Running the Race of Life

Eight hours really aren’t enough time during a workday to get everything done. There’s always something else. Whether it’s another report or some keyword research, I have to save something for tomorrow. Which only adds to my workload because I’ll get more to do tomorrow as well. I could stay and work some overtime, but I wouldn’t get paid for that overtime. A lot of jobs will give you time and a half for overtime, but I’m working on salary so I get paid the same regardless of how many hours I put in. I want to do a good job, don’t get me wrong. And I strive to be professional. I don’t mind going out of my way to help out either. But I need a reason to go out of my way every single day. I’m not up for promotion or a raise any time soon. All I’d be doing by staying after my work day ends is taking time out from whatever else I have to be doing. I do have a life outside the office, though no boss wants to hear that. No one has said anything to me about anyway. Not yet at least, but it might be coming any day now. I’ve got my argument down pat though. I’ll be fine.

I don’t like the majority of Chicago condos I come across. Some of them are nice, but they’re mostly just like other apartments. If I’m going to own a place, it needs something to set it apart from other places. For example, a house is a house. It has foundations and room and it’s what you think of when you think of a home. But a condo has two or three bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and whatever else. Sometimes, there’s a study or den, but you can find that in an apartment. No one stays in an apartment forever. At the most, it’s a few years and then you go find somewhere else to live. That’s the basic point of moving from apartment to apartment. A house means that you’re settling down. A condo isn’t the same. I know you might make a profit off a condo when you sell it in the end, but it’s not really your home. What makes it more special than an apartment in that same building? Sometimes, the rent of an apartment similar to a condo will be close to what you’d pay for a mortgage. So what’s the real difference? Is it just semantics?

I was not proud of having to file for bankruptcy, but people in town were reading about it like it was some type of sporting event. It was scary. Greenberg bankruptcy was the headline in the local paper, and it was the lead story on the local cable news as well and the local television and radio outlets. I was suddenly more famous than I wanted to be. It was really a problem. I had hoped to keep it quiet, but the media had dug the story out. Or rather, the story was fed to them by someone who wanted to do me further harm. I never wanted to file at all, but things just got beyond my control. I had no choice. If I didn’t file I would lose everything. Thirty years of hard work would go down the drain. It probably will anyway. Then there was Sarah, the news anchor at the television station. She kept badgering me to go on TV and become famous. When I reminded her that I was already famous, and that is why my bankruptcy filing was a story, she didn’t seem to get it. She literally was camping at my doorstep. The station had pulled an RV in front of my place and she was spending 24 hours a day there, waiting for me to come out. I stayed in most of the time, and was able to sneak out the cellar door once. But then they staked that door out, too.

My friend Hilary is really an unbelievable artist. Every time she shows me something else that she has done, I am amazed. Being a bit of an artist myself, I always tell her how jealous I am of her incredible skills. The funny thing is, that she does not even study art. She is in graduate school for math. Last time I was at her apartment, she showed me a sculpture she was working on. There were cutting tools lying all around her room, and a huge hunk of wood sitting in the middle of them. She told me that she was trying to make a bust of Bob Dylan. Most of her art is music centric, which is probably why I enjoy it so much. She has a really great poster of Jimi Hendrix that I absolutely love. I told her one time that I wanted to buy it from her, but she said that it was not for sale. I even offered to pay her to make me another one, but she said the first one was way too big of a pain in the butt to make another one. Another favorite of mine of her work is a pencil drawing she did of Jim Morrison. It is so lifelike that every time I look at it I wait to see him smile.

Today is going to be another one of those busy days. I’m trying to stay fairly calm about it but it’s a challenge right now. I’ll be working with some machine aluminum along with a few other materials. I really hope I can keep my thoughts on the job I have to do today, though. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. I can’t wait to get home later tonight because I need to get ready for a very magical evening out with a special someone! I finally got my crush interested in going out on a date with me! I hope I can maintain my energy today. I feel pretty exhausted. I’ve been putting in additional hours at work and I’ve had the stress of trying to make sure everything goes well with this date. I want it to be memorable. Right now I just feel like a nervous wreck. I think I’m still in shock that she actually said yes! I can’t remember the last time someone I really liked said yes! It almost doesn’t feel real. I’m just enjoying the feeling while it’s here because pretty soon I’ll be working with machine aluminum and my job is going to jolt me back to reality! Ha!