lovers, keep on the road you're on

So, I've had this post for about two weeks now . . . just sitting around waiting to be posted. Sorry if it's out of date. And I'm definitely sorry it's late.

There is value in going back to one's origins. I am back at home . . . in the heartland . . . waiting for the next step to descend upon me like a holy vision. This is a wildly inefficient, frustrating way to make decisions, but the fear of making the wrong one has paralyzed me. I guess, life is all about keeping the good things and improving on the bad ones, right? I think, often, it's not until the bad gets very bad that you actually start paying attention to the parts of you that need changing and begin to work to improve it. Procrastination is an issue of human nature, I guess.

As a reaction to my self-inflicted emotional paralysis, I've made a . . . shall we say . . . "half decision". I've taken a temporary job in an office in order to fill my days and get some income. It is an intermediate step before I enter whatever I choose as my real life for the next while. I don't plan to have the job longer than about two months, but they've offered, even repeatedly asked me to consider, making it a permanent thing. Well, at least "permanent for the foreseeable future". I have actually been thinking about it. That's all I can say because there is nothing else to plan on. This job is a good cushion to fall between college and whatever I choose next because essentially, I can have the job as long as I want with a commitment length of only two months. Less than that, actually---just till the end of August. So, meanwhile, I'll keep my thoughts in Seattle . . . or maybe Connecticut . . . or who knows? Japan, maybe?

The job is interesting to me because I find it somewhat romantic (in the epic, idealistic sense, I mean) even though I only work in an office. So far, I do paperwork and data entry, with some filing tossed in when there's down time. Is it illegal to blog about an employer/employment company, or only to write negative things about them? I don't know. Well, I’m throwing caution to the wind and telling you that I am now working for Pacific Seafood which is (as far as I can understand) a company that acts as a liaison/middleman between the local fishermen and the companies buying the fish. We process, package, and ship the fish out, and this is just one location of (as far as I can tell) a pretty sizable company based in the PacNW. And, as an interesting aside, we just acquired BIO Oregon. Who’s that, you ask? Oh, you know it. It's that plant out on Pacific Avenue toward Hammond that's so stinky. Yeah, I work for those guys. Well, technically, I work for the guys who own those guys.

Anyway, my point is that this job, while not glamorous by any means, has a lot to do with the heart of the historic industry of the Pacific Northwest. I know I'm not the one on the boat slinging the net over the side and reeling in the fish, but I'm a part of that in a way. My job directly helps those guys get money for what they do. In that sense, I'm really happy with my job right now. Also, it's kind of nice to just do the silly filing, sorting, and number-checking tasks because they are so methodical. I have been doing other things like, looking up accounts and preparing paperwork for approval and payment, but there is a significant chunk of time spent doing the remedial sorting jobs. I kinda like it. I mean, I wouldn't want to have this job for the next thirty years (or even the next five years), but it’s fine for now and the time passes surprisingly quickly. I think my brain enjoys functioning that way, for now, anyway.

The other day I went out and ate my lunch at the jetty. That was pretty great. Pacific Seafood is out in Warrenton, so the jetty is a mere ten-minute drive from here. I took my sandwich, some water, and a book, climbed up on the rocks, and occasionally got splashed by the larger waves. Also, I learned that the Hammond-Warrenton Public Library has a continuous book sale going on. How do they do that and how did I never become aware? Tomorrow I think I will go there for lunch and check it out.