(Note: I started this on November 6th with the intention of posting it that very day, but I got to a point where I needed to stop, and planned on giving it a proper finish later. I'm not really finishing it so much as I am adding an update to it.)
Today is the fifth anniversary of my getting lad off from Main Employer. I did a brief 3-year anniversary update here. So where am I at now as opposed to five years ago? Financially/living situation-wise, I've still got a ways to go. I'm currently making $1 less an hour than I did in 2008. I'll be getting a 25-cent raise in January. I've been having a hard time getting up on my workday mornings, and am seriously considering going back to night shift in January, so if I go back to night shift I'll be making an extra $0.50, which would add up to only making $0.25 less than I did in 2008. My car is paid off, so that helps, but I still have a long way to go to pay off my credit card. If I do get that paid off before I move out, then the credit card will most likely only be used for gas and groceries.
Being in a relationship helped me learn a lot about myself, though I'm not 100% sure in what ways. I love following my friends on Facebook, but I don't really have time to truly get to know anybody. I remember that being the case five years ago, the difference is that back then I was heartbroken about it, now I'm just kind of like, "Eh, whatever." I realized that if I play around on social networking sites too long, I get depressed, and there are plenty of other ways to stay occupied.
Besides having lost my job, my sister, my sister's cats, and a home-away-from-home to stay at in Louisville, the loss of Ear X-tacy Records has contributed to the hole in my heart that's grown in the past five years. A lot of small independent record stores have popped up in that time, and they're pretty nice, but I miss having a large independent record store that usually had what I was looking for.
Hypothetically, working on a day shift means that I have the potential to go out and do things at night, but that's hard to do since I work ten-hour shifts. This past Monday night, I was in bed by 8:00pm. When my alarm went off at 4:40am, I had a hard time getting up because I was basically only half awake. I got out of bed by 5:10, which was better than the 5:25 the day before, but I'd still prefer to have been out of bed no later than 5:00. It's gotten to the point where I might as well just take a shower as soon as I get home, and then go straight to bed. I missed out on the chance to see Danzig in Louisville mostly because it was on a Thursday and I didn't want to get to bed too late, plus as I mentioned in my previous post I'm kind of tired of spending money and making the drive to Louisville and back. I'm debating on going to the Kreator/Overkill show on November 21st, another Thursday. I've seen Kreator before, but I'd really like to see Overkill. The only way I see myself making it to that show is if I leave work a few hours early to take a nap, but I don't think that would help me get up the following morning. But since I have such a hard time getting up on work day mornings or going out on nights when I have to work the next morning, I figure I might as well go back to night shift.
Update:
1.I finally got a Playstation 3, a whole five years after I first intended to get one, but put it off due to getting laid off. I wanted it more as a high end Blu-Ray player than for games.
2.I didn't go to the Kreator/Overkill show.
3.A couple of days after my birthday, I visited a couple of new record stores in Louisville, Modern Cult Records and Guestroom Records. Modern Cult was pretty small, but has lots of potential. Guestroom Records was pretty sweet, I'd say it's as god an independent record store as Louisville is going to get in the post-Ear X-tacy era. They have a decent selection of CDs, and a HUGE amount of vinyl. They even sell Spin-Clean Record Washers! I'd love to do more shopping at these places, but I have enough music for now, and I'm trying to save money.
4.Christmas is two and a half weeks away, and it can't pass soon enough. I went to a Best Buy yesterday, and while it wasn't really even crowded by December shopping standards, it was still crowded enough to make me want to run over anybody that was in my way. While we're at it, I want to say that I have a tendency to watch videos of Black Friday shopping. My humanitarian side wants to shake my head in disgust at these people and what they'll do for a "bargain", but the side of me that just wants to watch the world burn laughs gleefully.
5.I've had no mandatory overtime this peak season, but I still feel like I can't get shit done! Case in point, blogging. I do have a mandatory OT day scheduled for this coming Saturday.
6.Winter hasn't even officially come yet, and I'm already sick of it! Who wants to pay me to move to California?
