has it really been THAT long?

Man!  I can’t believe it’s been so long!  Time has been flying! 

I’m still working at the law firm I started at back in October.  Unfortunately, I’m STILL temping, but only because there is a hiring freeze in the firm right now.  One of the guys in the department quit, so there is an open slot for me, but they still won’t let them hire me.  I still love my job and the people who work here with me, so I do want to wait for this job, but at the same time, I think about the vacation and benefits that I have lost over the past year, not to mention getting paid normal wages, instead of a fraction of the normal wage for what I’m doing.   They started a new system for trouble tickets in September of last year, a month or so before I started.  Two of the employees were always having a contest to see who could keep "ahead" of the other, in numbers of tickets.  Well, they were so concerned with each other, that they didn’t notice the temps numbers.  I’m now ahead of both of them.  LOL  The day I went ahead of both of them, I printed out the ticket numbers and highlighted my number and gave it to the boss.  He posted it on his bulletin board, right above his desk.  Of course, I had to put them on each of the coworkers’ desks, too.  I don’t think they even knew it was coming!   hehehe 

Wow, I just looked back.  It’s been since MARCH since I last wrote!  I’m so bad!  Mom and Dad are both doing great.  Bros are both doing well.  I have an Aunt in Texas who is undergoing treatment for cancer.  I think it started out in her abdomen/intestines, and is in her lungs, now, too.  This is the mother of the cousin who passed away two years ago from lung cancer.  The thing is, she’s never smoked a day in her life, and has lived the best life she could.  I hate to see her going through this, but she has a great attitude and I am confident that she will come through this okay.  (not to say that I’m not throwing in prayers for her whenever I can)

On a more personal note, in April, I moved into a basement apartment, here in DC.  I am ever grateful to VL for the generosity she showed me, but I am also so relieved/happy that I am finally in my own apartment.  It’s just a one bedroom/one bath apartment.  I believe it is about 575 sq feet, but it has everything I could want, except for the room.  LOL  I have my own washer and dryer, my own kitchen, my own front and back porches.  The front porch is walled in with windows, so I have my tools and bicycle out there, along with a glass table and two chairs.  There’s also a second bedroom in the back, but they wanted to keep that for their storage, but I can store some stuff back there too.  I’ve done some work on the place too.  I’ve replaced the faucets in the kitchen and bathroom, the light fixture in the bathroom (has to match the faucet, doesn’t it?)  I painted one wall in the living room in a burgundy color.  Then I put up four glass shelves to display my glasses.  (I have glasses with ships etched into them)  It looks really sharp with the burgundy backing it.  On the other side is a cd rack that hangs on the wall.  I bought it at Ikea, and absolutely love it!  The rack itself is a stainless steel look, so that also looks great against the burgundy wall.  I was SO lucky when I bought the paint too.  I bought the burgundy paint, and the paint for the bathroom both at Home Depot’s "oops" department, which means I paid $5 for each gallon!  The burgundy paint is EXACTLY the color I wanted, too!  The bathroom color I’m not so sure of, but I’m living with it for now.  It is literally the color of foundation makeup.  I am not satisfied with my shower curtain though, so I am going to try to find a shower curtain that I like better, and design the bathroom around that.  Nothing has really "grabbed" me though.  Oh well.

Of course, living in a small apartment, I had to decide not to use my dining room table.  My dining room table, with NO leaves in it, seats 6, very comfortably.  I also have 3 leaves for it.  So, I had to figure out what I was going to do for a kitchen table.  Some friends gave me the glass and brass table which I now have out on the front porch, but it just didn’t go with ANYTHING in my house.  So…  yes, I went out and bought an antique drop leaf table at the market.  It’s really cute, and it even has a little cabinet in between the drop leafs, so I put some of my kitchenware in there, too, and a drawer, so I have my silverware in there.  Perfect little table for a small apartment.  Of course, I only have the one bentwood chair to match it, so I am going to be looking for more bentwood chairs to go with it.  🙂 

Still no luck in the love life department.  enough about that.

I got rear ended last Thursday.  (in the car!  get your mind out of the gutter!)  Not a bad one, but it put a small crack in the rear bumper.  And, even if I AM gay, I’m still a guy, and I want my car to look as best it can!  So I went in and got an estimate to give the guy who hit me.  $787 for a new bumper, painted and installed.  Seems like a lot for a little crack, but when you think about replacing the whole bumper, it doesn’t seem too bad.  I’m just hoping he doesn’t make me report it to the insurance agency.  If he comes up with the money, I’ll be happy to not report it.  After last Christmas, when I bumped that lady in the parking lot, and scratched her bumper, which she reported, I don’t think it’s necessary to make his rates go up so much for such a small amount of damage.  Insurance agencies are such a ripoff.  I’ll be calling him a little later today.   Wish me luck!

OH, I forgot to tell you.  My apartment is 2.1 miles from work, so I’ve been riding my bicycle back and forth to work.  I’ve lost some weight, and I’ve got nice legs again!  WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!  It’s all downhill in the mornings, so that’s great, but that also means that it’s UPHILL on the way home.  The first couple days, I walked up the main big hill.  After that, I just kept telling myself, "There’s A/C at home!" and made it all the way.  Now, I’m getting in better shape, so I can ride all the way home, and not really be too winded or "dead" when I get home.  I’ve also started to curtail my soda intake, and drink more water.  Amazing how that helps!   My stomach is not nearly as bad as it was before I moved into town.  I even went out to a coworker’s house and enjoyed playing in his pool (shirtless, gasp!).  I’ll be an adonis before too long, if I keep this up!   LOL

Well…  I think I’ve updated on most everything.  My life is pretty boring.  Work Monday through Friday, 8AM to 6PM.  go home and do laundry, dishes, whatever most nights.  Wednesday and Saturday nights I run the pool tournament at the bar I go to, so I have to be there.  Before I took over, it was hit and miss if anyone was going to be there to run the tournament, so i just said I’d do it.  Living in town now, I can do that!  LOL  Then, on the weekends, I do the thorough cleaning of the apartment, and any other social things that come up. 

Now, you’re up to date!