KRUG

yesterday’s post is no longer relevant.  i mean it is but things have moved on to the point that it doesn’t bother me anymore.  without boring you with details,  things are alright.

good news first.

i got the job i described in the previous post.  i’ll be starting on the 15th and i am extremely excited.  i’m going to be making more, doing what i enjoy, and learning a lot about interesting fields.

but the bad news seems to have more drama and seems to stick with me longer so my excitement about the job is overshadowed and belittled.

i am extremely frustrated with my friends out here.  i have been doing what i know to do to make friends and build relationships but it seems that nobody is taking the time to really get to know me.  i feel like everyone is making snap judgements and not giving me a chance to explain my decisions or even my faults.  and i can’t seem to get people to talk about why they keep doing this.  i can understand them having a problem to an extent.  but the way i deal with mine is to discuss them with the people that are involved.  i like to talk things out and come to an agreement or a middle ground of realization.  here, they just ignore me and i have to fight my way back in.

it’s getting to the point that i don’t even want to try anymore.  that if they can’t open their eyes to who i am or even forgive me for mistakes, then i would be better off not worrying about it.

and it’s not everyone out here.  actually it’s almost no one but at this moment it feels way bigger than that.

i may get to go see rissa sometime in the near future and she’ll be able to make me feel better.  i hope it works out because i’m already looking forward to it.

i went in for an interview this past wednesday. i sat down and talked to greg (not sure of his position but apparently he does some hiring and his opinion is a heavy one) and then he walked me around the shop.

i have no doubts that this job was created with me in mind. i would thrive in an environment like that. it turns out that they do all kinds of stuff including, but not limited to, welding, wood working, auto body painting, metal machining, sculpting, programming, 3-D computer design, modeling, engineering, and laser cutting. the best part is, i could learn to do all of those things if i wanted to!

i would be hired for my skills in modeling, computer software, and math long with my creativity and affinity for learning and trying new things but if i were interested, which i definitely am, i could be trained to do any or all of the above jobs mentioned. on top of it, they would pay me to train and after learning the skill and becoming good enough at it to be used for projects in that area, i would be deemed more valuable and therefor, get a raise.

so all in all, i will be in a dynamic environment, learning all kinds of new ways to express myself and getting paid to do all of it.

as you can see i am excited and i haven’t even been hired yet. the good news is that they seemed excited about me as well. greg kept telling me that he always looks for young, aggressive guys to hire. i am young and i was aggressive enough to seek him out for a week solid and push myself into an interview. he also mentioned that he has a hard time finding people who are analytical and creative at the same time and know how to balance the two out. yeah i know, that’s me!

i really feel confident that i’m going to have a position there in the near future. i was told that i will know by the 5th of october. i don’t think that not getting the job right now will set me back at all though. the only thing it will do is give me time to learn some things they could use. i live with people who have a wealth of knowledge about carpentry, welding, CAD software and so on.

the greatest thing about all of this is that i am getting to pursue a dream of mine. it’s not a feeling i get very often. in fact, i have belittled myself for not having any real goals or dreams. college for me has just been 5 years of drifting with no real purpose or final place in mind. i have always had ideas of where i thought i might end up but nothing that really got my blood boiling. i enjoy math and am good at it but i think i have found my true passion.

we’ll see how it all turns out. i’ve got an entire life to live and i am in no hurry to finish it up. this may not be my final position in life but i’m sure going to test the door and see where it takes me.

by the way, if you’re at all curious as to what this company does, check out their site. they have tons of pictures in the galaxy. almost too many but it gives a good idea of some of the things they’ve done in the past. there is also a pretty decent video that summarizes the company that you can download and view.

on a complete side note,…I LOVE MOZILLA FIREFOX (or foxfire as debye so lovingly calls it)!! this last paragraph is being written after my computer crashed (grumbling at windows). there was no way i was going to retype everything previous to this even though i really wanted to say it all. anybody who has used firefox and had it suddenly die knows that is has a “restore session” option when you start it back up. yeah, it saved the entire UNSAVED blog even after a complete system reboot. kudos to mitchell baker, brenden eich and the rest of the mozilla team!

so anybody who really knows me (or knows me even at all) knows that i like creative things.  i usually express that by creating what i call weird art.  this includes my text pictures, ambigrams, warhammer, and styrofoam scenery.  after watching the making of the lord of the rings i realized what my dream job would be.  to make miniature, scale models.  i never pursued it as a career because i didn’t think it was something i could actually do for a living.  i know that there are people who do but i thought they were all from art academies and i knew i couldn’t go that route.

the other day my brother in law mentioned that i should at least look into it.  so i did.  i did a little bit of research and found a company in the local area that builds scale models and training equipment for various clients.  i went to their website and got extremely interested in checking it out.

i wound up calling them on this past monday and played phone tag with a guy named greg until today.  i finally got to talk with him on the phone and told him all about what i do as a hobby and what i am good at already.  he seemed really intrigued and mentioned that the modeling department is a really hard position to fill because you can’t exactly recruit people out of college.

and that was pretty much where the conversation ended.  i sent him my contact information with a brief synopsis of my strengths and i expect to hear from him soon.  i imagine that i’ll at least get to go over to the shop and talk with some people.

i’m really excited about this though.  i’m trying not to get too thrilled in case it doesn’t work out but this would be awesome! 

i got a new job.  i work for a company called gateway supply inc.  we are a procurement company.  the basis of what we do is supply our clients with the materials they need.  our main client right now is a mine in africa that has troubles when trying to get materials for their mine site.  it is a huge company and they are pretty much self sufficient (kinda like a small community) so they need all kinds of stuff.  a few of the things they have purchased since i’ve been working there are a 22″ diameter propeller for a work boat, supplies to build a pool, 12 washing machines, welding goggles, life vests, 40,000 feet of cable, and 1200 feet of 10″ conduit.  apparently, we supply them with anything from shirts to trucks.

my job is to actually find these items for sale from a vendor.  i spend most of my day calling people and seeing if they will quote us a price for a particular item.  if they do, i take that price along with any other quotes and put together an invoice for our client.  then we send it to them and they decide whether they actually want to make the purchase or not.

i like it a lot.  there are a lot of strategies that i am lacking when dealing with the vendors.  we have to be a little pushy to make the process go fast but if we’re too pushy, they won’t bid and then we’re out of a vendor.  so i have to try to build a good working relationship with people so that they want to send me a bid quickly.

and they pay me pretty well too which is nice.

i heard about the job from a friend of mine.  we were texting one night and i mentioned that i was looking for a job and she asked me if i wanted her to get me and interview.  after about .2 seconds of thought i said yes and i had a job 3 days later.

this same friend (megan) has kind of grown on me.  her brother (nathan) and i both went to youth congress and really hit it off while we were there.  i had a great time hanging out with him and it didn’t stop when we got back.  i’ve spent a lot of time at their house and with them and it’s really been great.  i have been spending most of my time since i’ve been here with family and while i love them, it’s kind of nice to have friends that i don’t live with.  i would hang out with rob more oftenexcept that he works nights and sleeps during the day so it makes things difficult to do so.

but i’m really enjoying the changes in my life right now.

i started school last week and i have not heard back from the air force yet.  i plan on calling them on monday because wednesday will be 28 days from when they told me i was disqualified. 

it was amazing. i had way more fun than i thought i would.

we left sunday night and drove the 19 hours to charlotte. the rest of monday was spent crashed out trying to catch up on sleep. tuesday we got up and went to carrowinds which is a small amusement park out there. it was the middle of the work week so there was almost nobody there. we wound up getting bored by the time we left after having ridden every ride several times.

wednesday we went shopping for a few hours and i did good! not for myself but for the females i was with at the time. i was picking stuff out and it was looking amazing. anyone who really knows me knows that clothes are not my passion. but i had a blast picking out stuff for them and it was even more rewarding when they loved the things i picked.

we went to the first church service that night and got there a little later than we wanted so we had to sit in the nosebleeds. there were 17,000 people there this year so the place was packed out.

thursday consisted of classes and then service that night and the same for friday. in one of the friday day sessions i got to meet the voice of dora the explorer! it was cool beyond all belief. the stadium was rocking!

friday night after church we started the trip home and made it back saturday evening.

the highlights of the trip were really the people i was with. i made some really good friends and had an amazing time with the group. somehow, i wound up being the center of the 33 people and my company was always in demand. most of my time was spent with nathan and andra and i don’t see that stopping now that we’re back. we had such a great time that i think we’ll wind up spending a lot of time together still.

so i’m pretty sure i’m going to enlist in the air force in a couple of weeks.

it all started when i didn’t have enough money to continue school.  i started thinking about my options and realized that an excellent solution would be the air force.   it will provide me with a full time job and up to $10000 in payment on my current student loans.  on top of that, i can continue my education as an airman with 100% tuition assistance.  after finishing my degree, i can apply for officer training school and rise from an enlisted member to an officer (which comes with more pay and better living conditions).

as well as the up front benefits, i will be given free medical, dental, and eye care for me and my family, i will have housing paid for along with a check every month for groceries, and i will have access to all of the military bases’ ammenities including the bx and the commisary.  i will be able to go anywhere in the world, finish school, train for a job i really enjoy, and comfortably support the family i’ve always wanted.

i started talking to recruiters about two weeks ago gathering information.  i took the asvab today and made a perfect score on it (99’s across the board) which qualifies me for almost every job the air force offers.   i am going to take a second qualifying test (the edpt) to try and get into the computer programming and data analysis field.

that is about all the recent info about it.  i don’t know when i’ll be getting shipped to basic or what job i’ll have.  i’ll keep posting here as more things develop.

i finally got one. i think it’s a dream of most guys (if not all) to own a motorcycle at one time or another. i have always wanted one but never really had the opportunity until recently. the people at tejas motorsports really worked a deal for me on this one. i actually found the bike at another dealership but they wouldn’t finance it for me. so i got tejas to buy it from them and i bought it from tejas along with their used bike service plan.

the bike is an 02 suzuki volusia and is in amazing condition. the only scratches that are on the bike are the ones i put on it from dropping it on both sides while learning to ride over the past couple of weeks. but they are really small. both times it fell over while i wasn’t moving so they are not scratches so much as pit marks where it hit the concrete.

i love riding it. unfortunately, it is really hot out here and i am too scared to not wear a jacket and full face helmet. i did ride it up the street once in a t-shirt and helmetless when i put the new pipes on it just to hear how it sounded. i drove less then half a mile total and realized why most people don’t wear protective gear. it feels amazing. but again, i’m too scared to do that.

i bought a really nice jacket and a really nice helmet that both match the bike’s colors. i also have a form fitting, no drag backpack to wear if i know i am going to be carrying books and such. the gear makes me look like i’m riding a sport bike and not a cruiser but i don’t care. i like them.

my BEST friend IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD AND ALL OF THE UNIVERSES COMBINED INCLUDING ANY AND ALL PARALLEL UNIVERSES IN EXISTENCE came out to see me this past weekend. it was as good as i had hoped it would be and much shorter than i ever thought it would be. except for the time she spent asleep, we used every possible moment to hang out and catch up on each other’s lives. and really, a lot has changed in each of our worlds which is a good thing.

so i took her around the city a little bit and together we decided that the west side of houston is much prettier than the east side where i live. we wound up driving 45 minutes to the other side on saturday to get thai food from a restaurant with good reviews. it was good but i’m not sure what we got was worth the hour and a half drive time. and believe it or not, she didn’t even come close to falling asleep on the mini road trip!

we also ate dinner friday night with my best friends out here…the newlyweds. and i took her to church with me on sunday and then had to take her to that dreaded place after lunch.

all in all it was an amazing weekend. way too short but much needed as well. i really have missed her and while that hasn’t changed, i feel some better after having gotten a riss fix and restocked on hugs.

and that’s really the jist of it. i have been trying to get into the swing of things over here. some issues i’m dealing with are getting my car registered before it expires in a couple of weeks, paying the rest i owe on a tux for a wedding, and living out of boxes.

i don’t actually live in my room yet. i am going to be staying with my sister and brother-in-law for a while and they have a room all set up that am going to use. but it’s not quite ready yet. see, they are adding on to their house and as part of that addition, a new master suite is being created. the room i am going to be occupying is the current master bedroom. as of now, they have just moved into the new master suite so the old master bedroom is vacant. but they would like to redo the ceiling, move a door, and lay down new carpet before i move into it. unfortunately, because of scheduling, that probably won’t happen for another week or so. in the meantime, all of my stuff is still in the trailer we moved it over in and it is making living very difficult. i’m just glad i didn’t pack my computer!

in other news, i put my laptop case on ebay a couple of weeks ago to see if i could make a profit on it. nobody bought it for the price i was willing to accept. i was a little disappointed but not much. i painted it for me and i am happy with it. if it had sold, i would have done it all again with new parts and a new design. it would have been fun but not that big a deal. i still have a bucnh of ideas i would like to try but not enough money to buy laptop cases to do them with.

i already have tutoring jobs out here. i was here for three days when i already had one client lined up. on sunday, i was talking to the family at church and another mother overheard us discussing math tutoring and she decided she wanted her daughter to tutor over the summer as well. so i already have two clients for the summer which will be nice to supplement my income with.

also, this past weekend, the chorale from christian life college in stockton california came through houston on tour. my aunt and uncle are the deans of music there and were on the trip with their group. i went to a barbecue on friday and saw some old friends and got lost in beautiful eyes again (the same thing happened to me this time last year). then on sunday i went to a local church to hear them sing. those eyes were there again and true to form, my mouth and brain cut all lines of communication between each other and my heart seemed to forget what to do with the red stuff running through it and kept spazzing out.

on top of all of that, my mom was in town to see her kids (my sister and i) and her sister (the aformentioned aunt). so i got to spend a belated mother’s day with her.

all in all, things are going well despite not having enough money.

and i miss my best friend more than i ever thougth i would. i was expecting the heavy heart and the teary eyes but the gut wrenching pain of knowing she’s not around was a shock for me. in a way, i don’t want it to go away. having the pain there reminds me just how much she means to me.