Get a job...Sha na na na, sha na na na na...

I'm a writer. It's my job. But royalties for my works don't pay the bills forever, peeps. Hence my frequent visits to Monster.com and other sites for job seekers.

I heard the Census Bureau was hiring folks to help in the looming 2010 census (for jobs that I'm eminently qualified for), so I decided to mail in my application.

An interesting thing, that Census Bureau is. They conduct the constitutionally mandated decennial census. You know, that thing that I was left off of in 2000. That's the census that insists Arlington, Texas, is bigger than Cincinnati.

When I and others were skipped by the 2000 census, it cost representation in redrawing federal and state legislative district boundaries, and it cost local governments important funding.

Furthermore, when the census tried tabulating adjustments for areas that were undercounted, activist federal judges ruled that these numbers couldn't be used for any official purpose. No matter, because I still use the 1990 numbers, because I was skipped in 2000. (Presumably, I was not skipped in '90, for I distinctly recall filling out the census form as a teenager.)

Do you expect me to get the job I applied for? I don't. With the economy lodged firmly in the toilet, with no auger around strong enough to pull it out, there's got to be a long list of people who need that job.