Last week was the end.
I showed up at work Monday morning (on time) and my boss announced that we were done. A coworker who had been previously released showed up so he and I and the other shipping guy hit the Bratskeller Pub for a nice extended lunch and a few Sam Adams Octoberfest's before heading back to the office for our exit interviews. Being slightly buzzed makes dealing with the retards in HR a little less annoying. So at noonish on Monday October 4, 2010 I officially became a member of the unemployed masses.
I woke up Tuesday and it felt almost like a vacation day--only without the cold dread of my inevitable return to work breathing down my neck. I made a short, kinda sorta list of goals Tuesday morning:
1. Continue to go to bed and get up at the same time I usually do.
This will hopefully keep me from falling into the trap of staying up all night and sleeping all day.
2. Get as much of my course work done for my current class as I can.
My goal here is to finish all my assigned course work before the end of next week. I need to take my final a week early since the GF and I will be embarking on our Jamaican adventure during the last week of class.
3. Establish a routine to keep myself from becoming too lazy and complacent in my unemployedness.
Tuesday: I worked primarily on finishing the 4 page research paper I had been assigned on the first night of class and was due that evening (and in true 11th hour fashion hadn't started until the week before). I managed to bang the paper out and read a full chapter and complete one of the lab assignments. I was quite proud of the accomplishment of actually doing something productive.
Wednesday: I decided to tackle some of the clutter. I am a renowned neat freak and drive my GF crazy. She sees a few things on the table as no big deal, I see a few things on the table as a mess that will niggle at my brain until I clean it up. So Wednesday I spent cleaning, vacuuming, organizing, did a load of dishes, and generally picking up the house. Once that was out of the way I flopped down and proceeded to clean out the DVR by watching some neglected shows. (So far, not loving Undercovers as much as I loved Alias, but I have faith in J.J. Abrams to do me proud).
Wednesday: I decided to tackle some of the clutter. I am a renowned neat freak and drive my GF crazy. She sees a few things on the table as no big deal, I see a few things on the table as a mess that will niggle at my brain until I clean it up. So Wednesday I spent cleaning, vacuuming, organizing, did a load of dishes, and generally picking up the house. Once that was out of the way I flopped down and proceeded to clean out the DVR by watching some neglected shows. (So far, not loving Undercovers as much as I loved Alias, but I have faith in J.J. Abrams to do me proud).
Thursday: By Thursday I was already feeling like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. That whole "vacation" feeling from Tuesday had already worn off and I was feeling more like a shut-in than a man on hiatus. On vacations I don't mind being cooped up in the house because I know my time of relaxation and rejuvination is limited, but that feeling has already turned to stir craziness. I did some more homework, picked up the house a little more, and finally scraped off the week old growth of beard I had been cultivating for my stint as a jobless bum.
I didn't draw this, just found it here and thought it was funny.
Friday: "It's Friday... I aint doing shit!"
So sayeth my facebook status. I decided that, being Friday, it would be perfectly acceptable to do as little as humanly possible. I slouched around the house in my boxers and played WoW until noon (yes, I am a fat gamer geek) and didn't clean myself up until almost 1pm when I ordered lunch and brought food to the GF at work. After lunch I came back home and watched some more DVR (not enamored with Haven either. Cute lead actress but the acting is bad and the stories are kinda lame and played out. I shouldn't have expected much considering it is a Stephen King brainchild).
The weekend was an average weekend. I decided Sunday afternoon to clean up the back yard while the GF was out at a friends birthday gig. I mowed, did a little raking, put away the patio furniture for the winter and made a Home Depot trip for some pavers to put the fire pit on. And since I had this newly situated fire pit I decided what better time to have a fire. I made a fire for myself and hung out alone in front of it with Pandora playing me some nice relaxing tunes (Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, and Social Distortion).
Week one wasn't so bad. I know for week two--and beyond--I will need to expand my list of "things to do when you're unemployed" to combat the stir crazies.
