The Weather

Well now, here’s something I never thought I’d say. Not here in Colorado. It’s been raining for days! Not the normal 20 minutes of rain then sun, not even periodic episodes of rain then sun, but almost constant rain, varying from a light drizzle to downpour, and even a little hail. Hail out here, of course, isn’t particularly serious, I think it has more to do with the altitude. Whereas hail back home in Cincinnati usually meant something severe was on the horizon, and you’d best get yourself to some sturdy building, just in case. Just the same, it’s been raining all weekend. I haven’t seen the sun since Friday. Maybe Thursday. Easy to lose track of time when you’re not working. In the seven years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen it do this. Based on what I’ve seen in the news, this isn’t particularly common. Sure, it’s monsoon season out here, but we’re talking about a place where half an inch of rain for the month isn’t all that odd. Part of me wishes it would stop. I know I’ve gone native, because part of me can’t help but say “We need the moisture.”

Surprisingly, my ceiling hasn’t really leaked all that much. I did have roofers come out last month after a particularly heavy deluge. I had my own private waterfall in my living room. The roofers did what they could, but they also mentioned the windows need to be replaced. There’s one in particular, my skylight over my bathroom and upstairs hallway. That one I can see is in bad shape even from 10 feet below. That’s the biggest culprit. Nonetheless, they did what they could and told me they’d come back if needed. Fortunately, the roof falls under the province of the HOA. Unfortunately, the windows do not. One more thing. They must have accomplished something, though, because I’ve yet to experience the same level of drippage as I did before they came. One in the same spot I’ve seen it for years, and one very small leak in the new area. Based on where the leaks are, it’s probably my window. The one in desperate need of being replaced.

Rain does have one fairly universal effect, it tends to bring on a malaise. And for someone who’s already down naturally, it can get pretty severe. But, you do what you can. Soldier on, try to accomplish what needs to be done. Yeah, so far, that hasn’t worked out so good. My third class for the quarter has begun. I have an assignment due tomorrow, and I haven’t even cracked the book, yet. I’m behind in my other two classes, also fairly work-intensive, and I don’t know how easy it will be for me to catch up. I’m going to have to go with “Not.”

This really concerns me, because I do need to find a job. A source of income other than the student loans I’ve been living on since my unemployment ran out and my pension was cashed in. So far, I’m okay, but that won’t last long. My student loan payments are quarterly, and not enough to cover all my expenses. Even if I eliminate all luxuries and semi-luxuries, it’s not enough to pay my mortgage, phone and groceries. I’m constantly amazed, though, at the fact I’ve managed to go almost an entire year without an earned income. Sure, there was some left-handed luck involved, particularly the settlement from my accident in November, but mostly, it was unemployment, student loans, and being cheap. Most of the time.

Despite the fact that I get extremely tense when I feel like I’m going broke, I have had episodes of spendthrift behavior. Not lately, but it’s happened. And to be perfectly honest, one of those episodes was actually necessary, although I still have trouble reconciling that. I went shopping. I realized some time ago that if I wanted to get into accounting, I’d need to add a few things to my wardrobe, things that made me look a little more professional and white collar. Yes, I’ve worked in offices, for major companies. I’ve worked in a corporate headquarters of a Fortune 500 company (Fortune 100, I think). And for that job, I did have to have more appropriate clothing than I do now. Of course, those clothes are long gone. I was in the middle of losing weight, swearing to never see size 26 again. Well, I’ve managed to keep to that one. Unfortunately, I’ll also never see size 10 again. Or 12 for that matter. Hell, I’d be happy with 16 right now. All the business clothes I had back then, had I not given them away, wouldn’t fit anyway. I had to replace them. I didn’t even buy that much. Really, I have about six pieces appropriate for white collar work now, including a pair of slacks that have been waiting to be hemmed for, oh, six months, now. Nothing I can really do about it now.

I need to get to work. I have several assignments to complete this week, as soon as possible. And I have to find some way to ignore the ominous noise I hear over my head, a noise that sounds an awful lot like a huge leak overhead. I’ve never heard that noise before, although that could be due to other noises I usually have, like the television or radio. I know I’ve heard the random thunk here and there, but I attributed those mostly to the house settling. It’s over 30 years old and not built on the most stable of surfaces. I figure in another 30 years, it will have split in half. I’ll be long gone by then. I think, yes, I think I need to find a way to further distract myself from that noise. Nothing I can do about it right now anyway. Besides, it stopped raining. I can see Pike’s Peak for the first time since Friday morning. Or was that Thursday?