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.