This is a long post. Not because my 2018 was
particularly interesting, but because I am still sticking to my One October
pact of not writing anything negative. But I do feel I am allowed to be a
little lenient in my YIR post, so here goes.
But I will start on something positive, how’s
that? Because financially, it was an interesting year. I managed to save a
little; enough, in fact, to bring me back to pre-layoff figures – yes, I ended
2018 with the same dollar amount in the bank as I did 2013, two weeks before I
was laid off. Five years to catch up, that’s not bad, considering how long I
was out of work. It was not without sacrifice, however – I neglected both my
health and the health of my car (yep, still no A/C). And I can’t remember the
last time I bought new underwear. And I never go anywhere or do anything
(aside: I recently filled in one of those mental health questionnaires and one
of the questions was, Have you lost interest in doing things? How can I answer
that? It is hard to lose interest in doing things when you don’t do things in
the first place!). I suspect 2019 might be a little more expensive, however –
I’ll probably have to move and I think this is the year for Sammy’s rabies
shots. And I really should consider going back on cholesterol medication. And
I’d really like to visit Denver.
Other financial highlights of 2018 include spending
$232.55 at Target, $181.50 at the Post Office, and $191.42 at the dollar store.
Romantically, it has been another virgin year, but some of my
former paramours had an interesting time. Prettiest Boy in the World moved his
GF and her kids in with him. Not quite sure how I feel about that. And on the
Facebook page of one of my Layover Larrys (i.e., guys I’d hook up with if they
were in town. Oh, this post is about this exact Larry!) there was a pic of him and some chick celebrating their
anniversary. OK, I am not naive – I know he wasn’t saving himself for me, but
what was interesting about this is that this is the first time EVER that he has
allowed one of his chicks to post a pic on Facebook. There they were, in some Italian
restaurant, with a plate of cheesecake with Happy Anniversary written on it in
jam or whatever. Gag. But what makes this, um, interesting? Ironic? A deeper stab
through my heart? - was that they celebrated this anniversary in Las Vegas. In
a restaurant less than two miles away from where I live. Talk about kicking me
whilst I am down, right? (But what is extra funny is that the first hundred or
so times I looked at the post, it never registered that they were in Las Vegas
(I do not like Italian food so I am not familiar with names of Italian restaurants
in town). It was only on a holiday weekend when I was not in the best of moods (duh)
and I had been imbibing a little (a lot) and I was reading through the comments
and one of them was “We love that place, we always go there when we visit Las Vegas.”
FML.)
And another former conquest died. Younger than me. Such a shock.
I am not sure what the cause of death was (although I have a suspicion). I have
the email address of a friend of his and I have written an email asking him for
details but I have yet to send it. I think because if I do, it will make it
official, and I want to go on pretending for a while that he is still around.
He was one of those guys that I always thought I would hook up again with at
some point. And, oh, wow, how we met – not a meet cute at all, but a meet hot. We
worked in the same building and one time we were alone in the elevator and got
chatting and I saw that he had pressed 6 on the panel and so I asked him what
he did on the sixth floor. He told me and just then we arrived on the sixth floor.
He looked at the panel, stepped out of the elevator, turned around and asked, “And
what do you do on the eighth floor?” And I, sultry AF, with a coquettish raise
of an eyebrow, said “Everything” just as the elevator doors closed. It was
steamy!
What else? Gained zero point two pounds. Got six pedicures.
Stayed at Mandalay Bay on a work retreat, three months after the shooting. That
affected me more than I thought it would. Got a jury duty summons but didn’t
have to go in at all (I was dreading another repeat of what happened last time
- see here). Saw zero movies at the theater. There’s supposed to be a new movie
theater opening up in my driving comfort zone soon, so hopefully that will
change.
Speaking of driving, drum roll please, this year’s mileage was…
1,306. Sad.
(Actual on-Sammy's-life before and after pics!)
What else? Oh, yeah, Craig’s List got rid of their personal ads
section, because of some new sex-trafficking law that could have held them responsible
if anything bad happened between people who met through their site. Ugh. Back when I was inclined to date, I used Craig’s List all the time. In fact there
was a time when all my dates started through Craig’s List. I guess if I had any
libido left I’d be upset but, as it is, well, meh.
Oh, and the P.F. Chang’s across the street from me closed. This
was super depressing, because it had the earliest happy hour start time. On the
days when I did happy hour (usually the day before a major holiday) I would
start there and time it so that I could get at least two (maybe three) drinks
in and get the check taken care of in time to walk to the Bahama Breeze just
down the street a little in time for their happy hour to start. Now I am forced
to go to the local casino for their happy hour which is pretty pathetic (only about
three or four choices). That is extra bad because I am sometimes temped to sit
down and play a few hands of Blackjack or a few rounds of Craps and, OK, OK,
last time I did this I did win $50 but still, stupid P. F. Chang’s.
OK, so not too negative.
And I will end this YIR with a
highlight of my year. Thanks to a very generous birthday present from PLL, I got
my DNA analyzed. This was cool on so many levels, not the least of which is that it confirmed
the fact that I always knew I was Jewish:
