Wrong Way
Lamenting on his dissatisfaction in his present work in Louisiana, Mike ponders on the next steps in his career and where that will prompt him to move next.
Mike proposes a thesis on the correlation between a community's walkability and the preponderance of nicer butts among its residents.
Good morning, this is Mike George coming to you live from my living room in Alexandria, Louisiana. It is a Wednesday in April 2022 — though I still haven't quite gotten used to the fact that it’s 2022 yet!
I’m taking a rare "sanity day" today, a personal day away from my work at Cleo where I’m usually running around the state fixing broken substations. Honestly, I’ve just been under a lot of weird emotions lately, both personally and professionally, and I just needed to release myself a little bit and stop being a perfectionist.
It’s frustrating because we’re told by every book and movie that we’re supposed to learn some epic moral lesson from every tragedy, yet here we are at 36 years old still making the same goddamn mistakes. But, looking out the window, it’s a beautiful 22 degrees outside, and I’m still proud of that US flag in my yard; we aren't perfect, but we're doing the right things.
My professional life is a bit of a hilarious dynamic. I’m the "gay engineer" supervising a crew of blue-collar construction laborers who have the potty humor of 16-year-old straight boys. Even though I have to cover my "politically correct Queer ears" during their locker room jokes, I love these guys, and I feel blessed that my identity isn't an issue at work. However, I’m at an impasse. While I’ve fallen in love with the chill, small-town vibe of Alexandria, this job is a dead end for me career-wise. It’s a stepping stone, and I’m ready to find something that actually utilizes my Master’s degree instead of just doing field work that feels intellectually stagnant.
One of the biggest annoyances of living here is the car dependency. I don’t have my own vehicle yet, and it’s amazing the classist assumptions people make—they see you don't have a car and assume you're poor or don't have your shit together. I actually admire the people I see braving six-lane boulevards on foot. In fact, I’m convinced there’s a scientific correlation between a city’s walkability index and the quality of the general "rump" in the population. If you’re walking instead of "scooting and tooting" your ass around in a car, you’re going to have a firmer coefficient of curvature. My own is currently a 50/50 mix of gym-firm and "fried food jiggly".
Anyway, just talking to you all has put me in a better mood. I’m going to have some more coffee, chill out, and enjoy my day off. Take care of yourselves and each other.
