Wow. Ok, so it's been 10-1/2 months since I stopped writing in this journal, after less than a month of doing so. As I noted in my very first posting, that's a pretty typical pattern of behavior for me.
So, back then I was:
- in my eighth month of unemployment;
- just beginning the process of being tested as a potential kidney donor for my father;
- dealing with a dead refrigerator, computer monitor, and expensive car troubles;
- and single.
Well, then, what's happened since then?
Plus Column
- I did find work, last August, with the federal government. I'm not really sure whether that really belongs in the plus column, though, except that it pays the bills.
- The new refrigerator and computer monitor continue to work fine.
- Did not get a ticket for my first-ever fender bender (see below).
- After being selected as the best candidate to give my dad a kidney, and going through a battery of tests (and way too many vials of blood), two weeks to the day before the surgery was scheduled in January, a cadaveric donor match was located. My dad got a new kidney, and is doing fine, and I didn't have to give up one of mine.
- Made some great new friends from online venues, including some friendships that have moved into real life.
- Had a few dates last fall, and dated a guy for about a month earlier this year, but... (see below)
Minus Column
- The dealer thought they'd fixed the problem with the car, but it returned over the past month, and now they say the engine is so badly damaged that it needs to be rebuilt... to the tune of $3,000 to $4,000. It's only a five-year-old Saab convertible, with just 37,000 miles on it. How in the world does it need a new engine?
- The dishwasher, ballasts for kitchen and bathroom fluorescent fixtures, and the tub faucet in the back bathroom all broke. I still haven't replaced the dishwasher (dead since October) or the faucet. Oh, and the water line into my condo sprung a leak.
- Was involved in my first-ever fender bender, which was my fault. On the plus side, I didn't get a ticket (see above).
- As a matter of karmic justice, I guess, I got my first-ever ticket for turning right on red at a no-right-turn-on-red intersection just a week after the afore-mentioned accident. I didn't deliberately flout the law... I didn't see the sign.
- After preparing for six weeks off of work to recover from having a kidney removed, less than two weeks before I was to enter the hospital the surgery was called off (see above), so I had to go to work anyway.
- ...still single.
