What is Dave wearing today? Dave is rocking a Havana Industriales baseball cap, pink V-neck T-shirt, jeans, and floral socks.
How does Dave feel today? Dave is somewhat relaxed.
What are the factors affecting Dave’s mood today? Dave is happy that the workweek is over, although he has some editing to do for the Complimentary Spouse this weekend.
What is Dave drinking right now? Dave is enjoying a diet ginger ale, the beverage of champions.
What is Dave wearing today? Dave is wearing jeans1, a purple Nike polo shirt, and a pair of Disney Jungle Cruise socks.
How does Dave feel today? Dave is inconvenienced.
What are the factors affecting Dave’s mood today? Linus is trying to sit in Dave’s lap, making it difficult to type.
What are Dave’s thoughts on today’s political climate? Dave thinks things are just (im)peachy.
1 Yes, the same pair he wore yesterday. Who are you to judge?
What is Dave wearing today? Dave is wearing jeans, an American Foundation for Suicide Prevention1 T-shirt, and a pair of Pluto2 socks.
How does Dave feel today? Dave is contemplative.
What are the factors affecting Dave’s mood today? Dave is trying to figure out some career stuff.
What is Dave’s coffee situation? Dave hasn’t had any caffeine yet this morning, which means he’s prone to typing misteaks.
1 A very worthwhile organization. Please give them your attention, time, and money.
2 The dog, not the planet.3
3 Fine, Neil deGrasse Tyson, the FORMER planet.4
4 Yes, footnotes can have footnotes. It’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.
One of the most frustrating challenges in my life has been figuring out where I fit into the professional world.
I left college hoping to make a mark as a reporter, and was fortunate enough to leave that career path for a position in professional services before newspapers caved in.1 Professional services seemed a good fit — until it didn’t. I then returned to school to earn two master’s degrees2, seeking out easy writing jobs that would allow me to focus on my studies. Now I find myself trapped in low-level writing roles that don’t take advantage of my talent or educational qualifications.
The way I see it, prospective employers only care about what I’ve done, which is to deliver content.3 They don’t care about what I can do, especially with hard skills developed in graduate school and soft skills honed over decades in the workforce.
Tl;dr: I want to live up to my potential, but my past has pigeonholed me.
As you might expect, I’m frustrated. I’m struggling with how to proceed in my career. Job rejections — even for positions that only represent an incremental step forward — are demoralizing. Career development workshops are generic and haven’t proven useful. Networking is difficult in a pandemic.
My thinking now is that I need to completely reboot my career. I’ve found myself on a narrow path, and continuing the journey on it no longer appeals to me. I want to find a new route forward, one that aligns with my character and allows me to make valuable contributions.
This won’t be easy. Even though I don’t think I’ve traveled very far professionally, doing something completely new means I’ll throw away the professional capital I’ve accumulated. It means starting at Square One. I think that’s a step I need to take.
I’ll be writing more about this in the coming days and weeks. Writing forces me to organize my thoughts, and publishing it makes me accountable for my words.
1 There was no advertising revenue to prop them up.
2 An MBA and a master’s in marketing.
3 I’m generally a modest person, but I don’t mind claiming that writing is something I do exceptionally well. But that doesn’t mean I want my professional life to be defined by it anymore.
What is Dave wearing today? Dave is modeling jeans, a gray V-neck T-shirt, and a very seductive pair of white tube socks.
How does Dave feel today? Dave is a tad sluggish.
What are the factors affecting Dave’s mood today? Dave was up late watching the Alabama game. He went to sleep about halfway through the third quarter.
What is Dave’s dream job? Dave would like a job where he is paid to research what kinds of snack foods and candy are best to eat in bed while watching reruns of the Simpsons.
Everyone at Camp David will be rooting for the Crimson Tide tonight. The Complimentary Spouse has been an Alabama diehard since he was in utero, and Dave became a fan by osmosis.
Sadly, Britt and I won’t be at tonight’s championship game against the Ohio State University Buckeyes1 — and, even if we could be there, the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band can’t strut their stuff at halftime because of Covid. Here’s their performance from the Louisville-Alabama game we attended in Orlando in 2018.
Give ’em hell, Alabama!
1 There’s no fucking way I’m capitalizing the “the” in front of the school name. Brutus the Buckeye can suck it.
Comida chatarra. Mensaje maravilloso.
Out: “Top Golfer, Justin Thomas, Uses ‘Inexcusable’ Homophobic Slur”
Ever notice that anytime something like this happens, the first response is “that’s not who I am.” Actually, it is who you are. Your character is revealed by what you do when you think no one’s listening, not when you’re in the spotlight with a mic pressed into your face.
A haiku:
“We want unity!”
Say the folks whose T-shirts said,
“Trump: Fuck your Feelings.”
What is Dave wearing today? Dave is currently wearing a Buccaneers T-shirt, gray sweatpants (because he’s classy), and blue socks with pictures of cassettes on them.
How does Dave feel today? Dave is sluggish.
What are the factors affecting Dave’s mood today? Dave hasn’t had coffee yet.
How is Dave adjusting to his gluten-free, dairy-free lifestyle? Dave would kill you all for a piece of chicken Parmesan.