Okay, I'm an admin tech(secretary to English speakers) for the social work/admissions dept. at ASH- the Austin State Hospital. At least I work at a concern that has its own acronym.

Off to work

What has gone before

Coming to a nice grim crossroads in life. Underemployed for 20 years, working at the insane asylum here in scenic Austin TX. I'm at least working indoors w/ a job that has benefits of a sort. The pay is not great and Austin is becoming San Francisco-ized; i.e., lots of rich liberals driving property values up and thus my rent, eating into a lot of my pay. If all goes according to plan I can retire from the state at age 59. I'm(groan) 47 now, within batting range of half a century. I'll get a small percentage then of what I would be making when I retire; just enough to buy dog food, as I tell people. If I save enough money, maybe I can buy a vehicle and do a tour of the nation's parks in my old age. Other than that, I'm fresh out of ideas.

what has gone before

back on the internet at home. Still working at the Texas State Asylum(sigh) better job, better boss now clerk for social work/admissions. my boss is the head social worker. other administration still bad officially libertarian now- working there shows me government doesn't work. hopefully going camping next week at Bastrop State Park. Always good to get the hell out of dodge. Hopefully will be semi-revitalizing experience. As always, tax churches, not manufacturing.

By the way

Man, if there's an afterlife I'm totally screwed.

John Waters on Leslie Van Houten

Over on Huffington Post, there's a series of five surprisingly thoughtful posts (what we used to call "essays" back in the Bronze Age) by John Waters about his relationship w/ Leslie Van Houten. He makes no apologies for her actions, and it's worth a look. Still can't forgive him for Pink Flamingos, though. Actually, had an amusing moment about that this week. Somehow the subject came up while talking w/ my friend John, and I noted that I had a hard time eating eggs for some months afterwards. He said, "yeah, same w/ dog shit."

My boy Christopher Hitchens gets it right again

Good article by Christopher Hitchens over at Slate talking about the movie detailing a series of debates he had with a Christian minister. I highly recommend his column Fighting Words; pithy and usually spot on. We need to hear unpleasant truths about ourselves(well, you) and others. I believe the movie's title is Conversations, and it should be worth a look.