Chugging Along

I spent quite a bit of time this morning on the phone with Comcast technical support, fixing my problem with slow internet connections. Finally, clearing out all history with the browser freed up memory or whatever it takes for each connection to load. So that solved a very frustrating problem which had been growing to larger proportions over the last few weeks. I think my job search, with visiting so many sites and filling out so many forms, probably contributed to the overload.

Last night I went to a lovely celebration of the Declaration of the Bab at Miss Lisa's. She had a hard time remembering the year, and we chimed in with a chorus of, "In 1844, Lord, in 1844, oh, the world passed away on the 23rd of May in 1844." Kind of a campy old song we used to sing when I was a new Baha'i in the early 1970's. We had a great celebration, which was capped by an impromptu play put on by some of the children who organized it upstairs. About a Hungry Dinosaur, the plot was short and sweet with all the important storytelling elements.

Monday I was out and about on multiple errands, including replacing the bulb in one of my Honda's brake lights, which entailed driving back to the shop after several blocks to retrieve my water bottle. What was distracting me, besides the rain and traffic, was an enormous wave of anxiety: I had decided to reapply at the place I used to work ["Heartland"] and was terrified even to drive into the parking lot. I get that way about the physical places I used to work. For years I couldn't drive past Regency at Tacoma without breaking into a cold sweat.

I did force myself to enter the lobby, and it was very reassuring to see my old friends the receptionist, the admissions coordinator, the social services director, and the rehab nurse. I also saw the person in charge of Central Supply and told him how much I had missed his organizational skills. At "Mountain View" the organization, including Central Supply, was a hideous mess. One over the counter medication or another was always out.

Anyway, I picked up an application and had some good brief encounters, and felt so much at home I was very relieved. I dropped off the application yesterday. If they do interview me, I'm sure I'll have lots of 'splainin' to do. But I'm willing to do it.

I also picked up an application at a plastics manufacturing plant in Fredrickson near Boeing, a place so secretive one must pick up the app at the guard's kiosk, peel on out of there, then return to drop it off. I have little background in the field except for the painful years I spent sewing in factories. But the friend who referred me there seems to enjoy it.

Visiting "Heartland" has awakened my loneliness for friends there. I suppose that's good news; I never used to really make many friends where I worked. But it's painful.

Tomorrow back to WorkSource for the Job Club, and Friday to a mandatory meeting dealing with Unemployment. At least it will be with humans.