Jesus has risen again, so the gospel says...
Wow, it's been awhile. My computer has been packed up in a box for the past four months, so this is my first time using the internet AT ALL since the first week of autumn. For the few of you who still don't know why I've been offline so long, there's good news to share with you. At the end of October, I moved out into my own apartment! For the first time in countless years, I have an actual bedroom. And an actual BED for that matter; no more couch for me. Little did I know that when I moved into my mom's one-bedroom condo, back in the spring of 2002, that it would take me more than five-and-a-half years to move out on my own again. After about three months here, there's still a lot I haven't done in terms of setting the place up. But man, does it feel good to be free.
I'm living in Arlington Heights, right at the center of it all. Still working at Meijer, unfortunately. But at least home is close to work now, like two minutes away. And my apartment building is literally across the street from Mitsuwa's rear parking lot. As if that place wasn't a second home already, now I can walk there in about thirty seconds. Although funny enough, I've actually been going there a lot LESS since moving into my place. Probably since there's so much more to do at home nowadays. It's rare that I'll stop there on a random weekday anymore. However I still go there for "church" every Sunday, gotta lead my flock. And regardless, it's so nice to have my three most important places be all within minutes of each other. Saves on gas, which means a fillup now lasts for an incredibly long time.
My mom is helping me with a couple hundred bucks towards the rent each month, but that means that she is no longer helping with food like before. I got so spoiled by eating good food whenever I wanted, and now I've been going LEAN for the past few months. Since all of my paychecks now go to the rent, electric bill, car payment, insurance, comcast, cellphone, gas fillups, and all the other bills... there's literally NOTHING left. I have zero spending money of any form. Anything that's left after the bills goes to meager amounts of food. No more music or any other luxuries until I can find a job that pays a lot more. Also doesn't help that they've been cutting back my hours for months now.
Although thankfully, in that brief period just after I moved (and right before I had zero spending money)... I finally picked up an XBOX 360. Mostly thanks to countless Best Buy gift cards I had saved up over the past year or two. It was the first time in ages that I've even remotely wanted to buy a new game system. Aside from the exception of the DS, I pretty much stopped playing video games about six years ago. Some of it was to do with being at my mom's place, and not being able to set stuff up properly. Some of it was because all my money had to go towards music once I finished college (and had to work to survive). And while I'll never go back to playing or buying games in the ridiculous amounts that I did as a kid, I'm glad to be at least somewhat back in the scene again.
A lot of what drew me to the system, aside from it having all the best games, is the way that XBOX Live works. Literally EVERY game on that system has online play of some sort. So on any given night when you can't go out with friends after work, just hop on Live... and play with them from the comfort of your own home. And with the headset on, you can talk with them all the while as well. Then of course 360 has achievement points, one of the best marketing decisions ever by a game company. For a perfectionist/collector personality like myself, achievement points are both the best and the worst thing that could have ever happened. ^_^;; That's fine though, I'm pretty much stuck with the half dozen or so games that I bought back in November when I got the system. I won't be able to afford any new games for god knows how long, not even those ten dollar sale ones we see now and then. I guess it gives me time to really milk the few that I do have.
Back to the point at hand, however, I'm back online. And now with my own place, and the freedom that comes with it, I should be able to come online a lot more often than I used to. I know I've said this before, but I'm determined to make it happen this time. Same goes for MMBBS, I need to go back there and actually stay around for awhile. Although I still always go out with friends every saturday and sunday night (with few exceptions to that rule), I'll probably be home on the weekdays a lot more now. Can't really afford to go out as often. Aside from my trips to either Steve Summers or Chris Punzalan's houses, both of which I stop by once per week. That eats up my gas budget, if not exceeds it. Damn I'm broke as hell. But even as broke as I am, I'm also happier than I've been in aeons.
I'm living in Arlington Heights, right at the center of it all. Still working at Meijer, unfortunately. But at least home is close to work now, like two minutes away. And my apartment building is literally across the street from Mitsuwa's rear parking lot. As if that place wasn't a second home already, now I can walk there in about thirty seconds. Although funny enough, I've actually been going there a lot LESS since moving into my place. Probably since there's so much more to do at home nowadays. It's rare that I'll stop there on a random weekday anymore. However I still go there for "church" every Sunday, gotta lead my flock. And regardless, it's so nice to have my three most important places be all within minutes of each other. Saves on gas, which means a fillup now lasts for an incredibly long time.
My mom is helping me with a couple hundred bucks towards the rent each month, but that means that she is no longer helping with food like before. I got so spoiled by eating good food whenever I wanted, and now I've been going LEAN for the past few months. Since all of my paychecks now go to the rent, electric bill, car payment, insurance, comcast, cellphone, gas fillups, and all the other bills... there's literally NOTHING left. I have zero spending money of any form. Anything that's left after the bills goes to meager amounts of food. No more music or any other luxuries until I can find a job that pays a lot more. Also doesn't help that they've been cutting back my hours for months now.
Although thankfully, in that brief period just after I moved (and right before I had zero spending money)... I finally picked up an XBOX 360. Mostly thanks to countless Best Buy gift cards I had saved up over the past year or two. It was the first time in ages that I've even remotely wanted to buy a new game system. Aside from the exception of the DS, I pretty much stopped playing video games about six years ago. Some of it was to do with being at my mom's place, and not being able to set stuff up properly. Some of it was because all my money had to go towards music once I finished college (and had to work to survive). And while I'll never go back to playing or buying games in the ridiculous amounts that I did as a kid, I'm glad to be at least somewhat back in the scene again.
A lot of what drew me to the system, aside from it having all the best games, is the way that XBOX Live works. Literally EVERY game on that system has online play of some sort. So on any given night when you can't go out with friends after work, just hop on Live... and play with them from the comfort of your own home. And with the headset on, you can talk with them all the while as well. Then of course 360 has achievement points, one of the best marketing decisions ever by a game company. For a perfectionist/collector personality like myself, achievement points are both the best and the worst thing that could have ever happened. ^_^;; That's fine though, I'm pretty much stuck with the half dozen or so games that I bought back in November when I got the system. I won't be able to afford any new games for god knows how long, not even those ten dollar sale ones we see now and then. I guess it gives me time to really milk the few that I do have.
Back to the point at hand, however, I'm back online. And now with my own place, and the freedom that comes with it, I should be able to come online a lot more often than I used to. I know I've said this before, but I'm determined to make it happen this time. Same goes for MMBBS, I need to go back there and actually stay around for awhile. Although I still always go out with friends every saturday and sunday night (with few exceptions to that rule), I'll probably be home on the weekdays a lot more now. Can't really afford to go out as often. Aside from my trips to either Steve Summers or Chris Punzalan's houses, both of which I stop by once per week. That eats up my gas budget, if not exceeds it. Damn I'm broke as hell. But even as broke as I am, I'm also happier than I've been in aeons.