It hath been many moons, friends. Because of that, I'll try to make this quick by listing stuff and then going into detail afterwards.

1) Kohl's ended my seasonal job.
2) I went to San Jose to work at Cingular for my friend Jay.
3) Life in San Jose.
4) I bought a PSP the day they came out.
5) I headed back down to Riverside.

And now for the details:

1) Not much to say here. At the end of January, all the seasonal folk got the boot, myself among their number. My final paychecks weren't impressive, considering I was working very little by the time I was let go.

2) After Kohl's, I sat around for 3 weeks. I happened to talk to my friend Jay, who said he could get me a job at the Cingular store where he's the manager and even put me up at his apartment while I built up the cash to get an apartment. This put most of Mom and Dad's fears to rest and off I went. It's a 6-hour drive up to San Jose from Riverside and it's BORING.

3) I tried to adjust while up there, but it was a bit hard. I missed sleeping in a real bed and having TV. (Noone watched it, so they didn't even hook up an antenna!) Working commission sales isn't for me, but I gave it my best. I still sucked at it, though. My coworkers were okay, even Brett, The Most Annoying White Guy Ever. I finally got a paycheck and it was the biggest I had gotten in a while. But after a talk with some of the other people in the apartment(Jay is sharing it with 4 other people), I was told I probably couldn't stay long enough to get another paycheck and therefore wouldn't be able to get a place to live up there. So since I didn't have to save for an apartment...

4) I headed towards the Valley Fair mall to grab a PSP, which on the Thursday they came out was like trying to find a black and white four-leaf clover. But I hit a stroke of luck when I talked to the guy at EB Games:

Me: I know it's a silly question, but do you have any PSPs?
Counter-Man: Nope, we're all out.
Me: I figured. Just had to ask.
C-M: Tell you what, though: They should still have a bunch at the Sony store.
Me: ...the WHAT?
C-M: The Sony Style store.
Me: Sony has it's own store? Where's that?
C-M: Next to the Nordstrom's, on the first floor.

I don't know about you, but I was completely surprised that Sony followed Apple's cue and made a store exclusively for it's wares. And when I walked in... Yeah, it's like heaven for Sony fans and being a bit of one myself, I enjoyed my visit for the short time it took for me to find the counter where they were selling PSPs from. This went much nicer.

Me: So, you guys have PSPs?
Sony-Dude: Yeah, like 40 of 'em. You want to buy one?
Me: Hell yes, my sharp-looking fellow.

And after 5 minutes(and $270), I had the most sought-after handheld device since the iPod exploded onto the scene. And with all the hoopla going on now about dead pixels, I have only one and it's in the very corner of the screen, where I didn't even notice it for a week.

5) Another 6 boring hours on the road and I ws in Riverside again, happily in my own bed. Turns out my parents decided to buy a bunch of stuff while I was gone and the house almost looked like someone else's. And now my job search begins anew.