So rather than delve into some HTML code and end up making a page with far too many tables, I have decided to just make new pages through WordPress.  They are linked above.  One is for my NaNoWriMo novel, the other for my NaSoAlMo album.

I think these two things will be the only things I do for November, unless some job, you know, wants to call or e-mail me back or something.  Not that I’m in a hurry or anything…

That last part was sarcastic.  I am kind of in a hurry.

I have too many blogs.  Let’s face it.  And all of them are on Blogspot.  Which is a great service, don’t get me wrong, it’s just … I have my own website.  And my blog should be there!  And so, with a bit of adoing, I have constructed WordPress on my site and imported all of my posts from Blogspot (which was more difficult than I want to talk about right now).

Now, the other blogs are going to stay there.  The music blog I need for last.fm.  The VZW blog is for NaNoWriMo, and the Here Lies Laika blog … well, I’ll probably get rid of that.  Or suspend it, at least.

In other news, the Halloween Party at the Oregon house was a success.  Here are some photos of it that my brother took.  My only regret is that it was full of people I did not know, who were all older than me.  I’m looking at photos of my friends back in Boise and it makes me a little homesick for the fun Halloween parties down there.  Buuuut what can ya do?

There is potentially exciting stuff for me regarding music in the future.  I don’t want to talk too much about it because I don’t want to jinx anything.  I’ll just say that I was surprised when I got the e-mail.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween!

It’s out. Snocap works, the upload works, everything worked.

If you can spare $3.99, I suggest you download a copy for yourself!

Oh, silly acronyms, you have a special place in my heart.

To be quite blunt, I, Josh Belville, have been on the internet Far Too Much.  It dawned on me today as I signed up for LinkedIn, yet another in a growing trend of social networking sites.  When I signed up for it, I didn’t know anyone on it, and had to use other social networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook, to let people know that I had joined LinkedIn.  This broke something in my brain, and it melted.  My brain melted.

With that all in mind, I  just wanted to make a brief statement about what I’m going to do.  If you care, great.  If you don’t care, why the hell are you reading this in the first place?

National Novel Writing Month and National Solo Album Month are both in November.  I have signed up to do both.  Why?  Because I’m an idiot.  But having goals and deadlines is a good thing to have when most of your day is spent with four tabs open on your browser, each one on a different job website.  I feel like a vulture, circling an economy waiting to die for some scrap of food that will keep me going.  I mean, shit.  I went to an interview yesterday to recruit people to take surveys at movie theaters.  Surveys at movie theaters.  A monkey dressed like a human could do a job like that.  A mentally-challenged ostrich could do a job like that.  Hell, a mime could do it.  And yet they haven’t called me back.

This leads me to one invaluable-yet-surprising conclusion:  I have a terrible presence at face-to-face interviews.  Which is unsettling, and is something I have to work on.

But that’s not why I’m writing this entry.  I’m writing because I’m setting some goals for myself.  Primary is, as always, to get a job (preferably one I like).  The second goal is one 50,000 word novel and one 15-track album created in November.  And the third goal is No Internet.  No Facebook, no Myspace, no Twitter for November, and potentially for the rest of the year.  I think all I’ll do is write the occasional blog for this site, and update my website with NaNo and NaSo stuff, and regular music stuff like shows I might get.  That sounds about right.

I think I’m going to start this tomorrow after I promote Songs for Autumn.  I’m going to promote, promote, promote, and then it’s radio silence (mostly) for a month.

Yeah, that sounds good.

Jason’s horribly slanderous comment on a particular Facebook status of mine has reminded me that I should probably write a little update regarding my job hunting.

In short, the news is good.  Trying to find a job through Craigslist is kind of like navigating a maze, complete with dead ends, odd twists and turns, and the occasional axe-wielding psychopath.  The sad thing though is that it’s easier to navigate than CareerBuilder or Monster, which have become bloated, egomaniacal worthless shells of what they once were, and should be now.  CL is good because it just shows me jobs.  CareerBuilder wants me to sign up for things, or wants to recommend jobs for me because it thinks it’s better than me.  Well you’re not, CareerBuilder.  I am better than you, for I am a human and you are a program on the internet.

I’ve sent lots of e-mail replies, and in doing so have experimented with proper e-mail responses.  Too much information or too little?  Should I put my name in there as soon as possible, or just leave it at the end of the e-mail?  Should I tell them I’m not wearing pants?  Surely at some point in the sit down interview they will notice.  All of these questions raced through my head as I sent reply after reply.  To anyone.  From dishwashers to manufacturers to tutors and gardeners.  I tried not to send replies to positions in which I had no experience, but sometimes I get desperate.  I sent no replies to telemarketers or appointment setters, and none to sales.  The thing about these jobs is that they will always hire you, because they’re the worst jobs, in that they require you to manipulate people to buy things they probably didn’t want to buy in the first place.  And that’s just wrong.

At some point I got really fed up with this process.  Why, the fuck, on websites, do I have to upload a resume AND fill out an application?  Why?  Why Safeway?  Why Rivermark Credit Union?  Why Barnes & Noble?  Don’t you take my word for it?  Do you not see the resume I have graciously uploaded for you?

Listen, employers: this is ridiculous, redundant, and really annoying.  If someone uploads a resume to your application process, they should be able to skip your application process.  They should be able to put “see resume” on there, just like they do on paper applications.  Stop being thoughtless jerks.  The last thing I want to do is memorize phone numbers for jobs I don’t work at anymore, for the sole purpose of not shooting my brains out after typing them in the nth online application.

Anyhoo.  So after a month of job surfing, I finally got a response.  A good one, too.  I think my reply was probably one of my “late stage” replies, which consists of me not giving a crap about my response, which ironically increases my appeal to employers.  Something about being suave, or … I don’t know.  I don’t care.  If I think about it I’ll jinx it.

(For the record, I have three stages of e-mail replies to potential employers: 1) Early Stage, which is where I am chipper and quick; 2) Late Stage, where I am long-winded and somewhat cynical; and 3) Dead Stage, where I say “Hey, I am interested in your job, here’s my resume” and that’s it.)

The job is with an online bookseller.  It is not Powells.  They, I think, buy books from people and sell them used.  Either way, they must’ve liked my e-mail (and now that I look at it in my glorious, glorious Gmail account, I was quite confident, almost to the point of cockiness).  I got a call for a phone interview, which was this morning around 11:30.  I bumbled my way through it, I thought, but the whole thing sounded exactly like the Hastings interview I did two years ago, so I knew what I was expecting.

At the end of the interview the lady said, “Well, we’ve got a couple more days of interviews, so we’ll get in contact with you,” which I expected.

Then, fifteen minutes later, she called back for a face-to-face interview on Wednesday. This I did not expect.

… Okay, I expected it a little bit.

Plus, in her e-mail to me giving me directions to the place, she wrote, “I enjoyed our phone conversation today regarding the Part-Time Shipping Associate Position”, which I’m pretty sure means that she’s into me.  Since I’m considering the phone conversation to be our first date, I think I’ll take her to a movie.  Maybe see some Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

(If you’re reading this, bookseller lady, I’m just kidding, and your bookstore looks like a great place to work.  Also, do you like pasta?  You do?  Great.  … What?  Oh, I’m just curious.  No, I’m writing something else completely unrelated to pasta into this notebook.  It’s a … uh, a note.  For a friend.  Who likes pasta.  I mean doesn’t like pasta.  I mean has nothing to do with pasta.)

Anyway, that’s it.  I plan on going to this interview on Wednesday and knocking some socks off, whatever the hell that means.  Wish me luck!