no money for oil, travelogues, and general angst
yesterday it was 60 degrees, and today it's snowing, with about 3 inches of accumulation thus far. and unusually enough for the past few weeks, i'm in the same place.
actually, with the exception of a trip back to texas this weekend, i'll be in the same place for a while.
after returning from a long drive east to see friends and relatives, i had the 'you should really consider moving back home until you figure stuff out' talk. and after several days of thinking and angst, i was forced to agree. the job i was counting on in texas derives most of its income from sales, and i know from college that i have difficulty selling products which are in constant demand and pretty much sell themselves. i am not optimistic as to how i would do selling a product which often provokes the reaction, 'ya want me ta put whut in mah truck?' additional opportunities exist for selling cosmetic byproducts of the production, but given my appearance, a job as a cosmetic salesman seems laughably impractical. club salesman, maybe. animal skins, sure. stone car with no floor, propelled by feet? a stretch, but a possibility. but no cosmetics.
so i'm back home in urbana, illinois, the town i grew up in, and looking for a non-menial job. this is not to suggest that i have anything against menial jobs- most of my employment history thus far has been in menial jobs- but i'm really hoping to get something that actually utilizes some of the skills i picked up in the last six and a half years of education. unfortunately, there are not many positions for itinerant geologists, and my writing, math, manual, and various 'other' skills and talents are not easily quantified into a job- particularly not one where work experience is required, as most seem to these days. the best thing i have found to date is a second-shift job as a quality control person at a bottling plant. draw your own conclusions. another decent possibility is as a baker, but i have little/no information on that position at the moment.
as usual, i meant to write about the details of the trip east to see friends and family and such, but didn't write much down. some amusing things stand out, though, so i'll recap those.
having returned from grandparents' houses (danville, virginia- 800 miles or so from urbana) on the night of dec 31st, i drove up to chicago for new year's celebrations at festiva's house. the next day, i was scheduled to drive my best friend from high school, one austin amaya, back to grad school at virginia tech, but he called that evening to impart some interesting information- his girlfriend's parents were trying to sell him a car. for $100. the car in question was an '87 toyota camry, which is basically indestructible- not unlike the little black honda that could in that regard. my friend gabe had one which i believe had over 350,000 miles on it upon retirement. by indestructible, i do not mean that the individual parts are indestructible, having replaced the brakes, exhaust, and front axle (twice) on my car in the last three months alone, but the engine's good forever as long as you take care of it. i counseled him on repair histories and such, and he ended up buying the car for $60. not that there was haggling involved, but that's all they would take for it. strange.
so driving him back to school turned into driving with him back to school and making sure he didn't break down on the way, which seemed like a definite possibility. i was distrustful of the sixty-dollar car, but upon riding in it, was forced to conclude that it actually runs better than mine. amazing.
the drive to blacksburg (about 850 miles from chicago) was relatively uneventful, except for the fact that there was a thick blanket of fog from approximately indianapolis (about 2.5 hours into the drive) onward. additionally, since we were on something of a new year's schedule, it was really dark right up until the point where the sun came up. or may have come up, as we couldn't really see shit through the fog.
it was during this trip that i articulated my new philosophy for driving in ridiculously unsafe conditions (blizzard, heavy fog, thunderstorm- all of which seem to follow me wherever i'm going)- it's not insane and suicidal, it's exhilarating.
this philosophy was considerably less popular with my traveling companion, but i was leading most of the way so he did it my way. i believe that he deserves credit for the 'insane' and 'suicidal' bits.
spent a couple of days in blacksburg, a few in new york, where i got my annual northeastern blizzard out of the way. this year's was a vast improvement over the previous two- rather than digging my car out of hostile strangers' driveways or freezing my ass off in buffalo, i got to go sledding with my 6 and 2-year old cousins, which was a lot of fun. saw friends gabe and zinny in northhampton, mass, overnight, and drove back to the midwest, staying with morganaus in cleveland for a couple of days. was caught by snow again, and spent most of the time there drinking vodka and watching movies. this past week has caught me up on my pop culture for the year, although i still have plenty of time to get behind on the stuff from late fall and winter.
and now i'm back home, living in the functional equivalent of my parents' basement. now, technically, i'm not living in the basement, as my parents have taken it over for their own use, but a return to my childhood room isn't that far off.
i don't really know what happens next.
actually, with the exception of a trip back to texas this weekend, i'll be in the same place for a while.
after returning from a long drive east to see friends and relatives, i had the 'you should really consider moving back home until you figure stuff out' talk. and after several days of thinking and angst, i was forced to agree. the job i was counting on in texas derives most of its income from sales, and i know from college that i have difficulty selling products which are in constant demand and pretty much sell themselves. i am not optimistic as to how i would do selling a product which often provokes the reaction, 'ya want me ta put whut in mah truck?' additional opportunities exist for selling cosmetic byproducts of the production, but given my appearance, a job as a cosmetic salesman seems laughably impractical. club salesman, maybe. animal skins, sure. stone car with no floor, propelled by feet? a stretch, but a possibility. but no cosmetics.
so i'm back home in urbana, illinois, the town i grew up in, and looking for a non-menial job. this is not to suggest that i have anything against menial jobs- most of my employment history thus far has been in menial jobs- but i'm really hoping to get something that actually utilizes some of the skills i picked up in the last six and a half years of education. unfortunately, there are not many positions for itinerant geologists, and my writing, math, manual, and various 'other' skills and talents are not easily quantified into a job- particularly not one where work experience is required, as most seem to these days. the best thing i have found to date is a second-shift job as a quality control person at a bottling plant. draw your own conclusions. another decent possibility is as a baker, but i have little/no information on that position at the moment.
as usual, i meant to write about the details of the trip east to see friends and family and such, but didn't write much down. some amusing things stand out, though, so i'll recap those.
having returned from grandparents' houses (danville, virginia- 800 miles or so from urbana) on the night of dec 31st, i drove up to chicago for new year's celebrations at festiva's house. the next day, i was scheduled to drive my best friend from high school, one austin amaya, back to grad school at virginia tech, but he called that evening to impart some interesting information- his girlfriend's parents were trying to sell him a car. for $100. the car in question was an '87 toyota camry, which is basically indestructible- not unlike the little black honda that could in that regard. my friend gabe had one which i believe had over 350,000 miles on it upon retirement. by indestructible, i do not mean that the individual parts are indestructible, having replaced the brakes, exhaust, and front axle (twice) on my car in the last three months alone, but the engine's good forever as long as you take care of it. i counseled him on repair histories and such, and he ended up buying the car for $60. not that there was haggling involved, but that's all they would take for it. strange.
so driving him back to school turned into driving with him back to school and making sure he didn't break down on the way, which seemed like a definite possibility. i was distrustful of the sixty-dollar car, but upon riding in it, was forced to conclude that it actually runs better than mine. amazing.
the drive to blacksburg (about 850 miles from chicago) was relatively uneventful, except for the fact that there was a thick blanket of fog from approximately indianapolis (about 2.5 hours into the drive) onward. additionally, since we were on something of a new year's schedule, it was really dark right up until the point where the sun came up. or may have come up, as we couldn't really see shit through the fog.
it was during this trip that i articulated my new philosophy for driving in ridiculously unsafe conditions (blizzard, heavy fog, thunderstorm- all of which seem to follow me wherever i'm going)- it's not insane and suicidal, it's exhilarating.
this philosophy was considerably less popular with my traveling companion, but i was leading most of the way so he did it my way. i believe that he deserves credit for the 'insane' and 'suicidal' bits.
spent a couple of days in blacksburg, a few in new york, where i got my annual northeastern blizzard out of the way. this year's was a vast improvement over the previous two- rather than digging my car out of hostile strangers' driveways or freezing my ass off in buffalo, i got to go sledding with my 6 and 2-year old cousins, which was a lot of fun. saw friends gabe and zinny in northhampton, mass, overnight, and drove back to the midwest, staying with morganaus in cleveland for a couple of days. was caught by snow again, and spent most of the time there drinking vodka and watching movies. this past week has caught me up on my pop culture for the year, although i still have plenty of time to get behind on the stuff from late fall and winter.
and now i'm back home, living in the functional equivalent of my parents' basement. now, technically, i'm not living in the basement, as my parents have taken it over for their own use, but a return to my childhood room isn't that far off.
i don't really know what happens next.