The lives of the unemployed, and new ventures

Yes, I have been officially "unemployed" for about a month now, and I love it. Sure there are times where I would rather be working and more productive (as well as making money), but it was something that Jen and I were praying about for months and needed to do. Not everyone can be so lucky. I'm currently volunteering/interning/whatever you wanna call it for Jennifer's work, Housing Greensboro Inc., which can be found here. Basically, I'm just writing up a functional newsletter highlighting the successes of the organization. What makes this really great is Jen's spectacular boss, who is really more of a mentor figure in my mind. He's a great Christian man that is gentle and loving to the people he serves, and serve he does. He is not one to consider his employees "employees" but people he does life with. This is my impression at least.

One thing I have done lately is search out new career opportunities, which is a big factor of me leaving as an insurance specialist. It's given me time to work out as well, which I've appreciated, as well as praying and getting in the word, which I rarely did when I was in my old job. Granted, it was more of my mindset at the time than the actual time I had for it. I'm hoping that this time, however long or short it may be, will give me time to pursue things that matter, and not just let things fall by the wayside and pursue mediocrity in another mediocre job.

Which brings me to this topic. I hope I will also be more consistent in things, blogging being one of them. For anyone who knows me, they know that I'm not at a lack of interests. In fact, I think I have perhaps to many interests that I don't really know what do with them half of the time. I know that I want to capitalize on some of them, and that some of them I can probably do without (going back to school for a music ed. degree? not very feasible at this time). The longer I am not in pursuit of TRYING out the gifts God has given me, or at the very least the desire he has given me, the longer I'll remain in pursuit of mediocrity. Mediocrity does not include having an interest or job that someone else may deem boring mind you, but is more accepting rags, when God wants you to experience him elsewhere where the Holy Spirit can guide your gifts to His glory. I hope I can achieve that.

In this case, I am going to make a new blog. This will be a blog about the writing process, my writing process specifically, as I attempt to tackle one of the hardest things I could ever imagine doing. And one that I imagine will have a lot of naysayers (including myself!). I'm not fantasizing about worldly fame or anything, or that this could get made. I am going to try to write a screenplay. I've been reading some books on the topic lately, and feel that this is the perfect time to try my hand at something I've envisioned for years doing! I don't fancy myself an accomplished writer, and no, school papers don't count. It'll be difficult, but the first thing I'm going to do is just get through it. This blog will remain in tact (for whatever purposes I might write in it time to time).

So the question remains, can I do this?

Sheesh.

It's been a long time. Nearly five months, to be exact. Really to be approximate, but who's counting? My mom asked me last night when she called to wish me a happy birthday (28 btw, more on that later) if I've been writing in my blog lately. I said I haven't in quite some time, but that I probably should. I'm a pretty creative person, or at least I used to be/think I was. I've had a lot on my mind the past few months. It's pretty well known that Jennifer and myself have been looking for other work for quite awhile, with little avail. There was a stint where Jen worked with me at my job (Cobb Chiropractic), and is now working on her portfolio. Pray for her in this time, more than you would for me, because that is far more stressful than tweaking a resume. But anyway...it's not very often I get to just sit down and think about what I've learned about life and where I'm at. I do, but it's in a more progressive mind-frame, whereas I do need rest and reflection from time to time. I was given a raise today and a promotion, but I wasn't excited about it, I more or less thought of what I'd rather be doing. While I'm 'happy' I am given more financially, it doesn't satisfy me at all in the realm of feeling like I'm making a difference in the world. How many people really make a difference occupationally though, other than the obvious examples of full-time evangelists, philanthropists and people of that ilk? I guess I expect too much.

The good news is that I saved $200 by switching to Geico. Okay so not really, but I have had a great birthday week. I love my wife so much that she puts up with me and is actually excited in return when I declare this week my "birthday week." No, not just Wed. January 5th, but the whole week. It doesn't help that December was spent eating more than I should, this week I did a little bit of the same. And a lot of it empty calories at that. We went to a good new restaurant in GSO called Bin 33. The salad was really good, and parts of my meal were scrumptious. I had the scallops with some fennel and citrus, but I don't care for onions or olives much, so that part of the meal I didn't touch. It was a huge place, and at first I thought we were going up to the 11 billionth floor, but no only the 2nd. Afterwards we went to Ben and Jerry's, which no meal should be complete without. Good times were had by all, er, both.