I think i will need to find some friends of my own soon.

wonder how one would go about doing this…

Ok.. This is for parties interested in visiting me in New Jersey.

I live in Jersey City, NJ which is approx. 12 minutes from New York according to the Path train schedule.
Local Airports:
– LGA: LaGuardia: Cheapest airport from New Orleans. I’m pretty sure it is the cheapest airport from all major airports.* Not horrible public transportation, but also not the easiest.
– EWR: Best location available, but also expensive to fly into. Easiest transportation available.
– JFK: JFK: Internationally known, worst possible airport to fly into. Worst possible location for public transportation. DO NOT RECOMMEND!

So those are the airport descriptions.

Directions:
– LGA: http://www.panynj.gov/aviation/lgtsfram.htm This lists all the possible exits from LGA. I suggest finding a way to either the World Trade Center or Penn Station. Once there, go through the PATH subway/train system to Journal Square. Get off at Journal Square and we are approximately 3 blocks walk away.

– EWR: Two options:
——– Cab: Literally a 10 minute cab ride away, according to Mary but costs around 25$.
——– Public transportation: This requires two train switches. (Approx. 35-45 minutes during daytime hours.)
————– Take the New Jersey Transit train from the airport to Newark Penn Station.
————– From Newark take the path train to Journal Square.

– JFK: Two options: http://www.panynj.gov/aviation/jgtsfram.htm Good luck. You will need subway information if you take the NYC subway system. JFK isn’t impossible, it just requires a lot of switching for public transportation. A friend of mine got charged 50+ for a cab to take him from JFK to the World Trade Center so, I don’t recommend this route unless it is seriously cheaper.

I seriously need to read the news more!

check this out

yeah well HAD I KNOWN THIS EARLIER… there would have been much worry and consternation about the safety of my loved one. I would have spent the last couple nights completly entrenched with worry and concern for her wellbeing. Instead i was simply pre-occupied with he well-being for no real good reason, just common run of the mill, “My love is beyond the reach of my protection, let us hope it all goes well.” sort of concern…

by the way is voting covered by your right to privacy? I don’t know i’m learning about it right now.

It has unintentially become what i feared it might, a random diary of events and understandings that are more for my memories sake then for outside entertainment.

I spoke to Michael yesterday. We have planned a meeting sometime in the week. Unfortunatly he will be shouldering the travel due to my current lack of transportation. Whenever we figure out which day we will be meeting together, i will begin planning the full extent of what we will do. I hope to maybe see a philosophy colloquiem or go to a museum or something similar, and hopefully free, or at least cheap.

As for job related news, there has been some minor developments. I hate to mention them because of fear. Yes, i may not believe in god, but i have a devout fear of fate. Ok that isn’t exactly the case. The point is if some things don’t work out, it is much better for only me to know they failed then rather have a whole host of people who know they failed. Yes. Silence is best in this case.

This weekend was sort of slow. Mary went to Shreveport to be a part of a friend’s wedding. She was maid of Honor. I spent the entire weekend alone in a house with two kitties. cats i suppose they should be called. I spent my time doing random things. Watching random films, and failing to realize why some films are not what you thought they would be. Red Dawn, is it
A) kewl film about a small town being invaded by an evil occupying force and making several individuals work together to fight?
or
B) gun ownership propaganda tool to scare the people of the populace into supporting pro-gun legislation?

10 years ago i thought A, but now i know unfortunatly it is B.

sad eh?

hopefully tomorrow or tuesday i will have some more interesting information.

I will just say this. It was really fucking awesome, and man do i have a massive migraine. I will need to buy the new cd.

Things i have recently done:
– Began listening to various discourses on philosophically oriented activites
– i’ve seen a great deal of good movies
– Story of the Weeping Camel -> very good documentary about the chinese (sp?) nomadic people.
– Spring, Summer, Fall, Winder, ….. and Spring -> very interesting korean film that follows the patterns of nature, the patterns of humanity, and and how both interact with each other. It is in a buddhist setting. Other then the moral truthes one can gleam from the film, a major reason to watch the film is to see the scenery. The film takes place on a floating shrine in the center of a lake and as time progresses the lake changes. It is a beautiful film.
– Serenity -> this is for the geek in me. I like sci fi sometimes, and what better then cowboys in space? I tell you they were made for each other. Cowboys and space that is. Forced me to find and watch the tv show it is based on called firefly. Series is a lot better then the movie, at least it is when they spend their time in space.
– Planning for my brother’s trip to NYC. Trey was supposed to come up here yesterday, but Amanda became very ill and like a very giving and responsible person he postponed his trip here. Amanda is in the hospital right now. She is suffering from vertigo and absolute nausea. She has been vommiting so much that she became dehydrated. Last i heard the doctors couldn’t find a direct cause, and thereby ordered a CAT scan. I hope everything goes well. Certain people haven’t kept me up to date as to her condition. The good news is trey will be rescheduling his flight at a later date, apparently it was pretty cheap rescheduling it. The bad news is that i have to go to NIN concert without him. Of course Mary stepped up and offered to buy the ticket from me, which is actually a lot of help to me and very appretiated, but i can’t help having a desire to have seen NIN with Trey. We also had a Jazz concert scheduled on Tuesday. Mary already had a ticket to go to that, and so we are currently looking for someone else who would like the ticket.
– I really miss Trey. It is strange but i didn’t think his postponing of this engagement would have struck me as hard as it did. I can not even imagine how it has struck him. His desire to come up here was not simply to see me but to escape his current predicament, and i think his was also a desire to see NYC.

I will be so bored this week, and the following weekend. Mary planned on leaving us with the whole apartment next weekend. I was planning on doing a bunch of stuff, but now i will simply have to entertain myself…………… i could always look for a better job…. grrr… or study for the gre… grrrrrrrr….. or ……………………………………………………………………………………….. bleh

Mom talked me down. I’ve had a bad last few days. I’ve sunk into a minor depression. With the failure of the interview, and lack of other interest by any job-givers, this job-seeker begins to question his self-worth. On top of which i keep talking to mom, dad, and trey and hear how bad/not as good as it could be cleanup is going. Today is the worst of the whole situation. They clean up Trey’s book collection. All of trey’s books are ruined. I envied trey’s book collection. His comic collection was something i admired also. Ruined.

I know this has got to be hard on Trey. I have feared this day from the begining. In a bout of insanity, i almost flew down there tomorrow to destroy all the materials so that he wouldn’t have to. Then i found out it would cost me 1300 $s. My boss finally got back to me about potentiatl vacation time. Apparently he talked to the “partners” of the law firm and they agreed unanimously that if the accounting firm could “part” with me for a few days it would be ok with them, they would not bombard the department with bills. Problem is i don’t know when it is good for, and i doubt it is good for in a few months when is the only time i can afford the tickets to fly down there. So i’m stuck. I got the vacation, unpaid btw, just not the money.

So i scoured, travelocity had a much better deal, but i couldn’t finalize the purchase. It was only 700 dollars. That i could afford, but Mom talked me out of doing it. Told me i should save the money for when trey mom and dad come up here, and then spend it on things to cheer them up.

This does nothing for the immense feeling of … for lack of a better description… impotence. I feel so powerless. I find myself cursing my job for not giving me more money, and cursing the situation for not allowing me to be able to go down there and help them. Anything i do will be too late.

Moral of the story: don’t move far away from your family. IT sucks when they need you, and even more when you need them.

It didn’t go so well. I was doing great until she asked me this question, “What in your experience makes you passionate about violent abuse against women?” errr…. uhmmm…

what am i supposed to say about this? Yes in fact i abused a woman yesterday and thought, “Hmm this isn’t right… i shouldn’t do this… in fact i don’t think ANYONE should do this… where is the sanctuary for families organization, i’ll join their org and work to stop ANYONE from hitting another woman again.”

… oh yeah the job i was applying for was an administrative assistant’s position at a local non-proift org called Sanctuary for Families, the organization gives sanctuary for families in abusive situations. The organization also offers legal advice and assistance to these same women. Was the interview bad per say? no not terribly. Was it good? could have been better.

In the end it was an interview and i had some hits and some misses. One particular hit was more of a recovery, but i was asked if i had any questions about the organization, in which i replied, “Yes, i was curious if we get direct observation of the cause and effect relationships between my work and the progress of the organization as a whole.” In which she responded, yes i’m really glad you asked this, that will actually be my job.. detailing how your work is effecting the overall progression of the organization as a whole.

ok well i have to go to lunch.

Well, I got home last night and in a fit of urgency I began scanning the
job postings on Idealist.org in hopes that I could begin working on
getting a job. Well the process used to be like this:
1) Find the job post, bookmark it, begin formulating cover letter and
then adapt the resume to fill the requirements listed for the job.
2) Send my adapted information to Mary where she will read over comment
and then send it back.
3) I would finally review her edits and send the information to the
human resources department.

This would take two days total on a “Quick” run. Recently it took me so
long to edit a job application that the post vanished before I could
send my information and apply. Depressing.

So last night I revised Mary and caution out of the equation. On a whim
I viewed five job opportunities and crafted a cover letter that was far
from perfect, but I assumed would be enough to give me a chance for each
job opportunity. I sent the resume/cal off and didn’t even mark it down
anywhere. Yes, it was a daunting prospect, but I did it. I’ve already
received a response from one application. I have an interview Monday.
I’m excited as hell.

I think it is substantially more money per hour then my current salary,
which would be nice. It is also in New York, which might not be so
nice. Oh well. We will see how it works out.

here is a visual update to my family’s situation…