Progress is being made! The path is being paved for my triumphant return to Portland! Wednesday is my last day at ShirtWorks. Last Wednesday was my last day at the radio station. Friday, Annie’s folks show up and we spend the day loading the truck. Today I got us a bunch of boxes. Aw Yeah.
Countdown to Portland: 6 days.
We might be moving back to Portland this summer, instead of next summer, as we had originally planned. The situation here is a lot rougher than either of us had thought it would be. The job market is terrible. Annie’s still unemployed, and my boss has cut my hours back so much that we’re barely able to cover bills. After my money from the Myst3 job runs out, we won’t be able to cover them unless Annie finds a source of income. So that’s one reason. In addition, Annie is “not excited” about school next year. She says that it might make sense to move back to Portland, because then she could do Americorps for another year, and then finish up school down there, at PSU. And on top of all that, we can’t deny that one of the reason is that nearly all of our friends are moving this summer. Urn and Kat will be leaving, and so will Eric and Jill. Becky and Jessi will still be here, but we barely see them anyway.
We talked about it for a long time last night, and it’s sounding better each time we talk. The only problem is that unless the money situation improves a lot, and quickly, enabling us to get some money saved, when we move back, we won’t actually have enough money to move into an apartment right away. We’ll probably have to move into my parent’s house for a little bit while we both find jobs and get enough money cached to pay first month’s rent, plus security and cleaning deposit.
We still need to check a few things out, like if moving early breaks our lease, or if we can just take off in the summer, and whether Annie can get another job in Americorps. Still, the job market in Portland is so much better than here, that even if we both had to take crummy mall jobs or something, we’d be okay. Plus, Portland means that I could try to get a graphic design job, or even get involved in web design!
It’s all still up in the air, and basically it’s Annie’s decision, but we’re checking out our options.
In addition to all that, I finally realized that my cousin Deni married the lead singer of the Ataris, a band that I like. When my family told me that Deni had married a rock star, I kinda rolled my eyes, and even when I met him, I didn’t place the name of the band. But Annie and I were on the radio and played two songs by his band that I know, and love! So suddenly it all fell into place! Cool!
Jester called me and told me he has no idea why my second check from the Myst3 job hasn’t gotten to me, and that he also has no idea why the themes aren’t up on the site yet. Apparently both should have been done quite a while ago. As soon as I know what’s up, I’ll post about it.
HOORJ. I am frustrated. I got in trouble at work today. Not bad trouble, but my boss has warned me twice (once kinda sneakily) that I’m spending too much time on the Net at work, and today he announced that he’s disconnecting my computer from the network. I’ve got no grounds to argue with him, since that computer doesn’t have to be on the network, but it’s a crummy thing to do, especially since the last time he mentioned that he thought I was on the net too much was like three months ago. I wish he would have given me more warning that he was that close to doing something like this. I dunno, I mean I understand where he’s coming from with not wanting to pay for me to goof off, but the way I feel is that if I do my job well, get all my work done in a timely fashion (which I do) then I should be allowed a little slack. He feels differently. Yet another reason I wanna get out of this shit town and back to a place where more people share my opinions.
In addition to that, Urn and I did a really bad show last night, and the station manager told us so. He’s right, but when you did the best you could and still failed it kinda sucks to have someone critisize it. We were trying something new, and it bombed, unfortunately. Oh well… we’re gonna try twice as hard for the next show and hopefully have better results.
Agggh. On the one hand, I hate getting criticism, because it makes me feel bad, and on the other hand, I hate when people don’t tell me, like my boss. You know, I wanna know if someone has a problem with me so I can work on it, but at the same time, I hate when people have a problem with me, because then I feel like shit.
Ooog. Enough ranting.
Hmmm… I’m not sure how to feel lately. I’ve had one great thing happen and one potentially horrible thing happen.
Bad News First:
I came into work the other day and my bosses asked me to talk to them. They told me that money was tight, and business was slow, and would I mind going home each day as soon as I finish my work, instead of staying the whole 8 hour shift. Now, I understand where they’re coming from, and I’d almost rather go home than have them find more grunt work for me to do, but this is very bad timing. Basically, they’re kicking me back down to 20 hours a week, and Annie’s still unemployed. This means we can’t pay bills. So basically, we’re back to square one, poverty-level income, no spending money, stress about jobs, and not knowing whether we’ll still be living in Ellensburg in two months. Thanks to the money from the Myst3 job, I’ve got this month’s bills payed guaranteed, and also I managed to find out I can get a forbearance on my loans. But next month is up in the air. Annie’s taking it more seriously and applying at a few more jobs, but next week she’ll have to apply at Jack In The Box if no one’s already hired her. If things get really bad, I might have to think about getting a second job, but I want to make sure I’m available for those days when there is enough work for me to stay all day. The worst thing about this situation is not knowing what’s going to happen. We’ve got to live minute to minute, with very little possibility to plan ahead, which is extremely frustrating for me.
The Good News
I fixed my computer! Ever since I bought it, the sound on my system hasn’t worked. The motherboard has a built-in sound card, and I even bought another sound card just in case. But nothing I did helped, and the Asus, the company that built the motherboard, wouldn’t answer any questions. After this long, I had just about given up, and was getting ready to buy a new motherboard when I found another post on the tech support forums. Turns out another guy with the same motherboard and case that I have found out that one of the mounting screws that attaches the motherboard to the case was touching the circuits and causing a short. It’s not a needed mounting screw, so I removed it and my sound IMMEDIATELY started working. It’s such a stupid problem that I’m amazed I didn’t figure it out, but I’m so happy to have my computer completely functioning that I moved on and started installing games and stuff.
Working this job has made me realize something. I used to think that the work I was doing would be the most important thing, and that I could deal with any workplace situation given that I was doing what I loved. I have since realize that is inherently wrong. While doing what I love can make any job more bearable, the real key to enjoying your work is the people you work with.
My job seems mundane and irritating because that’s what the people I work with are like, even though I’m doing graphics production, which I love. On the other hand, I’ve had two jobs that I liked, even though they were just grunt work. There were moments when I was first working grocery that I really liked because the guy running the butcher shop and the guys in the deli were friends, and we all had fun together. The work sucked, but the people were cool. The job started sucking when we came under new management. Also, I would have to say that my favorite job I ever had was my stint at Egghead. Everyone who worked there was like-minded. We were all good friends, and hung out after work, even! This despite the fact that I was working retail, and it sucked, I loved the job for my coworkers.
The tech team job in Portland was also awesome at times because of a combination of people who were, for the most part, in the same mindset, and work that was, for the most part, what I enjoyed doing.
All of this brings me to the inescapable conclusion that if there’s even a tiny chance that Studio Fojar could work, I will seize it. I cannot pass up my dream of doing what I love with people who share my mindset.