Working is a pain in the... Feet.

The last three weeks have been nothing if not a struggle.

As I wrote previously, I've not worked in over 3 years. Getting back into the swing of things has been easier than I anticipated, mentally anyway. Wake up, go to work, come home. Rinse and repeat. Physically, however, it has been a much different story.

It may have been 3 years since I've worked, but it's been nearly 10 since I had a job that required standing all day. Ten years, an unspecified number of extra pounds, and several broken bones have happened since then. And two of those broken bones happen to have been in my foot.

And let me just state this clearly now for the record: a broken ankle has nothing, NOTHING on the pain I am now experiencing. Or it might. I mean, when you shatter your tibia and fibula they tend to pump you full of wonderful drugs like Percocet and Dilaudid. You get no such thing for walking around all day.

It doesn't matter if you limp all day, cry on the drive home, or don't remember what your ankle used to look like..... you get ibuprofen and if you're lucky, someone to rub some Theragesic on your poor abused feet (thank you honey!).

Let me just say..... It doesn't really do much. It doesn't take away the pain.... it just makes you feel a smidge less like giving up completely.

So these last three weeks have had me thinking... a lot. Mostly, I'm thinking "Man I have to get a sit-down job" ad nauseum. But also of just how damn hard it is to find one of those.

My experience is in customer service. All of it. Whether in retail, grocery, or call center. And that's precisely what I want to avoid. So, I need training. And the AA I have collecting dust, is useless. Complete and utter useless horseshit. Actually horseshit is kinda useful. Way more useful than an AA.

I decided nearly 2 years ago that I wanted to do cosmetology - specifically makeup and skincare. I got everything lined up, applied to school, got my parking permit, got my student ID. Then I find out that FAFSA won't cover it even though I was approved. I wasn't able to get student loans. So basically, unless I pay for it myself, I will never be able to complete the program. And cosmetology is a friggen expensive program. It hurt to have to give up that plan.

But I still need some training. And since I can't do cosmetology, lets find a way to avoid customers altogether. So, I hunted and researched. And I've found something. Something that's not quite on my list of "fun and artistic jobs", but I'd be content and make a decent living doing. I'm not going to say what it is just yet, because it seems every time I do, something bad happens. So, until the time comes, I'm keeping this one to myself. Fingers crossed.