The air is heavy, heavy as a truck We need the rain to wash away our bad luck

I suppose it's time for the rest of the story. I guess I'm running about a week behind with that but oh well. Where I last left off, I was back in Louisville after the whirlwind desert adventure.

And as I am when I'm happiest it seems, I was in motion yet again. Up to Chicago I went for some birthday/block party action. It's weird seeing the "little" cousins all grown up and responsible (mostly) adults. To summarize, there was much eating, drinking, and being merry. I do envy my cousins on one small front. I suppose the consolation for growing up in a place with dark figid winters is you have a lot of variety around. Their friends all seem to be from a melting pot of ethic backgrounds. Something that the 1980's didn't grace suburban (or even rural) Georgia with. It's a great thing to have such diversity in food, ideology, and language around. I hope they realize how much that rocks.

So, I'm back to real life. It sucks. This whole working thing needs to be done with. I'm still waiting for the call for a couple jobs. Mainly, I'm hoping my application for a lottery winner position comes through soon. I'm not real hopeful though, since I'm not filling out applications as often as most jobseekers are... ok so I never buy a ticket. I'm sure that's not improving the odds in my favor. But I'm most deserving I think.

The other job, well... no official word has come down. No messages, no emails, my status online still says "Under Review". After a supervisor offered to write an email espousing my virtues, he only got a return of "Thanks." (Long story short, he knows the hiring manager from industry conferences and workgroups... the dispatcher community has about 2 degrees of separation between every dispatcher in the world apparently).

Unofficially, I emailed the other two guys who interviewed to check on their news. Turns out, one has been offered a position (I'm working under the assumption that of the two openings, one was filled by the Emirati girl under "hire locals first" policy). However, he seemed less than enthused at the pay, not so sure that both he and his wife can live comfortably. Given our previous conversations about salary requirements, I'm apparently the high priced one.

As a coworker put it though, and I'm paraphrasing, "I've your getting a prostitute, do you want to gt the cheapest girl on the corner of do you want to spend the money for something more exclusive?" So, that makes me the a high dollar ho. But like a good high $$$ ho, I got hella skills and I'd rock their world. (Disclaimer, I really have no experience with cheap or expensive prostitutes beyond window browsing in Amsterdam and cannot make comparisons of their skill sets. But based on the looks, the expensive ones were way more impressive than the budget options).

Still, it's a little disappointing. I was really warming up to the idea of living outside the country. I mean its miserably hot and humid in Louisville at the moment, at least Dubai would have the "coolness" factor to make it more bearable. I know their are a lot of differences and quirks. I'm sure there's plenty I have no idea about, but thought it would be fun for a time. Mind you it's not over just yet, but my optimism has waned to the level of close to nil. I've been a little mopy about the whole thing the last couple days. It's amazing how many people have told me if they had the same option, they'd run. But are trapped by families and seniority with an employer they really don't much care for (to put it mildly).

So, I'm feeling a bit trapped in Louisville at the moment. I suppose it could be worse, I could be trapped in Hoboken. Add to that I seem to be broke, I guess the unplanned expenditure for a new suit and matching accoutrements for the interview . It would have been cheaper to have takent he trip to the south of Spain and Morocco. And imagine how much fun Spain would have been during the World Cup!!! If for no other reason I should be offered the Dubai job at my salary needs as a consolation prize.

Other than that, I'm off to DMB on Tuesday (yes again!!). They aways seem to put me in a good mood when I'm in a funk. It's a little bittersweet as this is my last date with premarriage Grace. My fake girlfriend becomes my fake... adulteress?? I'm not sure how that all works out. I am sure though that it'll be a fun wedding weekend in the mountains of Georgia. I may even drop in on some family while I'm there (and I know we talked about topshelf drinking supplies, but I may can find a supply of white lightning... if anyone wants to really feel bad the next morning.) I'm definitely looking forward to it.

I have this suspicious feeling about my laptop. Not like it's going to rise up in the night and strangle me, but the charging has been a bit erratic of late, and seems to be getting warmer and warmer during use these days. I'm really not i a position to buy a new one. This one has worked well for 3 years now (and I know that's better average than my last 3 or 4 computers) but I really don't need to go out buying new macbooks, but life with out a laptop would be impossible. Lets hope this one lasts a while more without issue.

That's about it for now, I'm working on the rest of the weeks schedule. I'm not sure yet if I'm gonna have next weekend off. I'll keep my loyal fans posted on my whereabouts ove the next couple weeks, and any changes in my employment status... as remote as it may be of happening.

Later.