I got home last night at 11:00pm, my eyelids felt like they were down around my ankles, but I couldn’t sleep. These late nights at work got old a long time ago.
So I went to monster.com and looked around for jobs that I’m qualified for--jobs that look as though they don’t require endless stress and overtime. There isn’t much in this area, just a couple jobs that are asking for what I know but that require a few things I don’t know. Put together with past conversations I’ve had with people I used to work with, and the job prospects look pretty dismal around here.
That’s when I started branching out, looking at places that seem more affordable than here. I avoided all the really big cities, like Chicago, New York, Seattle, and Washington DC, and looked instead at smaller places.
I found job openings with my name on them in the Midwest, and that’s a bit scary because I saw the movie, Days of Heaven, with Sam Shepard, Brooke Adams, and Richard Gere, and the fourth main character was the oppressive heat—the still, humid air with wheat chaff hanging in it that sticks to you and keeps you from ever being cooled by breezes that never come. That’s the Midwest I saw in that movie, where someplace way to the west are mountains that have caught the prevailing winds and swallowed them and prevented them from reaching the center of the country, and the sun just beats down on you and swelters.
The movie takes place during the Depression, and they’ve invented air conditioning since then. So I suppose it’s not that bad. But I wouldn’t know. I’ve only lived in places that are on the edge of the country: Navy towns, like Norfolk and Bainbridge and San Diego, and then Montana and Spokane, and back to California. I don’t know what it’s like to live in the middle of the country. And I don’t know how serious I am about leaving California.
I hate not knowing.
4 comments:
You could come to Memphis, but if you don't like HEAT that's probably not the best idea. It's true that we have air conditioning, but you can melt into a puddle between the time it takes to get out of your car and walk in your front door.
Good luck with the job hunt. Been there.
(I wouldn't worry too much about the things you don't know. If you can get an interview and they like you, they'll let you learn on the job.)
Laura,
I've always had the idea that if you want to know if you're going to like a place, you need to visit in January and July, because that's the worst it will be. Everyplace is nice in May and October, so you should never decide based on a visit during those months.
Thanks for the well wishes.
Any place is just one crappy neighbor away from being hell.
Just thought I'd cheer you up.
Chris,
A couple years ago I looked at some property in my parents' little town in Montana, but I couldn't afford much. There was one lot in town that fit my budget. The picture showed a nice lightly-wooded lot.
When we got there, the lot looked as good as the picture, but next door was an old mobile home with junk spilling off the porch and all over the yard, and there was a big hound dog barking away. The next door neighbor on the other side had even more spilled junk and two barking hound dogs. It fit your definition of hell twice over.
I didn't buy the property.
A year later, the realtors that showed it to me mailed me the newest "Montana Real Estate" booklet, and that lot was still for sale. Hell just doesn't sell very quickly.
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