Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Pthbbbt!

Last post's title was a line from the end theme to Whisper of the Heart, the Japanese reversion of Take Me Home, Country Roads. If you've ever heard the original, the line I used falls into the song's pattern at "I hear her voice in the morning hour she calls to me" from the original, but does not translate to that from the Japanese. This post's title comes from my own sheer exhaustion. Comments: Mamma Vash: The only thing I know to suggest, but you'll want to consult an open minded medical professional about it is to take potassium. That's all right, I don't think I really covered anything dramatic, but I did link to my gryphon picture. I'm too lazy to put it up again, it's in the portfolio so it's not hard to find. My white whale just happens to be this vicious, spiteful, and stubborn job market, but ". . .I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up.*" I'll survive, I have up till now right? That gryphon took a lot out of me, it took somewhere in the neighborhood of two or three weeks to finish, so I'm resting this week. I'll get Sanosuke finished this weekend if nothing comes up, then I've got two more to do for someone else, and my dragon revisit to look over again and decide what direction I want to take it, so I'm working on my art yes, but in a standby mode right now. I've been sore like that a couple times, but I can't say I really know the depth of that discomfort. I mentioned potassium earlier, you might also try a little bit of heat, like a heating pad or one of those 3M blue gel hot/cold packs that you freeze or boil depending on what you need it for. It's supposed to be rainy off and on here too, but luckily for me I'll only be itching my ear all week. If you looked up the definition for Amaxophobia, you would confused by the condition. Amaxophobia is generally considered the overall fear of being in a moving vehicle, riding as well as driving, so online definitions only reflect that. The phobia in my case is specific to driving, I can ride as a passenger just fine, but I can't get behind the wheel myself. My mom, dad, and sister all drive without problems, so they take me where I need to go for now and I'd bike or walk if I had to anyway, I've got no problems with a little bit of physical exertion. The busses here make their last run at 6:00PM which is totally asinine considering there are stores that are open till midnight and later, and taxis are outrageously priced too. We get no links to other towns at all with the mass transit system (no passenger trains period), and that's a problem that needs to be remedied. Public transportation itself, all over the country needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. * = From Moby Dick by Herman Melville. kout3uka Thunder Cats is the only cartoon I can recall ever seeing a psychological consultant listed in the end credits, I wonder why they had one. I was into the Transformers back in the 80's, kind of lost them when I moved, the stations I could pick up on antenna didn't carry them so I was out of the loop for a while. I don't really like this latest incarnation myself, the CG is just too much. In 1863 the western part of the state of Virginia, which didn't want to secede from the Union was finally made into it's own state, West Virginia. There's a remarkable difference between the two, and I've never been to Virginia. To move, or wing it would require resources that I do not have right now. But you know what's funny, I was asked what my prospects for moving out of state were when I contacted one of my Senators' offices in April. I broke down your suggestions so I could see them in a more organized fashion. Work Education Wait Tables Bussing Tables Housekeeping Starbucks Clothing Store Checkout Janitor Pet Sitting Technical College Apprenticeship The problem with getting any job in this area is the employers are too lazy and cheap to pay someone while they are being trained, they want people to come into the job with experience, which they are not going to find. Here's my comments on your suggestions: Work related: I've applied for jobs like that, but I haven't even gotten called in for interviews. I'd have a hard time convincing an employer I'd be a good waiter anyway, I'm terribly shy in person, which means to employers I wouldn't be good around people, and let's face it, people are what waiters are all about. The Holiday Inn job I just applied to, and the other job I mentioned a while back(It was a Bob Evans restaurant) where the interviewer told me "this job isn't rocket science" were both bussing table jobs. I'll point out that for Holiday Inn, bussers also deliver room service for which my timid nature quashed my prospects, and for the other job, the interviewer told me in the same breath as his previous quote that he wanted someone with experience. I apply for housekeeping jobs too, but around here no one pays more than minimum wage, and if you've done it before in a hotel setting, even for a day, you'd know that work is worth more than $5.15 an hour. I've got four months of hotel housekeeping and maintenance work under my belt, so I apply for both of those because I can do them, and have no problem with the thought of doing that kind of work, but so far no calls for interviews. It doesn't help that the hotel I was employed at closed in 2002, and was demolished in December of last year. Maybe people think I'm lying about that job. In all the towns I've ever been to in West Virginia, I've never seen a single Starbucks (ironically you mentioning that particular franchise, it was named for a character in Moby Dick, which I quoted in this post), they have millions of those things open all over the place, but none in West Virginia that I'm aware of, at least none in my town or anywhere close to me. I've applied for fast food jobs, but I guess McDonalds is more interested in hiring high school kids. So much for those phony "my first job was at McDonalds" celebrity commercials. I'm not sure what you mean by Clothing Stores, but it you're referring to Old Navy, TJ Maxx, or places like that, I've put applications in there too, and not one of them have called me back. I guess it's too hard to show someone how take things out of boxes and put them on shelves, racks, or whatever the store uses to display its wares. Again, I'd have a hard time convincing employers that I'd be right for a job that puts me in customers' faces all day, but I have applied for cashier or checkout positions before. Since I have zero experience in sales, I don't attract enough attention to myself for that kind of job anyway. Contrary to opinion, I have no qualms with cleaning, so I do apply for janitorial jobs as often as they come up and don't have a "must have [insert ridiculously large number here] years experience" tag with them. I guess cleaning hotel rooms isn't the same thing as cleaning an office building, it certainly isn't as hard because there are no beds to make, maybe I'm over qualified for janitorial work. I don't know because no one calls me for interviews. People are very particular with their pets, and need to know the caregiver is qualified to do it. I've got no references, professional or personal, so I have no way to back myself up. And, I can't just jump into a field with no clue how to do it right. Education related: There are so many small colleges, and technical colleges around me that it's not funny, the problem being credits aren't transferrable from one to the other if I decide to change directions, and how am I supposed to pay for it? My Mom is still trying to pay off her student loan from a paralegal course she graduated from in 1994. And to top off the sundae, she hasn't gotten a job in the paralegal field since she graduated. So I'm supposed to gamble on education that won't get me anywhere for what? Add thousands of dollars to the debts I can't pay off now, and put more black marks on my already deplorable credit report? All for the possibility that I "MIGHT" get hired in the field I study. That's not a risk I can afford to take. They don't do a lot of apprenticeships around here that I've seen. I could check with Workforce West Virginia, the parent bureau of the Job Service, but they refuse applications, post fraudulent information to job seeker files, and do not adequately provide the resources they are funded to provide to job seekers, so I don't trust them as far as I can spit. If Workforce West Virginia was worth even one grain of salt, I could look into an apprenticeship if there were any local ones. Otherwise, I have no idea where to look for that kind of information. I would probably get the furthest with this option, if it were available to me, and you're the first to suggest it. Funny thing is, no one at Workforce, nor the Senator's office I contacted about Workforce (had to do with my applications being refused in September, I posted a rant on this a while ago) even came up with that idea, that means you've pulled ahead of the "professionals" who only seem to have one track minds when it comes to the job market. You'll have to ask me specific questions if you want to know something about my general area. I've never been good at broad explanations without knowing what specific information is needed. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

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