Looking for A Good Job is Hard

-I went to Career Services on Monday. My appointment wasn’t canceled and it was fairly productive. Based on this appointment, I’m resigned to the fact that finding a real job doing something I enjoy is going to be difficult. Thus, I’ve decided to attempt to find a part-time job of some kind. Initially, on my aunt’s advice, I’m going to try and find one at NU. Why? Well, since she works there, I can get a ride up there. They have several part-time positions still open according to their website. I just have to find one that I’m qualified for and go for it. I may also try and apply at Best Buy or Circuit City. I know my way around electronics and besides, I go there enough anyway. If there’s an employee discount, I’m there.

-I watched the film In The Cut a couple of nights ago. Yuck, what a bad movie. You know, there are bad movies that are enjoyable because of their badness (like You Got Served) and there are bad movies that bore you so much that you fast forward because you want to get to the end that much sooner. In The Cut definitely belongs in the latter category. I think this movie only got good reviews because the woman who directed it also did the much superior film The Piano and because Meg Ryan is in it...and doing sexual acts. Otherwise, it’s a pathetic combination of gritty serial-killer mystery and gritty sexual relationship films.

-The NBA All-Star Game was actually very good on Sunday.

-I’ve mentioned it before that I want to see Millennium Actress. Well, when I went to NU on Monday, I finally borrowed a copy of it from Frank. I have yet to watch it, but I’ll probably watch it tomorrow. The reason I’m mentioning this is because I have had zero luck trying to find the movie for rent in a video store. Anime is hard to find to rent in general, but given that Millennium Actress was released by DreamWorks, I figured that I might find it. The Hollywood Video we go to (which has 99 cent rentals in a price war with the Family Video across the street) doesn’t have it at all. I went to the Blockbuster we go to and they also don’t have it. The only place I saw it for rent was another Blockbuster we have gone to...unfortunately, it closed recently. So, after looking and looking for it to rent and missing the brief opportunity to see it on the big screen, I can now watch it anytime I want before I give it back. Expect a review when I do watch it.

-I bought some manga on Monday when I went to Evanston. I got Kare Kano Volume 7 and Fruits Basket Volume 1. I was looking for Azumanga Daioh Volume 3 as well, but neither Borders nor Barnes & Noble had it. I noticed something interesting when I was in Barnes & Noble. They had separated some of the manga titles from the Graphic Novel section and put them with the Teen Novels. Most of them were shoujo titles including Boys Over Flowers, and the two titles I bought. I guess it makes sense given the popularity of manga with girls to put most of the “girls” manga near the books they are most likely to look at. Although, this leads to my worst fear when I buy manga (or most anything): the unusual look. I can’t stand when people give you that weird look for buying stuff that they don’t expect you to get. I’ve gotten that look a few times (especially when I buy CDs) and it annoys me. Everytime I buy shoujo manga with its bright colors and happy big-eyed girls on the cover, I anticipate that I’ll get that look. But apparently, the cashiers at Borders and Barnes & Noble expect a 23-year-old black man to buy Kodocha, Kare Kano, and Fruits Basket.

-One thing I’ve wondered about recently...why do Blockbuster and Hollywood Video count their days differently? Blockbuster claims that they let you keep your rentals for 12 hours longer. However, the way they count their days, you actually have rentals for 12 hours less than Hollywood. If you rent a 5-day movie from Blockbuster on Tuesday, for example, then it’s due back Sunday by 12 noon. However, if you rent a 5-day movie from Hollywood, then it’s due back Sunday by 12 midnight...without the extra 12 hours Blockbuster offers. Add this fact to the 99-cent rentals mentioned above and you see why we rarely go to Blockbuster.

-When Star Jones was proposed to at the NBA All-Star Game, my sister and I were convinced that her fiancé, whose name is Al Reynolds, was actually Al B. Sure of “Night & Day” fame. I did some quick Google research, and it looks like that Star’s fiancé isn’t the man of the unibrow, but he did kind of look like him. On that note, whatever happened to Al B. Sure?

-My bedroom may be in for a serious overhaul in the next few weeks. We are probably going to get a new TV for the living room in the very near future, as our current TV has horrible color. However, we will probably be getting a bigger TV (at least 27” but probably 32”). So, that means that we’ll need a new stand for the TV since our current unit can’t hold a TV of that size. How does this relate to my bedroom? Well, my current TV stand is probably large enough for a 32-inch TV and we don’t just want to throw away a still-useful entertainment center. So, I may be getting the entertainment center we have for use in my room. It’s longer than my current stand, but I gain storage space (no more doubling up rows of DVDs on my hutch!). I’d probably have to rework the layout of my room (and get rid of some totes in it) in order to fit the unit and still actually have some room. My bedroom is the smallest of the three in our house, so adding any furniture is always an adventure.

-Congrats to my friend Justin who was named one of the top 150 writers in Humanities (I've forgotten exactly the official title, but still he's in the top 150!).