I wrote a friend today that I hate the fact that I am intelligent enough and aware enough to realize I have it very good. I would rather ignore homeless people and people with handicaps and disabilities and immigrants and others that can't find jobs. I would rather focus on me me ME. As the Toby Keith song says "I wanna talk about me." If this friggin' company of mine hadn't hurt me enough today they cut part of my job and 20% of my income. I already was living on the edge and not making anything close to what I was making last year and now it has gone from bad to worse. And the really worse part is that THAT was the part of the job that I liked and made the rest of it more tolerable.

I'm no longer the all-night disc jockey in Austin. That was just so cool to me. Even if it was all-nights and was pre-recorded it was so cool to be able to say where I'd eaten lunch or how much I was looking forward to the bluebonnets. I still have the live weekend shift but I think it's days are numbered. If they don't cut me from it themselves (which I anticipate) I think they will drive me away by not giving me enough hours to make it worth it at all. I've been pre-empted by UT football and basketball so much that I've forgotten how to do it.

The upside, bright side of this day is that a business that I have done some commercials for called today. I haven't done anything for them since May 1 (which I remember so distinctly because I did their commercial that morning and then heard the layoff announcement at noon). I had thought about them and knew I should call and drum up some business but they called me. Maybe this can develop into a little more. I won't anticipate too much though because I haven't done much for them in the past. Every little bit helps.

I also talked to someone at work about a restaurant he's involved in. I always enjoyed being a waitress and I am a very good waitress. There is something nice about tips, too. Even if the pay itself is lousy, which it usually is, it is nice to have that cash in hand.

When I was a waitress back at the Pizza Planet on Paramount (as opposed to the Pizza Planet on Bell, which just didn't have the same ring to it--haha ring, get it? bell?) I made $2.20 an hour and I believe that was actually a nickel over minimum wage. That was very good pay for a waitress. I loved the fact that my paycheck could pay for rent and any bills I had (and, sigh, I had so FEW back then)and the tips could pay for gas and groceries and day to day living. Beer, too. Lots of beer if I remember correctly, but I probably don't because of lots and lots of beer. Another BIG advantage of working at the PP on P was that for your meal break you got a small pizza. A small pizza there was easily two meals for me (and I am not a dainty eater) so that meant there was always pizza to take home for the next meal. It was a great living for a time. Why did I quit doing that? Oh, yeah, I got a radio gig. I have to remember the downside to that job too---clothes, coats, and a car that reeked or garlic and cooked meat and stinky cheese.

Tonight we tried to go to the Taste of Austin. It sounded like a really fun thing to do and I got free tickets for us (thank goodness). We got downtown and there were miles of cars trying to get into the new parking garage at the Palmer Auditorium. It looked like that would take thirty minutes by itself and then who knows what food would be available inside with that kind of crowd. It seemed like a lot of hassle for maybe little reward. I'm sure I'll hear about it tomorrow from one of my morning team, he had to be there. I hated to miss it but can't stand the hassle anymore.