Wednesday in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

(1) White boss seemed… jovial. Though, Chinese Boss is out of town today so that may be why. :shakes head: See… they can be all over the state without communicating any of that to me. But I’m worried about getting fired for asking for a Morning off a week and a half in advance. I get it, balance of power, and all that.
(2) I’m shameful. The more I think about it… the more I want that job. A staff of 33 people. A town of 102,000. Government job with Government Benefits. High English proficiency in co-workers. NOT having to literally account for every single minute of my day. Yeah, it would suck to leave my friends again. No doubt. But if I am able to be happier at a job… if my job is more open to the fact that it employs humans and not machines… if my job has a healthy respect for family… that can only be an improvement.

Not that I’m going into the interview with hope. Not that I even hope I’ll be on time for the interview. It is a 3 hour drive, my interview is at 9. I need to leave at 6 to get there on time. Which would be possible, normally. But I’ve had such extreme issues with sleep lately, it has me concerned. For example… I’ve wanted to wake up early this week. Early meaning 6 or 5. But… I am not getting to sleep until past 2 a.m. Every night. Which is most upsetting last night as, in order to get up at 5, I went to bed at 9 pm. But still 9 pm to 3:12 a.m.... I was completely awake. It is fucked up.

Another thing just popped into my head that feels so… petty. But for people like me and my wife; isn’t. My wife and I are Trivia Nerd Pop-Culture Referencing Media-Addicts that can seamless fit references to Harry Potter, Star Trek, Halo, and the Animaniacs into any conversation. Seriously. We’re so… this… that my cousin got us matching “I Speak Fluent Movie Quotes” T-Shirts for our wedding. We are pop culture aficionados and Wife loves winning Star Trek Trivia and I love a good Movie Quiz! My current bosses? Don’t know who Hagrid is. Which… if they were older or Conservative Christians would make sense. If they were older, I’d try to strike up a conversation about an older movie (Ghostbusters 1984, Star Trek 1979, Blazing Saddles 1974, The Graduate 1967, A Streetcar Named Desire 1951). If they were Conservative Christians, I’d ask if they’d seen both versions of Left Behind and which one they preferred. But my bosses… well… as my Wife said.... there’s nothing I could talk to them about. They garden, they cook, they golf, they watch football, they work themselves to death. That is the extent of their hobbies. Like… read a book. Watch a movie. Get excited about a Television Show. Something. Maybe that is just really shallow of us. But… I would hope that (at a bigger firm, anyway) there would be the possibility of running into at least one person who would know a Harry Potter reference… or a Star Wars quote… or a Ghostbusters reference… or a Back to the Future reference… or something! I mean… no wonder I don’t feel comfortable here! (semi lol)

As I was walking back from lunch today, I was thinking… and this isn’t original, exactly, as someone else had mentioned it here before.......
I was walking back and thinking… this firm doesn’t give me sick leave, personal time, holiday pay, vacation… this firm helps me get clients… it pays for my Malpractice Insurance… it gives me office space. That is what this firm does. Getting Clients? Technically… I could probably do a better job of that. Not to be a dick. But seriously. This firm gets me NON ENGLISH SPEAKING clients. I would get ENGLISH SPEAKING clients. Malpractice Insurance is $3,000 per year for 1,000,000 in coverage. Office space? I use my own computer, I use my own phone, I use my own car… so… I put up with my bosses stuff for an increased amount of clients and $3,000 of insurance coverage. When you think of it that way… I care even less of they fire me over things like “Going to appointments”.