There's a new thought process that's been taking over for the last 20-30 years...

Under this meme, there is a definite level of "healthy turnover" that they like to have to keep the workforce in companies "fresh." They basically don't want people to stay in their company more than about 5 years or so, and anybody who has been in a certain job, or at one company for longer periods than that are not trusted and not wanted.

It almost makes sense, except that for people like us, post 50ish, it plays into the whole 'overqualified' realm of ageism.

Back when we entered the workforce, people who stayed at their jobs for life (or long periods, anyway) were admired for their loyalty, dedication, and perseverance. Now they're distrusted as not ambitious enough, not creative or outward thinking, not entrepreneurial or other such bullshit new-age buzzwords du jour.

It is part and parcel of the continuing effort to drive down wages and make the employee class desperate and needy.

Seahawks 4-0!

First time in franchise history!

:

MIPs and vibes requested....

Got a job interview Friday morning. It pays $2 more an hour than what I'm getting now.

Supposed to be similar work, which isn't good, but I could sure use the money. It's through another agency, temp work again, but that's what's out there right now. I'll have to ask about long term prospects. I need to work at least another 15 months or so. I was kind of getting to like some of the people at the current place, but for $80/week, I can make new friends.



Anyway, wish me luck.

In a manner of speaking, they have...

Unfortunately, issues of poverty and need have become bargaining chips, which have been negotiated away to iealogues on the right incapable of real compromise. So, in the name of 'compromise' we get surrender of our social safety net for no gain in societal improvement.

Currently, the Rando/libertarians are winning, and 'moderate' Democrats are not fighting hard enough to slow them down much.

The nation continues to be dragged farther and farther to the right, to the tune of RW pundits decrying how 'socialistic' we've become. It's rather bizarre if you ask me. There's some real cognitive dissonance going on in our public discourse. Much of it stems from the corporatization of the main stream media, who seem oblivious to their own hypocrisy as long as they are making money. I yearn for the day when the news divisions of the corporate media outlets were not revenue producers.

Guess I should let you all know.....

Cataract surgery went well. Not quite as well as the first one, though. This one involved more pain, and they ended up giving me a breath or two of anethesia. Not enough to put me under, but some. Plus they threw in some codeine/tylenol pills afterwards. Apparently I needed a stitch, too, that will have to come out next week.

My left eye is not quite as good as my right eye....yet, at least. But it is definitely a hell of a lot better than it was.

Kind of strange not needing any glasses other than reading glasses. I've worn them since third grade.

Silent Darkness

Silent Darkness

It’s never truly dark or quiet here.
not the soft secret darkness
of a moonless mountain meadow,
so quiet you can hear a rabbit
rustle across the snow.

We used to stand all evening,
watching snowflakes dance
out of the dark portentous sky,
frosting sable pines and patient firs.

The wind would dart and knife through slender cracks
between our mittens and our sleeves,
between our kerchiefs and our caps
chilling us until we huddled close,
a bitter cold that only love could thaw.

And now, here, the city lights deflect the dark,
the stars are too few, the people too many.
Security lights and night lights,
street lights and headlights
exterminate the dark
yet leaving us with dark and lonely souls.

California winters are not cold, just wet,
with lonely crowds of people that spice the nights.
Dreams are ghosts we only barely know
that dance and weave and flutter through the days.
Not lost, we cannot find the place
we knowingly relinquished long ago.

Solitude cannot traverse the gap
to a god we wish we could believe were there.
For solitude cannot in truth exist
where traffic sounds and radios
and the tramp of feet upstairs
remind us that we’re lonely, not alone.

Silence beckons like a distant dream.
I miss the dark, satin silences
with snowflakes drifting down,
and bitter stars that sparkle
like distant souls that may not touch the earth.

6/13

Kind of an odd sensation.....

I recently had cataract surgery in my right eye, successful, I might add.

So, today I went for a haircut, my first since the surgery, and the first time in my life that I could actually see in the mirror what the hell the guy was doing while he worked.

Time for my triennual blog post....

My circadian rhythm is just about hashed

After a few months of fairly steady, if low-paying, work, I was laid off at the end of February, just a week before my scheduled eye surgery. Add in the two week recovery period from that, and it killed March, pretty much, as an “earning” month.

So the agency placed me at the beginning of April at another plant in Woodinville. It’s not too bad, the work’s not really physical or anything. But it is on night crew. After a couple of weeks, I kind of got used to it.

Then, the whammy. “Would you be okay with working weekends?” “Sure.” “How about 12 hour shifts?” “Uh……ok, I guess.”

So there you are. Thursday and Friday, I work normal 8 hour night crew shifts from 3:00-11:30 pm. Saturday and Sunday I work 7:00pm to 7:30 am. Saturdays and Mondays are zombie transition days, where the major focus is sleeping and eating.

It’s 40 hours, at least. But I feel like I'm trying to maintain three different diurnal schedules

Most of the "Independents" I know or know of are righties....

They sometimes claim they will vote 3rd party, but always seem to gravitate to Ron Paul. They don't like it when I call Libertarians Republicans on steroids, which IMHO they are, especially on fiscal issues. I don't really care if they want to legalize pot or allow abortion, they still want to continue this ruinous laissez-faire economic system. That's a deal breaker to me.

Very few Indies I know lean towards the Green or other more 'progressive' parties. Most of them can spout RW talking points with the best of them. They often claim to 'listen to all sides' but the only info they seem to hear comes from Faux Nooze.

If they vote 3rd party and take votes from W Romney, I won't cry about it.