Death, actually.

He awoke to the sound of silence more than anything specific. That subconscious droning of Brownian motion that the inner ear picks up then magnifies like the roar of freight trains. His eyes opened and he sat up rather suddenly, taking stock of his surroundings. His heart was racing, pounding in his chest. Rattled half-memories spun around inside his head as if he were waking from a bad dream then faded into that post-waking nothingness that follows sleep.

He was on a plainly dressed cot in a small room. The walls were a sickly off-white and yellow color. The bed and sheets all echoed the same shades. There was no visible light source in the room, yet it was adequately lit. This resulted in a slightly disorienting effect as there were no shadows. It was hard to tell where the cot ended and the walls and floor began.

He ran his hands through his hair and yawned as he examined the room. There were no doors, no windows. Just he and his bed. Well that’s rather odd he thought to himself.

He was clothed in soft robes the same color as his surroundings. The fabric was smooth and fine with the texture of suede but was light and airy. He wore no shoes and his bare feet felt no chill from the floor. It gave the sensation of imparting no warmth nor stealing any.

Where is this place? He thought. Where am I?

Who am I?

“Ah, you are aware. Good.” said a pleased voice from behind.

The man turned and found himself in front of an old man sitting in a leather chair. The chair had not been there before and it was that same damnable color that was starting to itch in his mind. He looked around and his bed was gone, as were the walls. It was just he and the old man in this sickly tract of nothingness.

“There’s really no need to be afraid Joseph” the old man said and he smiled. “Oh and watch out, what you’re about to experience is a bitch.”

Joseph. That’s my name. The name echoed through his mind and triggered a flood of memories. His field of vision became a kaleidoscope of images. Faces looking upon him with care and compassion. Others with derision and hate. He heard a chorus of “Joseph” over and over in his mind. He fell to his knees and held his head in his hands as the scenes played out before him.

The old man knelt on the floor with him and touched him on his shoulder. A feeling of warmth and compassion came over him. “Yes. The first revelation is always the most painful. That’s why I choose to reveal the name first. It will get easier” he said. The old man patted him on the back a few times as Joseph lay on the floor, dazed.

“Who are you?” Joseph said. “Where am I?” He felt like he was going to throw up.

“Who do you think I am?” said the old man who somehow managed to look mischievous and somber at the same time.

“I don’t know. God, maybe?” asked Joseph.

He smiled a wry little smile, then winked. “Close. Death, actually. God is a little busy at the moment so he asked me to pinch-hit for him.”

“Pinch-hit? Death? I’m dead? I’m fucking dead?”

“Now now, watch your language. We can’t have just anyone dropping the f-bomb around here. God might get a little pissed.”

“God gets pissed?”

*thwack!*

“I said watch your language” muttered Death as he cuffed Joseph across the back of the head.

“You don’t look like any kind of Death that I’ve ever heard of.” Joseph grumbled as Death resumed his perch in his chair.

“Of course I don’t, you’re on the other side now.”

“Ah of course, the other side. God, it all makes sense now. Thanks for breaking that down for me.” Joseph said as he stood up and shot an evil look at Death.

“No problem.” Death said. “And to clarify again, I’m Death, not God.”

“Whatever. Look, Death…” Joseph started to say.

“Hades, please. My friends call me Hades.”

“Right. Hades. Look, I can’t be dead. Just five minutes ago I was sleeping and woke up in this place. I should be…” and a blank look crossed his face.

“Yes?” smiled Death. “You should be what Joseph?”

“I should be… somewhere…”

What is happening to me? Joseph thought.

“Yes, yes you should be somewhere.” said Hades.

“You should be sitting right here listening to me tell you what’s going on.”

Stress… level… rising…

So this morning I was casually perusing a copy of The Authority while sitting at my desk when my phone rang. Now those of you who know me know that my phone rings quite a bit as I tend to take calls from those who need assistance of the PC kind.

But anyway, I digress.

I answered the phone and it was one of the members of the corporate LAN team calling me about the job that I applied for. At that point things get a little fuzzy, so bear with me. Basically he congratulated me on making it to the second round of interviews for the opening on the LAN support team. I managed to stammer out an “Ah… yes, okay, great!” and the voice on the other end paused, waiting for a more verbose response. I managed to get out something to the effect of “Well, that’s great but I haven’t even gone through a first interview yet” and laughed nervously. I wasn’t complaining though. I think I remember him laughing and saying that I was fortunate either way to make it this far. He then explained that I would be interviewed by several members of the LAN team and would be asked a series of questions. He told me that I should be prepared to do the same. We then agreed on a day and time for the interview.

Stunned, I hung up the phone.

I called Cheryl and managed to get her as she was coming out of the shower, I told her the good news. She was ecstatic. I then told my manager about my upcoming interview. She was pretty happy too. Just the other day we discussed my future and we both agreed that life on a help desk does not a sane person make.

I then had time to compose my thoughts (albeit nervously). I then did what any normal man would do, I logged out and went to lunch to celebrate. I treated myself to Barry’s New York Style Deli. God, there is no more perfect Reuben in all of Columbus. This guy has the goods.

But again, I digress.

I’ve refrained from writing about the opening I applied for on that team because I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Things are… financially tight… around here to say the least. I’ve needed to make the next step in my career for quite some time and I really really REALLY hope that this works out. I was starting to get discouraged because I posted for the job, and then never heard anything. I was a bit hurt because I’ve been cultivating a halfway decent relationship with the hiring manager over the past year and I’ve even touched base with a couple of his employees in the past few months. They’ve been kind enough to hook me up with networking equipment and study guides for tests that cost a lot of money to prepare for.

I was pretty depressed when I didn’t hear anything from the manager, then saw where he had interviews scheduled on his calendar. I didn’t want to just vent and blow up when I didn’t have the whole story. I was angry for a short period of time, but then just got over it and said “what the hell” and decided to move on with my life. I was back to scanning the job boards again today when I got the call.

So now, I’m all worked up about Thursday. God, I probably won’t sleep between now and then. Not to mention the preparation I need to do.

Ergh. Time has been compressed. Great. Time to pull off another miracle.

Oh well. I’ll let you know how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed and keep me in your prayers.

Master of My Domain

I’m just now getting around to posting the fact that I have purchased my own domain name. Seeing as it was ripe for the plucking, I registered www.hojimoto.com and have redirected this site to that URL. Please feel free to update your bookmarks or favorites accordingly. For those of you curious and/or who care to know if www.hojimoto.net and www.hojimoto.org are taken, yes they are. (By me of course).

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My new wireless router has arrived and has been properly installed. It’s pretty sweet except for the fact I don’t have a wireless card in Cheryl’s computer yet. It’s kind of like having a car with no road to drive on. Sort of. Anyway.

I got it mainly to move files back and forth between the PCs in my office, especially when I am doing PC work. It’s a lot easier to just throw a NIC in a PC I’m working on and then move files to and fro when I need to back stuff up before doing a zorch and restore. Handy handy handy.

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Emma has started walking regularly this week. She’s been waffling back and forth between crawling at a breakneck pace and walking, but in the last couple of days she has started walking from the living room to the kitchen with some amount of confidence. Granted her arms are straight out, legs are stiff, and she’s walking on her tip-toes but she’s doing it. It’s amazing to see how much she has grown in just the last three weeks. She went from crawling to walking, to babbling little words like “Mama”, “Dada”, “Pap” (for Papaw), “Ba” (for bottle), “Bub” (for blowing bubbles), “Buh” (for book), and “Ouuuu” (for outside).

I’ve taken to carrying her around and pointing at things to show her what they are. I will point to the ceiling fan and say “fan” or to the window and say “window”. You can see her taking it all in with fierce concentration. She’s even taken to pointing at things to say she wants them, or pointing at the front door to go outside (which she loves to do – our living room floor is littered with leaves from the maple tree outside our home.)

She’s wickedly intelligent and slowly learning how to manipulate the system to get what she wants. Heh. We put the lid of her toybox in the corner between my recliner and the couch because there are lots of power cords there and of course the phone which she makes a mad scramble for whenever she sees it. She’s taken to throwing toys back behind the lid of her toybox on purpose so she has a “valid” excuse to get into that corner. *sigh*

Drama. *chuckle*

Feh.

I called our realtor today and asked her to lower the asking price of the house. We are now officially cutting into our slush fund to sell it.

Interviews are being held today and tomorrow for the job I applied for. Still no call from HR or the hiring manager.

I’m depressed.

Attention Deficit What?

I’ve tried writing something, anything, lately, but the words just won’t come. I don’t feel motivated to write much. Partly because of the presence of family on a round the clock basis now, the other part is because it feels like the right side of my brain has atrophied and hasn’t been putting forth the creative energy it usually does. I’m torn in about seven different directions at once on any given day, so my writing has suffered because of it.

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Mario Golf Advance Tour for the Game Boy Advance has got to be the sleeper hit of the season. This thing is like Heroin purified by reverse osmosis and then distilled into crack form which I can then freebase and get joy-joy feelings from. I’ve been playing it almost non-stop since I bought it last week. Heck, even Cheryl pilfers my GBA SP so she can get in a quick nine.

But maybe I’m overreacting.

Maybe.

The endorphin buzz I get when playing this game is astonishing. Currently I’m working my way through the “Dunes” golf course on my way to the “Links” course. I’ve won two doubles cups, one singles cup, and completed many of the side games. The fact that they have managed to merge not only a Golf game (which I have always cast a wary eye towards) and a Role Playing Game (complete with leveling up, experience points, and character customization) into something worthy of playing is nothing short of amazing. It was the RPG elements that drew me to this game, as well as the retro 80’s themed commercials they were airing on Canadian television that forced me to run slobbering out into the street to purchase it.

Damn those marketing gurus. They know just how to land a big fish like myself. Heh. Oh well. Look for me to get landed again next April when the Sony PSP comes out.

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Still no word on the job. No we haven’t sold our house yet either. *sigh* We’re going to have to lower the price of the house, then take a bath on it. Ergh.

On the bright side, I’ve been getting a lot of calls for PC work lately. Fifty bucks here and there is really helping out. I’m praying it keeps coming in. If anyone knows anyone that needs PC work done, send them my way. I only charge $50 for my labor no matter what needs done. If parts are needed, I basically go buy the parts and charge my customers my cost. This seems to have worked well for me thus far and people appreciate the fact their computers work.

Oh well, enough rambling for now. I need to get my groove on with some golf.

In-laws and Yard Sales

The past week has been an abbreviated one. We were off on Monday for the holiday and took that day to make our way home from Cheryl’s parents’ home. We brought my sister-in-law Kathy and my nephew Matthew with us to stay for the week since our sitters are in North Carolina for the next month on their vacation. Kathy and Matthew will rotate out this weekend as they are going to Chicago on their family vacation. My mother-in-law will take her place for the following week, to then be replaced once again by Kathy for two more weeks. As I said in a previous post, thank God that I get along with my in-laws. I actually look forward to them coming down because we get along so well.

Cheryl and I worked a full three days this week *whew* and are taking today off to prepare for the community yard sale that is going on this weekend. It’s been nice this morning. I’ve worked in the yard so far, getting all the grass mowed and the exterior spruced up for all the foot traffic that’s going to trample our begonia beds tomorrow. I’ve also been cleaning out various closets, bookshelves, and cupboards in the great purge of ought-four. I’m offloading old computer games, movies, DVDs, books, and other sundry items. People love our yard sales because I sell good stuff, not nasty green lamps and horrid clothes from the late 1970’s.

Cheryl, Kathy, Emma, and Matthew will be garage sale-ing tomorrow while I hold down the fort and sell the stuff we cleaned out. Two years ago we took part in the community yard sale and through my smooth talking and expert salesmanship I cleared about three hundred dollars in sales. In my Dad’s vernacular, I can sell crapped on ice to an eskimo.

Heh. I can’t help it. I like selling stuff. It’s a game to me and a challenge at the same time. There’s nothing like haggling over a piece of tupperware lol.

We’re (or at least I) am hoping that the foot traffic we get tomorrow will result in some requests for a showing, or at least drum up serious interest on the house. With the sheer volume of people who will be passing through our town tomorrow we should get some pretty massive exposure. I’m even thinking of moving the realtor’s sign so people can see it better from the street as they drive by since our house usually gets a lot of cars parked in front of it that will block the sign.

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Things at work have been status quo lately. Nothing new really. I did drop a resume in with the corporate LAN support team and I am waiting on a call for an interview. I interviewed with the hiring manager in that group a year ago for a higher level position than this one and didn’t get the job. The one that is open now is a more entry level position for the team than the previous one and so I’m hoping that coupled with the fact I’ve done a lot of work this last year to improve myself will count for something. I guess we’ll see what happens.

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I’ve had a lot more work on the side lately doing PC repair and troubleshooting for friends and neighbors. Not long ago I prayed that God would help things work out and it seems that He is sending some extra work my way. So far I’ve made close to two hundred dollars in part-time work. Not too shabby. I’m hoping the business keeps coming because I need to keep my skills sharp and our bank account at a reasonable level. If business keeps trickling in at the rate of two to three jobs a week I could rake in an extra 400 bucks a month.

Baby needs a new pair of shoes? No problem.

It’s been strangely fun and scary at the same time seeing how God has helped us these past few weeks since Cheryl has put in her notice and moved to part time. First one of our friends called to have me work on her PC. Then a neighbor. Then two of Cheryl’s coworkers. In the past four years, I have only gotten maybe two calls from friends or acquaintances to work on computers. Even the job coming up on the job board that I put in a resume for has me wondering if that is the next big step in God’s plan to help us get by. I sure hope so.

Oh well. Time to get back to getting ready for the yard sale.

Milestones

This post marks two milestones. I’ll start with the most important one first.

Yesterday as Cheryl and I were working in the kitchen, Emma was playing near the dishwasher. She was leaning against it and holding some toys while I worked at the sink. Seeing that she was standing up, I decided to see if she would walk to me (as she has been walking around and along furniture pretty successfully the past few days.)

So, I kneeled down and held my arms out to her. She saw me do this and got a big grin on her face, then let go of the dishwasher and ambled over to me. She walked a good four feet on her own, no supports, no furniture. Look Ma, no hands!

I lifted her up in the air and spun her around as I shouted “Whoaaaaaaa!” Cheryl and I got so excited we were happily shouting and clapping. This of course upset Emma, so she started crying since we did a devil of a good job of scaring her. She was in my arms with big tears rolling down her cheeks and Cheryl and I were almost dancing we were so proud of her.

Our little girl took her first steps! w00t!

The second milestone is that this entry is my one-hundredth post to my journal. Occassionally I will look back over my meanderings and see how my life has changed, or what I was grousing about six months ago (lack of sleep, wondering if school was ever going to end, dissatisfaction with my job). It’s also hard to believe that I’ve written nearly two hundred pages of text for this site (not including my unpublished works of fiction).

Now I look forward to the next phase of my family’s future. Cheryl and I will hopefully sell our house and move back in with Dad. I only have about five to seven classes left to take before I graduate (with honors). Emma is growing up and will be running around the house soon. I’m going to try and grouse less and do more instead of just complaining here about how depressed I am and not doing anything about it.

Let’s see what happens, eh?