Maybe They're ... Not Coming Home?

I blog posted about not wanting to directly talk with my parents because I don't want to hear from them that they're coming home, but it's been about a week since I last spoke with them, and frankly, that is kind of weird.  I'm a chickenshit, but even this period of incommunicado was getting ridiculous.

Still, I took a baby step after my long day at work last/Thursday night.  No mail came that I needed to alert Mother about, but I looked at an e-mail on her e-mail account that she paid for the trash bill at an amount lower than what was stated on the bill I got and told her.  I was concerned that there was a reason she didn't pay the amount I thought she needed to pay, but as I've done the past week or so, I only texted her.  I thought she would call.  Well, Father called back on his cellphone, and he started off by giving me the number of a roofer who was willing to come by the house and inspect and give an estimate for replacing the roof.  He really wants me to call him, then take a day off to let his guy go all over the top of our house.  Well, if you're coming home, why can't Father do that?

Father then got Mother on his phone.  She got my text; she put in that amount on purpose after haggling with the trash service.  Nothing else she said rocked my world for the worse.  In fact, she said that they might be planning a trip.  After coming back here?  Before?  Instead??  I got the feeling, then and there, that my parents might not be coming back home after all, even though Mother said as early as August that they would.  I didn't press her on this issue because I don't want to jinx anything.  But if they're going to be away from home for upwards of a calendar year ... well, that just means the ultimate state of freedom for me, isn't it?

Ironically, though, this makes me believe that I should visit them.  They have things here they might need if they are taking a long trip out of the country.  Besides, and don't tell them this, I kind of miss them.  And I don't my hanging out with them so long as they're away from all my stuff that I've strewn around the house.  I should start making plans to fly to see them, risk of getting kidnapped by the government be damned. ...

Still No Rest For The Wicked

Should try and stay home one of these days, but the last time I did that was Monday.  It could have been tonight, but my friend just told me she's stopping home this weekend, so I think we've just made plans to go to the State Fair.  (I say "I think" because I'm not 100% sure if she meant tonight/Friday night or tomorrow/Saturday night.  I can't go tomorrow/Saturday night because I have that MNUFC Match ... but, honestly, if that's the only time I can see her, I'd skip that.)

I'm not going to say this has "ruined" my night in, because honestly, I have thought about going to the Alabama Shakes concert.  They're in town to perform tonight and tomorrow night.  I'm not the biggest fan of theirs, but they have a new album that technically has come out now/Friday, and I think it's cool to see a band who's in town to play a concert on the same day their new album drops.  On the other hand, Alabama Shakes is playing at Surly Brewing Festival Field.  I've been to their destination brewery, and they have ample parking right there, but all of that is taken up when a band is playing, so I don't know where to park or whether I have to take public transportation in.  On top of that, work has actually been non-punishing this week.  I actually got out of work only a little bit past eight hours yesterday/Thursday.  If that happens again today/Friday, I will have too much time to kill between work and the concert, and my laziness might coax me not to go.

But I am doing something, apparently, and that is hanging with my high school buddy and eating our brains out.  Hey, YOLO, right?  What's the other appropriate axiom here -- I can sleep when I'm dead?  Yeah, that too!

So I am working a Game this afternoon, but because my friend and co-worker got sick, I'm stepping up to take his job.  Generally speaking, it's a position I've done before -- long, long, long ago.  I hope that the combination of being thrust into this job just yesterday/Friday and the people I'll be working for and with are chill (fingers crossed) will make this assignment a non-bad one.  But do I have a guarantee the you-know-what won't hit the fan?  Nope.

Wish me luck.

Doin' The Quad! And On A Full Stomach!!!

Soccer days don't get much fuller than this -- a quadrupleheader of World Cup Group Stage Matches, each evenly spread out with approximately an hour inbetween.  Games at noon, 3, 6 and 9.  And I am going to be at one place for all four of them.

I am going to try and eat and drink through the day.  But my last meal was last night's birria tacos with ramen.  It didn't look like much, but I had to take the rest of the ramen home with me to eat after about an hour.  I had to relieve myself, and post haste.  I don't know why I got so full: I had only a elote going out to the Mexican craft brewery to watch Brazil and Morocco tie, and like I said in my last blog post, I ate waffles in the morning.  It couldn't have been the beer, or the mango michelada, could it?

Anyway, thing is I feel, well, full.  And I didn't plan on it.  This place has five ethnic-themed hot dogs, and I want to try at least four of them.  The way I'm feeling now, I might not make it.  And that surprises and, to be honest, disappoints me.

Have I Passed Up A Massage For Good?

So out of the blue, ******a, my ATF from My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Edition), asks if I'm free tonight/Monday night.  I have been angling for a massage session since the New Year, and she kept putting it off, and frankly, I was wondering if it was ever going to happen.

She had said that she was shooting for the end of the month, so it was kind of surprising that she turned around and texts me if I were free tonight.  To be fair, she has not said specifically she was offering me a massage.  She could be offering to do something else.  I thought, because I saw her at a Lynx Game once, that she had a ticket to a WNBA Draft party at Target Center or something.  I have plans tonight, and ironically, it's watching the WNBA Draft, mostly because I wonder how it's going to shake out (I've seen four players projected to go #1) and the Lynx need to hit on #2 because they have lost almost half their squad, including starters Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith.  But hell yeah I would ditch them if she only had time tonight to rub me down.  I tell her this, and she asks me to go on with my plans.  She might be free Friday or next Monday night.

I like that she's chill with what I've got going on.  Then again, I'm scared that I missed my chance of getting touched by her.  This is like the time I passed up on fucking ****e* because I was scared of sticking my dick in her.  Will I get another chance, or have I fucked this up because of a draft?

Well, Hitler Did Get The Trains To Run On Time

My passport's about to expire in six months, so I figure that I should renew it.  I didn't use it to go anywhere out of the country, and I don't plan on using my passport for at least, oh, the next three years.  But I am privileged enough to believe that there is a non-zero chance I can fly overseas at a moment's notice, so it behooves me to have a valid passport with me at all times.

So I renewed my passport, oh, about five weeks ago.  I don't remember if I took it upon myself to renew it the last time it had to be renewed, which was a decade go.  Nor do I remember ever renewing it online.  But I did.  And honestly, beyond the slight hiccup of cropping the passport photo Walgreens sent me digitally in order to comply with the government's requirements, it was a breeze.

Once I applied, they said they would send it in about eight weeks, with the estimated delivery date being exactly my birthday.  They did a lot better than that.  Two weeks ago I got my passport, which, if I have my dates correct, was about two weeks after I applied.  Then, the next week (which was last week), I got my passport photo.  I honestly thought there was a chance they would hang up my application because I've been so, let's just say, dissenting about our current government.  But either they don't care or they don't know me, because I got my passport and passport card in record time.  Unfortunately, you've got to hand it to them.  This is how people accept fascism -- if things in their lives work.

My All-Time Favorite Nourishes Me ... With Food!

Because it was Valentine's Day, I did what any romantic would do and visited my ATF at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Division) to rain money on her.  I texted her if she was working last/Saturday night; after initially thinking she might not, earlier in the week she confirmed that she was.

In our text exchange, she asked me if I like chocolate.  I love chocolate!  And after she got back down from stage -- we saw each other, we got to do table dances, then she had to go onstage, but then we did more table dances once she was done with her set -- she gave me Ghirardelli chocolates that she bought.  Did she buy them for me?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I don't care -- she thought of me enough to buy me chocolates for Valentine's Day!

I don't think I blog posted about this: When I saw her last, about a month ago, she surprised me with cookies she apparently baked from home.  I was freaking the fuck out about this siege this fuckin' Republican government put on us, but I really wanted to see her now that my parents have gone.  She was trying to calm me down, and so I think she thought the way she could do that is to feed me.  And trust me, the cookies were delicious.  The flour she used was so fluffy, yet so buttery.  I ate them up at work.

I have a new appreciation for her.  It may not be a grand gesture, but making and buying food for a customer is a signal that she's feeding me, that she's looking out for me, and that, dare I say it, she cares about me.  I ... love that she did that for me.

The Sleep Reset I Didn't Know I Needed

I didn't think I would pass out at 10 p.m., but I did.  My body told me I was real tired, so I listened to it, and I woke up around 5:30 and I feel good, even though I also feel a bit out of phase.  I back down to Day 1/10% bonus in Zynga Poker, but for a good night's sleep, I'll take it.

I really, really want to watch the EPL downtown.  I was going to do that yesterday/Saturday morning, but work called.  Also, I don't want to go to the bar on a day when a club whose supporters gather at this pub are playing.  That's most weekends when there is more than one Match going on (and on principle I don't usually don't go on a weekend when there is only one Match going on at a time), but yesterday/Saturday was one of those few times.  The next Saturday, I think I saw, was in mid-March.  However, there are three Matches going on this/Sunday morning, and none of them involve a club that meets there.  I didn't even think of going today/Sunday because they all kick off at 8.  But I'm awake now, so I can go!

But wait -- how about those damn people?  They had a goddamn checkpoint set up yesterday morning.  I don't see one now, so I hope there won't be one when I get back.

One other factor: The snow.  Only an inch fell, but it'd be just my luck if I get into a crash this morning.

And Another Snow Day!!!

This is more than ridiculous; this is fucking absurd.  Either this is one fucking monstrous snowstorm or Southerners really don't know how to deal with snow and ice, because when I woke up and checked my texts, my boss said there wasn't a shipment again this morning.  Third day in a row.  We've never had two days of no work, let alone three.  So, another snow day!!!

Not to complain too much, but you really can't enjoy a surprise day off if you have to wake up assuming you don't have the day off.  Compounding that annoyance is that today, because I was scheduled to go in and cut packages open, I had to wake up early.  Then, once I saw that someone was going to go in to work and do everything for the rest of us, I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't.  (This despite having only, at most, 90 minutes of shuteye overnight.)

Unlike yesterday, today I had planned on going out: There's a volunteer event my financial planner is putting on very close to my house.  And since he's treating everyone to dinner afterward, hell yeah, I'm going.  And since I am taking the car out today, I might as well go to the Walker today and use that offer to see the museum for free after buying a ticket to the Arrows.  I had planned on going Saturday, but the chances are now very good that I will be working that day, so I switched plans and went just today.

You know, I know I'm not enjoying these surprise days off as much as I should because one day, this will all be over and we will have to go back to work.  Something good will be taken from me, and anticipating that will happen makes me very, very sad.  But that day wasn't today.  And, to be fair, I really thought that it would be yesterday and it wasn't.  So I'm riding on free money.

The one thing I'm lacking right now is sleep.  I have to end this blog post now in order to try and get a nap in before I go to this volunteer event.

Another Snow Day!!!

Alright, now this is getting ridiculous.  I wake up at my normal weekday time expecting to come in.  I check my phone, of course ... and I see that there has been a group text created with my boss and co-workers.  I still didn't quite understand it (or maybe I just didn't believe it), but apparently the shipment was expected to be so meager again this morning that not everyone had to come in today, either.  This text chain started a quarter after 4 this morning, so obviously I was late to the party, but from what I picked up, it was determined that there was such little work that, like yesterday, one person could come in and do my job and another person's.  It looks as though one of my co-workers volunteered to do that, and, after I texted my boss and another co-worker to make sure I'm seeing what I'm seeing, I asked, and was granted, today off.

Woo-hoo!!!  Hell yeah!!!  But damn, how bad is the storm down there?  Given the work we get is important, I thought they would need Sunday to recover, then be back fully functioning, or at least get up off the mat, by yesterday afternoon so they could at least start getting caught up with giving us a sizable shipment (if not more than a full day's shipment) this morning so we could, you know, work.  Guess not.

So we might get two days' worth of work tomorrow morning, and tomorrow is when I have to cut open packages.  I probably (unless the mid-South needs yet another day to recuperate) will be opening so many packages that I'll get carpal tunnel syndrome.  But that's tomorrow.  I have an interesting (at least to me) dilemma right now: Whether to work out at my gym.  When I got the day off today, I thought it would be a good time to finally get out and exercise.  But then I fell asleep again from around 10 till a bit before 2 -- much needed, by the way -- and now, I don't know.  It's above zero, which is miles warmer than what it was before, but it's still pretty cold.  I just saw on the map that these motherfuckers are still here; they just took a Latina woman this morning.  Finally, if I surprisingly don't have to work, do I want to start up my car?  Do I even leave the house?  You know, I think I should take advantage of this serendipity and stay at home -- completely at home, a one-day lockdown, like the weekend.  There's a bike that Mother used as a clothesline, but started using as a bike to help heal her knee.  I should get on it and just exercise here.  Yeah, I'll do that.  And I'll go out to the gym this weekend.

I Still Live In A Safe, Peaceful Neighborhood

So I ended my lockdown -- which, once I stepped a bit after 9 at night, totalled a bit more than 75 hours -- I was confronted with a very nice surprise.  Not one but two of my packages, comprising of several of the many items I ordered online at once, were at my stoop.  I thought they would get here after my lockdown, but apparently that wasn't the case.

So I checked online.  As is often the case, their initial days of delivery were moved up.  One package, which were two windshield wipers, came, according to them, on Thursday.  The other package, a two-pack of water filters, arrived Saturday.  So, if they're right about when they actually arrived, I had two packages, one stacked on top of the other, sitting outside my front door, for one and three days?  And no one stole them???  I've heard of the rampant scourge of package thieves, and I don't doubt it, but I have to be honest with you, it's never happened to me, at least not yet.  I've come home late into the night to see packages at my stoop and I've wondered how no one has taken them.  But one day would be a record.  Three days, though?  It's pretty much a miracle that both packages were still there.

Or, maybe I live in a neighborhood where people respect other people's stuff, and don't feel the urge to take things that are not theirs because they have stuff of their own.  For as unsafe and scared I have felt these days, that's a reminder that this place is still pretty safe and peaceful, Buddha bless it.

Snow Day!!!

I hate surprises, but when the surprise is an unplanned day off, I love surprises.  Well, it wasn't quite unplanned.  There's that huge snowstorm just south of us (I think that's the reason we've had below-zero weather for the past four days) that is (or was) dropping inches of snow and tenths of inches of ice.  That's where we get our work from every day.  There was a very good chance that no work would come in today since the mid-South is still dealing with the cold and ice and digging out of the snow.

And, as far as I know, that is what's happening.  I woke up at my normal time, like I would be going in to work like normal, but I texted my co-worker, who works early, if there is any work.  I waited a while but, just before I headed out, I got a voicemail from my boss saying that there isn't work (or at least no work when she checked this morning), so she said I could take the day off.  And I am!

Now, for all I know, a shipment came later this morning.  But even if there was, the number of forms has to be so meager that my co-worker could take care of it by herself.  But assuming the South will rise by tomorrow, we are going to have to play catch-up.  That means longer hours, and it may be so much work that the day off I am enjoying now I will make up later this week.  But hey, until then, I am enjoying my day off here ... where I am taking naps, cleaning the humidifier, and getting scared they're going to knock on my door.

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

So last week Mother was told by her physical therapist (she was taken by my brother) that she was progressing so well that she doesn't have to do any PT sessions anymore.  That's odd.  That is five total sessions cancelled because she was doing so well.

Therefore, what we were hoping for may still be true: Once the doctor looks at Mother's knee, if she gives her the OK, she is, for all intents and purposes, fully healed.  And, presumably, she is good enough to fly to somewhere warmer for the winter.

If so ... honestly, I have mixed feelings right now, but eventually, it'll be thank God.

I Was Afraid The Masseuse Made Me Sick

So last week, because I hadn't had one in so long, I needed one, and just to get away for some me time, I got a massage.  And for the first time in a long time, I went to the massage place close to my house, not downtown.  They're cheaper out there, and so I didn't mind indulging $200+ for the first two-hour massage I've ever had.

Problem was the masseuse.  I've had her before, once before.  She is the second masseuse I've used at this place.  The first one was a revelation: Strong hands, she knew where to untie all my knots, and she was so cool to talk to, both informative with what she was doing as well as friendly when we were making small talk.  I have tried for the longest time to get her again, for years actually, but when I try to schedule her online, she's not available.  This reservation system shows the first date she is available, and it's the damnedest thing, but it says she isn't available for months, literally months.  She's great, but I can't believe she's that in demand.  This massage place is in an office park in the suburbs, for crissake.

So the one I had last week was the second time I've had this other masseuse.  She's good, but the first time I had her, she walked in with a cane.  I couldn't believe someone who has trouble walking would do massages, and I was wrong, she was very powerful with her hands as well.  But the juxtaposition kind of stayed with me, and in a bad way, even though she did nothing wrong.

Last week I was desperate for a rubdown, so I went to this place, which I hadn't been to in more than a year, and I got this second masseuse because the first one was still booked out months in advance.  So imagine my surprise when I got to the office park (I was asked on a voicemail left for me if I was willing to move up my reservation; I called back and said work was probably going to keep me where I was at; I only got there ten minutes before my scheduled time) and saw both masseuses just sitting there.  I was going to ask the first masseuse why she was there and when can I get a massage from her, but that would've been rude to the second masseuse who ushered me into the room.

I can't complain that the two-hour massage was bad.  Time actually dragged, which is something weird to say when you're theoretically being pampered like this.  Also, I was face down for half the time, and in the end there my face really began to hurt.  I can't sit face down like that for long, and that's something I need to be cognizant about.  Maybe two hours is a bit too long.

But -- and again, the massage itself was very relaxing -- this masseuse kind of bugged me even more.  There are two reasons that I can recall (although I thought I had one or two more complaints about her but forgot).  One, she inadvertently knocked me in the back of the head a few times with her forearms.  Not relaxing.  Two, and worse, she had three or four really nasty coughing fits during our session.  She said that she was doing that because the cleaning lady was around.  I don't buy that.  I think she had something, and for a few days after the massage I felt like I caught that nasty something from her.  I don't think I got sick, but still, having a masseuse get into several coughing fits without doing all she can to cover her mouth puts a lie to the tranquil, antiseptic atmosphere that is the ideal environment for a rubdown.

So, will I go back to her, and this place?  Probably, though probably not for a while.  Massages are expensive.  Plus, I still cannot fathom how this first masseuse is booked months in advance when she was just sitting around when I came in, and a piece of me wants to ask questions about that.  But, maybe this second masseuse will be healthier when I get a massage from her again.

Addendum To: Why Doesn't My Sister Just Fuckin' Have My Car, Huh?!

Yesterday/Monday morning I woke up early, or tried to wake up early, to see if I moved all my stuff from my car to the minivan, which I planned to take to work because, again, it looked as though I would have to use the van from today/Tuesday through Friday, so what the hell, why don't I just use the van all week?

As I was leaving, I see My Father putting his shoes on.  Where's he going?  A doctor's appointment, I would learn later.  He didn't tell me this anytime it would have been useful to me; guess I know from whom I get my propensity to keep secrets.  Anyway, it looked as though he planned on using the minivan.  Mother was up at the time and tried to ask him if he should use the car instead, which led to him just bolting out the door, which led to her telling me to tell him if I wanted to use the van instead, which led to me kind of yelling at her that that's exactly what I was fucking doing.

I stopped Father in time to look into the van.  It was clean; I didn't remember, but apparently on Saturday night, I did take time after I came back from the Game I was watching to put all my stuff back into my car.  (Remember, all that stuff about planning on using the minivan all week wasn't a thought in my head until Sunday, when my sister said that she was taking the car tomorrow/Wednesday to meet her friend for dinner.)  Meanwhile, My Father got into the minivan and peeled off to the doctor's like he just robbed a bank; I don't remember the last time he took off for anywhere that fast.

So, I used my car yesterday/Monday.  And it turns out I will be using it tomorrow/Wednesday, as well.  My sister told me that the dinner her friend wants to set up changed from tomorrow/Wednesday to today/Tuesday.  Also, Father has another doctor's appointment then.  So that means that after I come back from work tonight/Tuesday night I'll have to move all my stuff from the minivan into my car (I have already put all the stuff I'll need for work today/Tuesday in the minivan).  And then after work tomorrow/Wednesday, I'll have to move all my stuff from my car into the minivan, which I will use to get to work Thursday and Friday.

Man, life will be so much simpler once everybody leaves.

I've Become A Shark!

A poker shark to be precise!  I won a hand or two earlier in the week, and that somehow boosted me up the leaderboard into the top ten, meaning that if I stayed there, I would get promoted from Pro Level I to Pro Level II.  Well, I had some time just now and I played Zynga Poker again and I was able to win a few more hands that were worth billions in fake money.  Not only did I zoom up the leaderboard, I "made" so much money I automatically got promoted to Pro Level I ...

... and then Pro Level II, Pro Level III and Pro Level IV, also!  I didn't even know I got these promotions until I noticed the little insignia next to my avatar.  I don't really know how I did it.  I think I won as many hands as I did when I was in Rookie Class, but either I'm wrong, the payouts are much bigger, the competition is not as fierce as I thought it would be ... or I'm pretty damn good.  Or it's all of the above.

And Zynga told me that if I make $5 billion more before Sunday night, I would be automatically promoted into Pro V.  That's a lot of steps to climb over the course of, like, 72 hours, but I should go back and play some more.  Shoot, if you're hot, you're hot!

Outdoor Baseball? Mmm, Sorry

I was invited out to a Saints Game that took place last/Thursday night by alumni groups that we are trying to build relationships with.  As much as I wanted to go, I didn't think I could because work would probably make me late for First Pitch, and as a general rule, I don't want to go to a Game when I know I can't get to its very beginning.

I had other reasons I didn't want to go.  Another of my principles is that I will not pay for parking if I can help it, and St. Paul extends their street parking well into the evening.  That meant that I would have to park out of the downtown zone and then ride the light rail in, and that means I would have to figure out, build in, and get out of work at a fairly early time (as it is nowadays) to factor in public transportation and to make First Pitch.  Also, yesterday was a humid day, and I was not feeling hanging out in outdoor stands getting sweaty (and possibly with the sun beating down on me) trying to get to know people in order to organize more alumni events.

So I decided on Wednesday that I probably couldn't attend, and I let the lead organizer know.  And then the damndest thing happened.  I don't know what was up at work, but the heavy workload that I anticipated, and that has reliably been overwhelming ... wasn't there.  As many forms came into the building as it usually has, but apparently nearly all of them had the complete and correct information.

So, did I decide to go to the Game then?  Nope.  I realized that while I couldn't make it to the Saints Game if I got out of work too late, I didn't want to go to the Saints Game if I got out of work too early.  I had no interest yesterday to think of something to do for 90 minutes to two hours before I made my way to St. Paul.  And there was still the weather, which, admittedly, was not as sweat-inducing as I thought it would be, but was in no way comfortable for me to hang out for a 2 1/2-hour baseball Game.

So I went home.  And ate dinner (alone; I thought that since I got home at a not-insane time, my parents and I would eat dinner together, but alas).  And then I fell asleep for about an hour.

I hope these organizations have another shindig I can get to.  I really do want to try and attend one.

Closing Time On Overtime

Welp, it happened: The new person, the person recently hired for the same position as I, will finally leave data entry and be trained in ... The Third Department, the department I used to love but now despise, the one that regularly makes me stay late day after day after day.  It's the one I have vaguely said takes up the most time during my workweek, and beginning this week, my supervisor and boss are doing something about it by beginning to show her how to do that position's duties.

I have to admit that I am surprised that she is being trained in this so soon after she came on board.  When I got broken in, I was in data entry for a long time.  Then I got trained in filing, and that also took a long, long time.  I thought that was The Way Things Were.  I also know that we are very short-staffed, so it's all hands on deck to get the day's work done.  That's been how it has been since the New Year, so I didn't think they would have time to progress in this new person's training so quickly.  I thought how things have been were how it was going to be for maybe the next 12 months, maybe in the fall at the earliest.  But no, it's now.

So why the apparent change?  Maybe I am wrong about the workload and in fact they do have the time to train her in now.  Or, and this might the more plausible reason, The Third Department is so backed up every day that, once the absolutely fundamental position of keying has been mastered (at least as much as one can), my higher-ups shunted her to The Third Department with the quickness.

If that is indeed the case ... well, dammit, I'm torn.  I have spoken up from time to time about how inundated I am every day when I work The Third Department.  Every day I'm back there I am doing the work of 1 1/2 people.  Heck, that department should be like it was, when two people were working it.  It doesn't make any damn sense to at least have a second person help out at least part of the day every day.  And maybe this move is an acknowledgement that one person can't do that position alone.

But as I've said before, when I work there, as pissed off and as strung out as I get at the end of the workday, I keep grinding knowing I am getting beaucoup overtime.  And as much stress I am under, and as disruptive staying ten-plus hours have become to maintaining work-life balance, getting proper rest and getting ready for the next day, I keep looking at the fat paychecks I've been banking and I haven't said a peep since my initial inveighing over how overworked I've become in The Third Department.  So, training the new person to help out means there is less work for me back there.  And that means I will not be able to stay late, and stay late as often.  Thus, less money.  And maybe I'll be less stressed, and maybe I'll see that I'm happy that I will get to leave work at a decent hour.  But right now, right as I type this, I am saddened that these fat OT paychecks are coming to an end, probably as soon as this week.

So I Do I Have Health Insurance I Need To Pay Or Not?

OK, so while I was at work I get a personal e-mail on my work e-mail address.  It tells me that I have an outstanding claim, one that my insurance claim said they have provisionally paid, but I need to upload documents or else I'll have to pay it back.

Damn, this came out of nowhere.  Moreover, I am surprised I'm getting this on my work e-mail -- so much so that I flagged as spam, but the IT department at work said this was legit.  So I took a few minutes to go back onto the insurance website (to the point where I had to change my password because I forgot it -- you know how that goes, right?) and, wouldn't you know it, there was a claim that the company is questioning.  I don't even know what kind of documentation they would need.  I feel stuck, and I'm scared that if I don't respond to them soon, I might be told to pay them back.  And it's a chunk of change I can't necessarily just part with without wondering how I "lost" the money.

So I decided I would look at this again at home.  I might have the documentation on my personal computer, and if not, I would have the time to research exactly what is going on here.  So I get back onto the website ... but the claim I was looking for isn't there.  Moreover, the website looked different than the one I went onto at work.  I wasn't ... phished, was I?  My IT department said this is legit, so is there some other explanation?  I need to reach out to the insurance company, but this is kind of weird, man.

Oh, The Things I Can Talk About From Yesterday/Friday. Let's Start With The Phone

Oddly dynamic day, but rife with stuff to blog post about, and that's great since I've been kind of hurting for stuff to talk about.

I'll go in chronological order.  I forgot to bring my phone to work yesterday/Friday.  I had such anxiety not having it with me.  Honestly, not being able to scroll through things is something I did miss, even though I wasn't thinking about it every minute.  Hopefully that means I'm not totally addicted and gone.  No, I was more worried that I would need it and not have it, specifically that I would get into an accident or the car would break down on the way home and I would need to make an emergency call and of course I would not be able to, and I felt as though yesterday would be the day that would happen.  No, it did not happen, but that paranoia was with me.  It'll always be with me.

The other thing with the phone is that I assumed my boss texted me on it permitting me to come in to work today/Saturday.  There is a hell of a lot still left to do, and considering what usually happens when there's a backload of work (and considering that were allowed to work about to four hours yesterday), I would be allowed to come and work today.  However, I need to wait till he gives me the specific go-ahead.  I am surprised by this, but I still haven't gotten a text from him saying basically, "Yeah, if you want to come in and work today, come on in."  But I assumed that he had already done it by the time he left yesterday.  And that's why I told everybody before I left yesterday that I might be coming in to work today.  (And by the way, I didn't tell anybody that I left my cellphone at home.)  So I'm scared that my co-workers thought I would be coming in and changed my mind, when the whole truth is that I was willing and able to come in today, but didn't because I wasn't given explicit permission.

For all I know, my boss wouldn't mind if I come in today.  But I'm not going to get all dressed and come in, only to be told that I can't because I wasn't told I could.  So instead I'm blog posting this, and thinking about what other stuff I think is crazy happened yesterday/Friday.