Sorry to drop off the face of the internetz there. I feel like I owe y'all a post, but I still don't have anything to report. No news, no progress, no travel or interesting IRL adventures. I've just been slogging through my Monday-Friday and zoning out on the weekends. Work has continued to be unusually busy. Summer is normally our major down-time, and a to be honest, a little boring. Not so this year. We are still going flat out, but unfortunately, have all of our less critical, large projects that we put off till summer when we expected to have more time to work on them. Ugh.
We had intended to be traveling for a wedding out of country this weekend, but IVF and its cancellation have kinda bitched our finances. For those of you who don't have to deal with the All-American ordeal that is health insurance: We had to pay the clinic cash up front because IVF isn't covered by our insurance. I contribute pre-tax money from my paycheck to a savings account (FSA) at my insurance company that will then reimburse me for expenses that the insurance doesn't cover (up to the total amount that I contribute). The benefit is that the government can't tax me on that income. Since we got cancelled, the claim hasn't been submitted to insurance to be denied, so the FSA hasn't paid out a reimbursement. We could have had a refund, but it seemed more prudent to leave the payment as credit with the clinic so we wouldn't be tempted to frivol the cash away in our sorrow. Sometimes being responsible sucks.
I'm still mulling over my career as well. Or perhaps I should say "a career" because I don't feel like I have one right now. I really need to earn more money. Which is how I got where I am. Being an artist is the thing I'm best at, the only thing I'm actually educated for. But I wasn't making a living at it, I was just keeping afloat. I wanted to make more money, so I shifted my focus to my current field and got an entry level job making more than I had been. I expected to see at least some advancement after a couple of years, but am realizing now that isn't likely. All I can see are the negative aspects of the next level positions, the many ways a promotion would add stress and impinge on my home life. So I've been contemplating my strengths and skills and trying to imagine what other field I could explore that would give me another salary boost without dramatically increasing my stress levels. The problem is finding something I'm good at and mentally suited for that actually pays but doesn't put me to sleep.
First world problems.
We did see HP7TheEnd last night. It was pretty good, but I never felt the urge to cry that so many others have mentioned. Perhaps because I know the books so well and did my crying over them (and did I ever). Perhaps because it's hard for me to get past the inconsistencies and discrepancies in the storytelling. I spent too much time in the movie thinking, "But... that never happened!" I don't know, but I can say without a doubt that Alan Rickman once again acted circles around everyone else in the movie. Gary Oldman didn't have enough screen time to give him any competition in this one. Seriously love those two. And Helena Bonham-Carter does a great Hermione-pretending-to-be-Bellatrix - you can really believe it's Emma Watson in a Bellatrix suit. Hilarious moment!
Now I need to go figure out something creative to do with last night's leftover stir fry chicken and veg. I think I'll do a faux-pho... (heehee. I kill me)
Oh I get so ranty when it comes to that last HP film! I get it, I didn't cry either.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it suck to be artists? I have a freaking master's degree in film. It has done nothing to contribute to my paycheck. Urgh. If I could only figure out a way to get paid for blogging. Wouldn't that be nice? :-)
OK so I did cry during the whole pensieve scene because dammit, it's so touching. I agree that I spend a lot of time picking out inaccuracies. I kind of have to separate the movie from the book in my mind and almost pretend they're not connected or else I kind of get angry. Weird I know.
ReplyDeleteI went to school for writing and after I left newspapers, had a real hard time figuring out what I want to do. I still to do to an extent. Best of luck to you on figuring it all out.
The blahs seem to be endemic in blogolandia these days.
ReplyDeleteSucks that being an artist doesn't pay better, but I'm still jealous of people with artistic abilities, 'cause I come from the shallow end of the gene pool in that arena.