On Being Unemployed - #28 - 4/3/2020
GameCube intro but it's an unemployment graph
On Being Unemployed
Welcome to the future! As of today, they found that 6.6. million Americans are unemployed. And count me in that figure! I lost my temp job at the studio on Friday, March 13th, not knowing that that day would be my last for quite some time. I heard it was originally going to be a week. Then one week turned to two. Now I'm searching for part-time work or temporary work in my local Dallas area. Something in an office - something that would require as little contact with people for the most money, like grocery store clerk or door-to-door lamp salesman. There are many things that I could do - being a male handmaid is one of them, or as it's commonly called outside of an Emmy-award winning Hulu series: a butler. But I have to use my skills wisely. Picking up phones and answering emails is a skill that is in high demand. I am pretty sure that nobody at this moment is looking for someone that is able to pick up phone and answer emails, though I'm aware everyone on this thread is doing exactly that.
I lost my assistant job in March. They say that I could come back around middle of May, since that is when Hollywood starts up again. I remember people saying, "Hey, when are you going to be leaving on this assignment?" And I told them, "Heyyy! End of March!" And then they said, "Heeyyy! That sounds swell! How about we grab lunch? A coffee?" This was a very picturesque prediction of how March was going to unfold. Unfortunately, a pandemic happened and we had to cancel our lunches. That said, after the studio shut its doors and I had to go back to my apartment, I received word that San Francisco was shutting down. I said to my roommate, "Heyyy! If San Fran is shutting down, then why wouldn't Los Angeles?" And he said, "Heyyy! Then that means we gotta get the hell outta here!" And we both looked at each other and said, "By golly (he didn't say golly), then that means we shouldn't be spending our hard earned cash here at our apartment; we need to be with family in Texas. Especially if we get sick. If we get sick, here in California - both of us - we are screwed." And yes, we said that at the same time.
So I got the first flight out of LA to Texas to be with family and immediately applied for Unemployment. I could get a job nearby, but I do not know when they will call me back. And I can't be a Postmates delivery boy, because that would involve me living in a big city. I'm not in a big city. I'm in a hamlet; a village if you will. Are there Doordashers in trailer parks? I'm unsure. I've checked and the nearest Chipotle is 10 miles away. So the gig economy is not on my side, nor is temp work. I could work here at the family business, yet THAT would mean just working for no pay, the kind of pay that my Los Angeles pad desperately needs in the form of rent. Maybe I could finance my apartment remotely through a $7.25/hr job here in Texas, BUT that would involve me working 5000 hours a week to pay solely for the electric bill. If I file for unemployment in California, and then work in Texas, that's called "welfare fraud." Piling Pelion upon Ossa, am I right?
So I can't do that. What do I do? At this moment, nothing. All the grocery stores in the area are fully staffed. There is no apps to make money off of (at least, the legal ones). And I can't be a door-to-door lamp salesman. Soooo, what do I do? That's a good question. I don't know. Maybe making long-winded emails will ail my financial woes. Maybe.
Therefore, how do I spend my time? I've considered that as well. I've been doing a lot of writing. Someday, that will be a full-time job. Right now, I'm not exactly doing it full-time, because money is an object. I understand all of you may be working remotely. I don't know why I couldn't work remotely - could be the company saving money, and I don't blame them. They don't have a lot in their coffers. How else am I spending my time? Writing silly emails, of course. Spending lots of time on Reddit, and it's cool live-streaming platform called r/pan. Making a poetry series on Instagram. Selling rhino tissue on the black market. How much bitcoin does elephant tusk run in Colombia? I don't know, but that is a career option. I'm keeping everything open.
I'm also trying to form new routines. It's kind of difficult to make new routines, when the room stays the same day after day, and there is little to nobody to be in contact with. Just family. At least I have them. I tried calling people and it's not the same.
Being unemployed sucks. At least running a blog is cool. And so is making cool content.
I hope I'll be able to return to Los Angeles sometime soon and see you all.
If any of you want to do a coffee break over Zoom, let me know.
Thanks guys.
Welcome to the future!
News.Video.Poem
1. Coronavirus puts ambitious plans for self-driving cars on the shelf - As a recently converted news junkie, I am now subscribed via email to like 6 different news outlets: NPR, ProPublica, 60 Minutes, NY Times, The New Yorker, CNN (now that I'm at my family's place...) and my favorite, Axios. Axios is a news startup that tries to condense the news to a streamlined, minimalist standard, unlike the others I have listed. Short and concise, as news should be. Subscribe to their daily briefings, it beats listening/watching news. In this article, Axios goes into how the advancement of self-driving cars could get a tune-up due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Pye Corner Audio - Zero Centre - music from the future. Welcome!
3. We Have the Technology - poem about how we have the technology.
Silly Sh*t
I am back on Instagram again, mainly because I want to make stuff now that I can't leave my family's house, but also I need to stretch my thinking muscles. I made a 9 part poetry series on my gram, so feel free to check that out. Sooooo thanks guys. @dnrtldg