eInk is easier on the eyes than the highest resolution display available on any smart-device. I have half a dozen smart devices and still choose to read (books, not comics or web-pages) on my eInk device when given the opportunity.
1. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It's ok to mope for a day or two. Get it out of your system. Then get it together for long enough to act, because you have work to do.
2. You're in your early 30's and you feel like all your decisions have been made and that everything about your life is set in stone? I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, that isn't true. You're still young. Don't focus on what you've done. Let that be chapters 1,2 and 3 in your biography. What do you want chapters 3.3 through 8 to say? Do you want them to say, "He made some mistakes and let them rule the rest of his life"? Or "He got his act together and made opportunities for himself."
You're on Hacker News. HN is absolutely rife with stories of people creating opportunities for themselves.
One last thing: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
One of the comments:
"It's funny that all these guys loved the letter, yet didn't realize it's their fault that the letter even had to be written. If only they hadn't been falling for trumped up resumes and bogus cover letters for years."
I think in this and many other industries, people that are otherwise talented and intelligent individuals write these types of "trumped up" resumes only because they know that everyone else is doing it. If they don't also exaggerate the truth and try to talk up their strengths, then they fear being overlooked. It's not necessarily that anyone is being "fooled" by the exaggerated resumes, it just means that everyone sounds the same and it's just a game that both parties are forced to play. It's hard to distinguish on a cover letter whether "led a team of..." means one other person or twenty other people, for instance.
The scariest part - from the article, elected government officials lend credibility:
The Church of Scientology opened its new National Affairs Office in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony led by David Miscavige. Joining him in this dedication were Members of U.S. Congress Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Danny Davis (D-IL); as well as Liz Gibson, Senior Program Manager, Federal Emergency Management Agency.
I can't speak to the others but I live just outside Jackson-Lee's district. That woman is certifiably insane with or without appearing at a Scientology event. She thinks Neil Armstrong went to Mars and that Venezuela is a friendly nation.
She'll do anything to get on camera—I doubt she can even spell "Scientology."
