John Hattaway

In the (seemingly) never-ending pursuit of a job, I followed a lead sent to my by my local bishop and took the Census 2010 workers test today. To say the least, I was not all that impressed with the overall quality of the test. Though, the old dude proctoring it said to me, as I left (and after I found out he is also proctoring the test tomorrow for supervisors that I am taking) that he was only almost brain dead. Of course, the job also starts at something like $14.50/hour for people who canvas neighborhoods, verify buildings do exist, and etc. They also pay miles from my front door to wherever and back again and if I get other positions (e.g. group leader or assistant group leader) the miles only go up from there.

Since this is a census job and its not guaranteed, though I was listening to the old dude talk to a man on the front row who appeared to have some issues filling out the paperwork talk about point systems and that he had a plus 5 or plus 10 for military service already and as such was a cheater (not really, though I would love to really share my opinions of people who do military service and then have preferential treatment because of that job . . . but I will pass on that at least for today). I don’t know that I would pass up an opportunity to advance because of something I’ve done (or did). With that said, though, I earned an Eagle Award and never use it to my advantage. Though, truth told, I don’t know how to use it to my advantage and since I had to get it to get a driver’s license at 16 don’t really consider it mine.

Tomorrow morning I take the Supervisor’s test. Hopefully this will allow me to find an in somewhere. On top of that I was told today why one company has not bothered to interview me. They already know what work they have, what work is most likely coming in, and how many people they need for current work and as a result they have more people than work; though they expect to have more work than people in the near future. Our decision (and by “our” I mean Erin and me and at least one of her parents) is that the company gets the contracts for the jobs that will require them to increase the number of positions within the company.

At the same time, and this is something like PLAN F, I am going to find a handful of graduate schools to apply to and then apply to them. I think my mental goal for my writing sample is to get it revised by this weekend if I feel well enough to go through it and revise it. I also have a daily goal of about 500 words on a story I outlined a long time ago. And on top of that Jordan is sending me a book on comic book writing and scripting so I can write a draft of the comic book he and I outlined a year or so ago (I don’t remember if it was before or after I got him the job where he is working now). I am failing at this at the moment as I hit night time or time to write and I am exhausted.

I think things are starting to look up. Let’s cross our fingers and pray really hard that I can start working. Erin is still working at freelance writing for her old company and did a great job on her first assignment. She is currently revising some things the customer wants done and hopefully will be paid for the work and given another assignment or three to move forward. She is also considering teaching piano lessons. So, if you have a beginner that lives in Berkshire County in Massachusetts, send them on over.

Oh, and this weekend, Saturday, we are going to see Rebecca, Keith, and co. as they are coming up for a funeral and will be within a couple hours of us. We might go over to West Point and get a proper tour of the establishment, which sounds like a ton of fun. Other than that, I think things are just progressing. Going well and all. Sure, I am a bit stressed and I don’t feel well, which might be an extension of just being sick (which I clearly got from speaking to my mother on the phone since germs can cross phone lines and continents). Camper is not feeling well. And I think Erin is a little under the weather as well. With all that, I think we are still all doing good.

Real Heroes Fly