Wednesday, 22 August 2007

  • Currently Listening
    Summerteeth
    By Wilco
    "Candyfloss"
    see related

    1. Today's my last day as an Operations Program Associate in the Wisconsin Division of Energy Services. I'm proud that I've done a good job here and relieved that I'm moving on. I don't have any other feelings about it, for good or for ill. It was a job. I traded forty hours of my life every week for enough money to live on. It's honest pay for honest work. I was raised in a blue collar household. Nothing less is acceptable, and you shouldn't expect anything more than that.

    2. No, I am not meant for better things. But I'm going to try for better things anyway. How does Jeff Tweedy put it? "I live my life like I wasn't invited."

    3. As noted in pulse: Sept 11 (my birthday) I start working ten hours a week as an office assistant for a progressive non-profit, the Wisconsin Community Fund. I wasn't going to apply for the job, but I heard a sermon at church about not building bigger barns to house your treasure, and I realized that part of my take-home pay at a progressive NPO would be the sense that I'm nudging the world's balance towards good in some fashion. As a government employee, I helped preserve the status quo. There are worse things than the status quo. But I'm not spent enough yet to doubt that there couldn't be better things, too.

    4. After Labor Day, I'm also taking classes on the Book of Isaiah, the history of Pentateuchal criticism, and the dialects of ancient Canaanite peoples. So many dead languages, so few years of life.

    5. I'm also going to start a new Xanga and stop blogging here. I started this site on a whim as a way to keep in contact with old friends. That roughly coincided with the start of my tenure with the State of Wisconsin, so it seems like a good time to move on. It's never a good idea to turn a corner in a rut. I hate the name, and I'm tired of the color scheme, and the particular rhythms of writing that I've established here are too entrenched to be interesting anymore.

    After work today I'm off to spend a week in Nebraska. I'm going to stay as far off the grid as I can. When I get back, I'll leave a forwarding Xanga address.

Comments (45)

  • Leonidas
    I saddened to read that you are shutting this down...
  • elgan
    It’s been a pleasure reading you here; it will be Xanga’s loss when you depart. As Ruth said to Naomi: “Whither thou goest, I go too.” or something like that.
  • GunStarHero1988
    Ahhhh, man! And I just started getting interested.
  • jelli_s
    aw, well i am glad you will let us know where you will start writing again. good luck at your new job!! wow it seems like so many people are refreshing their careers right now. how exciting.
  • lilygurl04
    Good luck with your new job! For the record I've loved your blog here, and I'm sure that I'll love the 'forwarding address' one, too. Have fun in Nebraska.
  • Circus_of_Redemption
    You are lucky that you said you will still blog from another site. I was preparing a resounding chorus of swear words.

    Have fun in Nebraska.
  • tree25
    EXACTLY what Circus said. if you were going to actually leave the blogosphere, I was going to lay the mother of all guilt trips on you about how we MET through xanga and how COULD you and blah blah blah. leave the forwarding address or heads will roll.

    in other news ~ congrats again on the new job. something tells me it will be slightly less soul-sucking than this one.

    p.s. shiksa? not nearly the colloquialism we thought it was. i mentioned it in passing to the man and i thought he was going to go ballistic. he kindly gave me a pass for being culturally unaware, but told me that if any of his family members ever called me that, they'd see an ugly side of him. eek.
  • DEISENBERG
    You write "I was not meant for better things."  Really?  Who made that decision?  I'm glad that you decided to ignore whoeverer made the decision.  _ The Geezer
  • OneHotProcessor
    Let me know if you want some help in designing. Have fun in exciting Nebraska.
  • maurene

    sigh, the last of the xangans. you made for great reading--you were the only one who actually updated daily, too. good luck with all new things

  • RizzlGrizzl

    jeez dude.  holy drama queen.

    but congrats on this being your last day and all.   we'll miss ya 'round here parts.
  • BettyC
    Enjoy your break - it sounds like the timing is good for you in a number of areas - will look for your forwarding address.
  • LucyWrites
    Stinks that you are leaving. I do hope you keep blogging and I look forward to seeing your new site. I also hope that you keep the same profile pic, becuase I love it!
  • VoiceofSophia
    Good luck in this next step, though I am a bit sad to hear you're shutting down this site. Keep us posted with your new site's address, though.
  • cowonahill
    Yay for new beginnings! :)
  • empress8411
    Are you going to post the link for your new site so we can read that too? ~ L
  • curtin_severn
    my favourtie bumper sticker (that i made on some web site that mails them to you):
    use your words.
    language IS empowerment.
  • going_under_effortlessly
    What part of "going to start a new Xanga and stop blogging here" is difficult for people to understand? You're not leaving Xanga according to that, it will just be under a new handle/name. So, I won't miss you at all.... except while you're off the grid in Nebraska.

    Looking forward to talking with you again soon, Sandi
  • going_under_effortlessly
    Actually, I've been considering doing the same thing. My name is indicative of the deep depression i was feeling when I started mine, and I'm not that person anymore. I'll keep you updated.
  • TheMissingTenenbaum

    Regulargoy, regulargoy,
    where will he go?
    I come by to see the boy,
    Guy with a "u" not an "o".

    Okay, that is stupid. 

    Random, but specific fact: 

    I feel slightly confessional when I come here
    and always have to fight the urge, although
    I never obviously win, to spit out uncalled info, such as

    regarding Sweden-talk:  I am OBSESSED.  I will be going to visit a very specific area of the country where my people come from.  When they came to America, immigration sent them to Wisconsin because the terrain is very similar to the forests from which my Swedes came.

    I really don't know what the hell is wrong with me. 

  • Drakonskyr
    I better get the damn new link. Hell, I tell everyone who asks me to recommend them a blog about you, man.

    Although I hope you don't shut down, I do like reading some of your older posts on occasion.
  • bethanythegreat

    in light of all of these points, i send out a dedication to you over these cyberwaves, of isaiah 43. live long and prosper. and see you in the new country.

    p.s. are you going to sbl in san diego this november?
  • seamaiden_07
    ...Good luck with your classes!!!
  • teacherdave

    Okay, so on the day that AOL finally lets me listen to the utterly stunning new Over the Rhine album, on THIS day you decide to leave?

    Bogus, dude.
  • ToTurnAgain
    I used to knock the Plains states, but they're not so bad. They're draining the Ogallala Aquifer like no one's business, but they're not half bad. Enjoy yourself, later.

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