Why I'm in School

I had to write a personal narrative about why I decided to go to school for an English class I'm taking; I thought it'd make a pretty good blog, so here it is. (For you grammarians that may read this, I've already turned it in, so you can leave the correcting to my prof.)

Why I’m in School

            There’s an old folk-tale about a man named John Henry; John Henry was a steel driving man. The story goes that John Henry would swing his hammer from dusk till dawn, and never slow down. Then one day, in a Herculean effort, John Henry beat a steel driving machine. Some versions of the tale say Henry died the next morning, others say he died right there with the hammer in his hand. Now I’m not a steel driver, but I am a carton slinger and I don’t want to die with a carton in my hand. So I’d say the main reason I’m in school is to gain the skills that will allow me to move on to a better, hopefully, less labor intensive job.

            As I contemplated this assignment I came up with many an idea to use. Some I thought of for their elegance. Some I thought would sound good in a narrative. But there were three reasons that, like common denominators, all the others reduced to. The three reasons are: money, acquiring skills, and, as stated above, a physically easier job.

            I believe I’m very skilled at the job that I do, but it’s still classified as an unskilled position. Most people could come in off the street and learn to do it in a few days time. While there are a handful of higher paying jobs I qualify for, they are few and far between; you have to have a good bit of seniority built up to acquire them. So I realized that I’ve got to be satisfied with where I am or I need to learn the skills that will help me get a higher paying, skilled job.

            While looking through the course catalog, trying to find what skill set I’d be interested in learning, I came across the Facility Maintenance Diploma Program. This program touches on a number of different skills: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, welding, carpentry, and machining. I thought not only will this provide me marketable skills but it will allow me to see where my interests lie; I can see if I’d like to specialize in one of the fields. Also, as a home owner, these could be very valuable skills in themselves, even if they never lead to a better paying job.

            The above reasons I’ve thought of for a couple of years now; they are very good reasons yet neither of them actually catapulted me up that long flight of steps to sign up for classes. I said I was a carton slinger, and while that’s not my actual job title, it’s more to the point. I throw cartons onto a conveyor belt eight hours a day, 40 hours a week and it’s beginning to take its toll. I’m a 40 year old man doing a job better suited for 20 year olds; the old joints don’t bounce back the way they use to. I had received the flyers, “It’s not too late to go back to school,” for years but this year they hit their mark. After a few, extra, rough days I signed for financial aid and as soon as it was approved I was here at CCC, signing up for classes. I may never get rich, or be the next Bob Villa but hopefully I can avoid dying with a carton in my hand.

 

Bartleby

Bartleby is a very strange and at times surreal movie experience. In came out in 2001 although I had never heard of it until recently. I found it while rummaging around on Netflix one night and finally got around to watching it yesterday. My 10 yr. old and my wife watched it with me, when it went off the 10 yr. old asked, "What was that about?" and my wife said, "That movie lasted about and hour and 1/2 to long." I liked it, it was weird and very strange and appeared to have been shot on a very low budget. I thought it was from the 80's, it wasn't until I looked it up on IMDB that I saw it had come out so (relatively) recently. The movie centers around and office manager played by David Paymer and his strange new employee Bartleby, played by the awesome Crispin Glover. Paymer's character runs a small public records office, he has a secretary and two employees until extra work load leads him to place an add for a new worker, the only applicant is Bartleby and so, despite his strange mannerisms, he's hired. He works well for awhile but then one day he's asked to do something and he responds, "I'd rather not." This becomes a sort of catch phrase for him and as the film progresses he begins answering, "I'd rather not." more and more often. I don't want to give away anything that happens but this progresses to it's furthermost conclusion. To answer the question my son asked, "What was this about?", I answered that I believed it was about non-conformity. I've thought about and talked about the movie some today and I believe my first assessment was right. Everyone at the office conforms to what their suppose to do and even though all the characters have their quirks, they conform to what their stereotypes are, everyone except Bartleby. Bartleby stands there staring at the air conditioner vent preferring not to work and it drives everyone else to distraction, especially the boss. Something is obviously wrong with Bartleby, but we're never told what or why he is the way he is, he prefers not to talk about it. His nonconformism goes to extreme measures (if just standing there preferring not to do anything can be considered extreme) and infects others. I loved the last scene in the film. The movie isn't a call to nonconformism because it shows what an outcast it can make you, it's more an illustration of how we all fall in line everyday without usually even realizing that we are.  The movie is based upon a Melville short story titled, Barleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, I've not read this but I'll have to keep an eye out for it now.

3 things

    I thought I'd throw a blog up here, just for the fun of it, and three things came to mind. They are in particular order theater, the RNC and Doctor Who.
   First off lets discuss that demanding mistress the theater. Theater is a hobby and it's art and it's very time consuming. Performing is a thrill, it's a rush and a raw nerve. I'm sort of past the point of having butterflies but that doesn't mean I don't fret and worry when it's time to hit the stage. The biggest fear is forgetting the words (words, words(to borrow from Shakespeare). But that's what all the practice is for so that either you wont forget or you'll have the presence of mind to carry on if you do. Last night I sang both with an ensemble group and as a solo performer for the Greater Shelby Community Theatre's season opener and it was a lot of fun. From what I could tell everyone had a great time.
  Secondly the Republican National Convention (RNC) had their big convention down in Tampa last week, I didn't watch it mind you, but I saw bits and pieces of it on the news and on the Daily Show. I actually tried and failed to suppress a laugh when someone asked me if I was watching it. You might could tell from my reaction I'm not a republican but I also have no plans to watch the DNC either. I can think of a lot better things to watch than a bunch of mostly like minded people blowing smoke up their collective asses. Because as one the RNC folks said, and I'm paraphrasing here, we're not going to let facts get in the way of our convention. I'd like to make an appeal here to the RNC though, come back from the fringe. A few months back when the primaries were just getting started I was interested and was thinking I might could be swayed to the republican side (I've voted on both sides in the past) based mostly on the debt crisis in Europe and the fear that it could spread to us. But as the primaries wended on they began moving more and more to the far right and the crazies started taking over the party. I think now that Mitt has won the nomination he ought to say psych and flop back to the center to left repub. he use to be.
   Speaking of better things to watch, Doctor Who's new season premiered last night and it was awesome (like I would expect anything less from Moffat). We got a very curious look at the new companion (the very smart and beautiful new companion) that will be taking over in the Christmas episode this year. That of course means will be saying goodbye (as much as you can ever say goodby in a time traveling show) to Amy and Rory, which is sad but it's also a staple of the show. I saw an interview with someone involved with the show, I can't remember who right off, that said the show is really about the companions adventures with the Doctor, that we see the show through their eyes. So a new companion means a whole new world of possible stories. Doctor Who is such a fantastic show, it's drama and scifi and horror and comedy and the new incarnation of the show is even more fantastic than ever.
   That's it folks, three and out, time to punt.