Six Months of Silence

I figured I would throw together a single post to catch up on the past six months and move on from there.

I stopped updating my blog when I lost my job, and I spent a few months looking for another one. The good news is that we had saved up a little to help buffer us. Between that and unemployment, we managed to keep food on the table while I was unemployed.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. I originally started blogging for my job and decided to start my own blog to release my thoughts. I have no idea if anyone will ever read this, but it's good to let things out that you wouldn't normally say. It's amazing how you can feel more comfortable sharing your secrets with millions of people on the internet than you are sharing with a single person face to face.

Back on track. I worked for a company that designed educational software for elementary students. I ran the support department, and at first they loved me. I'm very intuitive and can see problems right away. In my first two months there, I documented more than sixty errors with their system. Unfortunately, always seeing the negative doesn't really win you any friends. Combine that with the fact that I apparently do not understand the intricacies of talking to humans, and you get a disastrous combination. I would say something like, "This feature isn't working correctly.", and for some reason people hear, "You're a fucking retard that shouldn't be allowed near crayons much less computers."

My understanding is that this is a part of communication called translation. It's when the listener uses their personal experiences and feelings to interpret the meaning of the message. unfortunately, most of the people I worked with had never had a job in the real world, and couldn't handle any kind of negativity. The owners would actually pull employees into their office and issue them warnings just for being negative. The funny part of this is that if they had been working for someone else, they likely would have been fired for their attitudes and how they talked to people. I still have documentation of an email that says that we are all too incompetent to accomplish anything unless the owners were there holding our hands.

I loved the job in the beginning, but by the end, I was actually relieved to be let go. I think some of the others were feeling it too, as one of them said to me that I just had a head start on everyone else.

I think it's safe to say that I'm still a bit pissed about how that situation worked out. Anyway, while I was unemployed, i started running a 4th Edition D&D game on the first Sunday of every month at Earth2Comics. We'll also be having a special event this Saturday if anyone wants to swing by. Because I was going to be focusing on the new game, I stopped running Marvel Superheroes for the guys. Scott took over the Saturday game and is running a 3.5 D&D.

I worked on my novel a little too. I've managed to complete seven chapters, but I haven't spent much time on it since December. I'm still running my online game to flesh out the world for my novel, and the new Sunday game is also based in my novel world. If I can ever find the motivation to really get back at it, I might get enough done to start sending something out to publishers.

On another writing track, I've been thinking about writing some children's novels. I've got a concept, but haven't fleshed anything out. I really need to finish one and get some artwork for it so I can send it out to some publishers.

Finally, I've been talking with one of my friends about starting an online browser based game. My cousin is a programmer, and he'll put together a bid for me once I get enough information together for him. unfortunately, when I try to sit down and put things on paper, I don't know what to do. I've really lost my ability to focus on anything other than my job. I'm wondering if my brain wants a rest because my work is so detail oriented and I have to stay so focused.

Adrift

It has been awhile since I have updated. Good news is that I'm working again. I am back doing bookkeeping again. I forgot how much I enjoy working with numbers rather than people. Numbers don't force you to put up with their issues and insecurities. I have also got a pretty awesome boss. He understands how to treat employees, keep them motivated, and reward them for going above and beyond. He'll put gift cards and such in our checks every few weeks, and I have seen him give extra rewards to guys who handle emergency service calls on their days off.

It's interesting working for Joe. Most places I've worked, they could not do proper bookkeeping if their lives depended on it, and they never had any idea what I was doing for them. This is the first time where the owner knows exactly what I'm doing for him and understands exactly how I'm improving things. Joe did not hire me because he could not do the work, he just didn't have enough time in the day to keep doing everything. It feels good to be respected again.

Unfortunately, I feel adrift personally. I have no idea what to do with myself when I am not at work. I have so many projects that I would like to complete, but it seems like every time I sit down to work on one, I lose focus. I can't even seem to enjoy playing video games now. I'll play for a few minutes and quickly grow bored. I have no idea what is wrong with me. It is as if I can not be satisfied with any one thing because there are so many things to do but not enough time to do them all.