27 On the Horizon

Well I will be officially be turning 27 on Thursday. Crazy stuff. Well it seems like just yesterday I was turning 21. I dont really feel older. I ve surrounded myself with mostly student friends so I m pretty sure that has a bit to do with it. But deep down, I dont really connect so well with people who are married or have been in long standing relationships or have kids. I m not at that stage in my life where any of those scenarios applies. Another major part is that I still am looking for a job. I find myself being left behind by classmates who have moved on to a professional career. They have new work colleague friends and a whole new set of experiences that I cant relate to yet. I am looking forward to being a young professional. Everyday I hope that that day will be the day that I can officially end the chapter of my student life and move on to the next. Enough of that though on to the good stuff.

Well for my actual birthday I doubt that I do much. I may drink a beer but with my wingman jetting off to London for the weekend and responsibility looming the next day I m headed for a low key day. Friday however I will be getting a bit crazy. I ve invited about 20 friends to celebrate with me. We will meet up and drink some beers and then hopefully go to town and enjoy what the city has to offer. Even if we dont end up there, I m sure the night will be fun. The crew that will gather is a good one and I always enjoy hanging out with them.

A Bit of Everything

My Greencard

Ok so I lost my Greencard. Not as in the government revoked it, but in the sense that I lost the card itself....in physical form. Yeah I know what your thinking, dumbass. I admit it. Well I was quite surprised considering that I have only lost 1 card in my life and that was a debit card that i left in an atm...which was quickly sucked back into the machine. So I went to get a replacement card from the immigration office. Well they told me I had to report it lost or stolen with the police. So I ended up doing that. A few days later I went back to the immigration office and had the form the police gave me and ordered a new card. It cost about 45usd. Well the next day I get my old card in the mail from the immigration office. They apparently had it returned to them the same day I went to the police station to report it missing. The kicker is they still took my money for a new card that they have to send away for. So really the whole thing is pretty retarded. Now I m trying to get the new card canceled and my money back. Any bets on that happening? I m going with the chances of slim to none.

Job Search

Well I was informed that after weeks of interviewing a 1 company that I didnt get the job. Instead the went with the other candidate. They gave me the excuse that my danish language skills werent at a high enough level. Weird how I was able to make it down to the final 2 with them knowing the level I can read, write, speak danish. Even more odd is that the person I would be replacing was an American. My thought is that since the hiring manager wasnt danish and had poor danish skills he wanted someone to make up for his lacking skills. Really its all pretty much bullshit considering they pride themselves on having english as the corporate language. They also told me in the interviews that the majority of all their business is done in english anyways. So in the end...just another lame excuse. Its their loss not mine. I have had way more responsibility working as a student than I would of working at that company. When one door closes another one opens.

In Other News

I ve been forced back to the jobcenter for at least another month. Once the last job didnt happen it was really my only choice. The good thing is that i am now back to a normal-ish sleep schedule. The bad thing is that that normal-ish sleep schedule has an early wake up time.

It really takes discipline to sleep normal. Even after being up all day yesterday and being completely exhausted at 7, i still had to really force myself to bed at 11.30.

Reading

Continuing with forcing myself to do things. The internet has really taken over my life....that an mindsweeper. Really i ve played over 5000 games or so in the last few weeks. My win percentage on hard is about 5 percent. Anyways I ve been turning the computer off so i can read before I sleep. I ve been going about 10-20 pages a night and then calling it quits. My book of choice right now is The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. Its book 2 of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I ll say the original is still better by far but i m still entertained. At my current pace I should be done in another week or so. I have the next 2 in the series so I ll just move on. For me the problem I have with books is this...If there has been a movie made about it...I am less likely to read it. Case and point, Harry Potter, The Divinci Code, etc. I mean for the most part I know what is going to happen since I ve already seen the movie...and since I am more of a visual person I m doubting that I will get more enjoyment out of the books despite their superior writing or extras that werent in the movie.

I m also a bit picky about what I read. I like it to be interesting and have a bit of humor. I mean with the Douglas Adams books I am curious to know what happens next. His style of writing is just so clever to.

Basketball

Well we got dominated in our first game due to very poor offense and defense. As my coach said "you guys sucked on offense, sucked on defense and yet you were at some point still in the game". Well second game of the season is Sunday and our home opener. We should dominate this team. Its nice this season, we have an extra practice slot and I feel like I m getting into better shape as the weeks go by. I also of course spend time in the weight room and do extra cardio to boost my stamina but that extra day of practice really helps.

October

Its my birthday month and for the first year since I ve been in Denmark, I am actually having a party instead of just going into the city. We will most likely end up there later in the night but we will be at my friends place first cause its way bigger than my place. October is also the month where most people I know have their birthday. crazy stuff

The Numbers Game

Well I m finding more and more that life is a game of numbers. It has become clearer over the last months that the more I attempt something the more likely I am to find success at some point. This mainly has related to the whole job search but it has also translated into my personal life as well. Just like filling out tons of job applications with the hopes that some will lead to interviews and then perhaps one or two will result in a job offer, I have used this philosophy when it comes to talking to women. I have of course always know that the more women that I talk to the more likely I am to get a phone number, however I ve never really put myself in the position mentally to actually put it into practice. With student life in the past and my young professional years on the horizon I find it necessary to further escape the shyness that once hindered my social life as well as find someone to spend time with. Lets face it, I will only get older and I have future thoughts of a family.

The past few weeks have been a good test for me as I have forced myself to engage the opposite sex more frequently in social settings. This engagement consists of females that are complete strangers. Its been interesting and successful in most instances. Its allowed me to practice my danish a bit as well as gain a bit of confidence. I find the most challenging aspect of it to be that most women seem to think that I automatically am hitting on them. Why is it assumed that there is some sort of agenda? I think you would be hard pressed to find a guy who would automatically think a girl was hitting on him if she approached him for a conversation. In fact I think most of the time there is perhaps a bit of confusion for guys when the roles get reversed.

Friends have consistently told me that I have high standards or I am picky when it comes to the opposite sex. I mostly disagree but in my defense, why shouldnt I have high standards? I m in the last half of my 20s and feel like I have figured out a lot of things I dont want from when I dated in my early teens and early 20s. I m not looking for just a few months of fun or a string of casual encounters, I m searching for someone I can potentially spend many years with. With the rates divorces happen present day, why should I make concessions on flaws that I know would wear me down and eventually drive me completely insane. Granted I know I have flaws and that no one is perfect but you have to draw a line somewhere. Perhaps mine is higher than others but the things I ve seen in the relationships of friends and family as well as my own encounters have been influential in setting those standards. I am not naive in thinking that issues that have been in the past wont arise again. Perhaps I am destined to travel the world alone but for now I ll play the numbers game in hopes to find what I m looking for.

Falling Into Place

Well life has returned to a normal sort of routine. The fall season of basketball has started. I m back to a normal practice schedule and our team is preparing for a preseason tournament in a couple weeks. It will be a good benchmark to see what we still need to work on before league play starts in October. The main core of our team is still intact so there is good chemistry. We have also added a couple of new guys as well that should be able to fit fairly easy.

In regards to finding a job, things have picked up a bit. I have had a few interviews with some different companies and have made it to the final two for an assistant account manager position. I feel like I have a good shot at being employed soon. The timing would be perfect because I cant imagine going through the winter without a job. The days are getting shorter and thats only going to continue. I would very much like to get up in the morning and have something constructive to do with my days. If for some reason I dont get a job in the next month or so, then I will most likely take a 6 week course related to Adobe photoshop, indesign, etc. Its something I d really like to get better with. Its pretty much a skill that I could use for a number of different things especially in a potential career.

Back from the land of Ire

Welp 5 days turned into 13 days in Ireland after a first time ever event. Thats right...I missed my flight. Funny story really...ok its not. I was under the impression that my flight was for 1 in the afternoon and not 1 in the morning. I mean I had no reason to think that I would actually book a flight that left at 1 in the morning unless I was going a very long distance. So to my surprise/disgust I realized my error after my cousin and uncle dropped me off.

Luck was definitely on my side for this one....or maybe I just cashed in on some good karma, but there was only 1 phone I could call in order to try and get a hold of someone in my family to let them know of my botched attempt to fly home. That person was my cousin, but she didnt have the phone. Turns out she left it with her mom who happened to be sitting next to my mom at the hotel. So after explaining the situation it was decided that I would just stay for the rest of the trip they planned out.

So I took a cab back to the hotel and the adventure began....errrr resumed.

Prior to the bulk of my relatives arriving, I spent a few days with my cousin. We went and say the Airtricity All-stars take on Manchester United at the grand opening of Aviva stadium in Dublin. The game wasnt much to watch (7-1 blowout by Man-U) butI did take joy in watching Wayne Rooney do absolutely nothing on the field except miss wide open opportunities and cry a whole lot.

During the days really I didnt do much other than hang out in the parks and read my newly acquired Douglas Adams book entitled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I figured I d save some sight seeing for when my family arrived since I had a couple days to spend with them.

In Dublin I walked a large chunk of the city and also made a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. I enjoyed watching my mom try to drink her first Guinness ever but ended up saving her after she was close to halfway done. My uncles and I pretty much drank the bulk of the free beer since the women really couldnt stomach it. Also during the stay in Dublin I got to play a traditional links golf course situated in Portmarnock. It was about 20 mins outside the city and situated right on the coast. It was such a nice course and a ton of fun to play. Dublin also had its fair share of pubs. One night we stumbled on a gem of a place and were able to get a table that had its own Carlsberg and Guinness beer taps. It was nice to avoid standing at the bar and I showed off my perfect pint pouring skills.

Now jump ahead to after I missed my flight. That day we headed down to Waterford to see the crystal factory. It was pretty interesting to see how they make the different things, but I still think it is really overrated. People who buy things there tend to have more money than sense.

From there we headed down to Cork where we stayed the night at a really nice hotel situated on a small river. It was the only day I got to use a gym. After only 1 night there we took of to see the Blarney Castle. It was a very cool place with tons to see....too much really. The main attraction was of course the blarney stone itself. Kissing the stone is supposed to give the gift of eloquence. I m still not feeling anything. After touring around the grounds we grabbed some food and headed to Killarney. We arrived there in the evening so just spent some time in a pub. The next day we woke up early and did the Ring of Kerry. Its a huge loop with tons of ruins and scenic areas to stop. That took us around 12 hours or more and was pretty incredible. Lots of cliffs and bays and mountains and rocks, etc. The whole area was pretty much like anything I ve ever seen. After we figured we probably would have rather taken 2 days to do it because there is so much.

The next day we go another early start and headed up to the Moher Cliffs. They are currently finalists for the New 7 Wonders of Nature. They were pretty awesome. Ridiculously high off the water but worth seeing nonetheless. From there we drove around and stopped at random ruins that we came across on our way to Galway.

Galway was where we spent the most time. The first full day there my uncles and I golfed at a place that was literally in the middle of nowhere. It was a fun parkland style golf course that was relatively new. It provided a good challenge and was quite the entertaining day...as is everyday hanging with my uncles. Later in the afternoon we met with the women and grabbed some dinner at an old castle that was turned into a pub.

The next day we took a tour of the Aran Islands. On the Islands are some old forts and other ruins. Also they say that there is enough stone on the islands to build a road to the US. There are hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of rock walls. The walls have been there for many generations. Its also one of the designated areas where they speak Irish (Gaelic) as the first language. All in all a pretty cool tour.

The next morning we got an early start and headed to Cavan for our stay at the Cabra Castle. After lunch almost everyone played golf on the castle grounds course. My 2 cousins when horse back riding and then in the evening we had a fancy dinner in the Castle restaurant. Later that night we had a room party since there was a wedding going on...that we temporarily crashed but it was too lame. So we went back to the room and my uncle set up a bar with all the alcohol he purchased from the store up the road.

The next day we got up and played another round of golf and then headed back to Dublin to the Airport Radisson. Not much happened from there as everyone was pretty tired from the trip. My cousin was also becoming quite sick. Her along with her mom and dad missed their flight back to the US because she had to go to the hospital. Still havent found out what was wrong but I m hoping she is ok and its nothing serious.

So everything really worked out well. I m back in Copenhagen with that empty feeling that comes with ending a vacation and leaving the ones I love. Its back to the tedious grind of job searching. I hate unemployment with a passion.

Music Video

So it finally happened. I completed my music video.



As I posted awhile back, a couple friends and I made a song for our basketball team. We had been trying to get a video together for awhile but lacked the proper set up to do so. Over the last month I acquired a huge blue sheet that we used like a green screen. It wasnt perfect but worked well enough. Also one of my friends, I found, had a HD video camera that we could use. Basically once we had that I used Adobe After Effects to put the whole thing together. The program is new to me but through some tutorials I figured out how to do a lot of stuff.

The idea was to include a lot of videos within the videos of random gatherings and footage of Copenhagen as well as pictures so that you have to watch it a few times to see it everything. Looking at it now, there are some things I d like to do that are more advanced but will perhaps use in another project.

The plan is to make another song in the coming months...so assuming that happens I will make another video to try and build my skills.

Hope you enjoy :)

Ireland Bound

I decided the other day to pull the trigger and buy a ticket to Ireland. Turns out that the guy I interviewed with a couple weeks ago is on vacation for awhile so I dont expect to hear anything regarding possible employment until probably the middle of August.

Really though what it boiled down to is this....how many times in my life will I have a half dozen family members in Ireland...that answer is 1 time...and that time is this time. So I go.

I ll be spending 5 days in Dublin 3 of which it will be my cousin and I and then my other relatives come for the last 2 days I ll be there. So far the only thing planned is a Man U game on the 4th and the Guinness Brewery.

Mostly I ll just be roaming around getting lost in the city. I may go to their indoor water park there...they have an indoor surfing sort of deal...and since I havent been surfing in a year I have the itch.

I m pretty excited to go and blend in.....red hair...freckles....blue eye...yeah..you could say I ve got some Irish blood in me.