I applied for two new positions last night, both of them composition instructor positions at ITT Technical Institute in Omaha. Mama referred me to ITT when I was in Omaha as a viable employment opportunity. Why not? I thought.
The pre-employment screening questionnaires, however, took almost an hour to complete. Ugh. You're kidding me, right?
It's something, though, y'know? I can actually say I did something productive.
I know most of these applications will probably be all for nought, but it's worth a try, at least. I need to start shooting off applications for teaching positions left and right, several a day if possible -- there's no reason not to. Florida? Fuck it, let's apply in Florida.
"How would you feel about living in Wyoming?" Daisy asked me a few nights ago.
"It's beautiful there," I replied, "but it has much the same problem as say, West Virginia does -- there's nothing there. And they don't really like the gays. They're also a redder state than Kansas is, and that's saying something."
Daisy and I are both very liberal -- though she's much more so than I am. I am quite conservative on the death penalty and the second amendment, for example, while Daisy basically wants to abolish both. We do, however, both have a multitude of gay friends, and are both staunch supporters of marriage equality and the like.
"Hm. Not a good idea, then," she said. "And please tell me you said 'the gays' that way on purpose, otherwise you'd sound like a redneck."
"Duh, love."
I have made the house about as clean as it's going to get before Daisy's arrival tomorrow, which could happen any time between the early afternoon hours and the evening depending on when she leaves the house and/or if she naps after work. I've told her that whatever she wants to do is fine by me; it's not like I'm going anywhere. I've considered going back out to Walmart tonight for sugar and the stamps I forgot last night, but that'll depend on how I feel in another two hours or so, and if I want to leave the house.
I'm glad I waited an extra few days to see if anyone sent me anything else for graduation -- my aunt and uncle sent me a card with a $30 check inside it yesterday, which was very sweet of them. I'll have to prepare another thank-you note over the next few days, but, again, I need to get stamps first. This "only being awake at night" thing really throws off those occasionally necessary post office visits, though I do more often than not get stamps from Walmart now.
I haven't eaten much since yesterday; granted, part of that is because I was asleep all day, but a bigger part of it is that I'm trying to use my groceries sparingly. When I spend the days/nights alone and never leave the house, I tend to eat more because, well, I can. It's not like I plan it, I just do. I actually have the ability to eat and then fall asleep if I want to (as I almost always get tired after I eat) -- which I couldn't do when I would spend an inordinate amount of time in my office on campus every week.
Daisy will be here at some point today, though right now I don't know when that will be. She told me that she was going to come home from work this morning and either take a nap for a while before her drive or come straight down. As she hasn't messaged me to tell me she's leaving, she's either sleeping or will arrive here any minute -- I don't know one way or the other. I told her it was up to her on what she wanted to do; there's no hurry either way, since it's not like I have anything pressing to do in my schedule. That's part of the beauty of summer "vacation" (read: unemployment.)
It thundered for a while here earlier, and dropped a little rain, but has since moved off. There's a threat of storms later this afternoon and overnight, but I'm not really concerned. If anything big was going to happen, the weather people would make a bigger deal out of it other than saying "oh, a few storms here and there," which is basically what they've been saying.
As an aside, several friends have told me that they greatly miss my daily "weather reports" since the semester has ended and since I/we've graduated and moved on with our lives. We graduated less than three weeks ago. Granted, for the past three weeks the weather has been pretty shitty at times, but still. Apparently I've had a larger influence on people than I originally thought.
In not knowing when Daisy will arrive, I also don't know when I should shower and de-stink the house (loosely speaking, anyhow). I haven't showered in about three days. Before you think that's disgusting, I'll remind you that it's not like I have anyone to impress, and it's not like I leave the house on a regular basis. It's also about conserving water to a certain extent, as well. Performing a "de-stink" of the house is pretty simple -- air freshener, open windows, and running the furnace fan to circulate air for a while, along with a usual cleaning of the cat box.. While I don't smoke anywhere but in my Man Cave upstairs, thus making the rest of the house smell relatively normal, Daisy can still smell the smoke that's lingered around the house, since she's not a smoker herself and still has a sense of smell. Because of this, before she comes I try to do an airing-out of the house, and most of the time when she's here I try to smoke outside on my balcony. Most. The smell of smoke, coffee, and incense will be forever burned into my Man Cave until I repaint the room and steam-clean the carpets when I prepare to move out...whenever that may be.
I ordered my dad a Father's Day gift today from Amazon; I have a feeling that it's something he'll enjoy. It's not scheduled to ship until the weekend, though it should arrive well before Father's Day. I have to do something for Daisy's father as well; I don't yet know what that will be. The gift for my own dad was $25 or so with shipping, so I perhaps will find something to get while Daisy is here and send it back with her.
My car insurance bill came in the mail yesterday. As you folks may know, my car insurance is due on June 30 and December 30, twice a year. It's usually about $300 or so each time (I haven't opened the bill yet, as I always pay it online with my Citi card anyway). In tallying my expenses and needs, as well as bills, I'm more than okay finances-wise probably through close to the end of the year even with that, and will more than likely have found a teaching position or another job by then anyhow, whether that be adjuncting at my university or otherwise. This is really strange for me, stepping back for a moment, to actually be somewhat financially stable for months on end -- especially in summer -- without having to stress and worry every single day about finding work or finding a way to pay my bills. I paid my water bill this morning, for example, and it was a drop in the proverbial bucket. This time last year I was fucking panicking like crazy because my summer teaching position wouldn't pay me until the end of June.
Again, what a difference a year makes, right? A year ago at this time, I was basically resigned to moving back home to West Virginia to live with my parents after graduation; I didn't yet have Daisy, and I was seriously floundering. Now, mind you, I'm still floundering a bit, but I'm so, so much more stable both mentally and financially than I was then. I see this summer as a "vacation" of sorts where I spend my time looking for work and planning my future at my own pace instead of frantically scraping by, searching couch cushions and crevices for spare change just to be able to eat and to put gas in the car between teaching sessions. And this time around, I've got my companion-for-life in Daisy, who is supportive and loving of me in everything I do (or choose not to do). That woman is my rock, and a lot of the time I feel like I take her for granted, but she claims I don't. I never want to; I am eternally grateful that she is in my life and I do everything I can to show her that.
My Amazon card bill should be coming soon too, but there's not a lot on it; there's maybe one tank of gas on it and about $40 of purchases via Amazon, mostly little things (like the spider traps and the $3 PlayStation games I ordered). I try to use it sparingly and then pay it off completely every month in order to help build my credit (and also hopefully, eventually, increase my credit limit on that card, which is currently only $400). I'll fill Daisy's car with gas again when we go out tomorrow and will put that on said card too, since gas gets me Amazon points, and also since she'll need more gas. My car has about thirty miles or so to go before it needs a fill-up again. I've decided that when I do fill it, I'll need to get more gas in the tank for the mower as well -- especially if it's going to keep raining every other day, requiring me to mow the grass on a weekly basis.
Remember, last summer it was 105 degrees every day, minimum, and it rained for about two hours total over the course of three and a half months. Kansas almost became the dust bowl again, thus meaning that, really, the grass didn't grow at all. I went out into the front yard with scissors and cut down the ten or so weeds that were growing high up to my knee, but I think I mowed the grass maybe twice the entire summer. I don't remember because it was all mostly brown and dead everywhere.
To put that into perspective, I've moved the grass three times already since finals week. Which was about a month ago now.
I got a reply from my mother saying that if we'll be able to make a trip to West Virginia this summer, it won't be until after mid-July or so, as everyone in my parents' offices have scheduled their vacations basically back-to-back, and when I come in my parents always take several days off in order to spend time with me and/or do other functions like lunches and dinner parties and the like. I told her this was fine, and to keep me posted on available days/weeks for when we might be able to fly out there, as Daisy needs some advance notice to give work for when she'll be gone.
This does throw a bit of a wrench into a few small things, however; I have to pick up my diploma from campus in mid-July (after the 18th) and need to be on campus at some point to drop off my office keys around that time as well, not to mention ask some questions about the budget and about the state of the Engineering English program/adjuncting for the fall if necessary. This shouldn't be a problem one way or the other, but I'd prefer not to leave the state for any length of time until that stuff is taken care of (unless there's a window to do it beforehand). If I get hired on at one of the places I've applied to in Omaha, I'd also be moving shortly thereafter if I would be teaching starting in August, so a lot of busy stuff may be crammed together all at once. As always, however, I have to wait to see what happens -- part of why I told my mother to keep me posted on possible dates and times for the trip. This is also a big part of why I've been relaxing and sleeping as much as I can right now -- I don't know how long this trend will continue, and I want to be able to enjoy it while it lasts.
On that note, it's getting a bit warm and muggy now, so I shall retreat to the shower and de-stink the house in preparation for Daisy's arrival...whenever that may be, since I have still not heard from her.
Daisy will be here at some point today, though right now I don't know when that will be. She told me that she was going to come home from work this morning and either take a nap for a while before her drive or come straight down. As she hasn't messaged me to tell me she's leaving, she's either sleeping or will arrive here any minute -- I don't know one way or the other. I told her it was up to her on what she wanted to do; there's no hurry either way, since it's not like I have anything pressing to do in my schedule. That's part of the beauty of summer "vacation" (read: unemployment.)
It thundered for a while here earlier, and dropped a little rain, but has since moved off. There's a threat of storms later this afternoon and overnight, but I'm not really concerned. If anything big was going to happen, the weather people would make a bigger deal out of it other than saying "oh, a few storms here and there," which is basically what they've been saying.
As an aside, several friends have told me that they greatly miss my daily "weather reports" since the semester has ended and since I/we've graduated and moved on with our lives. We graduated less than three weeks ago. Granted, for the past three weeks the weather has been pretty shitty at times, but still. Apparently I've had a larger influence on people than I originally thought.
In not knowing when Daisy will arrive, I also don't know when I should shower and de-stink the house (loosely speaking, anyhow). I haven't showered in about three days. Before you think that's disgusting, I'll remind you that it's not like I have anyone to impress, and it's not like I leave the house on a regular basis. It's also about conserving water to a certain extent, as well. Performing a "de-stink" of the house is pretty simple -- air freshener, open windows, and running the furnace fan to circulate air for a while, along with a usual cleaning of the cat box.. While I don't smoke anywhere but in my Man Cave upstairs, thus making the rest of the house smell relatively normal, Daisy can still smell the smoke that's lingered around the house, since she's not a smoker herself and still has a sense of smell. Because of this, before she comes I try to do an airing-out of the house, and most of the time when she's here I try to smoke outside on my balcony. Most. The smell of smoke, coffee, and incense will be forever burned into my Man Cave until I repaint the room and steam-clean the carpets when I prepare to move out...whenever that may be.
I ordered my dad a Father's Day gift today from Amazon; I have a feeling that it's something he'll enjoy. It's not scheduled to ship until the weekend, though it should arrive well before Father's Day. I have to do something for Daisy's father as well; I don't yet know what that will be. The gift for my own dad was $25 or so with shipping, so I perhaps will find something to get while Daisy is here and send it back with her.
My car insurance bill came in the mail yesterday. As you folks may know, my car insurance is due on June 30 and December 30, twice a year. It's usually about $300 or so each time (I haven't opened the bill yet, as I always pay it online with my Citi card anyway). In tallying my expenses and needs, as well as bills, I'm more than okay finances-wise probably through close to the end of the year even with that, and will more than likely have found a teaching position or another job by then anyhow, whether that be adjuncting at my university or otherwise. This is really strange for me, stepping back for a moment, to actually be somewhat financially stable for months on end -- especially in summer -- without having to stress and worry every single day about finding work or finding a way to pay my bills. I paid my water bill this morning, for example, and it was a drop in the proverbial bucket. This time last year I was fucking panicking like crazy because my summer teaching position wouldn't pay me until the end of June.
Again, what a difference a year makes, right? A year ago at this time, I was basically resigned to moving back home to West Virginia to live with my parents after graduation; I didn't yet have Daisy, and I was seriously floundering. Now, mind you, I'm still floundering a bit, but I'm so, so much more stable both mentally and financially than I was then. I see this summer as a "vacation" of sorts where I spend my time looking for work and planning my future at my own pace instead of frantically scraping by, searching couch cushions and crevices for spare change just to be able to eat and to put gas in the car between teaching sessions. And this time around, I've got my companion-for-life in Daisy, who is supportive and loving of me in everything I do (or choose not to do). That woman is my rock, and a lot of the time I feel like I take her for granted, but she claims I don't. I never want to; I am eternally grateful that she is in my life and I do everything I can to show her that.
My Amazon card bill should be coming soon too, but there's not a lot on it; there's maybe one tank of gas on it and about $40 of purchases via Amazon, mostly little things (like the spider traps and the $3 PlayStation games I ordered). I try to use it sparingly and then pay it off completely every month in order to help build my credit (and also hopefully, eventually, increase my credit limit on that card, which is currently only $400). I'll fill Daisy's car with gas again when we go out tomorrow and will put that on said card too, since gas gets me Amazon points, and also since she'll need more gas. My car has about thirty miles or so to go before it needs a fill-up again. I've decided that when I do fill it, I'll need to get more gas in the tank for the mower as well -- especially if it's going to keep raining every other day, requiring me to mow the grass on a weekly basis.
Remember, last summer it was 105 degrees every day, minimum, and it rained for about two hours total over the course of three and a half months. Kansas almost became the dust bowl again, thus meaning that, really, the grass didn't grow at all. I went out into the front yard with scissors and cut down the ten or so weeds that were growing high up to my knee, but I think I mowed the grass maybe twice the entire summer. I don't remember because it was all mostly brown and dead everywhere.
To put that into perspective, I've moved the grass three times already since finals week. Which was about a month ago now.
I got a reply from my mother saying that if we'll be able to make a trip to West Virginia this summer, it won't be until after mid-July or so, as everyone in my parents' offices have scheduled their vacations basically back-to-back, and when I come in my parents always take several days off in order to spend time with me and/or do other functions like lunches and dinner parties and the like. I told her this was fine, and to keep me posted on available days/weeks for when we might be able to fly out there, as Daisy needs some advance notice to give work for when she'll be gone.
This does throw a bit of a wrench into a few small things, however; I have to pick up my diploma from campus in mid-July (after the 18th) and need to be on campus at some point to drop off my office keys around that time as well, not to mention ask some questions about the budget and about the state of the Engineering English program/adjuncting for the fall if necessary. This shouldn't be a problem one way or the other, but I'd prefer not to leave the state for any length of time until that stuff is taken care of (unless there's a window to do it beforehand). If I get hired on at one of the places I've applied to in Omaha, I'd also be moving shortly thereafter if I would be teaching starting in August, so a lot of busy stuff may be crammed together all at once. As always, however, I have to wait to see what happens -- part of why I told my mother to keep me posted on possible dates and times for the trip. This is also a big part of why I've been relaxing and sleeping as much as I can right now -- I don't know how long this trend will continue, and I want to be able to enjoy it while it lasts.
On that note, it's getting a bit warm and muggy now, so I shall retreat to the shower and de-stink the house in preparation for Daisy's arrival...whenever that may be, since I have still not heard from her.
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