  Tonight, I had a long talk with Kayla about our plans to share an apartment. Sadly, she expressed serious concern as to whether she can afford the financial commitment that an apartment entails. While she's confident that she can afford the monthly rent and utility expenses, she noted that she would be unable to save any money for her graduate studies, which are only a year away.
(...pretty good reason to be concerned, I'd say...) So, she's going to spend some extra time at work to see how much money she earns in the next two or three months, and she said that she'd make a definite decision then. I'm a little disappointed, only because I really liked the townhouse at Sturbridge Meadows. I can't lie, though: I admire Kayla's sense of financial responsibility and planning. It's something that I didn't have when I moved into my own place for the first time, and I'll be feeling the negative effects for a long time. Of course, too, I'm very grateful that she expressed these concerns now , rather than after we'd entered a lease agreement.
So, time will tell. Hope for the best! If Kayla's unable to share the townhouse with me, then I'll probably start looking for a smaller apartment of my own in the Douglas, Millbury, Oxford, or Webster areas. With any luck, I can be on my own by July or August. I also talked to Amanda, my friend from South Carolina, tonight. We haven't had an opportunity to chat for some time, but tonight, she informed me that everything has been going very well for her lately!
She and her boyfriend found a very nice home at a very affordable price, they became engaged during the Christmas holiday, and Amanda recently found out that she's expecting a baby! She'll be due at the beginning of September. (Congratulations, Amanda and Paul!! ) It was just the kind of good news that I was hoping to hear. I had a brief chat with Jennie tonight too. (Tonight was the night for online conversations -- five of them at once at one point! ) She's been busy, but she's doing well. She noted that she ran into Joey and Jim at the grocery store in Webster this evening -- to whom I also spoke today!
Joey was recently promoted at work. Although I'm not entirely sure what kind of responsibility the promotion brings, she was excited to tell me that her pay increased, which is always a good thing, no matter who you are! (Congratulations to you too, Joey! ) She's been hoping for this promotion for some time now. I'm glad to hear that everything is working out. So, today is just about over. Actually, technically, it is over, but who's counting? *grin* I'd been getting pretty burned out at work lately, and my normal two days off weren't enough. So, I called in "sick" today. They must have felt badly for me because they gave me tomorrow off too!
(Don't worry: I worked enough extra hours last week to take today and tomorrow off, and I'll still break even. ) So, Thursday is going to be another lazy day, and then I'll be going back to the salt mines on Friday. And that leads me to me final bit of news. Every six months, the drivers at my bus company can choose new schedules. The process is call "bidding. " Well, I opted to change my schedule with this bid, and I got my first choice! It's all based on seniority, so I had to choose from what was left. But I'd been hoping to get a weekend day off, and I did. My new schedule gives me 50 hours per week with split days off. ...work a few days, get a day off, work a few more, get another day off...
Here's my new schedule, effective Monday, January 12: SAT: Off SUN: 11:30am to 1am MON: 5pm to 1:30am TUE: Off WED: 5pm to 1:30am THU: 5pm to 1:30am FRI: 2:30pm to 1:30am Friends and family are welcome to come for a ride once in a while. If you'd like to know what times I'll be departing on any given day, drop a line! Send me an urlLink e-mail message, or call me when you get a chance. If nothing else, it'd be great to hear from you! Good night! 
