Captain's Log # 30 - Job at Last!

After 14 months, 69 applications and 16 interviews I finally landed a job. I told that to a woman in my orientation class, she said it took her 4 years! In both cases we’re lucky. I work in the Trust office tracking the Medicare, Social Security and Veteran’s benefits of the patients at the Napa State Hospital http://www.dsh.ca.gov/Napa/default.aspx. This place houses people with varying degrees of mental illness and criminality, although the ones who are civilly committed are there because they pose a threat to themselves or others. A good portion are there because they have been found to be incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity. There are 1,250 patients, 40 or 50 are really dangerous, (3%). I’m told that most of them have schizophrenia and an assortment of other maladies, bipolar, depression, etc. Some of them go to great lengths to kill themselves which has caused the staff to remove all of the possible physical opportunities; the State can’t have people in their charge kill themselves, bad PR. Mostly the staff treat the residents with a cocktail of medications. I’m told there are a lot of educational and recreational activities, and they have all the flavors of the world’s religions open to them in order to instill “hope.”  In our training the instructor asked us, What is Hope? I said it’s a delusion, before I learned how much they depend on it. I’ll toe the Party Line on that one. Their point is if there isn’t hope, what’s to keep me from doing something bad? To disobey the voices in my head?

Fortunately, the really bad actors are behind a 20-foot tall chain-link fence topped with a froth of razor wire, I work in the administration building, way outside of the fence, and there are a lot of safety precautions. It’s unlikely I’ll have any contact with the patients (good!) The State has paid me for 7, 8-hour days of training, by the end we were completely Stockholm Syndromed. I was sad to see the end of the training, it was getting really interesting, for example, I want to know the minutia of the hiring process, and how can I advance my career, and what is the flow chart of information through the hierarchy. I’ll have to find out some other way.

I was one day at my official desk in the Trust department. I struggled with all the user names and passwords that are required. What’s that joke about the person frustrated by choosing passwords that are rejected because they don’t meet some arcane criteria? The person then suggests some ripe obscenity and the computer says, That’s already taken. Yep, that was me Friday. My boss seems to be nice enough but it sounds like she has experienced all kinds of crummy employees and is very strict about her expectations, for example, the state is paying us for 480 minutes/day and she wants us to be working each and every one of them. That’s ok, I admire her for that. People like to bad-mouth State employees as being lazy but it’s not because of her. My office mates seem to be very nice and truly happy that I’m there, I’ll probably lighten their work load, if I can ever figure out - and remember - the passwords.

Funny how a job really impinges on your hobbies. I’m probably done with all the genealogy I’ve been working on: https://ancstry.me/2ViraTr There are 701 people in the tree; some genealogists have thousands of people in theirs. I’ve been struggling to find the Clayton-Green connection in Cheshire, England but, heck! there are a gazillion James and Sarah Greens in Cheshire and none of them seem to be the right ones. I’ve even order the birth or marriage certificates for some of them and learn another piece of information that throws a wrench in the plan. That said, I’m happy with what I’ve got so far. And I think I’ve found a new, genetic first cousin who didn’t know he was related to us (through the Humphrey line.) More on that as it plays out.

I haven’t worn any of my kimono jackets to work, yet. Good lord, I have 20 of them! I kept listening to the voice in my head that said “Oh! It’s so pretty, you must have it!” Here’s the link: https://www.kimonoya-japan.net Maybe the voices in your head will say the same J

Many blessings, and Happy Mother’s Day!

Karla, mom & k.j.

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