Car

 Good Luck Pizza

Posted on by GratuitousRex

Prologue: 

I live in an apartment building in Brooklyn.  I do not have a driveway and many here don’t so parking is always a challenge. This morning my car was on the next street down and the next avenue over. So the next block diagonally. 

Tomorrow, I am going to Mona’s house and I need to leave as close to 5pm as possible and it’s always great to have my car on my block. I work from home and tomorrow there’s street cleaning on one side of my block so at 9:45am I’d go to my car and move it to my block. That was the plan. 

End of Prologue

 What was I going to have for dinner tonight? I’ve been eating eggs or burgers alternately for the past 4 days. I wanted something different but didn’t want to spend a whole lot.

PIZZA!

I shouldn’t. I really should stay home and find something home that I can have for dinner,  but…

PIZZA!

But I’ve been doing so well making food at home. I shouldn’t eat out…

SCREW IT! I’M GETTING PIZZA! 

So I left my building and as I walked towards my corner I realized something: 

THERE’S AN OPEN SPOT RIGHT OUTSIDE MY BUILDING ON THE SIDE OF THE STREET THAT ALREADY GOT SWEPT TODAY! That’s it! I’m going to move my car NOW! 

Within a split second, I take off down my street, running towards my car. I had slip-on deck shoes on, not really made for running, but I was on a mission. I had to run the equivalent of almost two blocks and drive back and hope nobody takes the spot in time! 

I got to my car, adrenaline pumping, slightly winded from going from walk directly to full sprint. I hop in my car and I took off, sending mental vibes out there to keep the spot vacant until my victorious arrival. 

I turn 2 corners, drive almost 2 blocks down and…

IT WAS STILL OPEN! 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS! VICTORY IS MINE, SAYS GRATUITOUS REX!

(My back was to my building.)

THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU!

Now I would never have seen the spot if I hadn’t decided to get pizza! 

Oh, you delicious and fortuitous sustenance! You’re awesome in many ways! 

0
Career, Money

God does not want me to be depressed

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So yesterday I took a stroll down Negative Lane. Some tough times financially and a questionable future. Not great. I was down. 

Then, something odd happened. No… somethingS (plural) happened. Some good positive messages, vibes, grace… call it what you want. 

1. A salesperson told me that he put in some good words about my service to my boss’ boss.

2. Then a friend Bob reached out to say hey and to make plans to hang. Always great when someone reaches out and wants to spend time with me.

4. Then a friend, Jackson, reached out to me today, I know him from a men’s mentoring organization that I used to belong to. He invited me to an organization event that I can’t make. Really great of him to think of me. He even said: 

I used to be VERY active in that organization and really touching to be thought of like that.

5. Later today I got a phone call from a client and I was able to help her issue. And she PRAISED my help up and down. Now, what I did for her was very simple. But she really needed the help and I gave it to her quickly. Plus, I’m very personable on the phone with clients and enjoy easy going relationships to put them at ease as I work through their issues. And it shows.

“You deserve a raise!” she exclaimed. I thought that was very serendipitous, given yesterday’s blog about money. 

This is the universe/God’s way of saying “don’t worry, buddy. Help is here and will continue. Have faith.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

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Career

Temporarily Depressed- Money and Interview Issues

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So in my therapy session this week my therapist put the screws to me. Mona and I have been talking matriage lately, which is great. She’s awesome and we get along astoundingly well. However, how am I paying for an engagement ring and a wedding?

This past year, my credit card debt has gone from $19,500 to $3,800 and dropping. However, I have not saved dollar one. I do have 401k that I don’t touch, and about $10k in the bank. But that’s it. To my name. 

My debt will be gone by November, then I can start saving for a ring. And once I buy one next year, there goes my savings again. 

Then a modest wedding will still cost money. Probably another year’s worth of savings (on my end, anyway. Mona’d chip in for that too, of course.) Then, my savings would go back down again. 

When do I start saving for me? I don’t see it happening in the near future. 

This is at my current salary, anyway. I plan on changing companies this year so hopefully that will bring in another $10k annually. I need to make that happen. 

Unfortunately, I had FOUR INTERVIEWS with a company recently, including a presentation which I thought went very well. That was TWELVE DAYS AGO. And I have NOT HEARD BACK YET.Not either way. I’d think after 4 interviews I would get notified even if they decided not to go with me. 

Last Thursday, a week after my last interview,  I sent a follow up email to the hiring manager.

NOTHING. I haven’t heard a peep.

Come on. 

Ok it’s August and people are on vacation. I’m trying to keep positive but at this point, but it’s fading. I didn’t even hear back from my latest email. I’ll send an email tomorrow afternoon to the HR business partner. I know it’s out of my hands but some closure would be nice, and sending emails a week apart is not bad. I don’t think. 

Then once I’m in this state, my mind can really spiral out of control, beating myself up for all of the many mistakes I’ve made. And yes, no success comes easy, mistakes always happen,  but it’s getting depressing. I’m going to be 45 this year. I need to kick it up several notches so I don’t become a burden to my family or society in my old age.

Ugh

11
Food, fun

Who else loves watermelon in the summer?!

Posted on by GratuitousRex

That’s right!  It’s the season for it! 

I must have had watermelon 6 times this summer so far. And once, it was a hot day and I was walking through midtown Manhattan and there was a food fair that had WATERMELON JUICE! 

BOOYAH!

Ok, I haven’t exactly bought “a watermelon” this year. I don’t have a knife big enough to cut one. Plus, I don’t need a whole watermelon at a time. Just some, and the markets near me sell these nice single-guy portions of pre-cut watermelon.

But waitaminute, something’s missing. What could it be? 

SEEDS! Remember seeds? If you’re a Millennial, probably not!  At some point,  scientist geniuses started breeding seedless  watermelons! Normally, I’d say don’t trust GMOs, but seedless watermelons EFFING RULE! Thanks GMOs!

And to boot, it’s August. It’s so RIPE! Yes, watermelon! You’re sweet, cool, watery and crunchy. 

GET IN MY BELLY! 

3
Coincidences

The Palm Coincidence

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So I’m on Facebook and a friend posted that she’s watching the Marilyn Monroe movie “Some Like It Hot” and I thought of the song “Some Like It Hot” which at the moment, I thought was by Robert Palmer solo (it’s actually by a group he was in, Power Station.)

I was in the middle of commenting that I was thinking of the song by Palmer, and then,  at that moment… on tv, on the Mets game, the commentators were talking about pitching and mentioned the part of the hand, the PALM!

COIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINCIDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCE!!!!!!

0
Relationships

Fantastic short vacation with my gf

Posted on by GratuitousRex

Mona and I went on our first vacation together this past weekend. Sort of.. 

We went to stay at a friend’s house in Fire Island this weekend. It’s a narrow barrier island just south of Long Island.  When on the island,  it’s only a ten minute walk across it north to south from the bay to the ocean. Very laid back, no cars, everything is so relaxed.

My friend was there but he did his own thing for a good portion of the weekend, so Mona and I were free to entertain ourselves. 

 We had a fancy dinner, lazed on the beach, took long walks, took an outdoor shower together (and separately too. Outdoor showers are amazing), lots of cuddling and even snuck in some advanced cuddling, did some cooking, watched some tv, bbq’d with my friend. Took LOTS of pictures.

I know I post a lot of frustration with Mona, but man we have so much fun together. Lots of laughter, we just love to talk to each other. 

We planned activities out ahead of time, but the gray weather on Saturday removed the water sports we hoped to do but the rest went off without a hitch. 

We needed some good us time. We even talked about getting a house in Fire Island one day (not that were can afford it now, but dream big, right?) But that quickly turned into just getting a boat instead. I get it, boat’s more useful. Still a financial stretch, but it’s nice to have the have those thoughts and conversations. 

It was costly but we were prepared. The vacation was just what “We” needed. 

4
Career

Left a Pint of Blood in that Conference Room (I’ve been interviewing) 

Posted on by GratuitousRex

So these past two weeks have been BUSY. I normally have to work like an hour extra every day. And I have to spend a few evenings uploading pictures from the previous weekend from my side job taking pics of real estate. 

And I’ve been interviewing. Last week was round 3 with Company A, where I came in, met someone briefly and was trained on their research data product that I would have to grab data from and present back to them in a Powerpoint deck at a later date.

But my presentation you them was postponed til today. That was a good thing because…

I had an interview with Company B last Thursday and they wanted me to analyze data and give writing samples over the weekend. I did that this weekend, reminding myself of some Excel formulas like vlookup and other concepts that I used to know. I submitted on Monday and they promptly told me they weren’t interested in me anymore. 

Ok fine. That was a stretch anyway. 

But now I still had to do the work for the presentation for the other interview. I pushed and pushed and crammed and practicesd. Visusluzed success and got into a positive frame of mind. 

The presentation was today,  and I did VERY WELL. I missed some points I could have hit, but hey, I had just learned their service a week prior. 

I had slept poorly all week. Now I can relax, it’s out of my hands. I’m not going to do any more job search activity until I get resolution on that. 

And yes… I’m GOING TO get a GREAT offer SOON! 

3