Well, There It Is.

So far, I have had no luck finding a Temp Job for the time I will be in NJ through the end of the year. Calls to agencies have proved fruitless and frustrating. My only hope is that while I am in away in Arizona, I get calls from the agencies as they try to set me up with something for when I get back. I have little faith in my recently-ex-employer to actually deliver on the delivery of my December paychecks as promised. I have been sick for days, with a fever most likely, and I finally broke down and saw a Doctor. This Doctor was recommended by a friend of a friend and I’m not sure if he is someone I’d go back to. He prescribed some prescription drugs — a first for me. (When I was young, I never went to the doctor due to a fever. My parents must have been magical.) The Doctor, while concerned about the color of my mucous (clear or not clear is the question), did not seem too much concerned about anything else.

Today I spent working more on my substitute teaching application. The director who is currently at the school where I want to teach suggested I substitute for him for a few days this coming Christmas, but he also suggested I still look elsewhere as well for a teaching job since there’s still no absolute guarantee that there will even be a position. So, I spent more time today looking for positions. I emailed some of the people I’ve worked with over the past few years and maybe they’ll have some leads for me.

What really bugs me is the fact that I’m not working right now. Sure, maybe I’ve been overworked for the last few years, but not working makes me feel pretty worthless at the moment.

Plus, I’m out of tissues.

Including employment. You, readers, may have noticed that I haven’t been entirely happy in my current situation at work. Now the only difference is there is no situation, and that’s okay.

I will still be getting paid through the month of December, and those checks as well as ones from a temp job should give me some extra money when I could really use it. I knew when I was moving up here to northern New Jersey that it would be temporary, and I did forsee moving somewhere else by the end of the year, so basically everything is right on schedule. I’ll probably be moving to somewhere in southern New Jersey at the end of the month.

Rest in peace, George Harrison. Not only did you affect the lives of many, many people, you changed the course of American music. Pretty good for a Brit.

Well, it just kind of figures, doesn’t it. The only entry on this journal ever to inspire discussion was political. Shudder.

Well, I’m excited because tomorrow I’m going to New York City for the first time in months. I’m going to see Barenaked Ladies at the Roseland Ballroom. I haven’t seen a concert since July, and that was also Barenaked Ladies. I need to get out more and see more live music.

There used to be a show on Nickelodeon called Turkey TV. I really don’t remember that much about it. Anyone?

But that’s not what I came here to talk about. I came here to talk about the draft. Actually, there’s a song that has been a Thanksgiving tradition for me. Every year, my family would be driving on Thanksgiving to get to relatives’ houses, and we would always hear the song Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie on the radio at noon.

It’s a song about Alice. And a restautant. More importantly, it’s about the idiocy of the military. The song ends on the point of a guy, who was on trial for littering, attempting to join the army. The authorities questioned his morality, after all, they wouldn’t want a man with questionable ethics to join the army.

This song comes at an interesting time this year. It’s definitely a song about peace at a time when we are “supposed” to blindly follow the president of this country in his war against Afghanistan. It’s interesting to hear people claim that as Americans, it is our duty to support our leaders. It had always been my impression that our country was built (for example, see the Constitution of the United States) on the foundry of the “people” being able to question those in power.

Well, if I’ve never mentioned it before, I am now. I truly dislike politics. Personally, I think by bombing Afghanistan, we are no less evil than those who attacked us.

Well, that’s enough of that. I actually meant to write about my Thanksgiving. I had dinner with my dad and his girlfriend. We talked about money. Mostly about the fact that I have none. I’m going on vacation in a few weeks and it’s going to be amazingly expensive and I have no idea how I am going to pay for any of it, at a time where I don’t even have enough money to pay my bills. Sigh.

Sort of.

Back in The Day, when only the priviledged few (government, military and colleges) had access to the internet, online life wasn’t cluttered with people. Then along came America Online, offering internet access to everyone… for a cost.

I won’t go into what the “cost” is here because I’m sure many of my readers are AOL users and I don’t want to offend.

The paradox is that I am now an AOL user, and a disgruntled one at that. In my new apartment, I do not have cable or DSL access to the internet. I figured dial-up is the way to go. Of course, with AOL’s free 1000 minutes, it seemed like the best choice. Well, once you sign up for AOL, you have to call their toll-free number to activate your account. I did this, was told my account was verified, and was given a new password. I logged in–no problem. The next time I dialed up, I got the same message as I did originally. It disconnected me from AOL and said I had to call a toll-free number to activate my account. How odd, I thought.

I let it go for a while, borrowing Denise‘s account (thanks, Denise) when I needed to connect. A few days ago, I called the toll-free number again to verify my account. At first the ever-so-helpful individual on the other end of the phone line said it was already activated. He didn’t believe me when I told him I couldn’t get online. So from what I could tell, he verified it again.

Excellent! Now I could get online. Until yesterday. I connected yesterday and it told me my account is invalid. Sigh. So once again I called, explained the situation, and the customer service representative explained that my account had been deleted because I never called to verify the account. It was absolutely ridiculous. So after the guy on the phone verified my phone numbers, credit card number, mother’s maiden name, place of birth, social security number, criminal history, and name of the first girl I kissed, he said he’d reactivate my account.

Was it all worth it? No. I can’t wait to get into a place where I don’t have to dial up for internet access. But I guess this will have to do for now. Until they start charging me, anyway.

US Airways will let me get Dividend Miles credit for any flights I’ve taken in the past year! I’m looking forward to getting out of New Jersey and into Arizona, though I still don’t know what to do there. I have heard about the Vortexes in Sedona, a “spiritual” location where hippies live and where energy is emitted from and sucked back into the Earth: One vortex takes something away from you that you want but gives you back something you need, kind of like the Rolling Stones song. This is going to be one expensive vacation, between hotel rooms and experiences, but I’m sure it will be worth it. I just hope I’m able to afford it somehow.

This weekend I spent more time at the high school where I could end up working next year. The music teacher and the president of the Board of Education (a band parent, of course) took me out to dinner. We talked about the school, we talked about me… it really seems like a perfect match. They have not announced the position opening yet — they have not even created the position yet. They said that there’s very little doubt that the position will be created, but anything could happen. Right now I’m number one on their list, but their list has one name on it. I was told that they would warn me in advance of the position announcement, so I could call and schedule an interview right away.

This could also mean that I could end up working at my current location longer, if they don’t get rid of me first. With all the “money issues” my organization is currently facing, that is a concern.

I’m going down to south Jersey this weekend to spend some time at the school where I’d like to see myself working next year. It just so happens that the organization I work for now has an event there. Time to be discreet. Tomorrow I also have to take the teaching certification test. I probably haven’t studied enough for it, but from what I undersand from people who have taken the test recently, I shouldn’t have any problems with it. I hope that’s the case.

On another note, The movie also happens to mark the first time a dead celeb has been brought back to life for a major role in a feature-length film.

I don’t like being cold. Of course, I could put on more clothing to adjust my personal temperature, but that won’t change the fact that it is cold. Okay, somehow I have to find ways to motivate myself to accomplish the following:

1. Get myself the teaching position in South Jersey
1. Finish the application
2. Get fingerprinted and a background check (call a police station and make an appointment)
3. Get tested for Tuberculosis (call a doctor and make an appointment)
4. Take and pass the teaching certification test this coming Saturday (I should study at some point)
2. Work out all the problems in my personal relationships

Hopefully by doing the above, I’ll be able to find joy in my life. Now that it’s all typed in, it doesn’t seem so hard. Congratulations, you have now just been a part of my personal self-therapy.

So we’re going into this weekend with not enough people working the first event on Saturday. This is going to be very, very scary.

As I drove to the bank today to despoit my paycheck after my account was overdrawn this morning because we received our paychecks late (after the bank closed) yesterday, I realized that there is a possibility that I actually do like the autumn. When the wind isn’t too brisk and the air isn’t too cold, it can be really pretty outside — even in northern Jersey.