Life of The Average Joe
it’s cold outside.
my first ‘real’ paycheck was not as big as i thought it was going to be *pouts*
oh well. it’s still money. still paying the bills. trying not to lose sight of the ‘real things that i want out of life.’ trying. trying.
the movie ‘Sex and Lucia’ finally came out. i’m gonna see if Michelle wants to come over and watch it on Friday.
nothing to say really. it’s cold outside. it’s almost 2am. i’m going to sleep now.
p.s. found a few new locations that i want to shoot (one of these days).
one is the local harbor. though it’s illegal to take pictures down there, i’ve been driving by it at night coming home from work and it’s calling out to me. i have no idea how i’ll get beyond the fence. i may have to shoot through the fence. we’ll see.
i haven’t had sex in a really long time…
i haven’t made love in even longer.
why i thought of that just now. i’m not really sure.
had a real good night bowling. went to Borders to get some get some chai. didn’t get a book (though i should have). while i was up there, i saw my good friend Maria. i actually met her in the cafe (she’s always up there doing work). haven’t seen her in a while. it was good to see her. she gives good hugs.
went to pick up Betty (Tim’s girlfriend). we wore the noses. she laughed. thought we were crazy. wasn’t in a bad mood anymore. came back home since my friend Michelle wasn’t out of work yet. bought a six pack. had a few beers before Michelle showed up. Michelle got here. she gives good hugs too. she looked really good. i haven’t seen her since… fuck… January. she’s such a good friend though.. somehow. it’s nice.
i talked to her on the phone earlier today. she said she was having a rough day. but then we she heard my voice, things were better. that’s awesome. she’s good for me. good TO me. i helped her out with her gallery opening that she had a few months ago. helped her build some frames. at the opening, she gave me a box of matches. they weren’t just any matches though. it was a box of matches that she got on her first solo trip to Europe. they had sentimental value to her. she gave them to me. told me that the only stipulation was that i didn’t light any. i agreed. she’s cool.
anyhow. it’s 4:30am. we (Tim, his girlfriend and myself) watched Labyrinth. started to watch ‘The Ring’ since Betty hadn’t seen it. we were all tired. stopped the movie twenty minutes into it. time for bed. i have to be back up at about 10am to get ready for work (my last day at Borders… how emotional). i really don’t want to work, but i can’t be one of those people that doesn’t show up for his last day.. mostly because i still want to be able to show my face up there every so often.
bedtime. time for bed.
p.s. there are a couple of you out there… that i haven’t heard from in a while. hope things are well.
i’m never around anymore. it’s weird. i just work… a lot. but i’m making good money. for that i am happy. i haven’t talked with my parents yet about Tim ‘officially’ moving in. i don’t so much mind him staying here. it would be nice though (and he’s offered) to have him start paying rent. he doesn’t own any stuff it seems. when we picked up his stuff from his old place, he had two duffel bags, a PS2 and a backpack. that was it. no furniture or anything else. so strange. i’m 24 and have a house full of stuff.
anyhow. things are things. life is good at the moment. not because my social life has skyrocketed but just because i’m now making money. i’m able to wittle away at my debt (which is something i haven’t been able to do in a while)
on another note. i talked to Tim’s girlfriend a few minutes ago. tried to convince her that she wanted to come bowling with myself, Tim and my friend Michelle. she said she was in a bad mood. i asked her if a singing clown telegram and some cake would convince her. that we could pretend it was her birthday (since birthdays are happy days for the most part)… i told her Tim would have to dress up because i can’t afford to rent a clown. she said she’d come along 
i’m off to the ‘party store’ to buy a clown nose for Tim to wear when we pick her up. i dunno if he’s actually going to or not. he’s a ‘guy.’ but we’ll see. i told him it’s ‘mad brownie points’ with his girlfriend. wish me luck. maybe i’ll buy three of them. one for both Tim and i to wear when she answers the door, and one for her (so she doesn’t feel left out).
anyhow. off to be stupid. love ya’ll. (that’s country bumpkin talk.. aint it grand?!) 
damn. 12.5hr day. yummy overtime. big paychecks. i’m a ‘baller’ now… cuz i have the bling bling. it’s 4am. i’m not sure why i’m not asleep yet. Tim and i were talking about video games. watching movie previews online (since he and his girlfriend and myself are going to the movies on Friday). i didn’t work in the freezer today. i worked in the ‘cigarette’ area pulling orders. my body hurts again. my fingers are all ground up and paper-cut from the boxes that you pull the cartons out of (all done at high speed). going to bed now.
[damn, that was an exciting entry huh?!]
p.s. hope school isn’t too bad. i know that ‘vacation’ must have been nice.
on one last note. i’m going to try to ‘do things’ on Friday… things that need doing. it should be fun.
g’night.
Tim is staying at the house again tonight. i bought a six-pack of beer and we played some video games after work. we stopped off at his old place to pick up what stuff he had so he could bring it over the house. i think i’m gonna have a new roomate (at least for a while). i need to talk to my parents about him moving in i think. he doesn’t actually have a car, so the fact that we’d be living in the same place would mean transportation for him. he’s actually engaged as well. i talked to him about his girlfriend/fiance moving in with him. honestly, i wouldn’t mind. my sister will be moving out at the end of May (joining the Air Force) so it’ll just be me… and me, living here. my brother is in Taiwan right now and should be back around the same time that my sister is leaving, but i’m honestly not sure if he’s planning on trying to stay in Taiwan… or if he comes back, if he’s planning on staying in Florida. either way, having someone else paying rent would be good.
so that’s all really. worked 12hrs today. still need to pick up last weeks paycheck from the temp agency. talked to Tim and decided that if Friday is a nice day out, we (Tim, his girlfriend and myself) should do something like go to the beach. we’ll see what happens.
p.s. (since i haven’t had time to read my friends list)…
don’t feel left out if you weren’t on my little list of people… they were just things that were immediately on my mind. doesn’t mean that i’m not thinking of you.
shit. it’s 3am. bedtime for me. i reaaaaaaaaaaaally need to clean my room/the house etc. i really do.
was an ‘interesting evening’ to say the least. everyone that works in F&R (the fridge and freezer) was done their stuff pretty early (by around 8pm). usually, they would make us go to another area and help them finish with stuff if they needed it, but because they’re making us all (exluding me since i have to work at Borders) work the weekend for inventory, they let us go home early.
while we were standing around making sure that we were able to leave, i heard a guy that i’d talked to a couple of times (who’s from Maine), telling someone that i work with in the freezer that he’s got no place to stay tonight. i guess he and his roomate had some disagreement, so his roomate threw him out. since it’s only myself and my sister living here now, i told him that he could stay at my place at least for tonight. (he’s not a stranger, i’ve talked to him before). so aaaaaanyhow. he worked in a different section. his section hadn’t finished yet. when i asked the shift leader for that section (who then asked the boss) if i could take him early since i was his ride, ‘the bozman’ said “well, why don’t you take Nathan over there to candy to help you guys out.” so i ended up having to WORK MORE due to my charity.
didn’t get out of work till 9:45. i had barely any gas in my Jeep. as is often the case. lo-and-behold… we ran OUT of gas on the way home *sigh*
neither of us had any cash or access to money. so… we started walking towards home after making a few phonecalls to people on a pay phone (with the last of our change). nobody was home. walked for an hour and a half. another gas station (since there weren’t many in the area, let alone open). called mom. mom came and picked us up. she was in bed. she’s so nice.
finally got home. watched a movie. went to bed. it’s morning. my body hurts (from work and walking for an hour and a half last night) today is yet another long day at work (fresh market)
i need to sit down on my next day off and take a look at things. i need a financial plan etc. since i AM going to be making quite a bit more money that my budget is based on, i need to look at my bills and decide on a ‘plan’ to get them paid off. as much as i enjoy physical labor. working a giant freezer isn’t what i want to do for the rest of my life, so i need to keep that in mind and make the best use of my time at this company and the money that i’m making. and then i need to get the f*ck out of Florida (like i had intended to) and get on with life. so basically, i’m going to use the warehouse as a way to make myself slightly more financially stable before i move and at least save up a ‘cushion’ for when i DO move. unlike part-time jobs (that let you take time off when you need it)… the claim is, i don’t get vacation time until i’ve been with the company for a year (AYE!). and then… i only get a week!! so… that’s why i’m trying to get everything squared away financially.
i also need to use the fact that i’ve got the same ’schedule’ every week to start planning things out more. (i think i may have mentioned it before but…) i need to start making lunches everyday, since eating from a snack machine or gas station isn’t the best diet. the one problem that i’ve run into though, is that due to all of this working i have less time off. this means less time to focus on photography projects, getting cards printed, travelinghead etc. i DON’T want all of that stuff to fall by the wayside. i need to get back to work on my travelinghead site. i’m considering even paying someone to do the database stuff for me (since there’s no way that i’d have the time to learn it on my own) and that’s pretty much all that’s left for me to do and i can get the site up.
anyhow. time to leave for work. hoorah.
i hate to say it, but i’m beginning to think that the coughing is indeed from… yes.. smoking. it’s gone on too long and it’s not the ’sick’ sorta cough anymore.
what does all this mean? that today.. once again… since i’m out of cigarettes, i’m just not going to buy another pack. how long i’ll last? who knows. everyone at work smokes on their break which will make things more difficult but i’m gonna give it a shot.
off to work for another fun-filled day of adventure and intrigue. well… maybe not THAT but, off to work nonetheless.
(i need to clean the house. it smells funny. can’t tell if it’s dog smell or somethin’ else. either way. not good)
went next door to J-Alexanders with Tyler after work last night. had drinks. not too many.. but enough. Tyler spent $80. thanks Tyler.
woke up this morning. can’t say that i feel like shit… but i feel like… i’d much rather just go back to bed for another six hours. remind me not to drink on ‘work nights’ anymore. today is one of my longer days at the warehouse (12-13hrs). this should be interesting.
wish me luck. i have half an hour (i kept resetting my alarm clock) before i have to leave for work.
word.
