57.777

The other night, I saw 57,777 miles come up on the odometer of my car.

I bought it new off the lot; 57,770 of those miles are MINE.

***

Monday I went to a new hire orientation with Mentor Oregon; I have a job. Mostly. I just have to finish some stuff online; my job counselor will help me this afternoon.

***

Tuesday, I got my rent adjusted. Unemployment ended two weeks ago, and no income means no rent; Public Housing is based on income, and I don’t have one for a while. Next month’s rent is now zero, thank god.

***

Wednesday, a furious knocking on my apartment door woke me up. Thank god for these antidepressants, because they woke me up to tell me that my car had been hit in the parking lot.

Oh shit!

I pulled on some clothes and ran downstairs to find that… someone had clipped my rear bumper and left some peeled plastic (most of the car’s rear end is plastic) and a white mark; no obvious damage, other than cosmetic.

I can live with that.

***

This afternoon, my job counselor will help me finish the hiring process online and they can put me to work.

I assume there will be some training first. Learning new things, yay!

***

This is a nation-wide company; they work in 32 states. I asked and they have operations in Brookings, Oregon, and in Crescent City California, 20 miles apart. That fits very well with my Plan B: to go live in Crescent City, where my high school friend says I can stay. Plan B is firming up!

I’ve been in Portland since 1987, with three years in Japan from 93 to 96; a long time in one place.  I can see moving to northern California….

***

Onwards.

*****