Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Grind

Life goes on, and while it's a slow phase as concerns getting to where I want to go, I'm content with everything because of my confidence that there is value in everything that is happening, whether it is something I make happen or something that happens to, for, or around me. In the meantime, I'm putting in the groundwork to do well at my workplace so that if and when the opportunity arises, I could move up and earn more money than the bare minimum wage. My manager told me that he'd asked his bosses "what is the maximum raise I can give someone?" Their response: "Maximum? Don't you mean minimum? Why do you want to give someone the maximum raise, lol?" As it turns out, it's only $0.20. The expectation is, if you're good enough to warrant a raise, you're not going to stay at regular crewmember status and just get 20 cents in raises every 6 months, you're going to get promoted up the ladder, which carries with it bigger raises--and heftier meal discounts. It's a waiting game, but it doesn't mean I'm idling in the mean time. I'm putting in the hours, literally and figuratively, to build up what I need to in order to be prepared for the next phase of my jolly little life-experience. 

Church-wise, perhaps you guessed that my last post about young married couples was related to that. Correct. Another musing: I suppose a "beautiful couple" is one where both the man and woman are attractive people? But more than that, a harmonious (beautiful) relationship is probably strongly implicit in that designation. Otherwise it would just be a "cute couple," I suppose. Of all the random times for me to attend, I had popped in to see the budget meeting, but I was late by two weeks. They were simply getting a quorum to vote on it. What happened after was more noteworthy. The pastor announced that he was leaving to go to SC, and everybody gathered around him and his family and prayed, and more than a few people got teary-eyed. So it turns out that I've come around at an interesting time. One of the assistant pastors who's going to seminary is likely going to become the head pastor soon, consequently. The guy who's the youth pastor had talked to me before, and now in my hearing spoke to another guy (the husband of a girl I knew from school--7 months married, 6 months pregnant :D ) to say that he was hopeful that more people would be taking leadership roles soon, to lead Bible studies, etc. He had 'interviewed' me a couple of weeks ago, and the essence of the meeting was that he seems to think I'm ok theologically, and recommended me attend the membership class that starts in January, because as a matter of 1 Thessalonians 5:22, the reasonable church policy is to keep adults who are not parents away from the youth in the youth ministries. This is because if a person is not a member, then 'church discipline' can't be done on them. They're not under that contract. Further, a legit background check is done on anyone who will work with the youth. I wasn't quite anticipating being ushered into that--the youth pastor guy, who's 28 himself, frankly seemed eager. xD But I wouldn't have any problem with it, and I think I could be 'of use.' I remember my time in the Boy Scouts. I'll have to tell of those stories at some future time on the blog. 

I got a ton of stuff done today. Very pleased with myself. Washed all. the. laundry. And the kitchen is spotless--or at least it was when I left, who knows what my brother's done to since I've been out, haha! He has a tendency to not wash bowls he microwaves eggs in right away, and it leaves a residue that's hard to scrub out and the dishwasher is useless on. I have had some experience with different cleaners at work and made the decision last week to buy a spray bottle of bleach of my own initiative, and it made the floors look beautiful (linoleum. I didn't use it on the wood). My mother is coming home after having been away for a while, and I definitely appreciated the experience of having to budget my time so that I could manage living essentially alone without letting things pile up and not get done. I think she'll be pretty pleased with the house she'll walk into this evening.

I ate at Chick-Fil-A today (to be polite. You don't just use wifi without getting some food). I decided to leave a nice comment for a few of the staff members on CFA's website, to "pay it forward," since I know personally that nice compliments like that can make you look good for your managers. I spent the day "internetting," and even had the time for 3, count-em, 3 blog posts, haha. No 3 hour time limit like at the library because of the in town parking restrictions. And not to forget, I downloaded some Wretched podcasts that I can listen to at home for my education and edification. And on top of it all, I finished off a "special-occasion-cake" (it's not just for birthdays anymore) to surprise mom with when she comes home. Today will go down in recent history as one of my most productive and satisfying ones yet. Despite that I still haven't done any further career-searching to date. But now might just not be the best time for it, after all. So I'm trusting and praying. Life is good.


~ Rak Chazak

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