Hey guys, sorry that I have almost half-abandoned my only just newly redesigned blog. But I have an excuse! The long and short of it is, I am now employed. Not only employed, but employed from midnight to 7am, tuesday-friday, and for a good long while. This Basement Fan is now a Barcode Reader, and I'm not-hating every minute of it.For further explanation, I am now part of a security firm called Securitas, one of the biggest guys in the private security business, claiming to be the descendants of the Pinkerton Agency, and if you see a van or truck with a flashing light on the top of it at Walmart or something, there's a good chance it's a schmuck not too dissimilar from me. The people I'm responsible for making sure their stuff doesn't blow up is currently Del Monte Pet Food Products, who make everything from Meow Mix to t-bone shaped doggie treats. I have a real badge, a uniform, and a baseball cap that's also a hard hat (or, the coolest mundane utility I've ever owned.)
Like I said, my job somewhat consists of making sure their stuff doesn't blow up, either through inattentiveness or active malice, but it's mostly just making sure that people clean up their messes, making sure that everyone can get out in an emergency, and at all other times make sure nobody can get in who's not supposed to. At our particular site, they do this by having us scan barcodes next to important places and checkpoints throughout the plant. A lot of barcodes. We go around the inside and outside on patrols, and every door, docking station, fire extinguisher, silo and room has a barcode to scan, and we average at around 5-9 miles/day worth of walking just around the plant. Many of my previous user names, everything from old-youtube to Steam, was some variation on Barcode Reader. I didn't think anything of it at the time I created it, it just sounded cool. But now it seems disturbingly apt, and makes me glad I haven't officially changed any of my usernames to Basement Fan, as was my want after creating this blog.
But the hardest part of my job isn't the walking. It's the sitting and the waiting in between that really makes you go "ughhhhhh." I bought a couple of notepads, one to write story/personal ideas on and one, as it later turned out, was the perfect ratio to create mockup's of Magic Cards, so I spend some of my time not glancing over the front desk creating magic card concepts based on silly ideas. Currently, I have developed Strong Bad/Homestar Runner themed cards, and it's a more than amusing way to pass the time between patrols. The only problem is that I can only put a few minutes into these hilarious notions before I hit a block and start to zone out. And that's a problem. Fortunately, I have co-workers who are not unpleasant to talk to, so that helps things go by just as well. Other distractions include reading a book and checking CNN.com, which is the only website other than the weather channel that we are allowed access to on the desk computer. And Dell.com, for some reason.Something that's very interesting about my position is that I get to see just about every part of the plant; making, shaping, drying, packaging and storing. Being able to observe the factory process while not being a part of the process is fascinating to me. I now feel like I have a much better understanding of the American Industrial Complex, not to mention the fact that every day I feel like I'm in a Modern Marvels documentary. There was a webcomic that came out a while back, called Questionable Content, which is actually just a slice-of-life type of thing, and one of the people in it was talking about how surprising it was that he got a job that he didn't hate. It wasn't his dream job or anything, it was just a job that he could happily go into work everyday for. This is exactly how I feel about this job. It's not great, and at the moment the hours kind of suck, especially for the outgoing socialite that I am (harhar) and I do honestly miss going out and doing things when I felt like it. Going to the movies, going to the hobby shop, hanging out with my Uncle Ben, all now take at least a weeks worth of preparation in order to have even the slightest chance of becoming a reality. Especially when I still have yet to efficiently iron out my sleep schedule to a point where I know exactly when I'm going to be asleep and when I'm going to be awake. But I can handle it. I do not dread going into work every day, and the best part is that they are very accepting if you want to change your shift. One of my co-workers had only been there a month before me, and she requested a transfer to a second shift supervisor position on the other side of the plant, and she got it. Not to mention I can request to be put at a different place, like a walmart or a dillons or something.
And the best part of it all is that, after a few months of buying necessities and car repairs and other big purchases, plus a bit of throwing stuff into savings, I'll be able to sufficiently live on my own in either a cheap apartment or even a small mobile home. What I save on gas would pay for utilities and such, and I'll still have enough to pay rent, buy food and even put a little away into savings. If everything goes as planned, and if I can finally get 40 hours/week, I'll be officially self sufficient. I'll still be able to check up on my grandpa regularly, make sure he hasn't had a stroke or anything, but being closer to either town makes trips to either town, and all the fun things to do inside of them, not only more doable, but more appealing. That's a few months away yet, but I'll be looking forward to it all the same. At that point, I won't be a fan from a basement anymore (probably), but I still want to keep this blog going as long as I keep having cool, fun ideas that MUST be shared. :p Thanks for still reading, if you have been, and I intend to start making the most of my free time now that it's actually valuable.
Talk to you later, everybody!
