This past week, I’ve been taking an LPI 1 certification course and getting a better grounding in the fundamentals of Linux systems. In a previous life, I was a very junior sysadmin for a friend’s webhosting firm. I’m already learning stuff that I wish I had known then (such as how to do a major backup without crashing the whole system). Back then, I pretty much taught myself all the tricks I know by reading the man and info pages on the commands I was running and by hanging around /. So, my education was definitely spotty and lacking in the basics.

For instance, I never really understood what the chmod command did properly. Sure, I knew that if I said “chmod -R 777” it would make the directory readable, writable, and executable by everyone on Earth. I knew that most directories should be set to 755 or 775 but I didn’t really understand what it meant until my instructor broke down the binary for me. When the lightbulb lit up, I was staggered. When he turned around and showed us a MUCH easier way to do the exact same thing without having to memorize binary number sequences and do the math, I wanted to hunt down and shoot the guys who started trying to teach me Linux for not showing me the non-mathematical method.

What am I hoping to do with this training? Well, if all else fails, I’ll come out of this LPI 1 and 2 certified and that opens up access to a wider range of jobs for me. I may also come out of this with a degree in law which opens up even more jobs. My mid-future plans will open up yet even more jobs. By the time I’m done with this, I think the only things I won’t qualify for will be things like practicing medicine, building physical structures, and being Pope.

The economy sucks right now so I’m hoping that the more diverse my skillsets are, the better chance I’ll have of landing a decently paying job if my current plans go to /dev/null.

And now, back to finishing up the update to Alayne’s Story and the next chapter on Midnight of Lanar’ya.

I’ve been rather quiet on this front. One, since I’ve been writing, applying for jobs, submitting my novel to various agents, and just generally trying to get my affairs in order, I haven’t had a lot of time to spare. Two, I haven’t had much to say. Three, I’ve got a deal cooking right now and, while I have pulled the trigger, I’m still waiting to see if the bullet hits the target.

I am standing on the precipice of something great and I am both excited and terrified. I am not quite ready to make any announcements other than tantalizing teasers but I will say that I think that the future looks much brighter for me now than it did a few months ago. While I’m not in the vengeance or grudge-holding business, I must say, I think that I am about to surprise not only myself, but several other people.

I am easy to underestimate. I’m short. I’m not that good-looking. I speak with an atrocious Southern accent, soft on endings, liquid of vowels, and in no hurry to get the words out. I keep my mode of dress casual but clean and sturdy. Why? Because why waste a lot of money on designer outfits and haircuts when that money can be better invested elsewhere? I’m hard-working, creative, inventive, intelligent, and honest. I had a couple of bad years recently what with my brother dying so suddenly and unexpectedly and with his daughter’s mothers being complete and utter wankers.

But I have begun to come out of that haze. I have decided that there are three people who will have no part in my life. One of them is only a baby but in order to cut the other two out, I must sacrifice her as well. Such is the choice foisted upon me by unscrupulous individuals. Such is the price that will be paid. I have also decided to forge ahead with my own dreams. If that means taking up a burden that I never wanted to carry, then so be it. I will do it.

All my life, people have underestimated me. I have encouraged them to do this. It makes my life easier. It makes my eventual victories so much sweeter to see the looks of incredulity upon their faces and to know that there were signs all the while, there and easy to spot, for them to see foreshadowing what was hidden beneath the placid mask I show to the world.

A grand conspiracy has come into being with me at its helm and, once I am done, this world will never be the same. The trigger has been pulled. The bullet has left the barrel and is speeding through the air straight for the target at which it was aimed.

And so it begins.

For those of you who slept through Geekspeak 101 the subject translates as “Unemployed does not equal unproductive.”

Today is the first day of my unemployment. Actually, I prefer to think of it as the first day of my working completely for myself. And, in these first five hours (yes, I woke up at 7 am as per normal) I have:

1. Applied for three different jobs
2. Drafted a query letter
3. Begun a high-level proofing of Draft Three of Twilight of Lanar’ya
4. Read an entire chapter in my LSAT prep study guide

I took the weekend “off,” so to speak, to recharge my mental batteries. I mostly played Diablo II and did some work on Midnight of Lanar’ya. I did a touch of research for my mother’s site but have not completed the article there yet.

Am I scared? A little. But, as my parents are wont to say, I have tools and talents to weather adversity that most other people don’t. I live frugally so money is not a pressing concern. I am content to live life inside my head so missing out on social occasions does not bother me overmuch. I have always been fairly self-disciplined so setting my own schedule and sticking to it is not difficult. No, what I will really miss is the atmosphere at my former job and the people there.

At any rate, I will keep working on Alayne’s Story and my own works while searching for a job, studying for the LSAT, and keeping myself up-to-date on various other things.

And now, as always: back to work!