Life bastardizes Blondie …

"One way or another, I’m gonna find you
I’m gonna screw ya screw ya screw ya screw ya"

At least that’s how things seem lately. Everytime I turn around, it’s another altercation with life throwing crap in may path … if I were a boxer, they’d stop booking the continual rematches of Shadow vs. Life because the viewers would get bored of watching it.

Anyway, the latest comes from the fallout of trying to move to Parksville for an assistant manager’s position. Those who have been reading know the hoops I tried to jump through before finally having to knuckle under, turn down the job and apply for Unemployment Insurance … Apparently, when EI phoned my former boss regarding the filing of the claim, he told them that there were availabilities in his hotel room, and that he’d found 8 listings in the paper within an hour. As a result of what he said, EI was holding my claim, hanging on the verge of denying it … fortunately, when the worker called me yesterday,  I was able to lay out all the expenses, loopholes, un-returned correspondence, and even the question of "why would I turn down a $1600/mo job for unemployment?" … the claim has been activated, and the first cheque is on its way. By the time I got off the phone with the agent, I was shaking like a leaf from nerves.

I’m not really sure how I should feel regarding CJ now. Obviously, having invested so much time and effort into my training, and expecting that I would be there as part of his staff, it stands to reason that he would be irritated by my not being able to find a place, but the information he told to the EI worker nearly cost me my claim … having worked for and with him and RJ for two years, part of me wants to believe that he didn’t intentionally try to cost me my claim, but at the same time, I have to consider that he made no offer of being able to extend the expected start date for me so I could try to piece something else together.

Oh well, I guess somehow I won this round, if you can call it a "win" … I would have far rather been in Parksville, if for nothing more than the proximity to cultural resources and educational opportunities.

The next phase of my fight with life, I guess, now comes with the re-tooling of my resume in order to try and land something, as my EI only lasts a year and won’t stretch nearly far enough … not that I enjoy being on it in the first place. Special K is convinced that I should be analyzing my computer skills (admitedly they are strong in a number of areas) and working towards a position as a troubleshooter or technician of some sort, and that I shouldn’t be settling for less than a rough $20,000 a year, which would allow for a comfortable living in a larger area.

At the same time, I have to consider that I don’t want my music to slip away from me either, especially now that I’m starting to piece it back together again … I have an appointment with my doctor (whom I shall name Pawdoc) on Monday … I’d neglected to go to either of the followups that Pawdoc had requested over the year that I was on graveyard shift, so now would be the best time to find out what he has to say about past bloodwork and neurology tests in the analysis of my wrists (Carpal Tunnel was diagnosed, but is often a symptom of something else, so …)

Resumes, job searches, appointments, practice, and of course I didn’t get much of an insight into beginning piano methods from Shivers, and I want to start back at step 1, since I never had piano training prior to college …

it’s all a big recipe for a headache … take 1 Shadow, insert stress, shake, repeat until desired existential conflict is reached …

maybe I’ll win the lottery and buy Special K’s apartment like I joked about … dreams are still free, right?