Tuesday, paying for it

This is from Tues Sept 19 - I just fixed a typo and it parked it right here.  Stayed up too late watching football on TV.  Before the game, they showed my city and snippets of the people and the fans here - gave me that pride of living here kind of feeling.  Then they talked to a few of the players and asked how they get ready for a big game.  Most of them mentioned music or listening to radio to get ready.  Prayer, solitude.  Amping up, getting psyched up.  I used to be a wrestling cheerleader in high school.  I know it seems weird being a wrestling cheerleader, but we had (and still do) a good wrestling program and my high school boyfriend was a state wrestler and I was proud of those guys and rooted them on.  I learned their routines and habits to get prepped for meets.  It was interesting.  Their dedication as young men, was inspiring.  A couple of the NFL football players sat down during the national anthem.  Many of the people if my social media feed have a very strong emotion about it one way or another.  It seems like one side or another.  The opinions are so strong, there is little room for thought, only reaction.  My DH has a strong reaction.  I also have an opinion on it, but I am not willing to decide and just stop.  I try to understand.  I am just tired of looking at everything all or nothing, my side or your side, good or bad.  I am just tired.  And now after staying up too late and forgoing hot yoga to be home and watch the game, I am feeling blah.  Sometimes, the answers do not come - like why the guy in Vegas did such a horrific act.  Sometimes things don't fit into a box.  Just last week I said to myself I was going to try to avoid negative news that tries to pit side against side.  Now it seems almost impossible.  Mix in the sad stories about the victims and I am sad as well as tired.  Glad I have tools in my life to pick up and utilize.

Now I learn another person on my project at work is leaving.  I have been a temp for nearly 10 years!  I have been on several projects over the years.  This last project I have been on has been nearly 3 years.  At first I hated this project.  The person who I worked closely with was confusing, left out crucial instruction, was frazzled with her own work/workload, was a little rough around the edges and unprofessional in how she spoke (oversharing personal information) and really was pretty rude most of the time.  I spend a few nights crying at home to my husband.  And I looked for other jobs.  I did not look very hard.  I am at a loss careerwise and after having a few disappointments, I gave up looking about the time I started working here. 

After a while, I have adjusted...I don't let it bother me.  See, I barely mentioned it.  Haha.  Perspective is a powerful thing.

Now or Never

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?m=1

When I posted the title, I had the Elvis song playing in my head.  Ear worm.

I used to have a really busy job in the insurance industry.  In college, I majored in business.  It was the 80's and I was under the influence of such movies as Working Girl (Melanie Griffith), The Secret of My Success (Michael J. Fox) and Trading Places (Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy).  I considered a job in a lab (biomedical engineering - I loved chemistry but hated math) and something more artistic (decorating - too impractical).  My parent's felt I needed something more concrete since I was the first person in the family to go to college and they persuaded me to at least take typing and computers, so business made sense.  I figured I would probably end up as a secretary, but secretly longed to go to law school.
I finished with a BS in marketing.  I got a job in sales and hated it.  I had worked retail through college and like it mostly, but hated the hours and the flakiness of the employees.  Plus it did not pay well and you were on your feet all day.  But I liked helping the customers and displaying/showing the merchandise.  I consider fashion merchandising and advertising, but figured I would have to move far away and I missed my mom and sister too much in college. 
I applied for a job I found in the paper that was a good salary, but was not sales.  I got it.  Be careful for what you wish for.  I should clarify and say I did not get the actual job, but a slightly different version of what I applied for.  The other applicant that my hiring manager liked had a wife and kid.  My manager told me this, something you could never say today.  So, he hired the other guy and told me that he really wished he could hire us both.  I figured he was just saying that to be polite.  Well, about 2 - 4 weeks later I heard from him again.  Would I want to take the job that was just a step below and possibly work into the same position down the road?  Sure!  It was $23,500 a year and full benefits.  I actually would have medical insurance, vacation days and a 401(k).  Whooooopiiieeee.
This job was challenging but entertaining.  Everyday was something new and different.  We were quickly given very thorough training and authority.  We learned a lot.  I excelled.  It was unique enough, I got to use my left brain creative side.  But very time intensive and I worked long hours.  For many years.  I moved around, different states.  Got moved up and promoted, learned to specialize.  I liked the nature of my job overall, but 2 things remained challenging...time management and politics. 
We were given much training and pep talks in time management.  No preparation at all for politics.  Haha.  I really had no help at all in either area.  My father was a blue collar worker who essentially worked for his friend and my mom was a bank teller who hated management.
One of the things we were taught by Big Insurance was, only touch something once.  We had daily "diaries" of stuff to do on each "file" assigned to us.  Often the job was so overwhelming with "fires" that come up from tasks being forced up on us from new "files" or people calling and yelling at us that we would just move the diary ahead a few days, or a week.  This did not help in the long run, these tasks were still waiting for us, along with new "fires".  So, we were taught to 1)  do what you could to move the file forward any time you looked at it, 2)  diary ahead realistically and 3)  each piece of mail you got - put it where it needed to go when you first touched it.  Don't just stick it in a pile.  Summarize the mail in the computer database and file it with the appropriate hard file.
This has served me well in life.  I hate junk mail, I hate all mail, really.  Paper or electronic.  I do what I can to minimize it.  I elect to get electronic billing on all accounts and zero junk email (I opt out of all and create spam for all the offenders who ignore) and when I open paper mail I deal with it right then...a)  keep and file or b) shred and throw away.  I hope to add more efficiencies in my life like this (systems) upon retirement, so that I won't become bogged down with the slack routine and have loose ends.  I don't deal well with loose ends.  I would almost rather do something wrong than do nothing!  Ha.  Anyway, this has been your lesson in 90's Big Insurance rah rah boom bah pep talk about how to cram more into your day.  Not really, this is a way I can do my chores and have more fun.
Have a great Monday!

All Souls Day

11/1/17
I dedicate my post today to my mom, God rest her soul.

I cannot even believe that it is already November.  It is cool and gray outside, but not as cold and windy as Halloween.  I did manage to bundle up and take a walk after work.  Next week ends daylight savings time, so will be too dark for me to walk after this week.  I will still walk on Sundays though.  I do not walk in the dark.  I live in a nice suburb of a large Midwestern city and probably would be safe walking even in the pitch black, but my husband and I just do not think this is a good idea, so I avoid it.  My husband walks with me sometimes, but I cannot depend on him to walk with me.  So, I guess I will increase my yoga to twice a week and walk weekends. 

I have walked regularly since I graduated from high school in the 80's.  I used to do it just to keep my weight down, but over the years the benefits have become so obvious, that I do it to stay active and healthy.  Perhaps more important even still are the benefits it has on my psyche.  I feel better mentally and my mind shifts into a relaxation mode when I walk regularly.  I listen to podcasts, books or music and I just really enjoy it.  I have a beautiful walking area on a parkway at my CH (city home).  It goes in between 2 golf courses and so I find balls all the time and it is also in between to cow pastures so we see lots of wild animals, along with the cows.  There is a stream and a pond that is a constant source of animals.  We have seen (or heard) owls, an eagle, hawks, ducks, geese, kingfishers, egrets, cormorants, coots, herons, cranes, bitterns, all manner of other migratory birds, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, beavers, otters, muskrats, possums, skunks, deer, turtles, frogs and...I think that about covers it. 

I hope it stays nice enough today to walk again when I get home.  Last night after my walk we pretty much lay low while the kids trick or treated, we have 2 small dogs that go crazy, so we don't turn our light on.  I hate it, but I feel like our neighbors would be disturbed by the barking because we are the middle unit in a patio home.  Then, we both wanted to watch different shows, so my husband ate his fish meal in front of the TV in the living room and I enjoyed my pumpkin smoothie in the bed room.  We hardly ever do that, but I enjoyed catching up on one of my shows.  I think tonight I will fix him either left over pancakes from Sunday morning or a taco salad. 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...yesterday was the last day of overtime for me!  I have been on overtime since June and I am tired of it.  I added it all up and I have done an extra 182 hours of overtime and I am ready to wind down a little.  Next week I have a colonoscopy on Monday and I have decided to just take the rest of the day off!  That is a rare thing for sure.  It will be sort of like a reward.  I am going to eat lunch with my aunts and then putter at home.  I dread it so much, I just want to get it over with.  I have had like 8 in the past 5 years, but I am doing a lot better between diet, medicine and supplements.  And I just have to accept that I need a lot of rest, esp while I am working full time.  My stress over the years has been reduced since I changed careers and I hope to downsize the stress even more when my husband retires.  Stress is a killer when you have a constant medical condition like I do.  Have a great Wednesday, I hope you get to enjoy what ever thing reduces your stress and gives you some joy!

November, yoga, exercise, golf balls, birds, animals, nature, dogs, CH walking, health, career, stress