I have a BA in Mathematics, Applied Science (Cognitive Science). I graduated with a GPA of 3.46 in my upper division coursework at UCSD and a 3.75 GPA for the lower division classes that I took at Mesa. When I graduated from high school I had barely passed beginning algebra, and after four years in the Marine Corps I’d forgotten all of that. So I spent an extra two years at Mesa working my way up the prerequisite chain towards Calculus.

Six years of education, all of it worthless. Because my degree never did anything to get me a job, but Steve Padilla did. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. And all the time I spent studying was a waste, time I should have spent schmoozing.

My most marketable skills are all self taught. And I suspect that I would of done a lot better as an autodidact with no student loans than I did with a degree and five figures of debt.

At Cafe 976 there was always one annoying tag along, a bore that nobody really liked. And as soon as one bore disappeared another one popped right up.

From 2002-04 things were bad for computer people. There were five of us at 976 (give or take) and almost all of us had job trouble during that period. I even met two of them because we were sitting around, drink coffee and reading the want ads all day. One by one the careers picked back up, except mine.

Days spent fruitlessly looking for work, evenings at 976 was the only thing I had to look forward to. But I began to suspect that I wasn’t welcome anymore, I stopped talking and see if anyone noticed. Day after day I got an earful of three of the computer people talk about what they’re buying next. I had $200 and no income and I had to listen to these guys trying to out spend each other. If favors had point values helping them move is pretty high up there, and I’d helped two of these guys move. One of them was staffing a company, knew I was unemployed and never asked if I could use a job.

Well since I’d become the annoying tag along, the bore that nobody really liked then I’d be the first to realize without being told. I left.

I used to think that friendship was a binary state; two people are friends or they’re not. But I learned that friendship is really two values: What you’re willing to do for your friend. And what your friend is willing to do for you. And if the ratio of those two values isn’t close to one then it’s better to just walk away.

I have everything I have today because I was reading JLA: Year One #1 which attracted the attention of Ashley who introduced me to her friends at Cafe 976 back in 1998. That moment is the Wold Newton of my life. When I started writing this post I was just thinking about how I met my best friend there who introduced me to my girlfriend. And the first boss to provide me with stable employment since the Marine Corps. But it goes way beyond that:

People I met at 976- danifesto, Tina, flareinpink, hober, infopractical, jemvla, redgeekdotnet, kirinqueen, laureltree, maddox3, mpschuster, radium, sunshine__girl and his LJ is gone now, my boss for the last three years- Steve Padilla.

By way of Dan I met the Elsevier crowd- avantard, demonslayer (not an employee but close enough), , radcapdotcom and best of all mollymillions.

Then there are the others that 976er’s introduced me to- bottlroktt, dizfactor, hezaakun (two steps removed), thebarefootrose, tinkerbell_mk, tracyakafrog, leaningshrpfeed (who I met because of a job that Tracy got me. I met Steeler-Carly at one of her shows.), kafkadreams and sewyrn who I was reconnected with because of Erin.

I joined LJ because so many 976er’s had and eventually I met- aliteraryaffair (who introduced me to caramida, teawiththecheat and tinellaq) and animaetrix00 (who introduced me to lattenjoe, namey and vapid_waste)

And if Ted (I think) hadn’t told me about the free wireless at Lestat’s I would have never of met- jessicasix, Nick and thunderwhelmed,

The only people I can’t trace back to 976 are- _ouroboros_, e_c_d_u_b (who introduced me to Kristen who introduced me to: jessimuhka, jonthegm, melampous), modemx and the_bone (who introduced me to nani_blog_feed). And iron_spike> and dirktiede who I met at Comic Con.

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Furthermore. Because of that one comic book one on that one night: Carly and Christi are roommates, Steve’s had his last two girlfriends, Dan and Steve are roommates and Dan And Jessica are in their relationship of mysterious nomenclature.

Wow. That’s a lot of my life that goes back to Ashley and Cafe 976, you think I’d appreciate her for it. You think I’d be nostalgic for that place. But I don’t and I’m not.

Ashley I figured out right away. She’s not interested in people, she’s just wants people to be interested in her. I’d never be more that someone who knows her. She is as she is and I don’t dislike her for it, but I can’t like her despite of it.

And Cafe 976, the coffee shop that was my social anchor for six years. Why did I walk away without a word? I’ll get to that next post, this one has gotten far too long.

[In the wake of my recent birthday I've been reflecting on some of the things I've gone without.]

No student loans, no car payments, no fucking credit cards. I paid off the last of my bills twelve months ago and it still feels great. Actually, it’s not a good feeling- it’s the absence of a bad feeling, that feeling of looming dread. Stepping out from under that Sword of Damocles was pure liberation. Bills are chains.

And now the government wants to give me $600. Cool. But I figure if I want to be rich someday I should act rich now and keep that money in the bank. Back in 2001 when they passed out the last Economic Stimulus Bill (remember how well that worked?) I got my check right after 9/11 and I promptly forwarded the money to the Red Cross. Then I lost my job. Over the next four years of spotty employment I thought about how nice it’d be to have that $300. I’d become the real charity case.

Though I have no reason to fear for my job during this the Third Bush Recession I’m still going to keep that $600 unspent. Just in case. Because my economy is more important than the country’s.