2023 Week XVII: "Freelance"

 Hello Internet,

I've never interviewed well, and I've never liked interviewing.  For a long, I had thought that the latter was informed by the former, but the older that I get, the more I am coming to realize that the inverse is the truth.  You see, interviewing sucks.

For what it is worth, I do not know that there is a system that is more efficient.  You cannot reasonably expect people to hire you without knowing who you are and without speaking to you, but the short-form interview where you speak with someone up to an hour at most and direct the conversation with open-ended, extremely broad, and usually vapid questions simply does not assess the readiness of potential employees the way that it is supposed to.

Furthermore, interviews in and of themselves are a particular skill set by itself.  I find that while I struggle with interviews, I am often praised or excel at the work that I am interviewing for.  This is because interviewing is a job in and of itself, and it requires not only a particular set of skills but an interest in interviewing that no amount of necessity will ever evoke in me.

I love teaching, and I adore writing, but that love doesn't always translate as willingness.

Lately, I've had this thought: I have time to work in the Autumn when teaching positions have opened up, and I have the interest to write for companies now.  What I don't have time or interest for are interviews.  The constant leaping through hoops in hopes of finding getting a job that I may or may not be interested in is a type of exhausting that I physically and emotionally cannot keep up with.  As I previously said: I have time for work; I do not have time for interviews.

Things are getting tight, and the hardest part is keeping up hope that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.  I know Noodle and I can get through anything, but I am afraid of how dark it will get before we do find that light in the end.

Sincerely,

RWS

P.S.

-Short Rest-

Schedule

1. Fullmetal Alchemist/Persona 3 Portable/Critical Role: Campaign 3 Part I

2. One-Punch Man/Fable: Anniversary Evil/Outlaw Star

3. My Hero Academia/DnD5e/Fullmetal Alchemist & The Legend of Vox Machina

4. The Emperor and I/Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix HD Remix+/Seven Deadly Sins Season 1

5. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes/Mass Effect 2 Jean Shepard Replay/Gargoyles

6. Boruto: The Next Generation/Movie/Young Justice

7. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat/Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth/Dimension 20: Tiny Heist

Books

Tower: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

0. One Piece 100% New Chapters Every…

1. Sun: Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 5, Ch. 18: “The Value of Sincerity”—21 20% (2—5)

2. Mon: One-Punch Man Vol. 16, Punch 84: “Hideout”—84 83% (6—6)

3. Tue: My Hero Academia Vol. 14, No. 126: “Open Up, World”—128 70% (8—10)

4. Wed: The Emperor and I Vol. 2, Ch. 17: “Feather’s and Appearances”—18 75% (13—16)

5. Thu: 7th Garden Root 2: “The Gardner and the Demon”A—4 25% (2—4)

6. Fri: Boruto: The Next Generation Vol.9, No. 35: “Up to You”—35 75% (4—4)

7. Sat: Books

-Fiction: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

-Library: Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender by Stef M. Shuster

-YA: The Giver by Lois Lowry

-Fan Fiction: Final Fantasy: Fated to Ch. 50 by tinygaia Ch. 50—50, 100% 

-Nonfiction: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat 12% (54—440)

View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman 26% (130—502)

-DnD5e: Player’s Handbook by Wizards of the Coast 0% (?—??)

-Reread

Games

Tower: Dragon Age: Origins Kallian Tabris 100%

0. Stardew Valley

1. Backlog/Persona 3 Portable 59% (41/83hrs)

2. Multiples/Fable: Anniversary Evil 0% (0/21hrs)

3. Read.

4. Replay/Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix+ 0% (0/16 Trophies)

5. DnD/Mass Effect 2 Jean Shepard Replay 42% (22/52hrs)

6. Movie

7. Free/Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth 0% (0/68hrs)

Shows

Tower: Fullmetal Alchemist Season 1

1. Critical Role: Campaign 3 Part I Ep. 3: “Trail and the Toll”—11 (Level Up to 5) 18% (3—11)

2. Anime: Outlaw Star 19% (6—26)

3. Online/Owned: The Legend of Vox Machina Season 1 25% (4—12)

Fullmetal Alchemist 62% (17—26)

4. Netflix: Seven Deadly Sins Season 1 83% (21—24)

5. Disney+: Gargoyles Season 1 39% (6—13)

6. HBO: Young Justice Season 1 42% (12—26)

7. Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy 1: “Fantasy High Live at RTX”—19 11% (3—19)

8. Movies: 0% (1—14)

Firefly 29% Disc 2 (5—14)

MCU Series/Ms. Marvel 2—6

Disney/Bambi

HBOMax/My Neighbor Totoro

Star Wars/Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Owned/Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Marvel/X2: X-Men United

Anime/.hack//LIMINALITY: “The Case of Yuki Aihara”

DCAU/Batman: Mask of the Phantasm