And we're back

Phew, it's good to be back. I've been out of commission for nearly a week now and it has not been fun. When your main computer starts up like it's running on Windows 98 and crashes 5 minutes later, you know things are bad. Fortunately, I had a friend come over and we confirmed it was due to one of my sticks of RAM being faulty and possibly an operating system issue. So I need to email a few people, get some new hardware, and reformat everything.

But at least I'm back! I've missed all of you. Most of my friends in real-life don't understand what it's like having Internet companions and I sort of pity them. They don't know what they're missing out on. I can't wait to jump around and see what you guys have been up to since my computer went haywire.

But it's also the new year. And just like last year, instead of resolutions, I'm submitting my projects again. We dropped/added some, completed others, and are still working on the rest. With Project Vegas a (mild) success, we need to replace it with something, but what? Let's get to the list.

Warning, this is a long post, I've been gone a while, and I have a lot to share.

Oh and I hope everyone had a good new years eve with lots of alcohol.

Project Derp:

Goal: $$$$

The longest ongoing project I have. And one of the first ones I pitched back in 2013. Some of you are probably wondering, "Damian, why is this one taking so long?". Well I'll tell you why. See, back in January of 2013 I was typing over 1000 words a day. Then that dropped to 1000 words every few days. Exams and working full-time came along and I dropped to 1000 words a month before finally bringing back up to ~1000 a week.

I have written over 40,000 words for this project. If it takes me about an hour to write 500 words I've spent 80 hours on just typing alone. This doesn't include other the other nitpicky things that have come along with this project. And honestly, I think I need at least another 10,000 to feel comfortable.

But I think it's finally paying off. October had me breaking even, and December had me making a small profit. Sure, if I had maintained the pace I had started with, I probably would have done much better, but things don't often go according to schedule do they?

I'll be talking about Project Derp in detail in the coming weeks. Or rather phase 2 of Project Derp, with hopes of eventually advancing it to phase 3. Because phase 3 is where all the money comes in.

Project Pandering:

Goal: Learn and re-learn skills.

Heh, most of the skills being learned here required me to be on my desktop. Which I have mentioned was dead for longer than I would have liked. I'll get back on them though, I did want to show progress for at least one of them come February.

I just need some more practice.

Don't want to traumatize anyone.

Project Jason:

Goal: Exercise.

I have both good and bad news to report for Project Jason. In good news, Eli has been great. I am still feeling worked out and sore after each session. I've been getting supplements from him (after doing some background research on it) and this stuff should help with muscle growth and reduce muscle fatigue with no negative side effects (if taken properly).

My biggest problem is just eating enough. I did some math, and I need to be consuming around 3000 calories and 150 grams of protein A DAY in order to be putting on muscle. I'm kind of lazy, prefer to go hungry instead of get food (also stress causes me to not want to eat) so I'm used to eating maybe half of that. So a big part of this is trying to just shove food into my face whenever possible.

In bad news, I mentioned how I was still trying to get rid of those trainer sessions. I basically bought a ton (with the intention of using them with Eli) with financing. Unfortunately, Eli has quit that gym but I'm still stuck with these sessions, and I'm still paying them off. It's getting fairly expensive and seemed a lot more manageable back when I had a full-time job.

I'm using the hours that I've already bought with a different trainer. Honestly? Not impressed. If I had this trainer at the beginning, I never would have bought those sessions. I'm spending each session working on "form" and "posture", things that could be fixed while I'm doing the work-out which is what Eli did. I'm not sore after my workouts, I'm somewhat out of breath. Whoo.

So now, it's time to get manipulative. In a series of emails trying to wiggle my way out of the sessions something caught my attention. I think I may have found the loophole needed to worm my out of this. See, losing my job, difficulty paying for the sessions, not their problem. But a single word of customer dissatisfaction? Suddenly I have their attention.

The next few weeks are going to be me being unimpressed with this trainer (which isn't hard to be honest) and then swapping him for someone else, be dissatisfied, rinse and repeat. And from what I've seen, most of these trainers? Not great. So I won't even have to fake being dissatisfied. And once I've compiled my evidence, I send a few emails, and let's hope this sways them into getting me out of this contract and having more money.

Seriously, Eli didn't spend a quarter of my sessions "warming up".

Project Raven:

Goal: ????

With Project Vegas laid to rest, it's time to bring back an old one. Who remembers the potentially unethical Project Raven? Applying for scholarships that I clearly do not qualify for BUT under "unfortunate" circumstances will still get the money.

I'm back in school. I need money. I am not above performing slightly morally questionable acts to remove debt. I know many of my readers said it was sketchy at best, and wrong at worst. But I'm still giving it a try. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.\

Project Koi:

Goal: Dating

Ohohoho, what's this? Damian back on the market so soon? So soon after some of his other disasters. Well, not really. I may have found someone with interest in pursuing a short term/casual relationship. And you know what? I'm fine with that. Dating is just like any other skill, and the longer you go without practice, the harder it becomes to get back into it.

Also, it might be fun. Get out more, spend time with someone. If I don't have an update on this come February, assume that it failed and we'll pretend like it never happened ok?


And that's it for now. I'm back in classes on Tuesday but I have MWF off. I'll have plenty of time to blog and work on projects. It's good to be back.

Projects Update

Current debt: $6000

Wow. It's been a long time. I can't believe I've been working on these projects for so long, or that I've managed to stick with them. I mean, my first projects post was all the way back in January. Many projects have come and gone, many ended up no longer being viable and had to be dropped.

Or in the case of something like Project Cold, actually succeeded. Sure it was just a simple marketing job, but I feel that even the small achievements should be celebrated. And today, we have another project that has finally worked in my favour. Let's find out which one.

 It's about time!

Project Derp:

Goal: $$$$

For one month, Project Derp managed to become self-sustaining. Meaning that without any extra work on my part, it was able to pay off it's monthly expenses. Had it managed to maintain this, I would consider Phase 2 of this project a success and begun work on Phase 3.

And then in November it kind of died a bit. If you track the progress of Project Derp since January you'd see that it's a nice upward slope but it's still not enough. I don't feel comfortable kicking it up a notch beyond this.

Project Vegas:

Goal: Travel


So much speculation on this project. Limited by both status and money, this project was also one of the first that I conceived back in January, but unfortunately could not have started working on it until October.

And within 2 months of work I have succeeded.

I fear I've kind of hyped this one up a lot. It's nothing too crazy or amazing but it's one of those things that sound too good to be true. So I wanted to personally verify its efficacy before posting about it. But I'm still slightly giddy that I managed to get it to work. I'll have a post about it in the coming weeks with explanations.

Aw yeah.

Project Pandering:

Goal: Learn and re-learn skills.

This project has become 3 smaller projects that I felt didn't deserve their own names, so I crammed them into one big one because of their similar foundations.

It goes slowly. Especially since I'm further splitting up time dedicated to this project. Based on how things have been going, I expect to have something worthy of showing from at least one of these by February.

Mostly because I'm kind of vain, and I'd be embarrassed to show something subpar or incomplete.

Project Jason:

Goal: Exercise.

The snow has not been kind to us up here in Canada. Leading to both travel and car problems for both my personal trainer Eli and myself. There have been numerous days in which we've had to cancel workouts because 1 or not both of us couldn't make it to the gym for various reasons.

So to compensate, we started doing double workouts. Chest and back on the same day, shoulders and legs on the same day, etc. etc..

You'd think that this would completely destroy me, but the odd thing is, I'm not that sore after workouts anymore. I mean, yes, it's uncomfortable, but I'm no longer the hobbling cripple I was two weeks ago.

I don't think it's because workouts are less intense, I'm still pretty tired after them. Leg day still requires that I take a epsom salt bath and a nap when I get home because I'm so worn out compared to the other workouts.

Also I've gained another 5 pounds. Go me.

So that's it for now. Still chugging away at everything. Progress in anything is good no matter how slow.

Projects Update

Current debt: $6000

Almost under $5000 now! Just one more paycheque and I'll be good to go. I always need to reserve a chunk of my pay for myself to pay off things such as my trainer, buying miscellaneous gifts, and just being self-indulgent. Computer games that I won't have time to play won't buy themselves you know.

Speaking of time, I've been doing what I can with each project and while it has been a struggle seeing as I've started shutting down at the end of the night. I'm getting used to doing a minimum of 10 hour if not 12 hour shifts every day. While the OT is great, it doesn't leave much me-time.

But I'll need that OT, especially if I make a certain purchase in the comings weeks which will greatly increase my debt.

Oh my poor wallet...

Project Derp:

Goal: $$$$

I had high hopes of making this project self-sustaining last month, but various other parties stopped talking to me so we're back to working on it on my own. It's still churning along, and I keep wishing I had more time to work on it.

And then I realized that I did have the time. I just had to be sneaky about it.

You see, being stuck in the office late at night isn't so bad. Especially when I'm the last one there with no one around to watch me. It's kind of funny, to think that I'm getting paid OT to work on this. Despite the lack of internet, I can still whip out my laptop and type things up for an hour or so before the last truck rolls into the plant.

Hopefully this can continue, despite the reduced work hours now that the construction season has ended.

Project Vegas:

Goal: Travel

Almost done this one here. I'm at about the 1/4, maybe 1/3 mark, and within the month I should have completed it. The oncoming Christmas season should definitely help though again, I am jealous of Americans. This would have been so much easier if I lived there but alas.

I'll make due with what I have in Canada.

It just snowed, and there is ice everywhere.

Project Pandering:

Goal: Learn and re-learn skills.

This is one project where I definitely need a day off to effectively do anything. And unfortunately, there haven't been many of those as of late. I mean, I could dedicate an hour in the evenings, or I could spend an hour letting my brain melt on Youtube after a long day at work.

Guess which one wins out more.

But again, the construction season has ended. So maybe I'll be able to make it home for dinner for the first time in a long time.

Project Jason:

Goal: Exercise

Again, this project has been the most consistent of all of them. Especially since I started working out with my personal trainer Eli. And he works me, and it hurts, and I love it. Well, I mostly love it. I still don't like leg day. Actually, I really dislike leg day, even before I started work with Eli.

I mean, I did a leg day workout with him last Tuesday. At the time of this post, it is Sunday. My calves have ALMOST stopped hurting. Almost. Oh, and want to hear a funny story?

It's a story about Damian sitting on a toilet after leg day. And then being unable to stand back up. He had to kind of push himself off the edge of the sink or else flop onto the cold bathroom floor and then wiggle back up. You realize how much fun that is right?

Luckily, my arms still worked fine.

Whoo! Lots of fun this month. If only I had more time to blog about it. Project progress inching along, the story regarding my CPAP machine to help with my sleeping problems will be posted as soon as I hear back from the doctors, and the purchase that will sink me far back into debt.

Oh, and my probation for my job is coming up within the next week or two. Wish me luck.

Projects Update

Current debt: $9000

Phew! It's about time I've made a significant dent in my debt, I'm now under 10k. Slowly but surely we'll destroy this thing, though because I'm no longer a student I've had to get a new bank account which requires that I have $2500 sitting in it at all times so I don't get charged a fee. A minor setback.

I'm still really pushing to find time to work on my projects. It's hard to find it in you to continue being productive after a long day of work. I just want to let me brain go to waste in front of my computer as I watch videos of cats doing stupid things.

But I've managed to do some work, and so, update time.

I could watch this all day.

Project Derp:

Goal: $$$$

I experienced a massive traffic drop last month for some reason. Are things running slower? Is it due to summer ending? I can't say for certain but I'm certain it affected my already minimal profits. It also doesn't help that for all of September I maybe put in 2 hours of work, at best.

That being said, I may have found a way to get Phase 2 to work. Fingers crossed. It be nice to finally have this project be self-sustaining. I'll make a post about it when it happens, and then finally get working on Phase 3.


Project Vegas:

Goal: Travel 

I finally got the required items in the mail to get this project running. I'm still reading through a few things to make sure I do this right. Even though I have the most disposable income I've had in a long time, I still want to make spend my money efficiently.

I have a time limit of 3 months. I hope this works.

THEN I CAN FLY LIKE THIS CAT.

Project Pandering:

Goal: Learn and re-learn skills.

This one has been iffy to gauge because it's an amalgamation of smaller little skills that I don't think qualify for individual projects. So on a whole, this project has had quite a bit of time dedicated to it, but the individual components are a bit lackluster.


I recently got more hardware and I'm tinkering with things as we go along. There are just so many tutorials and guides online. No way I'd would have been able to learn how to do this (or even consider doing this) half a decade ago.


Project Jason:

Goal: Exercise

This is still the only project that I'm consistently dedicating time to. Though I'm "averaging" 3 times a week. Sometimes I go twice, and then I make up for it the next week by going 4 times. It's a bit of a balance really, the only time I can meet up with people is for dinner after work so it's either meet with friends or go lift weights.

Unfortunately my feet are still cramping up. I think it might be because I've been so tired lately. The lack of sleep might be the cause because I've changed shoes, reduced reps and weight, etc. etc.. I think the fatigue might be affecting my appetite as well, I'm eating less and that's not good. I can't gain weight if I'm not eating.

Nom.

And that's this month's update. Debts are being paid, I'm trying to be productive outside of work. And I'm slowly losing my mind because my sleep is deteriorating. I'm actually gasping awake now in the middle of the night, which I think is a pretty clear sign my sleep apnea is worsening.

Fear not though, the appointment I booked weeks ago is finally coming up. I'll make a post about that when it happens.

Projects Update

Current debt: Still $11,000

It's time for an update here! As many of you may be aware, my new job has taken up a lot, and I mean A LOT, of my time and energy. Like D4 said, maybe it's time to drop the projects and just focus on my job, I mean, there's a definite payout, and I'll have my time and energy for myself.

But in the evenings and weekends when I'm not working, I still want to be productive. I know initially the point of these projects were to find an additional source of income. Now, they've expanded into broadening my skill-sets, testing unusual theories I've found, AND an extra source of income.

With that being said, I realized within a week of working, I had to deactivate certain projects. Here's where each of them stand.

For some.

Active:

Project Derp:

Goal: $$$$

I can't give this one up. I don't think I ever could. Especially after all the work I've put into it. Also, the fact that it somehow manages to keep improving even I neglect it for weeks at a time. The traffic keeps coming in, in August we managed to cover 2/3rds of the monthly cost.

I just need to find a way to throw 50 more hours into this project and I think it'll be safe to go. Then I can finally make a post about the second phase and get started on the third phase. Yes I may have a job, but if I can have something earning me money on the side without anymore work, that would be awesome.

Project Vegas:

Goal: Travel

I was considering putting this project down. The original goal was to use the money gained from Project Derp to abuse the loophole for Project Vegas.

And then I realized, I have a decent job now with a decent wage. My disposable income has quadrupled if not quintupled. In addition, having a full-time job bypasses some of the earlier restrictions in the aforementioned loophole.

Give me a month or two to complete this one. Now that I have the money, all I have to do is play the waiting game.

And I can wait, I'm patient.

Project Pandering:

Goal: Learn and re-learn skills.

This one is surprisingly going better than I expected. Sure, I don't have as much time for it as I'd like to work on this one but still, any progress is good.

I've also taken the liberty of using my new disposable income to purchase some additional hardware for this project. Will I have the time to properly utilize them? We'll see. I hope so, would like to show some of my completed work in the future.

Project Jason:

Goal: Exercise

This is probably the only project that I have been consistently working at. 3 times a week, no exceptions. I generally go after work, work-out for an hour or so, and then head home under the pretense that I had to "work late today".

After 6 weeks of lifting weights I certainly feel stronger and I've noticed that I can lift a lot more weight than I initially could. I also look a bit more toned but no one else is going to be seeing me without a shirt anytime soon.

Hopefully more visible results will happen soon.

At least I'm not as bad as him.

Deactivated projects:

Project Pitch:

Goal: Improve writing/$$$$

This one is dead. I don't have the time, energy, or motivation to continue with it. At least, not for now.

Project Cold:

Goal: $$$$/Miscellaneous work skills\

Summer has ended, I have a full-time job. There isn't a way to keep going with this one EVEN if I wanted to.

Project copy:

Goal: Miscellaneous work skills

Nothing to report.

Move along.

Project Koi:

Goal: Dating

Still no new single girls. Going to keep being single for a long time at this rate.

Project Raven:

Goal: $$$$

Oh man, Project Raven. I'll do a post about this one in the future and about how you could do it. I know people who have gotten away with this and made thousands.You probably need to live in Canada to do this one properly but I'm certain there are variations of it in other countries.


And that concludes my project updates. Next month I'm just going to discuss new, active, and newly deactivated projects. And hopefully, when a full paycheque arrives I can make some progress towards my debt.

For the first time in a long time, my future looks bright, I have a sense of direction, I know what I'm doing, and I have interesting goals on the side.

And that feels good.

Projects Update

Current debt: $11,000

It's been a while since I've given a project update. I haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked but hey, I'm making some form of progress. In truth, the "opportunity" sucked up way more time than I would have liked so I'm going to blame some of my slowness on it.

This is my last month before going back to either school or work. I've read up on a few things, implemented what I learned, and hopefully they should boost my productivity on everything. But in the meantime, updates. I've also decided to be less vague about some of these and have added basic descriptions.

Nightmare fuel right here.

Project Pitch:

Goal: Improve writing/$$$$

After having so many things rejected I got a bit discouraged and stopped working in this project for a while. Meanwhile, someone else took a look at one of my rejected proposals and offered to co-write something with me.

We'll see how things go. I'm not exactly the most motivated at the moment.

Project Derp:

Goal: $$$$

I'm still hacking away at the second phase of this project. The goal is to pump enough effort into it so that the amount earned is enough to cover the monthly cost. So far, I'm only about halfway there. Profits are slowly increasing but I'm certain that with some more work, I should be able to get this project self-sufficient.

I mean, I barely touched it in July thanks to that MLM stuff. And I still saw a substantial increase in traffic compared to June. The growth is exponential, but I certainly don't mind helping it along.

Project Vegas:

Goal: Travel

The idea was to use the third phase of Project Derp to fuel this project. But seeing as it's taking a really long time, I might have to find a different way of doing this. Or keep it in hiatus.

Project Cold:

Goal: $$$$/Miscellaneous work skills

Door-to-door marketing is still going well. I mean, there's not much to talk about. I'm generally making triple minimum wage when I work but it's depressing when you don't get any commission. Summer is almost done and that means that this part-time job will be coming to an end soon.

Project Pandering:

Goal: Revive old skills

Fang has had a hand in helping me with this project. Well, half of it anyways. This kind of project requires daily practice and it could be a while before I produce anything worth showing. But I am working on it daily. A minimum of an hour a day, and hopefully I'll get somewhere soon.

Project Jason:

Goal: Exercise

I've actually had enough happen with this project that it deserves a post of its own. More details later. In the meantime, the picture below shows various body types for men. Right now, I'm easily at "skinny". Ideally, I'd like to be at "ottermode".

Decommissioned Projects:

Project copy:

Goal: Miscellaneous work skills

I've given up on this project as I don't think the skills that would have been gained from this would have really benefited me in the long run. They're neat to have yes, but unless I really dedicated myself to something in Business, I should focus my time elsewhere.

Project Koi:

Goal: Dating

After my last stint with Beverly and the lack of non-crazy women afterwards, I think I'm done with online dating. I think I should just get used to being single and go from there.

Project Raven:

Goal: $$$$

This project was my "unethical" one. Unfortunately, whether or not I can proceed with it depends on whether I go back to school or if I find a job. We'll have to wait and see I guess.

It be nice if the University or an employer got back to me.

So that sums things up for now. Again, seeing as August might be my last free month in a long time, I've done a few things in hopes of being more productive.

If it works, I'll share my secret next month.

Projects Update

Current debt: $11,500

Last month was a bit disappointing. Despite all the additional time I had I wasn't able to make as large of a dent as I would have liked in all my projects. I guess I'm also trying to balance work, meeting up with people, and job hunting at the same time.

Still, some progress was made. Again, it's not as much as I would have liked but I guess I can't complain. I've also managed to earn enough from my projects and job in the last month to reduce my debt by $1000. Slowly but surely.

Chipping away at it.

Project Pitch:

Guess what? I finally got feedback on the thing I submitted. After sitting in second level editorial for 5 months someone actually looked at it! And the feedback I received was....

Not interesting enough.

Ugh, fine. So I reworked it, and resubmitted it. In the meantime, I whipped up two more things. One of those has been ignored while the other got rejected for the same reason as my old submission. And then I'm told again that my resubmission still isn't interesting enough.

Not giving up though, I'm taking the feedback I've gotten and I'm about 75% ready to submit this thing for the 4th time.

Project Derp:

I hammered away at this, and got around 4000 words written last month. Things are picking up slowly but again, not as fast as I'd like. If this still hasn't garnered a fair bit of momentum after another 5000 words I've probably done something wrong at the beginning. Maybe I didn't do enough prior planning, maybe there was a way I could have been more efficient.

We'll have to see. Again, it shows glimmers of the final product, but I'm beginning to think that I could have done something better or more efficiently. Or maybe I should have powered through and just wrote more sooner.

Project Vegas:

May not need Project Derp to advance this frozen project. But I need a bit more research first.

Project Cold:

The marketing is going well. It's helping pay off my debt, especially when I'm usually able to make anywhere from triple if not quintuple minimum wage in a single evening. I just wish there were ways to do this more often and in longer stretches but people tend to be home during the evenings and weekends and that's what I have to limit myself to.

I mentioned that there was a phase 2 but perhaps it was only viable with my other manager. I'll wait a little longer, see if things develop and if not, it'll still make for a decent post.

Project Copy:

Starting to have a bit more motivation to continue this one. Especially since it may be job relevant in the near future.

Project Koi:

Not much on the dating front here. I managed to get one date with a girl but I think she only accepted because we knew one another from High School. The date was ok, she said she would be into a second date but that never happened.

I've sent messages to maybe another half a dozen people, about half of them responded, and only one woman is still frequently talking to me. I don't think I'll have much success with this but I'll still keep periodically checking just in case.

Also, Cheryl just messaged me again with "i miss uuuu" after a month of silence.

I am not responding.

Run.

Project Pandering:

I finally got all the necessary software, now it's just sitting down to re-learn things via Youtube tutorials. I'm kind of excited for this.

If anyone knows any good audio recording software or how to reduce static from a headset microphone that would be much appreciated.

Project Raven:

Two hold ups have occurred with this project. 1. They haven't released documents for the new term/year/semester/etc.. 2. If I get a job, I am probably disqualified.

So if I get any of the jobs I mentioned, I'll release details on Project Raven and some of you can try it yourself.


And that concludes last month's project progress. I'm really not sure how much work I'll get done on everything, especially considering how I'll be gone at the end of the month for a week and a half to visit Erin. I just booked the ticket so it's confirmed.

I am also ~$400 poorer.

The Waiting Game

I don't enjoy sitting around waiting, and that has grown exceptionally true in recent years. And not just in the sense that I don't like having nothing to do. If possible, I want things to be done and over with, out of sight and out of mind. If there's a way to speed things up then I will generally go and do it.

But right now, I'm stuck in that very predicament. Which is why I don't have a proper blog post at the moment.

Looks just like me, if you could get a cup of juice to steam.

I have projects that are on standby because of things out of my control, I'm waiting on emails and phone calls from a few other people, I have projects that are delayed because of aforementioned emails and phone calls, so on and so forth.

Hopefully something happens soon. I'd rather talk about things that are ongoing in my life.

Projects Update

Current debt:  $12,500

Time for an update with my projects. It's finally summer, I haven't been able to get a full-time job (two part-time ones will have to suffice for now) so that leaves me with plenty of time to get work done on everything. In theory anyways.

And because some projects are actually making me money now, I've decided to see if I could put a dent in my ever increasing debt. At the top of my post we can see my current debt and I'll update it every month.

But it's confession time, I'm still pretty irate at my ex's recent actions so I've been taking some me time. You know how some women console themselves by eating an entire bucket of ice cream in one sitting? I indulged myself in 8 to 12 hour non-stop gaming sessions. It's unhealthy and kind of stupid but I don't care at the time because it makes me feel happier.

Punching people in the face is very therapeutic.

Project Pitch:

I've gotten tired of waiting for the editors to get back to me on the pitch I submitted back in January. It's still sitting there, waiting to be approved a second time so I can write the actual thing (and get paid).

So I went out and submitted 2 more pitches. And both of those are still sitting there, waiting to go through the whole process again. I'm hopeful, though I should probably keep throwing things at them until something sticks.

Project Derp:

Ah, this project. It really does feel like climbing a mountain or something. Everytime I take a step forward I can look behind me and see how far I've come. And yet, I can look up and see how much further I still have to go.

Despite significant increases in traffic, the second phase is still only about a third of the way to becoming self-sufficient. And after that, I'll still need to turn a decent profit before I can consider moving up to the third and final phase. I'm also working on a small side-project which will hopefully boost revenue. It may be a short-term solution but may provide insight as to how more long-term ventures in Project Derp should be organized.

Project Vegas:

Nope. Still hiatus. Still need to get to the third phase of Project Derp before I can revive this project.

Project Cold:

Marketing is going well. I wish I could have this as a full-time job because I'm making at least $15/h and up to $50/h. Unfortunately, this is all from commissions and if no one is home to talk with me and book an estimate I can't make any money. Kind of sucks being restricted to 3 hour shifts on evenings and weekends but a job is a job.

I'm hoping to get into the second phase of this project first but I need my manager to do a few things first. It's a bit odd how all the other marketers have disappeared and I'm the only one left...

Project Copy:

Oh wow, I can't believe I forgot about this one. I better start working on it again.

Project Koi:

Anyone who hasn't read about my recent failure at getting a new girlfriend via online dating can read part 1 and part 2 here.

Cheryl just sent me another message, I'm going to ignore it.

Project Pandering:

I've been throwing this one around for a long time but I didn't have the hardware to really do it justice. But thanks to my recently upgraded computer I think I can try and give this one a go again. It involves me getting back in touch with whatever husk of an artsy side I have left.

And ideally making a bit of cash on the side.

Project Raven:

Oh boy, this, this project I know is probably going to offend some people. Some of you will find it unethical, the rest will probably find it hilarious. Assuming I can get it to work. I've seen other people have resounding success with it before, and it won't take long for me to try it out.

Looking at the debt that I've built up, I could use the money. And suddenly the ways that I obtained said money seem less important. Don't worry, what I'm doing is completely legal. I'm not becoming the next Walter White.

And that concludes my monthly update on my projects. I've added 2 new ones to the queue which are Project Pandering and Project Raven respectively. Feel free to comment on any of them. I'm slowly getting less vague with some of the older projects but I don't want to give full details unless I'm successful (like Project Cold) or completely failed (like Project Koi).

Preperations

Summer has only begun and already I'm sitting around trying to figure out things for after summer has come to an end. Can't afford to dawdle, because it's too easy to sit back, relax, and boom! All the time you suddenly had is gone. Also, it's also common for unexpected events to occur that suddenly eat up all your free time.

I wouldn't be surprised if my family decided to take another month long trip to Asia again. This time my Dad has been hinting at going to Korea. Most of us are fairly hesitant because of North Korea being absolutely crazy. But that might change and we'll head somewhere else, who knows.

In the meantime, one of the best motivational messages I've taken to heart as of late is the following:

And so I'll begin my work today. Starting with planning for my academic future. At the moment I have 3 options I'm considering: Graduate studies in Psychology, Speech Pathology, or something in Business.

Unfortunately if I want to continue doing Psychology, I'll have to abandon my province, probably head to Saskatchewan. As I've mentioned before the budget cuts have NOT been kind to anyone. Psychology has lost several support staff and I highly doubt they can afford another graduate student.

Though we fared better than Sociology and Anthropology which had to fuse together to stay afloat.

Speech Pathology is another one in which I'll probably have to abandon my province for as well and also to Saskatchewan. Again, the program in my city is extremely competitive and I doubt my GPA can withstand the scrutiny. Seriously, the only benefit I have is that I'm male, and maybe they'll let me in because of how saturated the field is with women.

Or maybe they're all sexist and that's why there are so few men.

Though I'm not sure Speech Pathology is such a good option. It would require me to take more Linguistics and while it wasn't that bad, my friend's girlfriend is a Linguistics major and she had only one piece of advice for me:

"Linguistics is terrible. Look at these notes, look at them. Don't subject yourself to this.".

Ok, so what about Business? An MBA (Master's in Business Administration) requires that I write not only the GMAT but also have 2 years of experience working full-time. Unfortunately as much as I'd like a well-paying full-time job, I haven't been that lucky. But who knows, maybe I'll run into something so good that I won't want to head back to class in the Fall.

In the meantime, a BCOM (Bachelor's in Commerce) while only a second undergraduate degree, only needs me to take Econ 101 and 102. It's only 2 years long. AND that opens me up to all the beautiful internships in the field. And from what I've seen, the Business students have no end of awesome internships.

Something that Psychology failed me on.

 This is relevant to my interests.

So I guess I'll be aiming at taking Econ 101, Econ 102, maybe a higher level Linguistics course? Maybe another Psychology course for interests sake? I don't want to take more than 3 courses, but we'll see what happens.

But the course registration site is always really iffy on the weekends so I'll have to wait until Monday to try and sign up. In the meantime, I have my projects to work on. I know that I'm vague on the works in progress but it's because I don't enjoy talking about things that aren't completed or unsuccessful. It's a pride thing.

I know I keep saying things look like they're about to work (Project Derp is especially notorious for this) and it's true. They show promise, but they all still need a lot work still before I would consider it a success. I think the best analogy I can come up with is finally being able to properly boil a pot of pasta. Good for you! But you still have a ways to go until this becomes acceptable spaghetti carbenera.

So I'll keep working on my projects, online profiles, job hunts, and my two part-time jobs. Especially my projects. I want to have an update where I have more to talk about as opposed to "STILL WORKING ON IT".

End of Term

It's over. Another term done and gone. All my exams were pretty much meh. I feel indifferent to all of them. Not to say that I think I did poorly, I thought they were alright. But considering how much effort I put into studying these last few days was abysmal. Either I'm getting more efficient at studying or these courses were abnormal easy.

Or I'm just being really, really cocky right now.

But I don't care because I'm done.

So now that my summer has begun, what does this mean I'll be doing? Usually I'd be spending the first few days goofing off, relaxing and taking it easy. Video games, sleeping in, lazing about on the internet until my brain has gone numb.

Not anymore. I just can't do it anymore, at least, not for the same extended periods of time that I used to.

I want to blame it on feeling guilty on not finding a job, or school options not looking so great and thus I'm demoralized. But I have a fairly good idea of why. But before I begin, I want to say that I am in no way blaming or using this to demonize her. See, one of the last few conversations that I had with my ex before we broke up 4 months ago resulted in her saying the following line:

"Oh Damian, you're not stupid, you're just unambitious,".

Unambitious.

Un.

Am.

Bitious.

I don't think I've ever been so insulted in my life. I don't even remember the context of that conversation, but that line has stuck with me.

When someone in your life leaves you, you tend to feel hollow. Like a part of you is missing. Some people fill that hole with other people, alcohol, or even just leave the hole there and stay miserable. But I did something different. At first I left mine empty, wallowed in my misery. But in the process of moving on, I began to fill that emptiness with something else.

That something else turn out to be anger and bitterness.

In the last few months I have become noticeably more abrasive and cold. My temper has shortened and strangely I've become more eloquent in my speech. An odd but possibly the only positive side effect. I don't understand it myself. But in the process I also became more self-motivated, a metaphorical fire has been sparked inside me, and all I have to do is remember one word.

Unambitious.

And now the urge to goof off is gone.

Do I hate my ex for saying that to me? No! Do I resent her for it? Not at all! In fact, I should be thanking her, because with this my productivity has increased, and will continue to increase until something fruitful has surfaced.

And by fruitful I'm referring to my various projects. I now have time to work on everything. Some projects actually managed to advance themselves without my work during finals month which was a welcome surprise. In fact, thanks to the hardware upgrade that CABAL (my computer formerly named EVA) received AND all the free time I'm about to get, I am now able to revive Project Pandering.

Wish me luck on this one. I'll give further details in a future post. But it's going to rely on me digging up old skills that I haven't used in years. Luckily, there are tutorials to help speed up the process.

In non-project related news. I still need to go for the various medical tests to figure out what's wrong with me. I have a ton of friends I need to meet up with (preferably with alcohol) and I need to keep hunting for jobs. I have a few leads and I need to type up a few things.

I do not intend to let these next 4 months go to waste. I'm far too disgruntled to let that happen. Am I holding a grudge? Am I being petty? Am I being motivated for the wrong reasons? Maybe. Do I care? Not particularly.

Let's do this.

End of Term

Today was the last day of classes. The winter term of 2013 has ended and I'm not sure how to feel. It's so odd to not have all this pressure and panic within the final week. Cramming to finish projects, assignments, or papers. It's surprisingly relaxing.

Even my exams are nicely spread apart and what not. Two next week, and the last one two weeks from now. I have plenty of time to study and be well rested for these things.

Yay.

I really don't have much to say. I have had more time to work on various projects with all this excess spare time and actually, I think Project Koi has reached it's time limit and I can safely call it a failure.

But we'll save that post for Monday. It's a mess, and with regards to parts of it, I'd like to quote Gob Bluth from Arrested Development:

Have a good weekend everyone.

Project's Update

It's that time of the month again. How productive have I been on my self-assigned projects? Let's find out:

Project Pitch:

My original proposal from January is still sitting in editorial. I can check the status of it in real time and I'm literally watching it get shuffled further and further into the back of the line, gathering dust on whatever virtual shelf it's sitting on.

So fine, maybe the editors are considering it for later, it's still there and they'll get to it, eventually, I hope. I decided to try and write up another proposal and send it in for editing. And I actually had something, all the ideas were there but I was just bored with the topic. And honestly, the ideas felt like loosely connected dots that I could barely spin in an interesting way.

Eventually I had to stop, enough was enough. It sucks to have several hours of work turn out fruitless. But the ideas are still sitting there, maybe I can re-use them in the future. In the meantime, I'm going to try and write something else up.

JUST GIVE ME FEEDBACK ALREADY.

Project Derp:

March was the best month I've seen so far for the second phase of Project Derp. Traffic improved, profits increased since I started, but it's still not enough. I'm not even halfway to the point to where I would consider it a success. I guess I still haven't fully optimized everything and I estimate that I'm going to need at least 50 hours more work on it.

Unless, unless I can figure a way to make something more efficient.

I'm not abandoning my previous work, far from it. But I'm going to try a project within a project I guess. There's a combination of apps and tools I'm trying to use to help me, including the automation tool I mentioned before. But not all of them are cooperating and it's getting a touch frustrating.

Project Cold:

I've previously talked about my relative success with Project Cold over here. Being a marketer for student painting is going well enough. I know I mentioned how I said I set my own hours for this job but in reality it's often better for me to tailor my hours for when people would be home. Meaning I generally make more money if I head out later and if I work on weekends.

Also, East Indian wives are kind of notorious for consulting their husbands for everything. I don't know how many houses I've gone to where I'll be greeted by the wife, it's clear she wants some painting done, BUT she has to get the approval of her husband first. Do their own opinions not matter or something?

It's like they're incapable of making decisions on their own.

Project Copy:

Uhhh... I've neglected this one for a long time. I have a massive backlog to catch up on and it's going to take me a long time to get back up to speed.

Oops.

Project Koi:

This was the new project that I started in March and I didn't have high hopes for it. If the statistics that I've found are correct, the average of success is about 10%. My experience with this project so far occasionally shows glimpses of something working, only to disappear quickly after. If I go an entire week without a valid reply I'm calling it quits and declaring it a failure.

Though, to be honest, I am impressed I got any responses at all but ultimately I think it'll be fruitless. At least I'll get a blog post and a good story out of it. I think I'll give it another try in the future but right now is probably not a good time.

I know when to call it quits.

Project Vegas:

This project is still on hiatus. I mentioned before how I found a loophole that I could exploit for my benefit. Unfortunately, it requires that I spend several hundred, if not thousands of dollars within a set time limit. Clearly, I cannot do it just yet, well, not without going further into debt and requiring my parents to bail me out.

Which is exactly why I am pushing so hard for Project Derp to succeed. I can kill two birds with one stone.

Phase 3 of Project Derp could not only allow me to spend and pay off that amount on my own, but also give me a sizable profit on the side. The amount of work is minimal but it requires all the knowledge and groundwork laid out by phase 2.

I've done the research, the math, studied the risks and individuals who have come before me to ensure that I'm not running towards some fool's errand. I see the potential, I just need a bit of luck and some more work.

And more sleepless nights fueled by caffeine.

Finals are approaching soon, and then summer. As much as I love all my projects I honestly would like an upgrade from my fast food job. Because if I can have my projects work AND do a 9-5 job it's like earning double the income. Additional budget cuts in the city mean things are going to be harder but a job fair in the coming weeks may have something of interest.

We'll see how things go.

Taking it Too Easy?

Ok, as much fun as its been, I think it's time I get off my butt and back to work on something. All this spare time could be used a lot more efficiently. As relaxing as its been, even after just 1 week I'm starting to feel like a bum doing nothing but sleeping in past noon, and then sitting around until I either have classes and/or work to go to.

And then coming home to lounge about, staring at cat pictures on Reddit.

I mean, I could work on the massive backlog of games I have on Steam but again, somehow I think my time could be used a bit better. Maybe if I could start making a consistent amount of profit from some my projects I could take a break or something.

Speaking of which I believe I've found something that could drastically improve efficiency and progress of the second phase of Project Derp. What would take me a few months to do by hand could be automated and ready to go within a few weeks.

For the low, low price of $20.

Sounds suspicious...

I'm hesitant because it sounds too good to be true. It's also fairly new, barely a few months old, and yet there are rave reviews for it. Also, I've seen the quality of work produced by similar products and I am less than impressed. There is a demo which I definitely will be trying but I'm not going to be expecting a miracle.

It'll be quickly apparent if this works or not. And that means I can actually do a blog post about it pending its success instead of being vague and cryptic. I've learned a lot these last few months thanks to my projects but I want this knowledge to translate into something tangible.

And by that I mostly mean money.

Which I will proceed to spend on hotdogs.

In other news, I've started a new project which I am dubbing Project Koi. I've only been working on it for a week and already it has disappointed me, surprised me, filled me with dread and regret, only to surprise me again.

Seriously, I am letting this thing run for another week, and if it keeps horrifying me like this, I'm cutting it off. I know my limits, I know what I am capable of. And if this project turns into a failure, I'll immediately make a blog post about it and we can have a good laugh.

Don't worry, from an outsider's view, this is probably hilarious. But from an insider? Probably less fun.

People on the internet are scary.

I'll see you guys Thursday.

Taking it Easy

I've been surprisingly at ease since my last midterm on Tuesday. And I don't see why I wouldn't be. With that out of the way, I only have 1 paper left to write that's not due for another 2 weeks and the only exams I have left to do are finals, which aren't for another 3-4 weeks.

It's really unsettling. For the first time in years I'm not stressing, panicking, or worrying about something or another. Every part of my mind is used to thinking about something I should be preparing for. And when it fails to find anything, I feel lazy.

Plus, I've been sleeping in a lot. As in, past noon, on weekdays. Is this a bad thing? Maybe. Do I feel awesome and well-rested for once? Yes. Yes I do. Well, sort of. I've been meaning to work on my various projects during the mornings, except that I'm asleep.

In more productive news, I've added another project to the queue. I'm not expecting much from it and I'll give additional details at the beginning of the next month as per project update.

I've also found a potential way to speed Project Derp up substantially. In theory, if I get this working, I could have phase 2 done in a fraction of the time needed. Which would be awesome. Because then I could actually do a blog post about it.

Project Cold is actually going very well too, but I want to make sure my previous work with it wasn't a fluke before I discuss it.

Pre-emptive thumbs up until then.

Last thing before I end this post, the last midterm I wrote was Linguistics. I distinctly remember not studying that well for this exam, I also remember falling asleep a lot during the class. And some of the concepts were brand new to me when I read my notes.

So I pretty much set myself up for failure for that midterm.

Though lately as long as I beat class average, I'm happy.

And so, I get that midterm back and what was my mark?

. . . .

104%.

An exam I have-heartedly studied for. Beat class average by over 30%. I feel pretty awesome right now. You know what? I'm probably going to feel awesome for a while.

Awesome.