Month: November 2001

Rest in peace, George Harrison. Not only did you affect the lives of many, many people, you changed the course of American music. Pretty good for a Brit.

Well, it just kind of figures, doesn’t it. The only entry on this journal ever to inspire discussion was political. Shudder.

Well, I’m excited because tomorrow I’m going to New York City for the first time in months. I’m going to see Barenaked Ladies at the Roseland Ballroom. I haven’t seen a concert since July, and that was also Barenaked Ladies. I need to get out more and see more live music.

There used to be a show on Nickelodeon called Turkey TV. I really don’t remember that much about it. Anyone?

But that’s not what I came here to talk about. I came here to talk about the draft. Actually, there’s a song that has been a Thanksgiving tradition for me. Every year, my family would be driving on Thanksgiving to get to relatives’ houses, and we would always hear the song Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie on the radio at noon.

It’s a song about Alice. And a restautant. More importantly, it’s about the idiocy of the military. The song ends on the point of a guy, who was on trial for littering, attempting to join the army. The authorities questioned his morality, after all, they wouldn’t want a man with questionable ethics to join the army.

This song comes at an interesting time this year. It’s definitely a song about peace at a time when we are “supposed” to blindly follow the president of this country in his war against Afghanistan. It’s interesting to hear people claim that as Americans, it is our duty to support our leaders. It had always been my impression that our country was built (for example, see the Constitution of the United States) on the foundry of the “people” being able to question those in power.

Well, if I’ve never mentioned it before, I am now. I truly dislike politics. Personally, I think by bombing Afghanistan, we are no less evil than those who attacked us.

Well, that’s enough of that. I actually meant to write about my Thanksgiving. I had dinner with my dad and his girlfriend. We talked about money. Mostly about the fact that I have none. I’m going on vacation in a few weeks and it’s going to be amazingly expensive and I have no idea how I am going to pay for any of it, at a time where I don’t even have enough money to pay my bills. Sigh.

Sort of.

Back in The Day, when only the priviledged few (government, military and colleges) had access to the internet, online life wasn’t cluttered with people. Then along came America Online, offering internet access to everyone… for a cost.

I won’t go into what the “cost” is here because I’m sure many of my readers are AOL users and I don’t want to offend.

The paradox is that I am now an AOL user, and a disgruntled one at that. In my new apartment, I do not have cable or DSL access to the internet. I figured dial-up is the way to go. Of course, with AOL’s free 1000 minutes, it seemed like the best choice. Well, once you sign up for AOL, you have to call their toll-free number to activate your account. I did this, was told my account was verified, and was given a new password. I logged in–no problem. The next time I dialed up, I got the same message as I did originally. It disconnected me from AOL and said I had to call a toll-free number to activate my account. How odd, I thought.

I let it go for a while, borrowing Denise‘s account (thanks, Denise) when I needed to connect. A few days ago, I called the toll-free number again to verify my account. At first the ever-so-helpful individual on the other end of the phone line said it was already activated. He didn’t believe me when I told him I couldn’t get online. So from what I could tell, he verified it again.

Excellent! Now I could get online. Until yesterday. I connected yesterday and it told me my account is invalid. Sigh. So once again I called, explained the situation, and the customer service representative explained that my account had been deleted because I never called to verify the account. It was absolutely ridiculous. So after the guy on the phone verified my phone numbers, credit card number, mother’s maiden name, place of birth, social security number, criminal history, and name of the first girl I kissed, he said he’d reactivate my account.

Was it all worth it? No. I can’t wait to get into a place where I don’t have to dial up for internet access. But I guess this will have to do for now. Until they start charging me, anyway.

US Airways will let me get Dividend Miles credit for any flights I’ve taken in the past year! I’m looking forward to getting out of New Jersey and into Arizona, though I still don’t know what to do there. I have heard about the Vortexes in Sedona, a “spiritual” location where hippies live and where energy is emitted from and sucked back into the Earth: One vortex takes something away from you that you want but gives you back something you need, kind of like the Rolling Stones song. This is going to be one expensive vacation, between hotel rooms and experiences, but I’m sure it will be worth it. I just hope I’m able to afford it somehow.

This weekend I spent more time at the high school where I could end up working next year. The music teacher and the president of the Board of Education (a band parent, of course) took me out to dinner. We talked about the school, we talked about me… it really seems like a perfect match. They have not announced the position opening yet — they have not even created the position yet. They said that there’s very little doubt that the position will be created, but anything could happen. Right now I’m number one on their list, but their list has one name on it. I was told that they would warn me in advance of the position announcement, so I could call and schedule an interview right away.

This could also mean that I could end up working at my current location longer, if they don’t get rid of me first. With all the “money issues” my organization is currently facing, that is a concern.

I’m going down to south Jersey this weekend to spend some time at the school where I’d like to see myself working next year. It just so happens that the organization I work for now has an event there. Time to be discreet. Tomorrow I also have to take the teaching certification test. I probably haven’t studied enough for it, but from what I undersand from people who have taken the test recently, I shouldn’t have any problems with it. I hope that’s the case.

On another note, The movie also happens to mark the first time a dead celeb has been brought back to life for a major role in a feature-length film.

I don’t like being cold. Of course, I could put on more clothing to adjust my personal temperature, but that won’t change the fact that it is cold. Okay, somehow I have to find ways to motivate myself to accomplish the following:

1. Get myself the teaching position in South Jersey
1. Finish the application
2. Get fingerprinted and a background check (call a police station and make an appointment)
3. Get tested for Tuberculosis (call a doctor and make an appointment)
4. Take and pass the teaching certification test this coming Saturday (I should study at some point)
2. Work out all the problems in my personal relationships

Hopefully by doing the above, I’ll be able to find joy in my life. Now that it’s all typed in, it doesn’t seem so hard. Congratulations, you have now just been a part of my personal self-therapy.

So we’re going into this weekend with not enough people working the first event on Saturday. This is going to be very, very scary.

As I drove to the bank today to despoit my paycheck after my account was overdrawn this morning because we received our paychecks late (after the bank closed) yesterday, I realized that there is a possibility that I actually do like the autumn. When the wind isn’t too brisk and the air isn’t too cold, it can be really pretty outside — even in northern Jersey.

Well I’m here at work, and it’s 12:30 am. I guess I wouldn’t be here this late if I didn’t have to move some furniture earlier tonight. Oh, sleep would be so good right now. To be in the comfort of my own apartment (well, someone else’s apartment that I’m sharing) and my own bed (well, someone else’s Futon until I move out or decide it’s worth it to bring a bed into the place) is something that would make me happy at the moment. Never mind that this place is about a mile from the house where one or more of the terrorists lived.

Anyone want to come visit?

I spent my first night in the new apartment last night. It wasn’t too bad. I slept on a futon that was graciously left for me, and even without a frame on a hardwood floor, it wasn’t cold. I’m going away for the weekend now, so I won’t even see this place again until Sunday night. My life needs to slow down for a minute or two. A vacation to Arizona is on order.

Speaking of the vacation, I checked with my boss before buying the plane tickets. He had no problems with the dates we chose. We got a good rate because of the days we chose to depart and return. But this morning, I came in to work, and saw that he sent an email asking if it would be possible for me to change my departure to the following day, since he’s trying to plan an office holiday party for the day I originally chose. To change both tickets, it would cost $200 at the minimum, and on top of that there could be a change in the price of the tickets.