Tiddy Bitties in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

A Few Tid Bits For The Day:

(1) HOORAY… I don’t have to put in 12 hours today! That makes me super ecstatic. I’ll be in the Law Library from 8 am until 1 pm. Then pick up dry cleaning, do a phone interview, respond to e-mails, and pack! MAYBE even have a beer, watch TV(^) and play video games. What a weird experience THAT would be!!

(^) It was funny. Last night there were inmates in the Law Library from 7:30 to 8:30. Three of the inmates started getting antsy and actually started banging on the windows at 8:00 saying Empire is about to start, I want to leave! I thought two things instantly: 1) These guys are able to watch TV shows regularly? That seems like more freedom than I have considering what my work schedule/bosses expect. 2) You didn’t have to come down here. You are always able to refuse. And if you didn’t want to spend the hour down here, you should have.
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(2) I passionately claim no loyalty to any political party. Truly. Because any more the parties aren’t about thought or service. I have no problems saying that the United States of America has significant issues that need to be examined and repaired. I think it is important that any country or society that wishes to grow, persevere, and succeed needs to periodically re-analyze itself and determine whether there are certain areas where policy needs to change, expand, shrink, or adapt. That being said… I absolutely enraged a conservative friend of mine by posting THIS Cracked.com article that suggests there are certain things other countries should do that perhaps America should look into.
For example… some of the (apparently) WILDLY offensive ideas were as follows:
(18) In Japan, servers don’t receive tips. Businesses pay their wait staff sufficiently so that servers needn’t rely on tips to survive.
(17) Stockholm, Sweeden has a program where speeding ticket fines are put into a pot and people with no speeding fines are entered into a lottery to win some of that money.
(16) Comprehensive sex education that, in many European countries, has been proven to lower teen pregnancy and HIV rates.
(15) Netherlands gives a stipend to the disabled to pay for sex services in order to lower depression and suicide in that community.
(14) In Germany, one may order a beer at a McDonald’s.
(13) Nepal has introduced a “third gender” for government IDs to be used by people who do not wish to identify as either male or female.
(12) Cars are rare in Cuba and, as a result, government vehicles are required to pick up hitchhikers to make certain that they arrive at their destination safely.
(11) McDonald’s in Norway serve fresh caught Salmon Sandwhiches.
(10) Germany weighs trash and charges individuals for the weight of that trash; by doing so they have encouraged recycling and composting to such a level that per-capita waste has dropped 50% since 1991.
(9) A British game show that uses professional Comedians and a humorous, sexy, brilliant presenter is now in its 6th season. Apart from being entertaining, it is encouraging women to rethink anti-feminist math stereotypes.
(8) Almost every wealthy, developed nation in the world requires paid parental leave. EXCEPT the United States. As a result, a quarter of women in the United State work force are forced to leave their jobs or are terminated after having a baby.
(7) The Japanese New Year’s Tradition of Akutare Matsuri: The Festival of Abusive Language
(6) Polymer Bank Notes: money that is printed with less paper, less environmental impact, may be recycled when taken out of circulation, and allegedly is harder to fabricate.
(5) Estonian country wide free Wi-Fi
(4) Japan and South Korea do not have download caps on internet use
(3) The Norwegian value of Fruiluftsliv: Open Air Life… where citizens are encouraged to enjoy the outdoors; go skiing, hiking, camping… a value where land (and its enjoyment) is a public right, not a private privilege.
(2) Political Party Consolidation. Many countries have multiple political parties serving in government.... up to 28 in Brazil(!)… thus allowing more people to feel heard. As opposed to the exactly TWO parties in America… where nobody feels heard.
(1) Student Loans. Even forgetting that many other countries allow college students to receive a free education… many countries where students must still pay tuition have not taken the steps of America.... the United States, where even declaring Bankruptcy doesn’t affect your student loans.

Now… while some of them are radical, objectionable, or clearly potentially offensive… this young man (30-something) became FURIOUS ab.so.lutely furious that someone could suggest the United States had anything to learn from any other countries. Among his “slings and arrows” thrown my way were such witty statements as “At least the US wins wars” and “US Soldiers died for Europe to become weaker!” I share this because… this kind of thing deeply concerns me. When we as a nation have become so self-focused and self-obsessed that we are outright unwilling to look at other countries and at least ask ourselves, “Should we do things differently?” We are in danger of losing everything. Refusing to acknowledge that anybody else could be doing something better… is certainly a path to destruction. And… it frustrates me. And it pains me. Because… as a nation… the United States doesn’t need to sit idly by watching politicians and corporations destroy us all. But we need to do more than “voraciously defend the reputation of the country”… we need to actually help the country stay strong and become healthy.
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Positives: Credit where credit is due: Wife helped me fix my PC last night. And by “helped” I mean… I told her what research I had found on-line and she did the hands on stuff. She really likes fixing things… loves it, really. If only she’d follow the things she likes doing into a career but… as I keep reminding myself… I can’t (and shouldn’t) force people into things… even if I love that person and even if it may be in that person’s best interest.
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Balls. Not in a good way. I have something of a conundrum. We can’t have more than 14 people in the law library… and with 3 of our computers broken, I like limiting it to 10 because… well… people get angry when the only available computer is broken. So, I called ONE mod because they had 10 people want to come down. Only 2 showed up. :/ Darn. Called another mod when they were done… individuals within that mod were misbehaving and it was “not a good time.” So… now I have one hour until I have to leave to go do my interview stuff and 2 Mods to bring through. One is a MAX mod, the other is a Female Mod… so no way in hell can I combine those! The issue then is....
do I get through one mod, leave, then come back to do the other Mod.... or
do I leave one extra mod for the COs to take care of… after all, they do have two days to do it.
OOooo.... I hear Work Crush and my Wife in my head and I know what I should do… but then I hear my voice in my head and it is harder. You see… the obvious answer is: fuck it. It isn’t my personal responsibility to make certain that every inmate goes through on a certain day. It just isn’t. And despite my boss’ desire to acquiesce to every inmate demand; I don’t feel compelled to give special treatment. However, my inner voice of ME says… your boss asked you to do something… it is technically within your power to make that something happen… are you really not going to do it because it would be inconvenient?
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It was a personal challenge but… fuck it. I know, I know… it is actually hard to say that. Because… someone asked me to do something that I am capable of doing. But… I’ve put in 41 hours all ready and (cue Dante in Clerks) I wasn’t even supposed to be here today. So.. no. I will not be busting my ass so a convicted multiple-rapist can get exactly what he wants when he wants. Seriously… thinking about it like this helps. Because… most of us in this life don’t get exactly what we want when we want simply by threat of lawsuit… how is it that much different here? Okay… I think I can be okay saying fuck this shit I’m out.
Humorously, upon discussing the issue with some former co-workers, they were confused as to the whole situation. Apparently, there are a number of ways I could have dealt with the issue that would have cleared everything up. Yeah… as I said… having some actual training in this job would make a big difference.
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45 minutes to my Phone Interview and I feel a rumbling in my chest. Rage. Powerful rage building inside of me. I take a moment to consider why, and it becomes obvious. It is the same rage that built after a while when approaching women, or asking Wife for sex… it is the rage bubble that is connected to rejection.

So, I suppose we’ve reached that level in the job hunt. Where, even before taking steps forward, I feel the rage and fury of rejection. I’ve tried to deal with that instinctual rage in many ways throughout my life. Mostly, largely, about women. I’m not happy to see it spring up in response to jobs.
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Interview… then done:
Gr. 1: I hate phones. Hate ‘em. 2: After a full day with inmates, I wanted to take a nap… instead, I had to talk for 30 minutes straight. 3: They AGAIN “got me.” So many of these damned interviews are “We’re hiring for this position” I apply and then they say “Well, it isn’t this position but it is this department.” This time… I applied for Child Support Recovery Team. A place that drafts, enforces, and files Child Support orders. That is what I applied for. The interview? “Yeah, it is going to be more secretarial, at least at first.” Grumph. It’s okay, though. I clearly didn’t get it. It was hard for me to talk for so long on the phone, the staff is almost entirely women, and the job has even less to do with me being an Attorney than I had originally thought. Frankly… as much as I would LOVE to be out of Omaha and the god awful Law Library… I don’t feel like this is the place or opportunity. So… keep plugging, I guess.
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Y’know how I haven’t written in my dirty book for a while? Well, I say “dirty book” but it isn’t exactly/doesn’t necessarily have to be considered dirty. It is because since its inception there was a story nugget I was working on and… it… well… I think it’s time to share what I’ve got. lol.... so I’ll post it over there soon.