Five Deep Breaths

Hello from Westborough, Massachusetts... home of me (for the first time in 6 years).

I'm taking a quick break from the job search to return to my electronic "Happy Place" and, in the process, entertaining all y'all with an overdue trip through my thoughts and ambitions:

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First off, today marks 3 weeks since my sign-off at KVIA. The trip home was therapeutic for me and my father, the sights of which will soon be documented on My Photos very soon. The trip since I've been home (the one back to Employment) has been spent mostly in the seclusion of my living room, scouting job site after job site for employers that will both farm my political passions and develop within me skill sets I'll need to reach the next step up. Oh yeah, and I need to be qualified for them, a minor inconvenience for anyone trying to start a brand new career at the age of 24. I have leads and I'll leave it at that. When the ink's dry, you my Faithful Readers will be among the first to know.

The trade-off for my focus and productivity has been my aforementioned seclusion. I've seen several dear friends only once or twice. Some I still haven't seen. I've declined invitations to a wedding for two dear friends and more than one bachelor party this summer. I'm not happy about it, but I'm damn-near broke and still maintaining mental and physical health. When you're playing Life without game pieces, you have to be disciplined enough to Lose a Turn more than once. I have not, and will not ask anyone for forgiveness... only patience and your best wishes, the same I'd give to any of you.

Being home has been fantastic. I'm thankful every day that I had a home to crash in, food in the fridge and laundry warm in the dryer without me putting it there. I'm glad to live again with my parents and the daily health-related challenges they're facing. It's great to yell at the Sox with them, but I don't know how much longer Mom can take watching a news story while I'm across the room screaming: "Stop walking at the camera. There's no reason to walk towards the... iris down, IRIS DOWN! Wow, THAT soundbyte was worthless. Thanks, old lady sitting in... whoa, jump cut there. He'll never work in THIS town again." But thanks to novelty, Mom seems to be keeping her patience. Speaking of novelty, my wonderful girlfriend isn't sick of me yet. So I got that goin for me... which is nice... I'll spare y'all an ode, but I will say this. I never dreamed I could come home to someone so fun, so independent, so genuinely caring as Kathleen. And to think we didn't even know each other existed 4 months ago. Kat and I are both toasting to you, KASF. Thank you.

Once the dust settles and Jayme's got a new business card, look forward to future blog topics ranging from "My Time in Dona Ana County" to "756: Why I Care That You Don't"

But that's all for now. Back to dumpyourresumeinthisblackhole.com and jobsyoudontwant.org.

Go Sox.
Go Pats.
And go to my LinkedIn profile. If you'd like to invite me into your network, my email is jarubenstein@gmail.com

Have a great weekend. JaRube.