Lazy job 2009 – day 1

Another summer, another school, it’s lazy job time again! This year, the school is close enough for me to use my bike, but, you know, it’s still the same old. So here’s how my first day went:

I wake up at about 5:45, as I’ve been told to get there at 6:30. I get there at 6:25, but what do you know...people are already in the school...and the freaking alarm system has gone off. So I get in there, try to figure out what’s going on. I’m greeted coldly by a group of painters. They’ve been given access to the school, they have a full set of keys, but they didn’t know how to disarm the alarm system... Well here’s a chance to do something, right? Way to be lazy, matsam. I called the security place, told them it was a false alarm (that had gone for half an hour before it was reported!), but they already called the school director to inform her that something was wrong. I had to explain that when she arrived at the school, but she wasn’t surprised about the painters being there, but me...! It seems she wasn’t expecting a school guardian this year. Plus, I was told the job in this school was an electricity job, so much for communication between the school and the head office. Anyways, since all the janitors are still here, there’s really not much for me to do here. I offered help to the janitors, since the painters don’t really need anything after all the doors are unlocked. So I ended up spending most of the day talking with the janitors, small talk, but it sure is more interesting than spending 8 hours alone doing nothing. Plus, I couldn’t really help them; they were mopping the floors with super duty detergents and cleaners. My shoes probably would’ve melted if I stepped on it, and you know how much I love my shoes!

There was a bit of drama while I was talking with the janitors. A professor came up to them, to ask for some help, but she didn’t know they were using dangerous products, probably, so she stepped right into it, while the janitor was mopping and her shoes got splashed. She said it didn’t matter at the time, but then she told the other janitor she wanted to punch the other one in the face because she thought he did it on purpose or something. It ended up to the director’s ears, and then she had to try to resolve everything between the two mainly concerned.

It’s silly, when you think about it. When you work with other people, you just have to try to get along, no? Some of us can’t get a grasp of that concept, it seems. We get highly offended with little things and go cry to our syndicate. I get it when it’s about sexual harassment or violence, but little accidents, hiccups you could forget two seconds after they happen? Individualism at its finest, people, that’s the problem. Although...the concept of self-reliance isn’t well shown here. It seems hard to stand for ourselves these days. Every time something bad happens, you have to report to the authority, and people who will stand up for themselves will be schooled because they didn’t follow the protocol. But hey, we have to be politically correct at all times these days.

Anyway, I ended up surviving the day, got home, went to BestBuy to seal some deals, and went to my girlfriend’s place to help her put all her stuff in a bunch of boxes. She’s moving out in a few days, after all! I decided to use my bike once more to get there. It’s not that far, really, 15-20 minutes tops. The only think I didn’t think of was the weather. The day had been hot and sunny, why would you worry about a perfectly normal summer day? The crazy storm had something to say about that. Halfway there, it started raining a little bit. But I thought I’d have enough time to get there before I got soaked. Wrong. It was raining so damn hard I was having trouble seeing where I was heading. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t feel so great when I get somewhere and I’m soaked from rain. I was lucky enough to be at my girlfriend’s, as she gave me dry clothes, for my personal comfort. I ended up dozing off while watching a movie, so I decided I should go to sleep early. I was probably sleeping at 11pm, which is crazy early for me, as most of those who know me should know. The next morning would start at 5am.

Musical emotions and other thoughts

There's something about music...it can make you experience a variety of emotions. It's a common technique used in movies. Then again, music can make you insensible to pretty much everything around you. It's not hard to notice these days: everyone has a pair of headphones plugged right into their ears if they're not expecting to engage in any social act of communication. I am part of the phenomenon myself, as I have trouble reading on the bus or in the metro, I'll often decide to take out my mp3 player and put on my headphones. Times passes more quickly, public transportation becomes less awkward. In an attempt to indulge yourself in the comfort of loneliness, are you not insulting our progress as a society and a community? Perhaps are we just preventing ourselves from getting involved with stupid people. They seem to be a common breed in public transportation.

In other news, I've seen live footage of E3, and I have to say Nintendo, as a company, has found the secret route to success, even in this economic crisis we seem to be stuck in. Funny thing is, this year, both Sony and Microsoft decided to copy Nintendo. Every major player in the gaming industry is now into this motion-control business. Funny how the stereotype of a gamer is usually the lazy teenager who just sits around all day, yet the most popular console encourages you to get your ass up and movin'. From my point of view, it started with music-oriented games such as Guitar Hero. Then came Rock Band, with the now iconic drum set. That got many lifeless arms and legs moving again. I don't know if it's a healthy situation for three major companies to be heading in the same direction, although I must admit I'm intrigued with what they'll come up with.

*Warning: Shoe lovers. This part of my post if for you. Shoe haters, carry on.
Have you ever had two or three pairs of new shoes at the same time? If so, how do you decide to manage them? One at a time, until they fall apart, one by one? Separate the amount of time you wear each one so they individually last trice as long? I didn't figure out the best option yet. I feel that I want to keep them new as long as possible, but then, I'll end up scarifying one pair and not wearing the other pairs! This is a terrible dilemma. I might spend endless nights thinking about it.

As I finish typing this, my laptop's music player keeps pumping out good music. Oh yes. Life is good. Rock on people, rock on.

I like this song...

Michael McDonald - I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)

Quite a revelation from my last SingStar acquisition: SingStar Legends. The song might be 27 years old, I think it's brilliant.

Playtest time.................NOT!

This week was going to be awesome. Both Ubisoft and Electronic Arts contacted me to go try out some new game they were working on. Playtesting is pretty cool, you get to give feedback on games nobody else played yet. Gives you the impression you can help the game suck less, you know? Plus, they give you a free game for all your “hard” work.

Well, it didn’t quite work out the way I thought it would. It started with a call from Ubisoft. They had to ask me a few questions to see if corresponded to their target group. The conversation went along these lines:

Ubisoft guy – I’m going to name you a few games, tell me if you played them.

Me – Alright.

Ubisoft guy – Prince of Persia?

Me – Yup.

Ubisoft guy – Splinter’s Cell?

Me – Yeah.

Ubisoft guy – God of War?

Me – Oh yeah.

Ubisoft guy – Tomb Raider?

Me – No...uhhh...well, like just the older ones, PS1 era.

Ubisoft guy – Uncharted?

Me – Nope.

Ubisoft guy – Assassin’s Creed?

Me – Yeah.

Ubisoft guy – Um, you played Assassin’s Creed for how much time?

Me – Well, I beat it pretty quickly, so about 20-22 hours.

Ubisoft guy – Oh. You beat it. Okay. Well, that focus group is already full, so...tell you what, we’ll put you on top of the list for next time, alright?

Me – Yeah, no problem, bye.


And so the first deception was over, but I said to myself “hey, at least you have another playtest with EA tomorrow, right?” Right... So the next day, I go to the place, had to get there early to get my monthly pass for public transportation. As I came up to the lady to buy my pass, she looks up to me, as I ask for a specific one. Then she kinda started yelling at me for some reason. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, because she had this huge accent. I ended up showing her some ID. That seemed to calm her a little bit. I ended up buying the damn thing, finally.

On my way to the building, I passed by a few stores, and since I was early, decided to check out some of them. SingStar bundles are 30 bucks at La Source, might have to get one of those, as one of my microphones is dead (yeah, I sing a lot, got a problem with that?). Checked GameBuzz, saw used copies of Bust a Move 2, Bust a Move 4, Resident Evil 2 and a few others priced between 200 and 300 bucks each. Ridiculous. I took a mental note to never buy games there.

Arriving at EA’s suite, I took a seat, waiting for them to come and take me to the testing room. Well that never happened. A guy came up, told the secretary they had some computer problems and to refuse people who came for the focus group. Great, they were supposed to give us pizza. There goes my dinner! I went back home talking to this other guy about how lame the situation was. We were told we’d be called first for the next playtest though. Like that compensates for getting us to travel all the way there.

DENIED. Twice. Dammit.

Party time!

Yo, danced and got drunk.

Pizza experiment

This is probably the site that inspired me to try this experiment. I wanted to mix two foods I enjoy eating. One of them is pizza, which I didn't bother making it, since I had a frozen one I could use. So I started by ripping all the healthy ingredients off the pizza. Then, I decided to cook my second ingredient, Pogos (corn-dogs, you silly Americans). But I only half-cooked then, since I wanted to put then on the pizza while it was cooking, so they both could integrated each other's flavor.

I started cutting slices of Pogos and put then on the pizza, then put the whole thing in the oven for a while.

This is the result.

This is the result, half-eaten.

I couldn't even eat everything and didn't feel very well after having done so. It was tasty though, you just can't eat tons of it. I give this experiment 3.5 out of 5. I still prefer eating both separately.

Chocolate madness

Chocolate. Who doesn’t like chocolate? I like chocolate. I enjoy all kinds of chocolate. Dark chocolate is my favourite, it’s like classy chocolate. Well, unless it’s extremely pure...ever tried 99% pure dark chocolate? If you did, you’ll agree with me that it’s disgusting. The packaging even tells you to eat it with something else, like tea or coffee. I only like chocolate with milk, or maybe fruits, which might be why I like chocolate fondue.

Milk chocolate is so overrated. The sad thing is most people refer to milk chocolate when they talk about “chocolate”. I consider it cheap chocolate, the one you always get for Christmas or Easter, and you get tons of it, it’s not even a treat anymore.

White chocolate is the unsung hero of the chocolate family. It has lost popularity in recent years. I remember getting some when I was really young, and it was always the special chocolate, the one you wouldn’t eat too much because it was so rich, also because you only had a few of them, next to the huge pile of milk chocolate.

[random food]-flavored chocolate is overdoing it. You know those chocolate oranges you have to hit on something before eating them? Yeah, that’s not so good. I’ve had raspberry-flavored chocolate too. The concept it good, because chocolate is usually good with fruits, but the flavors mix up too quickly, and it ends up ruining everything. I don’t recommend it.

Kinder Surprise. Admit it, it’s awesome. I think I asked for one every time I went shopping with my parents, as a kid. This one isn’t so much about the chocolate though; you get a free toy inside! Oh my god! Although Kinder chocolate is still milk chocolate, I have to say it’s really tasty. As I grow older, the toys also get lamer, but you can’t beat the nostalgic aspect of this one.

Oh, I almost forgot about chocolate covered food! For example, when you get an ice cream and decide to treat yourself with something special? Yeah, dip it into the liquid chocolate and you have upgraded your ice cream from good to great. Also, the chocolate-covered cherries they give at Pacini with your bill? Genius. That’s a tip booster right there.

On a side note: PK, chocolate eggs are okay, but as long as the eggs are made out of chocolate. If that’s real egg covered in chocolate, that’s just gross, dammit!

(The picture if from a chocolate hotel room where everything is made out of chocolate. Godiva and The Bryant Park Hotel in New York teamed up for this. Madness.)