Black Cat Blog

This morning I am starting my book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Home Computer Labs. I just need to get my brain engaged with a little free wheel writing first. I had really decent night’s sleep which kind of surprised me because I hadn’t slept so well this weekend. But now I feel rested and ready to tackle this little goal of mine. I am going to use ChatGPT but only to generate an outline with which to work from and also an outline of a book proposal to help me get started.

I don’t know that I will write the next best seller or anything but I sure am going to give this the old college try as they say. Plus it will give me a few things to do to keep me busy in a positive way. In other news, I am celebrating my final day as a security guard at the Wilmington Housing Authority! I am so relieved to be done there as I hated the job with the fire of 1000 suns. Only 8 more hours and I will be free as a bird.

I am hoping to spend 1-2 hours this morning working the book. I’ll be satisfied if I can achieve this. Then it will be a good day!

This morning I’m angry because I’m working a double shift and I feel like I am living in a prison without any walls; like a dog living in a yard with an invisible fence. It’s an awful feeling and one without an escape but that’s how it feels exactly. I think I need to learn to set boundaries when it comes to employers. The trouble is that I am a people pleaser. But learning to say no is a powerful and necessary thing.

At least I managed to advance things along with Uber this morning. I found out what was stopping the background check from completing. Apparently, I forgot to tell them that I would be renting a car. Now, hopefully within a few days, I will be approved and maybe I can start the hustle. I hate the whole hustle culture that is America but I’ll do what I have to do for the time being.

It’s really tough being high functioning autistic in a neurotypical world. I think I am finally understanding where my anger is coming from. It is coming from the exhaustion at constantly having to mask and act normal in order to be accepted by the world at large instead of being able to be myself. It’s no wonder I am happiest in cyberspace where I am free to be myself.

I really feel taken advantage of by my present employer. It’s going to feel good to get out of this situation and into something maybe better. I hope I can swing this. I’m facing 2 really difficult years ahead. I’ve bitten off quite a challenge to go to graduate school full time. I hope I didn’t make a poor decision. I just know that I want to get my MSW done and over with as soon as possible.

Well, I do feel more relaxed after writing this. Journaling is such a good coping skill for me. At least I feel calm again and I’ll be able to much better deal with the rest of the day. I have the rest of my Dunkin cold brew coffee to consume which will hopefully keep me awake.

With all of the depressing news out there in the world, sometimes I think ignorance is best. I just don’t want to learn anymore but I know that ignorance will make the problem worse. I hopped on to Mastodon this evening to catch up and see what my cyberfriends are up to and I read about what Trump and his cronies are up to and I just get saddened. I know I need to be informed about what is going on in the world. But I just don’t know where to begin fighting.

I had a rather productive day and got a lot accomplished. I set up a small virtual machine within my server specifically for my business. I set it up to have 2 vCPUs, 4GB of RAM, and 120GB HD. That should be plenty to get me started. The only thing I have to do really is to implement DKIM signing and anti-spam measures and the email sending will be good to go. Right now, I can at least receive mail on my business email address. That’s good enough for today. I did set up WordPress for the skeleton of the website and Nextcloud for the file storage particulars.

This evening there is a live comedy event on YouTube that my good friend told me about. My girlfriend and I are going to check it out this evening at 8 to see if it’s worthwhile. I’m going to have wake up at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow because I have a double shift at work. I hate working 16 hours but I need the money and I told my boss I’d do it. I wish I had not agreed to it because it’s always a one way street with employers. They take, take, take and never give anything back when you need something.

Today I also had to spend 89 bucks on a medication refill because Walgreens decided they wouldn’t take GoodRx because I have prescription insurance on file. Walgreens is just a greedy corporation. They said it is “corporate policy” but really they wanted 89 bucks over the GoodRx 36.99 price. But all those greedy fucks do is apologize while laughing because they have a monopoly in my area. Their store looks so ghetto. When you walk in, the floor buckles and you feel like you could fall to your death. Don’t get me going any further …. I guess I could have gone to Walmart but that would have been an hour bus trip, pick up the prescription, wait 30-40 minutes for the return bus, then an hour trip back. Still I think I should have done that. The savings would have been worthwhile.

I forgot to give Uber a call and see what they need from me to become approved as a driver. Damnit! I’d meant to do that. I was so exhausted from getting angry about being forced to spent almost a hundred bucks for generic Ambien that, when I got home, I crashed hard and took a nap. That will be on the to-do list for Monday morning. I have to work Monday afternoon from 3-11.

As the title reads, I don’t really have anything profound to write. I’m just overheated, angry, and frustrated. Literally every little sensation is bothering me right now and I just want to jump out of my own skin. I wish I could articulate why I feel so overstimulated because normally I’m comfortable at home. I guess it just has to be the heat.

I’m in a situation with my current employer that sucks. I’m just going to name and shame them: OPS Security Group. I thought they would be a different kind of company but it turns out that they suck too. Even as a part time employee, I am supposed to accrue PTO and I have 8.33 hours. But every time I try to use it, I get denied. What the actual fuck then!? I think I’m just altogether done with them and ready to move on. Maybe I am also done with security too.

I’m going to try something I’ve never thought that I never thought I would try: Uber driving. Am I that desperate? Well, I guess maybe I am. I’m going to have to see what I can earn. I really hate hustle culture but that’s America; hustle or die. So hustle I will.

Well, I’m broiling and there’s no escaping the heat. It’s making me kind of sick to be honest. Maybe I’m not even thinking straight anymore. I don’t really know. Well, I’ve written enough. I’d better clean up my dinner dishes.

Well it’s another Sunday and I am at my job and I feel perfectly miserable. I just want to give the proverbial middle finger to the bosses but I know that will go over like a lead balloon. I hate America. I hate living here and I hate that everything is work, work, and more work. I wish we would all rise up and demand what we are entitled to.

Since I’m pretty tired I ordered some iced coffee in the hopes that it might just get me the boost that I need this morning. I got myself a bagel as well. It’s going to be a very hot and humid day; more like July than August. I’m trying to find something to be positive for and it just does not seem to be happening.

I just feel really angry this morning. I just want to explode at the world but that won’t do any good and will likely get me fired or worse. But I did have a good chat with my Uber driver on the way in and he gave me something to research. I won’t get excited yet but I’ll look into it. I might be able to rent a car and then drive for Uber. It might be better than doing this security guard shit I’m doing now.

I have a feeling that today’s shift is going to be a long, drawn out one. I just have to survive 8 hours today. That’s it and that’s all. I can do this or at least I think I can.

I’m feeling really stupid now. I made so many mistakes and I’m paying the piper for them. I thought I hated my career in IT. It turns out that I really didn’t really hate my IT career in the way I thought I did. I think I just hate Windows more and hated everything to do with Windows. I wish I had specialized when I had the opportunity to do so. I wish I had taken the advice I was offered. I would have gotten the Red Hat Enterprise Linux certifications and tried to find work.

Well, it’s far too late now. I’m old and age discrimination is a real thing in IT. That and the present job market in technology is awful. Experienced and certified professionals with advanced college degrees are struggling to find work at their level. They cannot even find low level help desk jobs that they’re overqualified for. So yeah, I’m feeling really down in the dumps.

I’m far better at Linux than I ever was at Windows because I have a strong interest in the software. Linux fascinates me in a way that Windows never will. If only I could rewind my life 10-12 years and actively pursue Linux as a career. But I can’t and the ship has sailed.

I hope that I’ve made the right decision to become a therapist. But only time will really tell. I think I have and a few other folks believe so. I guess I’ll just keep on using Linux as a hobby. Maybe that’ll provide enjoyment. I just hate that I’m starting over yet again. Starting over at 48 is not easy. It’s hard. It’s challenging.

I’m trying not to beat up on myself but it’s hard. If I were experienced in Linux, I could’ve been making some serious money right now. But who knows…I could be unemployed too.

I have no relationship with my father. In fact, I bare a lot of enmity towards him. But lately, I have been feeling wracked with guilt over these feelings as he slides further into the throes of dementia. I know this is just me because he’s caused me a tremendous amount of emotional and psychological trauma in my life, but at some point, I have to let this go. Virtually nobody deserves the misery of losing their mental faculties.

My father believes that the government is actively out to get him. He also believes that he is going to be handed a cashier’s check for several million dollars any day now; literally any day now. This is not going to happen and he will not hear otherwise so we know he has full blown dementia. My father has always been a little gullible and easily sold but he’s never been this defensive or adamant. Years ago he got sold on an absolute junky printer. When I told him that, instead of getting defensive we went together to return it and buy a good laser printer. He has also not been showering, shaving, or doing laundry. It looks like he has not been sleeping either but he has no history of bipolar disorder.

To try to assuage some of my guilt, I offered him a place to stay if he’s going to be evicted and he shouted at me that he won’t be evicted because he has a multi-million dollar check coming. That’s the end of that. He has no money. He just asked my brother for 1800.00 for rent. I guess I should feel some absolution of my guilt but I don’t.

My father wants nothing more to do with me. To be honest, I am okay with that. I wish I could do more for the man but I cannot. I have enough money to support myself and that’s it. I’ve long since stopped seeking any kind of approval from a man who will never give me any. I have to forge my own path ahead.

I am a little late to writing today because I am nursing a cold. I got this wicked sore throat last Saturday night and it stuck with me through this morning. Fortunately, my girlfriend made this most excellent recommendation of Alka Seltzer Cold & Flu so I am feeling quite a bit better as the sore throat is more sandpapery now instead of painfully sore. But I still feel loopy and out of it. More rest is in order I guess.

In between naps, I decided to do some work on improving my business server. Alma Linux (my favorite Linux distribution for servers), being essentially a compatible clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, is really encouraging its user base to migrate the firewalling from iptables to nftables. So, I spent the day learning about nftables and converted my firewall to nftables. There’s a slight learning curve to it but I found that my other favorite distro, Arch Linux, has a great tutorial on learning nftables so I plowed my way through that.

I am giving strong consideration to replacing Apache with OpenLiteSpeed just for its security, low resource utilization, and performance. I’m still in the evaluation phase and I may still end up using Apache simply because it integrates well with Virtualmin, my choice for web control panels. Normally I am all about working from the command line to add and remove users as I’m a sysadmin by trade but I want quick and ease of use now. Eventually, I am going to hand this system over to a Linux sysadmin when my business gets big enough.

My mental health today seems to be okay. I’m not feeling down despite feeling pretty sick. I think I am going to try and watch a movie tonight with my Denisse and get off the computer for a bit.

It is really hard having to go to work when you’re sick but that’s the situation I am in right now. I have a very sore throat that feels like it is on fire. I can work through a head cold without issue, but sore throats are very hard to deal with. The trouble is that I need the money and my job does not offer paid sick time. So work I must.

Fortunately, I do not feel grouchy. I just kind of hope this turns into a head cold by this afternoon because that is much easier to deal with. Today, I need to look for an nftables tutorial because I am struggling to get NAT working on my Alma Linux VPS. The easy firewalld system is not doing what I want. I think I just might need to reinstall the OS and start from scratch which is okay.

I hope today goes as fast as yesterday! I really just want to head home and go back to sleep. America needs to have a societal safety net with paid sick time and vacation time for everybody. It needs to be in the law. We’re human beings not robots!

I am truly worried about the upcoming semester and the start of my MSW program at University of Delaware. What happens if I do not have the mental or physical stamina to handle the rigors of the program? I have to entertain that it could be a very real possibility as it is going to be intense. It would be much easier if I had a car and could drive to campus but I don’t Instead, I have to rely on public transportation which easily turns what would be a half hour commute into an hour plus.

Here is what my schedule is going to look like. On Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, I will have practicum which runs from 9:00am – 3:00pm. In order to arrive in time for practicum, my day will probably have to start at 7:00am. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will have class from 5:00pm – 9:15pm. By the time I get home it’s going to be pretty late. Sleep is going to be a luxury and I am no spring chicken anymore at 48 years old. You can see that I am concerned. The path to the MSW is impossibly long if not done full time.

I guess I can make up for lost sleep on Monday and Wednesday nights. But I still have to work part time on the weekends. This is not going to be easy, and even that, is the understatement of the year. I am so worried that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew but the only way I’ll know this is for sure is if I try and do not succeed. I am in brainstorming mode to try to set myself up for the maximum chance at success.

I think if I can get the textbooks and begin my studies ahead of time, I can make hay while the sun shines and provide some stress relief once the semester begins in earnest. Getting ahead of the curve would probably be a good idea. I am headed to campus on Monday to pick up my student ID and to get a lay of the land to relieve some stress. I want to stop at the College of Education and Human Development to see what’s going on there and ask about course scheduling. This may relieve some anxiety so that my first day isn’t spent scrambling around.

Hey wait a second …. It just dawned on me that I have access to paratransit. Maybe if I planned accordingly, I could use paratransit to get me where I have to go and thus the commute time could be cut down some. I could possibly use it strategically. Yeah! If I scheduled a paratransit pickup when class is over, I could, in theory, get home by 10, be in bed by 11 and get enough sleep in time to use paratransit to get me to practicum. Okay!!!! Problem solved. Now I can smile a little. I know that was random (and a little scattered) but I have a solution. I can use paratransit to fill in the gaps where the regular bus wouldn’t serve my needs.

Okay, my anxiety is significantly reduced now.