I think today I feel like a grown up. Not just for today, but like I actually made it. I have manage to drag, crawl, scrape and grumble my way into adulthood. It hasn't been easy, but it's rewarding to be here all the same.
Now today isn't my birthday. I didn't get a new job, or a promotion or buy a house today. All in all, it's a fairly unspectacular Thursday in the Great NorthLeft. It's slightly foggy with a high of 85 predicted this afternoon. I'm working from home for now. The dog is crashed out behind my desk chair. Nothing inherently noteworthy. Except in my head.
It's been noted that I'm far more introspective on this blog that in person, to which I acquiesce to. As I've mentioned previously, I do use this blog as an external meditation area and brain download facility.
I noted recently that I've been back in (near) Seattle for about eighteen months. Somehow in that time I changed. I have a career. It's like a job, but with ongoing potential, fulfillment and growth opportunities that uses multiple skills and talents I have, plus requires that I continue to learn. It also pays a lot better than a job. It's soul sucking on a less often basis and much more self directed.
I have been paying all my bills plus cutting into my debt like a Canadian Lumberjack into a huge pine. I remember the times, not so long ago, when I was first overseas and could barely manage my month to month living expenses, let alone work on any debt from before. I was lucky it I didn't have to incur any new debt most months. If it weren't for mom's understanding generosity, I think I'd have had to move back within months. I used to be ashamed to admit that there were times I needed help paying my bills. Now I realise that most folks go through that time. Aside from my car loan, I've reduced my other debts (school loan, credit cards, misc loan) by over half since my return to the US. That's more impressive if you consider the amount of stuff there is to buy, do, see, in all senses pay for. I don't feel that I've deprived myself at all though. 25 and I have done heaps this year; baseball, football and soccer games, beerfests, music fests, camping, vacationing, etc.
Additionally, on the financial front, I started a Traditional and a Roth IRA (individual retirement account). I found and rolled old 401Ks (similar accounts sponsored by previous employers) into one account, and have begun funding another account on my own, as my current company doesn't contribute to one on my behalf. I'm committed to making sure I have some options if I make it to retirement.
I'm in a relationship that feels like a relationship is supposed to (I think). 25 has the poise, intelligence and planning of someone old than those years. He has been a true partner thus far. He helps around the house without my needing to nag him. He would rather talk about issues as they arise and avoid drama. He is accepting and understanding of my shortcomings and encourages my desire to work on aspects of my personality and my life. He accommodates my need for planning and also spur the moment plans. He makes me feel happy and at ease. From chaotic Seahawks games to backpack trips, he is never expects more than I can give and always seems to give what I need.
I have a new, very luxurious, grown up car. I live in a house and pay the mortgage. It's not my house, it's mom's, but she doesn't live here. I take care of the day to day tending of the house, the maintenance, the garden we planted.
I have two charges that I care for. Not children, but sometimes it feels like they are. Doctors visits, cleaning up after then, etc. If you count 25, it's really three ;)
I read the Sunday paper, I drink coffee every morning, I take my clothes to the dry cleaner on occasion. I think adulthood is official, and it feels allllriiiiiight.
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
How would I know if . . .
I suck at life? I can't be the only one who has wondered if I simply suck at life. Before you start wondering just how bipolar I am because yesterday's post was good news, this isn't out of the blue. Shockingly, I do keep the vast majority of my life to myself. I blog about selected topics but I don't tweet or instagram or vomit the details of my life on to multiple social media outlets.
It's been a rough stretch lately in every realm other than dating, which is quite the reversal. After moving back to the US, I got into the world of Electronic Medical Records as a trainer. I enjoy the work, it's interesting and profitable. The problem is that it's contract work and it is as fleeting as sunshine in Seattle in April. I worked about seven and a half months total in 2012 (granted I didn't move back until March. So far in 2013 I've worked about six weeks, which sounds great. When you're working, the prospect of time off to travel or complete tasks around the house is like heaven. The problem is when you're not working, there's no money for travel, or groceries. What people really want is time off work with unlimited resources. I've got a couple leads, but that's been the case since early March. Still nothin'.
When I moved back, I had to get a car. "Lucky" for me, my sister had a car that she used for about a whopping thousand miles a year. Since it was mostly just taking up one of the precious parking spaces on Capitol Hill, she gave/lent/sold it to me. A 1995 Nissan Maxima. I just rolled the odometer over to 150,000 miles yesterday. The engine was replaced at about 140,000 but the rest of the car wasn't. Since I inherited it, I had to recharge the AC ($350), replace the started ($300), replace two taillights and a side mirror ($95), replace both bumper covers ($250), replace the tires ($400 plus the single replacement in Portland for another $50), get an alignment ($80) and switch from regular oil changes at $30 to high mileage oil changes at $45. This car is costing me more than a new car with payments would. Not to mention that it smells like burning oil and has started smoking if I drive is more than fifteen minutes. The catch about living on the West Coast is that it is exceedingly difficult to do so without a car unless you both live and work downtown (which I'd love but isn't likely).
Then there are the thousand little issues that make me think I might suck at life:
I was worried I'd drop my phone in the toilet if I kept it in my back pocket so I moved it to the pocket of my hoodie and only then dropped it in the toilet.
PMS and PostMS have hit like an avil on the coyote's head. I'm a roaring, irrational bitch who may have had an internal organ melt down for all I'm bleeding. Good luck to anyone who's trying to have a conversation with me, especially 25.
Either due to my "monthly friend" or other reasons, I've had either a stabbing stomachache or screaming headache pretty much every day for about the last three weeks. I don't know the cause but it's getting old.
I've been very consistently hitting the gym for the last six weeks. I've been a little better about what I'm eating but did have a wedding and two birthdays during that timespan. Yet I haven't dropped so much as a pound. I am, however, pounding my head against the wall.
A bottle of creme de cacao tipped over in the car and now it smells like tootsie rolls.
The dog chews up something on a weekly basis.
The cat has become a whiny bastard and doesn't seem to be happy with anything I do to appease him. I realize that sounds typical of most cats, but he's never been that way before.
I think I'm just going to stop the list now.
On a lighter note:
I have managed to turn the Room of Doom (former bedroom/craft room.office that was overtaken by crap and became a storage room) into a less doomy, more usable room.
I've planted spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, two types of basil, four fuscia hanging baskets, and three sunny flower planters.
I am still going to the gym.
I'm figuring out how to use a food dehydrator, cook things I usually buy and stretch every dollar in the kitchen.
I haven't run 25 off.
I haven't started drinking at ten am . . . yet.
Maybe I only suck at certain swaths of life, not all of it.
It's been a rough stretch lately in every realm other than dating, which is quite the reversal. After moving back to the US, I got into the world of Electronic Medical Records as a trainer. I enjoy the work, it's interesting and profitable. The problem is that it's contract work and it is as fleeting as sunshine in Seattle in April. I worked about seven and a half months total in 2012 (granted I didn't move back until March. So far in 2013 I've worked about six weeks, which sounds great. When you're working, the prospect of time off to travel or complete tasks around the house is like heaven. The problem is when you're not working, there's no money for travel, or groceries. What people really want is time off work with unlimited resources. I've got a couple leads, but that's been the case since early March. Still nothin'.
When I moved back, I had to get a car. "Lucky" for me, my sister had a car that she used for about a whopping thousand miles a year. Since it was mostly just taking up one of the precious parking spaces on Capitol Hill, she gave/lent/sold it to me. A 1995 Nissan Maxima. I just rolled the odometer over to 150,000 miles yesterday. The engine was replaced at about 140,000 but the rest of the car wasn't. Since I inherited it, I had to recharge the AC ($350), replace the started ($300), replace two taillights and a side mirror ($95), replace both bumper covers ($250), replace the tires ($400 plus the single replacement in Portland for another $50), get an alignment ($80) and switch from regular oil changes at $30 to high mileage oil changes at $45. This car is costing me more than a new car with payments would. Not to mention that it smells like burning oil and has started smoking if I drive is more than fifteen minutes. The catch about living on the West Coast is that it is exceedingly difficult to do so without a car unless you both live and work downtown (which I'd love but isn't likely).
Then there are the thousand little issues that make me think I might suck at life:
I was worried I'd drop my phone in the toilet if I kept it in my back pocket so I moved it to the pocket of my hoodie and only then dropped it in the toilet.
PMS and PostMS have hit like an avil on the coyote's head. I'm a roaring, irrational bitch who may have had an internal organ melt down for all I'm bleeding. Good luck to anyone who's trying to have a conversation with me, especially 25.
Either due to my "monthly friend" or other reasons, I've had either a stabbing stomachache or screaming headache pretty much every day for about the last three weeks. I don't know the cause but it's getting old.
I've been very consistently hitting the gym for the last six weeks. I've been a little better about what I'm eating but did have a wedding and two birthdays during that timespan. Yet I haven't dropped so much as a pound. I am, however, pounding my head against the wall.
A bottle of creme de cacao tipped over in the car and now it smells like tootsie rolls.
The dog chews up something on a weekly basis.
The cat has become a whiny bastard and doesn't seem to be happy with anything I do to appease him. I realize that sounds typical of most cats, but he's never been that way before.
I think I'm just going to stop the list now.
On a lighter note:
I have managed to turn the Room of Doom (former bedroom/craft room.office that was overtaken by crap and became a storage room) into a less doomy, more usable room.
I've planted spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, two types of basil, four fuscia hanging baskets, and three sunny flower planters.
I am still going to the gym.
I'm figuring out how to use a food dehydrator, cook things I usually buy and stretch every dollar in the kitchen.
I haven't run 25 off.
I haven't started drinking at ten am . . . yet.
Maybe I only suck at certain swaths of life, not all of it.
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