A New Decade

Prior Warning: The following post contains adult language. Viewer discretion is advised.

I can't remember exactly how this got started, but I know where it got started. On new years eve we pulled off something amazing. All of the diverse friend groups that Adam, Kevin and I collectively interact with were pulled together into one gathering. My D&D friends, Adam's Americore friends, Kevin's friends from high school, my LDR who was visiting, Jason's girlfriend we never see, and the various miscellaneous people we call our friends all came to our house at once, and it was awesome. There's something magical about liquor and rock band, and the strange nerdy thread that ties 90% of the people in that group together. For those of you at home wondering the other 10% is the time honored nerd category of "Girlfriend who doesn't quite understand what they're talking about." Luckily the three or four people who fit into that category all get along so they're not nearly as isolated as it may seem.

Anyway, it was during this event that a resounding cry was first heard. A cry which rings out to this day, and which signifies the collective commitment we made to greatness on that hallowed night.

2010 Fuck Yeah.

Or as it's said more recently, #2010FuckYeah. This is because twitter is a magical thing, and all it takes to show that you're part of a movement is putting a # in front of some string of characters representative of that movement. What is this movement you ask? It's very simple. We, as those who carry the banner, by which I mean the hash tag, are dead set on making our lives awesome. We commemorate the glorious moments, we have no time for the troubles and tribulations. We know only victory. We are living the living our best lives now. We're making the world more like a motivational poster, and we're living every week like it's shark week. In short, we're going to make this decade our bitch.

Twenty Ten. Fuck Yeah.

Transitional State

I've been asking around, getting advice on my resume recently, and I've gotten two things over and over again. First I'm told that listing my work as a lab technician may be hurting me because it makes me seem overqualified. The second thing I've been told is that it may not be a good idea to list that I'm starting at Evergreen in the fall. It shows that I won't be there for the long run. More then that though it illustrates the nature of my life right now.

I've spent time recently looking around my room, looking at everything there is to see, and mentally boxing it all up. I've gone around the rest of the house doing the same thing, everything that is flagged as mine gets scanned in, and becomes part of my plans. The plan, at this point, is to get a storage unit in Olympia sometime around May. Our lease is up at the end of May, at which point I'll be moving in with the Wilson's, but the vast majority of my stuff will either go to a storage unit or to charity. One of the things I've come to believe since scanning the various things I own is that I own too many things.

Even as I sit here now, in the basement, I'm looking at our heavily graffited walls and thinking about how and when I'm going to paint them. Everything I see, all that I do, is about what is coming. There are a great many things underway, a new dawn is just over the horizon, but I'm starting to get tired of staring at dark horizon all the time.

Officially I'm going to start packing in early April, but I'm thinking of starting sooner then that. Which is to say that I'm thinking of starting tomorrow. The key reason I haven't already is money, but I'm getting tired of ranting about money all the time and I have to imagine you're getting tired of hearing about it.

Dignity

I made it to VMC today. They didn't have any work for me, and I'm kind of glad. I started doing a bit of math in the cafeteria as I was sitting there waiting to be told I wouldn't have a job.

The commute is around 30 miles, each way. There's no good route from West Seattle to North Redmond without passing over one major downtown area and one major bridge. This means that leaving at 5:30 a.m. is the only good way to get there by 7 a.m. which is necessary because of the bullpen day laborer system they run. This also means that I'm leaving a little bit earlier then I was when I was working at VMC and actually living in Redmond, which speaks both to the annoyance of the commute and how slow bus travel is.

I would be actually working from 8:30 until 5:30, which is only 8 hours of pay since there's a 1 hour unpaid lunch break. Pay is minimum wage, so after taxes I would make roughly $50 a day. Leaving at 5:30 and driving back through the aforementioned bridge and downtown would get me home around 7. Yes traffic is that bad at rush hour. So at this point I'm spending around 14 hours of my day, for around $50, which is to say that I'm trading my time away at something like $3.50 an hour. Work at VMC is not steady, and today would not have been the only day where I would have shown up only to lean that I'm out $6 for gas, and have no job. It's also often mind numbingly dull, and occasionally literally painfully repetitive. On top of this I would no longer be able to go to the gym, and my social life would be devastated by the schedule change, since I'd still try and get 8 hours of sleep, and hence be going to sleep by 8 p.m. All of this adds up to one conclusion.

It's not worth it. Yes I need a job, and no I can't afford to be picky, but I'm adding one requirement that any job I take must meet. It must not cost me any more of my self respect then being a 22 year old dependent does.