Okay, now that I’ve officially given notice at work, I feel I can finally talk about this on the site: PDR is dropping out of job and getting a school.

Some time ago on this very website I wrote my thoughts on going back to school. To sum it up, it was basically: I hated school, but I’d go back if I could afford it. I still can not afford it, but… I’m going anyway?

This October would have marked my tenth year working of at the job I currently have (accounting for various promotions and such) and I really just don’t want to reach that milestone. I’ve not enjoyed the job, I’ve considered it a waste of large swaths of my life, in fact, but I stayed because I needed the money, you all know how it is. Well, my monetary situation isn’t improving, my debt remains, my attempt to get a roommate has proven useless toward money-getting, progress just isn’t being made, so what is the point?

Instead of continuing in this treading of water for another decade, I have decided to just dive in the opposite direction. I will weigh myself down with a student loan but, theoretically, I will be improving my life. Here’s hoping that this beats stagnancy for money.

I’m going for a degree in English. But the degree doesn’t mean much to me (and being a degree in English, it won’t mean much to other people either), what I want is the education. I want to get better at doing stuff I like, such as writing. In my previous schooling attempt I felt like it was the aiming for the degree that held me back. The main drawback, I feel, of going for a degree is that the school actually cares about how you get there. They have a whole list of classes they require you to take if you want that degree, even if you have no interest in those classes. But this seems mitigated for the English program. I have actually selected a handful of courses and, when I look over them, there isn’t one that makes me think “Ugh, I don’t want to go to that” based on the name alone (Things like Calculus or Physics would do that to me). I’ve got whatever actual English things I’m supposed to get, but I’ve also got a class on mythology, one on European history, and one on Astronomy. Obviously things may change as I see how the classes actually work, but for now, I’m kinda actually looking forward to this.

Let’s see how I feel about it a couple months from now. Whatever the case, I expect that I will be talking about my actual life on the site more often now that it contains something actually worth talking about. Let’s see how it goes!

I wonder what I wrote on Contains2 on October 3 2002

I Can Finally Not Enjoy Life Again!

“I’m sure I’ll be employed again by October…”
– Patrick D Ryall, September 2001

I just didn’t realize that I meant October 2002. But I just got a job. So now the scales have turned and over half of Contains2 is employed. We’re somewhat less cool.

I’m going to be a flyer inserter. I don’t know what that entails exactly, but I’m going in with the attitude that it will suck hardcore, that way if it does, I’m right and if it’s actually pretty mediocre, it’s better than I thought. I’ll be working Tuesday to Fridays, so I’ve got three off, that’s good. I start at eight in the morning and go until we finish that day’s work apparently. I make six bucks an hour, which is leaps above what I’m making without a job.

And I start tomorrow, so I have to try to sleep tonight. This is gonna be very hard, because I have to get up about two hours (or less) after the time I’ve been getting to sleep for the last few months. O, woe is me.

But I’ll have money!

Oh, that’s what I wrote. I guess I should check out October 4 2002 as well.

The Lowdown on my Jay-Oh-Bee

Well, it doesn’t suck hardcore. It’s just mediocre. Whew. I basically just show up in the morning (way too early by my standards) and then they tell me what job I’m to do. I can be doing any number of things that result in grocery store flyers being taken from their boxes to the sorting machines, or from the sorting machines to a different box. It’s very, very easy and of course very boring. But they give me money, so I guess it’ll do for now.

Most importantly, I was given free earplugs. Score!

I’m amazed that I only had three hours of sleep yesterday, and I wasn’t only not tired at work, but I’m still not. Go being awake!

And now I’m watching the TV shows I taped while trying to fall asleep then. Oh, Stephen Colbert, you crack me up.

Oh, I see now. Say, I wonder why I’m looking up stuff about the start of my current employment situation.

Okay, today we’ve got the construction of a railroad across Canada. They need to blow up some stuff with nitro, a highly volatile explosive, and nobody white wants that kind of risk. WHAT IS A CANADA TO DO? Wait, I know! Chinese! An immigrant worker steps up to take the risk for some danger pay and, even when the nitro blows up on him and the insensitive guy with the awesome beard says “Well, get another one”, the Chinese worker stumbles back out to happily try again! The piece ends with the man telling the story to his (I assume) grandchildren, mentioning the sheer volume of Chinese workers who died making the railroad, because they were less than he.

It’s like, sure, a lot of Chinese workers died to make the railroad, but hey, our friend here, who we’ve come to know and like, is fine, so it is all good! It turns out that this guy is like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable and he used his super durability to make the money needed to pay boat, got his wife to Canada, and started making progeny so he could tell his story. The tragic numbers of people who died doesn’t seem so bad when we look back with a survivor. In a way, this is a true fact of history. All tragedy is less terrible as time goes on, a lesson Canada needed to know. That is what we’re supposed to take from this one, right?

Anyway, to the review. Let us see now. This spot has a message of respect for a minority group and it includes an explosion and one of Canada’s apparent first superhuman citizens. All told I think I can give this one Four and a Half Pieces of PDR’s Reviewing System Cake. Is it racist that I really like the style protagonist’s hairstyle in the his youth? I’ll get out here just in case.