No, Adam, you can't mooch off of me anymore.
Greetings to one and all from the lovely confines of my home in Sandy, Utah. The effects of the economy are settling in here at "Signs of the Times." Times are tough, but maybe that's just what we need here at the Newsletter. Topics to be discussed today: The economy totally tanking, the high school reunion, a shift in Aaron's fortunes?, the best movie everyone else has ever seen, the consequences of killing foreigners, blog polls, deleting your virtual friends, basketbrawl, and losing a brother. On we go!
So if you're just loving the economy right now, put your fist in the air and say, "It's my money and I want it now!" (*puts fist in the air*) Oh yeah, you've got to love it. I really tried - and was fairly successful - at ignoring the failing economy for a long, long time. I figured that it wasn't directly affecting me that much while I was away at college, so I didn't really pay that much attention to anything aside from the rising price of gas. Well, needless to say, I'm not in college anymore and the recessive economy just pantsed me. Piece of crap! I've seriously been spending the majority of the day every day looking for a job. I have applied for upwards of twenty jobs and haven't heard back from probably eighteen of them yet. I could line myself up with a job in summer sales, but the problem with that is that jobs like that are based on commissions, meaning that you only get paid if you get out there and sell stuff. I have no problem going door to door. I have no problem with rejection. But here's the deal - you can only sell stuff if you've got people who are buying - and in this country right now, there are no guarantees. I wouldn't buy anything from a salesperson right now - I can't afford it. Poor salesguy. He doesn't get paid. See? If nobody has money, nobody buys. And if nobody buys, I don't get paid. That's no good.
So I'm basically looking for an hourly salary. It's not like there is a job shortage. Like I said, I have already applied for about twenty jobs in around eight days. The problem I have is this new way of hiring employees that seems to be so popular nowadays. I remember when I got my first couple jobs. I had to go in there and pick up an application in person. Twice, I was interviewed and hired right on the spot. In today's society, everything is online. You find out about jobs online. You apply for jobs online. You send in your resume online. BUT - nobody ever gets back to me! I guess the exception is 1-800-CONTACTS, which hasn't changed much since I applied to work there last summer, too. They wait for about two or three days and send you a generic email saying that they've decided to "pursue other candidates." At least they got back to me pretty quick, though, which can't be said about most of these other companies. It's pretty dang frustrating.
What happened to the good old days? Those days are gone, ladies and gentlemen. Apparently nobody is looking for bilingual RMs with Associate Degrees anymore. What a shame. Hopefully somebody hires me soon, though, or else I might just have to drop out of school.
Oh yeah, and one more thing about the economy... for all you Democrat Obamites out there... I didn't have this much trouble finding a job when Bush was President... I'm just saying...
Ah... does everybody Feel better now? (Yes, I capitalized "Feel" on purpose... I know there are people out there who are sticklers for typos.) So I've been back at home for a little more than a week now. How does it feel to be back home? If only I had a nickel for every time somebody has asked me that... It's all right. It's kind of weird, I guess. I don't mind living at home with my family. I actually really like it. It's a lot cleaner than living with a bunch of teenage guys, that's for sure. The strange thing, though, is that it feels an awful lot like high school again. I don't personally feel like I'm in high school, that's for sure, but it's just weird to be back in Draper/Sandy full time. I've seen a lot of people - strike that - some people that I knew in high school and it's just weird for me to see that they are all still friends. You know, it's like the choir clique from Alta that's still together... and that's just odd to me for some reason. Maybe it's because most of my friends have either gotten married or forgotten about me. Lame. But I'll find new peeps eventually, I suppose...
--TEN HOURS LATER--
Wow. Well... things might be starting to look up. This afternoon, I received an email from a company to which I applied concerning a job opening. I just applied for the job this morning, so they responded pretty quickly. The company is called Send Out Cards and I'm not exactly sure what they do there... Probably send out cards, I'm guessing. But the job is for a bilingual customer account manager and they supposedly pay $13-$14/hour, so that's good news. I have an interview with them tomorrow afternoon, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. The business is in Salt Lake City, so I'd have to commute a little bit, but if I get the job and they pay me well, it would be worth it. I'll keep you posted and let you know how things go.
It's time for The Week in Review. As promised, this week I'll be Reviewing the new movie, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." I'd heard a lot of hype about this show, which is usually disastrous for summer blockbusters because I go in with really high expectations and leave Feeling disappointed. I love the X-Men series and I love Wolverine, so I genuinely had hoped that this movie would be awesome. I went to see the show at Jordan Commons and ran into my old supervisor (I worked there from 2002-04), who hooked me up with free tickets. That was a good start. So we took a seat and watched the movie. "Wolverine," of course, is a prequel to the other three X-Men movies, so don't expect the ending to be lovely and nice with no loose ends. It's quite the opposite, in fact. The movie has an interesting cliffhanger that leads directly into "X-Men 1," so if you know what the Wolverine character's background and history is from the trilogy, you might be able to predict where "Origins" is headed the entire time. The storyline was a little strange for me. There are a lot of characters who are introduced in the beginning of the film, but most of them are killed off in the first half an hour and the ones that aren't killed off don't have major roles in the movie. I couldn't even tell you their first names if I tried. No clue. The movie is pretty violent (not R-rated, by any means, and not as bad as "The Dark Knight), but I wouldn't recommend it for small children. Profanity was not a huge issue. Once again, just like every big summer movie (most notably "The Dark Knight" and "Napoleon Dynamite"), I had heard tons of people saying, "Oh, it's the best movie I've ever seen. I only got two hours of sleep last night and it was SOOO worth it! I am going to see it again with my friends tonight, too!" Uh... Maybe we were watching different movies. As I walked away from the theater, I was glad I got in for free. I wouldn't go back and see it again for at least a couple weeks - especially if I knew I'd have to pay - just because it wasn't that good. I would describe "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" as "all right" or "pretty good." Definitely not the best movie I've ever seen. Probably not even in the top fifty. It is a good movie, though, and I don't want to discourage you from seeing it. I'd just probably save this one for the dollar theaters. "Wolverine" gets a rating of 6 out of 10 from everybody here at "Signs of the Times."
Speaking of the dollar theaters, it's time once again for The Boo Box. I went to see "Taken" at the dollar theaters last week, too. (My mom asked me how the movie was. I responded, "Freakin' intense." She asked me if I would recommend it to her. I immediately said, "No." Not to mothers, not to daughters. Not to girls under 18. And the violence was borderline-R.) But anyway, that's beside the point. It cost me four bucks to see a movie at the dollar theater. Yeah, there were two of us, but not four! What the junk?!? What happened to the prices? They should start calling it the two-dollar theater. That makes it sound kind of ghetto and illegal, though. Hmm... Oh yeah, it already is ghetto. Lameness. Seriously, though. Two bucks to see a movie at the dollar theater? Come on, America. Everybody together now - BOOOOOO!!
**QUESTION TIME!!**
Q. "Dear Aaron,
Did you hear about the plans to make a sequel to last fall's hit movie, 'Taken?'"
Just Curious,
- The Junior Mounties
A. Yeah, isn't it going to be called "Taken to Prison?" (SALUTE!)
Q. "Hey A-Town,
Are you excited for the 'Lost' season finale tomorrow night?"
Love,
- The Fan Club
A. Hey guys, thanks for the Question. Haven't heard from you in a while. Heck yeah, I am. I can't say much because I know I have a lot of Loyal Subscribers out there that are nowhere near caught up, but I'll just say this: "Follow the Leader," the episode from last week was probably the best episode of Lost that I've ever seen. The loose ends are being tied up (partially, but hey - partial means progress, right?), crazy things are happening involving some major characters in the storylines, the cliffhanger was INSANE, and I got to be as vague as possible. Oh man. Seriously, though. I'm pretty dang excited.
Q. "Dear Aaron,
Whatever happened to the Two-Minute Instant Message?"
- A Loyal Subscriber
A. Dang it, I would have done one today, but I had to go to orientation at the University of Utah this afternoon and the Newsletter production got pushed back by half a day, so it's not exactly the best time to catch people online right now. I just wish that I would have been with my father yesterday because he had an unbelievable story at dinner last night. Some nutcase busted into one of his houses that was for sale and essentially moved into it. The cops and his cuckoo mom got involved... Oh man... Seriously, this stuff was unbelievable. Would have made some great material for the Newsletter.I can't even explain what happened, but it was pretty nuts. So the 2MIM still exists, I just haven't have the right circumstances to conduct one recently. If you want me to make you famous and you have two minutes of free time, let me know. Thanks for asking.
A couple more quick things - I have a couple new polls up on the blog site. Check them out at www.SignsOfTheTimesNewsletter.blogspot.com and be sure to vote! Basically, I need something to do over the summer. You may recall that we had the Gauntlet Photo Challenge last summer which ended up being pretty darn successful, so now I need something new and entertaining. The options from last week included A) for me to take a picture of everything I do for twenty four hours and B) to attempt taking a picture with all of my Facebook friends. The second option could be difficult since many of my friends are in North Carolina or on missions, but I'll see what I can do. Another option could include the creation of more "Video Exploits" and "Mythbusters" videos. If you don't know what those are, you should really get on Facebook and check them out. I just made another one about Mother's Day. It's classic. I probably watched it about twenty times on Sunday. P.S. If you have any myths that you'd like me to bust, please email me. I need more ideas. tarheelglory19@yahoo.com
Facebook friends - HA! I deleted over one hundred people in a three or four day period last week. That's probably the most fun I've had in a while. If you have never talked to me in the year I've had my account or if you're a married female, there's a good chance I deleted you. What's the point in keeping you, you know? I would encourage all of you to delete your supposed and so-called friends. You'll Feel a new sense of freedom and liberty in your life and I declare that you shall truly Feel Good About Yourselves by doing so.
The NBA has turned into the GBA - the Gangster Brawling Assosiation. Un. Be. Lievable. We've got people throwing elbows every game. Flagrant fouls galore. People getting chucked into the scoring table. Mark Cuban picking fights with Kenyon Martin's mom. Lebron James jawing with some Hawks fan. Eddie House getting slapped in the back of the dang head. Um... Is David Stern on vacation or something? I'm just saying...
It's time for the Shoutout of the Week. The Shoutouts this week clearly need to go to Adam Christensen and Kathryn Savage, who will tie the proverbial knot in the Salt Lake Temple on Friday morning. Dang. This stuff is crazy. Congratulations, kids. Adam... it was nice knowing you. Come back and visit sometime if you want. Maybe I'll even let my nephews come over and play Rock Band with me sometime. Happy trails.
That's about it for this late nite edition of "Signs of the Times." I hope nobody was like... in tears... I know it's hard to wait eight more hours for this publication to reach your inboxes, so I really appreciate your patience.
Until next Time,
Move It. Sell It. And Leave the Door Open.
Aaron
No comments:
Post a Comment