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Friday, July 8th, 2005 09:24 am
storm things
Sudden storm last night knocked out the electricity, which led to the most boring night of my life, and I'm including that night I went out with one of my cousins and discussed, I kid you not, livestock shows with a group of guys who were *way* too enthused about the subject. We (read, *I*) obsessively called the electric company update line, and well, suffice to say, it didn't come on until thsi morning, and we discovered the air conditioner somehow blew out. *Again*.
Right now, it's in its component pieces in our living room while both my parents, armed with a phone and absolutely no natural talent with engineering and mechanics, try to fix it.
I'm just saying, if you hear about a bizarre accident in the Texas hill country involving air conditioners, yeah, that'll probably be us.
This means, it's going to reach somewhere in the *hundreds* and we are going to die. Probably by murdering each other in heat-related insanity, and wow, this could go bad places fast. Acutally, right now, it's not too bad, but knowing it *will* get bad is all we really need for the insanity to start.
The storm was kind of cool, though. It lasted about forty-five minutes, and me and Niece watched in interest as tile, wood, bits of roof from the neighbors, and our trampoline tried to take serious flight. Let me say this again. *The trampoline* left the ground, then shuddered back down and moved about twenty feet, stopping right before the fence line. I can't even explain my glee watching. Cause wow. Horizontal rain, rumors of hail, and it hit so *fast* we actually didn't see it coming at all, and people, this is *rural* country, you can see *everything* coming, but not this one. Fantastically interseting. Also, downed power lines and a fire somewhere in the not good category, but so far, no reports of serious injuries. Part of the convenience store up the road got ripped up pretty bad. People keep making tornado-sounds, but honestly, I watched, and unless it's the smallest tornado ever, it was just really, really, really strong winds. Really, really, really strong winds. But more news later. Later adventures included Grandmotehr panicking, going through her medication with a flashlight to find her anti-anxiety meds before she hyperventilated, sending her to my aunt's when *her* power came back on around eleven, and actually having a decent sleep, since it was chill most of hte night and my window is strategically located between two windows, so cool air flow was fabulous. Called in sick to work to help clean up the damage--we actually expected it to take longer to fix, but the AC is kind of an emergency thing. When I say we can fry eggs on the sidewalk, seriously, I'm going to one day take a camera to work, take some eggs, and fry them on the concrete back porch to *show* the mind-boggling fact it takes only a few minutes.
Other News
They sent out the final notice that the RIF (Reduction in Force) starts in January, so I have six months. I did my panic yesterday, then got over it. Cause wow, if I do it now, I won't have any fun around Christmas predicting the end of my life and all. Also, we're moving this month, so--yeah. A house was found, and so, moving. Also, trying to fix my financial aid and figure out how I'm going to negotiate school. Apparently, come January, I may just do a full load and be done with it. I need my degree already. Plus--and this is just so sad--I'm so bored. It came to me that while I don't particularly enjoy classroom, I don't really enjoy doing something while I'm not learning something from it, and sadly, I've hit the wall on what new things I can learn from my current job.
RIF people are first in line for the new jobs at Family and Protective Services (Aka child and adult abuse), and there was this scarily long presentation on the rewards of working there. None of the jobs offered are at my current salary, which makes me itchy, and also, I don't have the qualifications for a caseworker. What makes me more itchy is I have an eight year old son and three year old niece. I'm non-confrontational, kind of passive-aggressive, and pretty much the easy-going. I'm not sure any of those things will survive the things a worker has to see every day.
How do people do this every day? In my job, I see a lot of misery, but it's, for the most part, really superficial, and the sheer variety eventually dulls down the edges of it. And I'm already proactively bitter against, well, men for not paying child support, and filled with this frustration that the social services aren't just not adequate, they're--amazingly ridiculously *bad*. I ended up the other night picking a roaring fight with my best friend's brother, who I dearly love, and considering this is *him*, the epitome of cool reason--yeah. So, don't want to go to an agency that will only make it worse. This has already changed me, and I'm not sure it's for the best. Being socially aware is a good thing, but--I want my hope back, and this isn't the place I'm going to find it again. On the other hand--if I can do it, and I am relatively good at it, I *should* do it. I'm not even close to burnout, so copping out at this point would be selfish. I just--sometimes, I think I'm becoming one of those people who never sees anything good in the world anymore, everything's edged with the certainty of failure and misery and no way to *fix* anything. I want to work somewhere I never see people, never worry about how other people survive, and never have to *think* again. I kind of want to become an air conditioning repair person right now. This could be because I'm proactively sweating in reaction to it being nine-thirty and coming on The Really Hot Part of the Day.
So. I want distraction. I kind of want to write, but nothing's clicking. Anyone have any story of mine they want a DVD commentary on? I kind of feel like immersing myself for a while in something shiny.
Right now, it's in its component pieces in our living room while both my parents, armed with a phone and absolutely no natural talent with engineering and mechanics, try to fix it.
I'm just saying, if you hear about a bizarre accident in the Texas hill country involving air conditioners, yeah, that'll probably be us.
This means, it's going to reach somewhere in the *hundreds* and we are going to die. Probably by murdering each other in heat-related insanity, and wow, this could go bad places fast. Acutally, right now, it's not too bad, but knowing it *will* get bad is all we really need for the insanity to start.
The storm was kind of cool, though. It lasted about forty-five minutes, and me and Niece watched in interest as tile, wood, bits of roof from the neighbors, and our trampoline tried to take serious flight. Let me say this again. *The trampoline* left the ground, then shuddered back down and moved about twenty feet, stopping right before the fence line. I can't even explain my glee watching. Cause wow. Horizontal rain, rumors of hail, and it hit so *fast* we actually didn't see it coming at all, and people, this is *rural* country, you can see *everything* coming, but not this one. Fantastically interseting. Also, downed power lines and a fire somewhere in the not good category, but so far, no reports of serious injuries. Part of the convenience store up the road got ripped up pretty bad. People keep making tornado-sounds, but honestly, I watched, and unless it's the smallest tornado ever, it was just really, really, really strong winds. Really, really, really strong winds. But more news later. Later adventures included Grandmotehr panicking, going through her medication with a flashlight to find her anti-anxiety meds before she hyperventilated, sending her to my aunt's when *her* power came back on around eleven, and actually having a decent sleep, since it was chill most of hte night and my window is strategically located between two windows, so cool air flow was fabulous. Called in sick to work to help clean up the damage--we actually expected it to take longer to fix, but the AC is kind of an emergency thing. When I say we can fry eggs on the sidewalk, seriously, I'm going to one day take a camera to work, take some eggs, and fry them on the concrete back porch to *show* the mind-boggling fact it takes only a few minutes.
Other News
They sent out the final notice that the RIF (Reduction in Force) starts in January, so I have six months. I did my panic yesterday, then got over it. Cause wow, if I do it now, I won't have any fun around Christmas predicting the end of my life and all. Also, we're moving this month, so--yeah. A house was found, and so, moving. Also, trying to fix my financial aid and figure out how I'm going to negotiate school. Apparently, come January, I may just do a full load and be done with it. I need my degree already. Plus--and this is just so sad--I'm so bored. It came to me that while I don't particularly enjoy classroom, I don't really enjoy doing something while I'm not learning something from it, and sadly, I've hit the wall on what new things I can learn from my current job.
RIF people are first in line for the new jobs at Family and Protective Services (Aka child and adult abuse), and there was this scarily long presentation on the rewards of working there. None of the jobs offered are at my current salary, which makes me itchy, and also, I don't have the qualifications for a caseworker. What makes me more itchy is I have an eight year old son and three year old niece. I'm non-confrontational, kind of passive-aggressive, and pretty much the easy-going. I'm not sure any of those things will survive the things a worker has to see every day.
How do people do this every day? In my job, I see a lot of misery, but it's, for the most part, really superficial, and the sheer variety eventually dulls down the edges of it. And I'm already proactively bitter against, well, men for not paying child support, and filled with this frustration that the social services aren't just not adequate, they're--amazingly ridiculously *bad*. I ended up the other night picking a roaring fight with my best friend's brother, who I dearly love, and considering this is *him*, the epitome of cool reason--yeah. So, don't want to go to an agency that will only make it worse. This has already changed me, and I'm not sure it's for the best. Being socially aware is a good thing, but--I want my hope back, and this isn't the place I'm going to find it again. On the other hand--if I can do it, and I am relatively good at it, I *should* do it. I'm not even close to burnout, so copping out at this point would be selfish. I just--sometimes, I think I'm becoming one of those people who never sees anything good in the world anymore, everything's edged with the certainty of failure and misery and no way to *fix* anything. I want to work somewhere I never see people, never worry about how other people survive, and never have to *think* again. I kind of want to become an air conditioning repair person right now. This could be because I'm proactively sweating in reaction to it being nine-thirty and coming on The Really Hot Part of the Day.
So. I want distraction. I kind of want to write, but nothing's clicking. Anyone have any story of mine they want a DVD commentary on? I kind of feel like immersing myself for a while in something shiny.