The state of me
Long, blessedly hidden behind the magic .
Well, I rarely write in here mostly because little ever happens in my life that I consider particularly noteworthy, and lines of thought that I might otherwise write in a journal never occur to me while anywhere near a computer. Heck, my pen & paper journal hasn’t had a note in four years, and they were spaced 6+ months apart before then. Usually instead they occur while driving - the hour+ each way to Worcester by myself normally. There have been enough minor things built up that maybe they deserve some notation in here for a change, though.
First off, to my weekly surprise I am still employed in my current contract position. I really dislike it for a few reasons - I’m rarely given assignments requiring any real thought; it can take days to get the next assignment; I get no benefits or paid time off; I feel it actually hurts my resume compared to my previous employment due to the significant step down in role and responsibility. Still, it’s better than no job, and better than some of my employed friends have it, too.
Somewhat on the job topic, I’m entertaining the option of a career change. Only five years out of school and already set to turn about. :) On the 28th I will take the MTEL (Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure) in an attempt to become certified to teach high school physics. And I thought I was done with test-taking five years ago. If I pass the test I’ll probably try to find a teaching position for next fall - preferably in central or western Mass. I’ve toyed with the idea for a couple of years by now, but never really done anything about it. With the lackluster job market and my dissatisfaction with my current employment I’m finally taking the idea from idle concept to a serious attempt. It’s a scary prospect, and an exciting one, all at once.
Even if I don’t end up teaching, I’d really like to move farther away from greater Boston. The 128/95 belt and inward is too built up, too expensive, and too far away from many people I know for my preference. It would also be nice for Jen to be able to be closer to her friends. I like having her living with me and therefore seeing her more often (though some weeks I still never see her due to opposing schedules), but I do not want to be/become the only social contact in her life. It will be better as summer comes and she heads off to Realms events (presuming her work schedule can be arranged for this to be possible), but during the winter she doesn’t get to get out much. Unfortunately, for now eastern Mass is the only part of the state where I have more than a snowball’s chance in hell of finding employment in my current field (and even here the chance isn’t much better).
In completely different news, I had to suffer my first hospital visit in years (and my only emergency visit) last week. I managed to shatter a glass while washing it last Thursday, with one hand mostly inside it. I shoved part of the glass into the space between the pinky & ring finger of my right hand, giving myself a couple of fairly serious cuts - one of which ended up requiring stitches. At least it never hurt - isn’t shock wonderful? I wasn’t able to drive (or do much else requiring my right hand) for a couple of days between the stitches and the compression bandage around everything. That was not the way I wanted to go about getting a four day weekend. The bandage was only for a few days, and the stitches come out tonight, though.
Fortunately the cut will be mostly healed by early March, when I’m actually going to a couple of Realms events (first time in almost two years). Considering it’s on my right hand, and I only fight dagger (and beanbag), it could get painful if it wasn’t healed by then. I’ll probably still have to be careful, because it won’t be completely healed, and I’ve gotten more than enough bloody knuckles from hard dagger parries when my hand was whole. After this it’ll probably be two or more years before I bother Realmsing again, but that remains to be seen. From what I understand from the eventholders I will know almost nobody at either event (and reciprocally they won’t know me) - will make it somewhat difficult to find people to hide behind. Oh well, not like I ever really hid with this character anyway, even behind people I did know.
Well, I rarely write in here mostly because little ever happens in my life that I consider particularly noteworthy, and lines of thought that I might otherwise write in a journal never occur to me while anywhere near a computer. Heck, my pen & paper journal hasn’t had a note in four years, and they were spaced 6+ months apart before then. Usually instead they occur while driving - the hour+ each way to Worcester by myself normally. There have been enough minor things built up that maybe they deserve some notation in here for a change, though.
First off, to my weekly surprise I am still employed in my current contract position. I really dislike it for a few reasons - I’m rarely given assignments requiring any real thought; it can take days to get the next assignment; I get no benefits or paid time off; I feel it actually hurts my resume compared to my previous employment due to the significant step down in role and responsibility. Still, it’s better than no job, and better than some of my employed friends have it, too.
Somewhat on the job topic, I’m entertaining the option of a career change. Only five years out of school and already set to turn about. :) On the 28th I will take the MTEL (Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure) in an attempt to become certified to teach high school physics. And I thought I was done with test-taking five years ago. If I pass the test I’ll probably try to find a teaching position for next fall - preferably in central or western Mass. I’ve toyed with the idea for a couple of years by now, but never really done anything about it. With the lackluster job market and my dissatisfaction with my current employment I’m finally taking the idea from idle concept to a serious attempt. It’s a scary prospect, and an exciting one, all at once.
Even if I don’t end up teaching, I’d really like to move farther away from greater Boston. The 128/95 belt and inward is too built up, too expensive, and too far away from many people I know for my preference. It would also be nice for Jen to be able to be closer to her friends. I like having her living with me and therefore seeing her more often (though some weeks I still never see her due to opposing schedules), but I do not want to be/become the only social contact in her life. It will be better as summer comes and she heads off to Realms events (presuming her work schedule can be arranged for this to be possible), but during the winter she doesn’t get to get out much. Unfortunately, for now eastern Mass is the only part of the state where I have more than a snowball’s chance in hell of finding employment in my current field (and even here the chance isn’t much better).
In completely different news, I had to suffer my first hospital visit in years (and my only emergency visit) last week. I managed to shatter a glass while washing it last Thursday, with one hand mostly inside it. I shoved part of the glass into the space between the pinky & ring finger of my right hand, giving myself a couple of fairly serious cuts - one of which ended up requiring stitches. At least it never hurt - isn’t shock wonderful? I wasn’t able to drive (or do much else requiring my right hand) for a couple of days between the stitches and the compression bandage around everything. That was not the way I wanted to go about getting a four day weekend. The bandage was only for a few days, and the stitches come out tonight, though.
Fortunately the cut will be mostly healed by early March, when I’m actually going to a couple of Realms events (first time in almost two years). Considering it’s on my right hand, and I only fight dagger (and beanbag), it could get painful if it wasn’t healed by then. I’ll probably still have to be careful, because it won’t be completely healed, and I’ve gotten more than enough bloody knuckles from hard dagger parries when my hand was whole. After this it’ll probably be two or more years before I bother Realmsing again, but that remains to be seen. From what I understand from the eventholders I will know almost nobody at either event (and reciprocally they won’t know me) - will make it somewhat difficult to find people to hide behind. Oh well, not like I ever really hid with this character anyway, even behind people I did know.