My Daily Life and Thoughts while in San Diego |
List of Best Posts
This blog is where I express myself to the world or at least to those who might stop by to read what I post 
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers.
I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!
Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers. I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me
)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
Beautiful Brazilian girls give me...a breath mint!
Posted 01-28-2009 at 10:12 PM by carlos123
Updated 02-08-2009 at 09:57 PM by carlos123 (Changed category under which this post is filed.)
Updated 02-08-2009 at 09:57 PM by carlos123 (Changed category under which this post is filed.)
Today I spent $5 of the little that I had, about $40 when I started out this morning, to buy a bus pass so that I could make it to a job interview of sorts (a couple of days ago I found an old Canadian prepaid card that had $25 on it which added to the money I had available and allowed me to have left over what I had this morning despite not working for almost a week).
I say of sorts because I had to first get there, fill out an application, and be interviewed between noon and 3:00 PM so it wasn't a formal interview but rather one where anyone that showed up would get one.
What caught my eye in this job was the daily cash bonuses given out for good work such that I hoped to be able to earn some of those cash bonuses and meet my immediate need for money. One day at a time until a regular paycheck would start coming through.
Normally I would have called to find out more information about this place before taking the time and spending the $5 to get there by public transportation but...all I ever got was a voice mail so I had little choice but to go.
It was so wonderful to get on the first bus and start down the road. To be out and about again. I had not done that in a couple of days trying to keep from spending $5 on bus passes until something worthwhile appeared...job wise.
As I went about trying to reach my destination through a series of 2 buses and 2 trolleys I began as usual to talk to people I met about anything and everything. I enjoy doing that and connecting with others around me.
One man told me his tale of paying nearly $2000 dollars for an apartment between him and his girlfriend and a young woman in the back of the bus piped up and told me how crazy this place was and that she was leaving as soon as she could.
On transferring to the trolley I had the pleasure of having 3 beautiful Brazilian girls sit next to me. Of course...I did not know they were Brazilian at first but suspecting that they might be...and not wanting to just sit there...I spoke up and asked them if that was Brazilian that I was hearing.
After informing me that it was, we spent a most pleasant time talking about Brazilian beaches, Brazilian public transportation, what they thought of San Diego, my experience here and other such topics.
Having allowed them to exercise their English skills on me for a while and feeling comfortable with our blossoming relationship I felt it appropriate to...well...ask them if any of them had a breath mint LOL.
You see...my stomach felt like it was producing bad breath from too much acid indigestion and given that I was heading for a job interview I figured I should see about finding a breath mint. Of course...the fact that I was sitting next to no less than 3 gorgeous Brazilian girls who were willing to talk with me...might have had something to do with the immediacy of my need for a breath mint too .
Anyway almost immediately the one sitting right next to me pulled out a little box full of breath mints and offered me one which I then gingerly took out of her little box, as a gentleman should, and consumed.
I wonder if I could make a news story out of such a thing? "How to pick up beautiful Brazilian girls on the San Diego Trolley" is an interesting angle but I don't think I would be too fired up, as a Christian, to give guys with less than honorable motives tips on how to engage girls in conversation.
It is sometimes surprising how readily people will speak up and tell me about themselves. But then again...it's a reflection of showing some interest in them.
When I finally got near the place I was headed to...I got off the bus and walked about half a mile. Getting there at about 2:30 pm I filled out an application, handed it in, and kept my reading glasses on hoping that no one would notice my tired looking eyes. I also started to get REAL hungry with having walked half a mile from the last bus stop to get there and having eaten no more than peanut butter and jelly a la carte and a couple of very small oatmeal bowls with water for breakfast. In fact I got so hungry that my hands started to tremble!
About 2:55 PM a person came out and told me and two others who had been waiting for interviews that we could not be seen until tomorrow!
What?
I felt like telling him in no uncertain terms that I had taken two buses, two trolleys, and had walked about half a mile as fast as I could go without allowing myself to melt in sweat just so I could get there to be interviewed! That I had spent $5 of what little I had left to get there! And that their ad had said I could get there anytime up to 3:00 PM!
Of course...I said little of any of that and agreed to come back tomorrow at 12:30 PM.
Disappointed but believing that God knew what He was doing...I started on the long trip back home. As usual, I started talking to people again and a guy waiting at the bus stop with me had already interviewed with them and told me that they were not hiring for immediate work but that one would first have to be scheduled to attend a training session and then a bit later still...finally start work. Assuming one was even hired!
I don't know if I will show up tomorrow under those conditions. I may just call them to cancel. I mean how in the world am I going to live and afford the bus to even get there for a training session that will happen who knows when...if I run out of money before the actual work begins! It just doesn't seem workable.
You know it's one thing for people to suggest that I do this or that, as many have suggested on this forum but, it's quite another to be in my shoes and have to get around and eat and otherwise spend some of the very little money I have...only to go on dead end interviews that don't go anywhere.
Four hours to get to one interview and back again! And $5 per such interview on a bus pass to boot. I can't do that very often without completely running out of money.
I'm talking about having only about $35 left to my name folks!
That is why I need immediate pay. I wish people would understand that.
As much as I have said the above...a lot of people on this forum just don't seem to get it. That I need to make money to go flying around to interview at different jobs in order to make money. You know...I need to spend money to make money type of thing.
Money doesn't grow on trees nor do companies pay me to go on interviews.
No one is going to be sympathetic and understand if on getting a job..I call up one day and inform them that I just can't make it to work anymore because...I ran out of money to buy that day's bus pass! Or perhaps worse yet...if I tell them that I can't work because I haven't eaten anything that day and am feeling a bit starved!
I need to watch my money and my time and be more careful about picking the jobs I try for. Three other people showed up for this one job within the half hour that I was there (only one of which got in for an interview). Who knows how many showed up beforehand.
There are a LOT of unemployed people in San Diego. ALL looking for jobs. Any job which will help pay their bills. And they all read the paper or see the job postings online just like I do (the Reader is free and I look at every one that comes out).
I have to find some way of stacking the odds in my favor. Perhaps by making calls to companies out of the Yellow Pages to find out if they even have jobs before they are advertised. I think that is what I will try tomorrow if I can figure out where to get a free Yellow Pages.
As I was heading home and continuing to talk to the person who had interviewed ahead of me, an older lady also joined our conversation. Eventually, as I was relating how I had come here and how God had helped me so far, yet another person, a middle aged man with a long whitish beard who called himself Software Santa, spoke up and among other things told me that I had received angelic assistance.
He started laughing when I responded by saying that my angelic assistance must be like government assistance, which he was on, but only from the heavenlies.
With the blessing of Software Santa behind me I got off the one bus, took the Green Line Trolley to Old Town, and then boarded another bus to head home after debating whether to really splurge and go on a different bus to eat at Hometown Buffet. I was so hungry! But Hometown Buffet at $12 something for dinner was out of the question.
A little after getting on the bus to head home...a little boy got on repeating over and over again something that mirrored my day's experiences. "Lynch! Lynch! Lynch!" the little boy seemed to say about how I had been denied my interview. Or was it "Lunch! Lunch! Lunch!" with respect to my ravenous hunger to eat something? I couldn't tell.
It was quite amusing.
The young man will undoubtedly make a most wonderful protest organizer when he grows up.
After stopping at Carls Jr. to get two very large burgers filled with everything extra that I didn't have to pay extra for...all for just $3, getting 3 oranges, and pulling what money I had left in my bank account out except for .69 cents which I left in the account for any unforeseen emergency...I made it home.
$3, 3 oranges, and 3 Brazilian girls...hmm...I wonder if that has any significance
?
Carlos
I say of sorts because I had to first get there, fill out an application, and be interviewed between noon and 3:00 PM so it wasn't a formal interview but rather one where anyone that showed up would get one.
What caught my eye in this job was the daily cash bonuses given out for good work such that I hoped to be able to earn some of those cash bonuses and meet my immediate need for money. One day at a time until a regular paycheck would start coming through.
Normally I would have called to find out more information about this place before taking the time and spending the $5 to get there by public transportation but...all I ever got was a voice mail so I had little choice but to go.
It was so wonderful to get on the first bus and start down the road. To be out and about again. I had not done that in a couple of days trying to keep from spending $5 on bus passes until something worthwhile appeared...job wise.
As I went about trying to reach my destination through a series of 2 buses and 2 trolleys I began as usual to talk to people I met about anything and everything. I enjoy doing that and connecting with others around me.
One man told me his tale of paying nearly $2000 dollars for an apartment between him and his girlfriend and a young woman in the back of the bus piped up and told me how crazy this place was and that she was leaving as soon as she could.
On transferring to the trolley I had the pleasure of having 3 beautiful Brazilian girls sit next to me. Of course...I did not know they were Brazilian at first but suspecting that they might be...and not wanting to just sit there...I spoke up and asked them if that was Brazilian that I was hearing.
After informing me that it was, we spent a most pleasant time talking about Brazilian beaches, Brazilian public transportation, what they thought of San Diego, my experience here and other such topics.
Having allowed them to exercise their English skills on me for a while and feeling comfortable with our blossoming relationship I felt it appropriate to...well...ask them if any of them had a breath mint LOL.
You see...my stomach felt like it was producing bad breath from too much acid indigestion and given that I was heading for a job interview I figured I should see about finding a breath mint. Of course...the fact that I was sitting next to no less than 3 gorgeous Brazilian girls who were willing to talk with me...might have had something to do with the immediacy of my need for a breath mint too .
Anyway almost immediately the one sitting right next to me pulled out a little box full of breath mints and offered me one which I then gingerly took out of her little box, as a gentleman should, and consumed.
I wonder if I could make a news story out of such a thing? "How to pick up beautiful Brazilian girls on the San Diego Trolley" is an interesting angle but I don't think I would be too fired up, as a Christian, to give guys with less than honorable motives tips on how to engage girls in conversation.
It is sometimes surprising how readily people will speak up and tell me about themselves. But then again...it's a reflection of showing some interest in them.
When I finally got near the place I was headed to...I got off the bus and walked about half a mile. Getting there at about 2:30 pm I filled out an application, handed it in, and kept my reading glasses on hoping that no one would notice my tired looking eyes. I also started to get REAL hungry with having walked half a mile from the last bus stop to get there and having eaten no more than peanut butter and jelly a la carte and a couple of very small oatmeal bowls with water for breakfast. In fact I got so hungry that my hands started to tremble!
About 2:55 PM a person came out and told me and two others who had been waiting for interviews that we could not be seen until tomorrow!
What?
I felt like telling him in no uncertain terms that I had taken two buses, two trolleys, and had walked about half a mile as fast as I could go without allowing myself to melt in sweat just so I could get there to be interviewed! That I had spent $5 of what little I had left to get there! And that their ad had said I could get there anytime up to 3:00 PM!
Of course...I said little of any of that and agreed to come back tomorrow at 12:30 PM.
Disappointed but believing that God knew what He was doing...I started on the long trip back home. As usual, I started talking to people again and a guy waiting at the bus stop with me had already interviewed with them and told me that they were not hiring for immediate work but that one would first have to be scheduled to attend a training session and then a bit later still...finally start work. Assuming one was even hired!
I don't know if I will show up tomorrow under those conditions. I may just call them to cancel. I mean how in the world am I going to live and afford the bus to even get there for a training session that will happen who knows when...if I run out of money before the actual work begins! It just doesn't seem workable.
You know it's one thing for people to suggest that I do this or that, as many have suggested on this forum but, it's quite another to be in my shoes and have to get around and eat and otherwise spend some of the very little money I have...only to go on dead end interviews that don't go anywhere.
Four hours to get to one interview and back again! And $5 per such interview on a bus pass to boot. I can't do that very often without completely running out of money.
I'm talking about having only about $35 left to my name folks!
That is why I need immediate pay. I wish people would understand that.
As much as I have said the above...a lot of people on this forum just don't seem to get it. That I need to make money to go flying around to interview at different jobs in order to make money. You know...I need to spend money to make money type of thing.
Money doesn't grow on trees nor do companies pay me to go on interviews.
No one is going to be sympathetic and understand if on getting a job..I call up one day and inform them that I just can't make it to work anymore because...I ran out of money to buy that day's bus pass! Or perhaps worse yet...if I tell them that I can't work because I haven't eaten anything that day and am feeling a bit starved!
I need to watch my money and my time and be more careful about picking the jobs I try for. Three other people showed up for this one job within the half hour that I was there (only one of which got in for an interview). Who knows how many showed up beforehand.
There are a LOT of unemployed people in San Diego. ALL looking for jobs. Any job which will help pay their bills. And they all read the paper or see the job postings online just like I do (the Reader is free and I look at every one that comes out).
I have to find some way of stacking the odds in my favor. Perhaps by making calls to companies out of the Yellow Pages to find out if they even have jobs before they are advertised. I think that is what I will try tomorrow if I can figure out where to get a free Yellow Pages.
As I was heading home and continuing to talk to the person who had interviewed ahead of me, an older lady also joined our conversation. Eventually, as I was relating how I had come here and how God had helped me so far, yet another person, a middle aged man with a long whitish beard who called himself Software Santa, spoke up and among other things told me that I had received angelic assistance.
He started laughing when I responded by saying that my angelic assistance must be like government assistance, which he was on, but only from the heavenlies.
With the blessing of Software Santa behind me I got off the one bus, took the Green Line Trolley to Old Town, and then boarded another bus to head home after debating whether to really splurge and go on a different bus to eat at Hometown Buffet. I was so hungry! But Hometown Buffet at $12 something for dinner was out of the question.
A little after getting on the bus to head home...a little boy got on repeating over and over again something that mirrored my day's experiences. "Lynch! Lynch! Lynch!" the little boy seemed to say about how I had been denied my interview. Or was it "Lunch! Lunch! Lunch!" with respect to my ravenous hunger to eat something? I couldn't tell.
It was quite amusing.
The young man will undoubtedly make a most wonderful protest organizer when he grows up.
After stopping at Carls Jr. to get two very large burgers filled with everything extra that I didn't have to pay extra for...all for just $3, getting 3 oranges, and pulling what money I had left in my bank account out except for .69 cents which I left in the account for any unforeseen emergency...I made it home.
$3, 3 oranges, and 3 Brazilian girls...hmm...I wonder if that has any significance
?Carlos
Total Comments 2
Comments
-
"a middle aged man with a long whitish beard who called himself Software Santa, spoke up and among other things told me that I had received angelic assistance."
Hey, Carlos, have there been any angels in the area, since you posted this?
Remember the scripture... 'we entertain angels unawares'.. (paraphrasing, of course)...
Blessings..
SummertimePosted 01-31-2009 at 10:23 PM by Summertime
-
Could be Summertime. Could be. If what has happened in the last few days is any indication.
A homeless man gave *me* $10 a couple of days ago!!!
And...someone else, a friend of mine, loaned me the money to not only pay my rent but some besides!!! Without my asking for one thin dime! Not a word of request for money passed my lips. But God knew my need.
And...I just yesterday got TWO, yes...that's right...TWO small jobs from people who wanted computer help.
One of the jobs paid me $30 from a person who did not even owe me any money after I could not solve their problem. Our original agreement was that I be paid $50 or nothing if I could not solve their problem. But they gave me $30 anyway!! And again...I put no pressure on them whatsover. Did not ask them for a penny and made it clear that they owed me nothing.
That $30 came just in time to enable me to pay my hosting bill which came due again for $26!! Yesterday! It hosts my window cleaning web site, my main email address, and one other web site.
The other job is still to happen but we have finalized the deal and it's just a matter of scheduling. This coming week I will be helping a very nice lady by tutoring her on computer use. And get this...she will pick me up in her car AND take me to her home! Me!! A relative stranger who she doesn't know from Adam! And no...she is no doofus. She runs a rental home where she makes rooms available for students of all types.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Incidentally the unsolvable computer problem was not because I lacked ability. On the contrary. It was mainly because the student had gotten their set up quite mixed up from not having known how to work under Linux when they first began their project. Such that it became nearly impossible, in the time we had, to unravel the small bowl of spaghetti that had resulted from files with sometimes incorrect content being placed in wrong directory locations in various places.
It was indeed a very, very complicated thing where he was working with a slug and various sensors, setting up a DHCP server to give out IP addresses, flashing a device with firmware and so on and so forth. An engineering graduate student getting help from *me*! Imagine that!
Turned out that he was a Christian and pay or not...it was a great encouragement to me to hang out with him.
More...if I get around to writing a normal post later.
Thanks.
CarlosPosted 02-01-2009 at 01:03 PM by carlos123
