Knot of this World

I have a knot in my upper back that will not go away.  The last two Mondays I've had a kink in my neck because of it, and the other night I woke up from a particularly strange dream with the knot throbbing.  It was a strange dream, involving being in a cave behind Facebook (as if Facebook were a waterfall or mountain face, and hidden behind it was this cave), and a not-so-nice dragon living in the cave.  I found the dragon, and I think it ate me, because it's mouth came towards me, and I woke up.  I remember thinking in the dream that the dragon was going to devour the world.  Hrm, is Facebook really the devil?  The night before that I dreamed about playing war games, only it was with water guns, and somehow I was the last man standing on my team, but in the end I was 'killed'.  Lotta instances of me dying in my dreams lately.  Wonder what that means.  I'm going to interpret it as meaning my current life is going to end and a new life will begin, which coincides with my future plans.

Speaking of my future plans, I got my taxes done the other day.  Wow.  It pays to have someone do your taxes.  I'm no longer stressed out about going to Scotland and making some major changes in my life when I get back.  I'd been flip-flopping back and forth on my decisions for the future, mostly for financial reasons, but I'm much more at ease about my desires now, and about 90% sure of what I'm going to do.

Hopefully going to be talking to a potential partner this weekend about one of my ideas.  A friend who I've discussed the idea with suggested I talk to this person, and there will hopefully be occasion to have a discussion about it.  That'd be a nice thing to have pan out.

I don't often really talk about celebrity sightings, but I did see Tahmoh Penikett today (of Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse).  This is important for two reasons–the first being that a friend of mine is deeply infatuated with him and I enjoyed greatly telling her that I saw him, especially since he's usually in Vancouver, and that's where she lives, and the second being because he was filling up his car up at the shady gas station next to our office place.  Since this place has a suspected history of identity theft (numerous people in our office were victims of fraudulent credit charges after making purchases there), I shot Tahmoh a message on Facebook informing him that our employees have had issues there, and to keep an eye on his bank account.  He shot back a quick "Thanks for that!" and it made me smile, as some celebrities I've encountered don't even say "thank you" when you hold a door open for them.  It's nice to know there are still some good people out there.  So that was fun.

Know what else is fun? Sleep!

Unemployment

Unemployment.  We all fear it, we all will deal with it, we all will use it.  It's there, and it's meant to be used, but used responsibly.

Responsible uses of unemployment:

1) Your job has ended.  You weren't fired, you were laid off.  You're looking for work, but while out of work, you use unemployment to pay your bills because, well, you need to.

2) You're in-between jobs, or on hiatus from a job (common in the entertainment industry) and look for short-term jobs that fit your time off, but don't take a job that would interfere with returning to your normal job.  Fair enough, as you're being respectful to both your current and your potential jobs.

There are more responsible uses, I'm sure, but these are the two I see most often.  Now, what about a non-responsible method of using unemployment?

1) You get fired.  You claim you were laid off, and the company you worked for doesn't want to get into a fight and so agrees you were 'laid off', even though they simply replaced you with someone who could do the job.  You don't look for work, and would rather do what you did at the job you were fired from... nothing.

2) Your job ends, you're laid off, etc, and you're offered a job, but it doesn't pay much more than unemployment would, so why take it when you could get paid the same to do nothing?  COME ON.  Take the job.  You don't have to stick with it forever if you find something else, but don't use unemployment funds that other people need just because you don't want to work for the same cost as not-working.

Maybe it's the work-aholic in me, but in both situations, I'd much rather have a job that gave me something productive to do with my time, and allowed me to meet new people and experience new things, than to sit at home and do nothing, or putter around all day.  I guess I just don't understand that mentality of getting paid to do nothing.  Sounds boring to me!

28 Years Later...

Thursday was my 28th birthday.  It was good, and I did nothing.  Well, I got lunch at Poquito Mas with a coworker, and dinner at Red Robin with a friend.  Two of my favorite food places, one of my favorite co-workers, one of my favorite friends.  Good times.

Now, I'm 28.  Of course I don't feel any different, although 30 feels less distant than it did when I was 27.  Maybe because 27 is closer to 25, and 28 is closer to 30?  I'm actually looking forward to my 30th birthday, because 11/19/11 is a Saturday, and it's going to be AWESOME.  So, mark that date on your calendars, and prepare for an event you'll never forget...

Speaking of Thursday, I was greeted in the morning with yelling coming from my neighbors.  I don't really know what they were yelling about, but it had to do with her not liking one of his friends, and him not being a man if he talked to said friend.  There was also talk of a lighter, and who wouldn't let who borrow it and whatnot.  While the wall doesn't block the sound, it muffles it.  Can't win em all I guess!

In upcoming travel news, I've completed my passport application.  Going to head down to a certain city hall where I know an employee or two and get it submitted.  I should confirm that they can take my photo there...

That's all for now folks! Looking forward to my week off for Thanksgiving, although I'm already filling it up it seems!

Shape Up and Ship Out

So last night I had another dream about Stargate: Universe.  In this one, I was applying for a PA position.  They already had a PA, but hired me anyway.  During the interview/hiring process, they informed me that I'd need to stay busy as long as I was on the clock, even it it meant continually checking on the cleanliness of the patio area and removing the often-flicked cigarette butts.  I had no issues with this, but throughout my first night I found myself sitting on sidewalks gazing at the moonrise, waiting for it to get just a little higher so I could take a photo of this gigantic moon over downtown Vancouver.  Supposedly I was supposed to be answering phone calls, and did receive one call from someone wanting the mailing address.  A bit later I realized there were going to be no more calls and was about to call my supervisor, when the other PA showed up and told me I was supposed to be in the office (which I didn't even know existed), and then the dream ended.  A bit anti-climatic, yes, but it had a message for me.

You see, a couple of days ago a friend and I were discussing commitment.  I didn't think I had any issues committing to things, except I never what to commit to and what not to, particularly when it comes to life paths.  This dream made me a little annoyed with myself, for in my dream I had achieved a goal: to work on a sci-fi show in Vancouver.  Yet I was so half-assed in my job that it wasn't going to last, and I knew it.  By not choosing something to commit to, I'm being half-assed in aspiring to achieve my goals.  If I'm going to get what I want, I have to put my all into it, and that's what I'm going to be doing now.

Who's with me?

Identity

For quite a while, I never knew what to go by, name-wise.  Growing up, I was always "Chris Tucker", which worked great until I realized I wanted to work in the film/television industry, where there was already an established Chris Tucker.  Similarly, there was already a Jonathan Tucker.  So I went with "Jonathan C. Tucker", which sounded good, but I'm not really a Jonathan, as I never really went by it.  Granted, my current co-workers know me as Jonathan, but it wasn't by choice.  So, I've settled on "J. Chris Tucker", and I like it.  A lot.  I think it works.  As such, all of my online identity locations have been updated to reflect it.  Except IMDb.  I need to do something where I can be credited as "J. Chris Tucker" and make the transformation complete...

This weekend, I finally got around to updating my website.  MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc, have all sort of doomed the personal website.  Who needs their own .com now, when you can put all of your content up on various content-specific sites?  So, I decided I'd make a portal to all things me.  Check it out: http://www.jctucker.net/.  I'm rather proud of it, I must say!

Alright, weak entry as this may be, that's all for now!

6 Down, A Half-Dozen To Go

Six months ago I (finally) moved into my own 1 bedroom apartment.  Six months from now, I’ll be moving out.  I love living alone (not including my two feline friends), but come May, life is going to change.  In May, my lease is up on my apartment.  No longer will I need to wait 20 minutes to have hot water in the kitchen, and more importantly, I won’t hear conversations and “Incoming call from an unknown number” through the shared wall of my neighbors.  It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t the bedroom, and I didn’t get woken up in the morning by their alarm clock and hour before mine goes off.

Coincidentally in May, my brother is getting married… in Scotland.  So I’ll need to be across the pond for at least two weeks, if not longer.  I haven’t really figured out how long I want to be there, so why hold on to an apartment I a) don’t want to be in and b) would be leaving vacant for a few weeks to a month?  Plus there’s talk of heading to Vancouver upon my return to visit with a friend who has recently moved there.  Why not, right?

If I had a drink, I’d raise a toast to “six months”.  Guess raising a glass of water will have to do for now!