MAR

08

2010

there was a US census job fair at the somerville holiday inn. i figured i could make some money doing some easy federal work while waiting for my next project. the flyer didn't say anything about skill requirements, but i printed out a few resumes anyway (it was a job fair after all; i spent the morning updating my work history and formatting everything so it'd fit on one page). i got dressed in some presentable clothes and was ready to bicycle down to the hotel. that's when i ran into my retired neighbor renee. i told her where i was going and she said she wanted to check it out as well. she ended up giving me a ride in her car.

we followed signs posted on hallways until we got to a series of conference rooms. renee bumped into a friend about to leave. she told us there was a test involved and some of the questions were hard. we signed in and went to another table to pick up various census 2010 tchotchkes: pins, fridge magnets, canvas tote bags, pens, and plastic drink bottles. i felt a little weird taking all this swag until i realized i probably paid for some of it through my tax dollars.

the people there were mixed and i couldn't really see any patterns. it's like the kind of crowd you'd see at the registry, except a few more well-dressed people (folks who thought like me and thought this was going to be a formal job fair). i think i was the only asian person i saw there. when were signing in i looked on the sign-up sheet and there were people coming in from all areas of greater boston, so it wasn't just exclusive to somerville-cambridge. in fact, we were told on more than one occasion that they don't seem to have enough census workers in cambridge.

we were handed our test time (2:00, written on index cards with color-coded stickers) and led into a room to fill out some personal information forms. besides the usual contact info questions and "when can you work?," there were also questions like, "have you been fired by a federal agency within the past 5 years?" and "do you have a criminal record?" answering yes to any of those questions required further explanation in a fill-in box. the hiring manager giving us instructions noticed that i written down chinese speaking skills. turns out her husband is chinese and she had a graduate degree in the language. we were running a bit late so our test time was changed to 2:30. somebody came by to check our identification document (both renee and i had our passports) and to look over our forms to make sure we filled everything out correctly.

after handing our forms to a group of people by the exit for a final round of verification, we went into an adjoining room to take the test (called "a basic skills assessment" in governmentspeak). i spoke to a census employee who told me the place was so crowded this morning that they didn't have enough seats in the testing rooms and there was a line of people all the way down the hall. now in the afternoon however, things seemed to have calmed down and i even overheard several census workers leaving for their lunch break.

the testing room was already pretty full so renee and i sat all the way in the front row. she was complaining she didn't bring the right glasses. the test was multiple choice, the classic fill-in-the-oval-style with a pencil. there were several different versions of the test so people sitting next to each other wouldn't be able to cheat. there was a 30 minute time limit to answer 28 questions.

when the test began i felt this nostalgic rush. the last time i took a test like this was probably in high school, taking some prerequisite exam for college. i don't want to brag, but i didn't get to my station in life without being a pretty good test taker. and multiple choice too, how much easier can it get? my confidence was soon grounded when i actually started. some questions were short, but others were long, with diagrams and charts to figure out. there were math questions (adding and multiplying decimal numbers), sorting questions (alphabetize a list of names), matching questions (differentiating from a list of similar looking names), direction questions (to points on a map, what's the shortest and most direct root), vocabulary questions ("controversial", "imminent"), supervisory questions (theoretical management scenarios and picking the best solution), and finally some census related questions (reading a census questionnaire form, ordering the members of a household, deciding which house is vacant).

i finished with a few minutes to spare so i went back to check my work. i actually changed some of my answers, mostly in the math section (i mean, don't they have calculators for this sort of work?).

normally if the groups were small they'd let you know the score immediately, but with so many people, we couldn't find out our scores until tomorrow (by calling a 1-800 number). a passing score is 10 and above. you're allowed to retake the test as many times as you want, and the census will only take your highest score. a passing score makes you eligible for census employment, but people with the highest scores get first pick. actual door-to-door census taking begins next month, and those that are selected to become agents will undergo paid training in woburn for 4 days before they're ready to deploy. as for the pay, it around $22/hour and you can only work a maximum of 40 hours a week (although scheduling is pretty flexible).

i left feeling pretty good. the test seemed pretty easy despite some math stumbles. renee didn't finish but i think she still probably scored a passing grade. i looked for my sister, whom i told over the weekend about this job fair, but i didn't see her (i later found out she was here earlier in the day, but with her checkered past, she doesn't think she has a very good chance to land a part-time government job).

i went to belmont in the late afternoon for a home-cooked meal. it was warm enough that i just biked in my clean white shirt and dress slacks. i like the image of the business casual cyclist. i didn't stay too long after dinner and left before 8:00 so i could get back home and watch life unexpected.

MAR

07

2010

made another bacon egg english muffin sandwich for breakfast. i've getting better at flipping my eggs, but i still do it over the sink because i'm afraid of making a mess on the stovetop (i'm afraid of setting the eggs on fire).

i went to belmont so i could go with my mother to the sears at burlington mall. she practically lives there now, with each successive weekend another sale on winter clothes. i discovered the second floor, where all the appliances and electronics and kitchenware were located. while my mother was downstairs busy trying out clothes, i was upstairs browsing all the gadgets. maybe i could use a sewing machine! what about a deep fryer? or some new pillows? i realized i'm pretty good at browsing, which makes me the worst kind of customer, the one who hangs out at the store for hours with no intentions of buying anything.

my sister took hailey out to the forest. with the warmer weather (today was another close-to-60's day), the ticks have started to come out again. my sister found 2 on the dog and gave her a bath afterwards.

my mother made dinner but used too much salt, so two of the dishes had to be remade (even then it was still salty). i left soon afterwards, rushing home to catch the academy awards. i was panting the whole way, afraid of scaring pedestrians on the sidewalks who hear the approach of somebody breathing heavily behind them.

my bike lock broke about a week ago. the crossbar that connects to the steel u-ring split apart. i usually leave the lock in my rear milk crate while i ride, and all that rattling must've damaged it. the lock still works though, although i have to jiggle the crossbar pieces together so i can properly insert the u-ring. i couldn't get it to work though when i got home, and decided to just bring my bike inside the house instead. i finally managed to fix the lock.

some live-blog notes:

red carpet: best dressed: kathryn bigelow - woman does not look 58. she kind of resembles an american elizabeth hurley.

first award: best supporting actor: prediction (obvious) christoph waltz - no surprise - what a weird incoherent speech though - i think it would've been better if he'd just read dialogue from inglorious basterds. i'll cut him some slack though, english probably isn't his first language.

premiere of the ipad commercial - which really just looks like a giant iphone. pass. unlike giant iphones are your thing (why not just get a laptop instead?).

best animated feature film: prediction: up - winner up - no surprise.

best song: huh? meh. i haven't heard any of these songs before. they should call this category: "the song that plays the during the credits while i'm rushing out the theatre to go use the bathroom because i drank too much soda during the movie."

best original screenplay: another award i have no clue about: winner hurt locker - could this be the first of many hurt locker awards tonight?

molly ringwald presenting an award? oh, it's a john hughes tribute. that's okay then. followed by some more hughes' kids coming out from behind the curtains. their should be way more actors. where's james spader? or robert downy junior? eric stoltz? rob lowe? haters!

best animated short: ???

best documentary short: ???

best live action short: ???

anyone in an academy award pool basically just close their eyes and pick winners at random for these categories, since i haven't heard of any of these shorts. some of the documentaries look interesting though.

best makeup: i go with star trek! since that's the only movie i saw that was nominated for this award. and the award goes to star trek! how come there was only 3 nominees? was there no makeup in any other movies this year?

best adapted screenplay: precious won. was reitman supposed to get this for up in the air? looks like up in the air may leave this year's oscars with zero awards. this was the movie that was the early lead to rack up multiple awards. the oscars can be unpredictable after all it seems.

best supporting actress: is it going to be mo'nique like everyone predicts? sure is! this may be a horrible thing to say, but when i see mo'nique, i actually think her character in precious is her real self, and the mo'nique we see on the stage is the act. i feel like at any moment she'll just burst into an abusive tirade and throw objects at us.

best art direction: ??? avatar's first award

best costume design: ??? young victoria - i think victorian era films always win in this category. am i right on this? the woman who won seems so jaded, already having won 2 in previous years. is she the michael jordan of costume design? a threepeat! t-shirts ought to be made immediately to celebrate this accomplishment.

tribute to horror movies. i love horror movies, but i was underwhelmed by the tribute. besides, it was only the horror movies that've been nominated in the past. there's a whole range of horror films they didn't bother showing.

best sound editing: hurt locker vs. avatar! and the winner is...the hurt locker! 2nd award for the hurt locker.

best sound mixing: what's the difference? hurt locker vs. avatar again! oh no! on yes! hurt locker again! really? i figured at least one of the sound awards would go to avatar. guys wins his second oscar award in less than 30 seconds. that must be a record, right?

scitech awards: snore.

i love that john travolta introduces inglorious basterds. it would've been more awesome if it was travolta and uma thurman. she must've been busy tonight.

best cinematography: another avatar hurt locker battle. oh, avatar wins this one though. so if you're keeping score: hurt locker 3, avatar 2.

entertainers who died this year: patrick swayze. brittany "lou anne" murphy. natasha richardson. michael jackson. what the heck? they rolled the loop too soon, patrick swayze didn't get any applause. nice going academy!

interpretative dancing? i could do without this performance. shave some time off of the usually long-running show.

best original score: avatar vs. hurt locker. the award goes to up.

best visual effects: avatar is a shoe-in, right? so goes the award. hurt locker 3, avatar 3. nice abrupt cutoff! you're right, what these people have to say aren't really that important.

best documentary feature: i want to see everyone of these films, but where do you find them in the theatres? maybe at kendall square. the dolphin movie won!

best film editing: hurt locker 4, avatar 3!

keanu reeves presents hurt locker (kathryn bigelow point break connection!) too bad patrick swayze can't be with us. johnny utah and bodhi reunited!

best foreign language film: i'm rooting for the french film a prophet. and the argentinean film wins! a movie that i will probably never see.

i love the all-star best actor presentation. it's like hearing 5 awesome toasts. jeff bridges gets it, right? no surprise. the dude abides!

best actress award: what is the forrest whittaker and sandra bullock connection? oh, he directed her in a movie. forrest has lost a lot of weight! he looks good thin! stanley tucci's tribute to meryl streep was awesome. and the winner is...sandra bullock! i've seen the blind side and it's really not that good a movie. i think this is more of a "we owe you" oscar than for the best performance. bullock is a very gracious winner though, thanking all the other nominees. funny and very touching, i love me some sandy!

they're not doing the 5 nominee toast for the directors? but bringing out barbara streisand instead? what's her connection? maybe it's because they're running too long.

best director award: this is it! this what we've been waiting for it! fingers crossed for kathryn bigelow! it's 11:55! history is made: KATHRYN BIGELOW! man that woman is tall!

best film award: out of 10 nominees! fingers crossed again for the hurt locker. HURT LOCKER! bigelow is still backstage! okay, she's coming out! did she just beat that sound guy who won 2 oscars within the span of 30 seconds? but that's awesome. makes me want to go see hurt locker again. bigelow looks like she's at the gym with her two oscar dumbbells! notice how many people (men) touch her when she's on the stage? kind of weird! 12:02, it's over - finally! (final score: hurt locker 6, avatar 3)

MAR

06

2010

with nothing better to do and itching to get some riding in on this beautiful day, i went to belmont in the early afternoon. nobody was home but the dog. in the backyard, the old crocuses continue to bloom, while the new ones i planted back in the fall had just one pale yellow flower thus far. i was surprised to see a few visiting honeybees. the daytime warmth is misleading since it'll drop down to freezing at night. how will these bees survive? unless they're kept warm by a human beekeeper.

a plastic kiddy pool was left out in the backyard all winter. a massive ice puck had formed over the months and only now was i able to finally remove it and pour out the remaining water. how ice freezes outdoors looks different from freezer ice. this wild ice seems to have more minute air bubbles in interesting patterns. it's unfortunate that i'm only now discovering the cool world of ice, otherwise i would've been conducting backyard experiments all winter long (too late now, with the warming weather).

my parents and sister came home in the late afternoon from chinese grocery shopping. my sister made a green curry for dinner.

MAR

05

2010

not much going on today. after i got sick of reading up on actionscripting, i played okami the rest of the day. i've logged 24 hours so far, and i'm not even halfway done yet.

MAR

04

2010

my agent was a chinese-american named james. he might've been young from the acne on his face, but wearing a suit anyone can look older. when he left briefly to pick up some printouts, i gleamed some info from the few photos on his desk. he'd been to japan recently, with a framed photo of a kyoto castle and another one of him and his wife/girlfriend posing in front of the LOVE statue in shinjuku, tokyo.

first order of business: closing out the line credit on my bank of america account. i thought when i cancelled my checking account last month it'd be the end of my abusive relationship with bank of america. so i was surprised when they continued sending me monthly statements, like an ex who can't let go. apparently it takes more than one cancel order to entirely sever oneself from bank of america. they're funny like that. one of the ways they make money is charging fees on old account people didn't know they had. which brought me to my second order of business: when my friend alex moved to japan 7 years ago, he left behind an account with bank of america. even though the account hasn't been touched since he left the country, over the years the bank has continued to take out incremental monthly fees until now the account is empty and alex owes the bank money on overdue fees. it doesn't make any sense and it's definitely an example of predatory banking, so i asked about how he could cancel the account from overseas. apparently it takes just a phone call (he still has several hundred dollars left, but in a checking account; it'd be nice to salvage that money before the bank takes that away as well). 

after i was done with the bank business, i went to nini's corner to look for a sudoku magazine for my mother. there were 2 police officers inside the store, taking shelter from the light snow outside. "do you guys have any sudoku magazines?" i asked one of the clerks. he showed me to a shelf with about a dozen different periodicals catering to 'doku devotees. i bought an issue of dell's totally sudoku (no relations to the computer company) which had the most puzzles (315). when i went to pay, the clerk asked, "got a pen?" which left me confused. he meant if i had a pen to do the puzzles. "oh no, i'm buying this for my mother," i told him. the two clerks looked at each other and laughed. "it's okay if it's for you! you don't have to be ashamed! we have a lot of magazines here you should be ashamed of, but this ain't one of them!" i finally did admit that i occasionally dabble in the sudoku. the 2 police officers nearby remained emotionless during our little exchange. 

it's been weeks since i last vacuumed. how dust and debris seem to accumulate despite the low traffic is one of the great mysteries of life. maybe i'm just an exceptional shedder. the house instantly felt cleaner afterwards. while i was on a roll, i also washed the bathtub.

in the late afternoon my father dropped off some fresh meat buns (i had some with a spicy bean paste). he also left a few souvenirs my godmother's son jack brought back for me from his recent trip to taiwan, including a cigarette lighter in the shape of a miniature fire extinguisher (it also features a bright LED on the nozzle) and a collection of miniature (that seems to be the common theme) pikes (the pole weapon, not the fish) from ancient china.

is anybody else watching community? one of the funniest shows on television right now.

MAR

03

2010

with the overcast sky and the wind and the light rain, it was a good day to stay indoors. i was preoccupied with 3 activities: reading ("the light of other days"), scripting (learning about actionscript motions), and gaming (okami). also, testing the limits of my lactose intolerance. i really need to get some lactaid.

MAR

02

2010

i went to the cambridge recycling department and picked up another plastic recycle bin. they had a whole stack and all they asked was for me to write my name and address. getting the bin home was a challenge since it was too big to fit inside my milk crate. instead, i put it outside the crate like a lid (it fit perfectly). it rattled the whole way home but i got it back in one piece. this is the second time i've had my recycle bin stolen. i'm sure one of my neighbor has it but just hasn't taken the time to check that i've written my address on the bin. i've gone a completely different strategy with this new bin however: i wrapped it in several bands of packaging tape, so not only does it look very distinctive, but from a distance it looks like a broken bin held together by tape. hopefully no one will steal this one, but it's not too big a deal to get another one from the recycle department.

after lunch i went to market basket to pick up a few things (english muffins, gallon of milk). i noticed that the nearby paper company that became a boxing studio will now be a liquor store/indian market. i think it's a great idea; i'm just worried about the parking situation, since it's usually very busy to begin with. i then headed to union square to mail off copies of my medical bills to my motorcycle insurance company (the agent finally called me back today). outside was a little corgi dog tied to a fence, waiting for his owner. there was a testing fire hydrant pouring out water into the street. i turned around to change my lens and saw a girl already crouched down taking some photos herself. she took a bunch with her point-and-shoot then took a few more with her iphone.

for dinner, some frozen chinese dumplings. for some reason i was tuned into frontline on PBS and finished eating while watching a man commit suicide on television (it was a story about assisted suicides in switzerland).

MAR

01

2010

for lunch i had a serving of grilled kielbasa + canned sauerkraut + toasted english muffin, washed down with a smoothie. by late afternoon i was in belmont again for dinner.

i wasn't planning on watching the return of jay leno, but figured i should at least catch the first show for historical reasons if nothing else. here's the weird thing though: i didn't hate it. his jokes aren't funny and often times cringe-inducing, but the truth about late night talk shows is i tune in to see the guests (tonight: jamie foxx, lindsey vonn), not the hosts. leno feels familiar despite his shortcomings. he's not annoying enough for me to want to change the channel. and in the end, that's why i think leno will survive this late night fiasco after all, which may or may not be a good thing for conan o'brien down the road.

FEB

28

2010

cursing my upstairs neighbor again (apparently they love to move furniture around on the weekends), i tore out of bed and made angry oatmeal for breakfast. i then got the bike out from the basement and went to belmont.

i watched the US-canada olympic hockey game. i was rooting for american naturally, but was happy for canada when they won. i don't exactly care for hockey one way or another, but it's like the religion up north and i think the country would've been crushed if they didn't win.

after dinner i watched the conclusion ceremony of the winter olympics. it was pretty brilliant for them to play up on technical difficulty of the opening ceremony. they owned it, so now it seems like it was all planned from the start, to have the crisscrossing flaming torches malfunction like that, leaving wayne gretzy with a look that should be on t-shirts and posters.

i left during the russian performances. when i got home i was watching william shatner. that guy's canadian? followed by catherine o'hara. i knew she was canadian. then marty mclfy came out. what happened next confused me. i heard bob costa's voice talk about avril lavigne performing next (yay?) but then that new jerry seinfeld show started. despite the star-studded commercials, that looks like a terrible show and i refuse to watch. so that was it? the end of the olympics? no conclusion statement? no good byes? not even the promise of avril? the olympics did come back an hour later, but by then i'd already checked out.

FEB

27

2010

i started playing okami today on the wii. the graphics are pretty cool, done in this asian calligraphy style. the object of the game is to control a mythical japanese wolf spirit and help her save feudal japan from demons. it's essentially a role-playing game (RPG) with action elements, which is what muramasa was (another japanese import, an RPG i tried to play again today, but i just can't defeat the 2nd boss, so it's essentially game over). a few things i don't like though: the annoying insect sidekick (comedic relief if lame jokes were somehow funny); excessive text dialog that can't be fast-forwarded; and the earth mother spirit is surprisingly sexualized, with heaving bosoms and assless kimino (even more disturbing since at times okami plays like a children's game; this is probably some japanese fan service).

after reading the rave review in entertainment weekly, i found an online screener of the french film a prophet (2009). nominated for a best foreign film oscar (this season), it's the story of a young french arab who rises through the ranks in prison, caught between the corsican mafia and the muslim inmates. i've seen my share of prison dramas (blood in blood out (1993), HBO's oz series, shawshank redemption), and thought this was an intriguing take seen through the prism of the french penal society. it also had this underdog rags-to-riches story. after seeing the movie, i hope it wins the academy award next weekend. (unfortunately, a prophet isn't playing in theatres unless you live in new york or montreal, nor is it on dvd yet, as far as i know).

i'm still working on my pasta salad! a part of me just wants to toss it all out, but another part of me doesn't like to see food go to waste, so i'm still eating it. at this point it's less about sustenance as it is more about contrition. i really think i'm a food masochist at times. after tonight, there's just one more serving left, but i really think i'm going to just throw it out. a cold day in hell is the next time i'll be making pasta salad.