Why I've been away

Let me begin by saying that I've been totally neglecting this corner of the Internet that, if nothing else, is mine.

I wish I could say that I have been busy saving the world or inventing a cure for cancer (no, the two aren't even close to being the same thing). That, however, would be a lie.

It seems that my last few posts had even won be a following of about two people, but now that I've been silent for close to three months, they've probably gone away to read someone else's witty words. Sigh, I guess I'll have to try to interest someone else.

I'm well aware that you don't care what I've been doing, so I won't tell you directly. Instead, allow me to launch into a diatribe that's related to what I have been doing.

I hear lots of people bitch about how much their job sucks. And rightly so, there are a large numbers of shitty jobs out there that we just can't seem to import enough Mexicans to do.

I myself have held two or thee or six of those shitty jobs, and some of them I have been glad to have, if for no other reason than they allowed me to get drunk with co-workers and whine about how big an asshole the boss is.

Sometimes your boss is right their beside you with a pint in his or her hand and your complaints are directed at customers instead. This is usually the case when you work in retail or the "service" industry.

And yet, from another point of view it seems so childish. It's like complaining about how hard your classes are when you're in elementary school. Looking back, you may realize that what you're doing is really ridiculously easy and you should just get on with it and enjoy the parts that don't suck so horribly.

Now if there are any nuclear physicists or research chemists or structural engineers reading this, you may be thinking that your job IS hard. Well, fair enough, I wouldn't know and I'll allow that you're probably right. However, by taking a bit of a pay cut, you could have a shitty job doing insignificant work and get drunk more often.

Of course, all of this is a slap in the face of people who are currently unemployed. You never really realize how much you will miss your old job until you don't have it anymore. Getting a new job seems like it will be easy and quick, but then you spend a few months sifting through classified ads and realize that every job offering is looking for skills you don't have and even some creative resume work isn't going to help your situation.

You tell yourself things like "It's this economy" or "I just haven't discovered the right opportunity" but deep inside there is that little voice that says "You're a piece of shit and noone will hire you because your hair is too long and you smell like a donkey's taint." So you keep looking and all the while everything in your life seems like it's falling apart.

Then the day comes when you pass a guy on the sidewalk begging for change and realize that you're one bad arguement with your spouse or significant other away from being him.

Even in this day and age, a man is expected to be a capable provider, even if he isn't the only one in the family who is bringing home the bacon. So you even end up feeling like less of a man.

That's me these days. I'm bouncing around, picking up a temp job every few weeks. I barely make enough bother cashing the checks.

Anyway, I'll try to be back more often. It's not like I have shit else to do.