In an unusual twist of events I managed to have a surprisingly interesting month of April outside of the usual process of work, doing trivia night, and being lethargic at home. So I give you Phil’s April in 4 Sub-Posts!

#1 I Bought A Brand New Car
For my first grown up act, I ended up buying a car. I’m not really one for unnecessary luxury items particularly cars, after all a car is a tool and I’m not really the type to brag about it like it were a diamond ring or some status symbol. I upgraded Go-Go Speed Hyundai (a Silver 1998 Hyundai Elantra GLS) to the Go-Go Speed Hyundai Mk. II (a Silver 2008 Hyundai Elantra GLS). The upgrade has been in the works for a little while because my old car was 10 years old at this point and various parts were going to need a serious overhaul.

As for being my first car buying experience, I learned how nasty salespersons can be sometimes. Initially, I had gone with my dad just to scope out and do a test drive. We were prepared to drive away with something if we met some specific conditions on pricing and trade in value and made our intentions clear at the outset. Our salesperson seemed really reluctant to run the numbers until we committed to buying the car but we had no intention to commit to a purchase until we got some hard numbers. Being the one with the cards, we walked and our salesperson’s tone very grudgingly changed. She didn’t want to play by our rules but knew we would walk and we got every demand we had come with. The big lesson of the day? Car buying takes a stupid amount of time to take care of. A 1:00 PM appointment ran until 5:00pm before the deal was sealed. I’m pretty sure this alone will keep me from buying another car for another ten years.

#2 – I Joined A Gym
Joining a gym is a pretty significant step for me. The last time I had to do a minimal amount of exercise was my sophomore year of high school and when I say minimal, I mean minimal. Last time I visited a doctor for my back injury from the winter, the doctor recommended some exercises to perform after my back healed to essentially strengthen my lower back muscles and lessen the potential for trauma and pain from any subsequent falls. Essentially, this planted the exercise itch in me. The big problem for me is the fact I tend to be sedentary for 10 hours at a time at work and the exhaustion at work makes me pretty sedentary at home. Well, I finally decided to scratch the itch and joined an Anytime Fitness which is a cheaper alternative to 24 Hour Fitness. I’ve been going for about a month and I’m seeing a great deal of benefit out of it. I’ve been sleeping a lot better since I started exercising, I’ve lost 10 pounds, and I’m starting to cut through my huge backlog of podcasts and audiobooks.

#3 “OFFICIALLY” Promoted to Full Time
In short, after having to find out what the hell is going on. I am finally promoted in the system at work and can now start reaping the benefits I’ve earned. Unfortunately, there will be no back compensation for lost vacation time earnings despite being promoted back in January. Fuck this job and fuck this place.

#4 Rejected From Every. Single. Graduate School
In deep shame, I am rejected from 6 of the 10 schools I applied to. University of Texas at Austin I had known about for a little while. I got the other five in a pile of mail. It made for such a fantastic day as a result. I still have not heard from Loyola-Marymount or Chapman University but I can’t say I’m optimistic about my prospects at this time. I’m still going back and forth on my decision to go to Syracuse or Miami at this point. I guess I need to make a decision one way or the other eventually.