Category: Postman

10/23/2024 Being Political without the Platform

Here’s something they don’t tell you about Union leadership: you become a politician when you sign on.

I’m not much of a public speaker (I know, what a surprise), and in fact I hate public speaking. But I’ve taken classes on the subject and have learned how to give speeches and sound convincing.

We’re going to ignore the fact that I wax exposition every RPG session. That doesn’t count.

Today was a full day of being Chief Steward. After setting up my mail route to be carried by others, I went into my little office, set up my desk, and spent the next several hours on the phone, writing emails, and holding 1-4 people meetings, including talking to staff members for State Representatives.

I have, basically, been a politician all day.

Ain’t a fan, but it’s what’s needed for this area.

I’m more exhausted from today than I’ve been from being out on the mail route. I think I’ll take it easy for the evening and try to write a little before I pass out at this desk.

Narrator: He will, in fact, be asleep in his chair maybe 20 minutes after putting his children in their beds.

Here’s hoping! Stay safe out there, folks!

-JB Swift

Three Months Later…

I’ve finally had a quiet moment to remember that I have a website!

Holy hell, it’s been a whirlwind of a time over the last three months, folks.

I’ve been fired from the Post Office, enrolled in a Cybersecurity course, made Interim President of my local union, got my job back, and then I had to scramble to keep the new plates spinning along with all of my other ones.

I’ll be honest, folks. I’ve been exhausted for weeks, and I keep finding things to look into. Somehow, I still write, though it’s been sporadic (at least one paragraph a day) and it has to compete with both an upcoming newsletter for the local and some eight grievances a week (which are 25-30 pages each) and my own physical exhaustion from the day-job work.

I went from having absolutely nothing to do to having to plan out every half-hour on some days.

But I’m still here! I’ll have to set up a reminder to make a daily post (and pencil it into my calendar), but the practice and daily life-writing will do me good. At least the daily writing prompts have gotten more interesting!

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

07/25/2024 Suddenly Busy, So… Vacation!

The past week has been a whirlwind.

After hearing that our union local’s president was stepping down, I called the other officers and told them I would take the job.

Two days after that announcement was made public, my postmaster called to say I had my job back.

Two people emailed me to say they wanted to join the Sidewinder Stories campaign, and one old player stepped up to say they wanted to contribute to Dungeon Mastering.

Online school has ramped up considerably and pulling my attention back to my desk to pore over my study guides.

In all of this, I carve out bits of time to write and make for 600 words in every 30-minute sprint.

So what to do when suddenly the world has gotten overwhelming?

A vacation! To Florida! In late July… during storm season…

I didn’t pick the dates.

Onward! There’ll be photos of the beach!

Stay safe out there, folks!

-JB Swift

05/16/2024 Without a Job

I started working for the US Post Office back in May 2009, as a T.E. (Transitional Employee) but did not make Career until 2014. I’ve been wearing the uniform for 15 years.

On Tuesday, I was fired. I received a Letter of Removal and was walked off the premises.

At the time, I was (understandably) in shock. I called my wife, took a few minutes at home to let it sink in, and… I broke, again.

Folks, I like to joke that sometimes God thinks I’m Job from the Old Testament. If you’ve been following my posts and writings for the last eight months, you might see why I use that kind of acerbic humor. This just adds on to it.

Now, not all is lost. I’m still on the payroll and have been put on administrative leave. So, I’m still getting paid until late June. I also have a Union, so I’ve filed a grievance to have the Removal rescinded. The folks in Union leadership are considering my case and are, bluntly saying, ‘convinced this is bullshit and I’ll get my job back’. That will take time, though, and I can’t get around that (backpay will inevitably happen), so it’ll be a waiting game. I can’t go into the details surrounding the grievance at the moment. Legally speaking, a grievance is considered a lawsuit, so I’m under a ton of obligations to keep quiet about it on public forums.

Don’t worry, players and friends; I’ll talk about it on personal time.

To say that I’ve been pushed into despair would be an honest understatement. I’m a male Millennial from the 80’s, so I’ve been raised to believe that if I can’t provide, then I have no value. I’m not saying that it’s true, but it’s some strong brainwashing to go through.

On the other hand, I have a family for whom I must provide. My wife and children need to be fed, clothed, and given safe shelter. The bills don’t care if I’ve lost my job; they still need to be paid.

It’s a motivation that borders on the insanity with me; they need me to not fall apart, and more importantly, I need me to not fall apart.

‘Fall apart’ is something I will do, of course, but I’ve also been raised to believe that men can’t show emotions like that to other people, so it’ll happen during my more private moments. I do have friends and family to whom I can reach out, and I will. One of them, a buddy that’s also a psychologist and therapist, talked to me earlier this morning about everything.

He sent me a video of Jean-Luc Picard explaining to Data that “You can do everything right, make no mistakes, and still lose. That’s not weakness; that’s life.” He reminded me, in a moment of bleak thoughts, that I’ve done right by my family and that I’ll continue to do so, because that’s who I am.

It reminded me of something my father told me when I was 17.

Sidenote: I really need to dust.

I’ll be taking this time to fight the despair, take care of house and home, and write. I had started a rewrite of a short story for submission before this happened. I’m now extra-motivated to get some kind of publishing, and I do have time on my hands…

Might also start with the creative crunch for subscriber content and try to drive up donations. Lord knows, I’m going to need it. And yes, I’ll look into some kind of paying work to make ends meet. I can address my feelings, but responsibilities must also be addressed.

I want to take a quick moment to remind all of you that, if you’re depressed, don’t try to hide it, suppress it, or keep it to yourself. Please, if you have people, reach out to them and talk. If you don’t have those people, there are programs that can help you, even in this crazy world we live in. It’s weird and go against my instincts to say that, but that instinct was taught to me and it’s ultimately not a healthy one.

Men: fucking listen to me and talk to someone. Stoicism isn’t a panacea for despair.

Have faith, folks. I’ll still be around and will keep writing/posting. If I seem depressed, it’s because I am. But I’ll keep plugging along at my goals. I have people that’ll help me stand back up.

I wanted to end this essay on something that’ll lift our moods, so here’s the fat housecat stoned out of her mind on catnip and unable to move.

Yeah… Penelope was stuck like that but didn’t seem to mind or notice.

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

04/29/2024 Morning Mailman Martial Arts

My Sunday post had to be moved to Drafts, as it was going from a post about Classic Sci-Fi to an essay comparing Fallout’s Minutemen to US Civil Service. I’ll get both versions posted.

For Monday, it’s shenanigans at the office! My start-time was moved 15 minutes, much to the annoyance of supervisors and senior coworkers alike. Nobody likes that I put my family first in my decisions.

So, in typical fashion, I’m now “early” and am using the time to practice!

Seven Star Praying Mantis on the docks. What’s sad is that I blanked completely on this particular form, so I’m having to go over it without my stances until I can remember the movements correctly.

Just to keep telling the people here that I am an odd one. But it’s time to sort letters and brave the storms.

Stay safe out there, people.

-JB Swift

04/25/2024 New Uniform

When your postal customers live in one of the roughest driving neighborhoods and think you need a wardrobe update, it might be time to retire the old shirts and hat.

Of course, I never pass on an excuse for a new hat!

…I like my hats.

Time to find out if the physical therapy has helped the pulled muscles recover any before I do something else that’d be considered stupid…such as getting the training rings for my next set of Kung Fu forms.

Yes, I thought for the longest that these were just for Shang-Chi in the Marvel Comics, and also yes, I want them now that I know they exist.

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

07/17/2023 Surprisingly Pretty Weather and Story Updates

We got a tiny reprieve during the late afternoon as a small front rolled over the sky, bringing a mildly cold breeze along with it.

My knee wasn’t happy about the sudden change in air pressure, but hey, you take what comforts you can get in the heat advisory days.

Slowly whittling away at chapter 4, but it’s starting to hit me in the doubts. It’s the perfect moment to dive into explaining exactly what the Peregrine is for the story (without spoiling plot relevant details), but there’s the concern that using this chunk to front-load the information might cause disinterest. I’ll need to ask a beta reader to go over it and see if it’s too boring.

Another 530 words down, at least! Progress!

Stay safe out there, readers.

-JB Swift

07/14/2023 Ides of July and Annual Sickness

My physician keeps telling me that I need to do things that will help me stay “regular”.

This is a double-layered joke between us, as my physician (also my Uncle) knows that there is no such thing as “regular” about me, while at the same time that I can be pretty reliable on getting sick at certain points of the year.

The middle of July is one of those times.

Went to bed last night with the normal grogginess brought on by over-exhaustion but felt the slight congestion that was the first warning sign. Woke up this morning with my sinuses acting like they were actually sledgehammers just under my eyes.

Yup, it’s that time of year again.

But I was also stubborn today and took simple over-the-counter medications in an attempt to slow the process while I walked 22 miles over a 12-hour shift. I again forgot that I was not in my early 20’s. I’m paying for that now, so it’s looking like I’ll be making a visit to an Urgent Care in the morning to find out just how badly I’ve pushed my physical limits.

Don’t think I’ll have a writing sprint this evening. The nighttime meds are kicking in, so it’s about to get really loopy over here. Think I’ll just watch a movie on the couch (IE fall asleep on the couch some ten minutes from now).

Stay safe out there, readers.

-JB Swift