Quiet Desparation

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desparation" - Henry David Thoreau

Well, if there was a quote that encapsulated my life, that is it. I will fill you in during the next few days, more of a cathartic experience for me and an educational experience for you.

I currently work 60 miles away from where I live. The job is okay, and the people are wonderful, but it doesn't change that I spend two and a half hours on the road Monday through Friday. Why do I work 60 miles away from where I live? Simple. I was fired from the job for which I originally relocated to Atlanta. I lived 15 miles away from that job. However, life moves on and time and tide wait for no man, so I had to find a job. The Lord blessed me with this job two days after I was fired. You can't beat that. The bad news was that my new job pays me half of what my old job paid me.

I work in the car business. The good news about the car business is that the pay is very good. The bad news about the car business is that the hours are very long. I currently work Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. If it is slow, I can take a lunch. If it is busy, I work through lunch. Didn't we make fun of the Japanese culture for over-working? Well, I guess the joke is on us now. So, let's do the math. 2.5 hour commute per day. 10 hours working per day. 30 minutes getting ready in the morning and 15 minutes making lunch and coffee the night before. 7 hours of sleep per night. 24x5=120 hours. I spend 101.25 hours either sleeping, getting ready for work, travelling to work or working. That leaves 18.75 hours per week awake for personal endeavors. Now, 5 of those hours are lunch at work, so what I can do is limited at best. That leaves 13.75 hours during the work week for me. Also consider that my personal time in the morning is 20 minutes choking down coffee. That leaves 12 hours a week during the evening for me, or 2.4 hours. Woohoo. Hold back the excitement.

I will write more tomorrow.