The First Days

August 24th was a momentous occasion. My first day of unemployment since when i was living in San Jose in 2013.

There were a couple of parallels there too. I slept in hopelessly, watched baseball on tv and bought chocolates for Laura when she got home. Which had disappeared by the time she got home. It was also seemingly the first run i have gone for since 2013. Every direction I went was uphill, into the wind, somehow. Ugh.

Although i was enjoying being able to relax, i was not as organized as i could have been for the next step. It was inevitable that i would reignite my hated relationship with recruiters and another, less common pet hate - having to format resumes on a MacBook Pro so it would always be compatible. How is that even a thing?

It was a windy, sunny day in Darlinghurst and i hastily made the bed and cleaned the kitchen to stay in Laura's good books before heading for a hair cut and lunch. This was after my run so i assumed i deserved it and hobbled up the hill. The hair cut was over inside thirty minutes. It makes me really pity women how easily men just lope in to the chair, get offered a glass of wine while the clippers warm up and then are out of there before the glass is even half full. Women, on the other hand, sit in the chair all day with aluminum foil stuck to them and watch the parade of the rest of the clientele wander in and out while their hair chains them to the spot.

Lunch was a lovely affair at Lucky Suzie's. Their lunch menu had frequently taken my eye but having a job stood in the way. I walked in the door to an empty restaurant. Turns out the owner refuses to change the menu but the menu is more dinner-friendly. Either way, it is the cheapest way to impress a date. I should have taken Laura with me and told her i booked out the entire place. The prawn katsu sandwich was everything it should be. Simple, juicy, crunchy. They even cut the crusts off the bread! While there some young people who work in the street came in for a coffee and bitch-fest. Complaining about the other cafes and restaurants in the area and saying who was underpaying staff and who were the worst to deal with. As a local, i almost found it as juicy as the prawn katsu.

Being a Thursday i was unable to indulge in some wine or beer given i would be driving to volleyball that night. So i headed home and finished my book with the races on in the background.

Reading was something i have been looking forward to a lot with unemployment. I frequently start more than one book at once and then struggle to get through any of them. I have been reading Death in the Afternoon so long that i think matador's no longer exist. The book i finished, Bicycle Diaries, was a  charming, relaxed travel book by David Byrne of Talking Heads fame. He effortlessly paints pictures of cities throughout the world links sustainability and the importance of livable cities with bike lanes, the art scene and nature. 

Laura came home to a reasonably clean house and we scrounge dinner before our late volleyball game. Unemployment obviously agrees with me as i had been playing hopelessly of late but held my own in a big team win. Looking forward to the weekend ahead. Not that it will be too different to the past couple of days!