Flutterby™! : Hitting the road 2002-02-14 22:46:31+00

Hitting the road

2002-02-14 22:46:31+00 by Dylan 4 comments

Well I normally would try to give more warning of something like this but circumstances really don't allow it. I'm leaving California within the next 10 days or so, and I doubt I'll be back other than for visits. So, for those of you in Cali who know me...I'll miss you until I come back for the Burn next year. If you want to get in touch, dylan@coyotegrits.com is accepting mail and will be until Dan decides to cut me off or stop paying for the domain name. I should be around for the next week and checking mail, after that the computer will be packed. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Well don't worry about the mail. The domain is paid for a few years. You'll have to give a better account of where your going and what you'll be up to. I know I haven't seen too much of you lately but I'll miss ya just the same. So do they have phone lines in this new place?

I've been out of work since Grits broke up with not so much as a nibble in months. Unemployment ran out two months ago. I don't have money or resources to look for work, and I don't want to go on welfare. Combined with that is that my mother has just been in and out of the hospital, and her health is slipping. She needs help, and I need a place to get my life back on track. It's pretty fucking shot right now.

On the plus side, I have a blossoming relationship which is unfortunately long-distance and will unfortunately remain so after I move. I'll be going to Iowa to help mom for a while and get a little cash saved, then if things remain good with the relationship, I'll be moving on from there to where the other person involved is.

For now...I'm bound for Iowa City, Iowa. An oasis of alternative living in the vast pig-manure wasteland that is Iowa. Sort of like Austin if Austin was only about 1/3 as cool.

It's not a bad place, but my mom and I don't usually get along so I'm a bit stressed...but frankly I'm less stressed than I would be staying and trying to survive a few more months like this.

Use a month or two of rent-free life to get money put away so that I can move the next time with a good setup to start a new life. California's full of ghosts for me now, so even if the long-distance thing doesn't pan out...I doubt I'll move back. At least not to the Bay Area. Mendo County...maybe. If I have enough cash to buy about 50 acres...that'd be ok.

I think I'm also going to get out of the geek biz. I can't handle the vicissitudes of the job market, I need something much less feast or famine. That's not even going into what 10 months of unemployment does to your resumé...everything on mine is out of date. Plus the whole "corporate office jobs make me want to kill thousands" thing. Think I'll probably get ASE certified and fix cars. Maybe go for the race mechanic certification and work for NASCAR or something. I dunno.

All in all, it's been a good 12 years I guess, but it's time for me to start over. All I do here is live in the past and wish things had turned out differently...and that's no way to live.

I'm going to miss a lot of folks, but most of them I only talk to by email anyway, so what's the difference really? Not much. I'll come back for the Burn, that's a damn good reason to come home (though talking my Georgia peach into that one it may be tricky at first)

Umm...there's the more or less complete story. Do keep in touch, Todd...and Dan, and any of you who wants to. Never know, maybe a few months in Iowa will make me hungry for the fast pace and ulcers again. It could happen. God knows I won't want to stay there any longer than absolutely necessary.

this sucks! and to think, i because a computer programmer because it seemed like a better career than continuing to work at the skate shop...

well...I'm an extreme case. And I still wouldn't be going to mom if it weren't for the whole she might die thing.

But all things considered, I wish I'd stayed working in the record store. The ulcer wasn't worth it and the money just made me lose my ability to stretch a few dollars for a couple weeks...have no clue how I used to do that.

But no, I wouldn't take my example as a dire prediction...my career has been all over the map, and I'm a jack of all trades in a specialist market. It's not so bad for folks who devoted themselves to one or two or three things and got really expert at them. The problem is that I don't really qualify for any job with "Senior" in the title unless the rest of the title is "Technical Support Engineer"...and I won't do tech support again EVER. I'd rather live out of a shopping cart.

Just...stay on top of the new tech, focus on a few things and do them very well, and you'll be fine. It's really hard to get "I can learn whatever the hell you throw at me" through in a resumé, and employers have to take your word for it.