One of my goals in moving in to my office was cutting expenses. In following through with this goal, I've been tracking the progress of my food budget since Day One. So I thought I'd provide a little mid-month report to let everyone know how I'm doing on that front. I aimed to remain disciplined with my meal costs so I could both save money and learn more about just how much my new lifestyle would cost. I'd never tracked my meal expenditures before, but I determined that before moving out of my apartment I must have been spending roughly $175 per week on food--including dining out--which amounted to roughly $700 per month. This includes regular fresh home juicing and a diet consisting largely of organic, gluten-...
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Dude. The cleaners did not arrive today. Again. It's midnight now. On a Monday. I'm going to kill someone.* - TOH *I'm not going to kill...
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Every other weekend, a cleaning crew is scheduled to come in and tidy up the office. Part of my leaving town for the weekend was to avoid them. The embarrassment and possible whistle-blowing of being caught in the act of sleeping behind my desk on a weekend wasn't my idea of a relaxing time. Generally, the cleaners are scheduled to do their work on Friday evening. I’d even seen them on multiple occasions in the past, back when I used to stick around the office after hours, waiting to work my evening job. Killing time at my desk before my 8:00 start time, I would welcome them and let them know it was cool to work around me. They are nice people, working hard to make ends meet and smiling while they do it. But...
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On Saturday morning I left Linda's at a quarter past 9 and dropped by the office to pick up my backpack. The plan was to spend the rest of the weekend in the Angeles National Forest, where I could camp freely anywhere along the East Fork River, escape the possibility of anyone making a weekend stop into the office, and recharge from the past few weeks of chaos. I packed enough provisions to last me until Sunday night and headed off. The beauty of the Angeles National Forest is that it's so close to the city; one can reach its borders in an hour with minimal traffic. Of course, that's a downfall as well, since its proximity attracts throngs of people on the weekends. The road to the trail was so littered with...
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Linda’s lack of commitment was starting to get on my nerves. After rescheduling two dates and being late to all of them, we had agreed to meet tonight. After messaging her earlier in the day and hearing nothing, I was ready to throw in the towel. I have always valued punctuality and loyalty to promise as a matter of integrity. Simple ethics. If you take the initiative to say you’re going to do something, follow through with it. If you can’t, recognize that and own up to it. What’s strange is that Linda seemed genuinely interested in me. We shared thoroughly enjoyable phone conversations and she always seemed reluctant to get off the phone. I didn’t understand it. Linda was just liberated from the...
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There comes a time in every man’s week when he needs to shower. I stepped into the local Family YMCA, a little musty and heavy of breath, having finished my Thursday with a 12 mile bike ride to my old apartment and back. (I’m still receiving mail there, so I try to go back once or twice a week to collect the good postal news.) Upon walking into the Y, I was greeted by a friendly desk clerk in a red polo shirt. I presented my trial pass and slid through the entrance turnstile. The clerk hadn’t offered me a tour–she looked properly engaged in conversation with a male coworker–so I made my way through the maze-like hallway towards what I believed to be the locker room. This particular YMCA is situated...
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I had to get an air mattress. Waking up on a carpeted slab of concrete is an incredible method for understanding the delicate nature of the human skeleton. The evolution of man must have been most advanced not by the fashioning of instruments and fire, but figuring out how to skin fluffy things to make bedding. How did these early humanoids survive, sleeping on the bare ground like that? Day eight was to be one of grumpiness and joint discomfort. Knowing this, I managed my work day accordingly, leaving the office early for a quick meeting in the South Bay, then stopping in Target for an air mattress. I made quick work of it. The best $29 I’d ever spent--provided the thing didn’t pop. I couldn’t wait to...
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I’m including two entries for Day Six because it was such an epic day. Monday night was another karaoke night with Linda, and it marked the longest consecutive string binge-drinking nights in my life. Even my college days couldn’t compare. I was in rough form, the acid burning through my esophagus, compounding the snare drum headache that reverberated throughout my skull. My body couldn’t have possibly survived this. But here I was. Standing uprig–oh, nevermind, my knee just gave out. Linda and I had left the karaoke bar early the evening before, making our way to a burrito stand for a late-night snack. I was in my best threads and feeling dapper despite my extreme fatigue, many thanks to my ingenuous...
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It was one of those days. Yari and Jürgen called first thing in the morning to say they’d be late. Because of their timing, and since I needed to arrive early to work to unload and properly hide my belongings into the office before my coworkers arrived, this meant that we could not do home orientation. I had this notion of preparing them for every potential issue in person, demonstrating how to keep the legs on the decorative bookcase I’d made from buckling or how to position the car without parking (or causing someone else to park) over the lines. Type A things. Things I now had to let go of having control over. Breathe out. We decide to meet at my office. This seemed like a good idea until Jürgen...
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Tonight will be my last night in the apartment. It has been a scramble getting everything packed and accounted for. Despite my attempts at proper planning and organization, the packing process is always painful for me. I always make a list, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Complete. Shitshow. Earlier this year, my girlfriend at the time, Shani, was watching me pack my belongings for a flight home. On a couple of occasions, I would fancy myself done, head over to the bed to relax with her, and realize I’d forgotten something before I could sit down, explaining that I always had this problem with packing. The third time that happened, Shani stopped me and asked me to sit down. “You know what your problem...
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