So it's kind of been a tumultuous few weeks. Everything is in a state of flux.
A couple of weeks ago I saw this chick on OKC that looked vaguely familiar, so I sent her a message. Turns out she's the little sister of one of my college friends. We ended up going out for drinks later that week and had an absolute blast. It's been a long time since I've been on a date with an educated woman (she has a Master's degree), and to be honest it was really refreshing. We're supposed to be getting together again this Wednesday. I'm not entirely sure if it's a friend thing or a dating thing. I'm down with it either way.
This last weekend I went out to western Nebraska with my little brother and my mom to visit my mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving. It was mostly an uneventful weekend. To be honest I really just appreciated being out of Omaha for a few days. One good thing about that area: it's so desolate that there's virtually zero light pollution, so the night skies are absolutely gorgeous. It's been years since I've seen that many stars (even saw a shooting star one night!!!).
I really don't like visiting my extended family - I can't identify with them at all. We had a sort of mini-family reunion dinner Saturday night, and I felt completely out of place. I was the only smoker there. My arms are covered in tattoos. I dress well. And my little brother and I were the only ones drinking. Most of my family may as well be strangers to me. It probably makes me a cold-hearted bastard, but the only family I actually care about at all are my parents and my brothers. That's it.
I about lost my shit last Tuesday. As has been well-documented, my social life is currently dog shit. My sort-of friend Meg asked me if I wanted to get drinks at Crescent. I was going there anyways, but it was nice to have the prospect of having company. So we get it all lined up. I show up. She never does. Blew me off to hang out with someone else. I'm getting really tired of this happening a lot.
The job search is still fruitless, so it's looking like I'm stuck in Omaha for a while longer. After the events of today, it looks like I might be forced to find a new job, though. I've been working on a really high-profile project at work, and we're up against pretty tight budget and time constraints. My boss has been exceedingly sticking his nose in every little detail of the project and getting on my case about a lot of stuff. Today he pulled me into his office with the project manager for the project, and basically told me that if certain things don't get done by the end of the year I'll be out on my ass. I'll spare the boring details, but incidents like this are what make me want to get out as soon as possible. I'm doing the best I can on this project, and the things he's freaking out about are things that he needn't worry about. I won't get fired because I'm taking care of things just fine, but it's still frustrating to have him on my case for no good reason.
At least it's looking like I'll get a decent raise. I have a meeting to discuss my review this Wednesday, but my director sat me down last week to give me a little bit of a heads up on how it went. He wouldn't give specifics, but he indicated that my raise this year will be better than it was last year.
Finding a new apartment has been a very tedious process. All of the nice apartments I'm finding are way out on the west side of town, which would take me away from all of my favorite social spots. I did find a couple of decent-looking places in my area today, but I need to make some phone calls to see if they are actually available. I really hope I find something soon, because realistically I'll have to make a decision by the end of this week since it'll take a little bit of time to fill out paper work.
I'm also struggling with just how long I should stay in Omaha. Most of the apartments I've been looking at offer 6-month leases, but obviously increase the costs. In theory a 6-month lease gives me the most options to move out of the city as soon as possible, but on the other hand I don't want to waste extra money on a 6-month lease only to find myself at the end without a new job elsewhere. Part of me wants to stay here for another whole year. I want to take the time to develop skills and save some money so that I can find as ideal of an opportunity as possible. Also, to an extent I feel like I'm running away from my problems. I want to own this town before I ditch it.
Disclaimer: this was, admittedly, a disjointed entry. I keep doing this thing where I don't write for weeks at a time, and so much stuff builds up, but I just don't feel like writing out all of the details. So, apologies.
A couple of weeks ago I saw this chick on OKC that looked vaguely familiar, so I sent her a message. Turns out she's the little sister of one of my college friends. We ended up going out for drinks later that week and had an absolute blast. It's been a long time since I've been on a date with an educated woman (she has a Master's degree), and to be honest it was really refreshing. We're supposed to be getting together again this Wednesday. I'm not entirely sure if it's a friend thing or a dating thing. I'm down with it either way.
This last weekend I went out to western Nebraska with my little brother and my mom to visit my mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving. It was mostly an uneventful weekend. To be honest I really just appreciated being out of Omaha for a few days. One good thing about that area: it's so desolate that there's virtually zero light pollution, so the night skies are absolutely gorgeous. It's been years since I've seen that many stars (even saw a shooting star one night!!!).
I really don't like visiting my extended family - I can't identify with them at all. We had a sort of mini-family reunion dinner Saturday night, and I felt completely out of place. I was the only smoker there. My arms are covered in tattoos. I dress well. And my little brother and I were the only ones drinking. Most of my family may as well be strangers to me. It probably makes me a cold-hearted bastard, but the only family I actually care about at all are my parents and my brothers. That's it.
I about lost my shit last Tuesday. As has been well-documented, my social life is currently dog shit. My sort-of friend Meg asked me if I wanted to get drinks at Crescent. I was going there anyways, but it was nice to have the prospect of having company. So we get it all lined up. I show up. She never does. Blew me off to hang out with someone else. I'm getting really tired of this happening a lot.
The job search is still fruitless, so it's looking like I'm stuck in Omaha for a while longer. After the events of today, it looks like I might be forced to find a new job, though. I've been working on a really high-profile project at work, and we're up against pretty tight budget and time constraints. My boss has been exceedingly sticking his nose in every little detail of the project and getting on my case about a lot of stuff. Today he pulled me into his office with the project manager for the project, and basically told me that if certain things don't get done by the end of the year I'll be out on my ass. I'll spare the boring details, but incidents like this are what make me want to get out as soon as possible. I'm doing the best I can on this project, and the things he's freaking out about are things that he needn't worry about. I won't get fired because I'm taking care of things just fine, but it's still frustrating to have him on my case for no good reason.
At least it's looking like I'll get a decent raise. I have a meeting to discuss my review this Wednesday, but my director sat me down last week to give me a little bit of a heads up on how it went. He wouldn't give specifics, but he indicated that my raise this year will be better than it was last year.
Finding a new apartment has been a very tedious process. All of the nice apartments I'm finding are way out on the west side of town, which would take me away from all of my favorite social spots. I did find a couple of decent-looking places in my area today, but I need to make some phone calls to see if they are actually available. I really hope I find something soon, because realistically I'll have to make a decision by the end of this week since it'll take a little bit of time to fill out paper work.
I'm also struggling with just how long I should stay in Omaha. Most of the apartments I've been looking at offer 6-month leases, but obviously increase the costs. In theory a 6-month lease gives me the most options to move out of the city as soon as possible, but on the other hand I don't want to waste extra money on a 6-month lease only to find myself at the end without a new job elsewhere. Part of me wants to stay here for another whole year. I want to take the time to develop skills and save some money so that I can find as ideal of an opportunity as possible. Also, to an extent I feel like I'm running away from my problems. I want to own this town before I ditch it.
Disclaimer: this was, admittedly, a disjointed entry. I keep doing this thing where I don't write for weeks at a time, and so much stuff builds up, but I just don't feel like writing out all of the details. So, apologies.