Mr. Jones and me, we don't see each other much anymore
I spent Saturday afternoon digging my things out of storage rooms and doing some minimal packing preparing for next week's move.
Saturday night I drove to 'Kato to visit Joe. I gave him my old laptop and in turn he took me out. We started with martinis at a local jazz spot and the met up with 10-12 friends at a fun little Irish pub for beer and pool playing. It was so nice to just hang out and drink beer with nice normal people. I listened to factory-talk, smoked cigarettes and just enjoyed being around people who aren't labored with the problems of being rich or beautiful.
Joe and I went to Perkins and visited some other fiends, stayed up talking until 3 a.m. and then finally fell asleep. We went to lunch with more old friends this afternoon and then I drove back to Podunk. Nate called and we talked about Angel Season 3 (which he just finished) and our excitement for going to see Starsky & Hutch later this week.
I found a fantastic deal on some great Pfaltzgraff dishes in the classified ads and picked them up on my way back to the cities tonight.
My week is shaping up to be quite busy. Movie on Tuesday with Nate, (hopefully) time spent with Julie, dinner with Rusty on Thursday and Nate's birthday on Friday. Saturday is my move-in date and I seriously can't wait. I'm so excited. I'm hoping that keeping busy this week will make the time fly by.
I've been thinking more and more about what I want to do with my future. I think I've finally come to realize that I do want what I've been tossing around in my head for several years now. I want to work in non-profits. I want to do something that I actually care about.
The difficulty in this has been getting to a place where I can afford to do this. My substantial amount of debt is hampering me significantly right now. My desire not to return to grad school yet is also holding me back.
I need to pay off some debt to even be able to afford to take a lower salary just to get by. It seems strange, but I need so much more now in order to be able to take less in the future. My focus has been on money so much for some time now and I realize that it has not been about materialism but independence and more importantly freedom. Freedom to be able to do whatever I want without worrying about being able to pay the bills. Freedom to do what I really care about. While money is a necessity, I have realized that I really don't care about it. I don't really like shopping. I don't care about having a nice car. (My father picked out the one I have now because I really couldn't care less). I just want enough to be able to do some travelling and get by.
So, I'll put in my time as an office manager and after a few years I'll go back to school. I'll get my master's in public policy (with a specialty in managing non-profits). And hopefully, eventually, I'll be doing something that I feel is a bit more meaningful with my life.
*Sarah*
