Well, that interview could've gone better. Sounded like I was lost at my own job. Its been a minute since the last interview and this week was already majorly distracting, so its on me even if I wasn't enthusiastic about this one.

I might have anywhere from zero to three interviews tomorrow, and I legitimately wont know until they're about to happen. I don't want to prep for *any* of them for various reasons. I'm not even sure one of them is legitimate. And thats not even considering the other one later on the week.

...the UPS is just outright broken, then. Tried two different batteries and it can't see either of them. In warranty, at least, but working with APC is akin to pulling nose hairs, and they don't have any contact until Monday.

...well, so much for that job application. Somehow unable to fill the physical conditions on a *software* role, almost as if they were also needing a hardware person (which is separate in mainframe for a reason) without paying for two people. I'm tired boss.

...my UPS battery just decided to up and croak this morning. Not even a year old. Dealing with APC is a gigantic pain, though...

Palworld 1.0: a lot of really good changes, a few really bad changes, some weird changes, and I still have to mod in increased base radius. I mean, its still great. Going to enjoy it for a long time.

Oooof, just spent two hours troubleshooting the eARC HDMI port on the main TV. Its alive for now, but the panic was real.

Mainframe job hunting has been rough. LinkedIn and Indeed are filled with fake listings, Dice is all third parties after one role (which the client most likely doesn't accept), BackboneJobs hasn't posted one in over a month. Hiring.Cafe at least finds roles, but gets confused looking at my skills.

Ostrich Isekai needs an anime, the Manga is officially in the "strong" category. I want to see these murderchickens animated so badly.

Heh, just wait until Sony decides to use that new controller tech announced a while back to lock that controller completely by making you unable to hit buttons. "This controller requires a psplus subscription to use" and it would technically be legal...

Well, thats a new one: recruiter from a company contacting for a role I've already been rejected from *twice*, and rejected hard enough they added eight more locations for the new listing to find someone else. Utter lack of communication. And it means a new depressing flood of more recruiters.

Well, I'm at not not taking these rejections personally, since *nobody* got these jobs. Still concerning that they arent replacing mainframe workers, uptime is critical and your knowledge is walking out the door...

I can do the job, they clearly arent getting anyone for the job, and I technically didn't get a rejection... and they posted a direct JD. May as well reapply. All they can say is no, right? At least my resume is in their system this way. Potentially more eyes on it to avoid politicking.

Steam sale... I'm trying to figure out what to get. Been trying to save up, but the depression is stopping me from getting much. I don't think Ive gotten much for myself since the layoff.

...and then this recruiter can't take "they already rejected me" as an answer, and then starts hounding me for over an hour after blatantly lying to me. On the other hand, means the client can't find someone in my niche. Certainly not in time...

Looking at what happened yesterday with all of these roles opening up, they're the same job numbers as they were in March. Which means I can't apply for them again without a new email, and honestly, maybe I should. I can do these jobs. Yeah, I don't interview well...but these didn't get that far.

...damn, they *really* didn't even give me a chance lol. Submitted that app in March, rejected without screening late April (even though I can do the job), and it vanishes... until today where its reposted and I can't apply. ...but I need to apply for something...

Got the expected rejection, okay. One of the apps waking up from a three month slumber, for a role I'm a *really* strong fit for? nice. That app suddenly going to non-remote to a place that is in yet another geek wasteland *and* difficult to get to or move? Visceral pain. Yet I must entertain it.

Oh heh, the job that was keeping me warm but ghosted me for months just reposted the role again. If they actually wanted me, they'd contact me. Wasn't even a bad interview. Now to figure out how to filter that job out, because it sets off every single notification on every service, every repost.

Oh right, three day weekend. Not going to hear back on anything until next week, and nothing is going to pop up tomorrow (or today, really). Already got my search in for the week, nothing to prep for... maybe I should actually play something.

The other interview for today... I wouldn't say it bombed, but it wasn't good enough. First interview where I felt that I'd have the position if only I could mask better. Play the interview game just a bit more fluidly. But I cannot. Probably more upset at my performance than the rejection, tbh.

Alright, that was a good interview, even if it revealed that Im not quite the right fit. Mainframe do be like that. Companies aren't training for mainframe, so when someone vital leaves they suddenly need a hero that did exactly what they did. The only ones that know your stack are yours already.

Hunh, seeing all three jobs I applied to on Friday reject me all within 5 minutes of each other, close to opening on a Monday, makes me wonder if there isnt something to that rumor that Workday is sharing data and running blacklists when they arent supposed to.

Not shocked yesterday's interview ended with a rejection. I didn't know the proper term offhand for something I did actually use often and got a bit lost, but they were also talking about things not on my resume *or* the job description. Given the company, I might have dodged a bullet though. Ugh.

So today my back wall in the yard collapsed, which led to me being even more stressed for an interview which then goes poorly... and then I get news that the one job posting I didn't want to move forward, is. And I have to entertain it. Not my day.

Nintendo Direct was really high highs and really low lows. And the JP Direct had TOUHOU REMAKES. With official English translations! Muramasa return is *ultra* nice.

I can't tell if this interview went below average because I wasn't gelling with the team, or if I was mentally okay with not trying to salvage it and just had it sit there. May legitimately be both. Didn't go nearly as poorly as some of the others this hunt, so progress there at least.

Persona 6 teaser is just as esoteric and detached as the p5 trailer was, so not going to criticize that. So to guess was prescient thing the game is tackling, especially given the rumor that the mascot is a riff off of vtubers... a graveyard of potential connections due to parasocialism?

Honestly, just waiting for the reveal that ShiftUp digiscanned another supermodel for Evie and she's like, a 20-something that found the fountain of youth. Or the non-zero chance she's just using Lily's rig, its just Lily wore pants.

That interview went alright, but I feel like I flubbed it somehow. Energy was very "we'll keep you in mind for future openings". ...at least they didn't ghost me like I thought.

Alright, two more interviews, a new zombie app (and they actually sent a rejection), and a few apps from March that finally failed. One app is still "under consideration" for six weeks, thats a fail. It reposted this morning. They're usually better about keeping this updated, but not this time.

There is an Ostrich Isekai. It is dramatically better than you think it'd be. I want these murderchickens animated pronto. (The Ostrich Beastman's Wild and Unrivaled Rampage) There's also a Mandragora Isekai thats scratching the Bakarina itch.

Finally withdrew from one of the first job apps that was supposed to go somewhere, but two months of silence despite outreach, then reposting the job yesterday? I didn't get it and they never bothered to tell me, to the point of keeping me active. Unprofessional. Feel sorry for their employees.

...yesterday left me more depressed than I thought. Would've been an incredibly expensive first month, but my area is such a geek wasteland that any change wouldve been an improvement, and it would basically just be consistent work trips when I'm okay traveling. Back to no leads. Yay.

Guess MarriageToxin is joining Gnosia in the criminally underwatched tier. But hey, Iruma's doing well this time so thats good.

Well, interviewer was a no show. Its end of month so there's some benefit of the doubt, but a heads up would've been nice. Was wondering when that was going to happen this job hunt. I'd been lucky thus far.

Heh, got my weekly reminder that luck is still a major part of the job hunt. Missed a phone call from one of the bigger mainframe shops around, and my two callbacks across two days (Friday and Today) went unanswered. It's gone, listing closed. Alrighty then.

Meanwhile in the news people actually follow me for, I got with a buddy of mine over the weekend who is a rules lawyer and fixed up the Disgaea Netherwar rules even further, now sitting at 10 pages. The entire section on Unit Death is Majorita's fault. Every word. Most of it is still edge cases.

...eh, I've settled on the interview pretty much just being practice. I have some concerns about the listing, even though I've double and triple checked all sites and people involved and everything seemingly checks out. Its weird. Gut feeling says to not get hyped, and thats feeding the depression.

Finally hammered out the more modern version of the Disgaea Netherwar rulesheet. Its nine pages, most of which just describing weird edge cases. Need to shrink that...

Well, I got proven wrong fast. Interview for a role next week that would be a serious if not almost impossible move (3400km! 10k on costs!), for a role that is so much of a step up that I'm having a hard time believing it's real. ...or that I can logically get it. Depression definitely talking.

Well, Monday being a holiday means that there is a high likelihood that not one job app will be looked at on Friday either, so four day holiday from the job hunt. Maybe I should work on cards. There is a new Higan from Disgaea RPG, after all...

Kinda glad I've silenced my phone. Nobody in this industry will *ever* have a legitimate job offering from a cold call, and there is a very well known list of scammers and their source of fake jobs. Mainframe is far too scheduled for that, and I know the guy that filled the role you're on about.

Guess I'm rebuilding the steam deck again after that compromised download. Ah well, it was due after a few recent low level updates. The 200+ games, though, that'll take a minute...

I have actually kept my phone silent today. Nothing of value was lost. No active leads so a random phone call won't actually generate an offer. Gave me time to work on my resume at least. Mainframe is dense enough that I'm almost overloaded on bullet points. Gotta keep it to one page at my level.

If I had a nickel for each time I've been contacted for a job in the last week that the real job closed back in February, I'd have two nickels. Which isnt a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. Radda radda.

...maybe I dodged a bullet with that jop app going nowhere. Several, even!

First LinkedIn contact in a month, oh boy! ...its using a known fake job listing. And I know this, because I know the board they get these listings from and it's from February (original job did exist, last year). Haven't used the site to apply in a while, since search thinks all mainframe is AWS.

...sometimes I think I just get included on the interviews just to make the other interviewees look better. This one went alright but I couldn't answer some questions I really shouldve been able to. Probably not getting this one either. Ah well. Onto the next...

So according to a contact (mainframe people talk), I'm being "kept warm" for one of the roles I interviewed for, likely to avoid end of quarter 4 expenses. What's not great is the reason: company is in more than a bit of financial trouble. Like, they need someone in the role badly. Just ooof.