We have paint samples up. The kitchen is nearly ready for cabinets. My eye was expensive, but I'm a rich asshole so I can afford it. Turns out "your eye jelly has popped loose and dragged your retina with it" happened to my father and my grandmother, at least according to my sister. And because it happened in New Mexico my grandmother's was diagnosed as macular degeneration and left untreated for too long to do anything. I also got to see some photos of what Gus the Dementor actually looked like and the impression that I was looking through miso soup is borne out by the evidence. Was. That's an important milestone, too. I still have a tattered veil of unfocused crud floating around but it's much more manageable. I'm doing three interviews this week, one for the second time. I've actually been recognized for my voice on the street a couple times which is kind of crazy because we get like 40 downloads. But according to Nielsen we're also getting between 4k and 6k listeners on the radio, which my receptionist assures me "oh, honey, radio is dead." My daughter wrote three heartbreaking poems about how much she hates her teachers. She wanted to turn them in for an assignment. I gave her the inaugural dose of The Angry Kid's School Survival School and pointed out that allegory has deniability, written documents require a response and forcing change is only possible if the people being forced are actually capable of it. I suggested the teachers become forest creatures and she jumped on it. The poems are still heartbreaking but they're about squirrels. My mother's late-life gift has been to be every bit the bitch she was to me to my sister. This has opened my sister's eyes about how yeah, she had it rough but also yeah, it sure as shit could have been rougher. It's also kind of amazing that no matter the flecks and spatters of our familial shitshow, everyone else who touches it is somehow worse off. Apparently my aunt is coming out. She has a dementia diagnosis. She will be accompanied by my cousin, whom my sister called a "polyamorous narcissist" which sounds like a pejorative but is part point of pride, part crutch. "According to my therapist, unlike most people I have a hard time when my needs aren't in focus so it's really important that you focus on my needs." She has a daughter who was told, at age six, "mommy goes down into the basement every morning because she likes to have sex with Aunt Artemis." Now, age twelve, the daughter steals for attention. My sister is reluctant to allow either in her house for obvious reasons. The less obvious reason is her own daughter told her, age six at the time, "please can we never visit these people again." I'm really thankful that there's a second cousin in the mix here who I don't even know what she looks like, despite the fact that she's three months older than my daughter. I have one contractor who's great at finish work. I have another contractor who's great at overbuilt structural work. The first contractor told me how much he hates it when framers put nail boards everywhere because they make drywall a pain in the ass. The second contractor implored me to let him put nail boards everywhere because he didn't want to put any nails through electrical while putting up trim. I had to remind him that he wasn't putting up trim. "I need to make this cumbersome for everyone because if I don't I'll destroy it" is a great way to tell someone you shouldn't be doing the work. We failed inspection last friday as we expected to. Inspector is a lovely lady who walked in and said "wow, what a beautiful room this is" followed by "so what did you end up doing because your drawings are impossible." So we've got a game plan and she got a 2 hour house tour. She especially enjoyed the secret staircase. "I think everyone should have something in their house that's baldly illegal," she said, and grinned. We have paint samples up. This is as close as I can get to guarded optimism.
Looking forward to the update where you break through a cellar wall and discover a tunnel that leads... somewhere.
registration in for the emt program. doing future planning feels very strange. if all goes well i think i can become a paramedic by 2027 if that's the way i wanna go - which feels crazy that the turnaround can be that fast for a full pivot. apparently the city of chicago is absolutely jonesing for paramedics so maybe i can get in on the ground floor and end up in a union job by the time I'm 30. that would be fucking sick still need money to bridge the gap though. still no job lined up for the meantime. i just gotta make it until january and then i can get an emt job (assuming i as a new program grad can get hired quick) gwaa gwaa
Been a part of 2 unions now. First one was phenomenal. Worked there for a summer semester and that was it, and because I took a class during that summer, I got a $5,000 tuition reimbursement check at the end which was more than I made all summer. Current union leaves a bit to be desired. They treat limited term and part time employees significantly worse than permanent ones. But it's also likely the reason why in 18 months my salary has gone up 10% so I can't complain too much.
Just had a call with a recruiter. Job would be awesome if (1) it wasn't 2 hours away and (2) it was permanent but it's only a 2 month contract "with possiblity for extension" so I'm going to do the interview for the experience of it, but am not taking the risk of a 2 month contract when I've got a job that I hate but should be around for another year or so. Ugh I hate this job market.