08.16.04
The Poo Prevails!
So the interview went quite well… I think I presented myself fairly well, however the problem of security clearance once again reared its ugly head. Basically I cannot get security clearance because I’ve lived out of the UK for so much of my life, which immediately excludes me from any job that involves dealing with the government (e.g. MI5, MI6, GCHQ, etc)! Damnit!@#
Oh well… I wouldn’t trade my past experiences for anything, so if this is the result then so be it. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, even if one cannot immediately see what that reason might be.
I also received several phone calls / emails today for future interviews, so I now have a telephone interview on Wednesday with a Web design company in Bristol, an interview near Gunnersbury (west London) on Thursday, and an assessment centre next Wednesday! Oh, and I was also comissioned by a friend to develop a website for his musical act AND Amit has thrown a bit of work my way that should result in a bit of extra moolah too! Cheers!
On my way to the interview I was reading through todays issue of Metro and found several interesting snippits:
- “Romania: A superstitious man who refused to leave his home on Friday 13th died in his kitchen after he was stung by a wasp. Florin Carcu, 54, was making coffee when he was stung by a rare breed of wasp as his home in the central city of Cluj. His boss Gheorghe Domsa said: ‘He took the day off because he seemed scared of something bad happening.’”…. woah… that’s one potent wasp. I’m crossing Cluj off my “places-to-visit” list (and it was right up near the top, too)!
- “Two policemen ordered to disperse crowds from a porn movie shoot in Soho have been suspended after being filmed apparently having sex with the twin stars”… Right, forget I.T….. i’m joining the police force! (eh… just kidding Hanne ;-)).
- “Britons waste 60 million days a year getting back to normal after a holiday”… woah.. that’s a lot of days. I always thought there were only 365 days in a year…
- This article (mirrored by Metro Online) about a guy who apparently lived in Heathrow airport for several years! This sounds similar to the plot of the recent Spielberg movie “Terminal” (apparently based on a different true story about an Iranian man named Merhan Karimi Nasseri)… I never saw any news of Terminal being released over here in the UK though… bah!
There has been another possible celebrity spotting in Bath! While I was walking in town the other day, around the Abbey, I saw someone that looked strikingly like Anthony Head… while i’m not 100% sure it was him, when discussing the matter with my housemate Dave later on he mentioned that Mr Head had been into PC World recently to buy a new computer, and that he does indeed have a house in the Bath area…. ooOOOOOOoOoooo.
Finally, I’d just like to issue a formal written apology to Ben who pointed out that it was originally HIS idea that Bob allow Hanne and I to use his spare room. Thanks Ben. 
PS The title of this post is referring to the seagull incident of yesterday… it proved to be fairly lucky after all! 
Anonymous said,
August 18, 2004 at 5:21 pm
Laura said,
August 18, 2004 at 7:21 pm
I’ve just pissed myself laughing about your incident with the seagull! Childish, I know
Also would have found the washing machine incident very amusing had I not been soaked through, knackered and mosquito bitten on a small island 2 hours off the coast of Japan! Good luck with the job interviews, and like the new look of the site.
Jacques said,
September 3, 2004 at 4:34 pm
Security Clearance. I fully empathize. The CIA and State Department also had some issue about getting me security clearance based on the following facts: (1) I was born outside the US and have dual citizenship, (2) I lived outside the US, (3) I studied outside the US, (4) I have at least one parent who is not a US citizen. If you meet one, you’re scrutinized quite a lot. Thank goodness I meet all 4! I guess the fact that my application had to include the name of a programme supervisor in Yugoslavia didn’t help either, since he shares the same name was a wanted war criminal (Mladic, Karadic, etc). The CIA sent me a letter on a plain boring piece of paper with “CIA” at teh top and no return address on the envelope. Letter reads: “We may or may not contact you in 45 days.” WTF? State Department says: “Oh you’re so nice.. bla bla bla.. but you are a security issue. We need [instert rediculously larg number here] months to approve your security clearance.” Two years later and I am still waiting.
Interesting News Stories. When I was stuck in Paris the other day because our plane has a video malfuntion and some guy had to go into town to go find the plane part (it would seem too logical to have spare plane parts at the airport, right?), I had the chance to read all of three popular newspapers: Le Figaro, Le Monde, and Libération. One of them had a story with the title “Two year old skeleton found in apartment”. The guy’s landlord got tired of him not paying rent and eventually sued and had him served. The process server forced his way in and found the guy’s skeleton on the bed — apparently he had died of a heart attack some two years ago and everyone just “forgot about him.”
Cluj. I got invited to conferences there this summer, but didn’t go. From what I understand, though, it’s quite a nice place. Maybe it’s an Easter European thing, though, because when Taymur and I were in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (same conferences, but in 2002), we watched a bee fly towards us from about 4 meters away, flight a bee-line for Taymur (ahahaha… what a pun), and then sting him right in the arm with no provocation. Instantly Taymur was in sever pain, there was swelling, bitching, etc. Don’t look now, but I’d bet it’s a communism/capitalism thing.
Damn Commies.