I also see a nylon string (classical) guitar headstock poking out between everything else…
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Another directions that pedal steel can go…
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I have been working in transportation services at the city, handling fleet, facilities and winter portfolios focusing on coordination and telematics. The commute is great: only 10-20 minutes drive! I work in the office two days a week now. How is your commute and hybrid work schedule?
Still looking for that permanent job. Had an interview yesterday. It is a more challenging IT position, so although it would greatly improve the quality of life for me, it may still be out of arms’ reach… It does appear to be something I would enjoy and I rarely get any interviews, so 
.
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Hope you’ll do well on the interview.
We go to the office 2-3 times per week. Two days are fixed with the whole team there, 1 kind of floating/optional. I commute by public transport, ~25 minutes one way. If weather is good, and I don’t have to carry a lot, I walk part of it (15 - 20 minutes) on the way home (sometimes I do the shopping on the home trip).
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Well, it looks like life is throwing me another curve ball.
A week and a half ago, I had a 30 second collapse / seizure type thing while volunteering at a Community Garden I’ve been helping out at. Following a visit to A&E, I am now not allowed to drive for the next 6 months, and I am now awaiting a referral to cardiology for more tests, and I am currently wearing a hospital issued HRM for 2 weeks.
Annoyingly I was just starting to apply for work, following being made redundant on health grounds last May. But now I am putting job hunting on the back burner until I figure out what is going on health wise.
Fingers crossed it won’t be a years wait for a cardiology appointment.
But I’ll now be limited on where I can go for photography trips, either by public transport, or by car sharing with friends from my photography club.
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Very sorry to hear of your health crisis.
Sorry to hear, Brian.
And for extra fun, I’ve been started on Blood Pressure Medication… I never expected to be geriatric at only 46! 
I always thought high blood pressure was an old person thing!
Not so. Reminder: The more meds you take, the more you need to be acutely aware of interactions between foods and meds, and among meds. For example, grapefruit and friends interact or interfere with a whole lot of meds. Take care!
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Yeah no some of us were born with it. 
At 46 I had been taking BP med for almost thirty years already. Recently I had to work through my recovery period after a surgery. I should have taken three days off, but in my work there is no such benefit. Well my work output during those three days was unapologetically substandard. I felt bad but it was just due to being way overexahausted. Work, the managers and administrators simply do not care about my health, nor do they listen. Obtaining pay since the pandemic has been terrible, too. Now, each time I work, an admisitrator must request my payment from a manager, who then must consult the finance committee, who usually thumbs down the request, and usually no payment occurs even though the manager can override the committee. HR doesn’t care, they will only offer assistance to their salaried administrators and managers. If you contact HR, they find a reason to put a write-up into your department folder. I’ve had them rescind two letters in the past after pointing out that the retaliation actions violate local labor laws. It is my firm belief that someday they are going to get theirs in the end, so I just keep showing up to work my job.
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I always thought that presbyopia was an old person thing (literally, the root presbys means old in Ancient Greek), until I had to get reading glasses.
Hope your condition improves.
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Thanks everyone. A few weeks on the BP medication, and my BP seems to be at a more “normal” level.
On the job front, I have a “One to One Assessment Interview” for a Store Assistant Role (Part Time) at a local branch of a German purveyor of discount goods, which sells chainsaws, axes, 3 person tents and inflatable kayaks as well as the usual groceries. It’s a 15 minute “Assessment Interview” so I wonder what it will involve?
Good luck with the interview. And, just to get you in the mood:
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I am almost 44 and I also had issues with my blood pressure last year. As it turned out, it was related to Hashimoto’s disease, which I probably got from the Covid vaccines (autoimmune).
I tried to take Eurthyrox a year ago, but had kind of an adverse reaction, it was not quite clear if I actually already needed medication for my thyroid, at least in the beginning. Fortunately I got an appointment at the hospital after only 6 months or so and they advised to start with the lowest dose for children, and now everything seems to be much better.
Before the appointment I tried sport, and that really worked, I went swimming for 30 minutes every day. It got my blood pressure down from 130/90-95 to 115/75. But before, the highest value that I measured was 170/110 resp. 150/120 (the latter during the first attempt to take Eurthyrox). Apparently I climbed up to the top of the Teide with this blood pressure…
During the past weeks I did not go swimming at all, there was no time, and yesterday I measured 125-130/83 (midnight), this morning 107/78.
But in case you notice side effects of the medication, maybe try swimming. You really have to be consequent though, if you don’t do sport for 2 weeks, your pressure goes up again. I think the effect of sport is even faster than medication (approximately after two weeks the pressure starts to go down).
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Wow… I have normal bp but I found that climb strenuous. After a while I had to have more and more “photo breaks”, all of which required sitting for a while. Some of then even involved taking photos 
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In my late father’s final years, he had to take at least three types of medication for his heart: one to lower the blood pressure, another to raise it and one more to keep his beating regular. Continuous tweaking required to get his engine running smoothly.
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Alas, I never got the job.
Perhaps a blessing in disguise though, as I don’t think I’m cut out for high pressure retail!