Sunday, July 8, 2007

En Passant: Moving Along


Via email this week, former coworker and aspiring punmeister Aurelio asked me how my post-corporate life has been. I explained,

A fair question, sir! It's too soon to say, of course, after four years. I've been treating it this week more as an at-home vacation while I continue to untense inside. So I've been getting a lot of painting and other household work done, some car maintenance, etc. I don't want to be unoccupied much longer professionally, though – I like the work and responsibilities to be found in a good office… not to mention the learning experiences.

My résumé is fully caught up, and I'll be carpeting the greater local business area with it. Another buddy of mine (self-employed) suggested I should lay it under windshield-wipers like gofers for Chinese restaurants do. Well, I don't have the yen for that method, so for me it'll be via online sites, email, and in person. And, yes, I still remember how to tie a tie.

I added later:

Don't want to enjoy it too much, Chief, you know? So I've just now fired off a résumé for executive assistant with a locally-based construction firm; plenty more in my sights, too – plus I've got other folks with their ears to the office grapevines, letting me know about positions before they even hit the news.

I'm looking at this span as much like a pause while I run a 5K (or when you're biking twice that) – you take a second to catch your breath, swig some water, wipe your brow, and stretch out your calves and lower back, then head out again.

Indeed. All told I sent out four résumés, though I admit I started late in the week – I'd like to get that many out daily. To that end, today sister Mew (as has our mother) spotted a couple further good candidate-positions that I'll put in for tomorrow.

I am determined, as I've said enough already, never to commute that far again daily; I won't miss it. Still, I'll also miss out on the range of silly bumper-stickers and custom license-plates that have had me giggling from time to time, while bobbing and weaving to avoid the near-daily accidents.

Taking breaks from painting this weekend, I tidied up my first few weeks of archived blogs (futzed-up formatting, some misspellings and ambiguities I missed during my first half-dozen proofreads). In the process, I stumbled over (and since have lost) a section of someone else's blog, where he (?) provides photos of the many silly license-plates (and other sights) he sees while commuting on some of the same stretches of road that I've been wearing myself down on.

Does s/he take these photos while driving? Or is s/he the passenger in a carpool, bus, or some such, that leaves his hands free? I actually recognized a few of these plates, too – though for the sake even of strangers' privacy, I'd rather not identify the states involved (nor take my hands from the wheel long enough to expose a daguerreotype, or just snap a shot with my more-modern brownie. (Mmm… browwwwnie…).

But I did quickly scribble down some odd plates over my last few weeks hauling tuchis to and fro the office. Here they are, in no particular order, with some needless comment:

EVLGNUS Evil Genius, or Evil News? (The vehicle also had several hockey stickers)

1DA-HØG (This one wasn't a custom plate; one of the states in this area has plates that read as XXX-###, ###-XXX, and – most recently -- #XX-X##.) First I thought "Idaho?" Then: "I, da hog!"

CFC-FAN This person can't mean chloro-fluorocarbons!

PAKIRA Pa Kira? Pak Ira? Not paprika!

HAPPY U

MOVIES

MUZKNME

4HZGLRY Obviously "for His glory", right? or "for his gallery?"

NYAMEYE Hah! "New York(er) Am I"!

YUM

L8CZECH I've bounced a few of these, too

KRPAADM IIRC, I've seen this several times on a little black sports-car; I'm thinking the driver seized more than just the day

GOFORIT

5UBD011 "Sub Doll"? I don't want to know.

IHVGAS Heh-heh; this one was on a Hummer

TOFOG

TDINEWF "To Dine Wif"? "Touchdown in East-West Field"?

D-MENTED

TECHSAN Japanese computer-geek, perhaps?

BAADAYE "Bad Eye"? Or "Baaaad Day!"?

BATJEEP This was on a somewhat dorky-looking Suzuki SUV-wannabe, something like this.

 

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