More background checks...

     I went to orientation at the new job on Tuesday and got my hire packet and benefit information and took some company specific tests and received a supply of uniforms for the job.  Unfortunately, my manager for that particular position...(I will be working at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport but have no idea what I'll be doing) wasn't in so I'm still in the dark about when I'll start and where.  Oh well, more down time.  I was giving blood today... (I donate 2-3 times a year) and the job called.  I needed to be background checked to get security clearance for the airport.  Could I be at the airport at 1:30 to fill out paperwork and get fingerprinted because they were closed Thursday and Friday...(some kind of holiday going on or something).  It seems I can't begin work until THEY do a background check on me.  So that will take another 7 to 10 business days which brings us to to the second week of December.  There is nothing like trying to get to the airport on the busiest flying day of the year.  But I made it and found the Operations Center and filled out my paperwork and got fingerprinted again.  Not to be gross, but my background has been checked more than a busy week at the proctologists.  And to add to the fun, next Wednesday I will go to class to renew my guard license which involves, you guessed it, another background check.  I will sit through an 8 hour class (that I taught at the old job about a dozen times this year), but it is a necessary evil in my chosen profession.  While waiting for the fingerprinting...(sort of like being at the DMV with less surly clerks), I got an offer to work Thursday night from 11:30pm until 7:30am at a Macy's store in Mesa.  So I took it.  I have worked on Thanksgiving the last four years so why not this one too. 

     I explained why I made this move but there is more to it than just the medical coverage.  I have a nasty habit of being a work-a-holic.  And when you enjoy what you do it tends to blind you to the fact that it slowly takes over every aspect of your life until it becomes your life.  As a daily survivor of alcohol and drug addiction, you would think that I would know the warning signs.  That is the major concern of an addict.  You have the tendency to replace one addiction with another.  My addiction to golf is more of a love affair and I believe it contributed mightily to saving my life 17 years ago and still keeps me sane to this day.  But a job shouldn't control your well-being or be the major component of your existence...  I left New Jersey to escape that and I took this job to go back to what I enjoyed the most about being in security...dealing with the public.  I'll miss the trips to NYC but all I ever did there was work, eat and sleep and not all of them every day (except work).  I didn't really get to see any of the events I was working.  And let's face it, 109 hours worked in a seven day period is not conducive to good health at any age.

     Which brings me to Thanksgiving (that holiday going on).  I have much to be thankful for this year.  I am thankful that friends and family (even the ones I don't get along with) survived Superstorm Sandy... I am thankful for the ability to get out from under a bad situation and find a job that I am excited to begin (whenever that is)... I am thankful for the opportunities I have had in the past two years to work some really cool events and meet some really cool celebrities and people... I am thankful that I will be able to remain in this desert paradise I call home.  And mostly I am thankful to God (yes, I mentioned God!) that he has given me the strength and guidance (somebody better be driving this ship besides me) to remain clean and sober and with that the ability to enjoy this crazy life (the resumption of a life) that I have out here.  Happy Thanksgiving to all and God Bless each and every one of you!!