Ash the Mighty

One week in.

So I got a job at a company called “GodDamnit” (or if you are offended by such a term, imagine instead me saying “GoshDarnit”). The pay is better than anything I’ve ever made before (which honestly isn’t that hard), the benefits (once I get them at the end of my 3 month probationary period) are fantastic and “free” (as in, unlike my sister, they don’t take anything out of my paycheck for health/life insurance, etc), and the people are fun. I’ve been in training for one week as of now, and have one more week to go before I become a phonebank slave.

So I start in the phonebank in a week or so and work a relatively crap shift, but one of the cool things is that this company promotes almost entirely from within. That means that as you work and prove yourself you get better shifts, bonuses, and promotions . . . and such rewards apparently come quickly. In fact a couple of days ago I spoke to someone who is really quite high up in the heirarchy and he is expecting his FIRST annual review some time in the next couple of weeks. He started where I am and I find that awesome (and he really looks quite a lot like me if I was about three inches taller and several pounds lighter and I find that eerie).

So there’s that. Things with A_____ . . . continue. Her trip that she should have left on months ago at this point is still up in the air, and I take a lot of responsiblity for that (which I feel bad for). We generally spend way too much time together which has REALLY cut into outside-work projects (for her that means actually packing up and leaving, for me that means getting my fat ass to the gym), but we genuinely enjoy and like each other so much that I don’t really mind. We just fit together in an awful lot of ways, and I honestly didn’t think that would happen again after C!

But I digress. The point of this is work and really I’ve said a lot of what I CAN say. For various reasons the employees of my company are under various forms of gag orders and so I can’t really talk too much about the place (plus should I ever decide to criticize them in my blog, I can apparently be fired for it if I get too specific, so at no time will I be mentioning the name of this company, nor the true names of any of my coworkers/bosses . . . yes, you were right that “GodDamnit” is not the real name, but it’s a fun psuedonym so deal with it!). So when I can/need to vent, I’ll write about it all, but I can’t go into the details of my normal every day job, as I’d rather not get fired from the best-paying job I’ve had to date . . .

Much love everyone and I’ll see ya on the flip side!

~Ash.

Oh yeah.

Meant to also mention that I went tubing down the Salt River yesterday with A______. Man did it rock! The water is at its highest in years which alas results in a lot of vegetation underwater and a whole lot of mud, but also means a wider river and faster-flowing water! The water was also quite chilly, almost cold, and so I took great pleasure is exhausting my fat, out of shape ass by getting off my tube and swimming about like an extremely awkward, ungraceful, and (did I mention?) fat otter! However this also meant that my sunscreen didn’t hold up quite as well as it should have. My back, shoulders, and chest are a bit . . . pink. Quite pink to be honest. Doesn’t stop me from being super excited to go back! Next time I’m going to drag my brother, his son, and perhaps his wife along. They have no idea as yet of course, but what is life if not a series of surprises?

Oh, and my good friend Smashley managed to get my phone stolen. Not my current one that I use, but my slightly-older-but-no-less-expensive one. I’m not super upset about it anyway, but instead quite disappointed for her. She’s currently in mid-air likely somewhere over the Atlantic right now on her way to Britain and so she is without the tri-band phone that would be so handy to her right about now (well, in a few hours, but you get the picture!). But none-the-less she has Bowlesie’s phone number so if she makes it up Scotland way she’ll have someone to hang out with and show her the sights. I’m jealous as hell actually, as I quite miss it over there, but really how could I give up all the fantastic/fattening food that I’ve grown so used to since my return? Anyway, so it’s still a bummer that she lost it because I was thinking of using it when she returned. It’s just smaller than my PDA and so slightly useful. But whatever. It was a legitimate mistake! Best of luck to you, my dear!

NOW I’ll sign off. Again, take care!
~Ash.

Doings and happenings

I’m not entirely sure that either of those words are, you know, real. But whatever.

So yeah. Real Estate just wasn’t meant to be apparently. I’ve now completely and totally cut that out of my daily life, though I’m still a member of my brokerage just so that I can list some friends’ houses in case they ever actually get around to selling. However in the mean time this has meant that I’ve had to find a new job which has been a mixed bag, mostly full of disappointments.

First off I thought I’d have a job lined up with a property management company that I got my cousin a job with. Turns out they’re full up at the moment and aren’t looking for any more property managers. Apparently I’m not the only ex-realtor looking to use their real estate license for something other than resale! But that’s OK though because I figured I could always fall back on what I had originally planned on doing when I moved back from Alba . . . teaching. See Mesa is so hard up for teachers that for the past few years they’ve had an emergency teacher certification program wherein you could begin teaching immediately if you already have certain degrees.

Turns out that thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, such things have been ruled illegal and so I would have to go back to college for an unknown amount of time so that I could get my teaching certificate . . . a prospect which interests me not in the slightest. As a small side note, let me make a point. I have a Master’s degree in History. That means I’ve studied the subject for years and years and years, and have dumped tens of thousands of dollars into my own education. How can the state and federal governments assume that I and my fellow graduates would be willing to then go BACK to school, paying quite a lot of money in the process, for one to two years just so that we can get a job which is universally recognized as being high on crap and low on pay? I am the first to say that we need teachers who are well trained and highly motivated, but when you make it even more difficult for us to even start down that road, well no wonder you have a shortage of teachers. The least you could do is pay them a salary commensurate with the amount of aggravation the job entails! Hell, apparently even my close friend/college prof Holly Hammond would apparently have to go back to classes to get some teaching credentials despite the fact that she’s been teaching for the past five years or more!

Argh. Anyway. So that didn’t work out. Long story short . . . well, not exactly short . . . I’m still jobless. Well, careerless. I’m still working as a bouncer and making not nearly enough money to pay my student loans. I’ve applied and I think hired for (knock on wood) a job with a company I shall refer to as “God Damn” (for legal and reference purposes), but have yet to get a solid start date for any training. If it is for real then I’m actually thrilled because this company pays well, has a great benefits package, and does most of its promotions from within the company. I’m all for that. I’d love to start out somewhere, even at the bottom (assuming the bottom isn’t too arduously shitty) and work my way to the top . . . or at least to management. Then once in management I can always shop around to other companies if my own starts sucking too badly.

Holy crap. I’m actually starting to look for a real honest-to-goodness career. I must be ill or something.

Take care, everyone.
~Ash