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Apr. 24th, 2009 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hkrWhile I'm waiting for Spike to start her uStream for Templar Arizona, I figured I might as well give some sort of update.
I'm employed again. I'm not even sure I told you guys that I was let go back in October. Well, I know some of you know since we talk outside of LJ but that's besides the point. I'm one of many cooks at the Woodland Park Zoo. The busy season hasn't even started and I'm already overwhelmed. I love working with the chef, but it's insanely hard work and I'm not quite sure if it's worth it yet.
Finding a job was a huge fucking pain in the ass for me. It doesn't help that I have no real skills and no higher education. Looking for a job when the economy was in a slump + slow season for restaurants + thousands of people losing their jobs = slim pickings. Though I probably applied to at least one job a day, I was competing with hundreds of others for one position. In fact, the only reason I was hired at the zoo was because they're ramping up for the busy season and hiring anyone they can and seeing who sticks. I am literally one of almost fifty people hired in the last two weeks and there will probably be fifty more by the time May rolls around.
During the time at home when I wasn't looking for a job, I tried to keep myself busy. For a few months I went all crazy and painted a ton of warhammer figs, but barely even scratched the surface of what I have in the wings to paint.
When I got bored with that I started looking at cheap ways to improve my rock band drum kit. I went from this:
To this:
Then I learned how to make my own electronic drums and did this:
Of course I also ramped up my Rock Band drumming ability and managed to pass and even gold star songs that had been giving me problems for many months. I passed Fallout Boy's Dead On Arrival the first time I played it on my new kit, compared to the 0/9000 times I tried it on RB1. Same with Detroit Rock City.
Still can't pass Don't Fear the Reaper or Constant Motion though. Once the solo kicks in on Constant Motion I have no idea what the fuck. Until then it's fairly straight forward.
I have more plans in the wings for expanding the kit further of course but for now my attention is focused elsewhere.
I also started getting into vintage stereo equipment and LPs, which was pretty fun.
None of it could really grab my attention for very long though. I swear in my adult life I am far more ADD then I was in high school. While I had problems focusing in class in high school, at least I could pay attention to a video game for more then ten minutes. Now I can barely do that. I've tried slimming down distractions (Giving up IMs, stopped reading FFO/LJ communities that did nothing but piss me off or waste my time, etc) but it's not working. There are some days where I can't even read a paragraph of text without having to start over at least four times.
To better focus myself, I've been eliminating some things from my diet. I've given up soda completely, my only source of caffeine being a cup or two of coffee in the morning. I've been drinking more juice and water lately, and I've been making sure to focus more on eating healthier things like rice, fish and fresh veg. The lack of soda has really improved my sleep. I go to bed at 10 and I'm ready to go at 6 am. I also feel less jittery in the evenings now.
So honestly not much has been going on. I'll try to update this more often, but of course no promises.
I'm employed again. I'm not even sure I told you guys that I was let go back in October. Well, I know some of you know since we talk outside of LJ but that's besides the point. I'm one of many cooks at the Woodland Park Zoo. The busy season hasn't even started and I'm already overwhelmed. I love working with the chef, but it's insanely hard work and I'm not quite sure if it's worth it yet.
Finding a job was a huge fucking pain in the ass for me. It doesn't help that I have no real skills and no higher education. Looking for a job when the economy was in a slump + slow season for restaurants + thousands of people losing their jobs = slim pickings. Though I probably applied to at least one job a day, I was competing with hundreds of others for one position. In fact, the only reason I was hired at the zoo was because they're ramping up for the busy season and hiring anyone they can and seeing who sticks. I am literally one of almost fifty people hired in the last two weeks and there will probably be fifty more by the time May rolls around.
During the time at home when I wasn't looking for a job, I tried to keep myself busy. For a few months I went all crazy and painted a ton of warhammer figs, but barely even scratched the surface of what I have in the wings to paint.
When I got bored with that I started looking at cheap ways to improve my rock band drum kit. I went from this:
To this:
Then I learned how to make my own electronic drums and did this:
Of course I also ramped up my Rock Band drumming ability and managed to pass and even gold star songs that had been giving me problems for many months. I passed Fallout Boy's Dead On Arrival the first time I played it on my new kit, compared to the 0/9000 times I tried it on RB1. Same with Detroit Rock City.
Still can't pass Don't Fear the Reaper or Constant Motion though. Once the solo kicks in on Constant Motion I have no idea what the fuck. Until then it's fairly straight forward.
I have more plans in the wings for expanding the kit further of course but for now my attention is focused elsewhere.
I also started getting into vintage stereo equipment and LPs, which was pretty fun.
None of it could really grab my attention for very long though. I swear in my adult life I am far more ADD then I was in high school. While I had problems focusing in class in high school, at least I could pay attention to a video game for more then ten minutes. Now I can barely do that. I've tried slimming down distractions (Giving up IMs, stopped reading FFO/LJ communities that did nothing but piss me off or waste my time, etc) but it's not working. There are some days where I can't even read a paragraph of text without having to start over at least four times.
To better focus myself, I've been eliminating some things from my diet. I've given up soda completely, my only source of caffeine being a cup or two of coffee in the morning. I've been drinking more juice and water lately, and I've been making sure to focus more on eating healthier things like rice, fish and fresh veg. The lack of soda has really improved my sleep. I go to bed at 10 and I'm ready to go at 6 am. I also feel less jittery in the evenings now.
So honestly not much has been going on. I'll try to update this more often, but of course no promises.