It cost me $41.82 to fill my gas tank today. I haven’t seen a $40+ gas fill up since the gas crisis of ’08. But I guess I should be fortunate that I didn’t have to covertly go out at midnight to get the fuel, so I didn’t have to wait in any egregious lines. But still, in a time when I’m literally scraping by, feeling the noose tightening at all times, and struggling to make ends meet, such a sight is kind of mortifying.
Tag: cashmoney
The Thanksgiving and Brack Friday post
I passed out from the triptafen in the turkey a little while ago, and I’ll probably be up until 3 a.m. as a result. For what it’s worth, Thanksgiving was a pleasant and successful affair this year. Despite the fact that I kind of wanted to go visit my family back in Virginia this year, finances, and the residual fear of leaving home, being unable to defend it from batarians, it turned out to be a good holiday regardless, with tons of good food, in the company of friends.
Brack Friday was just as successful this year, and most importantly, very low-stress. I already have a big-ass TV, decent sound system to go with it, the house already has an XBOX 360 as well as a Piss3, and we’ve got a lot of decent video games. The movies I want to watch I can see via Netflix or other means, and I’ve got functional computers, as well as a perfectly good netbook. So in other words, I had little reason to want to go out for Brack Friday this year, but still felt compelled to seek out a deal, because that’s what we do as capitalist Americans, still desire to purchase shit. In the end, I found an awesomely priced 14-gallon shop vacuum for the garage from Lowe’s for $29.99 down from $79.99 that I was able to secure online, and pick up in-store without having to awaken at ass-O’clock, and when we did eventually go out to shop, at a “normal” hour, I was able to acquire a Logitech wireless keyboard / mouse combo from Radio Shack for $20 down from $40, and some clothing from Old Navy for relatively cheap. Despite the fact that I didn’t really have the disposable income to blow in the first place.
But anyway, I’m feeling contented, and pleased with the way the holiday has gone so far, and I’m hoping that this year will mercifully end as relatively low-stress as this Thanksgiving has been.
I’ve been a bad brogger
I’ve been well aware throughout the last fifteen days that I hadn’t updated the brog in a while. And as much as I felt the obligation to myself to keep up the practice of writing, I just didn’t feel like it. But in all fairness, I haven’t really felt like doing a whole lot of much throughout the last few weeks. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t much feel like doing much writing now, but enough has more or less been enough, and I figure it would be good to put some words down on the e-paper to hopefully clear my head a little bit.
As has been the general mood of self these last few months or so, things have not been going too particularly well in my life, as well as the lives of those around me. I’ve hit a little bit of a rough patch, and am still kind of riding it right now. Just the other day, I went to the bank and deposited a small cache of cash that I had stashed away, designated as “birthday money only to be spent on something superficial and gratifying and not bills” . . . because my bank account was precariously low, and without the deposit, I run the risk of not being able to pay my bills. The disaster was temporarily averted, but it doesn’t really change the fact that I’m occasionally feeling the overwhelming feeling of drowning from time to time, compounded by emotions of the uncertainty of freelance working, and the phone not ringing with potential full-time work.
Depression as result of unemployment, take #39
Earlier today, I returned home from the Braves’ afternoon game that I was able to attend because I’m not working, irritated that despite the stellar record the Braves have at home, they still managed to put up a stinker and lose to a poor Nationals team that made me wish I hadn’t come out to the park to witness. Compounded with the fact that I was irritated with the spontaneous traffic jam that occurred on my way home, the sheer lack of a conveniently located Chic-Fil-A to satiate the irritating hunger that descended upon me that caused an irritating headache, mostly stemming from zero caffeine prior to.
I returned home from trivia after yet another disappointing 4th place finish, irritated that no matter how well we think we’re doing, we’re just not quite good enough. As I was driving home, I thought to myself that I should probably get to bed as soon as possible, so I could wake up early for my morning jog. But what after that? I’m not working, so essentially, there’s absolutely little motive for me to sleep at a normal time, to wake up early. On top of that, I’ve had about four Diet Cokes in the last eight hours, and now I’m a little caffeinated; but at least the headache is gone.
I need to get myself some real fucking work.
Continue reading “Depression as result of unemployment, take #39”
Because I’m busy, damn it
When I actually have had the opportunity to see my own website, it hasn’t gone past me that the last time I posted anything was six days ago. Considering the earnest effort I’ve put into being a somewhat consistent brogger, six days is a fairly considerable length of time, given the fact that in the old iteration of things, I used to mostly post maybe once a month in the worst of times.
The simple fact has been that I’ve been busy working. Which, given the current state of me, is a very good thing; long story short, I’m pretty hurting right now in the wallet. A dry spell on the freelance front, as well as yet another change of the mortgage lender (and their subsequent payment policies) has me playing a lot closer to the heart than I have done in over two years. So, I’m not complaining that I’ve turned in a solid 41-hour work week, and am going to do as many hours as I can this week, even with Dragon-con looming ahead this weekend, even if it more or less means that I haven’t had much time to keep up with my writing.
When I haven’t been working, I haven’t really done a whole lot since last week. It’s more or less been the same old on a regular basis – wake up, run, lift weights, shower, eat cereal, go to work, work, come home, eat dinner, play Left 4 Dead, go to bed. Every now and then, I’ve watched some baseball, or watched some other show, but not a whole lot else. What can I say, I’ve been boring lately; given the financial woes, I’m finding it best to be a little dormant.
But anyway, since I had a somewhat passable time last year, I’m actually looking forward to Dragon-con this year. Like last year, more or less plan on showing up to the convention in the evenings, and loitering around the lobby of the Marriott. I will likely do a good bit of drinking out of a glass boot, possibly carry around a wrestling title belt, and hope to see some familiar faces, friends, acquaintances, Miranda Lawsons, Jill Valentines, Kelly Chambers, other hot chicks, and funny costumes that remind me of my childhood and/or better times.
Hopefully, as things settle down after the convention and this work schedule, I will get back to doing some more regular writing; admittedly, I have a few ideas of things I’d like to write, but just can’t quite seem the time to make things work. If and when things get worse financially, there are bound to be thousands of words to be unleashed when I go into full financial stay-at-home lockdown mode. But until then, it’s back to being busy, poorly multi-tasking, being social and shit, and not writing.
Slaves to money
The assignment I’m currently working, I will admit that I am not that fond of. It’s tedious, frustrating, and most certainly a perfect example of what happens when too many cooks are in the kitchen. Obviously, I am grateful to be working for the money necessary to pay the bills, but when the day is over, I’m fairly certain I could get another assignment elsewhere if I decided to take my trade elsewhere.
Today’s story is that there was a possibility that myself, as well as the two other freelancers working on this project may have had to have come in on Sunday to help catch this place up. Details are that it would have been on Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to around 2-3:00 p.m., and the hours would not have been considered overtime. However, these hours were not mandatory, and we could just as easily declined the weekend work if we simply did not want to work it.
I just want to play Mass Effect 2 without glare!
The last time I checked my bank account, the funds were a little on the sparse side, so I told myself that maybe it would be best if I simply stayed home this weekend. Play some Mass Effect 2, watch some baseball, and relax. Save my money, especially since I’m out of contract work again at the moment.
Upon sitting down to play some ME2, I realize that I cannot really fully enjoy the game, because of the gratuitous amount of glare that my big screen is getting from the kitchen windows. And since Jen and I have more or less neglected to get any curtains for these windows, the following is the measures that I have to take in order to alleviate the situation just a little bit, at least to where I can actually enjoy the game again.
And then when I got the mail later on in the day, there are two paychecks waiting for me. Somewhere down the line, I didn’t receive a paycheck for an entire week’s worth of work and it went completely unnoticed. So now, my supposed sparse funds don’t seem to concerning anymore.