i live... kinda

[mountain_laurel]

so it's been a while since i wrote here. i don't even feel like looking to see how long. i've been mostly unemployed since early August, because the job market has been ugly, ugly, UGLY. in the intervening time, i lived off the meager cushion i'd saved up for a bit and then started doing odd jobs, sometimes very odd.

i've done web design for a phone sex company and an EFT therapist (in the form of the same person) and also written up seminar materials for her. (and where are you, anyway? i haven't heard for ages and i never got a copy of that brochure back to you!) that got me through about a month and a half.

i discovered that no one will hire me for office work because i'm so overqualified they assume i'll quit the moment i find something better. (and they're right.) so i found a job working 32 hours a week in a garden center, which pays *barely* enough for me to survive on, and didn't come quite soon enough for me to avoid borrowing money for February rent. i'll be getting a dollar an hour raise once my 30-day probationary period is up, which will be at least a slightly larger pittance.

the garden center is fun, but backbreaking; i spend both my days off recuperating from the 10.5 hour Saturday marathon. which is okay, because i'm not really in a position to socialize. it's not entirely that i don't want to, although i am, of course, still digging my way out of the hermit rut. i had to drop out of the RPG campaign i was in because i have to get up so early for my job that i can't stay out that late. (and right now every drop of gas is precious.)

it's mostly, though, that i'm hesitant to call people when i can't afford to go do anything anyway. while my friends here have been incredibly generous, i've accepted more charity than my pride can stand already. and i've never been comfortable inviting myself to other people's houses.

but i can't invite anyone over here because Daddy-O has been expressing his displeasure over the IV fluids I have to give him once a week (in addition to his heart medication) by using the living room as a toilet, and i can't afford enough Nature's Miracle to get the stink out of the carpet. as it is, i'm going to have to rip up that whole corner and replace the padding because there's not enough Nature's Miracle in the world to deal with that much accumulated cat pee.

so i'm kind of stuck. go to work, come home, fall over, consider socializing despite how tired i am, decide i can't afford it, play sims2 instead. (i have lots of adorable new sims, though. you can see them at my flickr account.)

i've been getting a couple of leads a week on tech writing jobs, but so far nothing that's panned out. so if you're in austin and you know of any open tech writer positions, let me know. (or anywhere, if they'll pay relocation costs -- i don't really care where i am at this point as long as i can get a fucking JOB.)

Comments

[n5red.livejournal.com]

I'll be happy to buy you lunch or dinner. Give me a call or send email.

why not underpromise...

[ex-doohickey67.livejournal.com]

overdeliver and then you get a job that pays adequately and the office you work for is utterly amazed at what you can do.

yes, lie...

Re: why not underpromise...

[(Anonymous)]

i'm not sure what you mean by "underpromise". i could theoretically make up a less impressive resume (and my resume is *very* impressive, recruiters and potential employers keep telling me that), but then who would i use for references? i'm not going to ask my friends to lie and pretend to be former employers, that's just taking it too far.

i'm 41 years old. i can only downplay my skills so much before people start to wonder what's wrong with me.

Re: why not underpromise...

[ex-doohickey67.livejournal.com]

yeah.

just an idea. downplaying to the point of where you aren't completely off the mark was what i meant, not pretending you're the receptionist when you were the IT | Server Technology | Database Management person in the company. :)

best of luck. yeah, down playing too much is a little odd. nothing would be wrong with you other than being smart enough to improvise to infiltrate a difficult job market.

[spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com]

*MONKEYGROOMING, MONKEYGROOMING*

[scothen-krau.livejournal.com]

Actually, Molly had a long, difficult bad cat period, when she became convinced that my living room was her second litter box ( I attribute this to the fact that, when we first got her, Widget freaked and peed on the floor herself, thus instantly imprinting on the cat.)

Well I hope you find something appropriate to your skills soon, but it's good that you have something in the meantime to counter the money burn.

[frosch.livejournal.com]

I doubt you're open to being part of the military-industrial complex, but if you're up for it keep an eye on Huntsville. There's a relatively high degree of hiring going on here for a city of less than a quarter-million, and they're starting up the new NASA launch vehicle so you might not even need a clearance (although even NASA is requiring a lot of security paperwork these days).

There's even a growing private sector, although the lion's share of the work is some sort or other of government contract.

Night life and culinary attractions are dismal, but you've lived in the South and should know that already.

You might track down Heston if you are interested. He's no doubt better connected around here than I am, although I haven't encountered him since I moved here from Nashville a couple of years ago.

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

Hmm, haven't seen any tech writing work, but will keep an eye out.

[kratkrat.livejournal.com]

Austin, you say? I have some business contacts in that area. I was going to be given a management position there back in late 1999, but decided I hated the weather.

I'll shoot an email off to some of them, see if they know of anything up your alley.

[merde.livejournal.com]

you are, as always, an officer and a gentleman.

or, uh, a big guy who looks like a cop.

N'est pas?

[neoliminal.livejournal.com]

After just coming out of a horrid depressed phase, I will remind that this is cyclical and everything will come around again. I got my summary from the Social Service and it shows the amounts of money I made every year since I was making money every year.

It's amazing the see such clear and present evidence that I am totally fucked up. What I mean by that is there are literally years where I made $0 and years I made $50K, with only a year gap between. This year I made the most money ever (Thanks Drugs!!) and the stress has pushed me to my limits. But the ideations are mostly gone. Mostly.

So keep up the good work of just surviving because there will be good times coming. They always do.

Much love, many hugs and a kiss on the forehead.