Do the Limbo!

Limbo to some is a fun game where you get limber and get groovy with some sweet Rastafarian rifts, but for others is just a subtle, momentary temptation to sacrifice your lower back, pride, and tail bone in the name of impressing some girl in a hula skirt who you think is winking at you. But limbo is more than that. Way more.

For those of you who find yourself in between the years of 18-25(maybe older) and you haven't quite finished college yet, but are very close; you are probably very familiar with the other kind of limbo. It's the kind that enables you to get a less than sweet job, get exploited like a 5 year old Malaysian kid at a shoe factory, going with little or no pay, but bleeding your soul for your employer all the while. Yes, I speak of internships. Sure, you get a few perks, rub some elbows, maybe get some free Chinese food, but beyond that it's slave labor. And why are you so used? Well, simply put, you're a liability. If you were on the payroll, the company you intern for would be paying you to learn, and inevitably, falter. But, if they don't have to do that, why would they? Not only do they get their whole inventory marked, boxed, organized, and put in a multi-colored database spreadsheet format, but if you screw up, they don't have to pay you. They can chuckle and just give you a more demeaning task. Not to say that you don't get plenty of experience and contacts through internships, but realistically it is probably challenging to say the least to pay your cell phone bill, fill your car with gas, pay for public transport, rent, insurance, etc. So, ideally if you have an internship it would be nice if your family or institution covered your butt. Fortunately for many, they do. For you others, you have to get other jobs. Like maybe three other jobs, and then still scrape to get by. And then, on top of that you may not even go into that line of work.

That brings us back to limbo. If you go to an internship great! You gain experience and have your eyes opened. However, if you don't end up going to that company or career path, it might just be a whole lot of mucking through slop without a clean horse stall at the end. But, if life is for living, then, well, at least you lived it. Limbo can be good. A blessing and a curse. You don't want to shut the door on your options...but you don't want to end up in a career 10 years up the road that you despise. Do the limbo limbo lim, do the limbo limbo la....

The FFF

Now, from what I gather the whole internet social networking thing, is sort of "a big deal, " which brings with it a whole new world of relations and terminology. One such fun new acronym is best described as someone who adds you as a facebook friend, only to dump you and then re-add you just to keep tabs. These are the Fickle Facebook Friends, or, 'FFF' if you like. I know you all have at one point or another had something like that happen to you, be it on myspace, facebook, orkut or whatever. However, given that facebook is the most legimate of the network sites, being safest, and least whore-like when it comes to advertising and ownership, the new terminology comes from it. Don't bother remembering FFF's birthdays...they're just using you.

Stress

Stress. The beautiful word, so maligned and so absurd, raises our blood pressure and pumps adrenaline. It can make us panic, and even make us manic whacks.

Stress. Believe it or not can be necessary and even therapeutic. Without it, people would be apathetic and would have no drive to complete all the necessary tasks at work, at home or elsewhere.

Stress. It is present in everyone's life, whether they admit it or not. Now, just because it exists, doesn't mean you need to let it get to you. You can always maintain a calm front, but don't tell me you're never stressed.

Stress. It is the friend of vacation planners, and relatives you never see, as it plagues you until you take that break.

Stress. The word rhymes with mess, less, chess, dress, confess, caress, bless, and redress.

Stress. Makes your heart beat faster, makes you nervous, not unlike someone you have a crush on. Maybe you have a crush on stress.

Time to Vent

I have to spill it. I will not cite names or the specific issues, but I am pretty peeved. And that is putting it lightly. Now, you may think I'm just a push-over given my previous posts, but I am anything but. I pride myself in hard work, good work and lots of it. I believe that to such a degree that I have been working three jobs, working graveyard shifts, and been driving many miles to get from place to place.

Whether you think I'm a punk, or a cocky, self-absorbed jerk or not is not my concern. If you think that way you don't know me. I love my God, my family and my country in that order. However, as of late I have spent more time attempting to give myself a "leg up" professionally. I am happy with 2 of my 3 jobs. The other, I recently was told I would not receive any further work. It was a relief to me because I disagreed about how the business was being run, and how I was being compensated. However, having stated my reasons of disagreement, I received a diatribe email this morning from my employer telling of past wrongs of when I worked for him a year ago. I had felt that those had been resolved, but they resurfaced so he could attempt to create a pattern of non-compliance and ineptitude. Of course he spun the truth to his side, neglected the amount of good work I had done for him and failed to drudge up any of the late payments, bad communication and mistakes on his side.

But such is life. I still respect him as a person, but as a businessman I question him. Of course I could only expect an unreasonable tirade from him, being a lawyer, but I most certainly refuse to hire him as counsel in the future nor will I be able to recommend his services to my friends and family. I have come to several important realizations as a result of this recent dispute. I should have already thought about this, but having friends as employers/employees can be risky business. Often times it can become hard to reconcile after a falling out. I will say no more.