6.24.2009

FIELD DAY!!!!!!!!!!
The athletic fields down the street from my house are swarming with children and adult supervisors I can only assume are their teachers. I'm glad to see that field day is an international celebration.
Since my last post, I have re-uploaded many (if not all) of the pictures that I accidentally deleted off of flickr.  I urge you to not use iPhoto's built in upload plugin.  Currently, the free plugin that I used to use doesn't work with the most recent version of iPhoto, but it works well with the older versions if you haven't updated.  It's called FFXporter, and it is awesome. Since it doesn't work on my iPhoto, I've been using a more full featured and effective pay plugin called FlickrExport. I fully endorse both products, but in the end you can't argue with free.
So yeah, I re-upped my pictures, but I haven't updated the links on old blog posts. I'll get to that eventually. I bet you didn't even notice they were gone.
Blah, Blah, Blah.
I still have no job. I get no Dutch love. I may have to go to MacDonald's. Seriously though, I will not be going to MacDonald's. I didn't work there when I was a youngster, and I have no desire to work there now. I'm sure it's a fine place to work, but if I must work in a grease hole, I'm not going to wear a silly uniform. One must draw the line somewhere. I was an extra in a movie last week. That's almost like a job, but it doesn't pay very well, and it only lasts 5 or 6 hours. It was fun, though, and I'd do it again. Unfortunately, most extra jobs are in Amsterdam. As a Rotterdammer, it costs €14 for a day return ticket to Amsterdam, and if you get paid less than a fistful of dollars it is not worth the trip. I did it because I needed to go to Hamsterdam anyway. I met some cool people, and I saw some sweet gear. Like I said before, I'd do it again. With any luck, I won't have to. I should be getting an avalanche of acceptance notices from all the places I applied to so far. Then I will have my pick of the riches that Holland has to offer. I could use some riches.

Sincerely,
Jim

6.09.2009

do you use iphoto? do you use flickr? i do, and i just got a little screwed by iphoto's upload to flickr function. i inadvertently erased a ton of my images off of flickr because i was displeased with the way iphoto handled uploading. apple's upload to flickr feature is a slow and painful process by which you drop photos in an RSS linked album in iphoto. then your image automatically goes to flickr. in theory it sounds great, but actually it fucking sucks. it takes a looong ass time just to upload one or two images. i decided that i didn't want to use this method anymore, and i deleted the RSS album from iphoto. now a shit ton of my pictures are gone, and a bunch of photo links (to this blog and others) are now broken. i am very disappointed.

sincerely,
jim

6.07.2009

I am looking at xpatjobs.com right now, and I find it sad that the job I am most qualified for is a house cleaning job. Technically, I have no experience in the house cleaning business, but I'm going to assume that a degree and a lifetime of cleaning shit is qualification enough. If I could speak Dutch fluently I could get a sweet job, like "Senior Erection & Installation Manager." Then I could manage and install erections all day long!!!
I seriously saw that posted on monster.nl. Shit is funny.

Sincerely,
Jim

6.06.2009

I need a job. It's true. As much as I enjoy not working, I enjoy buying things more. I also enjoy going out to eat a lot, and it is tough to do that if you have no money. So please send me your money, or give me a lucrative and satisfying job that will not make me want to claw my eyes out.
OK
I can't believe it is June. Time goes very quickly these days. Is that because I am old now, or has time somehow sped up? Seriously, I would like to know. Speaking of being old, Marleen ceases to be young next weekend. Now I can officially call her, "My Old Lady." You should send her a congratulatory e-mail for successfully completing her twenties. Her birthday is Saturday the 13th.
Today we went for a bike ride to a "special" grocery store to buy "special" muesli that you can't buy in the normal grocery store. Doesn't that sound like something old people do? Since the store is so far away, we bought 8 packages of the stuff. I think we're set for awhile. Maybe until we die.
Speaking of dying, I saw Terminator last night. It was far better than I expected. There are some nice surprises in the movie, but there are also some incredibly cheesy moments. For the most part the action is exciting, but the new movie can't compete with the suspenseful and scary chase chase scenes in the original Terminator movie. Also, I liked the old school analog effects in the original Terminator better. Especially when Arnold's skin is coming off his face in the old one. It looked way more real than when the skin starts coming off the face of the organic robots in the new movie. It's worth seeing on the big screen if you are a Terminator fan and it is around 600x better than the last Terminator sequel.
Before Terminator started, I saw the trailer for the John Dillinger movie with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. It is directed by Michael Mann, and the trailer kind of got me fired up. It looks awesome, and I will be seeing it as soon as it graces the screen in my neighborhood.
We should talk more. Send me an e-mail. I swear, I'll write you back.

Love,
Jim

6.02.2009

I just saw Lightning Bolt in a place the size of a high school bathroom. It was loud and totally sick. Brian Chippendale warned a guy in the front to put ear plugs in or he would be "decimated." A fellow who calls himself Mudboy opened up. He was interesting. I think he may take acid. Also, he might play dungeons and dragons a lot. If he does play dungeons and dragons, I think his character is a druid with a synthesizer and theatrical lighting. His performance was so freaking weird. He blends pleasant sounding synthesized tones with what appear to be nature recordings, and then he starts chanting, and yelling about "the pig" and throwing babies in a hole. It's totally worth checking him out live just for the "what the fuck?" factor.

Mudboy!, originally uploaded by jimturbert.


best,
jim