Recumbent Politics

[mhuzzell]

Last week, and Monday and Tuesday, I went around applying to jobs. Now I am in the nether-world of waiting for them to contact me, wondering at what point it is appropriate to drop by again and ask them. Saturday, maybe, for the places I applied to this week?

I feel like I should be doing something useful, but instead I've mostly just been lazing around the house. Not just lazing--I've unpacked all that I can until Norah moves out; I've cleaned as much as I can with a broken vaccuum cleaner; I've figured out how to fix the vaccuum cleaner, but lack the screwdriver I need to do so; I've experimented with trying to cook--but mostly I've just sat with my computer, as evidenced by the excessive length of my last entry.

I wish I could've gone to the G8 protest this year, but I'm starting to worry for my friends who did. I've been reading reports of the protests, and it sounds like it's been pretty tense, and getting worse. Police are using batons, tear gas and water cannons. So far, 700 people have been arrested, 6 have been sentenced.

On the other hand, the BBC has a meagerly reassuring story saying Bush is starting to compromise on Climate Change. Below a photo of an uncomfortably-smiling Angela Merkel and a confused-looking GW Bush: "Ahead of the meeting US President George W Bush proposed the establishment of his own process of climate control negotiations."

Throughout the build-up to the G8, the White House's line of opposition to plans to combat climate change is that it would compromise the autonomy of the US. Which, phrased like that, almost seems like a valid point. But the way they've been saying it, Bush sounds like a petulant child who refuses to do as he's told just because he's being told to do so, even though it's clearly in his own interest. As with such children, maybe the way to combat this stubbornness is to get him to think it was all his idea in the first place. Then again, that would get reported on the American news, and further inflate the American ignorantsia's opinions of themselves.

Comments

[waxing-gibbous.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure which I hate more: waiting around, hoping people will call me back, or the inevitable "We're not hiring right now, but feel free to fill out an application so we can keep it on file."

[mhuzzell.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I hated filling in all those useless applications last year (when I was working in the US). Here in the UK, few businesses have their own application forms. Instead, you just hand them a pre-prepared CV, which makes the process a lot quicker. But last year, in the 'going back to check' phase, my line was "Hi, I filled in an application here a few days ago..."--now I'm not quite sure what to say.