#There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

[quotingmyjourneys]

"What a wretched life I led! And yes, I knew. Of course I knew that there were innumerable things in this world incomparably much harder and more terrible than what I was going through right then. But just for that moment, I wanted permission to crank my unhappiness gauge to the max. I’d dial it back down, I promised to dial it back down right away. By the day after tomorrow at the latest."

— There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (Polly Barton, Engl. translator), first pub. 2015, Japan

[morgan--reads]

There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job - Kikuko Tsumura

Summary: A young woman, burned out from her corporate job, seeks an easy job through an employment agency. As she cycles through jobs searching for the perfect fit, she discovers that not only might there be no such thing as an easy job, but there also might be no such thing as a normal one. 

Quote: “I wanted a job that was practically without substance, a job that sat on the borderline between being a job and not.”

My rating: 4.0/5.0   Goodreads: 3.63/5.0

Review: In the same vein as Temporary or The Cabinet, No Such Thing explores the detachment of work through a fantastic lens. Essentially the chapters function as a series of short stories, each one focusing on a new and strange job. They build to a gentle catharsis, which I found satisfying. The magical realism leans more realistic in this book, but there’s an uncurrent of unease throughout all the stories that makes their reality feel unsettled. It really works for this genre and it heightens the anticipation in reading each story. Is the mysterious figure in the park a threat? Is the cult putting up rival posters going to turn on her? Is this woman trying to steal her job at the cracker company? Why is the trivia on those cracker packets so sinister? None of the stories escalate into outright horror and they often are lightly comedic, but they are also pleasantly tense, keeping the pages turning. 

[sixofravens-reads]

finished There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job!

Overall it's an interesting read, following the MC through a series of odd jobs and vaguely surreal or supernatural occurrences as she tries to find a job she can do without burning out, ranging from hidden-camera surveillance monitor for a guy who's unwittingly hiding contraband, to advertising for a bus line where businesses seem to appear and disappear at the whim of her coworker, to poster putter-upper battling a cult preying on the lonely elderly folk in town, to punching tickets in a hut in the woods while being haunted by some unknown entity. It was an interesting and introspective read, definitely something to pick when you want a relaxed story that makes you think.

That said, I did find the ending a bit of a letdown, and the overall message wasn't as impactful as I hoped it'd be. But! Still absolutely worth a read!

[heejinsoulyves]

The audiobook of my favorite book, There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, is free to listen to on Spotify Premium!

[coffinwoodx]

couple of screenshots of kim’s wikipedia page that i felt so deeply in my soul

[cubbihue]

Question ...if fairies rely on desire to feed,would Dev be a GOOD food source or a terrible food source? Does desire come from wishing or wanting more, essentially. Because dev like.. Has all he can want except his dad's approval ,so how does that work?

Fairies' food comes from the innate emotion a person has while Wishes are just the only way Fairies can pull the emotions (food) out!!!

The more the desire is out of reach, the more delicious it is, and the longer the fairy can go without needing another meal. It's simply easier to harvest from children because they have big emotions, and weak minds and impulses. A child can say "I wish" more openly than an adult does, making it easier for Fairies to cultivate.

Dev's one of the best food sources there is. In fact, he's able to feed a family of 5 for at least 8 months! However, he's also one of the worse sources to collect from because his desire is noncollectable by magic.

Which means you'll need an expert high-class, high-ranking Fairy Godparent who can siphon out his Desires into smaller parts via multiple smaller wishes!

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[okayto]

Neopets is so funny right now. It's a 24-year-old website and half its pages haven't been updated in 15 years. Its ostensible audience is children. The core active audience appears to be nostalgic 20-40-year-olds. Old code means no accounts or pets can ever be renamed. The virtual pound is full of virtual pets named after Justin Bieber. It has an economy and inflation is rampant. New ownership is combating this with the stimulus of random super-rare items via daily quests and events, while the equivalent of Neopian Upper-Crust complain that their investments are deflating. You can't say seaweed or grapes.

[scribefindegil]

Thinking again about how many disabled people end up getting shunted into art/craft work because like. You can technically do it. Sometimes. Yeah you make a pittance at best and are almost certainly going to make your physical health worse by pushing yourself to get things done, but what else are you gonna do? You're too sick for anyone to hire you. You're "not sick enough" to qualify for benefits. Just devote every scrap of time and energy you have to a chronically underpaid, low-prestige, incredibly labor-intensive industry. A few people manage to make it work with luck and help and the right skills. Many people don't. Everyone gets pressured to monetize their hobbies, but it's especially insidious if you're disabled because any tiny thing you manage to accomplish to bring yourself joy gets twisted into proof that you should somehow be able to work.

[umblrspectrum]

hi heres my ramblings about a md rain world au i made up in like a day bye

[youngpettyqueen]

The Wire is really such a thesis statement for Julian as a doctor. he doesnt care what Garak did, he wants to help. he's a doctor, Garak's his patient, and its that simple. we see this with Julian, over and over, it doesnt matter what somebody or even what an entire species did, he will still always try his best to help

also, this episode really shows off what a good doctor Julian is when a patient is in crisis. Julian spends a good portion of this episode being upset with Garak and taking it personally that Garak won't come to the infirmary, but the second Garak is in crisis, he's no longer taking anything Garak says or does personally. he's listening, and letting Garak vent. Garak is lying to him, and being outright nasty telling him how much he hates him, and Julian stands there and takes it and lets him get it out. Garak attacks him and takes him to the floor and Julian doesnt fight back. he's trying to hold Garak down and stop him, yes, but he's doing it because he doesnt want to hurt Garak, and he doesnt want Garak to hurt himself

like yes The Wire is great for the Garashir insanity they are fucking insane in this one and the rituals are intricate but it also is truly such a fantastic Julian episode

[quotingmyjourneys]

"I’d previously been worried that I wouldn’t ever be able to come up with any good ideas, but gradually I was coming around to a different mindset: if you fired off enough ideas, you were bound to eventually hit upon a winner. The key was to keep churning them out."

— There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (Polly Barton, Engl. translator), first pub. 2015, Japan

[itsbenedict]

as soon as Brennan gave "email@bugwithabigass.com" as his email address in the season finale, i had to check if bugwithabigass.com was a registered domain- and lo and behold! ...this!

[sixofravens-reads]

this book is looking extremely promising already

[vigilskeep]

what gets me about viago’s letter to de riva at the start of the game is that he tells them to consider this trip with varric a contract, in the most completely-giving-up move ever. i thought from what i saw before the game came out that since he referred to it as a contract, de riva must have been sent to help deal with solas by the crows, who do have an interest in the world not ending. but no, de riva fully joined the team of their own volition, and viago just threw his hands up and said please think of it as a contract so we can all pretend i have any control over you whatsoever. and then they didn’t even get the “contract” wrapped up.

[canisalbus]

To me, Machete kind of has the energy of a secondary villain/coldhearted side character in someone else's story that a lot of fans latch onto, moreso than the protagonist. Question is, would he be the villain in anyone's story?

Why, thank you! I'm actually glad to hear he gives off that vibe. I don't think he set out to become a villain but a lot of people certainly view him as one.

[lindseymcdonaldseyelashes]

Leverage 4x1 - "The Long Way Down Job"