Saturday, August 20, 2005

I'm tired of talking about my job.

If you've never met me in person, and for some reason you've taken to just reading my blog (which I am both flattered an utterly dumfounded by), you're probably wondering, "when have you been talking about your job?" I haven't...not much on here, anyway. However, if you're a friend of mine...or even an acquaintence of mine...or even just that guy with the funny mustache that I frequently pass on the way to work...you've heard me talk about work. I talk about it a lot. I think it's because I find so much of my identity in what I do. I do so because it's what my dad did, it's what his dad did, and I can only assume it's what his dad did. It's a sickness that Americans seem prone to the way the way RPG gamers seem prone to nosebleeds. And I'm tired of talking about it.

So, I'm going to talk about something else.

So....umm...how was your day?

Mmm-hmmm.

And...ummm...isn't this nice weather?

Yup. Mmmm-hmm...oh yes. Yes, I see. No, not for ducks, not for ducks, indeed. Mm-hm. Yes. That high, and all without the aid of pneumatic power, eh? Wow. Yes, it's really something.

Hmmm.

OK, I've run out of things to talk about.

So, I will talk about my job.

Here's the thing about my job: I won't have it much longer. I've actually turned in my 6-week notice. (2-weeks seemed a little to quick for a church to try to find a new video guy). I'm leaving the staff of VCC, and going to a new job.

I'm not going to tell you what the new job is. You have to guess.

Sure...

...OK, go.

Nope.

Haha, yeah that would have been good.

OK, try again.

...No, but it's a good guess.

One more try...

...yes, it's slightly larger than a breadbox.

...no, it's not a tank.

OK, want me to just tell you?

Alright. I'm going to Seek , a Qualitative Market Research Consulting group located right here in beautiful Cincinnati, OH. I have to put the words "Qualitative Market Research Consulting" in proper caps...because I have no idea what it means yet, and so it becomes a title. It may as well be, "Seek: A Glooglemock McTrudenbloob Conflageration." However, I'm told it has something to do with getting inside the heads of consumers and finding out why they buy the products they buy and use them. I'm also assured that this requires very little experience with a scapel, and usually does not involve fire or actuarial tables, both of which I have not had good luck with.

I'm really really really excited about the job. Seems to be something I'll be good at. We'll see. I love to get to meet new people, I love to try to figure people out, and I really like making lots of money. Don't know how much of that third one will happen, but here's hoping. If I do make a bunch of money, you can have some. It's more fun to make it than to keep it or even to spend it. Once you've got your basics covered (shelter, food, guitar strings), it's actually usually more fun to give it away than anything. It just does something to a person, I think.

'Nuff digressing. The point is, I'm really hoping that a change of employment will enable me to serve the church better than before, to serve Stacy better than before, and to take care of myself more than I have in the past. You can't work 65 hour weeks at any job for any length of time before you start to lose little bits of yourself, and you sure as hell can't work that much for a church without losing a part of your spiritual depth and joy. I hope to regain these things, and that, much like the lining of my acid-happy esophagus, the damage will be un-done in time.

I've even given some very serious thought to asking the Board at VCC to put me on the Board with them. Don't think they'll go for it, but I'd love to be able to make some very positive changes in the church I love enough to quit from, and I think the Board would be a great place to do that.

In the meantime, I'm dunking my cookies and drinking the milk afterward on the porch of my little house as we enter the twilight of a beautiful fall night. All is well, all is well.

Peace,
Justin