Estoy Contento

Lately I've been bumming myself out because I think about how rich I would be if I lived at home (or at least in St. Cloud) and wasn't paying this outrageous amount for rent. Even my coworkers think it's way too much, and believe me, I looked for something cheaper. Price aside, this is a great first apartment. No complaints. Perfect size. I really didn't have much of a choice when I moved here not knowing a soul, really. And how many times does the random roommate thing work out?

I had enough on my plate just moving acorss the country and starting my first job. Now that that's behind me, I need to really start to figure out what I'm going to do about my living situation for next year. Once my student loans come due, and God forbid, Mable bites the dust, I'm going to need an extra $500 a month. At least. I also don't really dig the area I'm living in. South O.C. is really suburban and kind of boring. Not that I do a whole lot anyways, but there's just too many soccer moms driving Porsche/Mercedes/BMW SUVs. And here I pull up in my Grand Prix with 288,000 miles on it. I'm hardcore.

Back to my bumming myself out. If I chose to stay in Texas or move back to Minnesota, I would have plenty of disposable income. I'd pay off my student loans in less than two years. I wouldn't have to clip coupons and pay $3.14 for gas regularly.

But, alas, I realized I have nothing to complain about. I live in a great part of the country. The weather couldn't be better. There is tons to do with Los Angeles an hour north, San Diego an hour south, Vegas 4 hours east, and oh yeah, lots of stuff right here in Orange County. I have enough money to pay the bills on time, eat, and still manage to have a little fun. I know it will get better. That's a fact. I need to stay patient.

I have a great job. I think that's something I realized in the last couple of weeks, too. I've been there 4.5 months now, long enough to sort of not feel new anymore. I've seen the progress I've made in that time, and continue to make. I'm enjoying the traveling I get to do. I really love the people I work with. That's probably the most important part. I'm pretty sure they enjoy working with me, too. Which is good, when you're stuck in Alabama for a week with the same people from 8am-8pm every single day.

One thing I do need to do is make some friends. I've put it off, mainly because I feel like my coworkers are my friends. Sure, we don't really do much outside of work or on the weekends, but we travel enough, that when you've been with the same people for a week or more straight, you kind of like to not hang out with anyone for awhile. Alone time is good, too.

Still, I'll need to make some non-work friends. It's going to be hard to get involved with something once January rolls around though. I'll be on the road pretty much every week for the first quarter of 2008. I thought about getting involved with something before then, but I'm going to be traveling for work pretty much the next 6 out of 8 weeks. Then I go home for Christmas.

I'm not complaining that I don't have a life. I quite enjoy being a homebody. Especially when I need to really buckle down and study for that CPA exam looming over my head.

Okay, that's enough of that.

I'm going to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Kansas starting Monday. All alone. It's going to be a good time. I'll hopefully have updates throughout the week.

Until then...