Notes from the Void #3
This post seems to have turned up a small technical glitch in the website. I’ve fixed it now, but it may have shown up twice somehow.
Usually I prefer to let people explore the Brain Food links unguided and draw their own conclusions, but I think Don Peck’s How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America over at The Atlantic is worth a particular mention. One in eight Californians is presently unemployed, nearly one in ten Americans, and things don’t seem to be in much rush to get better. I’m not sure if the long-term effects will be as bad as Peck projects, but the possibilities are definitely sobering.
It makes me a little bit grateful to say that I have a job to complain about. I have a few responsibilities there that will no doubt distract me over this long weekend, but I’ve finished dinner now and a few other chores, so I’m going to settle in for a weekend of writing now. The alarm clock is set for 7:30 AM tomorrow morning. At some point I will have to leave the apartment to do laundry and get some sunshine, but aside from that, after I finish this post I plan to reboot my laptop, open up First and Last and Always, and start writing.
Before I go, I found for you an upload of P!nk’s very awesome Grammy performance, and you can click through to a preview of the upcoming story. Those of you who know how to get in touch with me outside of this site are welcome to poke at me once in a while and make sure I’m not wasting time.
First and Last and Always
By Adrian Mailenna
For Hannah, because she made a difference.Even with his heart pounding in time to the DJ’s command, a hundred and twenty-six beats per minute, Jamie could feel the one it skipped. Someone was watching him; he’d felt it, uncoiling a tight, nervous desire from the base of his spine, sliding it up his back until it made the hairs on his neck stand on end and his knees go weak, made him excited and just a little scared.
For months he’d walked past the door here, stolen glances past the curtain at the slender, pretty boys dancing together here, taking each other home, but he’d never dared step in before. Now he wasn’t sure whether he should have come. Someone would notice him; someone would tell; people would know; they would be polite of course, nothing overt. It was the twenty-first century after all, but he would hear their whispers, notice their sideways glances in his direction, and he would move again, unable to cope, unwilling to be that token friend, unwilling to be treated so differently. It wasn’t his fault he’d been born this way.
But there was that look. It promised so much.
Staggering off the dance floor, he scanned the crowd as he made his way, panting, to the bar. Through the back of his mind he remembered a glimpse of perfect golden skin and kinetic black hair beneath the DJ’s lights, but most of all the flash of bright green eyes, inviting and seductive, even from across the room. Somehow he knew he needed to find them.
He hopped up onto a stool. He needed a drink, too. It was hot out there.
If it’s still giving glitches, I see no sign of them–though I don’ know if that’s any help ^^;
Uch…that article? Incredibly depressing. Totally makes me grateful to have a job to hate. It’s minimum wage (pays less than Wal-Mart) but, hey, it’s a job and better than nothing.
On a happier note: Woohoo! More writing. Shouldn’t have given the poke option, though. I tend to take people up on that.
I found the problem last night and fixed it before I rebooted, so everything is working right now.
Aren’t you also in school right now? Being unemployed while you’re in school isn’t a terribly big deal, though holding down a job is definitely a plus when you graduate. It shows that you have, at minimum, a decent work ethic and an understanding of how to get along in a workplace. Those are surprisingly hard to come by these days.
I wouldn’t have put the option out there if I didn’t mean it.
Oh, jolly good~
Yes…yes I am. My work hours fluctuate between 15~20 a week, depending on if somebody takes a day off or not or if the kid I tutor is late. I’m also taking 15 units (or 19; anatomy = class of death). …Glad to know that’ll make things look better on the resume though! :D
Oki-doki then… :3
It’s a terribly sobering article, but I think more people should read it. Honestly, as horrible as this is for America and many people living here, I think that ultimately, the recession and the lingering effects of it might be a good thing. We’re being forced to step back, re-evaluate at our standard of living is, what we really need. For those unemployed, it’s terrible, especially if they have families that depend on them, but it could also be an opportunity.
I think this could be a great wake-up call on the way America has done and continues to do business, as well as the relationship between employers and employees. Maybe we’ll finally start to look at these systems critically to see just who is benefiting from them most and realize the inequality that has been eating at the system for years.
I’m depressed of course, as I’m one of those young adults coming out of the college and looking around for a job that likely isn’t there. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do, because I’m quite literally a “dime-a-dozen” major and I’m not really sure I have what it takes to stand out in the crowd. But I’ll persevere and continue on.
I’m not going to be beaten down. I’ll find a way and find joy in doing it.