Friday, February 15, 2013

February 15, 2013


Another day, another job rejection in Colorado Springs. But the over-the-phone interview I had on Monday with a Randstad recruiter in Missouri has led to another appointment in Austin, TX next Wednesday. At this point I have to move- even if the Texas offer wasn't valid, I don't have enough money or unemployment to keep residing in that motel on the west side of Colorado Springs. So much for attempt #4 to live here. I should know by the middle of next week where I might be working or living. When I do figure out when the Sandy evacuation odyssey from Rockaway ends, I'll resume posting here.



And it's Lent now, which means I had no food on Wednesday and must abstain from meat every Friday until after Easter. I wonder if giving up life in your hometown qualifies as giving up something for Lent? But then 2000 years ago, people were giving up their livelihoods, their families, their homes for something greater- and got ridiculed, arrested, tortured, beheaded, and crucified for it.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

February 12, 2013

I'm still not used to writing 2013 yet, even though it's been more than 6 weeks since the year started. I am still in Colorado Springs (for now), and since the start of the year I have moved twice. At this point, I don't know if I could ever live in a place with roommates again- my last encounter with that resulted in me going back to a FEMA hotel in Briargate on January 4. When the hotel voucher expired on January 12, I moved back to my previous (from 2010) temporary motel lodging on the West Side. Due to financial considerations, I have to move out of there on Sunday the 17th. I could barely afford Rockaway which was costing me $150 a week pre-Sandy. Where I'm staying now is costing me $160 a week, plus tax. I have no more FEMA funding and get $176 every 2 weeks in unemployment.

So much for 3 job interviews that were arranged before I moved back to the Springs, as well as 2 warehouse position offers, 1 call center job offer, 1 stock clerk job offer, 2 applications at 2 different Lowe's, 1 sales job offer from an insurance company (still not sure how they found me, as I didn't inherit the Clarke sales gene), and at least 30 other applications and job contacts since Christmas 2012..

I don't know if I should stay in the Springs after this weekend or go with an offer from my old employer Randstad to work out in Texas.

About the only things I did accomplish since I moved back to the Springs were my first dental visit/work since the 1980s, getting unemployment (although it was based on my last Colorado job because my last job in NYC never bothered to pay taxes or unemployment), and climbing to the top of the Manitou Incline on February 8, 2013.

The above picture were taken from the top of the Incline. I was too busy struggling and praying to remember to photograph my journey to the top, but the first (unsuccessful) time I tried to climb the Incline, I took the following (dated January 31, 2013)..



And something I never thought could happen happened yesterday. Pope Benedict XVI announced he will resign the Papacy on February 28. This is the first time since 1415 that a Pope has resigned. As far as I know, Benedict XVI and Celestine V are the only ones to resign for health reasons. The last Pope to resign (Gregory XII) did so to end the Avignon/Rome schism that threatened to destroy the Catholic Church. Benedict IX resigned twice (one of those times, he was paid to resign), and lived a life so dissolute that it was almost certainly a factor in the Church later mandating celibacy for priests.

So in the next few weeks, I should have a new residence (maybe in Texas) and hopefully a new job, and the Church will have a new Pope, and hopefully Benedict XVI can retire in peace.