Slips And Screw-Ups

Today was one of the most frustrating work days I’ve had in recent memory. The calls almost literally came nonstop from the start of my shift until just a few minutes before my workday ended. It was so bad that I raised my voice noticeably (meaning half of the floor heard me bellowing) at a customer whose deafness seemed to be exacerbated by an already dinky connection. I would ask ‘what’, then the guy on the line would ask the same thing. It was frustrating.

I used to have an escape valve to ease the pressure brought by the continuous string of stupid or angry calls. I’d go on personal, leave my station, and walk out of the floor for about five minutes. It’s just a short breather, but it did wonders for my peace of mind.

Of course, I couldn’t do that anymore, given the limits imposed on the usage of the so-called ‘Personal’ aux time.

Since I couldn’t pause even for a bit in between calls to collect myself now, the pressure kept on building and, well, while I didn’t quite explode at the callers, it sure seemed that way to the people around me. And this extremely sucky day was topped off by my supervisor-to-be stopping me from going home to give me a warning and a lecture on anger management. I told him this was actually normal for me, especially during Thursdays and Wednesdays but no, he wouldn’t have it. I had to shape up, or face sterner reprimands later.

I was in such a foul mood that I was tempted to tell him to stuff it. Then I remembered that this was the only part-time work I could find that was amenable to my usual Saturday classes. So I promised my boss-to-be that I’d try to keep my temper in check. Note the stress on ‘trying’; in all honesty, I’ll be surprised if I finish the next workweek without doing the same. Such is the suckiness of the tail end of my week at the office.

Instead of going to be and sulking once I got home, I decided to let off steam through gaming. No, it wasn’t Guild Wars again, but Starcraft 2. I haven’t touched the game in more than two months, so I knew that I wasn’t going to be playing at my usual level (around Silver-Tier on a good day), but I was angry and frustrated, and I needed to vent somehow. I tried to poke around the SSCSAV for folk to join me in my return foray, but no one played on the NA server.  Mmph.

Thankfully ImperialX92 (fellow VN-player, Scamp-botherer, and Twitter follower) was available for the afternoon. Although he admitted to not play for a while as well, having him along made the transition back into the game go relatively smoother than expected; at the end of the afternoon and three sets of ranking matches, I managed to land in Gold for 2v2 Team, and Silver for 3v3. Okay, so I managed to somehow land in a Platinum league prior to inviting him, but that’s in 4v4, where the rankings can be skewed by how one’s companions play. 

As someone who’s had experience in the Diamond leagues, ImperialX92 was obviously way better than me, so when he gave pointers (and called for team pushes), I obviously listened. While I’m not really sure if I can completely apply what he advised in the future, I did have fun with him as my partner. I’d gladly play again with him in the future.

While I got rid of all that frustration, there is a downside to playing Starcraft 2 for the afternoon — I missed out on my afternoon siesta. As it is, I’m only awake due to a cup of Coke Zero I drank a few minutes ago, and the buzz is about to wear off at this point. Which means, yeah, bed beckons.

As for tomorrow? Hopefully more Gaiman, and the actual start of my project proper.

Out of Water

Today is the Christmas party of the company I’m currently working for, and while I’m not really that much of a party person I’m attending anyway.  Free food aside, I think it’s a good opportunity for everyone (at least in my wave of employees) to loosen up a bit, and let out some steam, so to speak.  Haruhi knows that our line of work is stressful enough as it is, and that’s excluding office politics and power struggles.

And so, here I am, making some personal preparations for the party. While it’s not going to be a formal dress party, the fact that, for some reason, it had been decided that everyone will be wearing a domino mask (or equivalent) plus a nice hat, well, wouldn’t it be weirder if one didn’t dress up for the occasion?  With that in mind, I’ve already gotten a nice (and conservatively-cut) gown ready at home, with matching shoes, though I’ll be bringing a separate set of casual clothes to change into afterward, just in case my co-workers decide to have a night after the party.

If they’re not going for a night in the town after the office party (and I’m hoping they won’t), lack of NET aside I have several boxes worth of Space Marine models (and their vehicles!) that will keep me occupied for a while.  Though I’m really hoping that we get internet access again soon… I don’t miss not having to look through Pixiv, but no net makes it practically impossible to play Starcraft 2, or get those achievements in Fallout: New Vegas.

Out of My System

I suppose the fact that I’m not feeling as annoyed now compared to yesterday evening means that all that frustration (at not getting the part-time job I wanted) has passed out of my system.  On the down side, due to the fact that I had to turn to video games to exorcise the aforementioned frustration, I’m feeling a little sleepy.  Ah, the consequence of playing through the night, I guess.

It’s a temporary balm to my worries however, as my looming savings crisis has just gotten a whole lot graver with the arrival of next month’s wave of credit card payments and household bills.  I really need to get a job, and soon, but my best prospect right now is that Chevron gig, though I’m trying really hard not to get my hopes too high on that one.

So here I am, with nothing to do again.  No, that’s not exactly true, as I have assignments for this Saturday that need tending.  I’m just waiting on the torrent of Departures to finish, so I can watch it and actually write the two-page review I’m required to submit.  It should be fun.

Back to Scratch

It’s been a terribly unproductive weekend for me, as the only noteworthy thing I was able to accomplish today was… gain back some of the in-game Achievements I lost when I started playing in the North American server of Starcraft 2. Yeah, it’s pathetic, but it only shows just how much I need to set goals — any kind of goal, really — to be able to make the most of my weekend.  Yes, I realize it’s a strange thing to obsess over given the fact that, since I don’t have any work (yet, but I have an interview tomorrow morning for hopefully a part-time BPO position), most of my week is free, but that still doesn’t stop me from feeling that I’ve wasted my day.

It’s not a total wash though; I can still go to bed early, and finally sleep like a normal person again, after almost a week’s worth of sleepless nights.  If I can only avoid Recettear… And not for the addictive gaming, but for all the tempting Photoshop possibilities that could be had from it. OCD diversions to the extreme…

The Usual

It’s Friday again, but surprisingly I’ve run out of things to do.  Aside from more reading of the reference material assigned to us, there’s little for me to actually do today.  Heh, maybe I can focus almost entirely on gaming for the day.

Although Recettear as usual beckons to be played, I think I’ll defer on the side of caution and play some Starcraft 2 instead.  With the latest patch Battlenet finally allows access to its North American servers for players from other regions, though it’s pretty much like starting over from scratch — not only are Achievements you’ve already earned in, say, the SEA region not carried over (which is annoying, since I liked my General Warfield avatar), your campaign progress and League rankings are reset as well.  Bummer.

All in all, a less busy day when compared to the ones that preceded it, but then again there is class tomorrow to consider.

Aches and Pains

It’s already Thursday, but I’m still suffering from the stiff neck I got on Tuesday.  It’s an annoyance more than anything, as it’s almost impossible right now for me to look at anything on my left side quickly, and without experiencing some pain.  I’ve taken some painkillers, but it’s not really a solution to something like this.  I guess I’ll have to wait for it to get better on its own, and get used to sleeping on my back for a while.

Since I haven’t finished reading the large pile of reference material related to my Saturday classes, I guess I’ll just continue browsing through those for the rest of the day.  I’ll try my best not to be distracted by Starcraft 2 or Recettear, but the temptation to stop reading and just play is just oh so powerful… Eh, if push comes to shove, I guess I can just turn off the PC for the day.

On a personal note, I was treated to one of those rare instances where my father called me on my cellphone.  Although it started out well, I was pretty much chewed out for the rest of it when he learned that, due to scheduling conflicts, I wasn’t able to enroll a full load every term in my Master’s Degree program.  In the end, I was able to mollify him with the promise that I would at least try to find work to fill in the week in between classes that I have (to be more “productive”, in his words), but it’s harder than he thinks — it’s what I’ve been doing for the last odd semester, with no success as of yet.

Annoying, but that’s how things are.  I’m seriously considering some part-time jobs at this point, but who knows if any of those will pan out.

Oh, and one minor detail before I close out this post.  Is it just me, or is Twitter terribly slow today?  I can’t even post a message via the main page.  Heh, I guess this is an opportunity to try the other Twitter clients instead today.

Uber Ja Nai

I’ve been spending some of my spare time playing Starcraft 2, and I have to say League playing is just not for me.  While I enjoyed the odd multiplayer games with my male friends back in the University of the Philippines, and found myself somewhat competent at kicking their arses once in a while, we were all just casual RTS players.

With the LAN-play function taken out of SC2 however playing with friends just isn’t much of an option anymore (unless they bought original copies of SC2 themselves, and thus have a BNet identity to find and invite), so the only way to be able to play any multiplayer games is either through the Custom game maps (against AI), or joining the aforementioned Leagues.  Which can be pretty brutal for someone like myself, who only has average micromanagement skills (I think I hit my limit at five similar troop-construction structures).

While I haven’t tried a one on one game yet, I’ve found that two on two and three on three matches can be pretty much a crap shoot in terms of team composition.  Lower-ranking players (like myself) really have it rough, especially when paired up with similar-tiered players who seem to be ABSOLUTELY CLUELESS.  I mean, I know I’m a mite sloppy myself, but at least I keep SOME defenses at the mineral gathering point just in case someone drops in units to disrupt the resource flow.  I can imagine how pathetic we seem to the Platinum or Diamond-tier people; it’s either improve, or die.  Thankfully I’m doing more of the former, but I’m still experiencing a LOT of the latter.

*sigh* I need to stop for a bit, as all the frustration built up from a series of bad matches is getting to me.

Terrible TERRIBLE Time Sinks

Well, this shouldn’t have been unexpected.  I had a feeling that, much like Dawn of War 2 before it, Starcraft 2′s campaign (Wings of Liberty) would become a massive time sink for me.  I was right: twenty-odd hours later, I’ve managed to finish it, though it earned me itchy eyes and a massive migraine in the progress.  I think I need to lie down for a bit.

Now don’t mistake my one-sitting playthrough of the campaign as a sign of competency; I’m pretty much just a casual gamer, so anything harder than normal is a challenge for me.  And even then some scenarios on normal make me want to tear my my hair out.

And so I free admit to using some cheats, at least on this first playthrough.  I’m working on my second run through the campaign now though, without the crutch provided by those in-game cheats, and while some of the scenarios are still a wee bit on the tough side for me, at least now I’m ready for the challenges of each stage.  Whether or not my poor micromanagement skills can keep up though is another matter.