Continuing from the Sad Thread:
I had an interview with the manager of the bakery/deli I was looking to work at, and completely won him over with my charm, work ethic, knowledge and experience, and general people skills. I pulled out all the stops, and really made an impression, so much so that he waived the second interview and offered me the job right up front!
...at which point he informed me that it starts at 4am, only offers about 10-20 hours a week, pays $8 hourly, and offers no benefits. Not even discounted food.
"Sign me up! What's that, sir? Will I be looking for other employment in the meantime? Oh, of course not!"
So. Crazy thing.
I get home, and get a call from my friend. The University called his number trying to reach me. Apparently they want me back at the lab, to work on a military study analyzing the health and psychological condition of soldiers after deployment. Despite that it's been 2 months since this project was supposed to start. For some reason, they'd only had my friend's phone number on file as an emergency contact. I updated my info in the University system, but I guess it didn't propagate to the lab?
Anyway, yeah. So I'll be staying at the bakery exactly as long as it takes to train up for the new project, and then scamper on back to my comfortable, free-bus-pass-having, air-conditioned, appreciated, and well-paid position at the Lab. Plus, it'll leave me with all the time and flexibility I need to do Game Design and Graphics for a big old project I recently hopped aboard, which has me quite geeked. It's sort of a pseudo-sandboxy Multiplayer Spaceship/Space Station building game, with an emphasis on interstellar exploration, trade, engineering, and light Strategy/4x/Colony Management elements. It's more or less the game I've wanted to make since I was 10 years old, scribbling out a sandbox redesign of Galaga/Gradius, inspired by all the games my brother and I used to play with Legos.