I want to thank everyone who has jumped into this discussion of how much we’re all thinking about sex. It has really helped me because Nick and Tony’s Italian Restaurant closed on December 22 and I haven’t worked since. Depressing. But our discussion of erections and stuff has made me laugh and given me something to look forward to each day.
Restaurants America has made good on their promise to find jobs for all the servers they laid off last month, but I seem to have fallen through the cracks. Everyone else is working at their new jobs, except for me. I’m telling myself it’s because I was the last one hired, I’d only worked at N&T’s for three months when they went under, I have no seniority and eventually I’ll be placed, too. But it’s hard to have no place to go every day. I’ve filed for unemployment for the third time in four years.
A couple of temp agencies I’ve applied to have work for me, but I dread dread dread going back to office work. I just don’t want to. I want to keep waitressing. I’ve been putting off the whole office thing while I keep calling Restaurants America, I keep calling, I keep calling to find out where I’m going to go. The biggest possibility right now is that I’ll end up at one of the Bar Louie’s in town. I hope so. I’ll take anything at this point as long as it’s a restaurant (and yes, I’m also looking for other restaurant work, but January is THE worst month to be looking for restaurant work in Chicago). I just need to work. It’s not just a matter of rent, it’s a psychological need. These days I’m waking up at 5:00 a.m. unable to fall asleep again (a sign of depression). So I’m not getting enough sleep at night, but these days an hour and a half nap in the afternoon is no problem!
The only good part of all this is that each morning I go to Bally’s, since that’s the only place I have to go every day. My usual 45-50 minute workout has stretched to 90 minutes. Then in the early evening I go back for a 60-minute exercise class. It gets me out of the apartment. It’s great for losing the extra pounds I put on during December. And it gives me the endorphin rush that helps my mood: physical exercise is critical when I’m fighting depression (as I suddenly am). It’s unemployment weightloss! Soon I’ll have to ration my groceries even more strictly and then I’ll REALLY reach a whole new level of fitness.