Zeriel's Journal: Life goes by.

This workaday living is getting me down.

Well, down isn't the right word. I've been down, and it's worse than this. Discontent, perhaps.

Job hunt is going slowly and not very well--the last two places I applied to didn't even bother telling me they'd filled the position and didn't wish to interview me, which I'd thought was pretty much a common courtesy.

With the current job, and MrsZer going to college part-time, the state of the bank account is at a low not seen since *I* was at college part-time and working at a sub shop (Penn State Sub Shop on Beaver Ave., Abm0raz.) for my daily bread (usually with a cheesesteak on it, at least you got free food on your shift).

This makes everything tense. MrsZer's big joy in life is traveling, something we can't afford. Her second big joys in life are movies and new music, and right now it's either movies or health insurance.

Her job is making her crazy too. Her boss is the kind of sublte sexist that drives her up the wall, and having met him, he needs to have his stupid grin kicked repeatedly off his face. Imagine a sordid cross between Adam Sandler and Bill Lundbergh. ("HEY, GIRLS! I'M GONNA NEED ONE OF YOU TO STAY TWO HOURS PAST THE END OF YOUR SHIFT TONIGHT, M'KAY? GREAT!")

So basically, the highlight of my month thus far has been successfully getting a set of Ogygos' Bracelets in Final Fantasy XI (yeah, semi-frivolous expense, but both the wife and I play and so do many of our friends, so we agreed it's the best use of $25ish per month of our meager entertainment budget) the other day.

(for the gamer geeks: getting the bracelets requires you to get to a specific elite monster, who spawns in a set place once every 2-4 hours. Only one person can fight it at once, and it's a race to be the person who claims it. Once you kill the monster, it has a 1 in 16 chance of dropping the bracelets. I got 'em, go me.)

Meh, this is just kinda random. Anyone need a sysadmin in the central PA area? (we're tied here until MrsZer finishes school)

Seriously.

[trmj]

I move to Boston and then find out that all these slashdotters live near where I used to. (I moved from Bucks County, PA, just north of Philly)

Check with Abm0raz. He lives in the area, then again he is currently employed as a bouncer, so, uh...

Been there

[nizo]

Sucky jobs drain the life you of you. Not to mention the fact that sysadmin jobs suck the life out of you too. It isn't like people drop by and say, "hey everything is working great thanks for doing a good job". How long until the Missus finishes school and what is she majoring in?

Re:Been there

[Zeriel]

Dunno, about two years, and English (Composition and Fiction Writing).

See, I love sysadminning, but only when I'm not getting paid tier1 tech wages for it--were it a full-time job, I could (and have!) made better hourly money teaching SAT Prep.

Maybe we'll get really lucky and some magazine will start buying MrsZer's short stories.

Re:Been there

[nizo]

Hey way cool; I have about 16 classes left for my degree in Professional Writing (I think those are capitalized; sometimes I hate English). I have been a sysadmin off and on for ages, but I figure I won't be able to do that forever and writing is appealing (especially with my technical background). I can empathized with the underpaid part too; that makes a hellish job even worse :-( To which magazines has she been submitting stories?

Re:Been there

[Zeriel]

To be frank, I don't know. I serve as a sounding board for dialogue ideas and that's about the extent of my involvement. =P

jobs

[Abm0raz]

1. I lived across the street from the Beaver Ave. PSU Sub Shop (234-GRUB) for 7 years. This summer I helped the manager and another worker break in when she accidently locked the keys inside.

2. If I find 2 sys admin jobs in the area, I'll let you know about the second one, okay? ;)

-Ab