Pilot's Log

Hey.

New box of DVDs from Columbia House. Haven't watched any of them yet. Thought it could be a good way to escape the Election Night coverage.

My Dad watches the darned Election Night coverage anyway.

Phooey.

FP

I just made a discovery today.

There is a 16-year cycle when bad politics and bad pop music converge and collide. And 2006 is one of those years.

The previous cycle years in living memory:
1958--last year Buddy Holly was alive; payola scandal broke
1974--Watergate; hit songs included "Seasons in the Sun", "Kung Fu Fighting", and "Billy Don't Be A Hero"
1990--Sinead O'Connor and Vanilla Ice, 'Nuff said
2006--We know and loathe

But at least there's hope. Soon the pendulum will swing in a new direction and things will look better.

FP

Just posting to post. No memes, no actual thoughts, no news.

Maybe I'll come back when I think of something cool. *Shrug*

Hey.

I had to endure another gathering of the family this weekend. At these reunions, I find myself being asked questions I don't want to answer, subjected to stories about myself that I don't want told ever again, and asked to feign happiness when I'm my most depressed. I don't even look good (didn't get to shower or shave) and the folks wanted me to pose for photos. I don't like the food we serve at these "functions" either.

I don't want to hurt my family but there's only so much of this behavior I can take. What the hell am I supposed to do?

I know the immediate answer of the reader of this question--"Get DRUNK!" Problem with this solution is that I'm a teetotaller, but beyond that, there isn't anything alcoholically potable in this house, and by law I can't get any for the next ten hours at least.

No, I have to live with my pain. I've had to live with this situation for nearly four decades now, and it's too late to do anything about it.

FP

Hey.

You want to know what's worse than being out of a job? Being out of a job and having the prospect of having to return to a bad job of your past come to haunt you.

Yesterday the manager of my last workplace called and asked if I was interested in returning to work for them. This is the Microtel in Pigeon Forge. I worked Night Audit for them for a year. It was barely tolerable much of the time and downright awful a lot of the time. I had to deal with irate guests and clueless guests and issues I wasn't built to handle. I had problem co-workers and problem schedules. I had pay issues with the management. The management had issues with the corporate apparat and internal conflicts as well. Ultimately, this job cost me more in career terms than I could ever hope to get back from it. My only fringe benefits were free coffee, use of a TV with Basic Cable, and tickets for area attractions I couldn't enjoy because either I had to sleep when they were open, or were things I had no interest in.

And on my last week before leaving the position, money went missing that I should have caught. I didn't take the money, but I took the fall voluntarily because that was the responsible thing for me to do. Sue for $80? I missed the money, but I know when a fight isn't worth the trouble. Walk before they make you run, as Keith Richards put it.

I hate it that I'm unemployed but I hate it worse that the only options I see don't fit me at all. I took a personality test to gauge what jobs I should be working--most of them at the top are scientific positions I don't have enough training/education to tackle. If I take the time to go back to school and advance my degree, I'm still at a disadvantage because everybody demands years of work experience. And I'm already staring down age 40. Nobody's going to hire a "rookie" that old! By the time I get a career going, I'm sunk as far as living is concerned.

Well I don't have an answer. I'm willing to hear options, so long as they don't involve joining the military or marrying a single mother and ripping off her Welfare.