Uncertainty is Afoot

As many of you know, I have been without a job for a few months now. If you don't know, there it is. It's all good. I'm hanging in there, and things are pretty awesome, considering.

I can't even count the number of interviews I've had. Well that's not true. I can count them. I've been on 14 or 15 interviews.

And listen, I know I should be grateful about even getting the interviews. And I am! Don't get me wrong. You never know what an interview might lead to in the future even if it doesn't lead to a job immediately. Plus, a lot of people don't even get interviews.

I get all that. I am grateful. But at the end of the day, an interview without a job offer is still a lack of a paycheck. But like I said earlier, it's all good. Financially, I've been fine. I've tightened things up, of course, but I had a plan and I stuck to it. And I have a plan going forward as well.

I've been a finalist a couple of times. I've gotten pretty far a couple of other times. I'm honestly not worried about it. I'm working hard on finding a new gig, and it's going to happen.

Here's the tricky part, though. At the end of July, it becomes fiscally irresponsible for me to continue renting my apartment. My apartment complex requires a two-month move-out notice.

I gave my notice to evacuate my apartment a few weeks ago. I explained the situation, and they said if I find a job I can cancel the notice. But! They have to market the apartment as available. If they agree to rent my apartment out before I find a job, I am -- I believe the technical term is -- screwed.

For those following along at home, here's what that means (and, for that matter, if you're looking for evidence about how ass-backwards my 2011 has been, look no further): there now exists a scenario where I find a job and then become homeless (!).

You can't make this stuff up, folks!

My contingency in case I don't find something before the end of July is to move back to Charlotte temporarily. I will continue to look for jobs in D.C. and move back here when I find one. The fact is this is where I want to be now. I really love living here.

It took me two years, but I've finally put down roots here. Plus, hello; it's a pretty awesome place to live. Never mind the wow-factor of living in the nation's capital, which is significant. It's centrally located to almost everything I want to be near. I can be in Charlotte in six or seven hours. I can be in Raleigh in four or five. I can be in New Jersey in four hours.

Also, I've done the backwoods thing. I've lived in a small southern town. It was charming. Really, it was. But I don't think this is a secret: I'm a city guy. I just am. And D.C. is a great city for me because it's big enough to be a real city, but it's not so big it's overwhelming. It's a knowable city.

Don't get me wrong. New York is absolutely my favorite city in the U.S. It's not even really close. And who knows, maybe I'll even live there one day. But for now, this is for me.

And there are a ton of jobs here. So that can't be overlooked.

But I've got a couple of really promising leads going on right now, and I remain hopeful and optimistic one of them will come through before I have to go to Charlotte or vacate my apartment. It's all good!

Bottom line is this: don't worry about me! I am feeling so, so good. I remain, as ever, totally optimistic that things will work out, but prepared in case they don't. Uncertainty is afoot for me right now, but it will be fine. You know how I roll. I take it as it comes, and I am undeterred.

Besides, all the free time I've had has led to me getting in the best shape of my life; it's led to me writing more; it's led to me playing my guitar more; it's led to me eventually finding my softball team and making some truly awesome friends.

And I wouldn't have been able to go on my nine-day happy bender otherwise. It's the little things.

So yeah. That's all I've got for now.

I'm actually really excited about this blog. I mapped out post ideas that should take me through the rest of the summer. I'm excited to write again. This feels really, really good. Thank you so very much to everyone who reads, and please let me know if you want to know anything! I am, as always, an open book. Plus, Google Analytics tells me more people want to read this blog when I write about myself. So there you go. I can do that.

Check back every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (unless otherwise noted) for new posts. And spread the word!

-BG

Music Post -- Guitar Edition!

In this edition, songs I'm into right now because I can play them on the guitar. When I was a sophomore in college, I decided I wanted to get a guitar. There was a very specific reason for this desire: I wanted to learn how to play Reel Big Fish's version of "Take on Me." Naturally.

This needs to be clear: I am not very good at the guitar. I never took lessons. I can't do solos. I learned by looking up guitar tabs for songs I wanted to play. That led to a decent proficiency in playing power chords -- three- and four-finger chords found mostly in pop-punk music because they can't play any better than I can.

That doesn't make them any less fun though.

The very first song I learned to play was Bush's "Glycerine." It is LITERALLY the same four power chords over and over again. Very easy to pick up.

So! Here is a collection of songs I can play on the guitar. It is not a completely collection. I can play more songs than this. And I make no claims as to how WELL I can play them. Just that I can play them, and they are, at least to me, recognizable. You'll notice, I think, a preponderance of power chords.

Oh, and yes, I did learn to play "Take on Me." Not the solo, of course. And the ska off-beat strokes are rough, but they are there!

The Beatles - "In My Life"

This is my favorite Beatles' song by a long shot. Originally, I thought I'd only be capable of playing the little intro hook at the beginning. It's easy enough. Then I looked up the chords, and it seemed manageable.

It was the fall of 2004, and I imagine Erik was sitting close-by behind me, messing with my drum practice pad. I just played this song over and over again, and sooner or later, it clicked.

For some reason, this is one of, like, four songs I have the ability to sing and play at the same time. Normally, I can't even think about talking while I'm playing (drums or guitar) without botching the words I'm trying to say or playing like Marty McFly when he forgets how to play because his parents' relationship is in jeopardy during the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. But this song I can do. I don't know either.

So there you go.



The Beatles - "Day Tripper"

I stumbled onto this one accidentally. I strummed an open low E, and I thought, "Damn that sounds familiar." Fortunately, "Day Tripper" came on my Winamp (yes, Winamp. It WAS the early 00s after all.) not long after that, and I connected the dots. I looked up the tab for the song and learned the riff. And it is a killer riff. Love it. The rest of the song can be accomplished with power chords (except for the solo, which I, of course, cannot play).



Weezer - "Buddy Holly"

Pure power chord fun. This song reminds me of the 90s. And if you know me at all, you know that's a sure way to my heart. I actually just looked this one up in the past few days. I'd never tried it before, but it's easy enough, sounds awesome and is super fun to play. Win!



Reel Big Fish - "Take on Me"

Ah yes. My favorite song by my favorite band, and the reason I wanted to get a guitar in the first place. Such a fun song to play AND sing. Every single one of you has tried your hand at the falsetto "in a day or twoooooo." Don't even try to deny it. Ska stroke patterns are super hard for me because, as I mentioned, I'm not very good at the guitar. But I try! And it sounds enough like the song that I'm satisfied with it.



Smashing Pumpkins - "Today"

Another one where I figured I could handle the intro hook. I was right; it's easy enough. But the rest of the song is power chords! Success!

My biggest guitar pet peeve is when I find the tabs for a song I want to play, but it requires retuning the guitar -- either all the strings one half-step down, or the low E string a full step down to D. Look, that's way more effort than I want to put into this. I know how to tune it. I can pretty much tune the guitar by ear now, but just give me songs in standard tuning please.

This song is in standard tuning! That was just an unrelated rant that came to mind right then. A great example of a song that's not too terribly difficult to play, but it sounds awesome when you do.



Everclear - "Santa Monica"

Man I loved this song when I was in high school. It was one of the first songs I looked up when I got my fingers used to forming the chords and jumping around the neck of the guitar. It sounded like power chords, and it was.

I have nothing else to say here. Just a fun song to play.



Look at that! Two posts in a handful of days! I think I will try to stick to a MWF pattern of posting. LET'S GO!

-BG

Home Alone

Days 1 and 2 of my inaugural unemployment odyssey are just about in the books. Not a whole lot of news to report.

Yesterday wasn't too bad. I was able to get some cleaning and straightening done around the house -- just a few things I'd been putting off because I was always too busy with work or getting ready for work or relaxing after work. Things look a bit nicer here, so that's always nice.

I'll need to file for unemployment next week and get that process going so I can get some money flowing in until I can find another job. The only problem is I can't earn more than $74 a week before my unemployment benefits are reduced.

I know they're just trying make it so you don't depend on UE solely, but damn guys, if I could find a job that paid close to what I was making before, I wouldn't need to file for UE. It's cool though. I'll figure it out.

For the first time in months -- maybe a year or so? -- I've picked up my guitar again. Not that I was ever really THAT good at it in the first place, but it's good fun. I know a handful of chords, and then there are the POWER CHORDS!

I've just got to rebuild the callouses on my fingers now. Good times. My only problem is this: I changed the strings on it a while back and ever since then, I can't get the damn thing to stay in tune for more than a few minutes. I have no idea. Still fun though. I've almost got "Day Tripper" down in its entirety (minus the solo, of course as I'm a terrible soloist).

I don't know -- I don't think I'm horrible at the guitar, considering I taught myself just as a side hobby seven or eight years ago. I never set out to become a guitar master or anything. I have fun with it, and I can figure out how to play the songs I like to listen to, which makes listening to them that much more enjoyable.

I also showed Anne how to play the intro to "Day Tripper." It's really not that complicated once you get over the intimidation of trying to play a Beatles' song. She's picking up on it pretty fast too.

So there you go. Two days out of work down, hopefully not too many more to go. But I know how that goes. I do miss my friends at work, so hopefully I will be seeing them again soon.