Unemployment Checks and Roommate Notes

I haven't been getting my unemployment checks yet, but today I was able to call and settle things. They have this thing...if your social security number ends in certain digits, you have to call after certain days. For me, this is Wednesday. I have an incredible amount of respect for the people who work at the unemployment office. Every time I have spoken with them, they have hung up cheerily, optimistically, and wishing me "good luck" with my job search. I understand that you just can't tolerate negativity in your employees when they deal, on a day to day basis, with people who are potentially depressed or even suicidal [because they just lost their jobs], but it's still incredibly refreshing to be the idiot on one end of the phone instead of the other way around (I filled in my form incorrectly last week - oops).

Oh! I had a dream that this boy, Carl who I knew in middle and high school, had called me "just to chat." This is far outside of the realm of reality - in fact, the last time Carl and I spoke was when he humiliated me in front of his orchestra pals because I owed him 35 cents. I learned an important lesson about a) the difference between asking jerks who sit next to you in section to lend you money for the vending machine and asking friends to lend you money for the vending machine, and b) the difference between asking if you can "borrow" something or if you can "bum" something. Also c) the importance of ascertaining which category the person falls into, and if it's the first - pay them back the very next day, otherwise that's when they'll take the opportunity to yell and then laugh at you scornfully - no mercy! Anyway, it's no secret that we didn't like each other, even though were were almost-friends in middle school. He's still in contact with some people from HS that I know, but they run in different circles and it's not a problem. Last Carl was in my life it was as a ghost - years ago at a summer concert where someone admitted Carl had spread a particular rumor about me to the entire group. It was true, but I kept cool as a cucumber and neither denied it nor admitted to it. I just kind of stood there with "a look" on my face (I have so many looks...and yet only one - it was one of those).

This morning, Alisa left me a note on our whiteboard: It's a beautiful day outside!! Take a walk, go for a run, take some pictures!

*smiles* Thanks, Alisa. I will. Again - only confirmation that I won the roommate lottery, and also a glimmer of hope that Dusty wasn't lying when she told me "I know it sounds cliché, but sometimes things really are darkest before the dawn." Things that make me genuinely smile are rare these days, but they're still there.

Now Reading: Everything is Illuminated by Joseph Safran Foer
Now Listening: Switchfoot - This is Your Life
Now Knitting: SOCK!!
Now drinking: Hazlenut Creme/Harvard Blend blend coffee - the *perfect* cup of coffee