Sarcastic Bastard

well, we made it through our first week at work on our own without any major problems...we were quite impressed with ourselves, and we'll enter next week with added confidence, knowing that we'll continue to improve as we go. this week was pretty busy, with 32 hours of studio time used (9 of those hours were today!), but the next couple of weeks will slow down somewhat with the height of RSP season approaching. which reminds me, i've got to sort out my finances to contribute to my rsp this year.

so, what else? i suppose friday blogs should be a sort of week in review. but besides work, this week has been completely uneventful. tonight shawna is out with her sister and some friends, but i was too tired to go...after working downtown for 12 hours, the last thing i wanted to do after getting home was go right back downtown, about 5 blocks away from work! so i'm a bachelor tonight...not like it matters, i've just sat around watching tv all evening. soon i'll go to bed, and i can't wait to sleep in tomorrow! but the tiredness is worth it. i have steady work, and i'm enjoying it so far. the people i work with are pretty cool, and it's an all-round good work environment to be in. and i get to enjoy my weekends...no more (or at least, very few more) weekend/night shifts, so i can maybe see friends, or do things with shawna. maybe we'll go see a movie this weekend...i'd like to see "the recruit", and "the guru" looks like it could be fun too. if i see something, i'll post a review :)

well, time for bed, finally...more tomorrow!

posted by leor @ 23:54 0 comments

how many times has this happened to you? you have a bass...hehe, kidding (that was an old saturday night live reference, for those of you who didn't pick it up)

seriously, though. a few days ago, i was going through some old files, and erasing ones i didn't need anymore. then, of course, today...i needed one of the ones i erased. who woulda thunk it?

ah well...not much to say today. work was fairly quiet today. we just had a rehearsal in the morning that did not go very well (through no fault of our own, however...there were script issues) but then i went to e-ink to do them a favour. i was there on monday, and they asked if i'd do the LCD wall for thursday. i gave them the products, told them if they photographed them, i'd get them set for the screens and upload them. i said "take the pictures, and i'll come by wednesday around 2pm, and i'll do it". well, i got there at around 2:10, and the guy was nowhere to be seen. the products were still in their packaging, so obviously they had not been shot. i stuck around till 5pm! then i gave up and left, but showed the VP there how to do it herself if he shows up. as much as i've thought she's a bitch, in the end, i don't think she's so bad. at least she shows up, and can be reached on the phone! i think she's getting pretty fed up with the guy herself, he's so ridiculous.

oh well...i've only gotta go there one more time, and that's to train the new guy. then it's his problem! hehe...hopefully he's not reading this. if he is, e-ink is a great company to work for, and has a bright future in the digital signage industry in canada :)
(till convergent takes over! muahahahahaha)

posted by leor @ 21:46 0 comments

what? no blog yesterday? i'll bet some of you who got used to me suddenly posting every day are wondering. well, ADDICTS, i didn't get around to posting yesterday, so you just had to go without your fix of sarcasm! hehe

actually, i just didn't have much to say yesterday. the good news is that my old employer (the one whose cheques always bounced!) has found a new sucker, i mean employee to take my place. so i'm free! i just have to go back to train the guy, and do a few last things.

well, i'm at work now, in the middle of a tape playback...maybe i'll write more today. but maybe that'll just make you "one-pack-a-day"ers will suddenly hit two packs a day, and crave it even more! you sick fucks! :)

posted by leor @ 10:45 0 comments

and so it begins...it started out quite innocently, with a dinner. sunday, january 26 2003. 6:30pm. who? shawna, her grandparents and me. (insert flashback music here)

...after dinner ended, shawna's grandmother gave her an envelope, the contents of which were soon discovered: a cheque. reasons unknown. afterward, shawna called her mother to try to find out why she was given a generous sum of money for no reason. DUM DUM...there is a tiff between shawna's mom and grandmother. the key figure in the development of the feud? none other than mr. sarcastic bastard himself, though nobody is pointing fingers.

anyway, long story short: last week, as mentioned in an earlier post, my parents hosted a small birthday party for me. well, there were some discussions as to which family members would be invited, and it was decided that, with the tension between shawna's parents/step-parents already fairly high, it wouldn't be prudent to invite her grandparents (who, to put it mildly, do not get along with shawna's dad. well, when word reached them, they were quite insulted, and as a result (with other issues factored in, such as a lingering anger about shawna and i moving in together before we're married) have threatened to disown shawna's mother (as if she had anything to do with it!)

so that's issue #1. then, there's the wedding itself, and details surrounding it. shawna and i have been looking at some possible places and dates to get married, all of which have caused some controversy. there's no point going into details about who said what on this issue, because everyone has been putting in their two cents and been pressuring us to bow to their wishes. actually, my parents are easy-going...they want us to be happy. but everyone else wants our wedding to be their way.

maybe we should just go to niagara falls and elope...

posted by leor @ 22:37 0 comments

finally the end of a long week. today was by far the longest day at work this week: 7:30am to 9pm, and by about 7pm, it was starting to show. i was getting sleepy, and couldn't concentrate as well on the show as before. fortunately i kept my wits about me, and things were okay. i just wish i could say the same for shawna, though. she lost her job today. but i'm proud of how hard she tried, and how well she did (62%).

i'm tired. i'm sure i could think about lots of other stuff to talk about, but i need my sleep, so i'm gonna stop typing now.

posted by leor @ 00:23 0 comments

well, i was going to post a blog tonight. i had a few thoughts running through my head. but the time has disappeared. it seems like 20 minutes ago that i got home from work...but that was 3 hours ago.

i've been trying a little bit to help shawna study for her test tomorrow, but it's been difficult. the hardest part is me trying to focus on the material. i could never study for my own tests (ah, back in the days when i was in school...hehe), let alone work with someone who had to study materials completely out of my areas of expertise. but the problem was compounded by some other factors: first of all, shawna's handwriting/spelling is not the easiest to follow, so i had some difficulty there. secondly, there is a feeling that it's just too much information to digest in one evening. i truly believe she knows the stuff, but it's these stupid words that she has to use that screw her up. "positive reinforcement" "behaviour analysis"...these are all just buzzwords that distort the true meaning of what are essentially simple concepts.

anyway, i hope she succeeds, but if not, there will be something else out there for her. she has a lot to offer, and is so good with kids, it's a crime to let some minor learning deficiencies get in the way. and as for other musings, they'll have to wait for another time. i'm tired, and i have a long day of fairly boring broadcasting to do tomorrow, so i'd better get some sleep.

posted by leor @ 22:39 0 comments

i switched my first show today, and it all went off without a hitch! actually, i got sort of lucky in that respect, because i did make a little mistake in the first shot of the show...but then in the first five minutes, there was a fuckup at the satellite department, so we were cut off, and had to start again! so my second first chance went perfectly, and everyone was happy. afterward, the director took me aside to compliment me, and tell me that they all think highly of me. that made me feel really good, and was a great confidence booster. it should be interesting to see what happens come monday, when the yanks are gone, and it'll be up to just us new guys to run the studio ourselves. i think we're up to the challenge!

this stupid sore throat won't go away, though...it's driving me nuts, because my voice still isn't back to normal, and i'm not quite myself yet. today was particularly bad, i think...i guess waking up at 5:15 doesn't help, but all morning i was very cold (and the control room is pretty warm!) and had my jacket on all day. i felt a bit feverish, and was getting very tired. i'm sure i'll go to bed fairly early tonight, and then fortunately i don't have to be at work till 9 tomorrow, so i'll get to sleep in a bit.

3 posts in 3 days...could be a record!

posted by leor @ 20:42 0 comments

so today is a bit of a down day. i had a good day at work, learned some new stuff, and tomorrow morning at 8:30am (well, 7:30 counting the rehearsal) i'll be switching my first show for RBC! it should be fun, and especially cool that the ditz i was shadowing today and yesterday won't be around so much. i couldn't believe this dumb blonde was a switcher...on my first day *I* knew more about it than her! and she got confused very easily. but i digress...everyone there is really nice and i'm happy to be part of the team, even though i'm the youngest by at least a decade!

but back to the "down" part of the day. i got home, happy as a bee, and walked into the apartment to a crying shawna. apparently her job is in jeopardy if she doesn't pass a test on friday. the thing that bothered me most about this is that she was sitting at the computer looking for a new job, as if there was no way she'd be able to pass and had given up already. well, after some consoling and convincing, she's studying now. it saddens me that she thinks she's stupid, just because she sometimes has a harder time remembering things. i know she's capable of it, she just might have to work a little harder than others. but she's so willing to give up and move on, to try and find another job where if she doesn't succeed right away, she'll resign herself to getting fired and repeating the cycle again, and she'll never do what she wants to do. who knows if she can pass the test on friday? she certainly won't if she goes in to work tomorrow and says she won't write it and loses her job. but if she keeps at it, then maybe she will. and if she doesn't, then maybe it just wasn't the right job for her (or the right time in her life for the job).

i'm getting quite philosophical in my twilight years, aren't i? :)

posted by leor @ 18:17 0 comments

first post of 2003...

lots to say today. actually, i've had lots to say for a while, but have been too lazy/busy to write. yesterday was my 24th birthday, which got a whole weekend's worth of attention. it was quite nice, really...my parents even threw me a little party at their house (my first birthday party with family since i was a little kid!), though the real reason for that was to get some of the extended families to meet and get to know each other a bit. it was very nice, and i even got some cool presents! :) and on saturday night, i went out for the usual evening with friends, which was a lot of fun, except i was still somewhat sick and had no voice (and was also really tired, so didn't stay out as late as i otherwise would have).

but birthday stuff aside, i got a great new job! today was my first day, and i'm already impressing them with my quick learning and understanding of the system, which is a very cool one i've never seen/worked with before. although at first it seems a little less than professional, it quickly becomes clear that it is an amazing machine, and with some tweaks and new features, it'll be as efficient as a "traditional" switcher (even better, actually, with all its incorporated features). they also have a very impressive chroma key system that uses blue LEDs to "create" a blue background that's a perfect chroma key! it's really cool. finally, the 3rd piece of the puzzle is the interactive learning system. it's all very leading-edge, and has endless possibilities. i'm really excited about this new job, and i'm looking forward to steady work and a stable paycheque :)

more to come in the next little while, i hope. now that i'll be working daily, i'd like to get into a cycle of evening blogs.

posted by leor @ 22:30 0 comments