Note: This is the final part of a four part series, the object being to give a quick review of my experiences in the year 2010. In this part I will cover the months of October, November and December.
October – Checking into Work
I actually started my first blog series in about half a year this month with my Experience List series this month so I did a lot more writing than I had in awhile.
At the start of the month I took my car into get its 15,000 mile check up, ended up costing 300 bucks so I wasn’t too thrilled about that. I also got a call from a job I had applied to online asking me to fill out an application in person so I drove up to Indianapolis to do that. I ended up getting an interview, and then later a second interview and then bam I had a new job. I was actually on my way to apply for a job working where my friend Bruce had got on when I was offered the job. In hindsight maybe I should have applied to the other one, as it paid more money, but here I am with the job I did get offered.
Since I started my new job they had me training at a different center in Southport… and thus began the start of me entering the working force and 2 hours a day driving sucking my free time dry…
I trained for a little less than 2 weeks and then they sent me off to run my own store… and ever since then I’ve been doing/trying to do that as successfully as possible.
One advantage of doing the driving is that I started listening to audio books which has been nice, I have tracked my reading/listening efforts on the blog.
Around Halloween, Megan came up from Bloomington to party with her family, and I went to see “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” with her and Emily at the old Strand theatre in Shelbyville. The Strand is where we used to go watch movies when I was little. It was old and the floor was always sticky but I have some good memories of watching movies as a little kid there. Anyway they have been restoring it to its original look as a stage theatre, but they decided to play some movies for Halloween. I enjoyed the show.
Bruce came over later that night and we played some chess and just sat around, Casey had some friends out as well. But overall that was Halloween and the month of October.
November - Riding along in my automobile
Yep now that I am in the work force again I was quickly getting used to the daily grind and driving to Indianapolis 5 days a week. Really this shot down the majority of my free time so I was beginning to miss being unemployed. Really I don’t have a lot else to say about working again, other than I had realized that I don’t think this is a job I want long term. (though maybe that sentiment will change?)
Bruce had introduced me to a game called “Heroclix” at the end of October and I bought my first few game pieces this month, actually Bruce got me a Jonah Hex set as well which was cool. I’m not completely sold on the game yet, so I don’t think I’m going to get that much into it. But I don’t mind playing it. Bruce, Brock and Joe are all pretty into the game so that’s cool. Basically the game involves making a team of comic book / super hero figures and having them fight against each other.
Thanksgiving came up next and I had my usual set of Thanksgiving dinners. Dad’s family was the same as always, it’s nice to see Grandma, Grandpa, Pam and then Mom, Dad and Casey. It’s small but nice. I had the day off, but Casey had to work so we had Thanksgiving supper together. I had to wake up early the next day though and work a 12 hour day for Black Friday.
Thanksgiving with Mom’s family was on Saturday in Hagerstown. Fun as always, though I had to watch Purdue lose the old oaken bucket on TV that day, and then Purdue’ basketball team lost our first game to Richmond that night… blah but other than that it was great. Including our Chinese Firedrills at every stop light in Hagerstown. (Clockwise or counter clockwise on the fire drill is the real question…)
December – An End to the Year
Well the start of the month was pretty calm, just the same old working and hanging out with friends. Well, I should add that I talked to my cousin Melissa for the first time in a long time, and found out she was living really close to where I work in Indianapolis now days. So we meet up once and had dinner at Fazoli’s.
On the 12th I had my first family diner, with my Dad’s extended side of the family; we had it at the country club. It was nice, these always feel weird as having them at the country club doesn’t feel like a family get-together, but I’d say this is one of the best ones we have ever had there.
The next day however I was on the road to a training class at work for a full week in Lexington, Kentucky. To be honest, I thought I would hate this… but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit actually. (some pics can be seen in the post about Howie in Lexington) My classmates where a pretty cool group of people and the class ended up being a nice relaxing break from the “real world”. I actually ate a ton of food down there since we had 15 bucks to spend on dinner and they catered in all of our lunches, it was pretty nice, as I even got to be a big tipper a few times as I always wanted to spend the full 15 dollars. The last night we went to this pizza/arcade place which ended up being a fun thing for our group.
Funny thing is that we got a snow day from the classes even because Lexington had a small ice storm on Wednesday night… but it wasn’t bad at all… in fact we rode around with a guy from Florida driving most of the time, just to give you an idea on how bad it was…
The Saturday after my trip I hung out with Steve and a few old friends to play some games of Risk. Steve wanted us to meet his new girlfriend Macy, so he arranged this gathering. He must really like her as he never wanted me to meet any of his other girlfriends. She is nice, and things went well… though she totally had him under her control in those games of risk.
After getting back from classes I had a week of work until Christmas, I ended up finishing the audiobook “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair this week, and really must say it’s been my favorite audiobook thus far this year.
After work on the 23rd I went with and met my family at my Grandma in Knightstown’s house. Mom, Grandma and my cousin Steve had been making candy all day there. I got there last as I came from work and ate some soup and candy. The drive back was foggy but it was a nice gathering.
Christmas Eve I had to work until 4 pm, which was nice to get off early. Then I came home and opened some Christmas with my family. I got some Tabasco Sauce, The Great Mouse Detective on DVD, Madden 2011, some toothpaste, undershirts, a back-up hard drive and a bunch of other items. As well as giving all of the gifts I had got for my parents and Casey of course. It was a great Christmas and I got way more than I needed.
On Christmas Day we went to my Grandma and Grandpa’s and had dinner and presents with them and my Aunt Pam. I got a new video camera! Since I broke mine while hiking over the mountain in July. (Ok this wasn’t a surprise as Grandma had us buy a present, but I’m happy with it.) Again I also got way more than I needed, and it was a great lunch and then dinner later on. Dad and Mom threw in their picks for who would win the NCAA tourney in March as is family tradition, leaving only Grandpa needing to lock in a team and him lamenting that all of his picks got taken before he jumped on them.
Grandma went first and got Duke back in November; Pam took Michigan State, Casey Syracuse, Me Kansas, Mom Purdue, Dad Ohio St…. Grandpa has until the 31st to make his pick.
Between lunch and dinner Dad and I went to visit my great grandma in the nursing home… and sadly she is in much worse shape than the last time I saw her.
The 26th was my final Christmas dinner this time with my Mom’s extended family. Again a great time, Casey had to work so Derek, Erika and I ended up going back and getting her when she got off work. I got a new tie and then of course had a great time hanging out with family. We were going to play Derek’s version of Purdue monopoly but never got around to it.
I must say it was a great Christmas when it was all said and done, I felt sort of sad and very tired when I rolled out of bed on the 27th and headed into work. I even commented on how I was sad all of the Christmas songs were gone until next year, even though I was sick of them on the 24th. Funny how things like that work out sometimes.
Now all that is left is figuring out my New Year’s plans… and that has been yet to be determined as per this writing.
i'll retain that her and i manipulated each other fairly even that FIRST game...but the second...yeah, i was under her thumb the whole time =\
ReplyDeleteand lol its not that i never wanted you to meet the past ones, they were just bad and not worth introductions.
overall doesn't sound like you had too bad of a year, and i hope you find something to do for new year's! if you were closer to lebanon or wanted to travel i'm sure you could join us!