Back in the dog house
Out of work 5 weeks now, and out of approximately 500 or so applications and resumes sent out I've gotten roughly 4 or 5 call backs, of those 3 interviews, and of those, no further response. Two of those were supposed to let me hear something today and didn't. One is working as a bartender at the airport. Good money if you can get it. The other is working as a contractor (blech!) at QT for the next year. Decent money, but I have my doubts I'll get the job. IT jobs in general are thin, and one that requires my particular expertise in VB 6 are a once in very rare occurrence situation, which means what few of us there are in town will be jumping at the chance. Anyone with a degree is going to get picked up over me, so I doubt the odds are in my favor.
My son had his 21st birthday yesterday. He wanted to drink, and it was at my behest that he and his girlfriend decided to come out here to do it rather than go out with his friends - his friends aren't exactly people I would trust to be out drinking with. So, I told him I'd fix him up, and since he was going to come out here anyway to see the folks, it seemed like a good plan. I say seemed, because someone - my step-dad - seems to have a stick up his behind lately. See - for some reason my son hasn't been doing his usual pestering of him for stuff, and instead he's been speaking to me (such as the topic of how his gf is wanting to get preggers) and mom about his insurance and other things, summarily cutting SD out of the picture. So, he decides on the night before my son's birthday party - and quite out of the blue since we've been discussing it for a week now - that my son should do his drinking at home. When I interjected and tried to explain why it was actually safer for him to do it here (We'd have his keys and he couldn't drive vs. Sitting at home drinking unexperienced (mostly) and then with liquid courage in his veins and no food in the cupboard deciding driving a few blocks wouldn't hurt) I was told 'All I was doing was blabbing' and there wouldn't be any drinks served to Brian. Um - lessee. I'm 43, Brian's 21 - not sure where I see it's his place to say either way. But, to avoid further issue and prevent grouchy from ruining the party, I didn't mention it anymore until my son came to me asking me to set him up. I made him and his underage gf two of the worst margaritas I could dream up, which they're both used to mixing crown and coke "because it's sweet" - which tells me it's mostly coke and only a little crown. She took a sip and was done, my son drank about 2oz and gave the rest back to me (and apparently 2oz was enough to put him right into buzz zone). I of course drank the rest of the contents of the blender. If nothing else, they won't be drinking tequila anytime soon.
Taking advantage of the situation would be my younger brother - the one who snuck off at 16 to lose his virginity and get drunk at a boy-girl shindig thrown by the mother of one of my former girlfriends - who likes to drink but can't because of his medicine (but still does) who announced his protest that my son doesn't need alcohol anyway and that he agrees with my step-dad on the matter. I should point out - he didn't agree until today - last night he was fine with it. But after my step-dad spent all day avoiding me and the house and spending his time outside bitching about me going against his wishes (by the way - my mom was fine with the whole thing and understood why I chose to do it) so now he wants me out of the house. Oh, not that he'd say it to me or within earshot of mom. This is the same guy who doesn't feel I've done enough to find a job. Lessee - I've logged over 800 miles in the last month driving too and from town to put in apps, and I have put in apps in just about every job type there is, from working as a restaurant team-member up to IT management. Auto servicing, education, medical - you name it. Anything I've ever had any experience doing. Zip-nada.
Of course, all of this will eventually blow over. Oh, there won't be any apologies, and I will have to deal with him taking pot-shots at me or doing things to try and tick me off (like tonight when he shut my chickens up before I came outside to do it but didn't bother to take the time to make sure they were all in) - it's minor and only a little irritating, but he knows it would drive him nuts, and expects it to do the same to me. Then he spent all night down sitting in my older brother's front yard. Mom - trying to make things right in her own way - told him one of his little tirades that he better stop and realize that out of all of us kids, I'm the only one that would actually help them if things got bad, and, despite being out of work for 5 weeks and having almost no money left, I refuse to ask them for so much as a dime, unlike little bro who uses the grandkids as a bargaining chip to get gas money out of them.
In other words - life continues as normal. I want to move, but I have to wait at least until December when this next semester is over, and really, I'd prefer to wait until I finish my associates. Course, at the rate things are going, if something doesn't happen soon, it is going to go downhill really quickly. So long as I don't lose my truck, everything should be ok. I lose that and I'm trapped. Makes me wish I had kept my old truck, but the mileage of driving out to the airport for the last year would have killed it anyway.
Oh yeah, my birthday was this month too. I got chocolate-chocolate & peanut butter chip cookies and a nice e-card from Tracey. 43 years old now, and if the years between now and 50 are going to be like the past few, I'd really prefer another option. I won't last stuck out here that long. I need some distance from the daily family life or I'm going to go nuts - er.
Anyway. I should go back to studying. I've got my history final coming up this week and only a billion terms to memorize and and a ton of essays to write. Having 4 teachers teach a class is overkill, and it generates some pretty odd theories on what is a good amount of homework. 3 papers, not counting the 3 extra-credit papers, 8 bulletin board posts, and then 3 tests, each one where we have to learn 50+ terms (and we're talking paragraph length explanations) and 8 essays. Of those 50+ terms, we have to answer 12 of the 18 they put on the test, and 2 of 4 essays. No extra credit for doing more - they take the first 12 terms you respond to and the first two essays. Seems a little off kilter if you ask me. I'm barely holding on to my A, and so long as I score at least a 75 on the test I should finish with an A. Then it's two weeks of preparing for Fall semester to start and hopefully part of that time will be working. It's been a major pain worrying about finding a job while trying to cram all this information into my head.
Yeah yeah, I'm babbling. I'm heading back to the study junk.