Knowing

Sadly, Knowing left me with a sense of disappointment...I had expected so much more from this movie after liking National Treasure 1 and 2 so much with Nicholas Cage. Even as I was watching the movie, I still liked it a lot and found the story very interesting. The creepy pale dudes reminded me of the vampires from Twilight, lol, but in the end they were aliens. It was the way the movie ended that was the deciding factor for my disappointment and giving it a 3/5. The ending was way too sad and 'serious', everything was predicted to have happened, did happen and the earth was DESTROYED. The religious reference to Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis of the Bible was a little too cheesy...I think the ending sent off a wrong message, everything in life has been pre-determined and there are many things we can't do anything about it...though it may be true, I don't think it is a healthy mindset to have...

It Started with a Kiss

Fairchild TV began airing this series today, Saturday afternoons...Of course that isn't frequent enough for me and the first two episodes were okay, I like them so I'll find the rest from the net.

Burning Flames 3

Burning Flame 3 has begun airing in HK, it started on July 6th. Of course it is too early tell how everything will turn out after watching the first few episodes. This is an indirect sequel to BF2 and BF1. The story doesn't relate at all to the others, they just used the same series name, same theme of Fire Fighting and Wong Hei is in all three of them. He doesn't even have the same name. They are just beginning to show the story behind Kevin and Wong Hei. Bosco has made becoming a fire fighter his ambition. I'll keep updating as the story unfolds.

First day of my new job!

I had a hard time sleeping early last night as I've been getting used to going to bed late and sleeping in :P Like starting any job, I didn't have any idea what I was doing, lol but after about an hour or so on training I learned the basics of the data entry system. So the first day of work went by kind of slowly I have to say. The computers at work are Windows and the keyboard for mac is lightly different so I'm having a hard time adjusting back and forth (even as I'm typing right now). My work is mostly verify and copy/paste if there is a discrepancy, not the most exciting job or diversified. I have to commend there databases and data keeping programs are far more sophisticated than the ones we used at CBSA. There is hardly any paper filing, it is all done electronically. I think this system is a system that was envisioned last year for CBSA when I was there, one that was supposed to be my main task for the summer, but that never happened when the launch date kept on getting pushed back and then the guy in HQ responsible quit after I left...so the project crashed and burned. The office is fairly small compared to CBSA, about 30 employees (I know like four or five by their names), and it has a pleasing appearance. The lunch room has everything! On top of a toaster oven, microwave, and fridge, it has a dishwasher, TV, and a coffee machine (yes, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate are free) with really nice leather couches and modern dining tables. It could pass for a design firm! I no longer bus, I drive, because parking is free and busing would require one transfer and a fairly long walk and would double the duration of the trip. I hate bus connections in Winnipeg, they are never timed properly.

However! I like that there aren't those "cubicals" but there are partitions that are waist level and I like that and it SHOULD encourage interaction, but EVERYONE IS SO SERIOUS. NOBODY TALKS or "hangs-out", you know what I mean, you work at a government office too so it should be similar to CBSA, lol. Here, hardly anyone gets off their seat! Afternoons at CBSA were usually relaxed and mornings went by in a daze, lol, we're slackers. Despite the fully equipped lunch room, I had lunch at 12 (noon) and people just popped by to heat their lunch and go! I assume to eat back to their desks or something. And coffee breaks? Nobody really takes their full 15 minutes, people may grab a drink at the caf but go have it back to their stations. At CBSA, we went 'out' for coffee breaks and more often than not, we went over our time limit. Speaking of time limits, I have this tag that I'm supposed to use to keep me on time and use to time my breaks. AT CBSA, as long as the work was done, nobody really cared, plus the cubicals provided a sense of privacy though I don't like them, but sometimes you want to have some privacy right? Nothing is really personal here, we don't have 'personal email accounts', it is all generic so that everything can be accessed by everyone who needs it (sorry that is why I couldn't send you anything this morning). Here we work as a team to meet our DAILY deadlines, we have to get the job done each day no matter what because we never know what to expect the next day. Sounds kind of challenging but also everything is so STRICT and it's serious business. Our work load depends on what the banks are sending us, how many mortgages come through. I'm still not completely sure what exactly it is that we do, but it is somewhere along the lines of 'insuring the banks' when a homeowner gets a mortgage. Also cellphone calls and texting are discouraged at your work station and should be only used in emergency. I've snuck a few calls in the halls at CBSA and of course EMAILS! (Muahaha...) Also there isn't any internet surfing what so ever, not only is it connected to the programs so that it access specific info on the net. I can't even check the weather, lol. It was storming so hard today, three storms rolled through the city today (last night, morning at work, and in the evening), but we got sunny breaks in between.

Despite the difference in pay (higher at CBSA ;)), I would prefer CBSA more than this FIRST CANADIAN TITLE aka Level 4 Management company. I felt more accomplished there and there was a sense of fullfillment at the end of the term. But if I compared today to my first day CBSA, I guess this was better because I spent the first two weeks filing at CBSA...Here I sit bored staring at the computer screen...I do expect a little more variety in the coming days as they are trying to take it one step at a time :)

I'm FINALLY Employed :D

I just got a call and I'm employed! It was getting close to 3 and still nothing so my hopes weren't high. I went to shower and told Henry to answer my phone if anyone calls while I'm in the shower. After the shower, I asked if anyone called and sure enough I did get a phone call during those 15 minutes I was in the bathroom. I called Tracy back, the lady who interviewed me (good thing for call display) and she told me I got the job. She gave me the option to either start next Monday or tomorrow...I want to start tomorrow, I said. I've been home long enough and it is time for a change. I just got to try to go to bed earlier tonight because I have to get up 630 tomorrow morning....no more sleeping in for me :( but money for me :) It looks like the family road trip to Toronto has gone down under...I sort of miss it now, but I know that if we go on the trip (passing up this opportunity), I'll be really missing work in August after we get back...

Post Job Interview #2 for Summer '09

Well, the interview went better than the one with Agriculture Canada. The job task is fairly simple but kind of repetitive, it's data entry. One of the questions, was "how do you deal with repetitive tasks?" My dumb answer was "I would try to make something boring, exciting, perhaps finding games within, or I also put on some music in the background". That add on was said to make me sound less insane, lol. I think I was also fairly weak on the question "Why I am the ideal candidate?" My response was "I have full time office experience at CBSA and I've done data entry." I just think it was not 'exciting' enough. She told me that she will call the successful candidate on Wednesday.

Job Interview #2 for Summer '09

I just got a call for an interview for Monday afternoon, my second after Agriculture Canada and my first from the private sector in years. The company is called Level 4 Management, a financial insurance company. I faxed my resume and cover letter last friday, it was one of the places that I'd most recently applied to. I wasn't going to bother but I was like, "what the hey, I'll get off my lazy ass" and go to Office Depot to get it faxed over. There isn't much info online though so there isn't much research to be done. I'll just go open mindedly. The timing is a little off though...right when we were all gearing up to go to Toronto as a family...That is what Henry gets for calling me a homeless bum, he won't get to go anywhere this summer if I get this job :D

Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen + My First "Concert"

Image credit - http://www.animevice.com/profile/niko/blog/

Yesterday I went to see Transformers with my bros in the afternoon because we didn't want to repeat what happened last Tuesday with the Proposal. We also got there early to get good seats. Sure enough the theatre did eventually fill to almost the full capacity. There were more cinemas, three versus two for the Proposal so I don't think they sold out completely. Maybe the evening shows sold out though, who knows!

Transformers was pretty good...um...4/5 (same rating for I, Robot,l)...You know how some movies end so sudden and feel too short well Transformers was 'long enough'. It was 2.5 hrs long. I don't think it was excessively long but whenever I got the urge to speed it up, the movie went on. When it did end, I didn't get the feeling that I wanted "more". It took way too long for Sam to get that thingy-magigy into Optimus! There were a lot of explosions and special effects but nothing extremely exciting. I think it's missing that excitement or that feeling that of not wanting it to end...Does that makes sense? It's worth seeing but I think I would have found it kind of boring to watch this movie alone. I prefer something comical like the Proposal slightly better but once in a while, this was not so bad...still better than Wolverine.

The concert was a 'different experience', it was my first concert, I'll admit it :D I went with three friends from high school. It was part of a series of concerts part of the Winnipeg Jazz Festival even though they were rock bands playing and they were somewhat local bands. The venue was a decently sized pub and attendance was around 300 hundred but maybe the poor acoustics of the building made it difficult to understand what was being played/sung. All the sounds kind of mushed together and everything sounded similar, lol. We sat down at a table for the first band and we stood on the dance floor for the second. I bumped into a few people I knew from school so that was unexpected.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!