jon_chaisson: (Just One of Those Days...)
Currently fighting off a cold using Airborne. So far it's keeping it under control, but not entirely. Hopefully it won't get any worse, though. Haven't had a cold in quite some time here, so it would be a pity to break the record here. I'm figuring it may have come from one of my coworkers, as there is a bit of sniffling and coughing going on here.
jon_chaisson: (Default)
Saturday:
--Shopping at Safeway
--Pick up Emm from work, after she picks up lunch at the Ferry Building
--Laundrydoing it as we speak done!
--Post some year-end lists/comments (working on it)
--Watch Pats/Giants game at 5pm PST (starts in 1/2 hr!)
--Watch Naruto episodes afterwards

Sunday:
--plug in scanner and check out how it works, possibly do some scanning
(note to [livejournal.com profile] head58: one of the things I plan on doing is scanning the Misfits books, that way I can email you a copy)
--more writing
--post more year-end lists/comments
--possible B&N stop

Monday:
--half-day at work
--watch "I can't believe you haven't seen this yet" movies with Emm
--possible writing time
--post last year-end lists/comments (music lists most likely listed at this point)

Tuesday
--sleep in
--Day One of New and Improved Writer Dude™
jon_chaisson: (Mooch writing)
Okay, so some of this stuff is actually sinking in. The theories behind what I'm supposed to be doing here make sense, it's just a matter now of knowing where I should go in order to do it. Lots of notes are being taken, lots of things printed out (thanks to the Support staff for reconfiguring my system so I can actually do so!), and little by little it's starting to make sense.

The weird thing is, again, that I never knew now much about banking I'd actually understand. There's a strange logic to it that, if I sit down and actually think it out, makes total sense. The practice itself, however, is another story altogether. ;)

Yesterday I was shown "The Book", which is a big honkin' hardbound tome with all the system codes explained in it--it's very much like the medical billing tome that comes out every year or so. I was also shown, much to my amusement, how it originally started out as a three-ring binder (with many pages now torn, natch), graduated to a plastic-tooth binder (I forget what format that's called) to a glue-bound publication (ditto), and finally to a hardcover. And we still have them, so I saw how much the publication itself has grown and gotten better.

One other observation: a programmer would love the job I have. The pay is probably nowhere near what they'd want, but the geekfactor on the coding would make one salivate. :p

Okay, onto more training! w00000t!

(NOTE: If I remember to do so at some future point, I'll bring in my camera and take some nifty pix of my window view. It's purty!)
jon_chaisson: (Default)
Wakey wakey!

It's about 6:25 here and I have to head out in about 20 minutes to go to work.

Yes, I have to work. *sigh* At least it's a half-day and I'm getting out at 1pm, just in time to do some last-minute shopping (I'm a guy, what do you expect?? :p ) and also head over to the Post Office and give them an earful once again because one of their drivers is a Frikkin' Idiot Slacker who won't drop off packages.

Good thing is that it's going to be a slow day, I'm still in training (and most likely will be for a few more weeks), and Emm set up the coffeemaker so I got java at home this morning! :)

Have a swell Christmas Eve Day, kids! Will most likely post tomorrow afternoon to report what loot I received...in the meantime, go have some fun, stay warm, and drink some nog! :)

Ouch.

Dec. 21st, 2007 01:03 pm
jon_chaisson: (Naruto shocked)
*brief break from training*

I feel like D.P. Gumby right now. *BRAIN HURTS*

So. Many. ACRONYMS. O_O...

Well, I'm being slowly immersed in this new department, so at least I won't exactly be jumping into the cold, dark deep end. At least not right away. ;)

Okay, back to training.
jon_chaisson: (Gendo from Evangelion)

The Year in Review Meme

Copy and paste the first few sentences of the first entry in each month from 2007. (No memes, quizzes, or dumb junk like that.)


January 1...in which I hit the ground--er, computer, running )

February 1...in which I get new hardware )

March 1...in which there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on )

April 1...in which we have a busy Sunday )

May 2...in which I wonder why I hadn't played hooky for religious reasons )

June 1...in which I go asquee about Beatles news )

July 1...in which I cheat the meme to celebrate a milestone )

August 2...in which I kvetch--again--about my job )

September 1...in which Emm and I go on a roadtrip )

October 1...in which I weigh the pros and cons of redoing a roof )

November 2...in which I explain why I can never do NaNoWriMo )

December 2...in which my monitor goes all weird on me )

***************

Well. A year that could have been a bit better, but all in all wasn't that bad. Every downside this year had an interesting, unexpected upside, and it all evened out in the end (at least as of 12/20/07 at 7:25pm PST, anyway).

Here's to hoping 2008 is an improvement! :)
jon_chaisson: (Default)
Okay, it's a good fifteen days before the end of the year, but I figured I'd follow [livejournal.com profile] queenoftheskies' lead and do one of those looking-back sort of things, and split it up between writing, work, life and (of course) music. I'll most likely do a more writing-centric post over at [livejournal.com profile] die_joncswerk later on today, but for now...

[Life]:
Well, 2007 was a bit of a so-so year. Nothing bad happened, but nothing life-alteringly exciting happened either. Well, except a few neat trips, but that's different. ;) I spent most of this year pretty much doing what I normally do...working, writing, music, etc...rinse, lather, repeat. Not that I'm complaining, though. I spent this year making money for us to save and really thinking about what I should be doing creatively (more on that in a future [livejournal.com profile] die_joncswerk post).

I will say I DEFINITELY enjoyed the trips [livejournal.com profile] emmalyon and I took this year. The Hearst Castle/Monterey/Carmel trip was definitely a big winner for me, as was the Hawaii trip. The day trips were fun as well (CA State Fair up in Sacramento, Taylor's in St Helena, and so on), but I have to say that the Hearst Castle and Hawaii ones were both special in that we were able to spend some quality time together...and both trips inspired me creatively, which is of course a bonus! ;)

[Writing]:
Okay, so I didn't become the freelance writer I'd planned on being. That kind of fell by the wayside, but I'm not going to whine about it...that won't help any. So, like my frustrations with work, I'm not going to whine about it anymore, until I have a valid reason.

I'm also kind of annoyed that I got so little done, writing-wise this year. Not that my well of ideas was dried up, but that I didn't get nearly as far with the LLB rewrite as I thought I would. There are twenty chapters in this book and I'm only starting on Chapter Five.

On the plus side...I do plan on having a much more productive year in 2008. LLB will be finished and hopefully on its way to a publisher or agent. I also plan on revisiting the trilogy in earnest, getting some serious rewriting/editing done, and quite possibly an ending as well. I also plan on starting a few other projects as well. My overall plan is to make sure I'm working on something every day, just as I did in the past.

[Work]:
I'm convinced that my now-ended job as a phone rep at the bank did have something to do with my lack of creativity--not to mention stress and sleeping problems. I've heard from many people that this was a job that is not worth staying at for a number of years (although I did have some coworkers that have been there for at least a decade...), and I can safely say I agree with them. Even at a job as mindless as this was, there was a lot--let me emphasize that: A LOT of frustration. As the Refreshments sang, 'Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people.' Normally I give people the benefit of the doubt, but I certainly had my share of winners when I was there...*shakes head* This is both customers and banking center reps, people. Added to the fact that though this job was just as repetitious as any of my previous jobs, this one never seemed to improve with age--it was a very stagnant atmosphere. Then there was the soap opera near the end of my stay in which I'm still not entirely sure why a coworker I got along fine with decided to stop talking to me, but whatever. What's done is FINALLY done.

My new job starts tomorrow, and while I feel it's going to be a step up in a way, I have a feeling it's going to be a much less stressful job, one with a lot less frustration, and I'm already happy with the new people I've met so far--who, I should add, have already gone out of their way to welcome me in, and I really appreciate that.

[Music]:
...and so continues the trend in which I don't pay as much attention to new music as much as I did a few years back. Emm and I actually spent more time watching VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown than we did listening to our local alt.rock station, Live 105. I could have spent a little more time checking out new bands by listening to LaunchCast, Pandora, or even sampling some of the music blogs out there, but for one reason or another I didn't do it. The one plus was signing up for eMusic (damn you, [livejournal.com profile] head58!!!), which has definitely added to my mp3 collection with both new and old music.

At this point? I have no idea whether or not I'll be listening online to new stuff, or even caring at this point. I'm not going to actively shun it, but I'm not going to obsess over it like I did in the past. I'm keeping an open mind and open ears about it, though. Any suggestions for stuff are always welcome. :)

****************************

Aaaaaand that's pretty much 2007 for me in a nutshell. Not exactly mediocre, but not exactly life-altering either. But at least it was interesting!

When it gets closer to New Years Eve, I'll post my resolutions/plans/predictions/music lists/etc. Stay tuned!
jon_chaisson: (Calvin Hobbes wake up)
I have but one:

Today is Monday, and only 4 days separate me from A NEW JOB.

ROCK! \m/(>_<)\m/
jon_chaisson: (Default)
Not much happening again...just taking a brief break from the projects I've been working on to poke my head in and say hey to everyone.

[Writing] Doing a bit more work on the LLB rewrite at the moment. More bits that are taking awhile to work on, but this is a good thing as I get to throw in more backstory that is desperately needed, and it fits in there so nicely... :)

[Music] Finally finished going through my mp3 folders (it was pretty chaotic), and moved a few to the second external drive to open up more space for the first one. Am now in the process of putting the songs back onto my MusicMatch. Future ripping of cds will probably make a little more sense in the future if I first put it on the main C: drive and then move it to the right external afterwards.

[Shopping] Emm and I went to the newer Westfield Mall down on Market Street this morning and bought a few more things for Christmas gifts. The newer mall is a lot nicer and visually a lot more pleasing than the older half (formerly known as the SF Shopping Centre--the one that has Nordstroms), kinda reminds us of Short Hills Mall in NJ. And it has a theater too! :)

[Books] I declare Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe to be an EXCELLENT book. Very similar to the later Harry Potter books, in that the subject matter is more for the older kids (and there are a few rather gruesome scenes as well) as well as its 800+ page length. Highly suggested, though!

[Work] Might be hearing about the job opening soon, hopefully Wednesday. And more news that I'll share later in an f-locked post.

Other than that, not much happening...just another boring weekend! :p

*sigh*

Nov. 23rd, 2007 06:29 am
jon_chaisson: (Default)
I get the idea that some Black Friday shoppers might want to pretty much destroy their cd accounts (god help them) and do some serious monetary withdrawals...and some people may have nothing better to do today than do their banking over the phone...

But do I really need to go into work today??

*whine*

Let's hope the day goes slow enough for me to get some reading and/or writing done, but not slow enough that I go mad before 4:30.
jon_chaisson: (Mooch writing)
Okay, so apparently my workplace was hinting last week that this coming week is going to be another big one. I think it's partly because it's that time of year where Q3 is over and a lot of people are about to file their quarterly taxes. Oh, and there's also all the switcheroos they've been putting in place to make "the customer experience" a bit smoother for all involved (and if you believe that, you'll believe anything).

The good thing is that I only have to suffer through three days of it, as Thursday Emm and I are on our way to Hawaii!! :) :) :) Can't wait!!


Other than that, I'm a lot further along in the LLB rewrite for Chapter 2 than I'd expected, which is a good thing. I think part of it is because I didn't need to rewrite nearly as much, and part of it is that I made more time to work on it. So good news on the writing front too! :)

Oh, and speaking of both writing and Hawaii--yes, I will be bringing the Dana. Yes, Emm will bring the laptop. Yes, I hope to do at least some writing there, just to say I did. ;)
jon_chaisson: (Groucho Marx)
So most of you saw my post yesterday about wanting to head into work a little early to get some writing done, right?

So I look at the online bus schedule just as I'm about to head out:

Next F-Market & Wharves vehicles in:
1, 18 and 25 minutes


Yeah. I highly doubt I'd be able to run and catch that one that leaves in a minute. And I won't go into my annoyance with MUNI's seemingly random fifteen-minute gaps in train times (they should be every eight minutes according to the official MUNI map, but to this day I've never seen that).

Maybe tomorrow I should leave a few minutes before 8am, that way I'll catch that one.
jon_chaisson: (Default)
Did not go to witness Bring Your Own Big Wheel this year as the both of us were a bit lazy (and I was tripping between the LLB rewrite and goofing around with my mp3 collection), so sadly no pictures. Ah well...

On the plus side, I have four more chapters to go and the initial rewrite of the book is done! I will then print it out and hand it to Emm for her to read and go over with a fine-toothed comb. Once that is done, I'll do some final tweaks, and then it's off to the races!

I was thinking today about whether or not I should get an agent. I've heard both sides (both pros and new writers) say that it's a toss-up; it's not necessary as a first-timer but it doesn't hurt either. I was also thinking today about how I'd market it. If anything, this book kinda sorta fits in with stuff Christopher Moore writes, so honing in on his publisher/agent/etc. might help. We'll see.

In work-related news, not much happening. Tax Time is officially April 17th, and then it should hopefully die down phonewise. The weird thing is that they've decided that they'll be open for an additional five consecutive Saturdays. At the moment they're just looking for volunteers (with the incentive that one can take a weekday off if they go in on a Saturday), which may or may not be tempting. Something to think about...

On a final note, it amuses me to no end that Fountains of Wayne have managed to rhyme "law degree" with "Schenectady" on their new album. :)

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