I have a job. It is a 6-9 month technical writing contract with the Weather Channel. I start on the 5th of July. The interview went well but I had to do a 'homework' assignment, which was kind of a pain because it took six hours to do, but I had do do it that way because I did not know how much time the other guy was going to spend on his. It got me the job and at the least is useful for a portfolio piece. Plus if someone else gets a similar idea I can say, "Well I can do that, but before I do, lookit this, I did it in six hours." I had people help me review it and it was very helpful. Having good friends is very helpful indeed.
I am hoping to restart my podcast this Thursday night, we'll see if I'm successful. I am also trying to get as many goals as I can done before my mid year goal assessment. So far I'm doing pretty well with most of them, having really only dropped the seven timelines goal...and I keep considering taking that one up again. Maybe.
For various reasons, including the fact that I'm employed now, I'm trying to get the most out of live, using my car to go to many events and friends. I've been going to weekly game night with Eisen, weekly poker night at Patrick's and I'll be starting a weekly campaign with Russel. I'm still in Karate though I'm a bit behind but can still make my goal of getting a green belt this cycle. I like it a lot but I'll make an assessment at the end of July to keep doing that, go to another Martial art or do Yoga. I do like the people at Atlanta Kick A LOT and they're fun and good teachers.
This weekend I also went to a Midsummer festival, which was quite fun. Met Eisen and Will there at random, which was more fun. I got a few extra articles for a leather armorish thing I bought at Dragoncon. Its currently my facebook picture and it looks awesome. Though speaking of Dragoncon, now that I'm staying in Atlanta, I need to see if I can get a ticket. Weird things are going on on the website, but I will call them tomorrow and find out what's up. $120....wow. Should have bought my tickets on the cheap last year at the end of the con. I'm looking forward to World Con in August even though because I'm starting a new job it is limiting the days I can ask for off to be with Dad and Brett as they visit Houston. But I should at least be able to visit there for a weekend. That, and the world con tickets were purchased months ago and are non refundable :/
Last weekend, I took Skip to Father's day dinner at the Raging Burrito. It went well. Also went on a day hike with Russell, Amelia, Alex, Claire, Sean and Will and it was 2.5 miles either way. Trying to go on Russell's weekly hikes more. Karate keeps me in shape but I need to do more cardio and more weigh lifting. I'm still hopeful to make my goal of weighing 250 by the end of the summer.
Writing is going well. Writing my first non sci fi short story (not written in HS) and its turning out quite well. I still need to write the novel summary for Novel 4 (a decent one that is.)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Best Summer Ever. The Worst Summer Ever.
So for me I think my 'best summer ever' was probably the summer of 96 which actually kind of started horrible and had some horrible things happen in it but was still awesome. I was desperate to get a job that paid more than minimum wage, so I signed up with some room mates to sell crazy pest control contracts in San Francisco...only I didn't pass the 'sales personality' test, BUT the owner's cousin was one of my room mates (Gosh those guys were fun and cool, miss em...at any rate...) so they gave me a job as a technician with the caveat that I drive a truck. OK. I'd driven...like....5 years ago when I was 16 and took that class in High school....
Oh wait? Trucks a Clutch?
So I spend a month and a half driving around San Fran with the BROTHER of the owner who is this other cool guy, killing bugs, learning to drive a clutch, listening to radio disney between gigs, running crazy 14 hour days and having a blast.
First day out on my own I crash the truck (though in my defense it was old and the brakes suck....)....
Job over.
I came to Houston in utter shame and defeat, expecting to find another min wage job. Even Hilo auto parts wasn't hiring... (my boss there was cool even if the pay was not good).
Then Mom and Skip invited me to live with them for the summer and see if I could get a job.
You know...during the Olympics? Being a security guard for NBC Sports during the Olympics was awesome. :) In retrospect I should have used my ability to see more events like everyone else, but...oh well.
I also worked for a brief stint at Coca Cola which was also neat because I learned about working in an office, and the importance of branding.
So while I had less money than I'd hoped to earn, I got to do a LOT of cool things.
Is it possible to top that summer?
Dunno.
My deal with myself (I do things like that, the price of living too much in your own head) was that if the last two days went well this would be a positive blog, and if it went negatively, it would be a negative blog.
Its...complicated instead.
The job search is....well to put it bluntly I'll say 'not well', but 'not awful'. Having as many interviews as I've had and STILL no job is a bad sign. It makes me question the wisdom of my project management decision, if for no other reason than I'm stuck between worlds, and had I been at my last job another year I'd be in a much better position....I am tempted to strip all reference to Project Management at ALL from my resume and just search as a tech writer...but then I'm stuck in the same loop/dead end I've been for the last 12 years....
(sigh)
But I'm still getting calls from recruiters, even if most of them are for PM/BA positions that require another 2-3 years of experience than I have, so if somehow I can get more PM work then in 2-3 years I'll be sitting pretty with a solid stable career...
But...then there are other dark clouds on the horizon. I know some of my readers hate it when I'm cryptic, but in this case I have damn good reason to be. And these are pretty darn black clouds...life altering in fact.
But....I can't make the entire blog negative. Not entirely. Went back to Karate for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday. I'm just starting but I enjoy it greatly. People there are fun. Atlanta Kick = Teh Awesome.
Mythic Imagination Institute meeting tonight also went well. I'm glad I've met these people and wish I'd listened to Andrew and Bill earlier when talking about them....but I learn most things the hard way and slowly....at least things that matter.
Tuesday was a kickass day where I got a LOT done including sending out Novel 4 to 5 agents, realized I need to do a much better job with synopsis, realized I only tried to sell Novel 3 to 5 agents (ie not at all) so I should start selling it and Novel 2 all the more.....My failure to write a decent initial synopsis for Novel 4 is in my opinion a GOOD thing because it means I can learn and write good synopsis for Novels 2 AND 3 (even if...honestly they will still be much harder to sell...) (I'm not touching Novel 1 with a ten foot pole...if you want an acid trip induced purely by text, feel free to message me and I'll send a copy.) This shows the advantage of writing with a coauthor (for novel 4). Ken pointed out things I needed to fix in the synopsis.
Also today the sludge of damoclese (name coined by Mom) has been removed meaning people can start cleaning Grandma's house again. Also resolved a water issue Grandma was worried about. (The neighbor is a cool guy.)
All for now. More to come.
Oh wait? Trucks a Clutch?
So I spend a month and a half driving around San Fran with the BROTHER of the owner who is this other cool guy, killing bugs, learning to drive a clutch, listening to radio disney between gigs, running crazy 14 hour days and having a blast.
First day out on my own I crash the truck (though in my defense it was old and the brakes suck....)....
Job over.
I came to Houston in utter shame and defeat, expecting to find another min wage job. Even Hilo auto parts wasn't hiring... (my boss there was cool even if the pay was not good).
Then Mom and Skip invited me to live with them for the summer and see if I could get a job.
You know...during the Olympics? Being a security guard for NBC Sports during the Olympics was awesome. :) In retrospect I should have used my ability to see more events like everyone else, but...oh well.
I also worked for a brief stint at Coca Cola which was also neat because I learned about working in an office, and the importance of branding.
So while I had less money than I'd hoped to earn, I got to do a LOT of cool things.
Is it possible to top that summer?
Dunno.
My deal with myself (I do things like that, the price of living too much in your own head) was that if the last two days went well this would be a positive blog, and if it went negatively, it would be a negative blog.
Its...complicated instead.
The job search is....well to put it bluntly I'll say 'not well', but 'not awful'. Having as many interviews as I've had and STILL no job is a bad sign. It makes me question the wisdom of my project management decision, if for no other reason than I'm stuck between worlds, and had I been at my last job another year I'd be in a much better position....I am tempted to strip all reference to Project Management at ALL from my resume and just search as a tech writer...but then I'm stuck in the same loop/dead end I've been for the last 12 years....
(sigh)
But I'm still getting calls from recruiters, even if most of them are for PM/BA positions that require another 2-3 years of experience than I have, so if somehow I can get more PM work then in 2-3 years I'll be sitting pretty with a solid stable career...
But...then there are other dark clouds on the horizon. I know some of my readers hate it when I'm cryptic, but in this case I have damn good reason to be. And these are pretty darn black clouds...life altering in fact.
But....I can't make the entire blog negative. Not entirely. Went back to Karate for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday. I'm just starting but I enjoy it greatly. People there are fun. Atlanta Kick = Teh Awesome.
Mythic Imagination Institute meeting tonight also went well. I'm glad I've met these people and wish I'd listened to Andrew and Bill earlier when talking about them....but I learn most things the hard way and slowly....at least things that matter.
Tuesday was a kickass day where I got a LOT done including sending out Novel 4 to 5 agents, realized I need to do a much better job with synopsis, realized I only tried to sell Novel 3 to 5 agents (ie not at all) so I should start selling it and Novel 2 all the more.....My failure to write a decent initial synopsis for Novel 4 is in my opinion a GOOD thing because it means I can learn and write good synopsis for Novels 2 AND 3 (even if...honestly they will still be much harder to sell...) (I'm not touching Novel 1 with a ten foot pole...if you want an acid trip induced purely by text, feel free to message me and I'll send a copy.) This shows the advantage of writing with a coauthor (for novel 4). Ken pointed out things I needed to fix in the synopsis.
Also today the sludge of damoclese (name coined by Mom) has been removed meaning people can start cleaning Grandma's house again. Also resolved a water issue Grandma was worried about. (The neighbor is a cool guy.)
All for now. More to come.
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