Salutations

How the time flies, eh? I'm trying an experiment. I've reconnected with a lot of friends via Facebook in the last couple of months and it's made me think maybe someone would look at my blog now if I try it again. I think I had two loyal viewers before....we'll see how this goes.;)

I'm not up to much right now, just working (still) at an elementary school in a sort of jack-of-all-trades. My job consists of arriving at the building to open it at six every weekday, vacuuming and trashing (that's janitor-speak for collecting trash) the office area and gym. Then I catch a quick nap (er...only on break time, of course) and at some point before the kids get out to their first recess I walk all around the school sweeping up cigarette butts, beer bottles, birth control devices or whatever else the teenagers left behind the night or weekend (those are worst) before. Glamorous, huh? Anyway, I'm done with that by 9:30 or 10:00 and so I find various things to kill time until student lunch at 11:40, which we start setting up the cafeteria for at 11:15. Lunch is over by 12:50, we finish clean up around 1:15 and eat our (I have a lunch helper who comes in at 11:15 and works afterward until 8:00) lunch which the cafeteria ladies are kind enough to give us from the leftovers. The food's pretty mediocre, but it's free and I don't go out for lunch. I finish eating by 1:45 and kill some more time until 2:30 at which time I can go home.

Sorry if that was more info than anyone wanted, but I don't usually talk about work because it doesn't thrill me, so this is the most you'll ever hear about it.:-P "As-needed" jobs include electrical system checks, keeping janitorial supplies stocked, responding to teacher needs (from trying to fix broken pencil sharpeners to hanging whiteboards on walls, to any number of random maintenance jobs, or making requests to district maintenance when it's a big project. I also get to keep and maintain a lot of paperwork. It's an old school with some asbestos insulation and tiles in some areas, so I have to do deterioration inspections twice a year to make sure no one's in danger of contracting mesothelioma (no dictionary required, thank you).

Well, that's kind of a basic outline of the crap I do. It doesn't pay badly, but it's not a living, either. I live with my folks for now (any of you ladies want to marry me so I can have an excuse to move out?) because it's cheap. I'm tossing a few ideas around about what to do next job-wise. Ideas range from city jobs like road crews to police, to getting a trucker's license and driving for a living. Heck, you can haul in some cash doing long-haul, though it's not easy if you have a family. I basically committed to spending at least a year at Burton Elementary and it'll have been a year this April, so I've got to start seriously looking for something pretty soon. I could stay where I am forever, but that wouldn't be cool, and you all know how I value my coolness.

I have two friends in this state (speaking physically, as in the State of Washington: wouldn't want to confuse any liberally-educated friends about what "state" I refer to). One is one of my best friends who I've known since I was fourteen and who I look up to a lot and trust with pretty much anything. The other is a sort of casual tennis buddy I met by chance. He's in his late thirties and we don't do much except play and talk about tennis. I have some casual acquaintances at church and at work, but nobody I'm close to on a deep level. My tennis partner is the only friend I've made since I left T.A.C., although I've managed to reconnect with a few old ones in that time, so that's nice. Okay, abrupt ending here. I'm tired of writing about myself. Let's talk about you! Just kidding, but good night. That's "how I'm doing" in a nutshell. You asked! If you want to know more, call me at 9-1-1. God bless and drink lots of water.