edmoloko

Four years ago I was given the opportunity to move from El Paso Texas to San Diego California for an almost "to good to be true" work opportunity. Up until now I was working as an Department Of Defense contractor mostly on Navy surface ships and submarines which was nothing special until you factor in per diem for food and lodging when travel was required. The total amount of weekly per diem we'd receive for a place like Hawaii was about $1750, with regular and overtime pay included you'd end up with about $11,000 a month, so spending the better part of the year on travel you'd make a fuckin grip.

There would be layoffs every once in a while but I'd have more than enough cash to cover it without bugging the state for unemployment benefits, but then the per diem situation changed and now the employer keeps the money and provides you with lodging, so you're not really left with much after that. Because of that this past layoff kind of left everybody assed out when paying the bills for all the crap we bought when our wallets were busting at the seams, oh well tough shit.

I was called back to work for some routine maintenance for the submarines that were in port and everything was cool until one day I felt some severe pain just below my rib cage, I couldn't move from the spot I was lying in or it would hurt even worse, so I laid there for about an hour until it was gone and I thought that was that.
A couple of weeks later I was working on a helicopter carrier when it came back, but only this time it was in front of a group of people, so they got my ass out of there and tried to send me to the emergency room, but I'm stubborn and didn't go till a few days later when the pain was unbearable and I was pissing out mostly blood(which is a pretty sobering sight). I later found out that I was slowly bleeding internally and I could've died but by sheer luck it stopped on it's own.

It's been about a month since I've worked(dr.'s orders) and was expecting to go back on the 20th of this month to make a trip to Guam, but they changed the date the job was supposed to start and now there is absolutely nothing here. That's why I'm moving back to El Paso, I doubt I'll find a job that'll pay 25 or over an hour within the next two days which is about what I need to cover the cost of living out here, and I really need to take some more college courses to do what I want to do, so it's back to chuco town for me.

I absolutely love San Diego, the cost of living here is pretty insane but the good outweighs the bad. Even having to deal with the surreal nightmare of the recent wildfires still doesn't make me want to leave, the San Diego area is a lot of fun and I'm gonna miss this place. But at least now I can buy a ferret, which are illegal to have in California, stupid California laws.