The Countdown(s) Begin
July 16, 2006
We're officially 6 days way from me being able to say,"So--this is my 30's?"Next weekend's big shindig is steadily become a reality. Yesterday, Batgirl volunteered to help me clean my backyard up for the occasion. At first I didn't want her to since she's done so much in buying supplies and shopping for catered food. However, the task was going to be a tedious one and would probably take a couple of days for me to do alone. With a heatwave coming, the thought of sweating my life away in 90+ degree heat was none to appealing. Luckily, my younger brother (with whom I own and share the house) was around to help and we got the whole thing done. Well--it's not the nicest yard, but it looks A LOT better.
My girlfriend is a hard worker. She was a machine. She even went out of her way to go get her dad's leaf blower a few towns away. I never used one, and that was a site to see as the thing shot off like a cannon and starting blowing dirt everywhere. Eventually, I was able to tame the wild beast and loosen up the dirt and mud caked into the cracks and crevices in the pavement. Meanwhile she attacked any remaining weeds my weed killer failed on, and picked up the leave piles I had raked. After a lunch break, we headed to a discount store and purchased two 10' x 10' canopies. The neighbors must have got a real good laugh watching us struggle with our test run of one canopy. It took at least 20 minutes before we got the damn thing right. "We wouldn't last a day on Survivor," she joked as we struggled with the framing.
This is an amazing relationship. Doing things like this together build strong bonds. The closer we get to the six-month anniversary on the 27th, the more sentimental about it I get. This is my personal relationship record, and it's been so much easier than any of the past failed relationships. We're actually going to do something for my 30th that we talked about on our first date. At the time on that cold January night, July 23 seemed like eons away and something unlikely to experience together. Now--it's just days away, and things get better between us.
Friday night, before we headed out, she showed me the large stock of party supplies that was taking up her sunroom. She's outdone herself. One of my favorites is a large inflatable football cooler that me and the boys can re-use for our fantasy football draft next month. It's very touching to see the effort she's been putting into this birthday party. Even her dad is preparing the pan of sausage, pepper and onions, and her sister is cooking up a pan of kielbasa. Something tells me I may get misty-eyed next weekend when the party-goers are singing happy birthday. Batgirl, the presence of most of my closest friends, and the new job will be reasons for that.
The other countdown going on in my life is the start of the new job. I have five days remaining in my current job that I've held for 4 1/2 years. While it's been a miserable situation for much of the last year, it's put food on my table and allowed me the opportunity to afford a house. When I moved back here from New York City in 2001, I had about $200 to my name, and anything I made on my 401K. I had to move in with my parents while I repaired my financial well-being. I remember going to a Red Sox game on Labor Day weekend that year and not even being able to withdraw the amount of money I needed to pay for the whole day. I had taken a job as an account exec selling advertising time for a local television station, but my salary was several thousands of dollars less than I was making in the same job in NYC, combined with the weekend job I held in Jersey.
By November 2001, I had moved into an apartment that was minutes away from the TV station with two friends. Weeks later, my dad approached me about an opening in customer service at the company he worked for. The pay would be $10,000 more than what I was making for a base salary at the station. Since NONE of the local business owners I was calling on were interested in buying TV time (the economy had hit the skids post-9/11), I decided to interview. Obviously, I got the job, and as what happens with a lot of jobs, time passes and what seemed like a great situation eroded into a hard to manage one. Sure, I've gained a lot of financial stability and valuable experience that allowed me to land my new job, but I no longer feel like the place is a fit for me and what I want to accomplish professionally. It's a dead end. This Friday, I'm officially leaving what looks to be a company headed down a wrong path for one that has become one of the state's fastest-growing. Sounds like the right move to me.
So, yes. The countdowns are on. The coming days' posts will have some "20's nostalgia," no doubt. Turning 30 will truly be the next chapter in my life. It looks like the beginning of it is going to be one of the best parts of the book.
posted by That 30's Guy @ 11:13 AM,
