On My Own

I did it!  I'm now out of Dad's house and living on my own (well, I do have roommates) in Cincinnati.  It wasn't hard to find a job (I'm not in the employee list yet, but I will be after three months).  I can do it remotely, which frankly makes life easier.  You would not believe the prejudice here against orangutans--people stare and point, and only quick reflexes saved me from taking a trank dart last week.

But my roommates are cool.  Jim works at a garage, Bruce is in construction, and Melanie is a waitress.  We play a lot of games.  I'm hopeless at poker, but I usually win at chess and no one can beat me at Twister.  Jim cracks us up with his constant joking.  He ought to do standup.

Politically, I'm seeing for the first time how wrong Dad and I were--and I guess he still is.  It's tough living on what employers pay today; this isn't 1958.  I don't blame the small employers.  They can't pay well or the big chains will kill them.  Forget trying to organize; unions are crushed wherever possible where they already exist, and no new locals can be formed.  We get what we're offered, under the conditions imposed, or we don't work.  OK, that's life in the USA--now.