Evils of Life

15^th January 2012

Dear Cassi,

Another week has passed and grad school, work, and being sick come together as a pill a snake would have trouble getting down. I have little idea what to do with myself. It’s nothing new that I feel as if there simply isn’t enough time, but now the hard coughing and runny nose are getting the better of me.

   

As it has always been with me, and most folks I think, I wish I could just turn the world off and take stalk. If I had six weeks of nothing to do I would just piss it all away so turning the world off wouldn’t help. That’s what happened during my unemployment. I spent my time reacquainting with TV shows and movies I had missed.    

   

If you think I’m mad at myself your right. I let depression and despair get the better of me and now look. I’m truly no better off than I was a month ago. I will say that I’m better off than I was six months ago, and last year round this time I could hardly get out of bed.

   

Okay, so I just feel bad, and it’s honestly no big deal. I still should have all three of my comics posting instead of just one. Then I guess I’m putting too many steps in the way of getting them squared. I’m trying to seek out the spelling errors and replace the text when I have to, but I need to get all those old comics up on the new sites.

   

Sometimes, Cassi, I feel like the only real link to who I am and who I was is that old comic site that I need to ask that fair-weather friend, Eric, to take down. That old comic site is like some beacon of hope to the evils that once dominated my life.

Stay safe, Cassi,

Richard Leland Neal

In Four Years

10^th July 2011

Dear (Potential Employer),

I’ve been a Security Officer for the last ten years, but with four years of Grad School ahead of me I’m looking to stay one until I get my MS. I like my work as a guard, and I’m told I do it well.

At the start of this year I was laid off from my seven year employer and took that time to finish my degree. They lost more than 50 jobs that month, so I guess it was inevitable.

My last employer said that if business picked up they would call me back, but they knew I was soon to become a college graduate. I doubt they will have need for more Guards any time soon. They had lost ten jobs the month before and fifteen two months earlier.

In four years I hope to get my certification from the state as a Mental Health Counselor. I want to help people. I can get this degree without working another day if I wanted to cash in my retirement plan and come away with tens of thousands in debt. I don’t see this as an option. A man is better off working than borrowing.

I look for honest work for honest pay.

Thank you for your time,

Richard Leland Neal

Notes to Classmates

I’m happy to say that I don’t feel like I’m about to die this morning. I feel bad, yes, but after three weeks of illness I’m coming round.

I wrote these two notes to the classmates in my grad school on the 22^nd, and I hope to be back up to quality writing now. Then again, I think I’m just getting readers by accident. Any time one of you would like to prove me wrong by commenting it would be much appreciated.  

(Classmate one)

Ah theater people. What an odd mix of color and form resulting in a strange hypnotic movement.

I was 12 units from a degree in theater when I looked over at my teachers and said “I don’t want to be like these people” then changed my major to psychology.

Still, I just have to ask, how old is the photo?

Hay (Classmate two),

Never live in your head. It gets cramped in there. Unless you have a head like mine that is. I think Godzilla has an apartment in my left ear.

Well, let me point out that any extreme is generally a bad thing in child rearing, but you made your way through it and now you’re doing something better.

I always tell religious folks that if daemons walk the earth I’ve shaken hands with one. At the time it was killing a Methodist congregation in inner-city Los Angeles. Most of the time it’s hard for people to understand those sorts of things. You either get it or you don’t, but it’s not worth keeping you up at night.

In any case, it looks like you have your life banged out to where it works so take pride in who you are and what you have lived through. You can trust me on this it’s easier that way.   

Richard

Online Profile

I just had to update an online profile for grad school and this is what I wrote. Does it make you feel as if you know me better?

What to say in my description that would be helpful? I earned my BA in Psychology from CSU Fullerton after I came within 12 units of a BFA in theater arts. I miss the mass experience of theater but none of the religious adherence to preconceived notions or grandeur.

You could say that I have a diverse pool of information swimming about in my head and a hunger for more. I came to mental health counseling after dealing with the counselors elected to help my mentally ill brother.

I learned that their definition of “help” was stabilize or ignore, and that angered me as much as it made me ill. I believe that giving up on people who are seeking help is the worst thing we can do as a society.

On another topic, I presently work as a Safety and Security Officer at a homeless shelter in Hollywood. I’ve worked in security since 1998 and that paid my way through college.

You will find me to be a hard thinker, strong headed, and overly analytical.