Probably time for an update. As I believe I mentioned last time, I have had to deal with various things of a monetary nature. The current status is that, for the first time in my life, I own a car and I own a flat screen television. The latter was free, so that was nice, but it turns out that cars are expensive and owning it is not immediately improving my economic situation. Hopefully this is one of those “in the long run” deals. Still, I’ve acquired two of the material goods that capitalism tells me should make me happy, right? (Side note: Do televisions get channels without cable, or is this thing just going to work with my laptop?)

If the site had an audience, they’d be noticing that SecGov has been stuck for a while. It’s just that with all the things I’ve had on the go, it has been the lowest priority. Hopefully once I get back into the swing of it, I’ll be able to push through and end it once and for all, because then I’ll have one less thing on the go and that’ll be nice.

Well, I haven’t been saying much but the bare basics on here lately, so here goes:

I’m not extremely skilled at balancing school and work.

I’ve been pretty busy with school and work lately. Whereas last year I had a class in which I’d already read most of the material, I don’t have that this year. With three reading-intensive courses, I’m already behind on my reading and, realistically, I’ll have to start deciding which materials I’m going to skip reading altogether. I am enjoying these reading-heavy courses, but they’re a lot of work for someone who hasn’t the time to read.

Work, meanwhile, has been occasionally difficult. I drive a company car, which is immensely helpful, but since Winter set in, I’ve experienced all manner of problems. Flat tires, drained batteries, door malfunctions, and the steering column had to be replaced. I’m confident that the advantages of not having to own my own car still outweigh the disadvantages, but the scales are shifting. Because of the latest issues, the car has been in the shop this week, which means I lose a week’s worth of money, but I also gained some free nights in which I was able to accomplish some other things (like reading some things for school…)

Haiku!

Rainbows in the sky
burning all the world below
and laughing. Laughing.

Speaking of money, I got around to trying to find a roommate again at the end of December, but didn’t have much luck. Up until now I’ve been considerably better off financially than last year, but that is likely to change in coming months. Let’s see what happens!

I should definitely mention that I got my first ticket while driving this week (and hopefully last for quite some time to come). I can in no way argue that I was going above the posted speed limit (though I will maintain my belief that maybe the limit should be higher at four in the morning than it is at rush hour), so I don’t feel like I was in any way wronged in getting the ticket. Still would have been nice not to though. Anyway, I paid that thing off today and that is that.

Haiku!

Boston is a place.
I know this ’cause I’ve been told.
Still, who cares though, right?

Apart from that, what have I got going on? More of the same, mostly. The semester is practically over and it felt so short. Short and busy, I guess.

I should definitely note on the site that I am employed again. Using my new legal driving abilities I will be delivering food for a restaurant across the street from my apartment building. Driving regularly will certainly help me get comfortable on the roads quickly, but more importantly, this will hopefully help to lessen the severity of the bad money situation I’m in (I think that might be the point of jobs, right?). I don’t expect to be getting a lot of shifts, especially not right away, so I should hopefully have a lot of time for working on the site this Summer. I intend to make good use of it.

I’ve only worked on short training shift so far. If anything worth discussing comes up, I’ll maybe remember to say something. I could see more things worth talking about coming from this job than my last one.

PDR just got his driving license. It has been months since I think I’ve mentioned that I was learning to drive on this little PDR website that there is, but now that I’ve passed the test, I feel like it is worth bringing up.

It wasn’t a perfect pass. I was told I was taking turns too quickly and on one occasion I forgot to shut off my turn signal after a lane change, but I apparently I am “Good Enough” and that’s the PDR way!

Driving has everything I hate about walking (having to pay attention to the people around me, trying to neither be cut off nor cut anyone off, being outside), but has none of the things I like about walking (the walking part). I don’t expect to do a lot of casual driving, but I can now legally do it when necessary. And that’s good.