Still a bum

The job search continues in vain. I have applied for quite a number of jobs now, and have only heard back from one. Response times, even from recruitment companies, are ridiculously slow. I have talked to a number of kiwis around town, and they have all confirmed the same thing, with most taking around 2 months to find work.

Unfortunately, I can't even work in a cafe as I don't have experience. Yesterday I was told that a cafe that put an ad in the paper received 500 resumes.

Needless to say, I am expanding my options a little bit. If I don't find anything soonish, then I will need to look at moving to Ottawa (which is the capital so should have some nice government sector work) or even applying for some overseas teaching positions.

Vancouver rated 3rd best city in the world

OTTAWA -- Vancouver is the third-best city in the world in which to live, behind only Zurich and Geneva, Switzerland, according to an annual quality-of-life survey of more than 200 cities.
Yet all of the Canadian cities surveyed are highly ranked, with Toronto in 14th spot, Ottawa 20th, Montreal 22nd and Calgary 25th, Mercer Human Resource Consulting said in releasing its latest annual survey results.

Vancouver's third-place ranking was unchanged from last year. Toronto edged up one spot in the rankings, Montreal rose two spots, Calgary was down one, and Ottawa was unchanged.
"Climate," is what gives Vancouver the edge over the other Canadian cities, Mercer spokeswoman Danielle Bushen said in an interview from Toronto, adding that otherwise there's very little difference among the Canadian cities in the quality of life.

Stuff what annoys me lots

I'm sure you all know me as a bit of a grumpy bugger, so let me indulge that opinion by ranting about some of the more annoying points about Vancouver:

• Soda/softdrinks are called "pop". I'm sorry, but that just sounds lame.
• Everyone seems to have gotten eyes for Christmas, or perhaps there is an epidemic of gawkalitis going around. At any rate, people like to stare at you. Hard.
• Beggars on the street. I've already been over this... and it only gets more annoying.
• The coffee here bites. A "latte" consists of over-extracted espresso and cappucino like foam which floats independtly on top of the coffee. And 99% of all cafes are Starbacks or pseudo-Starbucks. Which means not only does the coffee suck, but you get ripped off for the privilege of drinking their special brand of crap juice.
• Spitting. People spit on the footpath. That just grosses me out. I can understand a well-timed hoick into the gutter from time to time, but dribbling saliva out of your mouth into the middle of a pedestrian area is asking for a knuckle sandwich.
• Dogs are a fashion accessory. I have never seen so many toy dogs in my life... and half of them have little pink jackets and other accoutrements. There is even a shop near my house that specialises in canine accessories for pampered pooches. It cracks me up how people project human values on their pets, and feed them organic dog food and things like that. I would submit that any animal which eats feces does not need a gourmet diet.
• Lo-carb [sic] mania. Every restaurant has a lo-carb menu, or at least some lo-carb items. Come on, the human race evolved on a diet of grains, cereals and occasional proteins. Your body is designed to eat carbs. Naturally there is a "Low Carb Centre" in town.

Note- obviously it's not all that bad here, as I'm still here.

Week 3

Sorry about the lack of updates- I had a heavy cold last week which was pretty energy sapping, and as I result I didnt do much. Therefore there wasn't much to post about!

I've pretty much been focussing on trying to find work, which is hopefully getting closer as I now have a few good leads. Unfortunately I am told that response times here are even slower than in NZ, so I could be waiting a while. I have mainly been contacting recruitment firms, so hopefully that should speed things up a little.

Tonight I am off to an advance screening of the movie "Downfall", which I won free tickets to through a local newspaper.

At behest of mater...

here is a bit of an update on "stuff".

The flat is going ok, although I haven't really talked to the roomies very much yet. They don't seem to be an overly friendly bunch on the whole, but sometimes that is a bit of a male thing, so hopefully it will change.
But it is nice to have my own space, and it is fully equipped too.
I am 2 blocks from the middle of town, 1 block from the supermarket, 2 blocks from the gym and so on. So it's ideal in terms of location.

I haven't found any work yet. I have been checking the newspapers and internet sites, but they tend to be the administration/call centre type of jobs. I am slowly getting around to sending my CV to a whole lot of recruitment agencies, as that tends to be the place to find semi-decent work. If nothing happens then I can always do something a bit more generic for a while, it doesn't really matter.

It's a bit of a slow process getting to know people, as the situation with the flat would demonstrate. However, I have joined up at the gym and also started taking muay thai (kickboxing-martial arts) classes, and have already met some people through there. I'm also gonna check out the local gaming club and see how that goes. On Friday I went to the ANZA (Aus-NZ Assoc.) and had a few drinks. There didn't seem to be many Aussies and Kiwis there that night, but that's obviously a good place to go to meet people.

The weather really isn't too bad, well it isn't too cold anyway. It has been raining (drizzle) for about half the time so far, but I guess that ain't too bad, and given the crap "summer" weather in Wellington it is fine.

Random mutterings

A couple days ago I watched as a crazy woman walked up the street yelling to herself. The outburst went something like this:

"HELL, HELL"

"That's why it's called HELL"

"Oh no, not in the ass AGAIN, can't we have normal sex for once?"

*at this point she bends down to pick up a cigarette butt, and covers her ass*

"Don't even think about checking out my ass!"

Only in Vancouver

Addy

My address is:
1083 Richards St
Vancouver BC
V6B 3E4
CANADA

I have an apartment

I've found somewhere to live. It's a 6 bedroom place right in the middle of town. Only 2 blocks to the gym, supermarket and anything else you might need.

The big plus is that it is fully furnished. My bedroom has a bed, drawers, desk, lamp and so forth. The kitchen and lounge are fully stocked with tv, couches, washer/dryer etc.

I'll post my address when I have the full details.

Hey buddy, spare a quarter

There are a lot of bums, beggars, druggies and losers on the streets here. Nothing surprising there, as every big city has its share of street scum. But there are 2 main differences here. The first is that Vancouver is a very liberal city, with very generous laws about the welfare of the homeless. This tends to mean that homeless from other cities will migrate here because they don't get kicked off the street.

The other main difference is the large number of young "homeless"" here. I use the term "homeless" in a broad sense, as one tends to get the feeling that they have simply opted out. They lie in alcoves and shop doorways, asking for spare change. It's difficult to feel any sympathy for them though, as they seem to be well resourced when it comes to getting tattoos, piercings, drugs and even pets. And then they won't even sit up or say please when they ask for money.

This tends to mean that you adopt a blaise attitude to all beggars. Which is a shame really, because there are some real hard luck cases out there.

Of course there are also the people who are just plain nuts. I don't know what you do about them.

I'm now contactable

I have a cell phone. The number is 778 227 9774.
I think you dial 001 for the international code first, but don't quote me on that. It's probly a good idea to text me first and make sure that I'm around.