Long Days, Short Nights

About School, Work, and Sleep

Days aren’t nearly long enough, and nights seem to pass to quickly. My days are filled with an endless predictable repetition that almost makes me hate it here in Grand Rapids. Mondays and Wednesdays, I work eight hours (not a big deal). The significance of these eight hours though is the tricky part to get past, in my opinion. You see, I don’t feel as thought my job is really worth anything… let me rephrase that. Every day I go to work, I head into the dealership tired from lack of sleep the night before. It’s not so much that I just don’t go to bed in time (it is that…but not all that). It’s because I literally to not have enough time during the day to complete all of the tasks that are expected of me, and the backend of my responsibilities just drag on into the night half the time. Once in a while, I’ll take a well deserved break from my studies and play Worms 2: Armageddon with the roommates for an hour, but that is the only “break” I get every day… but now I’m a little off track… where was I? Oh yes, working… I arrive at work tired, clock into the computer system, and then immediately head out into the parking lot to see if there are any cars that are missing stickers on their windows. The average person likely wouldn’t know this, but those stickers are not only crucial to maintaining the business of all auto dealers nationwide, but they are also LAW in most states. Dealerships get fined up to $10,000 PER VIOLATION for not having a Buyer’s Guide sticker on display in a car for sale on their lot. With that being said, you may say “Well, it sounds like your job is very important then Charlie.” – Well, you’re wrong if you look at the big picture. I’m not on this planet to help out a car dealership. I want to make a difference in the BIG PICTURE, not just the little business there that wants to sell used cars. My activity at work is essential to the business yes, but all that is is job security… it’s not happiness. I would really love it if I was happy with my job, or at least looked forward to going everyday… hell, forget even looking forward to it. If I could simply leave my job at the end of the day knowing that I did great things, or at least ONE thing to benefit the big picture, I would be satisfied. Not only that, but I’ve got very little time to study, often losing 3-4 hours per night playing catch up. The only reason I can write this blog is because I just happened to have an easy night tonight, and can afford an hour to do it. I feel as though I need to make time to do it. Instead of therapy sessions… I’ll just write everything I think down here. This is certainly cheaper, and God knows I can’t spend any more money right now. My car payments are about to eat away at whatever shot I would have had at going to Vietnam next summer… There has to be a way to save up… there has to be a way.]]>