How I Spent The Twenty-Fifth Week Of The Rest Of My Life

Today marks my two month anniversary in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.  But in no week have I felt more like I lived outside the city.  The problem is, of course, the holiday that we're about to embark on.  The fact that it's kind of a big deal around here is fun.  The fireworks over The Mall are supposed to be pretty amazing.  And Manassas is all dressed up in bunting.  But I can't get to any of it since I'm still stuck jobless and carless in a place where the buses don't run on holidays.

Though this is keeping me out of trouble, it is putting a crimp in my social life as well.  I'm actually renting a car next week to go to the nearest beach.  I don't know exactly where that is as of yet, but once I figure it out, I'm there.  I was renting it to see my first concert, but that has fallen through like so many other things as of late.

It's all just more impetus to continue on the job hunt full speed ahead.  I took a small break when I went to New York City and then earlier this week.  But I am back at it full force and just applied for a position at the Department of Labor that I'm qualified for yesterday.  It's a customer service position.  It's sad that I have let my skills atrophy so much that it's the only thing I'm now qualified to do.

At least I'm qualified to do something though.  Though apparently not much.

Here's how I "spent" last week:

TUESDAY, JUNE 21 ($31.48)

• 10:08 a.m. T-Mobile - $18.18.  In my drunken stupor on my last night in New York City, I somehow lost my phone charger.  Since I needed to call unemployment, I didn't have much of a choice but to get a new charger.  It took them forever to wait on me though so I didn't get a chance to charge my phone much.
• 4:26 p.m. Safeway - $1.59.  One thing that I was glad that I did was get a couple of bagels on the street before I left New York City.  The driver of the bus didn't let us out at the gas stop in New Jersey officially.  But I didn't get a water.  It was hot when we got back to D.C.  This was necessary.
• 4:53 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  The funny thing was that this Starbucks was on New York Avenue.  It was my first chance to fully recharge my phone.
• 5:44 p.m. Union Station - $7.71.  It was a really bad idea to eat Taco Bell when I was feeling hungover.  But I did it anyway.  That was one of the longest train rides home ever.  But at least it wasn't on a bus.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22 (Free)

THURSDAY, JUNE 23 ($25.54)

• 7:18 p.m. Subway - $5.71.  I didn't feel well enough to leave the condo the day before, but I had run out of food so I had to.  Since people had warned me that I was about to spend a lot on groceries, a cheap sandwich seemed the best option.
• 7:34 p.m. Harris Teeter - $19.83.  This is supposed to be the most expensive store in the area.  The fact that more than my Aldi bill only got me food for the weekend would seem to back up this fact.  But they have really good brands.

FRIDAY, JUNE 24 ($10.53)

• 11:30 a.m. Potomac Mills Mall - $6.53.  I decided it would be cheaper to eat "lunch" at the Sbarro in the mall than to eat downtown.  Spaghetti isn't a bad breakfast, I guess.
• 1:18 p.m. National Building Museum - Free.  This was the last day that the National Building Museum was free, so I had to take advantage of that fact.  I had planned to do more while I was there, but a docent talked my ear off for a while.
• 4:02 p.m. National Museum of the American Indian - Free.  Since I was in the area, I figured that I'd compare the Washington D.C. main branch with the New York branch I had just visited.  Not surprisingly, the New York branch was more artsy.
• 4:59 p.m. Starbucks - $4.00.  This is the Starbucks that is closest to the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services.  I want to drink at this Starbucks a lot in the future.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25 (Free)

SUNDAY, JUNE 26 ($18.28)

• 1:55 p.m. Walgreens - $6.28.  I was out of razors again.  I can only imagine how many razors that I'm going to go through once I'm actually employed.
• 2:15 p.m. Amici's Restaurante - $12.00.  My security deposit finally arrived from Chicago the day before.  My landlady had taken $150.00 out for cleaning, but that was fine.  I still had money to get a buffet and it was nice.

MONDAY, JUNE 27 ($22.62)

• 11:10 a.m. County Center Owners Association Clubhouse - Free.  Since I had a long day ahead of me, I figured that I needed to get the blood pumping.  I really need to start going more than once a week.
• 1:06 p.m. Taco Bell - $5.62.  I decided to spend pretty much my entire day in Manassas.  So I made my way over to "my" Taco Bell and had lunch before seeing a movie.
• 2:04 p.m. Manassas 4 Cinemas - $7.00.  Originally, I had no plans to see Super 8, but my companion for the evening had seen it and loved it.  It scared me a bit and I had to suspend a little bit too much disbelief.
• 7:14 p.m. Magic Putting Place - $10.00.  This was the most scary round of mini-golf of my life.  My hands wouldn't stop shaking.  What I learned is that mini-golf is not the most conducive way to get to know someone.  Otherwise, I don't want to talk about it.  Guh!

So that's $108.45.  This week might be even less since I barely left the condo.  Who knows.  I may find some way to spend a lot of money tomorrow or Monday, but I heavily doubt it.  In a way it's good since my bank account is back to comfortable levels again.  Maybe another week of locking myself inside would be good.  Or maybe not.  At least I've got my day at the beach on the horizon.  My total money spent since I've been unemployed is $5127.36.