Life in low gear

I got an email from Sally today. First, I scratched my head ...wondering "who the hell is sally?!". Upon opening the mail, I realized who Sally is. She's just one more from an endless list of people to whom I applied for work, and basically the message said :
Thank you for your application for the position of *** with the RNA.

We have received an enormous response to our advertisement.

Unfortunately your application was unsuccessful at this time.

Aye ... life in low gear ... sending cv's and getting "thanks but no thanks".
Anyways, I was walking down the street today, towards the Internet cafe, and I guessed I could use a coffee too. While waiting for the light to turn green on the crossroad, the rain hit again. Being smart and careful, I took an umbrella with me, so I told to myself (with an ausy accent) "no worries mate", and opened it, enjoying the view of the rain falling on the cars, breathing in the smell, and thanking the weather for it was warmish, and not cold as it would be in the rain back home.
Once the light turned green, I started crossing, humming a song, and watched a short balding person with glasses, who must have been on a coffee break from work (since he was dressed in a rather formal attire, and was holding a coffee cup in his hands) run across the road in the other direction. Now, the funny part was his face. He was having the most amusing face, even though it would be hard to explain. His brows were contracted, and his lips were tight, while he dashed at what should be (for him) top speed across the road. Now, since he's traveling faster, he should keep his head dryer, since the total amount of time under the rain, is shorter. But, since he's moving on the horizontal plane faster, he gathers rain which wouldn't hit him otherwise. So, is it worth the effort of trying to outrun the rain?. At this point, I figured I'll leave the complex mathematical calculation for after the coffee, and went on my way without giving it much more thought.
The other day I was fooling around with some features of a program, and realized how much data you can obtain, and how much damage you can do, and I don't know why I tell you this, since it has nothing to do with the post. I was speaking about life in low gear. Yes. Basically, it's the same "the neighbor's grass is greener" syndrome. When you work full time and have no time, all you want is some time off, so you can do nothing but chill out. When you have nothing to do, but chill out, you would wish you had a job, so you can do something useful. Now, maybe being rich it won't be the same, since you won't have to worry about money, but being poor as your humble servant, it does come into consideration.
Which reminded me, work ... I'm not sure work as it is is what I wanna do. The clock punching might help in giving an income, but it's definitely not the thing that will make you rich. Having enough spare time, I ponder about this, but so far, with no ground shaking conclusions. Once I'll reach them, I might update, but then, you never know who will steal them, right? :) .
I think that's about enough for today. Tonight, some dancing. Before I go there were some things I wanted to find on the net, but I keep forgetting what they were, since I'm browsing and following links, and finding new things, and only when I'm out and not in front of the comp, I realize I forgot to check this and that.
So, with this wishful thinking, I'll leave you for today.

JANU (Just Another Update)

I was talking with a friend the other day, telling him he was a crap for not being in touch, which made me realize I should better update this blog, for the sake of the few that still read it :).
Well, I'm good I guess. I was just thinking that I have nothing interesting to write about, since there are no big news, so, I decided I'll write about the small news.
First, I finally finished my book ("Noble House" by James Clavell, the same author of "Shogun").
I thought about writing a bit about it, but hell, if you're interested, just follow the link :). It's a good book, though it might be considered a bit long. Really ... it's longer than the lord of the rings (the 3 of them). And in case you didn't read Shogun, you should!
Another things that comes to mind, is things we don't see. A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about different things between OZ and home, and a couple of them were what we call "nana" which is a kind of mint, and some chilly peppers, which I first discovered when my roommate back in the days brought from Romania. I never saw them on shops here, and I wondered how and where you can get them, in case you'd want to. And then, one day, walking the streets of West End, a car reversed back from a driveway, and while I stood there, letting it get out on the street, I followed the beams of light to discover a chilly bush, just there, on the side :). I've walked that way before, never noticing the bush. Makes you wonder what kind of other things you miss in life because you weren't paying attention.
Salsa news ... been dancing the last 3 nights, so I'm quite happy. Last night, besides getting a nice elbow to my right forearm, which still hurts like hell, I managed to get some 3 cuban dances, which is basically as good as hitting the jackpot in the lottery, twice in a row, without even buying the forms. But that's besides the point, the point was that speaking with the guy that organizes the salsa night there, I might have found a job :). He introduced me to the owner, and I might start working in the bar there. Maybe it's not an IT job, but it should be nice, bring some fresh plastic notes of money into my dwindling bank account, and then I might think about teaching some cuban, since I'll know I'm staying around for a bit.
So, time will tell whats up, and in the meanwhile, I'll give IT another chance, and send another round of CV's.
Hope all is well (wherever it is you're reading this from), and until next time, farewell.

Defintions and their meaning (or: my dance with the top salsa dancer in the world)

Went dancing on Sundays' night. The place is usually cover free, but that night they charged 5$, because they had a performance by the world salsa champions, Oliver & Luda.
Now, I've heard about them before I started traveling, and watched a couple of clips on Youtube (just to know the competition :) ), so I figured the show would be good. It was. Seems like they are champions for a reason.
Nice music, very quick action, nice customs, their trademark dip (which was imported from lambada, but I guess you don't change a winning horse) and once they finished, there were some 15 minutes of talks about wow, how amazing, and come to this congress, and this guy is amazing and back and forth ... bit tedious, but I guess it goes with the territory.
Oh, and by the way, they are small :). For the readers who're not in the scene and/or have no idea (yes, the whole 2 of you), I'll explain. These 2 are huge performancers, but size wise, quite short. It's cute. 2 minimi world champions :).
Anyways, for a change, the music was quite to my taste, including some cuban songs (!), and some other good loved ones. I even discovered that one of the girls can dance cuban, and she's tagged now :).
And, of course, since they are supposed to be the best, I invited Luda to a dance. Now, a bit of background, and about myself. I'm not a bad dancer, but I'm more into social dancing and having fun rather than flashy stuff and concentrating on my own spins and how good I look (I do of course look good :) . I think the best example is the fact that back home, I never danced with one of the supposedly best dancers, since every time I saw her dance, she never smiled, and was rather busy doing her lady style.
Back to the story, I invited Luda for a dance. She's good, can't say she's not, but as far as fun dances go, I can't really say it was one of the ones I most enjoyed. Just makes you realize the big difference between fun and show.
K, that's about it I guess, going to check 3 leads about work I got during the weekend.

Bits and Bolts (or how was my day)

Morning ... It's getting colder in the mornings ... I guess the winter is crawling over, which means the summer is starting back home ... good for them, less for me ... :)
The only reason I get up is the work interview. I got dressed, putting on my good buttoned shirt, and head towards the bus station which is some 10 minutes away. I can see the bus going away just when I reach the corner. Darn. Well, at least I'll be able to get a coffee while I wait for it.
I wait in line, order a cappuccino, and just when they are about to make it, I see my bus coming. Since I already payed, I wait, knowing that I'm good with time. The bus stops, and goes on, but the light is red, so it stands some 5 meters from me ... I'm wondering if I'll be able to get the coffee and hop onto it even though it's past the stop. By the time I get it and make the first step towards the bus, the light changes to green, and he slips away. As the book I'm reading would describe it: "Joss".
So, I sat back in the shade, put my coffee near me, and go on reading my book (which redefines the term "long book"). In the meanwhile, I manage to take a sip from my coffee, open the lid, enjoy the cream and sprinkled chocolate on it, and before I know it, the next bus is there. I get my coffee, get on the bus, and ask how much is it to Teneriffe, only to be answered : "you can't go in with the coffee, mate". Argh. I took a quick last sip (which was only the second I took from it), get off the bus, put it on the bin's side, get back on the bus, pay the 2.70$ and head towards the end of the bus, sit down, and continue reading.
First differnce in attitude and costumes for the day I guess. Back home, you won't have as many coffee shops, in Spain you would, but you won't take it to go, you'll drink it there, and here, you'll take it to go, but can't get it on the bus ... Nevermind, back to our story.
It's a nice long ride (30 odd minutes), so I have time to read and think a bit about the interview. This one is for a junior java developer, to which I'm going after sending my CV, and then replying some questions (1 coding, 1 proving) on the mail.
The bus driver never heard about the street, but some guy that was getting off told me it's the next one to the left, so I manage to get to where I'm supposed to be on time.
I get in, and in a minute or so T. (the full name is kept in our system) comes out and takes me into the interview room.
Basically, the interview consisted of a quick chat, and then 2 exams consisting of several questions each, but one of the first questions he asked was: "is there a reason you're not dressed for a job interview?" . I was rather perplexed. Afterwards when I asked him about this, he explained, that here, down under, they expect people to come to an interview in a business dress code, which means a business suit, attired with tie and all. I apologized, and explained that our normal code of dressing back home is a bit less formal, and that no offence was meant. (hmm ... maybe this can explain why the last place never called back ?!). This was the second difference for today. The last IT job I had, when I went to the interview, I was wearing my Einstein T-shirt with the "I blew my mind in Amsterdam". And here they have the "sloppy look sloppy work" theory.
Anyways, the company seems like a nice place of work, and might even prove interesting, as opposed to the last one I had in the area. Then I was handed the papers with the questions I had to answer. Some of the questions were silly, some hard, some demanded me to think hard about my Uni days (this doesn't mean I got them right though :) ). Some I answered right, some wrong, and in the end he thanked me, and told me they'll be in contact with me.
I went back to the bus station, and read until the bus came, and once on the bus I thought about the whole issue. I'm overqualified for simple jobs. I don't have the attire needed for even the interviews for the IT jobs, and that's assuming they wont mind my working holiday visa. So it seems like I'm in a bit of a catch 22 trap. Argh. Well ... I can always go work on farms and fruit picking, and get a nice tan on the way.
I got off the bus, started walking back, and stopped in a place to get something to eat. I bought a steak pie with bacon and cheese, and a cheese bread. While I was waiting, I noticed a woman playing the guitar on the street for money. Quite a popular thing here I must admit. From kids, to adults, to old men (to play I mean, there are always those that just sit there begging for money, even though the other day I saw one that took the time to write on the cardboard he had with him that he doesn't drink nor gamble). I paid the old Asian woman behind the counter, and went on, reaching the corner when I got the bus in the morning. It seems that luck was smiling at me after the previous unlucky events of the day, and I saw my coffee sitting just where I left him :). I picked him up, cold obviously, but still untouched, and that's about it I guess.
I'll have to reconsider the working thing, and see whats up. A bit annoying, but this is how life is I guess.

Upsy ... :)

Dang ... it's been almost 3 weeks since i last posted something here ?? DANG ...
Well ..sorries ... my badz ... :)

Hmm ... I'm trying to figure out how that happened ... well ... lets see ... looking for work, then some more, then realizing that my highly sophisticated CV scares cafes and bars from even calling me, and then changing it, and then going around again, looking, and then some internet seeking and sending the CV to different places, and it kinda seems to have become a routine ....

What else ...well ... some 2 weeks ago, I kinda sneaked into a latin festival down in coffs harbour, which was good and bad ...
Good - since I learn new bits of zouk and gafiera.
Bad - well, because most people don't have a darn idea about dancing, music, and other things I took for granted.
The best example would be one of the nights, where the music was some kind of latin salsa jazz, without even a clave to be heard, nothing to do with cuban, and the ****** went and did a big happy rueda on it ... I was like " oh ... ma ... gawd ... WTF ?? ". I managed not to go and tell them that they need to LISTEN to the freaking music. Now, I know, probably I've did some ruedas on non-cuban music too, but this one was just too much. And to top it, on the last day, they had a rueda workshop, and the first song the one passing it put was a god darn boogalo! Yep, I know, Micaela is a nice song, and we did kinda danced rueda on it back in the days ... but that was before realizing the much needed lessons about different kinds of music and dances. Well, once i realized it's the same guy who led the rueda last night, I just shook my head and went away.

That's about the latin festival. Now last week, I happened to spend Easter in the country, not doing much, and watching a mud race (funny cars racing in VERY DEEP mud, getting stuck usually, and in all but 1 case, the car I bet on to win, lost :) ), which is nice, for like ..10 minutes. Eventually you grow tired, and the only amusement is to see the tractor that pulls the cars out of the mud getting stuck in the mud :).
And then, at night, I watched a dirt race, which is basically watching some cars run around in circles on a dirt track, and realizing it's even more boring than the mud racing. But hell ... you can't have it all I suppose, and at least I got some reading done. I think I'm around page 650 in my book, and it didn't even reached the middle ... :).

What else ... hmmm ...not much ...not much ... Went to a job interview, but they never got back to me. Managed to write a whole new sets of CV's for different kinds of jobs, and today sent it again to some 10 different places, after going some 250 ads ... joy, joy and more joy.
I think that's about it ...really ... sad, but true.
I hope all of you are fine, happy, doing whatever it is that you want to do, and that's about it for today.
As usual, feel free to drop some lines on the mail, or here.
Have a great week, and hold me some fingers about the freaking work hunt :)

Not much to tell

Sorry about not updating more lately.
The reason is that there's not much to tell. I'm still trying to get some work, wondering why the hell a waiting or cleaning position in a restaurant requires me to drop my CV with them, and how exactly my CV info will help them decide if I can carry plates around their restaurant. Well, nothing I can do about it I suppose.
He he ... switched to dvorak. It's quite amazing actually, but it seems I regained my qwerty blind typing skills, but once I switch to dvorak, it will take a couple of seconds, some mistakes, and wuala ... I'm blind typing in dvorak. Of course, that if I will try to think about the typing, it will only cause me to make errors :) .So, not thinking can be good for you, like the old phrase says : "no brains, no worries".
What else ...hmmm ... been watching my Thailand pictures today, and got nostalgic. Probably less for the places, and more for the people and the adventures I had there. Makes me wonder about going back once I'm done traveling in OZ land. I suppose time (and probably money) will tell.
Running without music seems to be a bit boring, and gives you the impression that you ran a lot more, even though in fact, you didn't.
I also ran into an old phone book progy I had on my disk on key, and smiled looking at some of the names I had there, and the fact that it's soooo old, that phones (both cellular and landlines) had 1 less number in them. Wonder if some of them will still ring, since people tend to change numbers and go abroad from time to time :).
K, it's time for me to go job hunting again (a.k.a. give my software eng. oriented CV to places that aren't really interested in that :) ).
Keep in touch, be well, and take care.

Donkeys salad

The last few days passed slowly.
Dancing at nights when it's possible. Having a relaxed time with friends, and hunting for job were the main issues.
Two friends i met in Noosa left today. Yesterday we went to the casino, and i realize how much my budget is low (didn't even play :) ). One of them managed to loose 100$ in some 15 min, taking the fun out of it i guess.
What else, we found a guy lying on the road the other day, going back from salsa. He was out, and when he came back, he said he think he went into a fight, and he don't remember nothing since then. He had a couple of hard weeks too. I hope the poor guy is better by now.
About the job, bit tired of sending my CV and hunting the net for IT stuff, but if it wont work (pretty soon), I'll have to start going around, asking for whatever, and if this fails too, I'll head south and try again there.
Besides, 2 of my bags are breaking down, along with my shoes, and even my mp3 died :(.
In addition, seems that my city is under rocket attacks back home, so i guess it doesn't add comfort to my life.
That's about it i guess. Hope all of you who read are fine and having fun.


P.D. seems like "Guitar Hero" is quite addictive and fun ... :) . Who would guess ...