Last week I stopped at the Harold Washington Library to browse the literature section and also to begin a tentative and initial effort at looking for wage work. I had my resume and cover letter and references made up from years ago so I updated the resume to include the Art Institute of Chicago as my last place of employment and applied to four places which I found advertised on Craig's List and Indeed. A couple of days later I heard from one of the places, Upton's Naturals, for an accounting clerk position. I talked to a woman on the phone for 10 minutes and at the end of the conversation she asked me to interview with the co-owner later in the afternoon, so I showered and walked 3 miles to west Grand Ave and had a decent interview and then I walked home in the rain and when I arrived I found that the woman who initially called had emailed me and wanted me to send her my references, which I did, and the next day I was offered the position, which I accepted. I begin working on April 15h, well ahead of my planned schedule of leisure which was to continue through the summer and into the autumn. I began applying for jobs this soon because I know it takes a number of months before a job materializes and I decided by putting in a small effort in April I could have everything ready and get some practice at applying and interviewing. The odds of receiving a job offer which I found acceptable on the first day of trying has to be quite high, 1 in 500 I am guessing. So the job gods have decreed I should cut my leisure time short and begin another round of being employed for wages. The negative is I will no longer have my freedom of space and time, while the positive is my savings are still quite healthy for monk standards, sitting at $18,000. My rate of pay is higher than I am accustomed to ($20/hour, after 3 months $21/hour), and with my monk style living habits I should be able to save $1100-1300/month. My intitial work goal is to last six months, until November 1st, at which time I should have $28,000 in savings, which would sustain me for two years without having to work.
The other transition I am passing through is the woman I am living with recently told me she wants to end our romantic relationship, however she is fine with keeping me as a roommate. I have decided that I should be fine living with her in a platonic way and with the lease ending on November 1st I can then decide if I want to strike out on my own or remain another year in a downtown condo living with an ex-lover.
