I’m pretty sure I saw the first “Thor” movie after I saw the first “Avengers” movie. (There WILL be another “Avengers,” right?) I liked “Thor,” but I thought the story was weak, the writing disjointed and I expected more of the talented cast. Yeah, I guess you could say I was underwhelmed.
Not so this time.
Like “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan,” “Thor: The Dark World” (aka “Thor II”) was one of those sequels that’s far superior than the first installment. This was a really fun feature with all of the heart and humor that was missing from the first.
There are lots of surprises and I still can’t get enough of Tom Hiddelston’s Loki. Granted, the bad guy is usually the most interesting character on the screen, but Hiddelston owns the screen whenever he’s present – which is never enough for my taste. Whether playing gleefully evil or not, his performance is always engaging.
The rest of the cast do a great job, and the story moves along at a reasonable pace. Nice to see Kat Dennings doing something different than the god-awful “2 Broke Girls” shtick. She’s a terrific actor and while I know she’s making a bundle on TV once a week, she totally outclasses that material. I don’t know why but it breaks my heart to see such talent going to waste.
But that’s another review.
I saw it in 2D with 2 broke elementary school kids and it didn’t diminish my enjoyment. And they loved it too.
If you like the Marvel franchise, you’ll love “Thor II.” If you don’t, you’ll still love it, ‘cause it’s a great film in its own right regardless of its pedigree.
Just stay away from the concession stand. At those prices, I felt as though I got robbed at gunpoint. It’s amazing what people will forfeit when they’re staring at the business end of a loaded bag of popcorn.
6. Review wardrobe for fashion faux pas. Wear anyway.
7. Stop unemployment checks. (Oh wait, they stopped on their own.)
8. Help the dog get over her separation anxiety issues by hiding in the closet daily for 30 minutes. (There are those who still believe I’m in there, but that’s another discussion.)
9. Get vintage Starsky & Hutch lunchbox and matching Thermos out of storage.
During that time I went through countless minor depressions, a couple of big ones, constant worry, sleepless nights, a diabetes diagnosis, hundreds of disappointing job-related emails, two kegs of beer, about a bottle and a half of 18 year old scotch and bought a dog.
On October 1st, the first day of the twenty-second month of uninterrupted unemployment and about 43 days after I applied, I got hired. It was also the first day of the government shutdown, so imagine my surprise when I got a call from a government employee telling me that I had been tentatively selected for a government job. (Turns out that the agency for which I will be working is funded differently and wasn’t affected by the shutdown. Who knew?)
I tried to remain calm when I got the call and answer the person’s questions accurately without sounding as though I was about to explode, even though I was. “Yes. My full name is Daniel James Wolfe. Yes. No. Yes. Yes, I accept the offer. I’m on my way to Ohio. Do I need to turn around and come back? No? Ok, then. Yes. I’ll expect your email and respond right away. Of course. Thank you so much! I look forward to being part of the team.”
Well, I’ll be damned.
Wallaby Darned.1
Holy crap!
Then I got back on the road continuing my trip home to Ohio trying to concentrate on the road but so horribly/wonderfully distracted by the news that I could think of nothing else. I really think I was in shock. No exaggeration. I didn’t believe it.
Before too long, I decided that I was so distracted and probably a road hazard, in my case an unguided 70-mile-per-hour Prius Missile. (Kind of like a Tomahawk Cruise Missile, but WAY more eco friendly.)
I was hungry anyway, so I pulled off and stumbled across a buffet restaurant next to a reasonably priced (read cheap) Holiday Inn Express. I had an early dinner and then decided I wasn’t getting back on the road so I checked in to a hotel room with a Jacuzzi tub and decided to treat myself to a nice long bubbly soak and an early bedtime.
First thing upon entering the room was to boot the MacBook Pro and get connected. Worst hotel Wi-Fi EVER! They should have gotten a nastygram from me, but hey, I just got a job! I didn’t care.
I set my computer up and my first thought after the Jacuzzi tub loosened my muscles and my upper bicuspids was “Time to do job applications.” As they say, old habits die hard.
Ha! Not tonight, bitches!
But of course, the “what if’s” got me and all I could think about was “What if this falls through? I’d better keep up my routine just in case. I mean, it ain’t real until the first paycheck arrives.
“Ding!”
New e-mail notification. It’s from the aforementioned government worker (A VERY professional and pleasant woman, by the way, lest you think I’m disparaging a faceless, nameless person. I’m just respecting her privacy.) It’s the “official” tentative selection notification with a form to fill out and return.
Ok, now this felt a little more official and a little more real. After all, I now had something in black and white that confirmed the earlier phone call. I reviewed the form and returned it as fast as I could, not worrying about appearing too eager even though I was. (In my haste, I discovered a day later that I had made an error and had to send in a corrected form. Honesty is the best policy and all that, right?)
“Ding!”
Another email from my new best friend, the nice government employee saying that she’d received the email and the completed form and that the security manager would be in touch.
I slept like the dead that night.
I woke up the next morning with the usual sad sigh that I had been sighing for the previous 639 days. It took a few groggy minutes, but I eventually realized that I didn’t have to do that any more – at least tentatively. I got up, showered, took advantage of the free and relatively flavorless breakfast in the lobby of the hotel and proceeded toward Ohio where I subsequently arrived and began writing this note.
Trying to keep the faith over 638 days of being told “no” is a difficult task. Perhaps my years of auditioning as an actor in Hollywood and being rejected literally hundreds of times helped to handle the sheer volume of job rejection notices I’ve received. I think that’s part of it. But much of it came from the support of family, friends and others who kept telling me it was just a matter of time. They all helped me to keep the faith and to keep plugging away at it.
I also was required to take two job search seminars from the Virginia Department of Employment Services. What I expected to be a bureaucratic bunch of bull turned out to be extremely valuable and marked the turning point in bettering my chances of success. One other big lesson from all this: Bureaucracies aren’t all bad and sometimes the people who work in big bureaucracies DO care. I offer a big thank you to the people at the Alexandria office and to one of their instructors in particular. I wish I had her name handy, but unfortunately I don’t. Her advice was invaluable in turning things around for me.
One person, though, was most directly affected by all of this and I want to be specific and thank my son, Andy. Andy had his appendix out a few weeks back, and as I was traveling up to Alaska to visit him during his recovery, I got the call for the job interview for this job about which I’m writing. I rescheduled my return trip to accommodate the interview (at considerable expense) but that meant I still had to create a 5-7 minute presentation for the interview. I had to do that while I was in Alaska and away from all of my archives on CD. Preparing that presentation took a substantial amount of time away from Andy and he was kind enough and understanding enough to say “Call me when you’re done with your presentation and we’ll get together then.” He was very gracious in giving me ample time to square it away.
And to Beth Geyer, my significant other, who waded through all my old archive data CD’s, put them one by one in a computer in Virginia and waited patiently so that I could download from Alaska all the stuff I needed for the presentation. You also share in the success of the presentation and in the positive outcome of the interview.
And to my former employer and friend Ron Newlan, who was gracious enough to give me a great recommendation when contacted for a reference by the selecting authority. Couldn’t have done it without you!
To both Beth and Andy, thank you! I love you both and would not be writing this without you.
To all of you I leaned on for support, thank you!
So hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go – at least tentatively. But it’s looking good.
Day 640 is no longer day 640. It’s day one.
Footnotes:
1. This is a Wallaby Darned:
Peach flavored frozen drink from Outback Steak House. No real relation to the story. It just popped in my head when I typed “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Statement by George Little on Death Gratuity Payments
Today, senior DoD leaders consulted with the leadership of the Fisher House Foundation on moving forward with providing death benefits to the families of fallen service members.
Now that Congress has enacted legislation permitting DoD to provide families these benefits directly during the government shutdown, DoD is moving expeditiously to pay each family the $100,000 death gratuity they are owed. These payments were initiated today and the families will receive them early next week, when their banks reopen for business. In addition, Fisher House Foundation will donate $25,000 to each of these families from its own funds.
Secretary Hagel greatly appreciates the generosity of the Fisher House Foundation, as well as other groups which have stepped forward to help these families in their time of need. With Congress no longer preventing DoD from making these payments to the families directly, he is pleased that DoD will be able to fulfill its responsibilities to the families of the fallen. The Secretary remains deeply concerned about the disruptive impact the ongoing shutdown is having on Departmental operations, and continues to urge Congress to restore funding to the entire federal government.
For the sake of our hypothetical situation below, let’s assume that the White House was notified at 9 AM about the lack of payments of death gratuities and other benefits to the survivors of the four Soldiers killed in action whose remains were returning to Dover. Let us also assume the existence of telephones, a chain of command, a White House Secretary and common sense.
I’m also assuming that the Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, owns the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Department of Defense agency which I believe actually pays these benefits when any Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine is killed in the line of duty. (I bet a months pay that he does and they do, but I’m unemployed so a month’s pay ain’t much.)
Let’s also assume that we’re in the Oval Office at that very moment just after 9am that the Commander in Chief is being notified that these families are not being paid.
Let’s listen in for a few moments. Here’s what should’ve happened:
Jay Carney (White House Press Secretary): “Mr. President, we’re getting reports that the remains of the four Soldiers who died in Afghanistan are coming back to Dover and their families aren’t getting their death benefits because of the shutdown. The press is killing us, sir and we’ve got to do something about this.”
(Now and hereafter, please imagine the voice of the president in your head as you read his words.)
Obama: “I’ll get right on that Jay.” (To his secretary) “Get me Secretary of Defense and the Chief White House General Counsel on the phone immediately!”
A few minutes pass by, and the President’s secretary buzzes in. “Mr. President, I have Defense Secretary Hagel and the General Counsel on the phone for you.”
Obama: “Thank you” (To the Defense Secretary and the General Counsel now on a conference call) “Good morning gentlemen. I understand there’s a problem with paying death gratuity to the families of four Soldiers returning to Dover who have just given their lives in the service of this great Nation of ours. Have it fixed by noon.” <click, dial tone>
Here’s how it probably went:
Jay Carney (White House Press Secretary): “Mr. President, we’re getting reports that the remains of the four Soldiers who died in Afghanistan are coming back to Dover and their families aren’t getting their death benefits because of the shutdown. The press is killing us, sir and we’ve got to do something about this.”
Obama: “Gee, that’s a shame. Wish there was something I could do about that.”
Oh, and confidential to Jay Carney, I know there are lengthy, convoluted processes involved with getting things done in Washington. Six years in the Pentagon led me to that conclusion on my own. But when you’re the President of the United States and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, and you make a call to get something done it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to cut a couple of checks.
This is an unparalleled failure of leadership.
Those of who have had the honor of serving in the United States Army know precisely what it means when they say, “There’s Strong and then there’s Army Strong.”
Watching this unfold, I now know that there’s despicable and then there’s White House despicable.
I’m pretty sure I saw the first “Thor” movie after I saw the first “Avengers” movie. (There WILL be another “Avengers,” right?) I liked “Thor,” but I thought the story was weak, the writing disjointed and I expected more of the talented cast. Yeah, I guess you could say I was underwhelmed.
There are lots of surprises and I still can’t get enough of Tom Hiddelston’s Loki. Granted, the bad guy is usually the most interesting character on the screen, but Hiddelston owns the screen whenever he’s present – which is never enough for my taste. Whether playing gleefully evil or not, his performance is always engaging.
The rest of the cast do a great job, and the story moves along at a reasonable pace. Nice to see Kat Dennings doing something different than the god-awful “2 Broke Girls” shtick. She’s a terrific actor and while I know she’s making a bundle on TV once a week, she totally outclasses that material. I don’t know why but it breaks my heart to see such talent going to waste.
