Chapter 187: In This Song

Today was a pretty interesting day. It started earlier than usual – I actually woke up at my new alarm time, 7am, and got up and did my normal morning routine. Then, to switch things up a little, I ate breakfast. I normally don’t eat breakfast until after working out but since I was just sitting here and my Mom was still sleeping, I decided to go ahead and eat. My Mom woke up at 7:30am, as usual, and we started the morning workout by 7:45am. We decided to move to the advanced “Zumba” workout for the first time this morning and it was really good. It felt like I a LOT more than our usual workout but I think that is a good thing. It was much more fast-paced and we did a lot more workout in the same amount of time that we were doing before. This program is longer than the one we were doing before, as well, so it was pretty damn intense. It was still a lot of fun, though. I liked it a lot and am looking forward to trying it again tomorrow. After working out, I smoked a cigarette and dicked around with my new Palm Pixi for a little bit, (which, once again, is AMAZING.) I was in the bathroom getting showered and doing hair and makeup by 8:30am and finished by 9am. This left me a little more time to dick around with my phone and such before leaving the house at 9:20am. Normally, we don’t leave until 9:25am or so and just barely make it to work on time. We still just barely made it to work on time today but this time it was because we left the house early to run to Circle K to buy cigarettes. I now have just barely $5 in the bank. Still, I have enough cigarettes to get through the rest of the week and I get paid on Friday. I remember saying when I first opened my bank account that I never wanted to have less than $25 in there at any time. Well, look at me now. Moving forward, I would like to try sticking to that $25 minimum better than I did this week. What’s done is done, though, and I wasn’t about to not smoke for the next few days. Everything will be fine.

So, work was interesting today. There was lots of random joking and fun to be had with my co-workers. There was also a lot of talk about the fact that summer is just about here, and this is typically the time of year when hours start getting cut due to low call volume. Sure enough, our program manager called meetings with all of the teams today to tell us that hours are being cut, (although not TOO drastically,) and to find out our preferences for cutting time off of our schedules. One option that they offered that I hadn’t really thought of before was working four longer days to equate to the same as 5 shortened days. Initially, I wasn’t sure how to feel about that idea but the more I thought about it the more it became enticing. That was the preference that I gave. The program manager told me that it depended on the preferences of everybody else because it is based on seniority and I happen to be the newest hire on our program. I wasn’t sure what anybody else was going to pick but there was really only one main person whose schedule really made a difference – my fellow 9:30am-6pm worker. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do but I was very happy to hear that he did not elect the four-day week option. This means that it is actually pretty likely that I will get it. I am really keeping my fingers crossed for this. A few different people were being kind of discouraging about the whole idea of them giving me that type of schedule but I am choosing to remain optimistic and expect my schedule to be great… and an extra day off would definitely be great! I think, if I do get this schedule, my third day off, aside from Saturday and Sunday, would be Tuesday or Thursday. That would be okay. I really wish it could be Monday, which is my Mom’s day off from now on but that idea was shut down immediately. There is only one other person on my team, that I know of, who is requesting the four-day workweek and she is requesting that Friday be her day off, so I won’t get that. She has seniority and they are basing the schedule preferences on seniority. I am fine with having a day off in the middle of the week, anyway. In some ways, it is actually preferable. I just feel like having a third day off every week would make a major difference in my concept of my job. It would kind of give me an extra day to not have to deal with it and all of the stressors that come with it. So, I am looking forward to finding out that I got this schedule!

Aside from that, it was a pretty laid back day. I wrote my two new songs at work today and they came out pretty well. I also did my singing video this evening, after missing it yesterday. I sang the song “Falling Into History” by Brie Larson. After watching “United States of Tara” the other day, I kept getting different songs from her album stuck in my head and tracked down the album online. I have been listening to it pretty incessantly over the past few days. Speaking of music I have been listening to incessantly lately, I recently downloaded an album by a new artist to the US, named Charice. This is her self-titled US debut album. She is a Fillipina and just turned 18 yesterday, which is pretty insane considering she got to spend her 18th birthday appearing on Oprah. This girl has this really gorgeous album of pop/R&B tracks, including her first single “Pyramid.” which features Iyaz. I really love this album. This teenaged girl from the Phillipines has the most gorgeous voice possible. It reminds me of a mix of one of my favorite Asian pop stars, Utada Hikaru, and Christina Aguilera. It is pretty amazing and the entire album is brilliant. This album is all very catchy and very modern R&B fare. One of my favorite tracks on the album is the second track, “Reset,” which is a song about trying to salvage a broken relationship. Another favorite is the song “In This Song,” which I was immediately drawn to because I wrote a song ages ago with that same title. It isn’t exactly one of those song titles that you hear constantly so I was intrigued. Charice’s “In This Song,” may have the same title but it is very different in theme. Charice’s song is a gorgeous, uplifting ballad, with a chorus that says, “I just sing this song and it takes me right back where I belong…” I love this concept and can really relate to this song. My favorite track on the album is probably the fourth track, called “Nobody’s Singing To Me.” This is also a song I can relate to a lot lately – it is about trying to find answers or inspiration or some sort of sign in music. I have done that for most of my life and most of the time it works. It doesn’t always work, though, and this song does a beautiful job of describing that feeling. The entire album is amazing and I really recommend it to everybody. Like I said, she just has a really gorgeous voice and a collection of really well crafted pop songs.

I spent this evening talking to a couple of my old friends in California who I hadn’t talked to in a while, which was really nice. In both cases, it was pretty unexpected but a very pleasant surprise. One of these friends, in particular, has been going through a pretty major, life-altering experience recently that I wasn’t even aware of. I felt kind of bad about that because I thought we hadn’t talked in a while because I was just lazy and not getting a hold of people but there was a major reason for it. This person seems to be in a much better place now, though, and I was very happy to hear that. I am going to try to do a better job of keeping in touch with both of these people, as well as so many of my friends here who I don’t keep up with near as well as I should. I have always been very bad at keeping in touch with people but I am feeling like it is much more important than I ever thought before. As much as I have tried to act like it wasn’t before, it is very important to me to have and keep good people in my life. I have spent far too long simply dismissing people that were important to me simply because they are “out of sight, out of mind.” That is a terrible way to be. I am trying to change it, though. It can be really difficult to change the way you’ve always been, though. All you can do is wake up every morning and promise yourself you’ll be better, then do everything you can to keep that promise. I think this is the issue that most people have in life – they wake up and make the promise but don’t put in the effort to keep it. I have never been like most people, though, so why be like them as far as this goes?

It is 12:21am and I should be in bed. My Mom and I were both very sore today and kind of discussed skipping the workout tomorrow because she wanted to wash the dishes in the morning. I have thought about it a bit and, as much as I shouldn’t skip working out, I didn’t wind up practicing piano at all today and could really use the extra time in the morning to get in a good amount of practice time before tomorrow night’s lesson. This week hasn’t been the best for my daily musical tasks, honestly, and it’s because I have been so distracted with my silly phone. I mean, I wrote two new songs both days this week but I skipped the video yesterday and skipped piano practice both days. I need to be better about this stuff. I really do. This is another thing that I am going to wake up every morning and promise to myself. For now, though, it is time for bed. Goodnight!