Blogception: A Blog About My Blogs (And Also Horse Hockey & Spinning Ventilation Contrivances) · 9:19pm April 30th
Well, I've been having a right shitty old time here, and I thought I'd come to my good old bro(nie)s for some commiseration. I should be happier, but alas: Ce' la vie (which sounds a bit like Sailor V, ya know? I wonder if that was intended...).
Really I should be: I'm making some good money for the first time in my life, I just got off an awesome Lincoln Repose reenactment at our state capital that went swimmingly and I got to drill on the cannons again yesterday (I finally got that promotion to QM Sgt., by the by, and have everything there is running smoothly). I'm finally getting therapy for past shitty things I've been through. The local manga shop, just up my street, has been expanding, and I'm thinking of going to their "cute craft club" once I actually have the fabric for the kimono I've finally decided I want to make.
Oh yeah and I'm in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Japan again... since the Yen-USD exchange rate is stupidly good at the moment and also it's been entirely too long since I've gone. Which might be a stupid idea, because it's going to cost alot, but I feel like it's one of those "you don't know when the next opportunity will come" things. And also, rather unfortunately, a lot of shitty tourists (looking at you, Chinese & Somalians!) have been getting tourists banned from places in Japan with their bad behavior (who the buck thinks it's OK to pull on Geishas hair, or climb on to the roof of ancient temples?!). So I'd like to go before tourism is banned completely in some places. I'm contemplating doing it in the fall too, when apparently it is less people~y, off season so the prices are lower, and I might also enjoy some fall color and cooler weather too.
Oh, and I am contemplating getting a new gig in doing QC for Audiobooks as a freelancer... I have two good friends who works in the industry, and another who does voice work as a hobby... I still need to look at the details but I have done freelance work before (transcription, actually) and it was a good way to make some extra cash. And listening to Audiobooks seems like a decently low stress job. Now watch, I'll get the position and be shackled listening to terribly written S&M novels with nothing but anatomically-challenged sex scenes and tedious recitations of tax codes, or something, and totally loose my mind.
Damn if life hasn't been giving me hell lately. My boss is... let's say really bad at being a boss... and about two weeks ago I came this close to getting fired. Fortunately I do good enough work that she didn't fire me, and I think we might be able to make this work now that we're both clear that I'm going to be leaving at the end of the year anyways. Thank the gods, she'll be on vacation in Europe soon, for about two weeks. I was sort of already planning on moving on because there isn't much of a chance of getting promoted there, and I want to move to a full time job at some point. Also, I was sort of worried that the budget for a second, part-time, employee would not be there after the extra work and money for the 200th Anniversary ended. Anyhow, I need the money and stability a full time position offers, and I definitely need the benefits. I also realized via a quick poll that all my college buddies already have full time positions and that knowledge was... sobering.
As if all that wasn't enough turmoil sufficient for the day, somehow somewhere someone got hold of my bank card details and I had to lock down the account. And then I had to order a new card, which was a miserable experience, not the least because it rather forcibly reminded me that I also need to replace my stupid state id card, since it's expired. Much like me at this point, to be frank.
Anyways, as part of my work I've been writing some blogs about Dunham Tavern, and the various little projects I do around the museum. I wanted to share these with you guys because, amongst other reasons, my fantastic boss usually forgets to post them to the Facebook page. And got annoyed with me posting them myself... Oh, and you can only read them from direct links because the part of the website they are supposed to be on doesn't actually work and neither of us knows how to fix it. So, they don't get a lot of reads.
In spite of that, I think they are some of my best work. And the few people who have read them seem to really enjoy them. So hopefully, you'll enjoy them. There's... four of them now! And I need to get working on a fifth... I'm hoping for maybe six at minimum in total before our bicentennial in June.
This link should take you to them: https://www.dunhamtavern.org/blog-3-1
Thank you as always for your support, dear readers. It means the world to me that you are all still following my horse words after all these years. If any of you happen to be galloping through Cleveland on a Wednesday or Sunday (or Monday or Friday, for that matter) twixt Twelve and Five in the next two weeks, be sure to drop by and I can give you a tour of the museum. Just make sure to ring the doorbell first! I'm sure I'll be in some dusty closet or crevice somewhere, discovering some priceless artifact that has been forgotten!
Here's hoping things look brighter for you in the future. And enjoy that trip! :)
Ah, I'm sorry you've been having such a hard time of things.
Though I'm glad that at least it's a hard time when a variety of things have been going well, instead of just more all-around bad.
Good luck!
And the blog posts were interesting, I thought; thanks.
Thanks! I’m still not sure quite exactly how or when I’ll be able to go, I may be getting a bit ahead of myself if I’m honest. Though I’m super worried about what will happen with the present election: I’m kinda afraid that no matter who wins things are going to be ugly. So that kinda suggests sooner rather than later… but planning it all myself actually suggests later would be a better idea! And I’m not sure what my plans are for this fall with friends stateside or if I’ll still be working, which would change the calculus.
I do have some places is definitely like to visit though: Meji Mura, which is a 19th & early 20th century recreation Japanese town and home to the oldest steam locomotives still operating in Japan, which is south of Kyoto and probably also the battleship Mikasa which iirc is in Yokohama. I would also like to spend more time in Kyoto, it’s sort of my preferred destination in Japan compared with the bustle of Tokyo. Though I might want to spend out some. And I should maybe visit Nara as I missed it last time. I think I must have had really bad jet lag because that was the day my stomach decided to be all acid for whatever reason… so I stayed at the hotel. But then again it was also the day that was a million degrees and everyone else got frog marched by the bus tour they tagged along with, sunburned, and bitten by deer. While I sat in the air conditioned hostel in Kyoto and ate the best fried salted potatoes ever at the bar/restraint which along with proton blockers turned out to be just what I needed. So who really missed out?
As in everything in life, the deciding factor will be budget. If I can allocate some headspace to something besides my job for more than a day, I might be able to scrape together an estimate. The last time was... not as bad as I thought it would be, actually, but that's probably because it was done by a travel planning company and probably had student\group discounts out the wazoo. I think I could probably manage to economize if I stayed in cheaper (but clean) places. I wasn't a huge fan of Tokyo so debatable if I'd visit again. I would not mind trying a capsule motel... it's got to be better than the ex-Olympics 1960s student athlete hotel that we stayed in the last time, which had bedbugs! And looked like it was from Chernobyl! Not staying there ever again, though at least the girls run in with bedbugs got everyone a free room upgrade (to rooms with private showers, no less!).
It occurs to me that maybe I ought to write a blog about my last two trips to the land of the rising sun... is that something every pony would be interested in reading?