A New Path

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Word came down yesterday that my job is soon to be by-by.  As a contractor I am subject to the whims of management.  They hired someone to do my job, my exact job.  I'm assuming they are paying them less, which is fine, but they could tell me that instead of making me believe I pissed someone with a long memory off and they want me to leave.  I'm worried that they didn't find the right kind of stupid for this job, but that's really not my concern, besides, who wants to work for a company that doesn't want them?  Seriously.  This is just the kick in the rump I need to get my certificate back and start tying to find a job in the medical profession.  I don't know what your opinion is about Obamacare, I love it.  It has caused an uptick for secondary testing which means more blood tests which means more need for phlebotomists.  To be fair though, I have insurance through one of my jobs so I haven't had to deal with the website or any of the Scheisters out there that are trying to make a buck on the process.  I hear it's frustrating, but in the end it will be worth it because then you can have your blood tested by me.

So here's the dilemma/opportunity this poses.  I got a not from my bank inviting me to apply for a loan.  So, they refinanced my car once and the lady told me I could do it again in a year or two to try and get a better rate (I went from 12% to 5% which I thought was pretty good).  I thought about this.  With unemployment looming in the distance I was worried about my debt.  If I could get enough on my refinance of my car to pay off the approximate $3k in debt I've accumulated it would be easier to pay one payment once a month then trying to keep track which one has the 90 day or the 180 day payment delay and one of them (PayPal Credit) will only let you defer payment on items over a certain amount so the other things that I've purchased that weren't under that amount need to be paid now.  So, I have a small window of time to decide "To Refinance or Not To Refinance".  Opinions are welcome on this topic.  Fiances scare me.  Not enough to not open credit accounts and use them confidently....

The current plan starting November 1 is as follows:

1. Get re-certified
2. Start shopping my resume for any kind of Hospital/Clinic job
3. Finish the final chapter "House of Dragons" and prepare for submission for January 1
4. Do NaNoWriMo my way and edit "Hearts of the Mothers" all the way through so it's about 60k words
5. Get a job
6. Get published
7. Make oodles of money
8. Move to Oregon/Washington and live happily ever after

What's really exciting is Mom now has a daytime caregiver that will allow me to leave the house and do this.  I only have to be at home and take care of Mom from 3:00pm and weekends.  It's going to be totally do-able! (Well, 1-5 anyway I have some control over those....yes I know control is an illusion)

There will be some belt tightening, {sigh}.  Isn't there always.  I'm going to take out the cable and put in one of those year specials from a different company that provides phone, internet and cable.  Or I'll see if having three different companies provide it is better.  Take some of the data off my phone and hopefully I won't run out before the end of the month so I can finish watching The Walking Dead on the treadmill at the gym.  I'm not giving up my gym membership, but I will be giving up the spa membership attached to it.  Sigh.  I think I'll miss that most of all.  I'll have to rely on the kindness of strangers to give me massages and facials.  If you'd like to donate to the charity of keeping me well massaged and beautiful, contact me and I'll tell you where to send the money.

Though life is a little crazy right now with the what-ifs it's still really really good and promising right now.  Wow, life has changed over the past few years.

Is Hypochondria Hypochondria If You Really Know Your're Not Sick?

Okay, so I got several mosquito bites about a week ago and now I feel crappy, so of course I have West Nile.  Do I need a doctor to tell me this, of course not.  WebMD has walked me through the symptoms, I've checked my glands thanks to the electronic copy of Bartlebys online reference books, my neck hurts, I feel weak and even though I feel like I have a fever, I really don't because I'm on Advil three times a day for my wrists and neck to stop hurting.  Of course it's going to spread to meningitis, encephalitis and eventually massive brain damage because of this new plague that has started to sweep the world.  Maybe this is where zombies come from.....Watch enough of The Walking Dead episodes and you begin to believe it can happen here....and it could be spread by mosquitoes and ticks and all the other little creepy crawlers that wait until we are sound asleep to infect us with the equivalent to a toxic viral stew. 

Okay, on some level, I know I'm not sick.  At least I hope I'm not.  I'm just tired and the idea that I would have to stay in bed for a few days and just sit still in the silence and shaded light sounds like heaven.  No offence to those suffering from West Nile, reading about it today makes it sounds almost unbearable (for those that survive) and it takes quite a long time to get over and I wouldn't wish that on myself or anyone else, but the silence...the bed rest....the darkness....to me in my wound-up state sounds like a slice of heaven.

So, was I bit by blood-sucking vermin, yes at least six times.  Was it one carrying the West Nile Virus? Who knows.  The only thing I do know is that if I don't start perking up I'm going to see my doctor to make sure I don't and maybe talk her into a B-12 shot.  I joke, but no one wants their spinal cord or brain to swell up and become irritated.....that would be like having an itch on your brain that no matter how far you push in the knitting needle, you can't scratch it.

Okay, I'm done whining now.  I just needed to get this down and out so I could sleep without visions of hospital food dancing in my head.