Totally served.

Hey everyone!
Sorry to leave the gap between entries so long, just thought I'd give things time to spiral out of control again. ;)
No, I'm just kidding. Really I'm fine, and despite my melodramatic postings sometimes, I want to assure you that I'm still my happy-pappy self, no matter how much rancid dung is flung in my direction or how much I complain. (Because, though I don't want to admit it, there is quite a lot of complaining done on this blog. All justified I might add!)

So!
Let's update ye all with tales both frivolous and faulty.. (As read by Greytoe the misconstrued pirate.. yarr..)
As ye all know, me first place o' lodgin wasn't the best..
Nay! Say I to he, and with the quickness of a hare, I check Craigslist for a new place.
Found one, did I! Meet with the tenant, I did, and dropped off the deposit, for me peace of mind. Yarr!
(Suddenly Greytoe collapses from excessive alcohol, and James continues in his place..)
Anyway, the place was great, the guy was nice, and he said he'd be getting a key cut for me within the next few days.
Great! I think, handing over the deposit, and leaving the appartment with a smile.
That night, I get an e-mail from Alex (the guy I'd be sharing the new appartment with) saying that unfortunately, his mother has passed away, and he's got to leave town for a couple of weeks. "If you're still interested for the first of March, I'll hold onto the room for you." he says. I write back saying yes, I'd like that, and add that if there's anything I can do, to let me know.
Now I have nowhere to live. But luckily, one of my friends Sam says that I can stay at her place if I like. I gratefully accept.
So, I move my few belongings to her studio, and I've been living there for the better half of the month.
Two days ago, after two weeks has definitely gone by, I decide that its time to give Alex a ring, and see if he's back from his mother's funeral.
His mobile goes to voicemail, and it really doesn't sound like him. But I assume I have the wrong number.
I email him, and get no response.
Now I'm getting that feeling again. Yeah, you know the one.
So, I ring the building, and get management on the line. The conversation goes thus:

"Hi, my name's James, I'm supposed to be moving into an appartment with a guy named Alex at the end of the month, just wondering if you know how I can get a hold of him because I think I got the wrong cell number.."
-"Hi James. Who did you say you were moving in with?"
"Alex Devine."
-"Alex Devine doesn't live here anymore.."
"He doesn't?"
-"*pause* Did you drop off any money to Alex, maybe a deposit or advance on rent?"
"Yeah, $300 deposit.."
-"Ah.. Ok, James I'm really sorry to tell you this, but you've been scammed.."
"..."
-"Yeah, we've had a lot of calls recently with the same thing. You're the sixth person."
"Right.. Uh, when was the last time you saw him?"
-"He dropped off his keys a week ago, we haven't seen him since.."
"Ok then... Hey babe you wanna meet up for coffee? I know a swingin place on Granville that the cats go crazy over!"

Note - The last line may have been fabricated to conceal the true nature of my response..

Anyway, so long story short, I got scammed.. again.. and apparently I'm on of the "lucky ones", because I only gave the guy $300, but that's still a lot of cash, and that sets me back quite a way on the rent situation..
So! I've been looking for another place, avoiding Craigslist like the plague, because it's now the third time it's lead me to crapsville, and finally I think I've found one. I met with the landlord today, and hopefully... HOPEFULLY.. this one works out..
Only time will tell though.
Other then that, I'm doing fine, got some work, and it's sunny today which is a first. I'll write again soon!
Until then, keep your fingers crossed for me ladies and gents. Love you all,

Jimzip :D

Something special this way comes.

Yes, it's that time of the year again.

The time when I write cryptic blog entries with Yoda-esque titles, and explain very little, yet just enough to annoy some, and tantalize others. Kind of like an episode of Lost.. not that I'm claiming to have skills like the writers of that show do.. but.. aw you get the hint.



Good times coming soon, so watch this space!
Cheers all!


Jimzip :D

Back on track.. mostly.

Whew!

Ok, so since that.. blog entry.. the last couple of days have steadily been getting better.
Place to stay? Check.
Mobile phone working? Check
Job... Not so check.. yet, but I'm working on it (no pun intended)..

Anyway, it's raining again, but it doesn't feel so bad today. I've been keeping busy, catching up with mates, and basically just working everything out, so stress level is down.
Thanks to everyone that send me stuff too, I can't say enough how cool that was, made me feel a hell of a lot better!
Next post should come from my friend Sam's place. She's been amazing through all this crap, and I'll be staying with her for a little bit until my proper appartment is ready.
Oh! Also, something cool is in the works, I'm not gonna put up a timer or anything, but I'll tell you about it soon.
Cheers all!

Jimzip :D


P.S, my favourite quote of the year so far, has undoubtedly got to be: "thats pretty cat", which is so amazingly 70's I'm surprised the Fonze didn't jump out of my blog yelling 'EY!'.. But I dig it..

OK! ENOUGH ALREADY!

This is my test. This is my test.
That's the phrase that keeps whirling through my head even though I'm not a religious person by any means. Heck, I'm probably the least religious person you know, and I'm still thinking it.
I'm at breaking point right now, and I'm sure the slightest thing could push me over the edge.

When everything in your life goes wrong, you panic. The initial reaction is to take shelter, to run away.
Eventually, you gain the focus and mindset to take a step back and look at what exactly has gone wrong, and finally you take the steps to correct that which you can, and let go of that which you can't.

Last year I had a heap of things happen to me, if you know me, or you read this blog, you'll know what I mean.
It seems as though it's happening again. It feels like once I set foot in this place, things begin to fall apart.
Maybe I wasn't ever meant to come here, maybe I should have stayed home, lived there for who knows how long, and enjoyed the stability, the comfort of it. Cause I tell you, every day I'm here feels like I'm being not-so subtly pushed out the door, like some kid with a slingshot is picking at me bit by bit from somewhere I can't see. Making things go wrong and generally just pissing me off.

Before I go any further, I just want to say that no matter what happens this year, I'm staying here. I'm riding it out like I said I would, until December..

So, a quick recap before I explain the last few days.

I moved here for another year, into an appartment that is the size of a Snickers bar, I think I've lost my job, it's raining constantly, and I'm feeling a little dejected.
Each day, I get out of the appartment to the nearby coffee shop, and work on getting a job, a better place, and also on my own projects.

Yesterday, I finish a job for a client, and send them an invoice, and the final product. A day before that, I find a job listing at a company, send off my resume and get word back saying there's a position available, so I send in some samples upon request.
The day before that, I've found a new appartment I think is awesome, that I want to move into. The arrangements are made, the deposit dropped off, and the current tennant says I can move in on Wednesday after he has a key made for me.

Wednesday rolls around.
I wake up at 7:00, hop into the shower. After the blood nose I get stops few minutes later, and I dry off, and leave for the office.
Getting there, I order a juice and a muffin, and sit down to use the free wireless in the same position I sit every day.
I open up my e-mail client, and the first thing that greets me is 4 new e-mails.
Two of them are spam.
The other one is from the client I've just finished a job for, saying that there's a problem with the project, we work it out but it's not in my favour. Whatever, it's work so I don't mind comprimising.
The second e-mail is from my new housemate, telling me that his mother has died last night, and that he's flying out until the end of the month.
Not that it's my issue, and I feel awful for the guy, but now I have nowhere to live, as I'm out of the appartment tonight, and I don't have anywhere to go because he's gone until March.
I send him an e-mail with my condolences.
The job I found never writes back.
My current boss never contacted me again.
On top of that, someone I really like just flat out rejected me, it's still raining, and my finger itches.

I feel like if I touch something I'm going to explode.
Next week there's supposed to be an earthquake here. So say the weather experts. Or maybe they've miscalculated. I read somewhere that the 'Big One' as they call it, is meant to happen soon, but the next batch of tremors isn't unti April 2008, so hell I dunno. I hope this isn't all leading up to me getting squashed by someone's piano rolling off their balcony or something.

Doesn't it just sometimes feel like, even though things go wrong and you start to get back on track again, they're completely out of your hands?
I'm not too upset by what's happened, but I'm worried that this year is going to be like the last.
I'm trying to make it otherwise, and if you know what I'm like, you know I'm hardly the pessimist, but for the love of god, someone send me some cyanide, or a message.

I'll keep writing, but at the moment I'm about to punch a hole through this monitor.

Jimzip D:


P.S. Despite the hateful rantings in this entry, (which I know, is too long..) I have to say, that without the family and friends I've got, I probably would have dug myself a hole and plunged headfirst into it long ago.
You know who you are, and you're all awesome, so cheers to ye, and thanks!

My day Blenz into another.

Having settled in my shoebox for the week, I found myself falling into the same routine every day.
The alarm wakes me, I hit the alarm, the alarm remains silent, I wake up half and hour later, and for the remainder of the day I find myself staring at the serene misty calm that is Vancouver's downtown from the Blenz coffee a few blocks away, working on the laptop (god love it) which has saved my life in the same way a small seal pup would if you were dying from lack of cuteness.
So needless to say I've been keeping busy..

Anyway, the main point of this seminar I suppose would be that an excess of Orange Pekoe Tea certainly has it's benefits, and so does having a working ATM card. Because, let's face it, what's life without food every 7 hours.
ATM cards are also handy when they aren't lost or stolen, and when you can use them to pay the rent at a new lodging.
Which brings me to tomorrow, when I shift everything I currently own out of the shoebox into another appartment at the other end of downtown.
I can't wait, honestly, not because of the reasons already explained, but because among them, there's also every day when I inadvertantly slip into 'Steamrollers' burrito joint for lunch, and the nice mexican girl there tries to hit on me, and something tells me me and her just wouldn't work..

So, here I am, sitting in Blenz, spilling my conscious mind out at a million miles a second through my fingers onto my keyboard for all to read, waiting for tomorrow so I can actually organise my life and start doing things.. anything..

Oh wow! I think the sun is coming out! ... no.. wait false alarm, it's just some huge meteor lighting up the clouds.
Never mind, I guess you start looking for exciting things that aren't there when every day Blenz into another..

Jimzip :D

Terror at 32,000 ft.

The trip from Melbourne to Sydney, and Sydney to Honolulu where my connection would continue to Vancouver was fine.
It was after that final connection began that things started to go awry.
Upon reaching Honolulu international, we were told that the plane had to undergo maintenance for an unknown problem.
The staff wouldn't tell us what that problem was and delayed the departure time another two hours, but but as people gathered around the window of the gate lounge, it became clear from the figures dashing about on the runway below in brightly-coloured working jerseys that it was one of the engines that was giving them grief.
Finally, after two hours, the problem was corrected and we all boarded, and after another small delay as the mechanics filled out paperwork, we took off again.

It was about one and a half hours out of Hawaii, after reaching cruising altitude of 32,000 ft that the right engine of the boeing aircraft began to stutter, and within seconds it had died, leaving the plane lurching to one side. Passengers behind me screamed and I began gripping the seat in front in a sudden panic, the plane dropping sharply through the cloud cover before the other engine could compensate and level it out again.

Ok, so in all truthfullness, the above paragraph didn't actually happen, but I had to re-start my blog with a bang for another year and what better way to do it than with danger, excitement, and action, action, action! (Sorry mum!)
In reality, the engine turned out to be fine, apparently it was one of the turbine blades that had a problem, but like I said they fixed it quite quickly, and we flew to Vancouver without a hitch.

When I arrived I went straight to the appartment I was going to be renting for the rest of the year, and discovered with some dissatisfaction, that I had been duped.
Yes, the two bedroom appartment with pool, gym and one roomie turned out to be two roomies, no pool, a non-functional 'fitness room', and my bedroom? Nothing more than a glorified cupboard complete with a cardboard wall to separate me from one of the other residents.
I'm not joking.
So I've spent all day in Blenz coffee (where I am right now typing this) looking for different accommodation, and I think I'll be looking at another place this afternoon.
Needless to say, I'm getting the heck out of the current place as soon as humanly possible, but I think I'll be staying there for about a week, as the new place is only available on the 10th. (Hopefully I can stay on the floor or something until then..)

Anyway, I think this is a good length for a first blog entry.
More news as it comes!

You stay classy blog readers,

JW