It's interesting...I was thinking about it this morning.

I suppose that when I look back on the year spanning March 2003-March 2004, I will have to say that it was an extremely pivotal year. Consider (in mostly chronological order):
1. Donna and I broke up
2. I changed my appearance (shaved goatee, new haircut)
3. I moved into the city and into an apartment in general and have lived a much more cleanly lifestyle.
4. I met Gina and she became my life almost from the get-go.
5. I improved my wardrobe significantly, improving my appearance even further.
6. I decided to start really saving money, with goals in mind, and planning out expenses and whatnot.
7. I started watching what I eat, in terms of cost and size of portions, somewhere in there losing 10-12 pounds over the period I speak of.
8. (Thus, I should have seen it coming) I lost my job and need to get a new one.

Things happen for a reason, no doubt about it. It's just odd how, in the span of a full calendar year (albeit not January-December), my life has turned completely upside-down.

Last night, Luis and I watched "24" and then went to find our friend Erin's "new" place of employment. It's a bar called Huetten Bar (sp), and it's up in Lincoln Square. It was dead, so she closed early and we sat around drinking by ourselves in the closed bar. It was cool. We went to a place called Iggy's on Milwaukee near the expressway after that to grab a bite to eat.

Right now, it's my last official day at work...we're going to press, but I haven't done anything for the paper since about 2pm. I'm hoping to leave in about an hour to make it for swing-dance class at 7. It's our last session of the second class. It should, as usual, be fun.

Tomorrow, I will enjoy my first day of pseudo-employment by sleeping in, getting up, coming here and cleaning or printing all my stories. The guys are taking me to lunch, so I'll have to be here by then. I'll make sure of that. :)

Son of a fucking bitch!

I just went to Kinko's to print out 16 copies of my resume on nice paper (and because I don't have a printer), and I just got back and noticed a huge inconsistency that basically forces me to trash the entire stack of them. $10 down the fucking drain (because of user fees and crap from Kinko's--and all because I wanted them on some nicer-than-white paper). Dammit. And the thing is, I can't just let it slide, since, duh, I'm applying for editing jobs. What's annoying is that I proofed it and re-proofed it at least three dozen times before printing it. And I still missed this. And so did everyone I showed it to.

In a couple entries, I refer to the program as "Quark Express." In others, it's "QuarkExpress." Again, I say, son of a fucking bitch. Again, I say, dammit. Oh, this kills me...and see, I can't communicate to potential employers how much this kills me, because it's a mistake. But this is why I should get an editing job. Because it kills me.

Arrrgggggh!

OK...UPDATE: Thankfully, there's a Kinko's on North and Harlem (on the way to Potential Employer 1) that I'll have to stop at tomorrow and print out a new copy of my resume. No more special paper after that one though. Screw that crap. Too much trouble...I'll just print a slew of them at work on good ol' regular white paper.

Well, turns out that Potential Employer 1 doesn't meet with people dropping off their resumes...they look at them and then call and schedule an interview as they see fit. So it's the same as basically mailing your resume, except without spending the money. So I'll drop off my resume this afternoon after work. Hmmmm...otherwise, I'm pretty busy here. Three days of actual work left though...kinda strange. But oh well...Potential Employer 2 will get a packet sent out tomorrow, I hope. There are now two openings in the bin other than those two, and two companies I'd like to send stuff to even though I don't know of any openings at those places. Much to do, much to do.

I really need a new desk chair and/or some bricks or something to raise this desk up. My back is killing me from sitting here for an hour or so looking at unemployment things and bills and finances and checking email and looking at job sites and everything. Not good for me, ya know?

Tomorrow, I visit Potential Employer 1, the catalog-using company that has two positions I could fill. It says I can apply in person, so I'm taking that and running with it. Interviews never scare me, and actually, I believe they are an amazing strength of mine in job-searching. Most people flip about them--I don't. It's odd that I am a terrible interviewER, but an excellent interviewEE. Ah well...tomorrow is not an interview (nor is it scheduled), so I'm taking my resume and a cover letter and dropping them off with the contact person, most likely in the late afternoon. I originally wanted to go in the early morning before work, but I don't have a printed copy of the resume handy. But that's OK...I have early-day work to do at work, so better that I get there early and do that anyway.

Potential Employer 2, the paper, will get a packet sent to the contact person within a couple days. Trying to figure out though, what I can send, if anything, as clips--it's a straight-up copy editor/page design job...I don't have any of the layouts I did at Southtown, since I booked out of there quite quickly...but we'll see.

There are a couple of other "suitors" that I have in mind...gonna send a resume to a handful of places, but I want to save a few for unemployment time, if it gets to that. I guess you have to actively be looking for a job, so I'll need places to apply and whatnot.

I was pretty busy yesterday, but I don't feel like recapping...nor do I really feel like recapping Friday or today...I'm just lazy, I guess. :)

And somewhat sleepy...so goodnight, moon. :)