3 posts tagged “qotd”

What game are you really good at?

I like to consider myself really good at Rock, Paper, Scissors, or RPS as I prefer.  Harith and I use RPS to solve all manner of daily disputes and I generally prevail.  Steph, John and I also famously created an RPS alternative called "Dangerous Monsters."  Ask two of us demonstrate it's grandeur for you, you won't be disappointed. 

Favorite RPS quote, "Why would you throw rock there?!?" yelled by Mac after and incredibly tense/competitve round between Harith and I to see who would drive home from Clifton Park.  I won when Harith obviously threw rock, much to Mac's outrage.

How many jobs have you had in the past five years? Where and what did you do? 
Submitted by M.  

I know it's kind of a cop out returning to vox with a question of the day post, but I can't really resist this one.  I've had so many jobs in the past five years I don't know if I'll even be able to remember them all.  Last year alone I had 14 end of the year tax forms to enter into turbo tax.  Unbelievable.  Let's start at the beginning...

Five years ago was 2002, a good year marked by the beginning of courtship between Harith and I, but where was I working?  That summer, I moved back in with Mom and Dad in Charlton after quitting my job as a bank teller at KeyBank.  In August, I began making the relatively short drive up to the Saratoga Race Track to work as a Mutuel Clerk.  My parents though that this was a very bad career move on my part.  I know they were wrong as soon as I started raking in tips and saving a ton more money than I ever could have counting cash at a bank.  Who needs health insurance??

After those six weeks were up, I walked into Uncommon Grounds and told the manager that I needed a job.  Being a frequent customer of the establishment, no application or background check were needed.  John hired me on the spot and I began slinging coffee behind the counter with the likes of miss Katie Himmelfarb and Spring Hofeldt the very next day.  However, not even Katie and Spring could save me from the drama of Uncommon and in January I hung up my apron and headed west on the train with Corrie. 

I don't think years of warning could have prepared Amtrak for a cross country jaunt with the giggle twins.  It was awesome.  Arriving in San Francisco with little money and no job prospects, I needed to start working.  Luckily our roommates all worked at the Virgin Megastore and I used my bookstore savvy to land a job in their book department in only a week.  Although my coworkers were fantastic and way, way hipper than I am, the job at Virgin is still the most boring job I've ever had.  I spent hours rearranging the Manga section and other such mundane tasks because Virgin didn't actually sell very many books.  I quit by moving back to NY and not telling them.

Once back East, I thought I would try my hand at the financial world again.  I got a job as the trainer for all new employees with a local Credit Union.  I had health insurance again and regular hours.  But god, when your an artist, working for a financial institution is like torture.  I stayed there for 4 months and then got the eff out. 

I enrolled at Saint Rose full time and got a part time gig at Color Me Mine.  I loved working there.  Teaching people how to paint ceramics while hanging out with awesome coworkers was a great way to earn money while in school.  There I stayed for over two years. until the Fall of 2005 when I began trying my hand at being a teacher.

Student teaching was a breeze, but they weren't paying me so I can't really count that as a job.  After graduating, I began subbing for every school in the Capital District.  From Schenectady, to Niskayuna, to Duanesburg, I fearlessly tried them all.  By May, I was beaten down both physically and mentally.  I wanted to be an art teacher, not a babysitter.  Hell, I would have made more money as an actual babysitter. 

With the end of the school year approaching and no career as an art teacher in view, I took a temp job with Measured Progress scoring standardized tests.  Here's how it works:  They train you on how to score one question, you take a test to make sure you know what you're doing, if you pass you score the question until it's finished.  Not so bad, eh?  Until you consider that sometimes there are 52,000 of the same short answer question to grade.  Believe me, after 5 eight hour shifts in a row reading the answer that some undereducated 9th grader  has written about physics, you might want to kill yourself.  So back to the Track I went.

Just to make sure you're with me that was seven jobs in 4 years and at this point in my story it's August of 2006.  The second summer I worked at the track.  It's such a fun job and last year I sat between the two best people all season.  It was great.  Unfortunately the drive is murder and the season is only six weeks.  So after a month of job hunting and being depressed in September, I was forced to take a job at an insurance company.

This job was not boring, but was definitely the worst job I've had along the way.  I was answering the customer service line for an insurance company that deals with people that have mental health and substance abuse problems.  This did not help my depression situation whatsoever.  The only positive thing that came out of working there is that I became instant friends with Christina.  If I didn't have an ally there I definitely wouldn't have even made it the 5 months that I did.  Luckily, Christina and I were able to quit within a week of each other. 

I left to go back to subbing, but this time only for the Guilderland School District.  I liked the district so much that I decided to take a job as an aid in the Special Ed Department at their Middle School and that is where I will be returning in the Fall.  However, along the way I also managed to pick up a part time job, courtesy of Joe Burke, at the Albany Public Library.  I'm a clerk there some nights and hope to pass the Civil Service Exam soon so I can work there more often.  I plan to return to school Full-time this winter to get my Master's in Information Science and hopefully get a job as a Librarian. 

So count 'em folks, that's 12 jobs in last 5 years.  Wow, no wonder I'm so tired all the time. 

What clothing item do you wish could be banned?
Submitted by Mike E.

These are a few of my biggest offenders.  Most egregiously worn together.