The Flight of Young Drakos.

Less then 36 hours left till my flight. So time for my final thoughts. Huzzah craigslist, I'd say. Essentially everyone I've met out here is somehow related to a post. Every job as well. Here's an example of one of my posts that didn't work out in the end:

Anyone else love swingsets? - m4mw

Is there anybody else out there like me who never got tired of the swings down at the playground? Hope so. I'm a future grad student looking for a friend to go out to a park with and enjoy the fresh air.

P.S. I was considering calling this post "Calling all Swingers" but I was concerned about the ambiguity.

I got maybe seven responses, but none of them panned out. Oh well. Next Topic...

My Triumphant Return. A phrase that I've thrown around a lot in this blog. Only time will tell if I can live up to that title. I just took a walk around Boulder, and climbed to the top of a parking garage. It gave me a giraffe's-eye view of the city, and a heavy dose of nostalgia. Eaton Humanities, home of the Classics department. The Valmont hump, I tried to climb it but it was covered in fences and coal mines so I gave up and got horribly lost in East Boulder. That wine tasting place that would sell you alcohol on Sunday, despite Colorado liquor law (Easter Sunday even). The Post office, where I once got a job application ("You wanna work at the post office? Really?" the man said, "Alright, fill out this 20 page application. Yep, I know. It's awful.") I could go on, but it's about time I shut down and packed up my computer.

I'll be home in about 24 hours now. So this will be my last post from Boulder. Farewell hippies, farewell free bus-pass, farewell sixty degree weather followed by six inches of snow. Farewell local businesses, farewell wellness conglomerates, farewell wind-powered brewery with organic wheat beer, farewell vegan-friendly gluten-free muffins with flaxseed. Farewell historic frontier architecture. Farewell prairie dogs, mountain lions, black bears and the Wildlands Alliance. Farewell friends, farewell co-workers, farewell horrible managers. Farewell wasted opportunity, farewell mountain adventures. Farewell time zone, farewell rock gardens, farewell overpriced clothing stores.

Farewell, Boulder. But fear not, for I shall return.

~D
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END OF VOLUME ONE

In Search of Fulfilling Work...

"I am a young energetic college graduate in search of a fulfilling work environment, and I believe that a place at your company is the sort of employment opportunity I am looking for."

With an opening line like that no wonder I got nothing but shitty, shitty jobs. As my time in Boulder comes to a close I wish to reflect on what was sadly my main pass-time here. We have several to get through, so I'll jump right in.

Old Navy - Three weeks - Quit

After unsuccessful interviews at LiquorMart, and PlayFair Toys, I was desperate for any pay check I could get, what with my first bills piling up and all. So when I was offered the job at Old Navy I was happy to agree to work whatever, whenever. However, within a week of 6am shifts and never ending training exercises I was about done with Gap Inc. It was tedious, boring, and they forced us to push credit cards on customers. But in their defense, they are taking steps to stop using foreign sweatshops and start progressive programs. On the other hand, the job sucked and they played the same five pop muzak songs on loop. As soon as I had another job in the wings, I was out. I would've got a photo but the Old Navy is now an annex of REI.

Pharmaca - Eight months

Broadway - Four months - Transfered

What I consider to have been my most substantial job here was cashiering at Pharamaca Integrative Pharmacies. Those who bothered to read any portion of Chapter One of the Chronicles should know how I felt about the job. In November around when I decided to start grad school early, I described my life as "sluggishly waiting out the clock everyday at a job that keeps me stuck in a small box on my feet for eight hours doing nothing I find particularly interesting or in anyway consequential." What I've noticed is that I didn't mention anything about the corporation being hideously evil, so perhaps it wasn't quite as bad as some other places I've worked (see below). On the other hand, I haven't reread all my entries, nor do I want to, lest I relive my "mental anguish." One more important note though, it was at Pharmaca Broadway that I met some of the people who defined my life here in Boulder. If not for that job I would have probably ended up in a very different place.


Pearl - Four months - Quit

So after a few months at one Pharmaca I thought that if I transfered to the less hectic, closer store I'd be a little happier. I also cut down my hours to very part-time. I worked mainly Sundays, as I had Latin class during the week. The thing about Sunday: already a slow day, and this Pharmaca usually got little business. Coming from one of the busiest stores it was quite a change. Not for the better really, as there is a happy median between too busy and too slow. One that I've yet to find. When things would get really slow the management would get antsy and have me do ridiculous things. Also I could often see one of my superiors peeking over the aisles glaring at me now and then. I think the main issue with that job is they really didn't need to be there, and neither did I. Once again, when I had my next job lined up I kind of left them suddenly and informed them via e-mail.

Environment Colorado - Three weeks - Fired!

I've already spoken a great deal about this job. Proportionately to the time I spent there, I've probably said more about it than any other. Thus, I can keep this short. It fucking sucked when I didn't get contributions, and it was awesome when I did. The whole thing ended up being just above minimum wage after there hid(Photo)den rules, and when the proposal to join the class action lawsuit against them came I considered it seriously. If you really want to read it all again, check out my only entry for June 2007 (now with line breaks). Again, I would've got a photo but the The Boulder Optical Building which houses their office is covered by a large tarp right now.

Peaceful Mountain - Six weeks - Stormed the fuck out

Probably my most enjoyable job out here, filling and labeling shit at Peaceful Mountain was short-lived and bittersweet. I met some cool people and mastered the art of the bagged lunch. Then it all went to shit. My brother did a good job of summing it up in his hijack entry. I won't say anything terribly derogatory about the jobs, since I know that they regularly google their company for mention in blogs and websites. I'll just say that when they fire their team, they do it with style. Anyway, can't really complain too much, got a few more paychecks (which I'm only now paying the tax on). And then I basically spent it all on this computer. So many cores, and rams, and.. uh.. drives. And sweet, sweet Ubuntu. I'd love to have a picture of their building, but I'm far too lazy to ride the bus out to Valmont. Plus, that's prairie-dog country.

Vitamin Cottage - Four months - Quit (with notice even)

After an interesting trip to the Grand Canyon in August, I rejoined the workforce for what would turn out to be last job in Boulder. It went... poorly. I really couldn't stand cashiering there at all. Obviously I'm being nit-picky, (just look how long this list is) but I think that whatever it was that I didn't like about Pharmaca was worse at the Cottage. Despite that my co-workers were all pretty awesome, they were the reason I stayed at the job so long (a relative term of course). I wish them nothing but the best. Much like Environment Colorado, I rambled a great deal upon my resignation in my only December 2007 post.


Needless to say, I had a lot of tax forms to watch for. I just got last of them a few days ago, in fact. Really only four, but still... four. I don't know what's to be done with me really. I guess my reasoning for my poor job performance out here was that I always was working because I had to in order to do what I really wanted. This presented a problem: What the hell do I want? I still don't know, and I doubt that's unusual either. It'll be interesting (to me at least) to see what kind of job I get when I get back to Maryland, and if I react to it in the same way. More than likely, I'll be unhappy with it. If I recall correctly it was Milan Kundera who said something to the effect of: No man is happy if he dislikes his city. Although I certainly don't hate Boulder (despite what some of my likenesses have said), I haven't lived in Boulder for a long while. Since April 14th in fact. That was the day I decided to go the Czech Republic. My heart has been there ever since, so I could never be happy anywhere else. What scares me is that perhaps when I get there, I'll find that my heart has moved on again.

God knows where it'll take me then. ~D

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"You will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not" -Cat Stevens

In the Mountain Twilight...

It's not really ironic, really more coincidental. I am referring to the fact that this is the 100th published post of The Boulder Chronicles, and I'm using it to officially announce that I'm leaving Boulder. In roughly two weeks, I'll be catching a flight back to Maryland, possessions in tow. This, however, does not mean the end of this blog, although I will eventually transition to a new site, you should consider this to be merely the ending of volume one of The Drakos Chronicles, a masterpiece of the occasional ramblings of my humdrum observations. So anyway, rather than reminisce about my first stay out here in Boulder (as I do hope to return soon), I'll speak/type instead of the future.

As many of you probably know next September I hope to be on a plane to the Czech Republic where I'll be taking a TEFL certification course. This is almost set in stone, I've been accepted into a program, and alls I gotta do is cough up some euros. After the class, I'll be trained to teach English abroad, so where ever I can get a suitable job is where I'll be staying for the year. By moving back to MD for a few months beforehand I should be able to save enough money in order to facilitate my survival in Europe. So of course during my travels I'll keep you all posted on my goings-on in volume two of The Drakos Chronicles, of which I have yet to think up a cheesy enough name. Right now I'm considering Drakos Abroad, The Prague Chronicles, The Drakos Chronicles: Operation Europa, or how ever you say The Drakos Chronicles in Prague-ish.


In summation, I'll update and paraphrase something I said 100 entries ago: It seems pretty likely now that I'll be moving there so I decided to continue blogging for anyone who dares to care what I'm up to halfway across the world.

Stay tuned for my sentimental recounting of every job I've had it Boulder. That task may require a lot of typing. ~D
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Quite an eventful return from hiatus.