What with the sudden expenses of a new monitor and a laptop that is much needed by my brother for his thesis defense, my savings are experiencing some major deflation. So much so that even I myself feel deflated. The woes of the eldest sibling; to take financial responsibility to the younger siblings. Sigh.

So with much chagrin I find myself looking for a source of additional income. Something that will not interfere with my job and not be too tasking. Too much to ask? Most probably. I never believed any of those ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes but I wanted something, anything, to make up for my minuscule savings; if it could even be called that.

I looked around in the web and found this site that asks me to read emails and surf and they’ll pay me. They’ve already given me 500$ bonus points. Though the payout is 11,000$. And I even tried this one which pretty much does the same thing, but the payout is much more realistic this time, and an extra bonus of $10.

*kicks pebbles on shore*

Sigh. The race for financial security is a hard one.

Due to my lack of inspiration for the past few days, I decided to go to the one place that will inspire me and make me drop my jaw in awe, without fail. I’m talking about CSS Zen Garden, a site where you are challenged to create an entirely new design from the same HTML file; you can only change the CSS, and your design must be standard-compliant. They even complied the works in a book called, The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (Voices That Matter).

Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order. I opt for simple yet stunning web designs.

1. Contemporary nouveau by David Hellsing, Sweden
2. Teatime by Michaela Maria Sampl, Austria
3. LuGoZee by Viallon Pierre-Antoine, France
4. Like the Sea by Lars Daum, Germany
5. Moss by Mani Sheriar, United States
6. a Simple Sunrise by Rob Soule, United States
7. HoriZental by Clément ‘fastclemmy’ Hardouin, France
8. Radio Zen by Marc LA van den Heuvel, Netherlands
9. Lotus by Chika, Japan
10. Springtime by Boér Attila, Hungary

Of course there are a lot more beautiful designs there, but I just had to show my simple favorites. ^^

I got a call last week from a company saying that they have reviewed by application and asked if I was interested in taking their exam and interview, to determine if I was qualified for the position I was applying for in their company.

In all honesty, I was completely baffled when that company called. I remember I passed out my resume to several companies last June and that is why I got accepted in my current company in the beginning of August. Three months on the new job and I’m quite content.

So now I get that call from that company asking me to take their exam. When did I pass my resume again? June. When did they call me? November. What did they expect I was doing in those five months? Twiddling my thumbs? Riffling through magazines while eating potato chips (as much as I’d want to)?

I’ll try to relate the phone conversion as close as I can. Italized words are my thoughts during the conversation. I was stammering due to my bewilderment.

Company: We’d like to ask you if you are interested in coming in for an exam and interview with our company.

Me: Well. Erm. Ma’am. What is this company’s name again? Ah, yes. I remember.

Company: We are asking because you submitted your resume to us.

Me: Arrg. How do I ask this question without being impolite? Err, Ma’am. It’s been a quite a while since I applied to your company.

Company: Yes.

Me: Well, how do I say this..? Can I ask what was the position I applied for in your company?

Conversation stops.

Well, at least I wish it stopped.

I mean really, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh at my own audacity or to be angry at the slow processing of my application to them. I mean, almost six months before any word from them? If the whole application process (exam, interview, final exams, panel interviews, etc.) spanned six months then I wouldn’t complain. But for the initial interview to come after six months? It’s as if I’m applying for a work permit to another country!

So I told them then and there that I wasn’t interested in the position anymore. I’m not being arrogant; I just wish that if they bothered to post for a job opening in the internet, they might be bothered to actually process those applications as soon as possible.