March-April: Bought a condo. Loan application was an exercise in futility given the new mortgage laws that took effect in January. Despite having an 800+ credit score and owning real property in my home state of California since early 1994, when I was 23, I was summarily rejected everywhere I applied, necessitating a tax-unsavvy raid of my IRA in order to pay cash for said condo. Because my divorce wasn’t yet final, I couldn’t even qualify for a home equity loan in order to repay the kitty (even though I owned the property outright and it appraised for $10K over my purchase price!). Ridiculous amounts of time were spent emailing financial documents all over the place, all to no avail. But whatever–I love my new place and it’s already gone up $50K in value, so suck it, mortgage industry.
April-October: Remodeled my condo’s kitchen and bathroom. I should have a Ph.D. in complaining by now. Very tempted to say some horrible things about a certain large home-improvement store and a pricey cabinet maker also known for manufacturing furniture. What I will say, however, is that next time I do any remodeling, I’ll check out Ikea, instead, or explore having a guy from Mexico custom-make my cabinetry.
July: The indie bookstore I was working at (of five part-time jobs, my main gig) was in danger (even more than usual) of closing their doors. The store owners warned me I should look for other employment, since August might be their final month. Taking them very seriously, since it appeared that the property manager was attempting to force them out with strong-arm tactics, I decided to give applying for flight-attendant jobs another shot. Yes, this might sound random since I’m an author who worked in the publishing industry for years, but I grew up in an airline family. Don’t laugh, but my dad and stepmom worked for PSA back in the day. As a kid, I used to wonder, Why don’t all airplanes have smiles on them? But even as a child, I knew those PSA uniforms were something else with their bright-orange go-go boots and mega-short skirts. Anyway, every time my dad went to work for a long trip, my mom was like, “Come on, girls–let’s go!” and we’d be off to Northern and Central California to visit her friends. That said, I’ve flown a lot, and I always loved it, so the thought of working as a flight attendant myself sounded kind of cool.
This time around (I had applied at various airlines when I first left my ex, but with no luck), I decided to list my various volunteer leadership positions on my job history when I applied. Not to sully anyone’s organizational name, but I’ve been a prominent member in all three scouting communities (laugh all you want, but after 15+ collective years as a scout leader, I know how to politely boss around unruly kids–and their parents). And guess what? It worked! I got multiple interviews and job offers!!! I chose the airline with the base easiest to commute to and from my home town (since no way I’m giving up my sweet condo I fought so hard to get/improve), which also happened to be based where my mother and stepfather currently live.
Now, I’m not going to say which airline, since I love the job and don’t want to risk being fired, but I’ll give you two clues, since these won’t come up in search engines: (1) like PSA’s, our planes are “fun,” with unique pictures on them; and (2) we were recently in national news for a certain worldwide-panic-level-virus-infected passenger we transported.
August-present: Training/working/commuting. I’m down to four jobs now, the airline one being full-time, but that hasn’t left much time for blogging (or writing, truth be told). Also, I cleaned up my act a bit on the dating front (yes–that’s a relative qualification, because I’m still scandalously dirty with my love life) and went through a series of more serious romantic prospects. But, oh! The more serious, the worse the heartache! I’ve learned a lot this year about trust and human nature. I was going to say “unfortunately,” but it’s better to know and watch out, moving forward, than be naive, right? At least that’s how I’m spinning it in my mind.
So here we go again!
sluttychristiandivorcee 