A belated update

[robotech_master]

So I got a job. I haven't mentioned this in the LJ, as I really haven't felt the urge to write in it much lately. Haven't had the energy. To be honest, I don't feel like I have the energy even now. But I finally realized, if I don't sit down and do it, it won't get done at all, so I figure I might as well tell the world what I'm doing.

My job is with a company that aggregates and processes Less-Than-Truckload shipping accounts for various businesses and trucking vendors. It handles a lot of major accounts, in fact, including (of all things) Focus on the Family (though that's not one I normally work with). I'm data entry, at $8 an hour. I sit at a computer all day typing in the vital statistics from trucking company invoices (invoice number, date, amount, type of cargo, expense account codes). I got it through a local temp agency, and if I do well enough at it they'll hire me on "for real." It's not exactly the most strenuous work in the world, especially for a good typist, and I'm picking up some great ten-key skills. I can even get overtime (at time and a half) if I want it. It's not the highest-paying job in the world, either, but it's bringing in twice what my unemployment did per week, so I can stop falling behind on the bills and even come out a little ahead every month if I'm frugal.

The thing is, it's really not what I want to do long-term. It doesn't use any of the skills I've worked hardest to develop, except for my typing fingers. It's monotonous, repetitive, boring, and there's generally more work than I can easily get done. I want to find a better position, something in tech support or customer service or even, dare I hope, writing. The problem is it's harder to search for a job now than it was when I was unemployed.

Everyone always says, "Oh, it's easier to search for a job when you already have one," but the fact is, it's really not. After I work all day and get home, I want nothing more than to just vegetate, maybe play some computer games, and relax, until I have to go to bed scant hours later in order to get up and do it again. It's hard to force myself to do much of anything, let alone searching the job hunting sites and sending out e-resumes. And writing an honest-to-god cover letter is right out of the question.

And that's not all it takes away from me doing. I haven't put together a podcast in quite some time—not one of the prerecorded ones I do, not one of the ones where I go out and find a guest. Those had been bringing in $150 a month for me for the last few months, which would be very helpful money on top of the job I have now—but how the heck am I going to keep up the revenue stream if I don't feel up to continuing it?

Speaking of revenue streams…today I went to BioKinetics for the screening for a medical study I'm going to be doing next month, assuming everything comes together, testing the interaction of an experimental heart drug, AVE1231, with a cholesterol drug called atorvastin. It's going to get me $800, for which I have some very definite plans. However, it was never mentioned to me that the screening process for this one would involve wearing a Holter monitor for 24 hours. When I went in, they stuck this thing consisting of eight electrodes all over the front of my chest, and then put a gauze mesh tank top on over the whole thing that makes me feel like a trussed-up turkey. Among other things, it means I can't take a shower, and also that I'll have to go back to the clinic (having to change busses twice to get there) tomorrow night. I had wanted to work an hour or so of overtime tomorrow, given that we're under a bit of time pressure at work (we have Monday off, so we need to get a day ahead by then), but I'm going to have to leave on time or else I'll miss the last bus that comes out to the clinic. Oh well; I'll adjust if I must.

I hope I won't have to wear it during the study itself. Given that one part of the study involves coming in every morning for a week for a new dose, that could be very irritating if I have to wear it all week.

In other news, this week City Utilities is observing "Ride Your Bike to Work Week." How are they doing this? By giving people with bicycles free bus rides. After you get done laughing at the irony, you can reflect that it will encourage the people who would bike part-way if they could. As for me, given that I take my bike to and from work on the bus anyway (as an artifact of my having to change busses twice to get from home to work, going from work to home will drop me off about half a mile away unless I want to spend twenty minutes longer on the bus), at least it will save me a little money.

Comments

[eagle]

If somebody actually says "oh, it's easier to search for a job when you already have one," they're nuts. However, it is the case that it's easier to get a job when you already have one. The searching is still a pain in the ass, but employers are much more likely to hire someone away from another job than someone who has no job, for a wide variety of reasons.

I hear you on the exhaustion. I have never had a more exhausting job in my life than generic second-tier help desk, and I bet data entry would be even worse. My experience is, counter-intuitively, the jobs that are the most boring and mind-numbing are also the most exhausting. The more interesting the job is, the less tiring it is. (At least in IT sorts of work.)

[(Anonymous)]

Chris, this is your moment of clarity. You are now at the point where you are renting yourself out as a lab animal. This is something that prison inmates do to reduce their sentences.

You should be expanding your horizons. Focus on your existing strengths like your writing skills, and perhaps add some technical expertise to the mix, things like web design or programming or whatever it is that interests you, because those things can be picked up from books and community college courses cheaply, and there is always a market for people who can do this.

Or go in a different direction. Maybe you should be aiming to be the guy who sticks that Holter monitor to the test subjects. But my gut tells me that you can do a lot better than this.

And yeah, maybe it sucks to spend time on things like that or job hunting instead of playing RPGs or surfing, but at least you'll get some sort of return on your investment.

Think about it.

- Roger

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

I did that sort of job in college at nights - typing in bills of lading for the trucking company I was working for. It's not the most exciting of jobs, is it?