On hold but not by choice

Just a quick post to let you know that I'll be gone a few days. I was informed a few hours ago that Internet service under my old roommate was being cut off on the 31st. The new roommate scheduled new service to be installed on Thursday. Lovely.

I'd tell you about my weekend while I have the chance, but it's 3AM I just got home and I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.

Hopefully I'll be able to post when I get up. Otherwise you'll just have to call or drop by if you want to talk. *laughs*

Scary thing is, that actually made me laugh. I must really need the sleep. Take care and have some fun dreams.

Pimp my Erik

Today was the big interview. This is what I was wearing to the interview. The picture cuts off atmy head because I was in a bit of a hurry to start driving instead of fooling around with the camera. So, what do you think?

I think everything went well today, but they still have two other people to talk to before they make a decision, so I get to wait. Again.

The only thing that bothered me with how I looked was that I wasn't wearing glasses today. I think glasses make me appear even smarter than normal, which isn't a bad thing for an interview. I wasn't wearing them because yesterday I broke them. Was moving stuff around for a friend and because it was hot, I set them down on a monitor stand. When the stand got bumped, the glasses fell off it. Then the stand fell over right on top of it with a sickening crunch. Just what I need, more expenses.

Anyway, I still have more moving to do at my and my brother's house, so time to put on my civilian clothes and get to work. Talk to you later.

Belated Birthday

I took a peek at the archives this morning wondering when this week I would be putting up a post for the one year anniversary of MiA, only to find out I'm a week late. Last Monday was the happy birthday. Soooo...

Happy Birthday! +7 days...

It certainly has been a bumpy year. Going from the extremes of being worked to death to not working at all certainly has been memorable. Reading over some of the archives I realize that I've done a lot of dumb things this last year, but really, haven't we all?

There hasn't been much going on here lately other than going to my brother's house in Madison to help fix it up, and moving my stuff around in my own house. My old roommate is leaving, and before the new one moves in, I'm switching to the master bedroom. I need it since my bed is so damn huge. I'll remember to post it one of these days...

My brother's house needs so much work still, but it'll be liveable despite all the damage that the previous tenants did, and the owner did not disclose. There's a law that my brother can get the previous owner to pay for repairs on damage that wasn't disclosed, right? I keep telling him he needs to check on it since there is significant damage to the house, but I think he's too depressed to do anything about it. He expected to do minor repairs on this house, but also thought that he'd be able to move in to the house within a week after closing. Instead, he's still fixing the house 3 weeks later. I'll probably will be going back to Madison to help more later this week. Hopefully we'll be moving his stuff in then, too.

Today I'm shopping for dress shoes and going to get the suit. Hopefully I'll have a picture to post soon. I'm planning to visit the Men's Warehouse here in town so they can help guide me through any fashion mistakes I might make. The only thing I'm set on right now is that I want a dark grey or black suit. I've never thought dark blue suits look professional. Just my preferences.

Anyway, I'm heading back to the archives to ponder my favorite moments. Have any yourself?

On the move

I thought this one pretty much covers they way I feel some days. I'm all happy and am trying to enjoy what I have. Then I see everyone else and it reminds me of what I really want. Oh well, just thought I'd share.

It's really been a strenuous week for me. First I visited the ex and had quite a workout there. Then I played airsoft and ran all over the 65 acre field in the heat. Yesterday, I moved my sister out of the apartment. Most of it wasn't too bad, but some of the furniture was a pain. It figures that the biggest, bulkiest, and heaviest pieces of furniture had to go to the second floor of her boyfriend's house.

I didn't mind the lifting and all of that. I didn't mind the temperature too much either since the sun wasn't out much. The humidity was a killer, tho. I sweated through my t-shirt in record time. Since I was wearing a crappy white t-shirt that was quickly soaked with sweat, everyone felt the need to comment about my tattoos. I know people don't see my tattoos very often since they are on my chest and upper arms (all the better to hide them when I have to), but they don't have to turn into the conversation piece of the day. Particularly when they stop moving to talk about my tattoos. Worse yet, don't start talking to me about them as I'm trying to maneuver half of a sectional couch up a flight of stairs.

Anyway, that's all I got at the moment. I gotta go suit shopping. Now where to go...

Don't be takin' me lucky charms.

Well, getting lucky might've changed my luck a bit. I had two things happen this week that have me in a better mood. First of all, I got someone interested in the apartment. Perfect timing since I'm helping my sister move out her stuff tomorrow.

The guy passed the credit check and everything. Seems like a decent guy. He's in the police academy right now. I just don't want him to bring his work home with him. Well, unless he works in vice. *laughs*

The other good thing was that I got called for face to face interview with the software company finally. I think the face to face is pretty much a rubber stamp affair since they were already talking salary offers the other day. I'm not going to be travelling to Tampa for the interview, tho. The person is coming to a trade show in Chicago, so I'm going to drive down there next Thursday to meet her for it. I'm trying to decide if I'll need a full suit or not for the interview. Think I should wear a sportsjacket, or just a shirt and tie?

Either way, I'll need new shoes and a haircut. Neither my shoes nor my hair are in bad shape, but I want everything to look perfect just in case. Between moving furniture, shopping, and helping to repair my brother's new house, I think I have a very busy week ahead of me.

That's hot.

Full of the afterglow from my trip to Missouri, I drove back to Wisconsin on Friday night. Even with traffic and construction, I made it on just over 9 hours. When I drive, I don't need to stop often. Maybe only every 3 or 4 hours. I'm not much for dawdling on the road. I like to get where I'm going.

Anyway, I had a game of airsoft (it's kinda like paintball) planned for Saturday, so had to get ready for it as soon as I got home. I charged all my batteries, checked all my gear over, and loaded the car back up. I was looking forward to the game since it looked like a nice day for it. At least that's what I thought when I saw a quick radar map.

Now, I'm a pretty smart guy. I knew I had to take a lot of water with me on to the field because we play all day with no breaks. It was going to be warm, I was going to be wearing full set of BDU's, and I was going to be lugging around 40 pounds of gear. Actually, I was lugging around more than that, because of all the extra water and Gatorade I had with me. Water weighs 8 pounds a gallon approximately, so I was probably carrying 50-60 pounds at the beginning of the day.

I was guessing the temperature was going to be in the mid 80's on Saturday. The temperature was in the mid to upper 90's that day. I played a full game that day despite all of the heat. I stayed in the shade as much as I could and drank all of the fluids I brought throughout the day. The game went really well, too. I had a blast in the blast furnace.

Afterwards, I got back to my car and turned on the AC. I had to leave it on full blast on me for 5 minutes before I drove away just to cool down my body so I wasn't punch drunk due to the heat. When I got home, I barely climbed up the stairs from the underground parking. I could barely move at that point. I didn't even bring up most of my gear. I just didn't have the energy. It's still in my car right now.

I'm still feeling beat from this weekend. I thought I'd be able to hit the gym today, and right now, I don't know if it would be a good idea to go. I'm not sure if I could make it 15 mins much less the hour or more I usually go for. So, I think I'll be passing on the gym to rest in the AC for one more day. Tomorrow, I train again. First will be the gym training, after that will be the bar training. Sounds like a good training schedule to me...

All that I wanted were things I had before.

It's been a busy few days. Driving down to Missouri I realized how much I miss my jaunts into the unknown. There's a certain freedom driving through the countryside. There was plenty of freedom this time, too. Since I left at around 6pm, I was driving until about 4am. There was little traffic which made a lot of places very nice because going through construction with traffic around you sucks. It didn't help that it was raining hard in a few places. But since I didn't have to be there at any particular time, I slowed down and took it easy.

I was too excited to sleep, so I pulled into a local park and wandered for a while to stretch out under the steel grey pre-dawn sky. When it started sprinkling again, I hopped into my car and listened to the radio for a couple hours. Then the ex called and we went to have breakfast. After getting me filled up with the caffeine and food that I needed, we went to the local mall and wandered since I still had to wait a few hours before I could check into the hotel.

Wondering why the big leadup here? Well, I got a reminder or something there that I didn't realize I missed as much as I did. No, it's not that. I think everyone reading me regularly knows that I miss sex. However, the thing I missed was something I hadn't had for years. What was this mystery thing?

She reached out to hold my hand as we walked.

I know what you're thinking. Big freakin' deal. Well, to me it was. I hadn't walked with a gal like that for at least 4 years. Maybe my hands are more sensitive than most guys or something. All I know is that when she did that, my pulse raced and I smiled like I didn't have a care in the world. Sometimes it's the simplest things that really make you feel loved more than anything.

The song lyric in the title is pretty apt for how I felt. I'm not crazy, tho. I'm the ex-boyfriend that gets benefits when we see each other. I'm not going to start trying to get back into a relationship with her. She already has a boyfriend, is quite happy with how things are going, and I'm sure as hell not going to move to Missouri to be with her. I just wish I was closer sometimes to we could spend more time together. We do have amazing times when we do get together...

*starts daydreaming again reliving wonderful memories with a big smile*

Bonus points for knowing the song.

Sometimes you just gotta say, "What the fuck."

I need to get out of my rut. I need to have a little fun and screw who might call me on the phone. So as soon as I finish packing, I'm taking a trip. I'm going to go to Missouri and have a lot of fun to improve my mood significantly.

I'll worry about jobs, roommates (or lack thereof), and everything else that's bugging me when I get home. Don't worry, I'm not dumb. My phone will be with me at all times just in case I get that call for the job. I'm just not going to worry about it while I'm down there.

Hope to talk with you soon in a much better mood.

Resurfacing

I'm still waiting for a call from the prospective new employer. They had two other people to interview which supposed to happen on Friday, and I was expecting an answer soon afterward. On monday I wasn't too worried. Most people take off on the 3rd, so I wasn't expecting a call then. Yesterday I did expect a call, tho. I waited all day and even left my contact a voicemail message near the end of the day. I'm still waiting to hear back today. No luck so far, tho.

I hate waiting when I don't know how long it will take.

I haven't gotten any nibbles on the ads I posted looking for a new roommate either. It's going to really hurt if I have to take a lower paying job AND have to pay for a 2 bedroom place all by myself. As usual, my plans are going right down the toilet.

No wonder I'm in such a blue mood, eh? I was thinking of doing a little experiment for the hell of it. I was going to stop talking to people. I'd send no email or IM's, and wouldn't call anyone. Then I'd wait to see how long it would take for friends and family to notice. I'm not going to do it, tho. I'm too scared to know the results.

By the way, I appreciate the well wishing and advice I see in the comments. I just wish there was something concrete I could do. I'm good fixing things I can see. I suck when it comes to things I can't. I can tell there are problems there, and even know what many of them are. I just don't know how to fix it. Advice?

Anyway, the only good thing this week has been the fireworks on the 4th. The park across the street from my house hosts a very nice display. When they started shooting them off, I went out my front door and sat on the sun-warmed concrete walk. I had a perfect view of the whole show. I was like a little kid again, sitting almost right under the shells going off with a huge smile on my face. All I needed was some sparklers, and I'd be 5 again.