back to the ol’ grindstone

I rejoined the working class today. Perhaps the worst part of starting a new job is all of the hand-shaking that goes on (I dread hand-shaking thanks to my clamminess). No, really the worst thing about starting a new job is lunch. I never know if I should bring my own lunch, or if it is customary to go “off-campus.” So I did what all freaks do: brought my lunch yet left it in the car. I do prefer my string cheese a little warm, but the yogurt was nearly curdled.

Driving home, I rejoined rush-hour. Since I’m from the Seattle metro area, nothing in Nebraska will ever be deemed “traffic” to me. I will call it congestion. I took Dodge from 36th to 132nd at 5:15 pm where I thanked God that I don’t keep anything in my car that could double as a weapon. I have seen so many horrible drivers and accidents lately that I am constantly on-edge when I see cars changing lanes: even two lanes over. I assume someone is going to barrel into me and my plastic car will shrivel into a steaming hot pile of parts with me inside of it.

Throughout the course of the day, I took “Unemployment 101.” I never realized how complicated unemployment insurance is and how much it varies state to state. It felt good to be learning something again. Sometimes I feel like I haven’t really learned anything new since college. That is a horrible feeling. As a kid I had an insatiable curiosity and literally taught myself out of the 1982 Encyclopedia set we owned. Lately, the extent of my learning has been underlining vocabulary words in the books I read and looking them up on dictionary.com.

I’m considering going back to college. My first degree is in a subject I enjoy, but as a hobby. I would like a degree that gives me knowledge I would actually use in the workplace. Nobody cares if I know what hyperbole or catharsis means when I’m punching the old time clock. Isn’t it fitting that I come up with an expensive idea right when Steve and I are looking to buy our first home?

Tomorrow will be much better. I know where the refrigerator is and will be taking I-80 home. Part of the excitement of a new job is trial and error. Finding out what to do is the dull stuff: finding out how to do it my own way is what excites me.