Holy god......it's supposedly ten degrees warmer here than in Ottawa, technically. Yet I am freezing! The whole "wet cold/dry cold" dichotemy is true! I was all chuffed up about resisting the cold elements, drawing upon years of -35c Ottawa weather to give me the necessary chutzpah to laugh in the face of English weather.
But I ain't laughin'. Oh no.
Meanwhile, not much to report. Gonna go see a movie this weekend and perhaps have a drink with the lads. Otherwise life is pretty much in a holding pattern for me until this Tuesday's interview. I feel very confident though, since I have passed the difficult part (that skill test) and only have this interview for the purposes of selling them my chisled features. The "do-we-like-your-face" style of interview has never been a problem for me, so I have high hopes. The only worry is if they decide to screw me around like Lead Generators seems to be doing.
But ah well, we'll see what comes up.
Call me perverse, but the beautiful fall weather is driving me more and more towards work on my horror script. The tenative title is "Archbrook" and I am sticking with the age of my female protagonist (around 58) because it opens up a whole world of new and interesting possabilities. It's definitely shaping up to be a kind of mystery where the horror is implied more than it sometimes is in this genre. Why on earth the changing of leaves gives me inspiration to write of gentlemen cults and various prediciments in which to place an older woman, I'll never know!
But hey, it beats the hell out of writers block.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
First World Problems need First World Solutions
I just finished wrestling with a syphillitic internet tech support agent and I have finally rid my internet connection of all the foul bugs which were getting crushed and gumming up the great grinding gears which facilitated my chosen hobby: Inter-naut.
These are the battles which define our generation.
So I passed the Microsoft Word test, it seems? Thus I have an interview for next Tuesday in a part of London just East of Holborn and I do feel excited since I asked the big recruiting man at the company (who directly sought me out after seeing my CV on monster.co.uk, which felt nice) if this would be the only interview and he said "Yes". So I guess we'll see how that goes. I got a call from the nerd-job recruiter and he claims to know nothing but he'll call me when he knows something. Thanks darling!
I took a little time off from job hunting today so as to wrestle with some mundane issues but also take some long walks around the obscenely wealthy part of Reading (we're talking gated homes with private security guards) and begin to turn my hoard of script notes into script pages. Mainly my horror script, since I feel the need to do more research for the climate change story. Thus far I remain terrified.
Right then, as promised, here are some pictures from the fair towns of Oxford and Uffington.
Blackwell's is my favorite bookstore, where I returned to and snuck a picture of one of ye olde books behind glass. Across the street you have The Museum Of The History of Science, which has some really fun heads adorning it's outer gate.
The name of that ancient tomb I saw was Wayland Smithy. The name refers to a legend, I forget how it came about, that says if you leave your horse and a silver coin at the tomb overnight....when you come back some ghost will have done up new shoes for your horse?
Anyways, here I am in front of it - dressed up like little Jimmy on his seventh birthday with a new scarf which might cause the local octegenarians to remark upon what a responsible young man I appear to be.
Finally, here are a bunch of snaps from around Uffington. I just loved taking long walks around here as you cannot help feeling at peace among such broad expanses of nothing much but nature and horses. This truly epic tree is something I'd love to try painting, when I get the chance. That is the kind of tree where stories take major turning points, mark my words.
Anyways, that's enough for now - other than you might want to check out the first Dirk Hardwood excerpt. Why have I started to write Dirk Hardwood? Let me put it this way, sometimes a fella just needs to toss some half-empty beer bottles at a hornet's nest and then run like the dickens - or as the sperm donor said to the nurse "Sometimes a man just has to get it out of his system".
These are the battles which define our generation.
So I passed the Microsoft Word test, it seems? Thus I have an interview for next Tuesday in a part of London just East of Holborn and I do feel excited since I asked the big recruiting man at the company (who directly sought me out after seeing my CV on monster.co.uk, which felt nice) if this would be the only interview and he said "Yes". So I guess we'll see how that goes. I got a call from the nerd-job recruiter and he claims to know nothing but he'll call me when he knows something. Thanks darling!
I took a little time off from job hunting today so as to wrestle with some mundane issues but also take some long walks around the obscenely wealthy part of Reading (we're talking gated homes with private security guards) and begin to turn my hoard of script notes into script pages. Mainly my horror script, since I feel the need to do more research for the climate change story. Thus far I remain terrified.
Right then, as promised, here are some pictures from the fair towns of Oxford and Uffington.
Blackwell's is my favorite bookstore, where I returned to and snuck a picture of one of ye olde books behind glass. Across the street you have The Museum Of The History of Science, which has some really fun heads adorning it's outer gate.
The name of that ancient tomb I saw was Wayland Smithy. The name refers to a legend, I forget how it came about, that says if you leave your horse and a silver coin at the tomb overnight....when you come back some ghost will have done up new shoes for your horse?
Anyways, here I am in front of it - dressed up like little Jimmy on his seventh birthday with a new scarf which might cause the local octegenarians to remark upon what a responsible young man I appear to be.
Finally, here are a bunch of snaps from around Uffington. I just loved taking long walks around here as you cannot help feeling at peace among such broad expanses of nothing much but nature and horses. This truly epic tree is something I'd love to try painting, when I get the chance. That is the kind of tree where stories take major turning points, mark my words.
Anyways, that's enough for now - other than you might want to check out the first Dirk Hardwood excerpt. Why have I started to write Dirk Hardwood? Let me put it this way, sometimes a fella just needs to toss some half-empty beer bottles at a hornet's nest and then run like the dickens - or as the sperm donor said to the nurse "Sometimes a man just has to get it out of his system".
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Microsoft Turd
See what I did there?
The reason for a delay in my posting Oxford pictures and the first installment of Dirk Hardwood is that I got an offer from a publishing company for an entry-level proofreading position in central London. "Complete a Microsoft Word test that we'll send you and, if you do well enough, we'll call you in for a single interview which could then lead to employment". Sounds good enough, I can make Micrsoft Word dance through most hoops.
BUT THEN THE TEST WAS ALL ABOUT TABLES
Some questions are obviously quite easy (ex. change the font, sort by reverse alphabetical order and of course the actual proofreading/editing at the end). But I've already harrassed several people who know more about Word than I, as well as spent a few hours dabbling, and yet the "tabbed tables" questions are basically ruining me.
On the upside, this and some other frustrations seem to be putting me in just the right mindset for Dirk Hardwood...provided I don't pass out and then wake up in a ditch somewhere, wearing naught but a copy of the Microsoft Office manual and electrical tape.
The reason for a delay in my posting Oxford pictures and the first installment of Dirk Hardwood is that I got an offer from a publishing company for an entry-level proofreading position in central London. "Complete a Microsoft Word test that we'll send you and, if you do well enough, we'll call you in for a single interview which could then lead to employment". Sounds good enough, I can make Micrsoft Word dance through most hoops.
BUT THEN THE TEST WAS ALL ABOUT TABLES
Some questions are obviously quite easy (ex. change the font, sort by reverse alphabetical order and of course the actual proofreading/editing at the end). But I've already harrassed several people who know more about Word than I, as well as spent a few hours dabbling, and yet the "tabbed tables" questions are basically ruining me.
On the upside, this and some other frustrations seem to be putting me in just the right mindset for Dirk Hardwood...provided I don't pass out and then wake up in a ditch somewhere, wearing naught but a copy of the Microsoft Office manual and electrical tape.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Chompida Chompida
I can hear many a firework going off in Reading tonight, thanks to the numerous Guy Fawkes celebrations. As I rolled off the train from Oxford, I thought that the fireworks were all in one area and organized by the local government. But oh no, it seems that fireworks (good ones, too) must be more avaliable than I thought. Walking back to my hosts home, I saw them rocketing out of several backyards and more than once I spotted some embers bouncing along by my feet - presumably after a large plummet.
Meanwhile, Oxford was wonderful. I took many a picture, which I shall upload tomorrow when I'm not worn out. I got a chance to go back to my beloved bookstore, Blackwells, and see books which went back to the 1400's (though once you passed 1800, it was pretty much all bibles). The "Musem of the History of Science" was also inspected as they had an exhibit on Leonardo Da Vinci's mathematical tools. That may sound dull, but keep in mind that:
a) each tool was hand-made, with the kind of decorative flourish you would see applied to any cathedral of the era (Did your high school geomatry set come with golden inlays of apocalyptic battles between heaven and hell?)
b) I am the son of two goldsmiths
At this point, it's worth mentioning that my friends in Oxford actually live near the town in a little hamlet called Uffington. Near there you can find several remarkable pieces of history, the most famous being the 3000 year old, giant white horse. This afternoon I took the most incredibly relaxing walk along the Ridgeway so as to visit a large, 3,500 year old tomb that was laid across another tomb (5,500 years old this time). I got a decent picture of me taken in front of the darn thing, which is essentially like the end result of a mating rut involving Stonehenge and a tiny Pyramid. What made the tomb more remarkable than just age or arrangement of large stones which primitive folk could not have easily moved with their technology, was the circle of hard oak trees which surrounded it. The sound of the wind passing through them was quite moving, almost to the point of being surreal and frightening.
Many a film crew has used this site as a set for horror films and I can't say as I blame them.
Otherwise I ate incredibly well and enjoyed hours upon hours of excellent conversation with my Oxford hosts, well-educated people that have lived rich lives thus far and are able to spin a fascinating anecdote at the drop of a hat. I should be so lucky as to be able to have others describe me as such when I reach their age.
Tomorrow I should hear back about the forum nerd-job, which I shall take if I can get it. Being temp work, I should be able to drop it like a hot potatoe if Lead Generators get back to me or anything else wonderful comes up. I'd likely work for three or four weeks from Reading, then grab a room in London (preferably in the Camden Town/Oxford Circus/Islington trifecta). Aside from pictures, I also plan to add the first installment of a pulp serial idea which seized me viciously by the taint while I sat reading on the train back.
Current working title: The Mysanthropic Misadventures of Dirk Hardwood
Meanwhile, Oxford was wonderful. I took many a picture, which I shall upload tomorrow when I'm not worn out. I got a chance to go back to my beloved bookstore, Blackwells, and see books which went back to the 1400's (though once you passed 1800, it was pretty much all bibles). The "Musem of the History of Science" was also inspected as they had an exhibit on Leonardo Da Vinci's mathematical tools. That may sound dull, but keep in mind that:
a) each tool was hand-made, with the kind of decorative flourish you would see applied to any cathedral of the era (Did your high school geomatry set come with golden inlays of apocalyptic battles between heaven and hell?)
b) I am the son of two goldsmiths
At this point, it's worth mentioning that my friends in Oxford actually live near the town in a little hamlet called Uffington. Near there you can find several remarkable pieces of history, the most famous being the 3000 year old, giant white horse. This afternoon I took the most incredibly relaxing walk along the Ridgeway so as to visit a large, 3,500 year old tomb that was laid across another tomb (5,500 years old this time). I got a decent picture of me taken in front of the darn thing, which is essentially like the end result of a mating rut involving Stonehenge and a tiny Pyramid. What made the tomb more remarkable than just age or arrangement of large stones which primitive folk could not have easily moved with their technology, was the circle of hard oak trees which surrounded it. The sound of the wind passing through them was quite moving, almost to the point of being surreal and frightening.
Many a film crew has used this site as a set for horror films and I can't say as I blame them.
Otherwise I ate incredibly well and enjoyed hours upon hours of excellent conversation with my Oxford hosts, well-educated people that have lived rich lives thus far and are able to spin a fascinating anecdote at the drop of a hat. I should be so lucky as to be able to have others describe me as such when I reach their age.
Tomorrow I should hear back about the forum nerd-job, which I shall take if I can get it. Being temp work, I should be able to drop it like a hot potatoe if Lead Generators get back to me or anything else wonderful comes up. I'd likely work for three or four weeks from Reading, then grab a room in London (preferably in the Camden Town/Oxford Circus/Islington trifecta). Aside from pictures, I also plan to add the first installment of a pulp serial idea which seized me viciously by the taint while I sat reading on the train back.
Current working title: The Mysanthropic Misadventures of Dirk Hardwood
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