1.31.2008: The last day of January

It's hard to believe an entire month of the new year has passed. I haven't gotten a chance to make any resolutions (not that I'd stick to them).

One thing I've realized about myself over the past handful of years is that self-made schedules or routines simply do not work for me. If I have to work for a company, fine, I'll be there, I'll get the job done. But if I'm working for myself, all bets go out the front door.

I remember a time in high school when I wrote a list comprised of a diet I had to stick by. I wrote that if I didn't, the penalty would be death. However, days later, I broke the self-imposed contract by eating a bowl of ice cream. And since I'm writing this, I guess I didn't penalize myself.

Oh, well.

It really is true though. I feel that I work out sufficiently and am in pretty good health, but every time I've tried to set a workout schedule — for example, every Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. — I've failed. Back in October or November, I told myself that I was going to run stairs at Duke's football stadium every day of the week. That lasted, well, a week.

It's just who I am. I don't consider myself lazy, but rather all over the place, spontaneous. One minute I'll tell myself I'm not eating anymore cookies. Three minutes later, my hand is in the cookie jar — or, more accurately, grabbing a cookie from a plate.

(On a side note, who uses cookie jars in this modern age of technology?)

Anyway, back to my current situation. I think my employment predicament reflects my unpredictable behavior. While most people work 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. jobs or at least a simple late-night shift, my jobs are all over the place. And, yes, I never seem to have just one job at a time. This, basically, makes life like a plate of scrambled eggs.

Currently, I cover Duke men's basketball games, as most of you know, whenever the games happen, which is just about every day of the week throughout the season. I also tutor middle and high school kids — yes, this is a new gig — Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. And, finally, I'm still holding on to one measly dishwashing shift on Fridays from about 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

All of this makes for an interesting schedule. And it's only going to become more chaotic.

What I listed above is barely enough to pay the monthly bills and have a beer at a bar. Not exactly relaxed living. Add in the fact that I've got a nice, large car insurance payment looming at the end of March, and the search for employment — an opportunity that still allows me to keep my current gigs, which I enjoy for the most part — has been rampant.

I've got the art of writing a cover letter mastered. Whether it's for an office assistant in a law firm, a sportswriting gig or a dishwashing job, I know how to write them. (This accomplishment, of course, is not to be confused with writing cover letters that get me interviews and, possibly, jobs.) I have written so many letters, I created a folder on this laptop to keep them all in.

I also have different variations of my resume. They're really not too different, except for the "objective" at the top of the document. If I'm applying for a job protecting the environment — that was earlier this week; I decided against it — I don't want my objective to be "to obtain a position in sports journalism." Yeah, not exactly relevant. So I have three different resumes on this very laptop.

And I never thought this would happen, but the classifieds have been my best friend lately (sorry, J-bo). Every day, I check the Raleigh News & Observer's extensive section, searching for that perfect, flexible, fits-with-my-other-occupations job. Or a dream job — bat boy for the Tigers, food taster in Italy — would work. I'd give up Duke games for either of those.

I've also started checking the classifieds of the Daily Tar Heel, UNC's student paper, and been pleasantly surprised. A week ago, I interviewed for a job as a field supervisor for a recreational soccer league — nothing, so far, has come of that. And I'm in the process of applying to be a weekly babysitter of two boys, 9 and 13, in Chapel Hill. It's a perfect opportunity for me — from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, which doesn't interfere with any of my other gigs. And it would allow me to take (insert TBD girlfriend) to the Chinese buffet once a month. (Or I could buy another beer.)

But, seriously, it would give me a little more financial stability. For now at least.

Anyway, one final note before I sign off and do a little working out — I just got the urge to "ellipticalize." Because of my tutoring work, I am in the process of re-learning geometry. Most students at the high school are taking geometry, and on the first day I showed up, I was embarrassed that I didn't know how to solve some of the problems. So I've got a library book to study, and I already read a good chunk of it today.

Right triangles, interior angles, the area of a trapezoid — it's all coming back to me after four years devoid of a math class. To be quite honest, I missed it a little bit. I'm sure I'd be saying something different if this was calculus, but I think I've realized that I have a soft spot in my heart for math.

Anyway, that's been fun. Revisiting the good days is never a bad thing.

Anyway, I feel like working out, so I'm going to work out. That's just how my brain works.

Peace.