Thursday, April 9, 2015

Work news and Movie sadness

This entry brings up some topics related to what I posted in Cutting back on fun stuff over four years ago.

It's been over two months since my last entry, and I'm still no closer to moving out. Work had been slow during January and February, and then we got the big snow dumps in mid-February and the first week of March, so my checks were pretty crappy. Thankfully, that kind of snow seems to be a thing of the past in Kentucky, at least until next Fall or Winter, and things at work have picked up. Sadly, my Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday shift has been eliminated, and I start working a Sunday-through-Wednesday shift starting April 12th. Getting up so early on a Sunday morning blows, and working four consecutive ten hour days again will suck, but the change isn't all bad. Some of the more positive aspects of the new shift:
  • I get three days off in a row, two of which will feel like entire days off. That Wednesday in the middle of my former shift never felt like a full day off, and neither did Sundays.
  • With Fridays off, I'll get to go to early showings on most movies' opening days again. I kind of missed that.
  • My previous designated overtime day had been Saturday, now it's Thursday. That might make it easier for me to work voluntary overtime, though I'll probably still only do half days, at least until I get my own place.
  • I get to work more with some of my favorite coworkers, and less with my least favorite coworkers.
I considered maybe looking for a new job in June, but I just realized that if I make it at my current job until January, I should be getting more vacation time.

In some ways, this would also make it easier for me to get a second job, but I'd only be able to work on two of my three days off, and I don't know what the hell I would want to do for a second job.

One thing I was looking forward to doing when I moved to Louisville was renting from Wild and Woolly Video. Sadly, it was announced in January that they would be closing in March, and they had a big closeout sale in the two months leading up to the closure. The last thing I needed was another music or movie store closing. Tons of money was spent. It was depressing flipping through those movies that I had no desire to buy, but would've been eager to rent, especially since there is no guarantee that you'll be able to find some of these movies on Netflix or on any other streaming services. The decline of physical media, and finding bands/artists to obsess over, still has me spending collecting like a maniac, I really need to slow my roll.

I still consider myself a fan of indie/art films, but I've been underwhelmed by some of the movies that my film lover friends have been fond of recently, namely Birdman, Maps To The Stars, and It Follows. But for what it's worth, I did love Whiplash and What We Do In The Shadows. I hate that I've become the kind of person that will mostly see big event movies in the theaters, but movie going is so expensive now that I'd rather not take a chance on flushing $9+ down the toilet on a movie I would've rather watched at home.

Lastly, I've been reading some of Hunter S. Thompson's work lately. He seemed to spend a lot of his writing time on drugs or alcohol, or if not writing under the influence, then writing about being under the influence while on assignment. Similarly, I feel like I need sodas or blended frozen coffee drinks when I'm writing. Amazingly, all I've had to drink for this entry is plain old water.