Thursday, November 3, 2016

2016 Is Almost Gone

      Wow. I didn't realize how much I let 2016 slide past almost unnoticed. I didn't write a single post and I haven't touched a single story, I'm surprised I actually made any Youtube videos at all this year but I think Youtube was actually the one place I focused my attention this year. I made more videos this year than I did in the last five years.
      In all fairness, 2016 has been a rough year. My father died the day after Thanksgiving in 2015 so as you can imagine, the start of 2016 wasn't great. My mother took his death hard and I focused the first part of the year on making sure she was okay. In one month, she went from being the sad depressed widow to talking to a man on the phone and online. By August, she had been "dating" this man over the phone for a month and she asked him to move in. I thought it was very sudden but he seemed to make her happy and it wasn't my place to tell her any different. Now they are engaged and are planning the wedding for the beginning of July. Aside from the wedding being only 5 days after my birthday, something is bothering me about all of this but since I can't put my finger on it, I've been trying to push the uneasy feeling out of my head. I don't think it has anything to do with the guy - he seems to be a really nice guy; he doesn't smoke, he doesn't drink that much (they both have two glasses of wine a night - not bad at all) he doesn't emotionally or physically abuse her, and he's really good with my niece and nephew. I'm wondering if maybe my uneasiness is from how quickly they started the relationship more than anything else.
      Towards the end of 2015, I also started a new job. I left the horrible woman who ran the maid business and took a job in security guarding a residential community. This week I learned that the new company that bought out the company I currently worked for is requiring all of the employees to reapply for our current jobs. I had to fill out an application and go through three interviews to determine if I get to keep my job, The good news is that if I make it through the whole process, we are suppose to receive a "substantial raise that we will be pleased with." Or so the memo from our boss said. As long as I make it through the interview process, I think I will be happy. The only problem is I had been planning on transferring at the end of the summer next year.
      Okay, let me start by saying how sick I am of living at home with my parents. I am 28 this year and I have lived 23 of those years with my parents. I'm tired of living out of one bedroom, sharing all of the groceries I ever buy, paying for electric I don't use, and having my dog yelled at simply because my mother doesn't like big dogs, and lending my mother money because she is so bad at managing her own. I am ready for my own place. The problem has been affording a place to live. Everyone told us when we moved down south that the cost of living was lower than living in the north. I'm not sure what drugs they were using when they told us that but they could't have been more wrong. I have a friend who just moved out of a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in Rochester, NY where she was paying $650 a month. On the southeast coast of North Carolina where I currently live, a 2 bedroom 1 bath trailer will run you around $650 a month, And that is inland - not even on the coast (which would be substantially more).
      Around my birthday, I did some deep thinking about what I really wanted in my life and I came up with independence. I wanted to live on my own - plain and simple. The best thing about my job now is that I can transfer anywhere in the country I want to go, What this means is that on my birthday I took an oath to myself that I would move out of my parents house. I have set the date to move out as August 17th 2017 and I am looking at moving back north, I miss the changing seasons, the lower pollen count, and the ability to breathe in the summer without feeling like I live in a sauna. I set the date as August 17th because there is suppose to be a spectacular solar eclipse go over where I currently live. I think it is the best possible omen I could have ever asked for even if I really don't believe in such things - better to be safe than sorry.
      Now I've been spending as much time as I can packing totes and taking all of my belongings to storage so that all of my stuff is in one place. I've also tried to spend more time with my niece and nephew, my brother, and my best friend so that when I do finally move, I know that I didn't waste all of my time in NC.
      I don't think since I graduated college have I ever been so excited for a new year. Now to keep my spirits high until then.


Song of the day:
Middle of America by Will Hodge




Movie of the day:
Theory of Everything