Tag: Working

Christmas Prep

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

This year has been hard and long and I have lost most sense of time. We had previously been planning on traveling south to visit my family for about a week or so. My partner and I and family all decided it would be best not to travel down because we would have to stop multiple times along the route and someone would have to come into our apartment multiple times to cat-sit. My immediate family is also currently in a pod with my grandmas and my aunt. We decided it would be best not to put any risk and do a Christmas in July when it is a little safer for us personally.

With just the two of us, plus the cat, it has been hard to make it feel like Christmas. We have been doing the regular work and maneuver around the pandemic as best we can do order food or go on long walks. We recently had our first snow storm of the year. So at least it will be a snowy Christmas. In that spirit we are preparing for Christmas and making the best of it we can.

One, we are making sure we do a deep purge of old clothes, especially, hats, coats, scarfs, and sweaters to donate to our city. Wave 2 and blizzards hitting at the same time is really bad and it seems like the most direct thing we can do immediately. As well as donating food each time we go grocery shopping.

Two, a lot of baking. We started with apple pie. We are doing two batches of cookies in the next few days. We basically are doing our best to make the apartment smell like Christmas: cinnamon, chocolate, pork cracklings, garlic rosemary, etc.

Three, Christmas entertainment. We have been starting on the Christmas movies before bed. We don’t listen to a lot of music together but in the car it has mostly been orchestral carols just trying to set the mood.

I hope you all are enjoying whatever holiday you celebrate and are able to take sometime for yourself to relax.

Goals from this past year and how to make more…

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

Hello all.

So my computer has been dead and away these many weeks. I am getting it back on Monday. It was actually ready last week but guess what I was out of town!

So I today wanted to talk about making goals. Not just because it’s the end of the year or decade but also because recently I had to make goals at work. They had to fit organizational goals and be approved two levels but also had to be personal! It was really hard.

With work,  I had to deal with fact I don’t know that this is the job I want in a year. But I do know whenever I am ready to move on I need to make sure I got everything I can out of this while I can. Then I had to figure out what I wanted out of it! It was a lot of reflection for a 5 page form. But it really made me think about how I set my other goals in life.

I think the hardest part about creating a goal is you have to confront what you want and need as well as if you are actually doing what you need to do to get it. I have been saying for to years I want to go to grad school; every time I get around to making a plan or goals for the next couple months or steps of life I have to deal with the fact that I have done nothing to actually get into grad school. One of my big goals was to get my first credit card this year but… I never did it. It is so easy to apply and my boyfriend offered to help and friends and yet I never did it never followed through. WHY? That is what I need to figure out as I move into this new year.

Truthfully this came about because I was planning my goals of 2020 post (coming soon) and I was just going to move all the goals I didn’t finish into this new goal sheet. Then it came to me… why would I do that? Why wouldn’t I side step a goal or go back around to why I couldn’t/wouldn’t/wasn’t able to make the goal work.

So anyways for the most part except for my career goals I really succeeded or at least made significant steps  towards. The career goals I really need to re-examine what I want versus what I claim to want.

Happy goal setting!

 

 

Life is crazy and maybe I am too…

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So the last month has been crazy and believe it or not the next month will be even crazier. Work has gone into overdrive and I had to take time away from my main job to go be a camp counselor for 5-7 year olds for two days, which was a trying time. A friend from home came to visit. My sister came and stayed with us for a week. I wrote almost 20 pages of curriculum for work and created more work for myself for the rest of summer because I am a genius. I also joined a committee at work but mostly just the work aspect and none of the ceremonial aspect.

I’ve been really stuck reading lately but… Amazon Prime can now connect with the Cast which has totally changed the entertainment game has changed in our apartment. I finally finished the Expanse Season 1. It was so good! However, continuing on is hard because it is a show I really need to focus on. Unfortunately this is not always what I want at the end of a long work day. So I’ve just been kinda vegging out after work which puts me in a weird head funk a lot.

Coming up, we are figuring out the vacation days we are taking for the rest of the year as we have to take holidays super early. Figuring out joint holidays is rough. We also may be moving in the next month because of an almost plumbing accident and bad timing. We weren’t planning on moving for the next year and is a whole finicky can of worms I’m not ready to deal with but also currently dealing with. The work is getting real and I am taking on more responsibility than I had anticipated. I can’t tell if it’s all the heat wave or responsibility or the vegging or just my anxiety getting so much worse but my mental health hasn’t been in the greatest place lately.

However, both my and my partner’s birthdays are coming up in the next 5 weeks. I am mostly working from home in the next month and finishing a lot of projects soon and hopefully I will feel much better in the coming weeks as things are wrapped up. I plan on grounding myself in writing and the N.E.W.T readathon. Hopefully things get less crazy and  I feel so much better.

Wish me luck moving forward.

Mid-year Goal Check-in

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So it is about midyear which means the year is about half way over. This to me is just bizarre but maybe it’s because I wasn’t working and mostly just home for 3 months before I was employed. I thought I would check in with the goals I made through out the year and see what I have accomplished, what is still feasible, and what to adjust.

Life Goals:

  • I went to my friends wedding which you can learn about here.
  • Have not gotten a credit card yet but it is harder than I expected to choose a bank
  • Cooking is going well but it is hard to practice as much as I want cause my partner is such a good cook and makes a lot of our dinners.
    • For the second half of the year I’m going to focus on cooking more often and learning a new recipe once a month, not twice.

Career Goals:

  • GOT A JOB! Just had my three month review and feel confident in the job for a while.
  • I have had 2 public speaking engagements and hope to have more this year
  • I attended no networking events… I am very afraid to meet new people and make these new connections event though I should

Health Goals:

  • I have stuck very well to not buying pre-made desserts though sometimes my partner buys me a treat which is nice. Still trying to stick to this goal, but need to purchase more baking gear.
  • One meatless meal a week has proven to be much less of a problem than I had anticipated.
  • I really sucked at my water goal but two weeks ago I bought a waterbottle (honestly this was shocking)
    • The new goal is to finish one everyday (32 oz.)

Writing Goals:

  • So I have been doing a lot of work writing but my person writing has definitely fallen by the wayside.
    • Goal for the rest of the year is to edit two short stories and finish a rough draft of my novel that I have been planning for years
  • Blogging has not been going as well as I wanted (most of the time I don’t hit three). I didn’t do a review for May’s book club as it was ender’s game and I didn’t have anything new to say. My goal is to re-up in the new year.

Reading Goals:

  • I have read 67 books so far this year.
    • One DNF
    • My favorites so far this year:
      • Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
      • The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale
      • The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
  • I was really well on my way to reducing unread book I owned by then of course I bought more.
  • I have only read two 2019 releases but I am intending to read more in the back half of the year. They are more accessible in the library.
  • I finished 4 (ish!) series but to be fair two were duologies. I am going to attempt now to finish 9 series.

Wish me luck in the back half of the year meeting all my goals!

5 Year High School Reunion

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So this past weekend was the 5-year reunion of my high school’s graduating class. I did not go because of being many states away and also have an insane amount of work this weekend (but last work weekend til october!). However, these sorts of anniversaries bring up a lot of memories and realizations. For starters, I have now been out of high school longer than I was in it! Woo-hoo!

I don’t know that high school was the easiest of times for anyone but it was certainly at least logistically and financially easier. Structure was imposed by parents and schools. I had only time commitments no financial ones. Do you remember when you thought of these things as restraints and not supports? And the 5/10/20 year plans that you made while those supports were in place. While my life is DRASTICALLY different than what I anticipated when I was graduating high school my 5 yer plan could have been garbage for how much I followed it.

I am not trying to complain because my life to be fair is far better, happier, and stabler than my 17 year old brain had the capacity to visualize. It is weird though when I think of the people I graduated high school with and who I thought would be friends for life I was right about like 2 out of 3 most of the time. It’s so bizarre that these people that you are with 40 + hours a week for 4 years if not more before that are out living these lives that you are never going to intersect with again.

Anyways back to the point of the reunion, I didn’t really think I had to go besides being busy because I believed had reunited with all the people I wanted to. Then I saw the photos. There are straight-up people I forgot existed. Anyways 5 years is a lot longer than I realized even though it doesn’t feel very far away.

Here’s hoping that the next five years have more reunions and my life is better in ways I can’t anticipate now.

Learning the Remote Work

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So my new job is awesome. However, because it covers a wide region I have the ability through company computer and phone to work completely remotely. It is pretty simple as it is a salaried job so it is mostly task and event oriented. I do end up working often a little more than 40 hours a week but those 40 weeks aren’t standard.

Problem 1: Early morning motivation is really hard because I can sleep longer and do my first couple hours from home instead of having to get ready immediately.

Problem 2: When I work from home I feel really guilty when I don’t get home work/chores done even though I am doing career work.

Problem 3: Meals. Should I eat breakfast when working? Should I eat lunch or go home from there? It ends with me being too indecisive to regularly eat.

Problem 4: Making friends or at least acquaintances at work. I want to go into the office and meet the people I’m working with. I don’t really know anyone in the area. However, I don’t work as well with lots of people to distract me. But I need to get to know people to get help with work and partner on projects.

I am so lucky to have this job and I understand that these are the first world or first world problems. However, as a growing adult this what I am working through.

I’m sure it would all work out but wish me luck anyways.

2019 Resolutions

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

As always resolutions are hard to keep. Here are some of the goals that I am working towards this year. Some I am trying (and occasionally failing) every day, week, month and not just one overall theme for the year.

Reading Goals:

  • Read 100 books in the calendar year
    • My goal is to read more historical fiction but even reading 5 would be more for me
  • Reduce the books I own that I haven’t read by half (either read or get rid of)
  • Read 10 books that come out this year. Thank you new library system!
  • Complete 6 book series

Writing Goals:

  • Write 20 minutes a day
  • More public writing, either sharing this blog more or entering writing competitions
  • Minimum three blog posts a month
    • One of these will be a book review for the my family book club

Health Goals:

  • 5 glasses of water or tea everyday
  • One meatless day a week (you don’t know me like that but for me this is a huge deal)
  • No buys pre-desserts from the grocery store except special occasions ie holidays, anniversaries, etc.

Career Goals:

  • Get a job!
  • Start attending networking events in my new location
  • One public speaking event/engagement

Life Goals:

  • Build credit score
  • Visit three new places
  • Support my best friend at her wedding this spring
  • Learn two new recipes a month

Reflection on 2018

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

This year I have met hundreds of people, traveled across the United States, and read more than I have ever in a year. It was a full and crazy 365 days.

I started 2018 as a recent college graduate with no job whose boyfriend was visiting for the holidays. I end the year as a professional adult with no job who just moved in with her boyfriend. I did work over the course of the year. I actually had three jobs, one working a labor job in a used book warehouse, and two in my field, political organizing.

My family went to Alaska! We plateaued into an ongoing state of existence that we will hopefully we steady in. My sister started high school. I moved out. My brother moved from his jail cell to a mental institution where hopefully he can get the help he needs. We lost our elderly dog just a couple weeks ago, she was just in too much pain. It was a big year of evening out the rocky results of 2017.

I grew so much as a professional. I got up everyday and went to the same place. I learned how to manage other people. I learned how to manage myself! (Much more impressive. Trust.)

I joined groups and made friends, discovered mentors. Reconnected with old pals from high school and before. I was more social and free and open than I had been in years. Being in therapy for the whole year definitely helped with that. I got closure I didn’t know I needed from friends I didn’t know I still had.

Even though I failed almost half the resolutions I set myself this year I feel like I got more than I expected from 2018. After so many down years it was nice to have a positive one. I hope you all got through this year in one piece.

Wish 2019 luck, we are coming.

Moving out for good

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

So last week I packed up and moved out of my family home to move in with my boyfriend 6 states away. This post however is just about moving away from home.

I had been living in that home for 8 years even though for three and a half I was at college. I never really lived anywhere permanently for long. However, I was always with my family and spent most in the same county in Maryland. Now I am gone.

Packing to leave I thought would be the same as leaving for college. It wasn’t. I need things for year round versus seasonally. All the momentos and things from my childhood to make a judgement call. PICKING WHICH BOOKS TO TAKE! It was a hard decision and have since made plans with my family so I will eventually have all of them. To be honest even leaving my local the last time got emotional.

Leaving my home town and the people there was rougher than I thought. Because of the quick turnaround a lot of the time the first time I could see a friend was also the moment I was telling them I was leaving. It was also in most cases the last time we could see each other before I left. Saying goodbye to my dog even though I knew she was going to die before I saw her again. (It was less than a week before she went)

Still a little homesick.

Wish me luck.

On moving in with my boyfriend

~ afledglingadult ~ Leave a comment

Hello, so in the last week I packed up from my family home and moved six states away and in with my boyfriend. This post is just about living with my significant other for the first time.

So we have been together for a little over two and a half years but spent the last year or so completely long distance. Living together is change. We were together so often in college that it seemed so easy but also now we need to be adults too.

It’s nice miss someone so much and want to spend so much time with them and have a whole week before work begins. (At least for him) I still have to find a job. We can relax and spend much need time hanging out and watching TV (currently Brooklyn 99, Madame Secretary, and The Expanse).

The Cons: we have unpacking to do and job prep. A lot of cleaning to do and getting my partner used to my cat. He is not a cat person and the cat creates a little bit of a mess with the hair and kitty litter. We don’t always like the food the others make. We both are introverts to both like and need alone time. To ask that from one of the people you love most in the world is awkward.

The Pros: I am living with one of my favorite people on the planet. I don’t have to deal with figuring out everything on my own, like utilities, cooking, the trash, how often to clean to be like not a gross person. It doesn’t take time to make it feel like home I already feel like I’m there.

Wish us luck.