Hunter Morrison [dot] com

draft depth.
Friday, November 07, 2008

I suppose I've been meaning to write here for a while. A lot has been going on, and I've just been busy.

I could go into the minutiae of everything, but instead I'll just cut to the chase. As most of you all know, I have been looking for a job teaching English in Taiwan. A couple of days before my birthday, I found an interesting place that was hiring, I liked it, it was a smaller school in the city of Tainan, and so I sent them an email, inquiring if the position had been filled.

It hadn't, and so on my birthday I actually sent in my resume, and the application form, and all that goodness. A day or two later I got a reply for a phone interview. The following Wednesday I had the phone interview, which was cool, I was talking to the owner of the school himself, and I got a very good feeling from him. The interview was a bit late at night (9:30), but I thought it went pretty well, and I was hopeful. I was told I'd be told one way or the other by Sunday.

That Sunday morning, I woke up early for the conclusion to the Formula 1 Championship, and found an email in my inbox that had been sent only a few minutes prior. It informed me that I had gotten the job, and I was quite happy. There was one caveat, however, if you want to call it that. The position was starting immediately, and I pretty much had to get to Taiwan and start within two weeks.

Not that this timeframe was a really big bummer, or anything. I really was not doing much here on Kauai anyways, and hey, I'd rather leave soon than have to wait for a month or something. But it was soon. I accepted the offer, of course, and the work began.

Now, some of you already know that I have been crocheting scarves and selling them on the internet. As gay as it may seem, this was a pretty profitable deal for someone with a lot of free time on their hands, and they were somewhat popular, so I had a lot of standing orders that I took because I figured "hey, at least I'm doing something."

When I found out about moving to a foreign country within two weeks, I cancelled all the new orders, but still planned to do 5 that I had taken a while ago. So actually, since then, I've been churning out scarves like a madman, and I finally finished the last one yesterday.

I also had to book tickets, make sure my visa was still valid, all of the other things that go along with travelling (and planning to live) abroad. On election day I celebrating the democratic process by dropping about $1500 in all my travel arrangements, which was...uhh, fun. Extra costs were incurred by having to fly to Oahu on the day before and stay a night, again, and this time I have no one cool to crash with, so I had to go for a hotel. And hotels in Honolulu ain't cheap, man.

So, yeah. I've also got to pack, but really, I'm not too worried about that. I actually need to get a lot of new clothes, since I will have to wear pants (what are those?) and polo shirts at my new job, but otherwise, I will just bring whatever I usually brought back when I'd go to college.

I'll be leaving Kauai on Wednesday morning, spend Wednesday on Oahu taking care of last minute things, and then I fly out early Thursday morning. I'm really excited. I have less than a week left in the country, and I probably won't be back for an entire year. How crazy is that? It's crazy awesome.

So, anyways, my apologies for not updating, and for not being in as much contact with some of you as I would have preferred, I've just been busy. I finally have a bit of downtime today since I finished all the scarfs and junk, so I thought I would write, but I even know that my writing is a little sparse on the details. I'll try to write a little more up until I actually leave, and then don't be surprised again if I get pretty hecticly busy with living in a new country and doing a new job, at the same time, so there might not be any updates for a while after that, but I'll try to find time.

That should be it for about now, I reckon.

posted by Hunter Morrison at 3:15 PM | 1 Comments

waste myself.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I like how I went from having a semi-respectable update pattern when I first got back to not having updated since the first of the month. It's almost my birthday. Man, it's almost my birthday, fuck.

A lot of it is still because I really don't have much to update on, unfortunately. I can't believe it's been 22 days since my last post, because by then I had been accepted by my recruiter and...I still have yet to hear a peep on that front. Well, actually he called to basically tell me no news, and it was pretty unfortuante. Right at that moment, Mom and Tony came barrelling out into the living room (where I was), in a full-blown argument. Screaming, everything. I apologized to him, and he said it was no big deal, but damn, I don't even know what the last 30-45 seconds of the phonecall were, it was just screaming and me thinking "holy shit I hope this doesn't cost me a job."

I can't believe it has been nearly two months since I left Taiwan. To be honest, I really really miss it. Some of it surely is fueled by my utter contempt for Kauai, or, I dunno, I mean, it's fine to live with mom, hey, free room, free food, just generally being able to relax and do what I want, but man, I have no friends here, nothing, blah blah, I've written about this before. Basically, it's not exactly a terrible life but it doesn't exactly breed happiness, either. But even without that, man, I got really used to Taiwan, and when I think about getting a job there and living there, I get really happy, which some of you will think is funny, but once I got more out on my own it was really a good time, and...I just miss a city. I don't really need friends, I don't need a lot of things, but there's something alive, something big about a city that I want.

But I digress. Today's entry is about musubi.

I love musubis. I don't really care what kind of musubi. The mass-produced kind at 7-11 with the little strip of nori, or the hand-made ones you'll find at smaller places. I've had almost every kind, I will always love just a nice plain old spam musubi, but who doesn't love hot dog musubis, and I can even say that I've actually had elk musubi before, and it was pretty damn good (this, by the way, is the perk of Hawaii people living in Montana).

You'd have to go pretty far to find a type of musubi I don't like. Today, I didn't find a musubi I didn't like, but I did realize something that I don't like about a particular type of musubi.

That type of musubi is any chicken-based musubi. I guess really all I have had is teriyaki chicken musubis, but I imagine any musubi with chicken in it would have the problem that was bothering me today. Well, it has bothered me many times before, but I never really thought that much about it before, but man, it's not like I have something important to think about all day anyways, so I spend some of my time on pointless trifles, like contemplating the finer points of musubi.

The good thing about biting into a spam musubi is..., well, spam is a nice, smooth, soft meat product, and when you bite into it, your teeth can easily cut exactly where you've bitten everything else. This allows you to easily take a bite and get the exactly correct breakdown of rice/spam/nori in each bite, and your bite will remain pretty consistent. A musubi is supposed to be easy like that.

But a chunk of chicken functions in a different way. It's not a chicken filet or whatever, it's a real cut of chicken meat, which means it doesn't always...obey. The meat has its own contours or something, and it decides where it wants to end itself. So, taking a bite, let's say you intend to eat the first 1/4th of the musubi. But you know how chicken meat tears, it like pulls off strips, and you may end up pulling out over 1/2 of the meat. Occasionally, I've had all the meat gone in a single bite. This is pretty much a weak situation, all you'll be left with is nori and rice, and yeah, that's good, but let's be honest here, that's not what I'm looking for when I buy a musubi.

So yeah, my main gripe with chicken musubis is the lack of meat seperation control, which is pretty important. Also, I guess what pisses me off is that chicken musubis are often marketed as the most deluxe option when it comes to musubis, often being the priciest, I guess because it uses real meat rather than ~~reprocessed pig anus~~ spam, but to me, all you're paying for is extra fucking hassle. I don't need that, man. And you might ask why I even put up with chicken musubi. After the first time, why did I ever buy one again?

Well, the answer could be like it was for today's case: the musubi was free, and I'll put up with some uneven meat tearing if it means a free musubi. I like pretty much free anything. But, in most other instances, it was because all the other musubis were gone on the little heat rack in 7-11, and fuck, when you want a musubi, you want a musubi, you know?

Man, I apologize, this post is really cobbled together, I can't believe I am suffering this hard when it comes to writing, but I get so easily distracted, it took me nearly two hours to write this (and really, I only got inspired to finish it so that it would be done before midnight and not be timestamped as written on 10/23). Maybe I am just becoming such a terrible writer. Or maybe it's because I'm fucking writing about musubis. I dunno.

I also like how when the dow falls 500 points in one day, it's no longer front page news. American economy. Maybe I should have written about this, or maybe it belongs on Avalon. I dunno.

posted by Hunter Morrison at 11:50 PM | 0 Comments

never have.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008

I was going to write on my other blog thing, but I decided to update its version of Wordpress, so instead I guess I'll write here. At least I never have to worry about updating this since it's run off Blogger, but on the other hand Wordpress can do a lot of stuff Blogger can't. Anyway, I'm kind of tired regardless, so I don't know how good this writing will be. I went to sleep late last night, and I woke up early this morning, soooo yeah.

I woke up early because I had my interview this morning with the recruiter. It was a very different experience than the Hess interview, but it makes sense because what I will be going through with this organization is a lot different, I suppose. Regardless, I felt a lot more prepared for this interview, and I felt like it went really well. Actually, I know it went well enough, because I, ahem, uhh, passed it?

By passed it, I mean I was accepted into their program. Which is why it isn't such a monumental victory, because it doesn't necessarily mean anything, and it certainly doesn't mean that I now have a job offer on the table. However, this recruiter is good, they have exclusive contracts with a big chain language school in Taiwan, and I've heard great things about them. They get paid by the schools to find teachers, and that means that they have an incentive to get you placed, and so being accepted into their program is a great first start.

But again, it doesn't necessarily mean anything. It just means that they are trying to find a job for me in Taiwan. Well, not even that yet. There are a bunch of documents I have to get ready and send to them, most of which I already have prepared, but I do need to uhh, take a picture of myself wearing business casual attire. I'm assuming that doesn't mean a tshirt and shorts, right? But after I get that squared away, then I am just playing the waiting game. That's problematic, too. Basically, right now isn't a good time to get hired, because it's just kind of in the middle of the school semester, which means that most place have already hired everyone they need, and if there are any openings, they're gonna go to the super super qualified people first. I was told realistically I shouldn't expect to get to work until December.

But yeah, so basically I guess if a company requests some new hires from the recruiter, they send out my profile (presumably along with other eligible people, as well). The hiring company then, if interested, can either just make an offer right then and there (which would be awesome), or, request another interview (which is probably more likely, I guess). So doing well on today's interview likely isn't the end of the process, and that's fine, because I am dedicated to getting a job in Taiwan teaching English, but it does mean that I am not taking today as too much of a victory to revel in.

So tomorrow I will get to work on that, since, as my interviewer told me, you never know, a possibility of a hire could pop up before December...and even for December hires, the process itself of getting in with a company would probably begin around late October. Progress, and I am happy about it, but it's still kind of meh, just because there's still nothing for sure yet, which, it's just creepy to think, I'm unemployed, uninsured, and just wasting most of the day playing video games and generally being unproductive. I know what I want to do, and I'm doing what I need to do to get it, but it's not guaranteed yet, and that makes me nervous.

The funny part was that he asked me if I would be willing to consider other places, like South Korea or Mainland China, in lieu of Taiwan. I told him that I pretty much have my heart set on Taiwan, but if a good chunk of time (like, 3-4 months) goes by and I can't find a way to get there, I would consider going elsewhere just because, you know, it's what I want to do, and I can't just stay looking forever. It was great though, he pretty much said that I could get hired in Korea right away, like literally, tomorrow. I guess that market really is booming for English teachers. I definitely don't think I'd hate Korea, it just doesn't really interest me on any special level, and also I know little about Korea, and, as my Mom said, Anne's not in Korea.

So, today went well, but work still remains to be done. I can say that I just felt so much more confident in the interview, and I feel like the people I am working with now are pretty awesome, I've now spoken to two people at the company and they've just been really nice and cool, so I'm glad to be in their program, and hey, I hope it works out for me.

In other news, our refridgerator here is dead. When we first moved into this house, since I live apart from the main house, mom got me like a little mini-cooler that could also act as a fridge (it isn't as robust of a fridge as a typical dorm room minifridge, but it's decent). Right now any remaining refridgerated stuff is living out of that thing, which is minimal, but it's enough for salad and sandwich materials, which is pretty much all I eat, so at least I'm not suffering big time, and I don't think mom is missing much beyond her yogurt, but it's just a bummer that we lost a great chunk of the food that was in the fridge, and have to get it fixed/possibly buy a new one. It's actually done this a few times before that I can remember, but it always fixed itself in a day or two, but now we're a few days into the great refridgerator crisis of 2008, and it's still quite quite warm.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Wow, I guess I went on writing past midnight, so it's technically October now. Hooray?

posted by Hunter Morrison at 12:28 AM | 1 Comments

manhattan.
Sunday, September 28, 2008

I'm killing time, so maybe I'll write a rambling post of what's been going on over the past week and a half or so. In no particular order...

Okay, when I had last written, I had applied to Hess, the school I wanted to teach with. Since then, an awful lot has happened, but nothing really too good, I'm afraid, before you get your hopes up. I had gotten accepted to do a phone interview for positions starting in December. Kinda a long way off, but I really wanted to work for them, so it was good. The phone interview was last week Tuesday, and, you know, I don't think it was really that bad.

For clarification, I haven't had too many interviews in the past, and a phone interview is especially weird. I'm not really much of a phone person, and the lack of feedback is really the worst part of the phone interview. There were times I honestly just had no idea what the interviewer's reaction was, and I mean, there were questions that involved hand signals, and it's like, describing hand signals over the phone is somewhat meta. I would say I was pretty nervous during the first five minutes, just because it was weird, but I started to feel a bit more comfortable, and towards the end I thought I was doing fine. Some of the questions were a bit more "serious" than I expected since I thought they kind of were expecting fresh-out-of-college applicants with no experience. Like, they asked me to basically design a lesson plan on the fly. This was after a question about how comfortable I feel teaching within a system where the lesson plans are highly-structured with no teacher involvement in design, which I thought was kind of funny. Also, there was other weird stuff involving questions that involved phrases like, "on a scale of 0 to 12, their English skill level is about a 2..." 0 to 12? Who uses that?

Despite all this, I don't think the interview was terrible. I definitely didn't bat it out of the park, I'll be the first to admit, but I also didn't say anything grossly inappropriate, and I thought that, aside from one or two, I had more than decent answers for every question. But maybe it was really bad, I don't know, because at the end, my interviewer was telling me how the process would go, I would be informed via email in "1-2 weeks" if I had been given a job offer or not.

...50 minutes later there was an email in my inbox saying that my application had not been selected to continue further in the hiring process. And like, the email was formatted quite oddly, everywhere you could tell there was supposed to be a line break, there was a question mark instead. Also, there were a few random question marks peppered throughout the rest of the body. Whatever it was, it didn't reek of professionalism, but maybe I'm just overly bitter about things that are rejecting me. Of course, there was no explanation, so I really don't know what the problem was. My defense mechanism wants to say something like, "maybe there just weren't any jobs available with the contract and location you selected!" or something, but they probably would have said that instead of just "fuck off." So who knows, maybe the interview sucked, or maybe there are just a lot of applicants and I quite honestly didn't make the cut, who knows, whatever.

I had to move on, and I moved on quickly. I took what I could from it. At least I got some more experience on what to expect, and just how to deal with these phone interviews. Plus, hey, if I can find something else, perhaps I can even start working before December 15, which would be, y'know, nice. So, I've already got another interview lined up next week. I already had to talk to them to schedule the interview, and they seemed really nice and I felt a lot more relaxed, but who knows if I'll be able to keep the nerves at bay when it comes to go time.

I'm looking forward to it, because, like I said, I could actually be working sooner, and actually this company offers pretty much all the same perks that Hess did, so it's not a huge huge loss. The one thing that freaks me out is this is kind of the last shot. If I blow this one, I really don't have any easy recourse, I can manually go and hit up smaller schools that are hiring, but it will be difficult, especially not being in country, meaning that I might have to actually go back and interview in person, with no job lined up, and at that point, when you consider cost of airfare + room + no guarantee of getting a job, I will have to seriously reconsider my goals.

But, one thing at a time. I'll focus on the interview next week, and hope I can nail this one a lot better with one already under my belt. I've got a few more days before I really have to worry about it, but that's a status report for now.

What else? Man, I totally had a good flow going, stopped and was chatting for a bit, and now I kind of lost my train of thought.

I found out Grandpa Pat and Pam were in town this week. It was pretty cool, I hung out with them twice, and it was all good. Especially since Grandpa Pat has been to Taiwan many a time, it was good to talk about it now that I've spent my own decent amount of time there.

Dad has my car now, well, really, it's his car, but the title is still in my name for the time being. The 4Runner finally made it to the mainland, I hope it serves as a worthwhile drivescape for its golden years. I use the term "golden years" lightly when referring to that 4Runner, but it's a beast that just seems to keep on running, so I guess we'll see.

My mom is out of town for the weekend, paddling between Molokai and Oahu, which is pretty impressive, if only she could take my to Oahu on a canoe, we wouldn't have to worry about dealing with all the bullshit of the interisland airlines.

I think that pretty much is a rundown of everything that's going on in the world of Hunter Morrison as of recently. I'm currently staying awake to watch the Grand Prix of Singapore. It's kind of shitty, the Asian races are usually at a more decent hour for us Hawaii folk, but Singapore is running at night to make it more friendly for European audiences, which means I'm stuck again ruining my sleep schedule and being forced to stay up till 4 AM to watch some racing. But hey, Singapore is a pretty cool circuit, and everything looks really neat under the lights, so for the time being, I'll tolerate it, I suppose.

I suppose I'll update this again when there's something to update it with. Laters.

posted by Hunter Morrison at 12:25 AM | 1 Comments

umbrella trees.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Well I finally applied, I'm really nervous, because I really want to go back to Taiwan to teach, and I particularly want to go with this company. I'm still really paranoid, like "oh my god, what if I attached the wrong file as my resume" or I accidentally checked the wrong box or something. But hopefully it's just paranoia...I don't really have any timetable, so I will update when I know things myself.

I don't really want to write about that though. But I should say, I also have really nothing else to talk about. I just wanted to write something, because it's like nine in the evening, I don't really have any pressing responsibilities right now, and while there are probably more constructive things I could be doing, I figured writing in my journal is something I really need to keep kicking myself in the ass to do, and it's definitely better than just sitting around playing violent video games or something.

I spoke briefly with Anne today. It was good, I was left feeling generally happy, then later I found something else out that gave me a case of malaise. It's all me, but yeah, whatever.

I really don't know what to write about. It's kind of hard to write about anything particularly interesting when you're sitting around your mother's house as a shut-in. I mean, I'm trying to get back to where I want to be, and I've done as much as I can for the moment, anyways, but yeah, still, it's not like I have any stories to tell.

I was thinking about going outside tonight. Not to do anything, mind you, but to just chill out and look at the stars. It's an activity I've written about many times before here. As a person who prefers cities by a mile, stargazing is one of the things where rural life takes the cake. It just balances me, cools my brain down, if even for just a little bit. I already considered going outside tonight, but a quick visual inspection told me it wouldn't be good yet, still too much light coming from houses and stuff around here.

Of course, as good as Kauai is for staring at the stars, I don't think anything could beat the Big Sky of Montana. Maybe it sounds weird, but one of the best memories I have of Montana is just standing outside by myself, in the dead of night, middle of winter, big heavy coat on, staring up at the stars. Just right outside my dad's house. It seems like you can see the entire heavens. People who can see the Aurora Borealis must be so stoked.

God, haha, this shit is terrible...I just don't know what to write about, but I want to write. Maybe I should take a break for a while from it, let some stories build up or something, but I'm afraid that here, a story will build up at a rate of like one per month or something.

Oh well, I'm really going to end it here, I really have nothing to write. Blargh.

posted by Hunter Morrison at 9:30 PM | 0 Comments

red sky.
Sunday, September 14, 2008

This is about Kauai, video games, and buying video games.

I know I have a reputation as a gamer, and it's not really all that inaccurate--I do play video games, and given the chance, I can still easily waste an entire day on a game if I really have no other pressing responsibilities (and sometimes even if I do). But with that being said, I'm kind of out of the whole gaming loop.

For one, I have been abroad for the past two months, and even before then, my main gaming console was out of commission for some time. My PC I've had since January doesn't even have a graphics card, either, so PC gaming was out, pretty much leaving a Wii and a DS as my gaming options. But also I am just finding myself less and less interested in certain types of games. I feel like I'm becoming "old" or something like that, in gaming terms, anyways, because I am starting to like simpler games that you can just pick up and mess around with, I'm definitely not playing the RPGs or sprawling RTS games.

Instead I play simple little puzzle games, or even card games (a computer version of Mille Bornes was my favorite diversion when I did have some downtime in Taiwan), and of course, rhythm games. Before my 360 died, Rock Band lived in the disc tray. I got pretty desperate for the three months that the 360 was gone, I even resorted to buying Guitar Hero for the DS, which actually was pretty fun (for what it was, anyways). Rhythm games (or "music games", as they're now being called, rather aptly, I suppose) have remained one of my favorite types of games, probably since I first saw someone playing DDR at an Anime Expo a long, long time ago and decided to give it a try myself.

So, as I was saying, despite being a gamer, my tastes have shifted somewhat. Additionally, I don't find myself really up on what the next big game is that everyone has to own. I don't even really know what else cool is coming out...like...ever. I don't have any future gaming purchases planned, I was not anticipating the release of any games.

Except for one. Rock Band 2. With a (*knock on wood*) functioning 360, I have been having plenty of fun getting my plastic instrument fix, and I was really looking forward to the new songs, revamped features, and just all around better experience of RB2. I already have the drums, guitar, and mic, so all I needed was the disc itself, which I figured would be pretty easy to get without a reserve, especially on sleepy little Kauai.

Rock Band 2 was released today, a Sunday release, meaning it's kind of a big deal™. I didn't wake up early, no, as the exciting race in Monza last night kept me up till past four in the morning. Again, what was the rush? Around noon, I tagged along with my mom into town, as I am an unemployed vehicle-less college-grad pauper.

The first try was Costco. It was unlikely, because they very rarely have new releases, but I've been surprised before. Plus, we had a bunch of other stuff to get at Costco, and they have cheap grinds there, too. Costco didn't have it, which wasn't really a surprise, but they also seem to have really reduced (and hidden) their video game inventory, so in the future, I'm not sure if I would even try there.

The next stop was Wal-Mart. Ah, good old Walmart, surely they'd have it, right? But, alas, no, and here's where I started to remember exactly where I was. The Kauai Walmart recently had a facelift and is rather nice-looking, but the games section looks like it hasn't been updated in a long, long time. I was thinking that they more than likely had it in the back, and intended to ask someone to help me, but there was only one guy who was handling electronics-related affairs, and there was a line of people doing things like buying laptops and socks and other stuff. I waited for about five minutes, and it became painfully obvious that I'd be waiting easily fifteen minutes for a game that theoretically might exist in the back. This was not in the cards, man. Pack it up.

Kmart was next. Really, Kmart is terrible. Let's not pretend it's anything but. And buying games at Kmart really is the worst possible thing you could do. There's this guy that works there. I'm not sure what his name is, it could be Gary, it may be Gary, in fact, I think it's something like Gary, but I could be wrong (no really, it might be Larry, I'm not entirely sure, but it's along those lines). This guy, whatever his name is, is forty-something, overweight, balding, and just generally...creepy. He works at Kmart, devotes his life to gaming, yet plays terrible shovelware games for Wii, and probably has a mail-order Filipino bride. If you make the mistake of being in the Kmart gaming section, you run the risk of him talking to you about games, and I mean a lot. He's actually partially responsible for my purchase of Guitar Hero for DS, I bought something just because I felt bad for him having spent thirty minutes trying to introduce me to new games that I quite simply wasn't interested in.

But I was thinking, despite all this, that this particular employee might be the saving grace. Even if he is annoying as fuck, at least he does seem to know games, and so he would make sure that the big game was in stock on the shelves today. Right? I head back to the electronics department, and see him stocking some batteries. He looks up but I dart past him, towards the rows of games locked behind glass cases.

I scan around, nothing. No goddamn Rock Band 2. I give up some of my pride, and figure I will ask him, if merely out of desperation, if they have the game in the back or something. I walk up to him, as he is slowly aligning rows of Energizers on the shelf.

No really, slowly. It looks like difficult, perhaps even painful work for him. Like, he is struggling with it. As if he has to repeat "Double-A's" with each package so he makes sure he's putting the right thing in its right place. I interrupt his personal Manhattan project with an, "Excuse me, do you have any copies of Rock Band 2 in stock?"

Ouch. He looks like someone who was counting to a million but got interrupted at 999,998. His brain tries to process this request. All he manages to stammer is a "I haven't seen them." I say thanks, and walk away. I am simultaneously frustrated at another place lacking the game, but then I remember how fortunate I am to actually have avoided hearing him ramble on about some Looney Tunes game for the Wii for an hour.

The final place to stop was Gamestop. Wait a minute, okay, I'm sure you're thinking, "why the fuck didn't you just go to Gamestop first, dipshit?" First of all, that's kind of rude, do you have to use profanity? But anyway, to answer your question, a few reasons, actually. Firstly, Kauai's Gamestop knows they have a monopoly on the gaming market, pretty much, so they charge a markup on most things, meaning I've gotta cough over a few extra bucks on an already expensive circular piece of plastic. Additionally, I just don't really like the people that work there (although they have gotten better lately, it seems), and after years of being pushed to make a reservation for [whatever big game is coming out next], I'm still a little bitter about Gamestop. They're all evil faceless corporations anyways, I might as well thrown my money towards the one I have the least personal animosity towards, right? But, alas, to Gamestop I go, as I begin to realize I might not even get Rock Band 2 today.

Gamestop did have "a few non-reserve copies left," fortunately, which there was "only" a three-dollar markup on. Also, they had WiiFit in stock, which my mom has wanted for a long long time, so we picked that up as well (WiiFit had the markup, too). Long story short, I had the game, and whatever, it's all good, and in the end, maybe I should just support Gamestop because at least they're competent enough to have the game available when it comes out, even if it did cost a little more.

The point of this long, boring story about buying a video game, if there must be one, is that it really reminded me of where I am at. I am on a rural island. If I had been on Oahu, I could have bought it at 12:01 AM at Walmart, or even picked it up at the Ala Moana Gamestop in the morning and have at least just paid normal MSRP for it. But Kauai is just, slow like that. I personally don't know how people can live with it, and I'm definitely itching badly to be back in a place that is very very twenty-four seven. It's for some people, but it's just not for me, and I'm reminded of this in nearly everything I do, apparently now even my video game purchases. Well, there's some incentive to finish up on all my required documents and apply for teaching back in Taiwan.

...If only I wasn't distracted by playing Rock Band 2. Darn.

posted by Hunter Morrison at 10:43 PM | 1 Comments

she's a lady.
Thursday, September 11, 2008

I really don't know why I haven't been writing. It's 2:22 PM, and I hate daytime writing, but I am forcing myself to do something. It beats just sitting around and watching Seinfeld. Well, actually, I won't lie, I would watch Seinfeld, but Tony is using the TV for something or other, so here I am. I figured if I was going to sit around my room, listen to music, and avoid what I should be doing, I should at least be moving my hands at a pretty steady pace on the keys.

I don't really know what I should write about. I think that everyone in the small handfull of people that read this journal know what is going on in my life anyways, so I kind of don't know what I can write about that won't just be boring rehashing of things.

Well, I got my official degree from UH today. This may be confusing to some, since I also got my degree last week. Allow me to explain. For those of you who missed the backstory, I graduated this Spring, in May. For some reason, my school claims that they need ten weeks to get us our degrees. Why it takes this long is beyond me, especially since for graduation we have to do a self-audit and then by audited by our college once already. Apparently they double-check it again, and then sit on their hands, or something.

This isn't really a problem for most people, but for someone like me who is hoping to get into an ESL teaching job in a foreign country, you typically need your hard copy in order to get working. The way I had planned my Taiwan trip, I would have a few weeks, then it would be ten weeks, I get my degree, I get a job. That was the plan.

Ten weeks come and pass. I am told just to wait. Eventually it's too late for me to get a job anyways, so I return home. I call them on Week 15. The dialogue goes something like this:

"I see your degree is currently on re-order. Did you graduate with honors?" "Umm, no, I wasn't in the honors program or anything." "Hmm, well usually that is what it means, did you do anything else?" "Uh, I graduated with a 4.0 GPA?" "Ohhh, yeah, that's it, you've graduated with distinction." "So what does that mean?" "You're receiving a special degree, which is being printed now." "Aaaaand how long will that take?" "A few weeks." "From now?" "Yup."

I explained my entire situation, and to UH's credit, the people I talked to were incredibly helpful and competent. They said that since I needed a physical copy as soon as possible, they would just send me my "normal" (that is, distinction-less) degree right away, and then whenever the diploma with distinctions gets finished, they would mail that along too. It was fine, I got my degree in a couple of days, and started working on other things, like a resume, et cetera.

Now, I could go on and on for how silly the situation is. Like, ten weeks is already an incredibly long time to print up the degrees anyways, but why wouldn't they just print the "special" degrees at the same time, and even then, it was already 5 weeks past the already huge period they had to print the degrees, what was so special about the degree? Was it hand-carved out of the rarest elements on earth?

But I won't, because I'm pretty sure you've all heard me whine about it before, and you can think of all the ridiculousness yourselves. The thing is, I got the degree with distinctions today. My mom, who also doubles as the mailwoman, handed me the envelope. We were both excited, because we finally got to see the special degree in all of its glory. After all, this had taken about seven extra weeks for UH to get made, apparently. We couldn't wait to see what exactly took so long.

It was the exact same degree. Except for one minor thing, where the normal degree says "Bachelor of Arts / Political Science and Religion" there is now another line break, and it says "With Distinction". That's it.

It took them seven weeks to hit enter and type two words, apparently. I can't help but say I'm a little bit dissapointed with my school, I was hoping for it to be gold-plated or something after how much it had been built up while I was waiting for it. So yeah, at least I now am pretty much done with UH, and I actually ended up with two degrees out of it, albeit two nearly-identical degrees, but it's not a bad deal. I double majored, I feel like I should've gotten two seperate degrees, anyways!

Well, okay, so that's something that happened today. Trying to keep this more updated. I'll try, and try, I promise, I just can't promise it will be entertaining.

posted by Hunter Morrison at 3:16 PM | 0 Comments