I got home, and my mom immediately went on a month long vacation. My dad went up to see her "at the lake" shortly thereafter, and even my brother and his family is up there too, now, frollicking in the pool and whatnot. Don't get me wrong, I'm not not invited, but someone needs to water all the plants and feed the cats. They all assure me I can dump that on the lady across the street, but it would feel a bit awkward being that guy.
HEY MRS. TRUITNER! JUST GOT BACK IN TOWN FROM LIVING ABROAD, GONNA GO FROLLICK IN THE POOL, ETC. GRAB THE MAIL, FEED THE CATS, AND WATER THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON IN MY ABSENCE, K? OH, AND PUT THE TRASH OUT MONDAY MORNING. KTHXBAI.
Yeah, that would just feel a little... neighbor rapey. Boxes are still arriving just about every day now that we shipped off from Japan about a month ago. I really should have taken some photos of some of the more dramatic deliveries. We opted to send everything 'surface', which means it travels on a boat ("fuck trees, I climb buoys, etc") to America. Imagine Wile E. Coyote falling off a mesa, and walking away looking like an accordian; then you open that accordian, and pull out your Wii and dress shirts.
About a billion boxes have arrived, and I have my whole home theatre thing set up, but no controllers to play any consoles with. Why I decided to send all the controllers separate from the systems is a huge mystery. It turns out ten more boxes have yet to arrive (just asked my wife, apparently the final count was 23!).
In truth, my main gaming fix is WoW anyway, but I find myself decidedly uneager (ineager? noneager...?) to log in. My motherboard, CPU, and videocards were sent via airmail, and I ran out and bought a swanky new case, monitor, and PSU on like day two. I ran a VOA pug, and got a Valorous chest for my warrior, but have been too lazy to even add it to my gear sets in Outfitter, etc. My priest has been neglected, and my European Rogue is officially in the wrong timezone now. Being in the fabled American Timezone of Teh WoWzors has kind of backfired. I reckon once I get rolling with a new guild everything will fall into place?
In truth it feels like my wife is scheming to occupy any stretch of time longer than 30 minutes with something. I haven't had a raidable chunk of time open to me since before I left Japan, and I don't even have a job! I fear I'm losing touch with the working mindset, as well. Waking up around 9 or 10 (with the wife and kid), putzing around drinking coffee in a robe, then deciding to get dressed so we can go to Target (I swear we've gone to Target every single day since coming home)... how am I supposed to fit a job in there, and more importantly: what was I thinking about that game design thing? It was all so crystal clear a few months ago, but I feel like I'm losing touch with that vision I had, and am edging very near to 'jump on craigslist and grab anything in the area'.
The job forecast seems so grim everytime anyone opens their mouth, but then I remember these are the same people that talked about El Nino every chance they had back then, or were probably droning on about the Swine Flu before my glorious re-arrival. The news tells people what to complain about, it all reminds me of that one sketch in The Meaning of Life when the American Couple goes to dinner and orders conversations instead of food, because they can't think of anything interesting to say to one another.
For now, I water the plants, change the kids diaper, and wait.
Bleh.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I Don't think My Parents Missed Me :(
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8 comments:
Don't give up on looking for game design jobs if that's where your heart is, but yes, it's a screwed up economy, and taking any half decent job in the interim to take care of your family would be wise, rather than waiting on the honeyed lips of Blizzard. Best of luck!
You are probably experiencing the re-entry reverse culture shock. You just don't know it. I think you need to share some of your Japanese cultural experiences with your neighbors to ease the transition:
1. Rev a scooter engine in your driveway. For a half-hour straight.
2. Panty-shark some passing old lady.
3. Run naked and drunk through your local park.
4. Get on the city bus and press up against someone, it doesn't matter if you are the only two people in there.
5. Go to the supermarket (or Target) and try to converse with the staff in Japanese to share your culture! Or even better, use the same English phrases your Japanese friends used on you! "Harro! harro! Nice tsu mee-chu. Oh, me hige-sorry! Hahahaha!"
(No, I'm not jealous you are back in the states and I'm still here!)
1. Rev a scooter engine in your driveway. For a half-hour straight.
Holy shit, I'm dying...!
Yeah, I have a couple friends that need jobs, and if they weren't being super picky about the city they want to work in (engineering jobs) they'd have had like 4 or 5 in the last couple months already. But they're enjoying their downtime and apparently have the cash in the bank to carry it a little longer, so they're being picky. Not sure this economy is the right time to be picky, but it's also not the disaster area people are making it out to be either. If you just want work, you should be able to get it once it gets that far.
I have never lived in Japan so I can't really comment on the transition back to the USA. But I have lived in a third world country and culture shock was real and for me harsh. And understand that no one in your family probably has a clue either about what you are going through or how to respond. I actually believe it took me three years before I was fully acclimated back into the States again.
What I found most interesting (and sad) was that I would get interviews just because people wanted to hear about my foreign experiences and not because they had any real desire to offer me a job. Me: So here is how I am the best fit for the job. Interviewer: So tell me about India. Regardless of how you see yourself, other people will now see you differently.
What I want to say most clearly is that you need to understand that you will be going through a process of social and psychological adjustment. You can't prevent that but knowing it's happening can at least take the edge off the worst of it.
Keep your head up Ixo. I went through the same thing coming back to the states after three years in Korea.
The whole economy being in the crapper isn't a media myth for once. Literally half of my friends are unemployed, and these are all people with at least bachelor's degrees. The new scary phrase that everyone tosses about is a jobless recovery.
Just wanted to say keep your head up as well. Never know when opportunity will knock. Start to network, reach out to old friends, etc.etc.
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