(Not Wholly Financial) Regrouping
November 24, 2006
This is the first day I’ve had to myself for a while and I’ve just begun to realize the number of things I’ve let fall by the wayside. Much as I try to keep myself in check by blogging, the last few months have been really poor in the follow-through department. The more swamped I am at work, at home, in relationships, etc., the less I feel prepared to be an adult!!
Neglected:
~ Health: Haven’t been taking my RA meds like I should be. Passive-aggressive? Maybe. I was annoyed that my doc, for once, didn’t even listen to my question for the question that it was. I asked him “when is it appropriate to consider changing drugs? At what point do we *know* that a particular disease-modifying drug is no longer effective?” I wasn’t asking for a new med, I was asking for the signs I should look out for when monitoring the symptoms of the disease. Instead of answering THAT question, he wrote up a script and insisted that I just start the new one upon completion of my last prescription. Frustrated, I went and had the RX filled, but I really shouldn’t have. I should have just refused to fill it until my question was answered. Normally I like to think I’m more proactive, especially with the dire state of healthcare you hear about these days, but I think I got a little too comfortable with my doctor.
More Health: Between the doggy emergency and the shorter day thanks to picking up BoyDucky from an unfamilar airport on a holiday weekend, I completely neglected to change my health insurance to the PPO. [I was going to try it for a year and see if I’m happier with the new doctors.] But, I completely forgot to get on the computer that night to change it, so I’ve got my HMO for another year. Gah!
I guess I’ll just have to look at it as saving almost $400 for the year and continuing to inconvenience my family.
My Poor Family: The less things change at home, [aka, the more stagnant it becomes], the more grumpy and closed in I get. I should not take out my frustrations with the situation out on my parents!
Pets: I do NOT spend enough time with them. Walking, bathing, hanging out: all things I need to do with them and haven’t. The latest diagnosis just makes it more clear that I’ve been a BAD MOMMY.
BofA promotion follow-up: They completely screwed up my new account, treating it as an old account and saying they’d sent me a new ATM card for the old account which was stupid, but I never received a card!! I need to deal with this one ASAP, I don’t know what they’re doing but I just want to close that account permanently and not have to worry about it. I don’t need more sight-unseen bills like the ….
DSL bill: I still haven’t seen one. Yet I have two charges on my credit card already! What the hey?? Must call Verizon. Speaking of phone calls …..
Time Warner!: Still haven’t resolved the problem, must spend more time on the phone with the company. I spend more time talking to them and listening to their music than my …..
Friends!: Haven’t talked to or spent enough quality time with most anybody. What have I been doing?? Workin’. Nice, sounds like my college years all over again!!
There’s a close friend with whom I’ve had a very rocky relationship for years, since college, and she wants to make amends. But I’ve heard the same “I’m sorry, let’s be friends again” speech so many times over the years that I’m both apathetic and wary of starting that song’n’ dance again, and there’s a rather unresolvable issue of her scoundrelesque significant other. ’tis a Gordian Knot, and I haven’t reciprocated her recent attempts to mend the rift.
I have other friends I should organize gatherings with, but I’m all organized out. After grand marshalling all day at work, every day and some on weekends, after the 6 hour cooking marathon organizing the workflow of 5-8 people in a single kitchen for Thanksgiving, I’ve used up my party-plannerism for the week.
So .. what AM I doing right these days??
Well, I am sticking to my guns about getting some management classes under my belt so I can get a certification in Supervision, and another one in Management. I have to take about 6-8 classes, each are half or full days, for each certificate. I’m scheduled for two more classes next week: Behavioral Intervewing and Employment Practices [Part I of II]. This will make life at work more difficult for a while because I won’t be able to put in as many functional hours, but that’s the sacrifice I have to make.
Have my W-4 all filled out to correctly claim 5 exemptions for 2007, not just 1.
Got my FSA allocation paperwork handed in to the Benefits Office on time.
Been much better about spending more time talking to or hanging out with younger cousins.
Baby steps, right? Is this constant juggling what it’s like to be an adult?? I know, I ask that question all the time, even though in many cases I feel like I’ve BEEN an adult for years now. It concerns me that I don’t have every last thing together by now, haven’t I had enough practice? But, nope, I still haven’t figured out the perfect routine that handles every crisis, pays the bills, advances the career so that paying the bills is less stressful and less time-consuming, and leaves enough time to nurture relationships, while not getting progressively dumber.
Financially, Yodlee feels like it was a step in the right direction: consolidating and streamlining are very key.
