After a long hiatus...
Wow, it's definitely been a long time LJ....What's happened in these past months? Geeze, where do I begin...
June 19th, or thereabouts, I ended things with Jim. Put simply, as much as he is a wonderful person with a good head on his shoulders, he was missing a certain level of fun and mischief that I crave in a SO. It took the poor guy entirely offguard, but I decided that it was the lesser evil in comparison to a painfully drawn out attempt to repair my enthusiasm for the relationship, ending in the inevitable breakup.
Work changed my schedule again. I'm working Eastgate on Wednesdays, Southgate Thursdays and Fridays, and Lobby on the weekends. Mondays and Tuesdays off. I had gotten very comfortable with working solely at the Southgate with my Thursdays and Fridays off. Yeah, Saturdays and Sundays would have been ideal, but it was close, dammit....
Jon was hired on at Allied Barton and was doing well here, but then he abruptly acquired some vicious blood clots in his lungs and needed to take several days off to recover in the hospital and at home. His official return was today, and he relived me from my post at the Lobby. He and Miranda are dating again. And it's a good thing too since Miranda's parents have taken away her cell phone for petty reasons, and now it's often through Jon that I can even get ahold of her when she is not home.
Oh yeah, all this time in the Lobby has given me ample opportunity to pick up my art again. I've finished several works recently, which are now safely tucked into my portfolio. Looking through it, I see that I have definitely come a long way skill-wise since I first started keeping them in that format, roughly ten years ago. Some of the oldest pieces are downright hard to look at nowadays; the mistakes in everything from anatomy to coloring practically leaping off the page at me. And yet, there is a certain level of freedom lost as my style becomes more refined. Gone are the days when I could just be contented make something up on the fly and whip it into being without so much as a second thought. Now the majority of my "keepers" require several references and plenty of indecision/revision before finally getting their Title, Initials, and Date. Though impulsive and silly about most other things, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my art.
Socially, things have been busy. I went to Owen's party at "The Farm" where I got pleasantly verschnickered and rocked out to the coolest live band I've been treated to in a long time, "Terminus Victor". It was angry, HARD music and it was downright blissful....I went to Goth Night at CStreet three Mondays in a row. Erin and her visiting German friend Ruth came down and stayed with us, which was super awesome. :)
Also, I'm now dating Charlie, which has been quite the roller coaster in itself. I had originally nudged him in the direction of a friend, foolishly thinking that mutual hobbies/interests would unite two otherwise polar opposite personalities. Yeah...."disastrous" is an understatement. Now the two can't bear to be in the same time zone together and I'm on the long road to making amends and earning back the respect of one of my best friends. Frankly I'm lucky to even have the opportunity to do so, most people would have just ended the friendship outright.
Meanwhile, dating this boy has never been boring, that's for sure. In a single day it's not uncommon to have a giggling fit about nothing, and then later, have a bitter debate (bordering on argument) on something equally as inane. At his best, he can be generous, thoughtful, and attentive. At his worst he can be ignorant, spiteful, and immature. Being with him is a lot like dancing; I'm constantly tweeking and adjusting as we go. He is a Pieces, a Fish, and the irony of that hasn't escaped me. We are not supposed to be compatible. I've meet his parents and they've both made it very clear that they like me. Dad and Megan have met Charlie, and though they don't seem to have strong feelings either way, at least they didn't say that they disliked him, heh. And...well this will play out however it does. *shrugs* Right now, I'm happy.
Financially, I am still recovering from keeping me and Miranda afloat for a month. She was only able to cover her half of rent for June, and the rest was up to me, with a lot of un-asked for but much appreciated help from Charlie. Yankee Candle hired Miranda on as a manager, and she has been there a couple weeks now. She's salaried, and not really making enough. She informed me that she is strongly considering getting a second job and I encouraged her to apply for Olive Garden. Last I heard, she still hadn't made it out there to apply. I really hope she does it soon.
My car continues to deteriorate. Now one of my shocks is loose and rubbing against the undercarriage whenever I turn at certain angle. That, combined with the missing muffler, makes driving the lunker to be very unpleasant. I avoid long trips for the sake of my ears, as well as dodging a likely noise and/or emissions ticket. My sister, and through her, my mother, staged an "intervention" of sorts. They asked about how much I make in relation to my debts, among other questions, and concluded that though they would love to help me within reason, they will not do so until I make a concentrated effort to get a better job. They stressed that I simply do not make enough to do more than keep my head above water, and that only just. They want me to have benefits, lunch breaks, raises, and all the other things that most employees take for granted. They think that I should not get a different car at all until I can afford basic regular car maintenance, the lack of which is swiftly killing my Buick.
In short, they are ticked that I am doing nothing and just accepting my situation. And, well, they are totally right. I've been sitting here like a deer in the headlights, too dumbfounded to move. Even my plans for taking the massage therapy certification classes are not really attainable without the good job to pay back the loan that will require. So...back to the drawing board. Been looking through the classifieds and trying not to be too picky about what I circle.