Month: August 2013

Pass the rum!

Posted on by arianaauburn12

After a lot of searching, I’ve decided to re-try something that I have wanted to do right after high school but for some reason could not succeed at the time. Maybe I couldn’t understand or have the focus at the time to learn what it takes to make it.

I couldn’t understand at the time why in God’s name I couldn’t learn how to program yet I managed to learn physics, calculus, and all of the pre-requisites before entering the Computer Science program several years ago. I had a love for video games and I wanted to become a game developer and make my own RPGS. I thought at the time that drive was enough to pull me through to survive it.

But that didn’t happen. I sucked hard at my basic programming classes and had to switch majors. So I chose something that didn’t require more Calculus courses and could get work in a high demand field (because I was super-broke). Like Accounting, for instance.

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That was a big mistake. If my alma matter had the cojones to show their students the reality of working in finance,  a lot of people would not get stuck into soul-sucking careers for the sake of paying off student loans. And deal with this kind of bullshit every quarter. Or every fucking month like I did because companies prefer hiring hourly cheap noobs over experienced expensive salaried workers.

I am lucky I don’t owe student loans anymore (however, that deal with the devil himself is another story :P). 

So fed up and just irritated at the thought of returning to my previous field, I’ve decided to try again.

Try again at my dream before I started to grow old and real life bitch slapped me into submission.

I will start the Game Development Program as an undergrad.

o98hz

 

 

The plan to curb road rage

Posted on by arianaauburn12

    Today I drove through downtown Edmonton to try to stock up on the medicine I currently need. The route to the building on Google Maps was very simple. However, once I was on the road with my GPS, things got more complicated:

 

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What was supposed to have been a 15 min drive turned out into 30 mins due to 4 road closings due to construction. My GPS was taking longer to recalculate a new route that did not direct me another closed road/reduced to incoming traffic.

What rattles me is that I have been cursing and flipping the bird a lot more during the month I have been driving around this huge city than in the years I have spent driving in the US.

The straw that broke my camel’s back was paying $9 for parking….

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Ok…with that out of the system, I have decided to plan my next trip downtown using the online ETS Trip Planner.

The site helps plan your trip according to bus stop number, address, etc and looks easy to use. The downside is when you buy the tickets online, you have to wait until Canada Post sends them to you. So you would also have to search on the site for the nearest outlet that sells the tickets.

http://etstripplanner.edmonton.ca

I weighed my options of paying $9 for a day pass versus $9 for only 1.5 hours for use of a public parking lot. I am hoping that taking the bus and the LFT would be A LOT less stressful than driving around the city going nuts.

 

The city is trying to kill me

Posted on by arianaauburn12

I am not dead yet, but the city where I now live in is working hard to make that happen.

I am referring to the sky-high prices on services and products, in spite of the low GST tax of 5%. It seems that every time I go out to run an errand, I come home angry at the high prices. And doing a lot of comparison shopping for quotes and such don’t seem to help either.

The progress that Cutie and I are trying to make to get settled into the large city of Edmonton is SUPER-SLOW. Seriously, we had to wait 2 weeks so that we can get internet installed in our new place. And don’t get me started on how expensive gas is here.

I am still reeling at the costs of trying to get my small 4 cylinder car to get fixed and pass the out-of-province inspection so that we can get our Alberta plate. Who would knew that mechanics here can earn SO much and plainly explain the price gouging on the “oil boom”? This isn’t fucking South Dakota or Texas.

The big thorn on our side is the cost of Canadian car insurance. I shopped for some quotes and they averaged $3,000-$4,000 per year for two drivers. Hell, with our American auto insurance it costs less than $1,000! We would have to keep searching.

I miss the United States already.