I finally got tired of knowing nothing about my job status at the EMS agency, so I went in to see the Director of Operations and ask what was going on. He, of course, wasn't there, but I lucked out and the Vice President offered to talk about things with me. I basically told him I was feeling stuck and frustrated because I hadn't advanced at all and my colleagues had, even ones that started out at lower levels of training, and I never heard anything about my last job interview. He understood and let me know I was still in the running for moving forward, and the fact I was never contacted about anything was very unusual. I told him I'd been having issues with nobody having my contact information right despite my going in to correct it repeatedly during 2014, and as it turns out his own phone directory still had the wrong number listed for me. He told me he'd talk to people and try to get things straightened out. He followed through! A few days later I got a phone call to schedule another interview for an ambulance position. The interview went well, and I was told that regardless of whether I got chosen or not, I'd hear back.

Unfortunately, I got contacted yesterday and told I wasn't selected for this round of hires. However, disappointing as it is, I don't feel too awful about it -- it wasn't a "no" so much as it was a "not now, but soon." I had a good conference call with the EMS Director and one of my supervisors, and they told me that a lot of people get into the temporarily authorized program and fail, and they didn't want that to happen to me -- they want me to have every possibility to succeed when I do get in, so for now they want me to keep working events and getting experience, but the supervisors will also provide me with feedback to help me improve. Then, when they feel I'm ready, they'll just put me in whichever round is next without having to interview me. So I guess I have an actual goal I can work towards now rather than just hoping something will happen.

I guess the most disappointing part is I'm still stuck at Sears. The old store manager got fired during the two week vacation he oh-so-kindly imposed upon me, and I've been working pretty regularly since then, but I still hate it. My coworkers are awesome and I enjoy working with them, but it's such a shitty place to be. The new store manager started this week and he's already fucked up and pissed off all the cashiers -- starting next week, the closing shift is being made to stay until 10:00 PM rather than 9:30. His reasoning is the store looks like shit, so the cashiers should be forced to stay even later and help, even though the real problem is there aren't enough people in during the day to keep the store nice. All this week I've been one of two people in the entire store trying to manage an entire floor of clothing, and that's not a rare occurrence. Between that, customer service stuff, and tasks from managers, I can't handle it all single-handedly. From what I understand, the cashiers, mostly high school students who can't work late as it is, are planning a mass resignation. The guys in mattresses might also be joining in. I'm tempted to jump in too. I might end up with no other choice if they go through with it and management forces me to try to take up their slack. I ain't havin' that.

In better news, I finally bought a 3DS! I got a New 3DS XL on launch day and picked up "Majora's Mask 3D" at GameStop's midnight launch. MM3D was the one game I was holding out for before finally jumping on the 3DS wagon, and oh man it has NOT disappointed. Kinda makes me wish I had gotten a 3DS sooner. I also have Smash Bros. and it's super fun.

Today I went to Guitar Center and bought some new instruments: a mandolin and a ukulele. I've been toying with the idea of the mandolin lately since I know a lot of guitarists also play those, and I found a fairly inexpensive one, so I decided to go for it. The ukulele was an impulse buy, but a cheap one. So far they're fun and I look forward to practicing with them :3

The new instruments, as well as the 3DS/games, are basically my early birthday gift to myself -- I'm turning 21 in about a week and a half! I have zero plans for it other than picking up a pack of Dos Equis on the day in question. Another early gift I received was seeing a Beatles tribute band named Rain last month! It had been about ten years since I last saw them, when I was just a young kid, but they were just as amazing this time around and I really hope they won't take another ten years to come back to Reno.