Why I’m Re-Launching My Blog on Friday the 13th

“Days of affliction have overtaken me… I rise-up, in public, to voice my grief.” -Job 30:27, 30:28b

This Book of Job quotation is highly apropos, because only immense pain (of the psychological kind) would motivate me to make time to reinstate this blog!

As the title says: I’m re-launching my blog on Friday the 13th. (In the sense of “during the date of Friday the 13th,” not in-any-way about the film franchise Friday the 13th.)

Why the timing? Because after an unplanned hiatus spanning nearly twenty months, I spontaneously acted-upon an idea that had been germinating since I found-out my work hours would be cut (as-of last week): With this increased downtime, why-not return to the activity for-which I’ve received the most praise; namely, writing?

Sure, it hasn’t paid any bills — but that’s why I keep my day job. (This blog is not designed for anyone’s fulfillment but my own; whereas, any third-party enjoyment is entirely coincidental.)

So, what about my woes and travails?

• Practically ten years after graduating from UW-Milwaukee — with an undergraduate degree (bachelor’s) in political science (2008) and a graduate degree (master’s) in public administration (2010) — I’ve still been marginalized from professional employment.

(A more-exhaustive treatment is forthcoming; but suffice-to-say, it entails me packing cheese, cleaning restrooms, and stocking shelves as never-ending fallback jobs.)

Hopefully, my skills in writing and critical-thinking will attract more-than a well-wisher: namely, a “white knight” for under-employed college grads who will offer me a gig — if-not a recurring position — in-which I am actually paid to flex my neurons!

• My boss doesn’t want to promote me to full-time hours, even-though he’s hired people directly into full-time roles and has promoted part-timers who’ve been working there for much-less time than I have.

My rebuttal is that I’ve borne a disproportionately-large share of the shelf-stocking or “freight” duties, which is an irksome endeavor that will take the auspices out-of anybody when they do it for hours-on-end.

As some helpers have noted, the going is slow when you must kneel-down to read the tiny “bin tags” (price tags) below the shelves; and verify someone else (such-as yesterday’s customers) has not filled that “facing” (shelf space) with odds-and-ends that don’t have any particular order to them.

Therefore, saying that I’m “not productive enough” is an inevitable outcome, when I’m constantly assigned the slowest-going task, day-after-day-after-day. It’s a marathon, not a sprint! (So-phrased, because there are far-fewer search results for that variant, than-for the saying, “It’s a marathon, not a race.”)

• The Reedsburg Police wrongly accuse me of “reckless driving” from the Downtown Reedsburg District (at the intersection of Walnut and Main), up-through an indeterminate section of Highway 33 (which is really another segment of Main Street, but in the country).

I’ve actually a strong defense: There’s no license-plate match; the allegedly “similar rust spots” are found on most chassis of my make-and-model that are older-than a few years; etc. — without even consulting a lawyer yet! (But for the sake of my legal strategy, I won’t go into further detail.)

A saving grace in all this: I have been mostly free from physical maladies — notwithstanding aches and pains from my job. (But presumably, if I were a knowledge worker — an unthinkable outcome, because it would utilize my voluminous education! — then I would be spared this inconvenience; and be paid more, despite being afforded the luxury of on-the-job comfort.)

But if I don’t make it back from work today, then may this be my last will and testament.