It's August. I've been here for officially over a month. I have a shit job, a decent apartment, and a good roommate. And a dog (I am a cat person).

My biggest issue at this point is money and finding a permanent job. I've done a TON of searching but no luck so I don't know what to do. I'm applying to some local independent bookstores as well. I feel like that could be fun, and I wouldn't be sitting on my ass all day in front of a computer. At the same time, my pride kicks in and reminds me that I have a degree from a damn good school so I shouldn't be working bookstores. Either way, there really isn't room to be picky at this point. I have bills. Last weekend I helped G's parents at their gun show (hahaha) and made quite a bit for the weekend, and there's another next weekend, so it's alright. I'm living paycheck to paycheck and I need to learn how to control my spending. And anyway, if I do end up at a bookstore for less than I'm making now (minimum wage in this state is cringe-worthy), at least I'll have the comfort of knowing that something will come in every two weeks. This job ends in September and that makes me nervous.

I'm still avoiding my parents calls and voice mails--deleting them right away. I do feel guilty. I've planned four different emails in my head but I have to actually DO it.

I've made a friend. It's a PATHETIC sentence to say but tonight I went out for movies and drinks with someone from work. I absolutely could not afford it but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity. She also brought me all of her U2 albums--just about their entire collection, minus one or two albums. I am thrilled beyond belief.

What should I say? I still feel like this is surreal. An entire month has passed. It went by both quickly and slowly; so many things happen during the days but at the same time I feel like I'm not doing anything productive at all. I want to go back to school. I belong in school. This working fulltime thing is not for me.

Living together has been surprisingly easy. We have tiffs about doing dishes and where to leave the laundry. The apartment for some reason is falling apart though. Now the dryer isn't working. We put in a load yesterday and ran the machine, and the clothes were still wet. So, we did it again, and the clothes were still wet. We've called the management and hopefully they'll just replace both the washer and dryer. They mentioned doing that earlier when the washer flooded, so maybe this will be it.

Anyway. Job hunt--biggest worry at this point. Goddamn economy.