More thoughts about my summer of under-employment

I began this post while sitting in the dining room of a house in the Miraloma neighborhood of San Francisco. This was the location of my most recent attempt to earn some cash: house- and pet-sitting for a vacationing family. For a reasonable fee, I took care of the house (mail, garden, etc.) and its multiple non-human, animal occupants for six days. Said occupants include the following: a very active 2-year-old female dog, whose owner even describes as spoiled; a dowager dog of very mellow temperment, but a whiny-sounding bark/voice that sounds somewhat pathetic; and a slightly agoraphobic kitty, with beautiful green eyes and patchy fur that is finally coming back after battles with skin rashes and who rarely leaves one of the bedrooms out of fear of the older dog.

Such is the life of the under-employed graduate student during summer break. Although I continue to be sent solicitations for work during the school year (for which I am pretty full up, at least through January), I am still stymied in search of steady summer employment. Well, actually, I've sorta given up. I've proposed a few more articles for MyJewishLearning.com and am near confirmation of another house-sitting gig. I babysat for one very pleasant evening (leaving with a rather striking portrait of myself, drawn in crayon by a 5-year-old). Then there was my lovely week teaching Prophets to nuns. And I do have other people to contact. But I'm no longer really interested in taking on any sort of regular work schedule.

It's not like I'm being altogether lazy. Unlike any previous vacation time when I have been unemployed, I have been waking up regularly between 8 and 9 a.m. I can barely manage that during the school year. I've been seeing plenty of my friends and have continued to meet more of Joshua's. In fact, our social calendar has been quite busy. I've read a few books and am currently working on The Angel of a Thousand Wings. I've made some excellent progress on the baby blanket for the now seven-week-old Paltiel. And I just worked 4 1/2 hours today--straight through, no procrastination or "breaks"--on the syllabus and reading assignments for this fall's course on Jewish Liturgy. As long as I can eke by financially, I think that I'll stay on this course. Just remember to forward any house-, pet-, and/or baby-sitting offers my way. ;)