Weird Word Wednesday #7

I'm taking over the blog again for one of the animals because Beaker is too busy to blog at the moment.  She just went rocketing through the house and knocked the dog gate over, sparking an intense 30 seconds of basset aerobics.  Everyone is back to their sleeping/chew bone gnawing state again.

This week's weird annoying word is 'patience'.  I'm out of the stuff.  Frankly, I'm tired of waiting on every little thing.

We've been waiting on my wife to find steady employment since moving here.  That is a waiting game I am sick to death of.  She is educated, intelligent, responsible, has a strong work ethic, and is apparently unhirable in the greater Columbia area.  The local college graduates have an extra level of certification that she doesn't, and that is evidently more desirable than 2 years of on the job training.  My guess is those students are winning the game of 'who you know' due to their clinical rotations that they complete during their schooling; they most likely know all the local hospital staff because they've worked for them at some point during their education.  I'm tired of not being able to do anything to help my wife.  Unemployment sucks the life out of you, and right now I think I'd amputate something if I thought it would land her a job.

I'm tired of waiting on manuscript reviewers too.  My colleagues and I submitted a paper to Southwestern Naturalist in June of 2010.  I have emailed the editor repeatedly and asked for updates on the review process - something that should take 3 months at the most, and that is for technical, specialized papers.  Ours was basically a report on the species of animals found on an Air Force Base.  I could probably get my mother to review it in an hour or two.  The editor has told me that his first two reviewers flaked out on him and he had to find someone else.  Supposedly, the paper was going to be reviewed by today, and as of 9:50 CST I have not received an email about it.  My only other manuscript took a long time to finally get published, and the note that I got published in 2009 took almost a year to review and see print.  A year for one paragraph.  Either I have terrible luck in journal reviewers or someone is out to get me.  These sort of things slow down the development of a CV (a scientific resume, basically), which in turns slows down how competitive I appear when applying for scientific jobs.  Although I should probably point out that those same colleagues are waiting on me to finish another manuscript and get it sent to them for a final review before submission.  I guess everybody waits on something.

I'm tired of waiting to feel like my life is going to start.  The stress of not making enough money to cover all our costs - and these are basic costs, not expensive cars or wasteful spending - literally eats up all the happiness in life.  I can't seem to get out from under it either.  I love my job and I enjoy the time I spend there, but the reality of the situation looms over me pretty much every day.  My wife is waiting to hear on a job that is about an hour and a half away - we want her to get it but it will mean us living apart until at least October.  I'm tired of waiting for our lives to being together, where we both are working in our fields under the same roof.  These days it is tough not to be bitter and sad every day, and if it weren't for the distractions TV and the internet offer I wouldn't be able to deal with it.  And that's just me being selfish and thinking about myself - you can guess how my wife feels.  I wish there was something I could do to help her.

As I worried over all these things on my drive home today I was greeted with a happy sight.  My dog Rosco (Puppyman) was waiting for me in the window.  I could see his droopy-eared profile in the window, backlit by the lamp.  As I pulled in the driveway he jumped off the couch and ran downstairs to greet me at the door by howling and leaping at me.  His wait, at least, was over.