This post has been partially written for days. Every time I sit down, I get interrupted.
I figured out that, as of this month, I have been in the full time workforce for 40 years. I finally went back and dug out my journal at the time to see if I could figure out the day. Best I can tell it was Monday October 6, 1986.
(Aside: before that I had jobs like fast food and babysitting. I’ve worked in one way or another since I was about 13. Here’s a short post about those jobs.)
My journals are a terrible read. I didn’t write much about what was going on and more about how I was feeling and my head was angsty and insecure and it makes for a torturous read. But I was amused (?) to read that as soon as I started that job, I knew it was terrible. I thought it took me awhile to figure it out. (Somewhere I wrote more about this job but can’t find it right now.)
But back to the 40 years — during that time I have had a few breaks but most of them were involuntary and stressful because I needed money to pay my bills.
When I moved from California to Oregon I think the chain of events was: (1) Quit job in December to go to paralegal school; (2) went to paralegal school from January to June; (3) Couldn’t find a job interview to save my life and spent the summer in Orleans doing odd jobs; (4) Moved to Oregon in September.
Then I did a bunch of temp office jobs until I started what I am doing now in February 1992. I had one 6-week break when I went to Clarion West in 2008.
I like what I do and I’m really good at it. I’d probably hang in a couple years longer but the commute and the long days have worn me down. I keep moving the target date but the plan is to retire next year.
