Year In Review

This will be the very last blog post for the year 2009. So, I'm going to do a year in review. As I sit here thinking about the things I have been through over this last year, it's amazing how far I have came. At this time last year, I was literally living out of my car in Burlington, KY. I celebrated New Year's Eve in the back seat of my car. That is how I brought in the year 2009. All alone, cold, and homeless. 2009 saw me mainly struggle to stay afloat and keep my moral high. As many of you all know, back in April 2008, I was in the hospital with Cellulitis Infection. While in the hospital, I was also diagnosed with diabetes. So, the year 2009 was the first full year of my diabetes. It was only a few months after I was healed and went back to work before I decided it was time to leave SharpShooter Imaging. But I had to leave. So for me, it started my odyssey of finding me a new job. This task that took me over a year before I found employment with AmeriCorps VISTA. I'm working now at the Brighton Center.

Going back to New Year's Eve, as I sat in the back seat of my car, I couldn't believe how far my life went downhill. But what helped me carry on and stay positive was my personality. I refused to give up live. To me, this was just another challenge in my life and I was going to tackle it face on. I made a plan that night on how I was going to survive this situation I was in. It started with my spending habits. For one whole month, I tracked my spending from food to gas I was putting into the car to the monthly bills. After that month, I created my spending plan. I was able to get food stamps that kept me from spending any of my actual money on food. I was able to keep track of my gas mileage and cost of gas. I was going to have to keep track how many miles I went on one tank of gas and try to cut back on my driving. I was going to have to make my gas stretch over a period of time. But it was hard when you live in your car in the middle of the winter and I needed to run the heat. I came up with a plan on when to run the heat or turn the car on. I also had to watch what I spent my actual money on. I still went to the movies once a week or to Barnes and Nobles to read but I made sure when there I didn't go hog crazy buying stuff. To me it was my Saturday Night Date with myself. It was my way of relaxing and staying sane.

As I was doing all this, I was going to the Kenton County Library everyday from the time they opened to the time they closed I was there searching for a job, reading books on how I could better myself in the job market, how I can re-tool my resume, and etc. Can't tell you how many times I actually changed my resume or my cover letter. From January to March I was doing this every day. I was going to the library all day every day job searching and etc. Also, I was trying to elude the repo people. I was trying to savage keeping my car without it being repo. I managed to elude them until March. That's when I had a friend talked me into giving up my car and going out on the road with him in his truck. So, from March until like May I was riding in a semi-truck across the United States. It was a great experience for me. This was like a mini vacation for me but I knew I still needed to find a job. My friend decided to change jobs and in doing so, I could no longer ride along with him in the truck. So, he and his dad allowed me to stay there with them while he was on the road. At the trailer from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep, I continue job searching. I was receiving the calls but they were job screening calls and I never heard back from them. I stayed with his dad from middle of May until end of June.

It was at the end of June, that my friend came up to me and basically told me that on June 29 that he was going to drop me off in Cincinnati no matter if I have a place to stay or not. Luckily, the day before, a couple of old friends that I consider as my 2^nd parents allowed me to stay with them. The idea was to stay with them for only a month and be gone. That was what was given to me. But this is where my year finally started turning into my favor. The month I was given, I was able to find employment with AmeriCorps VISTA volunteering my job and I do receive a living allowance. So, I have money coming in and I'm gaining full time experience as well. But I have to give a year of my time. Which it is very much worth it for me. From July until December, I stayed with them. I started working at the Brighton Center in September. Then in December, with the help of the HEARTH program and Brighton Center, I was able to get my own apartment for now. So, I'm slowly starting to get back on my feet.

What does the year 2010 have in store for me? Well already know that I'm going to be working until September and also have an apartment until then as well. I'm slowly building up my bank account and saving account. So, I'm slowly learning about finances. Still have a long ways to go but I'm heading in the right direction. So, continue following me and my blog over the upcoming year and watch me grow as a person. Happy New Year's everybody!

 

TL