Year In Review.
Work took a turn for the better as I got myself out of a glorified manual labor job into more of a self-supervising middle management role at my company. My role is a bit nebulous at the moment and there may need to be some re-focusing in the new year but I'm able to basically run my own days with little or no interference or oversight. Pretty awesome for someone with my lack of formal business or college training. The company itself is doing very well and though I'm slightly the "weird guy" there the job seems safe and stable for the foreseeable future. Making decent money, will be around $35K net, which is fine for me as I have minimal obligations.
The slashing of obligations was a theme of the past year, as I finally got out of debt and now live almost completely within my means; no mortgage, no car payment, no real bills aside from a quarterly Healthy SF contribution and cell phone bill. No credit card debt, though I did get myself a low-limit card at the end of the year to keep the credit rating up. Going to treat it like an AMEX and pay it off every month so no revolving credit thievery. Feels really great to be debt-free and running without any real money worries. There are weeks that I still live paycheck to paycheck but that's more rare now and it's most often savings discipline for Vegas trips kicking in 3-4 times a year causing it.
Social scene unchanged (which is to say pretty non-existent) aside from getting my weekends back and spending pretty much every non-Vegas saving weekend out in the Polk St bars. That differs from before only in the days, I used to have Wed/Thurs off. More chance of meeting an eligible femalien on weekends I suppose. Still no friends to speak of, mainly by choice. Hung out with a guy from work a bit this year but really only to keep him in my pocket as a drug connection. My main "hang out" buddies remain bartenders (meaning I buy and they serve).
Absolutely zero female action this year. The last time I was in bed with anyone was last Xmas in Vegas. Seems the guys who get laid in the City are hipsters, douchebags or married guys, none of which am I, thankfully. None of this really bothers me, I've chosen this lifestyle and my mantra continues to be "I am alone, I am not lonely". Would be nice to occasionally hook up just to remind myself I'm still in the game but frankly I take care of myself sexually far better than any female has been able to to thusfar. At this point in my life I would really only want to enter into a "relationship" with someone if they were something like a best friend. Those don't come by often.
I made the pilgrimage up to the frozen tundra of North Dakota to see my mother this year. It's been half a decade since I had seen her last and likely may be the last time I'll see her while we are both still in good health. She doesn't travel, and there's just no reason to justify going up there when there's nothing said that can't be said over the phone. Had some money left over from the July Vegas trip so I sprung for the $500 ticket and got it out of the way. Family is a non-existent concern for me, I haven't had contact with anyone but her in years and have no desire to.
5+ years on from the heart attack I'm in pretty damn good health. Just had a full checkup a few weeks ago and all the blood work is well below danger levels for cholesterol, diabetes indicators, etc. I'm about 20-30 pound overweight which I need to work on for many reasons (not the least of which being the ability to not sleep alone every night) but I'm going to give that a college try in the coming year. Staying in decent shape by doing the 1 mile walk to and from work 5 days a week, parts of it on slightly hilly terrain. I had a grand plan to get back into tennis this year and got the sticks and the bag and the shoes but have yet to hit ball one with them. Haven't had the motivation to really get into a league or find a partner. Maybe when the weather improves in spring I'll give it a chance. Would be nice to have something resembling a hobby again, and it would help improve the health.
Then there's Vegas. Just 3 trips this year, down from the record 4 last year, but it felt about right. I had a nice, uneventful trip in March (really don't remember much of it) and a better, pretty great trip in July crossing NIN off the concert bucket list. Did well on that trip money wise and was able to fund the ND trip and a new computer for myself. Then had a nice break for a couple months between the July trip and October where I was able to re-acquaint myself with the City and get back into a weekends off groove. Which brings me to the last week of 2014. Vegas trip number 3 of the year is 2 days away.
Looking forward to closing out 2014 in style and having an even better 2015. All things are good and I'm a lucky monkey in this world.
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