FULL DISCLOSURE: I wrote this blog in mid-June...but I still stand by every thing I wrote, I have just been debating if I release this one ore not? You be the judge, read through and see if I should have posted this or kept it to myself...have fun!
Hey so this is fun! A blog! It's been a really long time. The last one I wrote was in December of 2019, one of those really easy music blogs I do with my friends Ras and Opp. Super time consuming, but still fun. But....nobody reads those so I decided to take a break from blogging.
The one I wrote previously to that one, which was bonkers to reminisce about is this one: RIGHT HERE, about how weird my life was in 2018. I enjoyed writing it, although one person told me that year wasn't that much crazier than most...how many people meet their dad, have a local election end up with the highest tie vote in a states history AND get offered a TV show? Throw in all the horribly sad things that also happened that year I didn't discuss, as well as how crazy my wife's pregnancy was...and yeah, that person is an idiot (you can text me if you read this, it's you lol, idiot).
So fast forward to now. So I've had two ideas for this Vermillion blog since before I moved. One was going to involve me time traveling from now to 2016 and explaining what would happen to the 2016 version of me. Only problem is one year is covered in the blog post above. So I'm basically writing 1/4th of the same story. Plus some of that is super painful to write about again. Then I'd have to cover how society is awful and how/why did people think voting for Trump was a good idea...end result the blog would be the size of War & Peace.
So the way I would've had to write that was basically like a novel, which nobody reads those, it's too much reading as I stated above, this is probably too much reading for most already. Also I'm not getting paid for this, it's for fun, so what way to make that idea fun!?
The second idea was like a run off of like, F U's about some stuff and people I didn't enjoy. But that's so negative. Plus, if you're reading this there's a good chance you are on FB. I deleted about 400 people off that, so good chance I like you if you got access to this, besides the few people I have to keep for non-drama starting reasons, which that's an article for another day. I think I played it sort of safe here, there's still a few people up there that really suck. If you want to know who just text me, I have no problems telling you that.
(I will say the following...daycare providers (and their husband) who talk crap about the kids who go there and about the parenting done by people are complete trash. Maybe stimulate the kids with more than TV and you might not have kids being bored and acting out. We're not perfect parents, but I do think being a good parent is a strong talent of mine. Oh and my kids are great. And having a business, one that deals with kids, maybe don't gossip about them because your life is so boring? So in all seriousness, do better.)
(Following continued, Vermillion is a great town. And it's a great town to raise kids in. And a lot of great people. But there were some people there that...man, my god. I'm not going to publicly say who or give hints as I also stated above, but man...we had to move. I won't discuss it here because it's not the forum, we also met a TON of great people so our time wasn't all that bad...the couple swap rumors are really weird though and so much fakeness...so so much).
So anyway, how do I write this blog? Boom, I know! Quick highlights or thoughts from those 4 years that I was going to write about. So my thoughts will be sporadic so I'm just going to write what comes to my mind. So here we go!
- 2016...the first thing I was going to discuss, the USD thing. I'm sure most know who are reading this, when I got my job at USD I thought I was all done. Boom, stay til I'm retired, move up along the way. I was actually working at Mount Marty at that time, it wasn't a tough decision to leave. You don't make that much money there and they want long hours, USD was a cool 8-5 and I knew that place like the back of my hand...except I didn't know to not work for the department I found a job with. Pure hell.
Crappy boss, horrible environment. First time in my life I was depressed because it wasn't working. And nothing at USD is ever fixed. The boss had numerous complaints and got a slap on the wrist and eventually reassigned to a different dept (if you want a hint who it is, think a smoker who looks like Justin Bieber aged worse than he actually has). The HR department is worthless (I've heard maybe improvements since? But it's USD so...). And there are numerous jerks in each dept (but that's everywhere...). I tried finding other jobs with USD and I think was basically blacklisted for a bit? But I did get one with Health Sciences that would've been fun. I didn't get it, but I was extremely thankful for the chance to interview.
So then I decided to take my time finding something good. But there isn't much there...unless you commute, which we'll get to that in a second. It's not that there isn't opportunity, because there is, but I wanted a job that was "important" but rewarding. I looked in to real estate, that wasn't gonna happen. Had a few things I could've done in Sioux City, but commuting wasn't a priority with a newborn.
So it was a job roller coaster. Not one I wanted. So luckily my buddy hired me to work from home while I could find something (thanks John!). First was oddly State Farm. So I worked there through 2017 and it was weird. I actually took the insurance test, ha, and I missed the test...missing by exactly one point two times.
During one of those tests I made the finals of a reality show called Beat Shazam. I met with the producer of the show, the one who produces with Jamie Foxx, which wtf right? So when I was told I was going to Hollywood by the producer I actually budgeted winning the whole damn thing, because I'm that good at music knowledge where I expected to win. And other people with the show were telling me Jerry Rice might be on it with me? And of course during that time I had the chance to meet him in Vegas, so I had to do it in secret, then if I met Jerry on the show, I'd act like I had never met him, I doubt he would've remembered me, except I'm a 49'ers fan in South Dakota...so he found that just incredibly interesting...so that was running through my mind if I ever heard from the Shazam people.
Anyway, back on track, I waited one week, no response from the show, two weeks...nothing. Then during that damn exam I missed by a point, I got a VM from Hollywood, CA. Denied, but they said I was one of their greatest players ever, and when I watched the show they were absolutely right, most who made it were garbage. Also a funny audition story.
You audition by Skype, with an associate producer, so you are supposed to be excited, but they wanted me MORE excited. I'm in a room next to my daughters crib, which she's clearly sleeping, it's late at night. I have to literally scream I LOVE BEAT SHAZAAAAAAAAM as loud as possible. Just insane to not get it and act like an idiot for some stranger on Skype. I also had an audition for the Alec Baldwin Match Game, but you don't win anything and I wasn't too stoked to meet Caroline Rhea (although she seems really nice).
So State Farm couldn't keep me, which was absolutely fine. I did get the caveat for a bit that my boss's name sounded like a porn name. So that was fun. So then I moved on to radio sales. Ha, oh boy. So the job wasn't that bad, and I really liked everyone there. But getting anyone in Vermillion to do sales was like pulling teeth. The company, and I, most likely thought I would kick ass at it because I knew everyone. Especially after that election tie that I had. Wrong. But the only radio promotion, if any, anyone ever did was with a really crappy station that plays really crappy music. Their DJ is named after a tool, which is fitting.
The one I worked for had 3 different routes and genres you could go with. And none of them were a garbage 4th single from an Eagles record in 1975. But I do have a few cool stories off of this. 1. I was the voice for a vaping store. I 100% disagree with vaping, but hearing me say vape god the vape store was hilarious. 2. I got to do an advertisement for a gas station where I did a Rick Roll. And it was fantastic. Best ad I ever did. 3. Cool boss. That guy was awesome and he actually maybe/sorta pushed me in the direction of the TV show.
Full disclosure I'm not going to talk about the TV show much...I loved doing it while the actual show was happening. Everything before and after was just not for me. I'm gonna leave it at that. I left on my own accord. Dream job but some things are more important.
The commute was fine, except in the winter. With one young kid and another on the way, it was always stressful during a bad winter, and with TV you have to give advanced notice, so if there's a snow storm the day of...you get ripped a new one. The pay also wasn't worth it, being only PT. I'll go more in-depth on it some day, just not now... I got some funny thoughts on it some other time if anyone really cares to hear about a daytime talk show basically about the Sioux Falls area. Also whoever wrote in and complained about my hair sticking up, you're the worst.
So next the Treasurer's Office! The weirdest job ever. I didn't expect it to be so damn hard. Every one in that office is underpaid. It's the busiest job ever. Not only do you get to do taxes and registrations for in county people...but people all over the country and...not in the country, register their vehicles there. Where does the money go? Lol, who knows, gov't money so probably all to Kristi Noem's crappy daughter. But what a learning experience. I took it thinking we were staying in Vermillion, so I would learn about local gov't, the commute was 3 minutes, relatively stress free.
On the other end of that, so many people are rude, and if we were to stay in Vermillion I wouldn't have done it much longer just thinking about it. So many out of state people were getting really bad, especially with covid, getting really upset about certain things. And a lot of in county people, my god. But seriously, every one in that office deserves a raise because it is WORK. Get all of them more money now.
That's enough about jobs. Actual Vermillion. My wife and I got two awesome kids out of the deal. We got some new friends. Met a lot of awesome people (sure there were crap people as well, but that comes with the awesome), I also learned leaving essentially after 7 years that some people and things change and you might not get to hang out with them as much or kinda drift apart. That was some added stress on my own end, thinking I'd jump right back in to how things were, and so much has changed. Especially if you have friends hanging out with dicks. I got a lot closer with my aunt and uncle as well, even though I yelled at them that one time ; )
I really am going to miss my house as well, I learned so much there about home ownership and landscaping. My daughter took her first steps there. Tons of happiness, some tears, just a house full of memories. I hope the people who moved in take care of my plants!
The four years were a huge blur. I'm very happy I moved back. I grew so much as a person moving back to Vermillion. We were a lot closer for a lot of life events as well, which was good. That being said, fours year later I feel it was the best time to move back to Lincoln, especially with every thing that's going on with covid. We can get situated down here and get our new house ready. There's literally a Target 5 minutes from here. And sushi. And a drive thru gas station, just living the dream.
Vermillion is in good hands. The city leadership is good. Some of the older people suck, especially the ones who ignored us in public after it was announced we were moving. If they do it right and the right people stay in place the town will hopefully prosper as much as I think it will.
So that's it! That's the blog. It's long. Sorry. Oooooh that's right, one last thing. Social media. I left Facebook for 24 days, I tried for 100...I couldn't, sue me.
Reason for leaving. Quite a few. I see people conversing on there who tell me they hate the person they are conversing with, it's fake...and I'm guilty of it to. Before I said I deleted a lot of people on FB, I honestly would do more if I could...and that's not good. I have friends that I now or at one time considered to be really good, who post stupid garbage. They won't wear a mask to not kill people because they think covid is the flu. They think Trump is a swell guy. Some are anti-vax (where'd you idiots go?)...all of those things are so undeniably wrong in every way. I can't take it. I have unfollowed so many propaganda pages on both sides that I have to hold a FB record. It's exhausting and I need a break.
And it's not that I don't like differing opinions, if everyone shared the same opinion we would be living in the world that Trump dreams. When you have a racist, sexist, narcissist in charge who has no repercussions for his actions, others will follow suit, people who that guy does not care about, but they are spreading his, and their, terrible message. Hopefully the turnout to fight the negativity is a sign of things to come for November. Getting him out is a start. Getting new and innovative people in, on both sides, is next. Or more than just two (lol that will never happen).
Also I just got back on FB last night and immediately saw a guy who likes to argue about stupid shit, arguing about stupid shit. Which sucks I see his stuff, he actually deleted me so that was a quick regret logging on lol.
So if you care to say hey, or chat, give me a call or text, because FB will be at a minimum for now, I'm too busy working or watching kids anyway, you probably should be too. But I'm never too busy to respond to a text or take a call to catch up.
Thanks for reading! That was a fun ending, huh? Do/Did I have more to write about? Oh boy yes, but this was, as I stated earlier, getting to the length of War & Peace...so I'm going to...peace out.
I love my life, so the social media part sounded sad, but I'm not sad, or mad, I just really needed a break from it and some of the fake of that website. The Verm stuff...that's just life man, there's ups and downs. I'm really happy and really glad we moved, it's for the better. I'll always love the town, but there won't be a 3rd move there.
Jeff
PS There won't be a 3rd move there, but if things get back to normal by summer 2021 I will be having the party I was planning on having in June be around that time...and boy after reading this, it might be awkward, huh?
