I’ve been pretty depressed lately.
I also recently remembered I had a personal blog that noone looks at (Google Analytics told me).
I guess that means I’m going to make an attempt to update it more often to remind myself that my life isn’t as boring and directionless as it feels.
As several people who have seen my new apartment can attest, there is some water damage in my ceiling. It was there when I first saw the apartment, but I was told that it would be repaired and fixed by the time I moved in. That never happened. A month later, nothing has happened to see it repaired. I saw the Super the other day and asked him to stop by and he said he would as soon as he was done with what he was working on. Needless to say, he did not show up. He’s a busy guy. I understand this and he has a lot of apartments to look after, but this is severe damage that is going to lead to mold if it already hasn’t. So I just left him the following friendly note:
XXX,
I have had severe water damage to my ceiling since I moved in. I pointed it out to you, but I haven’t heard back at all. It is still actively dripping water and I saw a mouse poke its head through the hole in the center of the damage. I was hoping you could take a look at it before it gets any worse. I’d like to get this repaired and patched as soon as possible before the winter snow comes to make things worse.
I’m available nearly every weeknight between 6pm and 9pm to show you the damage. I think its caused by the cable utility box outside my window. I’ll show you when you stop by.If you need to get in touch with me, you can reach me at ###-###-####.
Thanks in advance,
Bradley
## XXXXXX Ave.
Apt ###
I folded the note and taped it to his door. He had said that if I had a problem to just leave him a note if it wasn’t urgent. I really want to resolve this in an amicable way. I’m going to give him plenty of time to respond, but I need this ball rolling. If I do not hear back from him by the time I have to send in my next rent check (sent one in today), I am including a copy of this letter, pictures of the damage and a brief summary of events leading up to this point. If nothing still, perhaps the mayor’s office would like some good publicity. It will only take one inspector to look at it before the fines start rolling in.
The AnimeBoston forums is currently featuring an apology post from the chairperson of registration.
I mentioned in an earlier post that we waited in the registration line for 4 hours on Friday, even after we preregistered months in advance. We had it easy though. Those who did not preregister were in line for anywhere from 5 to 10 hours that day. Paul met up with us on Saturday after the registration staff took drastic measures to try and fix many of the issues they had the day before. He got there at 8AM and still stood in line for 3 hours.
My favorite quote:
I promise you all that I will take what I have learned from this disaster and do everything in my power to make sure this does not happen again.
Choice.
This year I will be attending Botcon 2007, guaranteed to be the best Botcon ever. Especially considering there will be an early screening of the movie and enough hype around the franchise to make it more than just another convention on the summer con circuit.
Botcon 2007 will be my sixth Botcon, having gone every year since 2001 with the exception of 2005 when it took place in Texas. It was a huge letdown not being able to justify the trip in 2005 for various reasons, but it was a decision I’d probably have to make again given the chance to repeat events all over. Needless to say though, I’m a huge Transformers fan. I’m a member of the Transformers Collectors’ Club. I collect the toys, watch the shows, buy all the comics and in recent years figured out how to give back to the fandom.
This year’s Botcon is additionally significant, in that it will be taking place in Providence, Rhode Island. Only a couple hours away from where a live, not to mention the home of Hasbro, itself. Being so close to the ‘Mother Ship’ as it is, many of the convention goers assumed tours would take place at Hasbro, which for someone like me, is beyond awesome. When the preregistration forms came online, it was confirmed that there would indeed be tours. Within days though, it was said that only the first 400 pre-registrants would have the opportunity to go on the tour in addition to 100 randomly drawn names from the remaining pool of registrants. Now to get a feel on things, this year’s preregistration was the largest in history. I want to say that in 2004 there were over 1500 preregistrants. So feel free to extrapolate that number. The bottom line: Unless you pre-registered the day the form went up (a Sunday) or the day after, you’re chance of going on the tour was slim to none. As soon as I heard about the huge numbers of faxes being sent in, I faxed mine in immediately. That was Tuesday around 2 o’clock.
Weeks later, when I got my confirmation number, I was crushed to see that I was number 486 (coincidentally only 3 more than the price it cost me to preregister). Even though the confirmation numbers supposedly didn’t mean anything, I was utterly disappointed. The list of the 100 lottery winners went up the other day and no surprise, I wasn’t on it. A day later I got my confirmation letter for preregistration. It confirmed was that I was not going on the tour. I am utterly let down.
I don’t normally let things bother me these days, but this is really nagging at me.
Captain America has died.
And with him, a little piece of me.
I’ve been pretty busy lately and have had lots of stuff to blog, but just haven’t gotten to it. I hope to address that in the near future, but I’ll be going away again for a week. This time my family is going on a cruise leaving San Juan, Puerto Rico and visiting such hot spot destinations as Curacou, St Maarten, St. Thomas and Aruba. Joining me on this jet-set excursion will be my parents, my sister and her boyfriend. I will, as always, be the fifth wheel, but I get my own cabin, so I think some freelance adventuring on my own may be in my future, particularly at the buffets. The ship is supposed to be massive. I think its a Royal Carribean cruise. I’m sparse on the details just now because I’ve been so busy and the trip was finalized so very very late in the game. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to share when I return. I have lots of packing and errand running to do before we leave. The trip will be from December 24th to December 31st. Just in time to be back for the New Years bash at the Braintree House.
In other news, the one rusty spot in my aluminum-walled life of the future will be scrubbed away at the turning of the new year. The fourth roommate in the Brighton house that we found on CraigsList will be moving out because she found she couldn’t stand living with three of the most easy-going people on the planet. Taking her place will be the Duke.
…and there was much rejoicing.
I knew right away that I was a fish out of water. The level of estrogen was almost palpable as I crossed the threshold of the automatic doors. There was no going back as the doors slid closed behind me. I was here for a purpose and I had to complete my task. I proceeded further in, noting a sticker that said ‘Voted Best of Boston’. There’s a local magazine that rates everything from Best Ice Cream to apparently Best Fabric Store. Its a big deal if a store gets this title given out each year.
I proceeded into the belly of the beast, reference picture in hand. I quickly perceived a feeling of futility as I began to realize just how large the store was and the variety of their offerings. Walking up and down each aisle, I searched. Dismissing bolt after bolt of fabric, I was quickly getting a better feel of what I did not want. Too thin. Too light. Too glossy. Wrong color. The inadequacy seemed endless. Finally, three quarters of the way through store, I came upon a section of dark heavier fabric. It did not take too long to find the jet black color for which I was looking. I stared at the three similar bolts of black for ten minutes until I came to the conclusion they were all the same material and color. I selected one of the bolts and removed it from the shelving.
Moving toward the center of the store, fabric in hand, I knew this was the moment of truth. I needed help and I was going to have to ask for it. I walked up to the large cutting table in the center of the section. An older woman and a younger woman were busily droning about, doing whatever it is that they do. I figured since this store had won a Best of Boston award, they must be eager about what they do and might have some interest in what I was trying to do. My mistake. I walked up to them and the younger woman took one look at me and walked off with a harumph. The old woman asked if she could help me and I responded in the affirmative, “uh Yes, I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m trying to put this costume together [showing her reference picture] and I think this is the fabric I need for the middle piece around the waste.” I was waiting for her to give me some advice or affirm that I had made a good decision. Instead she glanced at it and said, “How much do you need?” I responded, “uh, its for that middle piece right there.” [pointing to the garment in the picture] She merely repeated herself instead of offering a most welcome suggestion. “How much do you need?” At this point, the younger woman had walked back, glanced at the picture and told the old woman, “Just give him a couple yards.” Barely acknowledging I was still there, the old woman measured off about 2 yards of material and handed it to me. “Here.” she said. I said thanks, but didn’t offer to return the bolt of cloth from where I got it. She could return it herself. I asked if they had any decorative drapery rope for my belt, and she simply pointed to another section and said, “Whatever we have is over there.”
I looked about, but did not see anything close enough to what I really needed. I took this as my opportunity move on with my day and headed to the register. Behind the registers were large frames for the Best of Boston awards they won. 1997. 1998. 2001. 2002. Hmm…Imagine that. No awards for the past 4 years.
As the automatic doors opened for me to exit, I felt emaciated by the rain, which made for a far better atmosphere than the one I just walked out.
My workplace is in a cubicle setting. Our inner sea of cubicles is surrounded by an outter wall of offices. Many of the occupants of said offices have a tendency to use a common feature of their phone called, speakerphone. And by use I mean abuse to the point where often times someone will walk over to their door and shut it for them while their on the call. There is only one person who you can really still hear through the door, but you can hear him through the walls as well, taking out his frustration on whomever is the victim of his dialing that day. Needless to say, his office is in a secluded part of the floor.
A new part-time worker started a couple months back in a cube that is on the next aisle and diagonal from my own cube. I did not notice until the past month or so, but he uses his speakerphone to dial phone numbers. Basically, he just turns the speaker on so you can hear the dial-tone and then searches for the phone number for what seems like an eternity while that piercing dial-tone rages through my ears and then dials the number slowly so I can hear each number being pressed and can nearly tell what number is being dialed by level of fury each sound causes me. This has gotten so under my skin that anytime I hear a dial-tone on a speakerphone, like Pavlov’s dog, I relate that sound to anger and get really angry when I hear that sound. Actually, I’m not sure anger really expresses the state well enough. Its more like fury or rage. When I hear that accursed sound, I feel as though I could grow 3 feet, rip apart my clothes and go on a rampage downtown. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
Now, it just so happens that I was on the elevator, leaving work the other day when this guy hopped on and introduced himself and asked me some questions about what I do and the like. So I now have what some people refer to as a ‘rapport’ with this man. I had many scenarios all thought up in my head that I would just leave a note on his desk one morning before he got in, asking him to stop using speakerphone. Some versions may have mentioned something about stabbing and tracheas, but we don’t need to delve into the details. Now that this ‘rapport’ existed I felt more compelled to physically confront this man.
Last Friday, after hearing that shrill tone of the beast, I was so enraged I walked over and put on my nicest expression and said, “(Insert name here), Sorry to bother you if your busy, but could you stop using your speakerphone?” He asked if it was bothering me and I responded that “I can hear it through my headphones.” He gave me a bit of an embarassed look and his phone rang. I walked away while he answered it and enjoyed an afternoon of blissful silence.
He started using it again yesterday and today. He seemed to misunderstand that when I said it was bothering me, I didn’t mean just Friday, but actually, the past month and a half. I feel like I need to run into a wall as fast as I can and just hope to knock myself unconscious.
No wonder I get more work done from home.
There are many readers of this blog and I only know for sure who a handful of them are. That is on purpose. I don’t want to know. If I knew who some of my audience might be, then I might pander to their needs and this blog would no longer be as honest or as reflective of me as it should. I don’t expect people to talk to me about personal stuff that I post on here. Just because its up for display, doesn’t mean its up for public discussion. Its here for me to vent and share with you or as is more commonly the case, to enjoy and share with you. I’ve always wanted to be a source of inspiration to other people and very much not a burden.
Most of the readers of this blog know that I don’t really post that much personal stuff on here. What most of the readers do not know is that is because there is very little that happens to me personally. I went through so many depressions when I was younger that I’m avoidant of anything that could onset more. I avoid drama like the plague and for the most part I am drama-free and have been for quite a while. Probably the only personal thing that has happened to me in over a year is that I went on a date last month for the first time in probably about 6 years. It doesn’t seem that it led anywhere, sadly. And while that may seem a little depressing, I have to say I’ve never been happier than I have been in the past couple years. I’m very thankful for my job, my house, my roommates, and most especially my friends. I am particularly proud of some recent projects that I’ve been contributing to, most especially powet.tv. To me this project is the culmination of everything I’ve done on the internet since I first gained access in my sister’s dorm room at college and found a Transformers fan page. This project was a long time coming.
Today I played frisbee with my friends, as we do every Saturday at noon-thirty, rain or shine or hail or sleet. Today was particularly hot. Afterwards, we went to Sammy Jo’s and got ice cream, as we do after frisbee everyweek. We have many standing traditions these days. I probably should have gotten a slush instead, but I went for the Death by Chocolate. By the time I made it home, I had a raging migraine, so I laid down, but couldn’t fall asleep, instead sweating profusely on my bed in my overly warm room. We are hopefully getting AC units tomorrow. I finally ended up puking up what must have been the ice cream about an hour ago and felt a little better, but kept an ice bag on while I sat down to watch the tail end of a movie my roommate Suzanne was watching. The Shape of Things. It had a really messed up ending that Suzanne made a comment about off-hand on her way into the kitchen when the credits started rolling. I’m not sure I could disagree more, but being the avoidant person I am, I simply went upstairs in my room to sweat some more.
At this point, I’m feeling a bit better having gotten sick and all, but I clearly wasn’t in a condition to handle a movie like that at that moment and I felt like I needed to talk to someone. Naturally, I called my parents, but they weren’t home. They were most likely out to dinner with my sister, who is in town for the weekend for Fathers’ Day. I thought about who else I could call, but I slowly realized that it was Saturday night and everyone is out for the night. Not only that, but if it were any other night, I don’t know that I would still have anyone to confide in. I realized that so many people confide in me, but I don’t confide with anyone. I rarely ever need to, but I felt like this was the first time I needed to and there was noone there. It just made me really sad and made me feel a little alone.
Thats really all I had to share tonight. I suppose I felt the need to confide in this blog, at least.
I’ve been pretty busy lately with work and unpacking among other things, so I haven’t had as much time to do things I’d like to do like blog and work on a number of side projects I’ve been trying to get off the ground for what seems like forever. Whenever this happens I usually get a little down, which is the case in this instance. To the point where I’ve been pretty unmotivated to do anything I don’t absolutely have to do (like work. can’t not do that.). This is another reason for the lack of posting here and also for the past week or so at powet. Powet’s been eating up a good chunk of time as well, but thats the point of being a part of it; to spend time doing something I like.
I keep thinking about where my life is at the moment and can’t help but be dissatified. Not that things, aren’t going well. Thats entirely not the case. I’m now living in a fantastic house with two roommates I get along with really well. If I look back one year ago, I’m doing signicantly better now in the working world. I have a much better handle on the technologies I work with and how to use them and I think I’m getting better every day or at least I’m trying to make that happen. I’m also going out more with friends and generally enjoying life more.
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