  Pretty darn good for just tossing things together.

I do believe that's all from me for today.  It feels SO NICE to not have to worry about filling out another several hundred words about nothing.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

ARD Entry #1 - Shorter Stories

It took my until a few minutes ago to realize that today is the first day in four hundred days that I have yet to write anything about anything.  And realizing that made things feel really weird.  As though remembering that I had yet to write something made me want to write something.  Up until then, I hadn't really even had a thought about this blog or writing anything.  Yet remembering I hadn't written anything filled me with a sudden dread that I still need to write SOMETHING.  Whether it's something that has actual substance or not doesn't really matter.  It just...feels wrong to have not written even a few sentences so far today.  So I figure I may as well just go ahead and write a paragraph or two just to tide me over.  I'm not going full-blown thousand words today, but I need my writing fix.

Jeez, it sounds like I have an addiction or something.  Well I can quit any time I want!  Okay, no I can't.  I think I may just end up continuing to write every day, just not to the extent I have been writing.  Or maybe not.  Who knows?  I certainly don't.

A small bit of good news: I talked with my old IT instructor today, and I'm going to be heading back there once every week or two to help him teach a couple of things.  It's been a few months since I last was there, and the group that was the freshman class when I was leaving is now the senior class.  Which should be interesting to see.  He told me a few of the newer students are really motivated, and he could use some help in teaching them the networking side of things.  Which probably means I'll have to brush up on my networking, since I've somewhat fallen off with that.  We also talked about extending the second networking class, since I'm finally getting back to that.  I forgot that we seemed to have a pretty good rapport back when I was a student there.  I know he needs all the help he can get with that class, especially since some of the students are attempting to learn Linux without an instructor.  I know how difficult that can be, so I'll probably help them out as much as I can.  It should be some good experience for me, not just to make sure I remember the material and make sure I still enjoy teaching/tutoring/helping people learn new material, but so I can continue meeting new people and see if I can work with people I've never met before.  Should be an interesting day.

I think that's all I'm going to talk about for today.  It feels REALLY weird to not write a thousand words, but the fact that I'm writing anything at all today is just to feed my addiction, if only a little bit rather than a full fix.  I really need to stop sounding like I'm talking about drugs.  I'M TALKING ABOUT WRITING HERE.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #400 - The End Of An Era, And The Beginning Of A New One

I have spent probably far too much time this afternoon deliberating on how exactly to transition from the one thousand words every day blog to a new blog where I can write however much I want, whenever I want.  I was spending far too much energy attempting to figure out a new blog name and where it was going to be hosted and how I was going to go about moving from one blog to another like I was moving my physical self and all of my stuff to a new country.  I decided to try creating a new blog here on Tumblr to sit alongside One Thousand Words Every Day, which I wanted to simply leave as a sort of relic of the past.  But when I began to create this new blog, upon attempting to decide on the URL for it, I discovered that you can apparently change a blog URL at any time.  So I felt like an idiot for a few minutes.  Had I known this, I probably would have changed it shortly after the yearlong challenge ended. But now that I know this, I have decided to simply change the name and URL of this blog to something a little less restrictive.  It doesn't necessarily reflect the thirteen months I spent writing every day, but I'm kind of okay with that right now.  So as of this entry, this blog will now be known as Life As A Random Dude Knows It.

Now, I realize that for those of you who read this and already know me in real life, I am not A Random Dude.  But for the many, MANY more of you out there in the world who do not know who I am, just consider me A Random Dude for now.  I did briefly consider revealing my name at the end of this four hundredth entry, but I decided against it for personal reasons.  Suffice to say that, while this might not necessarily be a flashy, catchy blog title, it's something that reflects what I'm going through at the present.

What I'm going through, as it were, is actually something much more interesting than I would have expected. A couple of days ago, I decided to submit a job application with a very reputable global tech company working in their tech support department.  The next morning, I received an email from someone at that company asking if I would add a couple of things to my online profile.  I did what they asked and sent a message when I was finished.  A few hours later, I received an email from another person in the company asking if it would be possible to call me for a brief conversation.  I gave her my information, and about an hour later, I received said phone call.  We ended up talking for about fifteen minutes, and it seemed to be the first step in the interviewing process for this company.  While there are still many steps to go in this process and I am by no means guaranteed a position with this company, it is most definitely reassuring that things finally appear to be moving in the right direction as far as finding a job is concerned.

For me, when I apply for a job online, it feels like I'm just tossing my information towards some faceless, amorphous entity, and the more times I toss said information out there without a response of any kind becomes more and more disheartening.  Ever since I began in earnest on this job hunt, I have heard precisely three responses from prospective employers: two of them came within 24 hours of my first few applications being sent out, and the third one today.  There were nearly two weeks where I heard nothing.  I would much rather receive a rejection form letter than not hear anything.  So hearing something, not just a rejection, but a glimmer of hope that I might have what it takes to earn a position in a field I studied for all last year?  You better believe that's one of the best feelings I've had in a long while.

As I mentioned, though, I am not getting TOO excited about this.  There are probably a couple more interviews before I would even be considered for training in this position, and, as the very nice woman I spoke to yesterday informed me, there will be an evaluation at the end of the training, and there is a possibility that I may not receive the position after that. Which is something I can completely understand.  It's a big company, and they need the best people to work for them.  The training is paid, though, so I know that if I do go through with it, I will at least have made a little bit of money in the end.  But again, I am getting FAR ahead of myself, and I have to remember that there isn't even a guarantee that the next interview will happen, let alone go well.  I'm not necessarily putting all of my eggs in one basket, but the fact that I even HAVE an egg at all means so much to me.  It's going to keep me motivated whether or not I end up qualifying for this job.  At least I know now that the more I put myself out there, the better chance I have of someone thinking I would be a great addition to their team.  I just really hope it doesn't take me another six months.

For those of you who have read this blog, I very much appreciate it.  Whether you've said anything to me or not does not really matter.  This whole blog began as a crazy idea I had over a year ago, and since I have fulfilled my goal on this project, it is time to move on to bigger and better things.  The blog will be sticking around, and I have no plans to erase any of these entries.  They will just become less frequent.  Or possibly shorter, if I start to get really antsy about not writing every day.  We shall see what exactly happens.  I have no idea, quite honestly.  But the fun part about this?  We'll all find out together.  Thanks for being awesome.  Talk at you next time...whenever that may be.

ARD (A Random Dude)

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #399 - Presently

This has been a bit of an odd morning. It was raining a bit when I woke up, but by the time I had performed my morning ritual, the weather appeared to have cleared up enough to where I would consider going to the store for a few things real quick.  Then I got distracted by podcast stuff and job stuff, and right as I was sending off a job email, a torrential downpour began. The rain as stopped now, but I don't really trust the weather right now to actually bother going out anywhere.  Which is going to prove to be a bit of a problem, as I don't really have anything particularly healthful to eat in this place.  I mean I have pasta and cereal, but that's about it.  The sky does appear to be fairly bright, so maybe once I finish this entry, I'll take a tenuous step outside and hope for the best.  Unless, of course, the skies darken again before I am finished with this entry, in which case, I will wait.

What I REALLY should do is just stop typing right now and run to the store while things appear to be relatively clear.  But I'm also a very lazy person, and I would much rather sit on my butt and write about nothing than go to the store and pick up foods that will help my overall health.  Of course, now that I've said my piece about the weather, I cannot think of anything to write about.  Yet instead of just getting up and going to the store, I sit here trying to think of a topic while the landscaping guys outside run their leaf blowers.  That's only mildly distracting.

I've gotten so used to wearing shirts with a pocket on the front that when I wear a shirt without one, I feel like everything becomes a huge inconvenience.  I have to end up carrying whatever I would normally just put in that pocket, and it renders one of my hands essentially useless until I can put whatever it is I'm carrying down.  It really does sound like a minor inconvenience when I say it out loud, but you would not believe how often I'm carrying SOMETHING with me and would benefit from being able to just place it up in a shirt pocket and go about my business. Again, it sounds really simple, and I can always set whatever I'm carrying down when I get to wherever I'm going in my apartment.  But those few seconds at a time add up over the course of a day, and it just renders doing much of anything significantly harder when you only have one hand available.

My goodness, I sound like such a prima donna when I talk about this.  On a completely unrelated note, for the longest time, when I heard the term prima donna, I thought people were saying Pre-Madonna, as in something to have to do with the singer.  I was a very confused child whenever I heard that, which, admittedly, was not all that often.  But still, it was very strange.

Can you tell I've completely run out of things to talk about already?  This is why I want to switch to a writing format where I don't force myself to write a specific number of words every day.  If I wanted to write fifty words on a day, I could just go ahead and do that.  Or if I don't want to write anything for a week, then dump out a five thousand word entry, so be it.  It's surprising how restricting this blog format became after I completed the yearlong experiment.  I suppose it's probably a good thing, then, that today will be the second to last entry on this particular blog.  Which, the more I think about it, sounds really weird.  After I decided to continue with this blog once I had completed the year but before I decided to end it, I was sure that I would continue this format for an indeterminate amount of time that may or may not have lasted months or even years.  I was thinking about hitting goals of half a million or a million total words written, but not really thinking about the here and now.  That's something I've struggled with for a long time: I tend to look towards the future without much regard to the present.  Like I'll talk about how I can do X once I've accomplished A, B, and C, but don't really have any plan about HOW to accomplish A, B, and C in the first place. It's something that has bothered me for a while, and I feel like it's becoming a real problem for me.  I'm not sure how I can force myself to live in the present rather than being hopeful for the future all the time.  I think this most recent bout with the job search has helped me a little, as well as the exercise and plans to eat better, taking small steps towards a better overall life.  But I still tend to think far forward of my current position in life, and that's most certainly detrimental to how I perceive everything in the world.

I'm not sure how to fix that.  I'm not sure if I CAN fix that.  Hell, I'm not entirely sure I WANT to fix that.  I think I've always been a forward, future thinker, and I don't honestly know if that will ever change.  I know that things have improved over the past couple of months as reality has dawned on my more and more about life, and I'm at least taking steps toward living more in the present.  But there will probably always be that part of me that wants to shoot for the skies and dream for the future.  I just need to figure out how to get there first and work my way towards it rather than hoping it will just happen one day.

That's all for today.  Tomorrow will be the last entry on this blog.  I may post an update in the near future about the future home of my rambling writing, but other than that...it's been a good run.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #398 - Approval!

It's still a surprise to see a black background when I open Open Office.  I was so used to seeing a white background on every word processor I've used throughout my life that it's still weird seeing something so simple yet so different.  I've been using computers for close to twenty years at this point, and only within the past week have I discovered that I can change the background color of my word processor.  But it's definitely a huge improvement, and I don't plan on changing this any time soon, if ever.

I don't know what it is about a dark background and light-colored text with me.  It's just so much easier on my eyes than the blinding white background and the dark text.  I know I've talked about this before, but the fact that so many websites out there have a white- or light-colored background and light-colored text on top just boggles my mind.  It makes reading websites like those nigh impossible for someone like me to read.  And I know that I've discussed ways to change that in the past, but those are all third-party options that don't necessarily allow the entire site to still work properly.  It's okay, though.  As long as I can swap easily between light and dark color schemes, things will be fine.

Now, on to the good news of the morning: I checked my email just a few minutes ago, and my podcast has been approved to be listed on Google Play Music!  This is a big step forward in the whole project's journey.  One of the biggest podcast aggregate services has my little podcast on it.  Which is pretty neat to me.  I mean there are probably tens of thousands of podcasts out there, but I'm one of them now.  I still have not heard back from iTunes, but I would imagine that I will be approved to have my show listed on there as well, since Google Play Music uses basically the same exact requirements.  Once the podcast has been approved on iTunes, I will drop the next two episodes, which have been sitting idly by for about a month at this point.  Once those are up, I can start work on new episodes.

Of course, I will not let this news detract me from the much more important goal of finding gainful employment.  Apparently, the state government's job application website is having a bunch of issues, so that's out of the running for the moment.  Which means I have to get back to pounding the virtual pavement looking for work with many other places.  Which is fine. I've just been putting in a lot of applications with the state government because the positions are of a more clerical nature, which is something I have done in the past and would likely not mind doing these days.  So I kind of tapered off the IT job search for a bit. But I'm going to have to pick it back up for now and continue forward with this search.

On the one hand, I'm kind of disappointed with myself that this whole process took so long to really even get started.  Had I been this fervent with my job search six months ago, I would definitely have found something by now.  But I really cannot beat myself up over it.  The past is the past, and what's done is done.  I can't change it.  I have to live with the decisions I've made, not just over the past few months, but in my entire life.  It's taken me a long time to get to this point in life. But I'm here now, and that's what matters.

And now, of course, that I've said that, I had my email in the background and noticed I had a new message from Apple saying that my podcast has also been approved for iTunes!  So that's a thing.  I suppose once the podcast is live on both services, I will go ahead and drop the next two episodes of the show, meaning I'll actually get to record the next episode soon! Again, I don't want this to become my main focus in life.  It's just a really exciting moment for me.  I've wanted to do something podcast-related for a while, and the fact that I finally just sat down and did it means more than you can imagine.

Actually, the Nike mentality (Just do it, ha ha) is something that has motivated me to do a lot of things in recent weeks.  Diving headfirst into the job hunt was one moment where, instead of telling myself I was going to do it in the morning, I just sat down and started it.  And while it has yet to result in any interviews, I've still made more progress in the past  few weeks than I have the past few months.  The same thing can be said about exercise.  Every night, as I was going to bed, I would tell myself that tomorrow would be the day that I start the whole exercise regimen.  Yet every time I woke up, I would just tell myself that I just didn't feel like doing it.  Until a few days ago, when I just got up and did it.  And I've done so every day since.  And as of right now, I have no plans to stop.  I've been feeling pretty awful recently, and getting out and exercising has already made a difference.  I do feel better than before.  Not all that great, but better than in recent weeks.  And now with the podcast, I've been hemming and hawing for seemingly years about starting one and figuring out what topic to cover and my recording setup and all this nonsense.  A little over a month ago, I just sat down and did it.  I ended up recording four episodes within the span of a week.  While I don't plan on keeping that pace, it was something that needed to be done, and I am so very happy that things are happening in my life that I really can't explain it.

I know I was a bit extra rambly today. I'm just really excited about the news about the podcast.  So starting today, you can check out The Backlog Monologue Podcast, a show about video games, on iTunes and Google Play Music.  Man, that feels good to say.  I should be off, since I have things to do today, so I shall talk at you tomorrow!

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #397 - Hodgepodge

It feels like it was just a couple of days ago that I decided to end this blog and move on to new projects, and here I am, just a few days away from the final entry.  When I first decided to end this blog, I thought it was going to be a massive challenge to get through another two weeks' worth of entries. Yet here I sit, just a couple of days from the final entry, and I realized it wasn't really a challenge at all.  Hell, I've even considered continuing on with this blog after entry #400.  But I do want to move on to other projects, so I'm sticking with the plan for now.  Of course, things can change, and if I find myself still enjoying writing every day, I will probably do so.  Though I don't want to force myself to write over a specific number of words every single day.  That much drove me nuts many times.

I had a rather interesting experience this morning.  I was walking to my mom's place, since I had left something over there yesterday after I made lunch.  Side note: the cauliflower crust pizza was actually really good, and I will add it to my repertoire of dishes I can make.  Though the cauliflower I picked out was apparently kind of small, since the resulting crust was also pretty small.  But we made a good meal out of it.  Anyway, this little moment takes place at the last street I have to cross before I get to her place.  This street has a crosswalk, stop lights, and the pedestrian lights and the button you have to press to get the signal to walk.  I've had issues with this street before, as I've had motorists honk at other motorists for waiting for me to cross the street.  Today, though, someone just blatantly broke the law right in front of my eyes.  As the light turned green and the walk symbol popped up, I stepped out into the street.  A few steps later, a car behind me turned left and zoomed right in front of me.  Even if I didn't have the vision issues I have, that would have been scary. This guy was either in such a hurry that he couldn't wait the extra ten seconds it took me to cross the street or he didn't give a shit about the person walking across the street.  Had I been a few feet further ahead, he would have run into me.  I thought about yelling at the guy, but I would imagine he either wouldn't stop at all or would have stopped and beaten the shit out of me for yelling at him. Either way, it was not a particularly pleasant experience.

It's one thing if the street I'm crossing doesn't have stop lights or a marked crosswalk.  At that point, I can understand a car pulling out in front of me (though I still wouldn't particularly like getting cut off and almost run over).  That whole behavior has lessened somewhat since I got my cane.  But when someone just blatantly disregards the law and drives in front of a pedestrian who has the right of way and nearly hits me? That's just uncalled for.  The person behind that particular driver waited patiently for me to reach the sidewalk before turning left, so I know it isn't just that particular intersection that's cursed.  But I do worry about other pedestrians who have to walk around that one guy.

And thus, another tale of the trials and tribulations of the pedestrian comes to a close.  I didn't get the guy's license plate number, so I have no idea who it was.  I just have to move on with my life like he obviously did.  And I most certainly will!

In the past day, I've watched more television than I have in probably the past year.  I mean outside of pro wrestling, but that's beside the point.  My mom introduced me (thankfully after we had had lunch) to a reality show called My 600 Pound Life, which chronicles a year in the plights of these morbidly obese people who want to turn their lives around.  She mostly just wanted me to see the doctor on the show, who is this fantastically unintentionally hilarious little old man who is a delight to watch. But we just so happened to watch a two hour episode about a guy who didn't bother actually following the doctor's weight loss plan and the guy's girlfriend, who was a serious enabler of his.  It was really disturbing seeing the whole thing, and it's going to keep me motivated to work towards my own weight loss goals.  Unfortunately, that show was not a success story episode, but it has also made me want to watch one where the featured person does achieve some level of success, since that will provide me with even more motivation to keep doing what I'm doing.

The other show was pretty much the polar opposite.  I'd never seen The Golden Girls before, since it began its run before I was born, and I had no interest as a child in watching a television show about four old women.  I'd heard many great things about the show since then, and by sheer coincidence, that was what was on television when I walked over this morning.  I only caught a few minutes, but I really enjoyed it.  It really was a unique show concept, seeing as how most people would have forgotten about the actresses who played the main cast otherwise.  It was a really funny, well-written show with four stellar leads, and I will definitely be seeking out more episodes to watch in the future.

I suppose I should be wrapping up this post pretty soon.  I've just about hit my word goal for the day.  No idea what I'll be doing the rest of the day.  I suppose you'll find out when I write about it tomorrow.  Unless something really amazing happens between now and then, in which case I'll probably write about that.  We shall see.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #396 - Big Paragraphs

I'm actually fairly glad that I've been able to motivate myself to get out of the apartment and get some exercise in each of the past three days.  It might not sound like much, but it's a start.  And if I don't start, there's no way I can try to reach an end goal.  So it's something.  I even got my walk in this morning, which is something I have not done in quite some time. It felt nice to be out while it's still relatively cool out and there aren't a lot of people milling about, frantically driving all over the road or sauntering across the entire sidewalk.  I don't mean to sound like a person who does nothing but complain, but a couple of days ago, I had to move out of the way of someone else who was walking the opposite direction.  Now, before I had my cane, I was used to doing this.  But since I've been using my cane, people have practically leapt out of my way in order to avoid potentially walking within cane range.  I used to prefer people not cut such a wide swath around me, but I shortly realized that they don't know the extent of my vision.  They probably think I'm completely blind, and don't want to take any chances that I might suddenly swing my cane out in front of me.  Anyway, this person just had their head tilted down, barreling forward, seemingly without notice that I even existed.  I had to move out of their way, which was weird for me.  I thought perhaps they might be visually impaired as well, but there was no indication of that from what I could tell.  So either they don't know what my cane means, or they simply didn't give a shit.  In the former case, I can sort of understand, but things like canes and guide dogs are so prevalent that basically everyone should know when someone has low or no vision when sporting one of those items.  And if it's the latter case, then I'm just a bit annoyed.  But whatever.  It was five seconds out of my life, and it isn't as though it's going to change how I do things from now on.

I'm fairly certain this combination of meditation and exercise is really going to help me out in the long run.  I've already seen rather dramatic improvements in my breathing when it comes to meditation.  On the first day, I could barely inhale for five seconds before my lungs were seemingly full.  After just a few days, I've managed to slow my breathing so that it takes almost twenty seconds to fill my lungs with air.  And it takes the same amount of time to exhale all of that air.  It isn't necessarily something I've begun to use during the rest of my day, but it's also something I am very conscious of while meditating.  I'm sure this deeper breathing will eventually permeate more facets of my life, and perhaps eventually it will become my normal breathing method.  And as far as the exercise is concerned, I have been fairly worn out after the past couple of days of walking, but it's one of those things that I know I'm going to struggle with for a little while, but once I get into a rhythm, it will feel like second nature.  And that is when I have to change things up, because I can't let my body get used to a particular form of exercise.  I need to keep things fresh and different.  Whether that means more walking or some other form of exercise, I do not yet know.  But I'm still learning what my body can and cannot do.  Once I figure that out, I can do said exercise until it becomes second nature.  Then I'll add or change stuff as mentioned before.

These plans are all well and good, but I need to get to the point where the walking thing becomes second nature before I really want to start adding new things on top of that.  I actually do want to do some weight training as well, but right now, I'll just focus on the one thing.  Once this has become routine, I'll add something new.  It's kind of the same mentality I have with job searching: I'm going to focus on one thing at a time, and once that is complete, I will work on another thing.

Which reminds me...I ran into a weird glitch while applying for jobs last night.  I was putting in a state application online, and while I was in the process, my browser closed unexpectedly.  I opened it again, navigated back to the same job listing, but this time, when I clicked the “Apply for this position” button, it gave me an error message.  Well, the error message was “There was an error, go back to the previous page” error, so I didn't exactly have a way to try to diagnose the problem. I tried applying for the same job, and it again gave me an error. So I found another job and tried to apply for that.  Same error popped up.  At this point, I started to get worried.  I tried clearing my browser history.  Still got the error.  I tried a completely different browser.  Same issue.  And just now, I tried it on a completely different computer.  Still the same error message. So something went horribly wrong when my browser closed while I  was applying for that one job.  And since it's a government job I'm applying for, all the tech support people have the weekend off, so I won't get a chance to even try to fix this issue until Monday morning.  And I don't even know if this is an easily resolvable issue.  I certainly hope it is, because I really would not mind a position in the state government.  I've talked about it before, so I won't go into the details again.  But suffice to say it would be a really nice job for someone like me.  I just hope someone can help me resolve this issue before it turns into a problem.

Wow, I've already hit my word goal. Guess I'll have to thank those first two paragraphs for being gigantic.  Anyway, I'm off for the day.  Here's hoping I can get some stuff done before it's suddenly midnight.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #395 - Early Start

In the interest of full disclosure, I was completely surprised when I opened Open Office to start this entry only to realize that the background was black.  I had completely forgotten that I changed the color scheme yesterday.  But I will say that, after typing these first few sentences, it was a nice surprise to see the color scheme change, and it's definitely much easier on my eyes than the normal white background.

And now, on with the entry proper!

I don't know what it was about this morning, but I finally managed to drag my sorry ass out of bed shortly after my alarm went off.  Maybe my body is finally starting to get used to this time change.  I had been getting used to waking up and having this bright room thanks to the sunlight peering straight through my bedroom window and gleefully blinding anything in its path.  Then daylight saving time happened, and that was no longer the case.  It was still (relatively) dark when my alarm went off, and I could not be arsed to just get out of bed and start my day.  Which resulted in me usually sleeping in an extra hour or two...which is kind of sad.  It isn't as though I was going to bed much later than usual.  I just couldn't motivate myself enough to actually get up and start my day.

Today, however, I (mostly) woke up with my alarm, and ended up getting out of bed maybe ten or fifteen minutes after my alarm.  It allowed me to take care of my morning business, and I even got a head start on the day by heading over to the store to pick up supplies for my co-meal with my mom this weekend.  It felt pretty good to get a couple of things done before 9 AM.  Of course, as of the writing of this sentence, it is actually close to 10 AM, but that's more so because I had breakfast and decided to just kind of not do anything for a little while.

I'm really hoping that my body will start to get used to getting up with the alarm again, since I actually don't mind mornings that much.  Especially since, now that it's effective summer in my region, I need to get my windows open for as long as possible before it gets too hot to handle.  It was almost 80 degrees outside yesterday.  In the middle of March.  A week ago it was about 40 degrees cooler.  I don't understand weather.  But I suppose I'm used to the weather patterns in this area, seeing as how I've lived here nearly my entire life.

There is a part of me that still wants to move to another region just to see what it's like.  And I mean move away.  Like a thousand miles away.  But then I remember that the only real reason I would like to move away is to find a city with a nicer climate, and most of those cities are just as expensive (if not more so) than where I currently live.  And unless I move somewhere and already have a job lined up, I can't exactly consider moving to a new place and expect to survive for very long.  And in the industries I am attempting to break in to, there are always people with more training who are willing to work for less money than I am.  I mean I am not a picky person when it comes to salary.  If I can cover my rent, utilities, and food expenses and still have a few dollars left at the end of the month to put into savings, I'm happy...so long as it eventually leads to something where I can put a little more away in savings each month.  Right now, though, I would be entirely happy with being able to cover the bills without assistance from my mom or the government.  Though I wouldn't mind something with some medical benefits and a bit of job security...which is why I've been putting in so many applications for state government jobs.  They provide a good salary, benefits, and, once one passes probation, a lot of job security.  I would probably be pretty happy getting hired for one of those jobs and basically staying with the state government for thirty years until retirement.  It would allow me to not worry so much about money and would give me the peace of mind necessary to pursue other endeavors outside of work as well.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. First I need to actually hear back from one of these job applications.  The only ones I've heard back from so far have been declinations.  But I have to remain vigilant.  The more applications I put in, the greater chance I have of actually hearing back from one of them.  I'm not going to let a couple of rejections sour me on the entire experience like I used to.  I want this.  I need this.  If I have to put in two hundred applications before I hear back from one, I will.  I just really hope it doesn't take QUITE that many before I receive an interview.  But if it ends up that way, I will keep my chin up and remain vigilant.

I was kind of hoping to end this entry there, but it turns out I'm about a hundred words short of my goal. It's going to be so nice to not have to worry about writing a specific number of words each day.  I mean I could feasibly just post today's entry as is, then write a second, very short, entry to make up for the missing words.  But I never really considered doing something like that until just now.  And considering I'm only going to keep going on this blog for a few more days, it's probably kind of silly to start introducing new mechanics to the whole concept now. So I will instead just fill the end of the entry with mindless chatter as usual and OH HEY I HIT MY WORD GOAL TALK AT YOU TOMORROW BYEEEEEEE!

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #394 - Blinded By The Light

I'm making an attempt at not falling asleep in the afternoon.  So far, it has prove quite difficult.  But it is what most would begin to consider evening (even though it isn't even remotely dark outside), so I'm considering this a victory for now.  Doesn't really help matters that I have a headache and it hurts to look at a computer screen.  That makes the job hunt and writing this entry a lot more difficult than normal.  Though, to be fair, writing today's entry would have proved to be difficult no matter what the circumstances.

I think the problem with the computer screens isn't so much that they're just difficult to stare at in general, but more having to do with the brightness, specifically when it comes to having white or other bright colors covering the majority of the screen.  Like when writing this blog.  I'm typing it up in a word processor (Open Office to be specific), and because the background is white, it's making the screen much brighter than normal.  If there is a way to change the default color scheme to a dark background, I would absolutely use it.  I end up having to do that with most websites as it is, especially if the site has a light colored text on a white background.  I will never understand why so many websites use that color scheme.  It makes the site practically impossible for me to read at all, and it forces me to use a third-party add-on for my web browser that allows me to force change the color scheme to include a black background.  Of course, since add-ons are never perfect, it also breaks a lot of websites, completely obscuring images and many buttons.  So I sort of have to deal with swapping between a site I can read but not use with total functionality and a site I can't read but can access all functions.

It's one of the reasons why I like websites that default to a black background so much.  Or, at least, sites that offer a dark color scheme option.  It's so much easier on my eyes, and it doesn't force me to use a third party extension.  But those sites are, at least from my experience, in the minority.  It probably is too much to ask of all websites, but at least having the option to switch to a native dark color scheme would really help out not just me, but a lot of people, I'm sure.

Okay, so I just did a quick Google search to see if anyone happened to come across a way to change the Open Office settings so that I could have a dark background and white text, and it turns out that it's actually extremely easy to change the color scheme of the program!  It took me about ten seconds to change the background and text colors, and it is immediately so much easier to see, read, and type on here now that the background is black and the text is white.

So I learned something today, and it's going to make writing these entries a whole lot easier.  If only I had discovered this function a year ago, it would have saved my eyes a lot of trouble and pain.  But, hey, it's better for me to have discovered it at all rather than to have never discovered it at all and suffered in silence for the rest of my life.  Not that I would have suffered in silence.  Eventually I would have complained about it, decided to do some research, and find out how easy it was to change the color scheme.  Besides, I rarely suffer in silence regarding anything anymore.  I have this blog to talk about all the shit that's bothering me, and you would not believe how much it helps to just talk through an issue I'm having as I'm thinking about it. It's helped me on multiple occasions, and it's probably one of the few things I'm going to miss about writing in this blog every day. Then again, I don't necessarily have issues that need working through on a daily basis.  Maybe every other day, and even then, I doubt I will need to dedicate a thousand or more words to resolving every issue that arises.  Like this Open Office color scheme issue.  I brought it up, did one minute of research, found out it's easily fixable, and fixed it.  Problem solved in under two minutes.  If only all of my (and the world's) problems could be solved so quickly and efficiently...

I finally got out and did some walking again today.  Did two laps around the block.  I ended up walking a fair bit slower than usual, which made the whole experience a bit less pleasant seeing as how it's about a thousand degrees outside and I was wearing all black clothing.  But I did find myself surprisingly worn out after those two laps around the block, and it reminded me how out of shape I really am.  I said a few days ago that I was going to do this walking thing every day, then promptly did not do any laps for like three or four days.  But I did get out today, and I plan on doing so again tomorrow.  Though my legs are suffering, I know I will feel better in the long run.

I also did a tiny bit of meditation this morning.  Just a few minutes, but it really helps out more than I tend to realize.  It definitely helps me center myself and prepare me for the remainder of the day, and it definitely assists me throughout the day, even during stressful situations.  It's something I definitely need to do every day, since it has been nothing but beneficial to me the few times I have done it.

Well, that's probably going to do it for today's entry.  I need to do a bit of job searching and applying before the day ends, so that's going to be a lot of fun switching from this nice dark color scheme back to the awful blinding white color schemes of the various websites I use.  Oh well.  At least when I use my laptop for job searching, I can tilt the screen back so it isn't TOO blindingly bright.  Little victories!

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #393 - Biding My Time

I had another one of those weird mornings where it felt like I wasn't going to get anything done. And, in the grand scheme of things, I didn't.  I'm not going to blame everything on daylight saving time, but I can't think of another aspect of life that has so totally thrown off the past few days.  I could attempt to blame it on the bit about giving up caffeine, but somehow I doubt that's what's essentially ruining my mornings.  And, by extension, kind of screwing up my afternoons and evenings.  I haven't really gotten a lot done over the past few days, and I need to get back on track.  Job applications aren't going to fill themselves out and send themselves off to prospective employers.  I need to get back on that horse, and soon.

Day Four of no caffeine doesn't seem to be too bad.  I did have a bit of a headache yesterday, but I don't think I've had one yet today.  I have ended up falling asleep in the afternoons, though, which is becoming somewhat worrisome.  The same thing likely would have happened to me today, except I had a podcast playing while I was laying in bed and there have been people running chainsaws off and on all day, so I can't exactly sleep even if I wanted to.  Not to mention there are always people tossing heavy things into the dumpster relatively close to my apartment, so that always makes a nice loud noise whenever that happens.  And then there are usually either people leaving or arriving in cars and just generally talking loudly outside.  Were I to close my window, I could probably end up sleeping for a while.  But I want to keep my windows open to allow the apartment to air out the smell of stale cigarettes at least a little bit.  I'm fairly certain all of my stuff is going to smell terrible once I move out of here, which is going to be quite disappointing.  Of course, I won't be able to afford to move out of here until I have a decent-paying job anyway, so I would do well to toss out a few dozen job applications and hope I hear back from one or two of them.

Last night, the weather was quite unpleasantly hot to the point where I nearly got up to get a fan to move the air around.  It's still the middle of March.  The weather doesn't have to go from rainy winter to blazing summer in less than a week.  At least I wish it wouldn't.  In this region, we basically skip spring and autumn and just jump from summer to winter to summer again.  Not particularly enjoyable as far as I'm concerned.  Some people might enjoy the heat.  I call those people “crazy people.” Never understood why some people enjoy sweating buckets and generally feel as though they are being tortured by heat.  I would much rather live in a climate that is primarily cold than one that is primarily hot.  When the weather is cold, I can at least put on extra layers of clothing.  When the weather is hot, I can only get so naked before I realize I can't take any more layers off without flaying myself.  I know, that's a disturbing image, but it's one that has popped into my mind on more than one occasion.

I should probably switch to a more pleasant topic of discussion, since I cannot see this current topic moving in anything other than a weird, creepy, downright frightening direction.  But since my mind is doing a poor job of thinking of other topics besides tearing my own flesh from my body in order to cool myself during summer days, I'm finding it a trifle difficult to come up with a new path in which to take this entry.

I suppose I could talk about the lasagna from yesterday, since I was talking about layers earlier.  It actually turned out pretty good overall.  The addition of mushrooms to the recipe was a welcome one, and I managed to even out the layers much better than the first time.  So the pasta ended up more evenly cooked, the vegetables were spread throughout the entire dish much better, and it was in general an improvement.  I probably won't make another one for a while, since the ingredients to make it were overall pretty expensive.  Even though it made for five meals' worth of food, it was still a bit rich for my tastes right now.  Of course, had I bothered to, say, make a salad to go along with it, it probably would have made closer to eight meals' worth of food.  But that's kind of how I've been rolling recently.  Which is not necessarily the healthiest of options, I will admit.  At least I'm starting to feel a tiny bit better than I have the past few days.

I really did not want to write anything today, but I decided to just force myself to write something.  Even though I will admit it was likely not one of my better entries, and I didn't really seem to benefit from it in any way like I have in prior entries, at least I've accomplished my goal for the day.  Well, technically I haven't reached my word count goal yet.  But I would imagine by the time I've finished this current train of thought, I will have reached my goal.  And if I haven't, I can always tack on more rambling text that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things until I've reached said goal that right now feels extremely arbitrary.  I'm really looking forward to not necessarily limiting myself to approximately one thousand words on any given entry, as well as not forcing myself to write every day.  Or, if I do decide to write something on any given day, that it doesn't HAVE to hit one thousand words.  If I just wanted to write two sentences on a day, that's fine.

Oh look at that, hit my word goal, so I'm outta here!

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #392 - Is This All I Think About?

I took an unplanned nap yesterday around 4 PM, and did not wake up until almost 5:30.  So my evening was spent feeling awful and groggy and overall terrible.  And, of course, as a result of that nap, I ended up not falling asleep until pretty close to midnight.  Which, when you consider how late I've stayed up in the past, really isn't all that terrible.  But I did end up oversleeping once again.  On the plus side, I did feel a lot better after waking up this morning.  So I'm hoping things are getting a bit better overall.

Today is Day Three of no caffeine. Things haven't really affected me too much.  I was craving something yesterday, but not as much today, which is a relief.  For some strange reason, I still have not tossed out all of my coffee.  I really do need to do that soon.  The temptation is there even by just keeping it in my cupboard.  So I will go ahead and toss it out today. I know there are probably better things I could do with it, like give it to someone.  But there's no guarantee that anyone would take an already opened canister of coffee, so it's probably best to just get rid of it.  I realize I'm being incredibly wasteful by doing this, and I'm not exactly contributing to the health of the environment, but at least I'm contributing to the health of myself. So there's my justification for that.

I decided that I was going to attempt to make another of those weird sort of lasagna things in the slow cooker, and today was the day.  Unfortunately, the grocery store where I go decided to either move the meat I was looking for to an entirely different area or has decided to stock piles of turkey sausage rather than ground turkey.  So that was kind of a bummer.  On the plus side, I do have all of the regular Italian seasonings in my herb and spice area, so I just tossed some of each of those in while the turkey was cooking.  I also added in some mushrooms to the mix, since that was one thing I thought the dish was missing last time. It took a little while to get all the prep done, but it is currently in the slow cooker, cooking slowly.  I'm looking forward to trying it out in a few hours.

What's most beneficial about this is that it's preventing me from making a terrible decision like ordering pizza or going to one of the half dozen fast food joints nearby and getting a crappy meal from one of those establishments.  For me, I either end up ordering too much from the pizza place and spend far too much money, or I decide to not eat until the pizza arrives, then eat too much of it and end up feeling as though I don't have enough for leftovers to justify the cost.  And with fast food, it's just never very satisfying.  Fast food costs much more than it used to, and it just feels like I'm spending too much money on one meal.  So I'm going to make it a point to not go to any fast food for a while, and I'm going to really work hard on keeping the pizza intake to a minimum...even though I do enjoy basically everything about it.

Of course, I'm saying all this stuff about avoiding pizza, yet I'm planning in the very near future to try a couple of pizza alternatives.  I've seen a couple of recipes online for pizzas with a crust made out of cauliflower, and while that does sound strange, it also sounds quite good.  So I'm planning on trying that out.  The other idea is a slightly more traditional crust, but has breakfast ingredients on top.  Things like eggs, bacon, potatoes...maybe some other stuff.  This one I did not see a recipe for, but I'm certain I can rig something up fairly easily in regards to making one.  I really should make my own crust for that one, but I seem to have a knack for not making proper dough, so I will probably use an already-prepared crust.  It sounds lazy, I know, but until I really start to understand HOW dough and bread-making actually works, I'm probably going to avoid trying to make any.

I will eventually learn how to make my own bread, since it's far cheaper and usually more satisfying, but now is not really the time or the place.  My kitchen is REALLY small, and I don't think I have enough room to really set up a spot for making bread.  At some point, I will find a place with a bigger kitchen (and hopefully fewer neighbors who smoke constantly) and I can experiment with more recipes.  For now, I will work with what I have and continue making relatively simple dishes that don't require two hours of prep and thirty ingredients.

I wasn't planning for today's entry to turn into yet another discussion of food, but then again, I don't plan any of these entries in advance.  I just let my brain flow and my fingers type whatever they want.  If my brain wanders onto the subject of food, then I'm going to write about food.  If my mind is on the topic of podcasts, then I'll likely ramble on and on about audio quality and that sort of nonsense.  And if I keep hearing people using chainsaws outside, I'm probably going to whine and moan about that all day.  Except that won't be as interesting of a read as, say, a post about food.

At least I wasn't planning on recording anything today.  Those chainsaws and lawn mowers (for some reason my brain keeps wanting to call them vacuum cleaners even though I'm well aware what they are actually called) are quite loud, especially with my windows open to let some fresh air in.

I do believe I should stop writing now. Things are making less and less sense.  Purple monkey dishwasher.

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #391 - Yet Another Entry About Food

I did that silly thing again where I am really tired relatively early in the evening, but instead of listening to my body and going to bed, instead I lay in bed for an hour watching videos on my phone, and by the time I decide it's been long enough or my phone's battery is low enough that I know I can't really do anything else with it, I am no longer tired.  So I attempted to sleep last night and have no idea when I actually DID fall asleep, and that caused me to stay in bed far longer than I wanted to this morning.  I wanted to get a couple of things at the grocery store this morning, but can't now thanks to oversleeping.  I mean I can go later in the day, but I usually prefer getting any shopping done in the morning.  Oh well.  At least I know I have enough stuff in my apartment for one grilled cheese sandwich.

There originally was enough supplies to make two grilled cheese sandwiches, but I made one for breakfast before I took a shower.  It was actually really good, which, when you think about the ingredients, it's really difficult to mess up butter, bread, and cheese.  I haven't made a grilled cheese sandwich in years, so this was a pleasant throwback to a time long ago, when one of my aunts used to make them for me in her own special way.  I can't remember how she used to prepare them, and she passed away many years ago, but  still, I remember standing in the kitchen watching her cook these grilled cheese sandwiches, and I remember looking forward to it since it was kind of a rare item to have.  One of these days, I really want to try some experimentation with the grilled cheese formula, putting in things other than just cheese.  Things like a slice of tomato and what have you.  Though I've been so disappointed with the overall quality of tomatoes in recent years that I find it difficult to justify using them in anything other than a sauce.

I will say, though, that the canned tomatoes used in the slow cooker lasagna recipe my mom and I used a few days ago were actually pretty decent.  I'm probably going to get the same ingredients and make another one just for funsies.  And also so I won't have to worry about what to eat for dinner for like five days.

We (my mom and I) are actually going to start preparing meals together once a week, just as a way of sort of keeping each other in check.  When we lived in the same house a few years back, we would actually do that every day, trading off cooking dinner meals and helping each other prep before the cooking.  I think it was quite beneficial to the both of us, and I know that for me, it's been a real struggle to keep my eating habits under control since moving out on my own again.  I mean I was actually losing a fair amount of weight while we lived together.  Actually, from the day we moved in together to the day I moved out, I had lost close to 100 pounds.  Which sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.  But I was dangerously obese.  Still was after losing the weight.  But the fact that I had lost that much over the course of two and a half years didn't really sink in until last year, when I realized that I had gained about half of that weight back thanks to fairly reckless eating habits and not really noticing what I was putting in my body. So I'm hoping that this once a week meal plan will benefit us both in the long run, since I know I basically need someone to hold me accountable for the food that I eat.

I also really need to plan my grocery trips better, and purchase things that are more healthful and less processed.  I've actually cut down a lot on processed foods.  And when I say processed, I know that every food is processed in some manner.  I mean the foods that come pre-prepared in a box, foods that require a hefty amount of preservatives and other chemicals in order to be placed on store shelves.  Anyway, I don't really buy those as much as I used to, which is a great first step.  But I want to make sure I'm still getting enough fruits, vegetables, and protein as I should.  Protein is probably the most difficult thing for me to keep up, since a lot of the protein items I WOULD purchase are actually really expensive.  I know that there are lots of protein alternatives out there.  Heck, I freely admit I love tofu and should probably buy it way more often than I do (which currently stands at “almost never”).  But when I really want a nice piece of fish or some ground turkey, I have to stop myself because the prices are too high. I'm certain part of the issue here is that the grocery store where I shop is pretty expensive in general.  It wasn't always like that.  I guess they just increased their prices to go along with inflation.

I do need to vary my diet a bit more as well.  I tend to stick with the same general types of things for breakfast, and while I don't mind eggs, some sort of grain, and cheese, it does need some changing up every so often.  I need to add some sort of fruit and vegetable to the mix, and vary my choices so things don't get boring.  It's lunch and dinner that I constantly struggle with.  I used to be okay with sandwiches for lunch, but I've not enjoyed those various lunch meats in some time.  I know I can put things other than lunch meat in a lunch sandwich, but it just seems weird not to do so.  I mean I put cheese, lettuce, and probably some other stuff in them as well, and I could very likely get away with just taking the lunch meat out of there if I add something else like an avocado...actually, that might work.

Another entry helping me solve my problems through stream of consciousness writing.  Good stuff!

[lifeasarandomdudeknowsit-blog]

Entry #390 - Walk

I did end up having a much better afternoon/evening yesterday than I had that morning, so that was definitely a positive experience.  The slow cooker food was good, the conversation was good, and I came home with leftovers for today.  So despite the difficult morning, things did turn out fairly well overall.  So I can't really complain too much about that.  What I CAN complain about is daylight saving time, which I did not realize until yesterday afternoon took effect this morning.  And thanks to my lack of sleep last night and my insistence that I end up staying awake until much later than I should have last night, I managed to stay in bed until almost 10 AM.  Which is why I am writing this entry now instead of two hours ago like I had hoped I would.  It's not necessarily TOO bad, since it is only about 12:30 PM, but it still kind of threw me off mentally to look at my phone and see that it was suddenly 9:30 in the morning when I thought it was maybe 8.  Then again, 9:30 AM today was 8:30 AM yesterday, so really, there is some sort of justification for thinking it was earlier in the day.

I have made two decisions regarding my long term health.  First, I am giving up coffee and caffeine in general once again.  A couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be perfectly fine to just start drinking coffee again.  After a few weeks of it, I actually find myself feeling worse than I have in a long while, and I'm fairly certain the reintroduction of caffeine to my system is one of the major causes.  So I am giving that up yet again.  The other thing I'm going to do is start walking every day. I know I've talked before about getting in some exercise at least a few times a week, but it's gotten to the point where if I don't just start doing it, I never will.  And I figure walking will be very low impact  yet still get me a good half hour of exercise every day.  I do want to augment this plan with other activities, but for now, I just need to do some walking.  I walked to my mom's place yesterday, and that was a good start, especially considering I walked over there in jeans...which, in retrospect, was a huge mistake, because walking more than ten feet in jeans is laborious at best.  I need to get some khaki pants or some other form of lightweight slacks.  But that's beside the point.

As of yet, I have not gone out on my walk today.  But again, that's more because of the whole issues regarding sleep and daylight saving time.  The one benefit of daylight saving time now is that it's going to start staying relatively light outside until WAY later than it did even a couple of weeks ago, so my options as far as when I can go out are drastically improved.  It also helps matters that the last few days have been quite sunny...to the point of being pretty hot, actually, but it means things stay light later and get light earlier, so I don't feel like I have to hurry inside by 5 PM in order to avoid it becoming pitch dark by then.

What does all of this have to do with exercise?  Well, if I want to take a walk at 5 PM, I can now without having to worry about the light suddenly disappearing and me being left in the dark when I'm halfway through my route.  It's a huge stress relief knowing that it's going to stay light outside until much later, so I don't feel as though I have to force myself to exercise really early in the day because I can't predict when the light will suddenly vanish from the sky.  It's a weird sort of stress relief, but it's something.

I also did a little something for myself this morning that was kind of unplanned, but it was also something I had been thinking about for a while.  I will probably talk about it later, but suffice to say I have even more material for the podcast I am working on.

Actually, I've been listening to other podcasts vaguely in the same genre as the one I am planning to dive in to, and it's quite surprising how many of them are quite difficult to listen to.  Not because the hosts are not good hosts, but because the audio quality is surprisingly low on many of them.  It does seem as though quite a few of them are taking place over Skype calls, which is honestly fine.  The internet age has made it so people with similar interests can find each other over vast distances, and if friends move apart, they can still easily keep in contact with each other.  And I can appreciate that.  But still, the audio quality leaves much to be desired from many of these shows, and I'm struggling to listen to them for more than a couple of minutes because of it.  I want to give these shows a fair shake and get a feel for more of the genre in general, but I find myself turning off a show after a short period of time because I can't listen to the less-than-telephone quality audio being broadcast.  I'm not saying every podcaster has to have a professional sound engineer and a studio setup, but I think I've probably gotten spoiled on podcasts that DO have that sort of setup, as well as my own semi-obsession with audio quality that renders these shows with low quality nigh-unlistenable.  Which is a shame, because I want to discover and enjoy more podcasts, but I just can't listen to some of them.  I may try to power through an episode or two of each despite the low quality, but I would much rather find shows with good audio quality and enjoyable hosts rather than slog through shows that don't necessarily guarantee high quality conversation AND have bad audio quality.

I feel like I'm sounding like a giant tool, so I do believe I will stop here and stop sounding like a giant tool.