the headlines have been pretty bad this week, huh?

  • Pete Hahnloser@beehaw.org
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    8 months ago

    I bench tested my van Diesel heater two nights ago, providing minimal interaction ahead of deconstruction due to available space and installation last night in preparation for today’s cold front. Thankfully, after drilling holes through the wheel box, everything just worked when tested. With the knowledge that project was out of the way, I slept better than in several days.

    Here’s probably where I also mention I gave my two weeks’ notice Friday. I could put up with the tedious unrewarding duties for pay so low 22 years into my career that I’m homeless by choice, but my boss’ communication is atrocious in ways I’ve never run into, like having to know what unrelated word she meant when using another one and then getting yelled at for answering the question as asked. She’s married to the owner, putting the kibosh on coming to a reasonable agreement.

    I had to do this for two reasons that are probably related: I was starting to feel crazy since I couldn’t actually turn to a coworker and say anything when they were in the room, and I was starting to justify reasons to drink. That’s a hard limit after 18 months of sobriety.

    The somewhat better news is “threatening sobriety” is the magic phrase, as I met the owner … 18 months ago … in detox. Upshot is I’m getting a parting bonus of nearly a month since the holidays are slow for hiring. My job was the only thing tying me to Austin now that I’m leaseless, so I will have far more options than I did when lockdown hit two months after leaving my last job.

    I like my little home on wheels. It’s a plenty-big stepvan that I can walk around in, it’s well insulated, and it’s been as a project the only reason I started having a social life for the first time this decade. I park in a light industrial area that shutters for the night but is well lit, and I parked there for two months before the conversion even started, so I’m an expected part of the area and haven’t been bothered yet, three weeks in.

    But if this transition was major on its own, adding a likely move and total change of field will put it at the most sudden shift measured in months since moving off to college in the '90s.

    Other than that, not much.