APPLICANT PERCEPTION ASSESSMENT NCI-2001/01 “Write a detailed account of everything that happens between 4pm and 9pm on Monday January 31, 2005. Pay particular attention to any occurrence which may be deemed "out of the ordinary". Include in your account two images that represent the best and worst things that happen on Monday January 31, 2005.” January 31, 2005: 4:00 pm: Started making notes of events for the next 5 hours, jotting them down with a pen and a small pocketbook notepad. 4:01: Currently standing in the kitchen, putting some bread into the toaster to make toast. 4:04: Removed toast from the toaster, applied some butter. 4:05: Began to wander around the downstairs of my house, casually munching on the toast (which happened to be a little too burnt) 4:10: Walked past the table in the hallway, and noticed some random papers sitting on it. Flipping through them curiously, I came across one that seemed to have some property information on the house itself. I discovered its estimated value, and surprisingly the year in which it was built: 1919. 4:11pm: Returned to the kitchen to dispose of the inedible half of the toast. Such a shame really, it usually doesn’t burn after toasting for such a short time. Maybe it’s the bread. 4:12: Went back out into the hallway and began walking up the stairs, but I stopped and stared at the mirror in the coat-rack for a little bit. I saw that from where I was standing, the angle was just right that I had a clear view of the living-room (which is on the opposite side of the hall from the coat-rack). 4:14: Finished migrating upstairs and into my bedroom. 4:15: Traversed bedroom and booted up my computer. 4:16: Began checking up on my e-mail, blog, and a few various internet forums and websites that I follow. 4:26: Navigated to the Neurocam website, and to the disclaimer page to see if anything else had been added or removed. There were some interesting changes (the comical response to talk on operative LadyJ’s blog about neurocam being a Norwegian drug manufacturer was gone). One thing that stuck out at me was the addition of the statement “Neurocam is not the answer.” 4:27: Reacting to the update of the web page, I began to ponder the meaning and combination of “Neurocam is not the question” and “Neurocam is not the answer.” Is it Neurocam itself as an entity that is not the answer, or will operatives not get the answers they seek? Perhaps, if it is neither the answer, then it is the solution, the problem, or both? 4:30: Noted that my bedroom was in an appalling state of disarray, and should be cleaned later. 4:31: Remembered that I needed to make a couple copies of a CD for a friend of mine, so I pulled out some blank CDs and proceeded to make copies. 4:34: Mother came in to remind me to ask my teachers a few questions about the SAT2 tests. 4:35: Finished burning first copy of CD, swapped discs and started on the second one. 4:37: Got up and put my cell-phone on its charger, since it was low on battery and was starting to beep. 4:39: Finished burning second copy of CD. 4:41: Looked out the window and realized how quickly the sun was beginning to set and how little light was left. I didn’t realize it was getting dark so early, or perhaps I just never noticed it before. 4:44: Strangely, the telephone rang four times, but I wasn’t expecting anyone calling for me, so I continued to let it ring. It rang 4 times before someone else picked it up. 4:47: Went to check my class schedule for tomorrow, and my assignment planner to make sure I had no work due in any classes tomorrow. 4:48: Satisfied with the absence of a work load tonight, I sat back down at my computer and went back to reading more threads on the forums. 5:04: Needed to make 4 duplicates of tapes of the video projects I filmed for Video Production this semester to give to the people at my school who acted in them for me. I started copying the first tape. 5:06: The doorbell rang. I went downstairs and answered the door--it was one of the girls who lives next door to me. She had forgotten her house-key and asked to borrow the spare she keeps over here. I gave it to her and waited for her to bring it back. 5:10: The girl came back to return the key and thank me. 5:11: I went back upstairs to continue exporting the video from my Digital8 camera to the tapes via the VCR. It is not a very fun process since one has to sit through the entire duration of what you’re recording (average 5 minutes for each project I was copying onto the tapes). 5:14: Looked out the window and saw an interesting effect of the sunset on the clouds, which produced a deep pinkish and purple tint on them. 5:16: After I copied the stuff onto the first tape, I determined my VCR was having issues on the first run-through, so I had to go back and re-copy the video again. 5:22: Finished re-copying of first tape. 5:23: Began to tinker with the VCR and the connector cables just to make sure nothing was loose. 5:28: Started copying the second tape. 5:35: Finished coping second tape, started on the third tape. 5:42: Finished third, started fourth tape. 5:47: Finished the fourth tape, noted that it was now twilight outside and was nearly dark. 5:50: Organized and labeled the tapes, packed up my camera and cables, and went back to my bedroom. I decided that I should probably get out of the house sometime later tonight and go somewhere. 5:51: Was sitting down on the floor in my bedroom, flopped down on my back and stared at the ceiling to see if I could find any shapes in the paint (with no luck). 6:01: Resurrected myself from the floor and went downstairs since dinner was ready. 6:02: Walking past one of the windows, I saw that it was very very dark outside now. 6:04: Sat down to dinner. 6:05: Tonight’s dinner was barbecued chicken, rotini pasta with sauce, bread & butter, and a cool glass of milk. 6:20: Finished dinner. There was nothing terribly interesting or noteworthy on the 6:00 news. The chicken for dinner wasn’t very good, though. It tasted a bit odd. 6:21: Grabbed a cookie from the pantry and went upstairs to go fetch my jacket and cell-phone. 6:22: Traveled back downstairs, and out the front door. 6:23: Sat down on the second landing of steps in front of my house, near the lawn. I noticed that there was an abnormal shortage of cars on the street, since usually there aren’t too many places to park. The street was practically deserted. Because of the screwy weather that LA has, it usually feels like spring right about now, but for some reason it’s been very frigid lately—tonight was no exception and it was very nippy sitting outside. I looked over at the tree on my front lawn. For some reason there were more leaves on the ground than there actually were on the tree. 6:25: Looked up and observed the night sky. It was surprisingly clear tonight, especially for being in the city of LA (with its wondrous layers of smog and thick cloud cover), so much that there were easily 30 or more stars visible from where I was standing, however no constellations could be seen. For some reason the moon was absolutely nowhere to be seen in the sky. Perhaps it had not risen yet, or was obscured by something I wasn’t seeing. 6:25:30: I had walked down from the steps and closer to the street to see if the moon was hidden behind my house. When I was standing near the curb, there was a break in the minimal amount of traffic flowing down my street, and all of the sudden a white Mercedes sedan rolled down the street and slowed to a crawl of about 5 mph as it passed me. This was quite suspicious, and I could barely see the driver inside, but they seemed to be staring right at me as they went by. The car continued to move slowly for a little while after it passed. Thinking quickly, I caught a glimpse of the license plate and jotted the number down (I won’t disclose it, obviously), however I could not make out the label that indicated the model of the car, but it looked like an older and less classy model. After the car had passed me by about 20 feet it suddenly accelerated and sped off down the rest of the street and turned right at the corner. 6:27: Puzzled by the strange behavior of the car, I stood out by the curb a little longer. I picked up a faint scent drifting through the air of someone having a fire in their fireplace. 6:30: Sat back down on my front steps, and heard helicopters hovering some ways off in the distance behind my house. They were most likely police helicopters, and I believe I had heard them before. 6:31: After the helicopters’ noise faded into the distance, I heard a very consistent, high-pitched whistling/screeching noise. I decided to investigate and follow the sound. Ultimately I was led into my backyard, standing next to the fence that divided my neighbor’s yard and mine. Peering over the fence, I saw that the sound seemed to be coming from his gasoline-powered barbecue. I assumed it was probably a pin-sized gas leak. Luckily my neighbor walked outside to check on whatever he was cooking, so I informed him that he might want to stop cooking and go get it checked out somewhere. 6:34: Walked back out to the front of the house to sit, and I observed the traffic patterns. The flow was increasing, since more people seemed to be using my street as a side-street to cut down from the major street at the end of my block (about 5 cars turning onto the street for every 1 car coming in the opposite direction). There were long breaks in the traffic due to the traffic lights on the major street, so this indicated that indeed most of the traffic was coming off of that street. 6:38: I decided it was too chilly to be sitting around outside, so I went back into the house through the front door. 6:39: Back upstairs to bedroom. 6:40: Grabbed wallet, car-keys, a journal-book that I write haikus in, and went downstairs. 6:42: Exited the house out onto the driveway and made my way to my car. 6:43: Unlocked my car, got in, and pulled out of driveway. 6:44: Hit the street, and began the drive to the nearby café. 6:52: Arrived in the area of the café, but since there are several other restauraunts and attractions on the same street, parking was scarce and I had to park on the next street over (a residential street). 6:54: Parked car, exited it, locked it, and made my way to the café. 6:55: Some people walking past me on the sidewalk were talking about how abnormally clear the sky was tonight and how they could see the stars. 6:56: When walking past the nearby bank, out of the corner of my eye I saw a white Mercedes sedan parked in the lot. It looked strikingly similar to the one I had seen roughly 20 minutes earlier. 6:57: Carefully, I made my way close enough to the car to get a look at the license plate—it didn’t match the one I had written down. 7:02: Continued walking, and reached the café. 7:03: Stepped inside and started walking to the counter to order myself some tea. 7:04: A quick scan of the room revealed five occupants: two employees behind the counter, one guy sitting in the far left corner of the room and typing something on his laptop, and two young women who looked to be either college or high-school students studying (there were various books and papers strewn on their table). 7:05: I ordered a tall cup of Camomile tea, and was disappointed to see the only cash I had in my wallet was a $20 bill. I hate paying for such miniscule things like a $1.75 cup of tea using a $20 bill-- it just feels odd for some reason. However, as luck would have it, the guy who took my order was very nice and said that the tea was on the house and there was no need for me to pay. I wondered weather he was really being generous, or he just didn’t feel like making change, because as I was walking to go add some cream and honey to my tea I overheard him talking with the other female employee about how he thought there was some money missing from the register. 7:06: While I was adding the cream and honey to my tea, I observed one person sitting in one of the chairs outside. Couldn’t see much except their outline in the dark. I looked back over to see how everyone else was dressed. One of the student girls was wearing a heavy jacket, the other a white sweatshirt, both had jeans on. The guy in the corner (corner-guy), on the contrary, was dressed in a bright orange t-shirt, gray shorts, and some sandals (really odd for such a cold night). 7:07: The corner-guy started packing up his computer and things in his backpack. 7:08: Corner-guy leaves, exiting the café bumming a cigarette as he goes. 7:09: Two more people enter the café, one going to order at the counter, the other sitting at a table on the opposite side of the room (right next to the window). It appears this person had been sitting here before and had left his things (newspaper, coffee, etc) there. 7:10: I walk across the room after I’m done making up my tea, and take the seat that the corner-guy was sitting in, since it gives me a very good view of the entire café (including both entrances). Observing carefully, I sit back and enjoy my free cup of tea. 7:11: Sitting on the table next to my cup of tea and my haiku journal is an issue of some magazine or periodical called “Computer User.” My guess is that the corner-guy who was just sitting here had brought it in with him, or had borrowed it from the café’s selection of newspaper and magazines. It grabbed my attention, since I hold a great interest in the general field of computers and programming, so I decide to skim through it. 7:13: One of the student girls (the one with the white sweater) exits the café, not bringing her things with her. I assume she’ll return soon. 7:17: The ‘magazine’ is a paltry 45 pages, mostly filled with those small cheap little rent-a-space ads for companies or services that nobody cares about. There were no decent articles inside. As I finished flipping through the magazine, the guy sitting by the window picks up his things and goes to sit outside (to smoke, apparently). The female employee sitting on a chair behind the counter seems to be playing some kind of game on her cell-phone (I can hear it from the small game-ish noises coming from that direction). 7:19: The white-sweater female student returns and sits back down at the table with her friend. 7:20: I get up to go add a little more honey to my tea, since I feel that I hadn’t put enough in to begin with. While I am up, I have a different vantage point so I confirm that the female employee is indeed playing a game on her cellphone. 7:21: I return to my seat now that I am satisfied with the amount of honey in my tea. 7:23: The “window guy” finishes smoking and comes back inside to sit by the window. 7:24: The employee girl steps out from behind the counter, followed by the employee guy (the one who gave me the tea) and both make their way to the entrance of the building. They proceed to kiss and the girl leaves. Perhaps she wasn’t a worker of the café? But since there is no “uniform” in this place that the employees wear, it is difficult to tell. 7:26: A blonde woman wearing casual clothes (blue-jeans and a grey hooded sweatshirt) saunters into the café and up to the counter to talk with the employee guy. She tells him that she is looking for someone named “Daniel” who usually sits here with his laptop every night in the corner spot I happen to be sitting in (she turns around and points to me as she’s talking).The woman insists that she needs to leave a message for this “Daniel.” She mentions another employee named “Justin” to the employee guy and then begins to write down a fairly lengthy message on a piece of paper. She stands there for several minutes writing, while the employee guy proceeds to sweep the floor behind the counter. 7:29: The blonde woman finishes writing her ‘message’ for Daniel and gives it to the employee guy (who reveals his name to be “Mark” after she asks him), stressing the importance of this message and that he needs to give it to Justin because Daniel needs to get it--no matter what. 7:30: After the woman is done talking with Mark, she leaves without doing or saying anything else. 7:31: The two student girls sitting in the middle of the room pack their things up and leave as well. 7:32: A family of three (husband, wife, toddler boy) enters and orders some hot chocolate, taking seats at a table in the middle. 7:34: I try placing a call to my girlfriend’s cell-phone in the hopes of talking with her more about the recently developed situation with our friend Katie. 7:35: No response from the cell, she must have it turned off, so I leave her a voice mail telling her to call me back. 7:36: After hearing the ambient background music being played on the café’s stereo for a while, it seems to be mostly oldies music like the Beatles a couple of Simon & Garfunkel songs here or there. 7:40: Decided to bust out my haiku journal and see if I could come up with a few good ones. 7:48: I wrote about 3 or 4 haiku, mostly on the subject of Neurocam. Here is one example: What is Neurocam? You say it’s not the answer and not the question. 7:49: Finished off my cup of tea. 7:50: Gathered up my things, tossed out my empty tea-cup, made my way to the door, thanked “Mark” for the tea (he seemed confused as to how I was able to call him by name), and headed back to my car. 7:51: While passing by the bank parking lot, I checked to see if the white Mercedes was still there—but of course, it was long gone. 7:55: Arrived at my car, unlocked it, got inside, started engine, and drove home. 8:00: Pulled into driveway, exited and locked car, had to go around to the back door since the side door of the house was locked. 8:02: Went back upstairs to bedroom, taking off my jacket, putting my keys and wallet away. 8:04: Checked answering machine—no calls. 8:05: Sat down at computer once again to check e-mail and sign onto IM programs. 8:06: Made note of the fact that my friend Katie is online yet again, very unusual, since she rarely uses IM programs has only started doing so recently. I decide against striking up a conversation with her. 8:07: I light some of the candles sitting on my desk. 8:12: Telephone rings, it was someone who dialed the wrong number. 8:30: I returned to browsing the internet and reading through a few more websites and forums. 8:35: Hooked camera up to computer to upload pictures I took at the café tonight. 8:40: My girlfriend calls me back, and we launch into a discussion about Katie and other things like our plans for this weekend. 9:00: Stopped making note of events—put notepad and pen down. Photographs: Best Thing (see attached file "best_thing.jpg"): When I went to the café tonight (I don't frequent the place, but I go there every so often) the employee by the name of "Mark" there was nice and did not charge me the $1.75 fee for the cup of tea. I thought this kind gesture was very out of the ordinary, but was very nice and made me feel like it was probably the best thing that happened today. Worst Thing (see attached file "worst_thing.jpg"): I was up very late Sunday night and wound up staying awake into the next day (Monday) until about 1:40am. In that time, I had a couple of interesting Instant-Message conversations with my girlfriend, and my good friend Katie. For a while, Katie has been acting a bit odd and in such a way that it aroused some suspicion in me that perhaps she had certain feelings for me that would make her want to be more than just "friends" with me. This, however, is a problem, since I already have a girlfriend (who also happens to be friends with Katie, but my girlfriend and I haven't made our relationship public yet for reasons that will take too long to explain). So, after consulting with my girlfriend and explaining to her my suspicions about Katie's feelings, I was holding IM sessions with both my girlfriend and Katie (separately). Katie was being cryptic in her messages, and was obviously trying to hint at something. After a while, my girlfriend sends me the following messages seen in the IM window in the screenshot shown (parts are blurred/altered for confidentiality), in which she informs me that Katie has just confessed her feelings about me to her. Now this is a greater problem, with confirmation of it, and my girlfriend and I are faced with the annoying predicament of how to deal with Katie in a way that will not upset her and/or cause her to be greatly angry with us. END APPLICANT PERCEPTION ASSESSMENT NCI-2001/0