The Rat Race

Total Black: $649.59
Total Red: $230,772.32

Something hit me tonight.  I woke late this afternoon.  I went out last night for a few drinks.  I stayed in my neighborhood though and hit up a few neighborhood bars.  I had maybe three beers and two rum & cokes.  Nothing excessive for a Friday night out, but with the drugs from the medical experiment in my system, I think the drinks have a harder impact, especially the next day.  Or perhaps I’m just getting older, eh?  At any rate, I spent much of the day in bed, just being lazy.  The cable guy was supposed to stop by to pick up the box and remote control today.  He never showed.  So by around 5pm I decided I’d get up, head to the gym, and take care of some grooming matters.  It’s been awhile since I got my hair cut.

Hay & Hokum

Total Black: $65.20
Total Red: $230,481.61

I picked up a copy of a free local newspaper today: The New York Press.  I’m not sure why because I don’t read free newspapers.  I guess I find them slightly suspect.  Is their news reporting being slanted by their advertisers?  Then again—aren’t all newspapers affected by whomever pays them?  But I digress.  An article in the newspaper caught my eye, “What the Hay?” by Ethan Epstein.  The article begins: “It was a crisp Sunday morning in September when people began to file into the Javits Center for a dose of hope.  The ‘You Can Heal Your Life’ seminar is just the sort of optimistic approach these 2,000 women and men—mostly women—needed.  And it almost seemed possible since personal finance superstar Suze Orman was there to shore up the more dubious self-help nostrums.”  How could I resist reading that article. 

Better By Change

Total Black: $2,073.79
Total Red: $230,820.71

I met a friend today for lunch.  We had Chinese.  It was quick and cheap.  Nothing amazing.  But not bad either.  Just one of those nice moments you enjoy. We lingered a bit after finishing.  The waiter brought our bill.  And, of course, on the mini tray with our check were placed two fortune cookies.  I took the one closest to me and gave the other to my friend.  I had heard somewhere that the fortune won’t come true unless you eat the entire cookie first before reading it.  Naturally, I can’t confirm or deny the veracity of such a claim.  But why tempt the fates, eh?  So, I ate up my cookie and then looked at the fortune.  In Make the Man, Make the Money I observed that fortune cookies today rarely seem to have a fortune.  Instead they’re filled with wise sayings or prescient observations.  That held true for this fortune cookie as well.  It said, “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”

To Confess or Not to Confess

Total Black: $2,452.95
Total Red: $231,191.81

I arrived back in Scranton just after four o’clock.  My sister had sent me a text message at 1 p.m., while I was still in New York, telling me that my mother wanted her car back by 4 p.m.  It takes about two hours or so to drive from New York to Scranton.  Her abrupt text left me just barely enough time.  So, I grabbed a big bag of laundry, hopped in the car, and drove west.  Somewhere in the middle of New Jersey a flash of white heat overtook me when I realized that I had forgotten the paperwork that I had driven all the way out there to retrieve.  I actually found myself in a cold sweat.  I don’t think that has ever happened to me before.  And frankly it’s all because of my sister.  Or I suppose I should say because of the power I give her over me.

The Powerful Process of Gratitude

Total Black: $63.41
Total Red: $230,611.32

Between interviews with temporary attorney staffing agencies today, I took time in the afternoon to read a bit more of the The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  I’ve been reading a bit each night before bed in an effort to finish the book.  This afternoon I got as far as the first few pages of the chapter titled “Powerful Processes” before I got too antsy and had to leave.  Perhaps because I was reading the book on my iPhone in a Barnes & Noble cafe on Fifth Avenue.  The first process the book discusses is the power of gratitude.  This morning I had a brush with gratitude as I awoke.  Unemployment benefits did not come through today as they should have.  Luckily, I received a donation of fifty dollars.  My second donation and it came from the same person as before.  I owe him much, particularly today, because without that donation, I wouldn’t have been able to pick up my suits from the dry cleaner.  I would have had to wear something nice, but clearly not appropriate for an interview.  Explanations and apologies may have helped, but they wouldn’t have erased first impressions left by me arriving in cargo pants.  So, I thought I’d take the opportunity to note my gratitude to my benefactor, if you will, as well as in general.

As Above, So Below

Total Black: $3,311.75
Total Red: $230,569.24

I started re-reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne again last night, shortly before my midnight bonfire.  Like many books in my life, this is another I haven’t finished yet.  But I’ll have to buckle myself down to finish it.  I felt better last night as I read it.  It’s authenticity aside, it is a book full of hope and empowerment.  That’s something anyone can use. 

Eyes on the Prize

Total Black: $3,921.09
Total Red: $230,663.35

I had another interview with a temporary attorney staffing agency today.  That’s makes four interviews this week and five in the past seven days.  A lot of smiling faces and hopeful talk, but so far nothing’s materialized into a job.  But that’s clearly the wrong approach to take.

The Lowly Penny

Total Black: $29.02
Total Red: $227,913.40

I’ve stopped noting daily gains / losses; not much of any just yet.  Scrolling down through previous posts will show that and the breakdown on the 10th of each month will too.  Total black now includes twenty dollars invested in some mutual funds with American Funds.  I figure I should do that each week.  Savings have to start somehow.  Plus I gained a cent overnight.  Hey, that’s one penny closer to getting out of debt.  And it got me thinking all about the lowly penny. 

In Medias Res

While the beginning is a very good place to start, here it doesn’t seem to fit somehow.  My back-story is long and can be told another day.  And besides…no one’s seen this yet.  So really I’m just writing for myself right now.  But yes . . . this is my first ever blog entry.  So, expediting the formalities, here’s the main adjectives that one might employ in describing me: Male / 33 years-old / White / Gay / Adopted / Gemini / Lawyer / raised Byzantine Catholic / Penn State alum / Howard alum . . . and, of course, Laid-Off.  But I suppose the blog title already aptly notes that.

At the outset, I must confess that I just saw Julie & Julia yesterday.  I was probably the only person in the theatre who got stressed out by that movie.  And it stuck with me, so I started examining the origins of that gnawing feeling.  That prompted this.

In a sense, I am Julie: my apartment overflows with piles of partially-read books stacked for later, stacks of newspapers waiting for one of these days, days gone by with bills lying opened but unpaid, opened boxes not yet put away.  Let’s just say I have a bit of trouble finishing what I start.  But cluttered is not dirty.  I am a bit of a clean freak, that much I know, especially upon returning to my apartment after two weeks with a renter staying there.  I’ve heard a stereotype of  New Yorkers that they come across stylish, fashionable, and a cut-above-the-rest, but yet their apartments are nasty, dirty, and gross.  But I digress (and more on the renter later).  At any rate, since I’m great at starting things, I figured I’d start this blog.  And here’s what it’ll take to finish it.