T16: The Clean, Political, or Professional in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

This entry may jump around a bit. AND it is 1 of 2. So… enjoy.

• The drive to Iowa started with a fun (note: bullshit) text message from work. They were going to have a meeting to discuss the Law Library on Monday the Second of November. Y’know… the Monday I was gone! So I texted Work Crush and asked her to be there for me… so that way at least somebody who knew what was going on in there could be at the freaking meeting. She couldn’t make it either. GRUMPH! Luckily, she expressed her strong feelings on the subject to our bosses and they postponed the meeting to an as-yet unknown date. I have the feeling that the Law Library thing is going to be a war. I suggested as much to work crush and she said “Fuck em. If they want to go to war, they’d better bring a hazmat suit!” Awesome. As for me… I’ll just keep breathing. I have officially declared that “I can do what I can do. Anymore than that is expecting too much.” So… for example… like next week? I’ll do as much of the work as I can. But when Wednesday is over: fuck ‘em. If they have problems with that, they can hire someone else.

• As soon as I got to my parents, I hugged my dad and left again. BTW… here’s something I know people are going to be pissed off about. In my Dad’s youth, he did some volunteer work via Boy Scouts for some Native Tribes. They gave him some beaded breastplates and other clothing items. He wears them on Halloween with Pride. But in my head I kept thinking about the LONG list of things some of my super-lib friends kept posting all through October… lists titled If You’re White, These Costumes Aren’t Right and Cultural Appropriation Is Not Costuming. However, these same people share a video of a black male dressed in a fat suit as a white girl and see no problems with it. WORLD = CRAZY.

• Friday night hung out with “Jane” as I called her in a previous racy story and her husband as I had not seen either of them in over a year… and had NEVER been to their marital home! So that was awesome. Hung out a little there and then went to Fong’s for food.
  

After that, we drove to Cabaret West Glen. Interesting story… this place has changed a few times over the years but was COMPLETELY redesigned, remodeled, and rebranded while I was away. Even though my proposal to my wife was shitty (in my view, the problem of being with someone who despises romance)… Cab West as we call it was where I proposed. Back then, it was a lounge bar with lots of chairs and sofas and all of that. Now? It is a full on dance club. AND Jane and her husband are good friends with one of the bartenders. Such good friends, that he was pouring all night and only charged us $10 each for the drinks! I am going to write MUCH more about this part of the evening in my 2nd entry! I didn’t get back to my parents that night until 3!

• Saturday was spent mostly sleeping and relaxing. Introduced my parents to the movie Coraline and the TV Show Rick and Morty. That was about it for Saturday.

• Sunday I woke up from a dream where, actually, what I’ve always wanted happened. My consciousness was transported back into my 9th grade body. BUT there were rules… primarily: I could not attend any class that I did not attend the first time around. So, if I was sick or injured or something… I had to go through that again. It was an interesting dream.
  Then we went to church and back home for parents doing yardwork and me studying for my interview, talking on the phone with the Wife (we had a maintenance emergency while I was gone :( ), and enjoying that Bruce Lee and Jet Li films were on TV.

Then… I began to read the paper. This. Blew. My Mind.
FRONT PAGE of the state newspaper was a HUGE headline on how the economy is hurting Black People disproportionately to White People. Obviously, my first reaction was.... “and what about Asians, Latinos, and Eastern European migrants? Or are you intentionally trying to be obtuse?”
But then it got worse when I read the business section. The business section’s front page specifically had an article about how Small Businesses all over the state were struggling more than ever, how consumer confidence has plummeted again, how all economic factors are trending downwards. In short.... BIG FRONT PAGE NEWS: Whites Screw Blacks in New Economy.... teeny business page news: We’re All Screwed Because We Haven’t Seen Any Real Recovery. I mean… I get that front page sells papers.... but NEITHER of these articles were in the opinion section. They were both sold as news. So here’s my comment… I understand that there are some predominantly black communities in the state that may have been hit harder by the Great Recession than some predominantly white communities. But.... if nobody has seen any help in this regard… what value is there in trying to stir up a racial debate? Lets get the economy going again, lets look at ALL people still suffering from the losses and hardships that started in 2011. And THEN… if the recovery favors more white people/businesses… then we can make it a huge racial issue. Until then? This just feels like the paper saying “Everybody focus on racial issues!!” Maybe that’s just me… because.... damn… 4 years after Global Economic Upheaval… I’d have thought we’d be working on a solution… instead… we’re getting super wrapped up in Word Policing and Racial Divides while all of the economic recovery goes to the same people that put us IN this mess.

MONDAY AND INTERVIEW

Nailed it. But of course, not sure if I got the job. Showed up a half hour early. Walked in with 15 minutes to spar. Chatted a bit with my friend that works there. Interviewers asked (privately) how I knew him and I said he gave me my first theater gig in HS (true story). That broke up the interviewers because they knew he had gone into the Military… but had no idea he’d ever done theater! The interview took about a half hour with lots of give and take questions and answers. Honestly… feel like I nailed it as much as I could. They even said “Thank you for a fascinating interview” which I take as a good thing.
BUT… they are looking for someone who really knows transactional law. My limited experience, and specialization, is in litigation. So… not confident I’ll be getting the call back on 2nd Interviews. BUT… dammit I really hope I do. SO many great reasons to move back to Des Moines!

In closing this entry… I’ll leave you with this. As I’ve been interviewing, I’ve been talking about work ethic, professionalism, the desire to accomplish, all of that. So a friend sent me this little news story about “Hard Work” being offensive. Seriously?
“HARD WORK IS NOT OFFENSIVE“

Entry #2 will be, if it translates properly from my head to my fingers, considerably more saucy. So.... I probably won’t get to that one until After Hours :p