The Years of Decay: A Brief Look At the Last Year For Me

This is the day before my 24th Birthday and I'm psyched about how far I've come over the past year. When I turned 23, my life sucked; I had just been turned down for a job at Miskeen Originals in their advertising department, I was a week away from being laid-off from my job at Tech Tattoo (a kiosk I worked at in the King of Prussia Mall) and I was nearly broke. I spent the next 3 months staring into an abyss of my own personal demise, one that was filled with all my utilities being shut off, being broke, losing my house... losing everything.

Then... hope.

Around April of 2008, I was working as a dishwasher for $7 an hour at a bar/wanna-be-upscale restaurant in the Northern Liberties section of Philly. I was trying to quit as soon as possible, and I had an out: A job at a company working full-time as a web and graphic designer. I quickly was hired for the job... the same week I was fired from the dishwasher job. Worked out pretty well.

By October, I had finally gotten a handle on things: Bills getting worked out, actually getting by and surviving was possible... By December, I had fallen into a working-class mindset and was actually putting up with having to work 10-hour shifts (I normally work 8) in order to make up time I lost (Flex-time!), living off $40 for 2 weeks, and met someone great.

Today, I look at the past year and all that I've went through, all that I've seen, all that I've enjoyed, and all that I've been forced to suffer to get to this point. I have seen many great people and great minds lost this year, a massive retail bust, and the election of a new president. I've been forced to stoop to levels I never thought I would have to go in order to survive, and my reward was a great career in my chosen field, some great friends, an excellent experience, and finally some relief from my bills.

For the first time in what feels like forever, things are looking up again.

In tribute to that last year, both for the bad and the good, one of my favorite bands with one of my favorite songs ever: Overkill "The Years of Decay".