I went to Starbucks yesterday and put in an application.

I don't want to quit the coffee shop. I've been here two years.

Two years with my only raises in pay being when minimum wage went up. Two years without being able to work full time or get benefits.

B tells me this place is a shitty, dead-end job, and I know it's true, but I really just like working here. The environment suits my personality and I've been here so long I'm just plain comfortable.

Things are supposed to get better here in fall, when we lose some employees. I'll have my boss over a barrel then and I'm going to ask for a raise, but if I can't get it, I'll tip my hat goodbye to this place--for good.

I feel crummy just thinking about it.

Why would I be so attached to a job that so obviously underappreciates me? I did this same exact thing at the first coffee shop I worked at. I made $5.15 an hour, which was minimum wage back home. I sometimes worked 50 hour weeks there, and what do I have to show for it. A name and number on my resume of a guy who couldn't even think to call me by my actual first name while I was still working for him--I doubt he could recall who I am at all now.

I've actually been considering going back to work for the call center. It's been long enough for me to forget exactly what a miserable, draining job that is, I guess.

What I need to do is quit worrying about the needs of a business that doesn't appreciate its few employees and start worrying about my own.

I really hate starting new jobs.

Navigating away from that vein, I've stopped eating sweets and sodas again. I'm working on eliminating the meat from my diet as well, but we still have a bunch of it in the house, so B and I will have to finish that off before my vegetarian dreams can be realized.

I am also going to make a conscious effort at exercizing. I need twenty pounds to go away with a quickness. It'd be easier if I had an exercize buddy, but it's pretty hard to pry B out of the house to go ride the bikes.

My birthday is in 8 days. I'm not sure how I feel about that.