(I heard the news today, oh boy)

So. I like my job, so far at least. It’s not like anything I’ve done before. Inventory parts, photograph parts, run shipping on parts, list parts, double-check listed parts, rinse, repeat. It’s money – pretty good money, actually. I’m always busy while I’m there. And I don’t feel any need to gun the car out onto Baldwin when it’s time to go home. I could complain about having to lick the contacts on the camera’s SD card to get it to work, but that’s really just humorous. It’s work. It’s money. And it’s somewhere to go every day and do something – anything – and feel like part of society.

It’s nice.

I’m tired of politics. That’s about all I have to say there.

Hockey is nice. I like the sport, I like the physical exercise and the occasional feeling of accomplishment. It does enrage me at times, and while this is an unpleasant experience, it improves me play, and doesn’t follow me off the pavement. And that’s probably the best I can ask for.

Things are alright. And again, that’s probably the best I can ask for right now. That and a bangable redhead, but I think we can all gauge the probability of that occurrence.

You ain’t a pimp and you ain’t a hustler
A pimp’s got a Caddy and a lady got a Chrysler
Black’s got respect, and white’s got his soul train
Mama’s got cramps, and look at your hands ache

…all night.

Sedan Delivery

It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.

Yes, I’m aware that no one has any idea what I’m talking about. But I’m fucking stoked. Suffice it to say that my days of moping about this may be over.

Hopefully. Maybe. We’ll see. If it works out. I’m feeling good vibes, though.

Sedan delivery is a job I know I’ll keep
It sure was hard to find!

It feels like Mr. Young has been singing about my life for the last month or so. I bloody well hope that’s about to change.

Hard to find a job!

I went down Virginia, seeking shelter from the storm…

So, no job for moi. I’m sure everyone is tired of hearing about it. So am I. I’ve pretty much defaulted to selling shit on eBay for the rest of the summer. God knows I have some excess built up around here. The work is interesting enough, and it keeps me out of my own head. That’s the most important thing.

eBay, and politics. My family has fallen prey to the election year, it seems – a chorus of voices emanates from the living room every time Hardball is on, often including my own. I park in the recliner in front of the television, jump between the cable news channels, and write listings. It won’t put my finances anywhere near what a job would, but it’s income. It could be a lot worse. For one, I could have not snagged that Altec driver off the Ann Arbor craigslist three months ago. Then I’d really be in a world of shit.

All this free time and e-commerce shit has provided me numerous opportunities to hone my photography skills. I’m especially proud of this one:



Click for a bigger version, that puny scaled-down thing really doesn’t do it justice. Just check the color balance on that! Those contrast ratios are my kind of thing.

Really, you can do wonders with a decent digital camera, a tripod, and a little bit of Photoshop (but not too much). Really, I wonder why more people don’t go that route. You’re not going to sell that McIntosh with a cell-phone photo.

But anyway, regarding eBay: the economy’s in a bit of a nosedive, but people still seem to buy shit there. I guess it’s the tax rebate, or something. I don’t know.

Five-year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains…

The soundtrack to a bored Friday night

1.) Death Cab for Cutie – Cath…
Off their new album Narrow Stairs, clearly the standout track – and as Evan told me last night – the second single. So, you will all be hearing it on 89x sooner rather than later.

2.) Death Cab for Cutie – Flustered/Hey Tomcat!
Track 13 on the CD release of You Can Play These Songs With Chords. It’s spacey and has a bass line that will make you want to dance. I can’t help but think of Michele Hunt whenever I hear it lately, I put it on a mix I made for her last year when we were still close.

3.) Sly & the Family Stone – Everyday People
I Had to bust out with their greatest hits album on vinyl just to hear this jam. I really need to record this to mp3. In the end, its always hard to decide between this song and ‘Dance To The Music’.

4.) Iron & Wine – Trapeze Swinger (02/10/2007 @ Messiah College)
I grabbed this off Aquarium Drunkard sometime this winter, and I must say it’s the perfect song for feeling sorry for yourself. It’s a live version so it feels really intimate, and it’s rare I get that from a song.

5.) Bon Iver – Skinny Love
Well, this night started out fun (at least musically) and slowly slipped into a darker place. I blame that on the day and the gin I have been drinking. Nevertheless, ‘Skinny Love’ is a masterpiece that many a night I have listened to on repeat, over and over again.

Pandora

Just wanted to put in a good word for Pandora, an Internet radio site. It plays songs based on your ratings of others (like/dislike), and seems to have a very extensive library that it draws from. It’s thrown me a few really bad tracks, but most of them have been pretty good, and I’ve even catalogued several for future purchase. iTunes is great and all, but it’s definitely nice to get away from your own library for a bit.

Also, on the employment front: back to McDonald’s – if I can go. My old manager left, and that’s not a good thing. Nothing has been certain this summer, and it doesn’t look like McD’s will be any different.

Time will tell.

I had a flat tire on my bicycle, that I wished would grow some wings…

So. I’m unemployed.

It’s surprising how bummed I am about this. Not so much the fact that I don’t have the old job – it sucked by all standards. It’s not that I mind customer service, or retail, or foodservice, or any of it. I can deal with the customers, they’re fine. The boss was the main source of pain at the old job, and at the end of the day, I just couldn’t do it. We weren’t on the same team – most of the time, the Berlin Wall ran down the middle of that little shop. It was bad from the very beginning.

Maybe that makes me weak, or lazy, or ill-tempered, or some such. Whatever. I won’t go into a long, drawn-out description as to why the ugly final outcome was their fault rather than mine. I’ve done enough of that already, and I’m pretty much sticking to my guns regarding that issue. I’d be beating a dead horse.

What’s important is that this job hunt is becoming rather discouraging. I don’t like not working. I don’t like not bringing home money, particularly when other members of my family are raking it in, likely due to their peculiar genetic endowments. They haven’t done anything objectively different from myself, career-wise. Fiscally, I’m not looking too bad for the moment, but it’s not like I have another one. (I wish.)

The take-home message is that my lack of personal economic success is not pleasant. I feel a little worthless, a bit like a waste of space. Yes, the great crashing chorus of your ego and everyone who ever thought well of you and said so proclaims that it’s not true. Happily, that doesn’t leave.

But the silence from the entry-level job market is deafening too.

In other news, street hockey on skates is good fun.

Today, we salute you…

I’m looking at a job at a golf course.  This would involve working outside quite a bit.  Given my complexion (which is decidedly Nordic), I figured this Bud Light commercial would be appropriate.

I’m very fond of those. The rest of them can be found here.

The (Un)Employment Pages, Bouncing Quarters, and Other Things

I’m looking for a few things right now, the most immediate of which is a better idea (or two or three) for this post, but a general goes to war with the army he has.  (Politicians don’t have the same level of moral comfort, but that’s a separate issue.)

————

I need money now.  A new job.  I’m about to sell a few things on eBay, so that should net me some sporadic (although substantial) income.  It’s not likely to beat a steady paycheck; few things do.  But I’m still looking, fossicking through what remains of Michigan’s heavy-industrial economy.  

I was just told today that I could become a carnie.  Work a concession stand for eight-something or more an hour tax-free. This sounds nice. What doesn’t sound so nice is traveling around the state with an indeterminate number of sweaty dudes in a trailer.  I have a mental picture of some twenty-five-year-old alcoholic spooning me in an empty parking lot outside Marquette.  Call me unadventurous, but running away and joining the circus really wasn’t what I had in mind when I told my relatives I needed work.

————

Related issue: there’s a ton of shit I want to buy with the money I’m not making!  New watch.  I’m looking at this Citizen. I’ve had enough of straps, as they tend to discolor, smell, and become uncomfortably moist whenever one perspires. Therefore, it will be replaced with something metal.  Then there’s this thing, which will allow me to control the array of amplifiers, hard disks and computer displays that surround my desk throughout the school year. It’s cheap, and it’ll probably look kind of cool too. I also could use a new pair of speakers, but there’s no need for me to talk about that right now. No, we can save that for later. I’m sure I’ll write more than anyone wants to read about that soon enough.

But enough of my consumerist whoredom.

————

I need some tail this summer.  Nothing long-term or serious.  Think of it this way: you had pen pals in middle school, right?  Well, this is the same, but with sex rather than letters, and sans the awkward impositions of the US Postal Service.

I guess I’m describing a booty call.  Either way, the chances of this occurring are infinitesimal.  Perhaps I’m not doing enough to get it in gear, but I’m not in school, and my place of employment is essentially a sausagefest.  The options are limited.  I also require someone I can break ties with at the end of the summer, despite that individual’s potential displeasure.  But there aren’t too many people in this town who go to the same place as I do come September.  Ain’t that a shame.  (Cue piano.)

Either way, there’s a long summer ahead of me.  

I plan on making the most of it.

Grapevine

There are times when being a male can be overly complicated. For example, trying to plan your life around the Stanley Cup Finals can be a daunting task. However, I recently found myself in one of life’s paradoxes that I cannot seem to shake.

I have learned that a woman I know might be interested in having sex with me.

I know what you’re all thinking: how is that complicated, or a bad thing at all? You are partly correct. At the end of the day it is a good thing, knowing that an attractive female might be willing to have intercourse with you. My problem with the situation is that I cannot stop thinking about this once platonic friend as more than such in my mind. All I can think about is how I could change things from a friendship to a relationship, and realistically that’s not a good way to maintain a friendship.

Second, I know somewhere in my male subconscious I am very proud of the following statements – but on the outside I can honestly say I’m not sure how to feel. This mysterious women who might have sex with me is really only interested because of several fantastic references from my past partners. It just make me wonder if my best asset to any relationship is the effort I put into sex. I just thought I would be known as a great guy and not this skilled sexual being.

Anyway I think we are finally going to make an honest effort towards this blog, have to see where it ends up.

HELP

M: “So, I can go in here?”

E: “Oh, absolutely!  Go ahead.”

…

M: “I find this very unsettling.”