good news, good news

 My mind wants me to stressed because of current life events but the medication is actively fighting on my behalf. So many more good things happened today.

Yeah, my submission lead gave me a bit of 'we expect this from our internal staff' speech, but what do I care. I can relish in the fact that she's stressed about the submission as the lead. 

Then I thought about another project that is running that looked like it had a small fire early this a.m. But the early meeting was just to say ....no fire yet, but the silence is ominous.

Oh well. I hope I can shake this all off before my trip tomorrow. 

I don't really agree with my lead but grrr. I'm trying not to be stressed. In the end, the solution will just be a copy and paste. 

In better news...

- I got a massage... I don't really see the point. I would've been mad if I'd spent $150 of my own money on that. Luckily, it was a gift card. I think cookies make me happier. Just have to remember.

- I had a nice day yesterday.

Chase is still stressing me out but to counter that, I'm going to go ahead and book my Sydney hotel today. I'm kind of over them. I could almost taste those 5 free night certificates. But no-anxiety monster...there will be other awards.

So ends my card chasing for this year. I always seem to start the year off hot, get burned, then cool down. 

I realized I was churning so many direct deposits, I ran out of room on my payroll. Whoops! Good indicator this needs to stop.

I'm not looking forward to work drama upon my return, but at least it'll keep me busy for the rest of the project time. 

I think the team is taking this long time frame too carelessly and just having review after review. Trying not to take things personally. Glad I waited to start my document when the document before was closer to be done because they were still making changes when I started. 

But I totally lowballed my bonus so it was a nice surprise to get more than I thought! Yippee!!!

I got a 3% raise and I don't have to worry anymore about work performance. 

And technically this is anxiety lessening news - Progressive randomly left me a voicemail that we're accepting 100% responsibility for the accident. Since I was getting tired of paying my car note, I was rethinking getting a lawyer. Now that does not seem like a worthy hill to climb. If I can't even handle the run-around for a credit card bonus.

Feelings. 

But other than that it feels like a pretty good day. I'm sooo close to getting to my number I can taste it. Oh well.

I need to plan for Mt. Rushmore too. Will try not to travel hack and just use any earned bonus churning money. 

Yay, belated Bonus Day! Yay, birthday. Wow, this is my life. :)

Cloudy Day - What's making me anxious today?

 It's a cloudy start to the day but I don't feel too gloomy. I'm glad I got a lot of my work done yesterday so I can lounge the day away. I have some minor angst about a few things that I'd like to get out of my mind. 

In freeform...

- Not sure how program lead is going to respond to request for back-up.

- Wanting to not wait for respond and request new cell phone; but I can wait, my collective data points support this despite what humans say; my team has been very particular about budgeting. Yay me for sticking with my instincts.

- General nervousness for Day 3 of no real socialisation. 

- My connection is a little short for my upcoming trip on Tuesday. I just hope they'll be able to re-route me, so maybe I shall stay unconcerned. Yay. 

- A bit nervous about waiting to hear from a credit card I applied for. Been having trouble with verification.

- General excitement about some upcoming spends I have to meet. Trying to incorporate a friend. She was not as excited about my hack and I feed off people's energy. 

- Again, all this downtime, hoping I can find a way to entertain myself. 


phew....30 minutes later... my program lead responded...so that bit is gone. 

I hate signing on Teams when I'm trying to have an off-day. You know what, I'm going to sign back off. I have too much going on through my head for this. My mental health first. Phew, thank goodness for choices.

I totally lost track of what I was thinking...

In other news...

- I reached all time highs in my net worth...I'm 76% of the way to my Big Goal! Woot! In a fit yesterday, I was thinking, man wouldn't it be great to get there in 2 years instead of 3. I'm trying to fight that feeling and just enjoy my float. 

Oh I remember what else I'm anxious about - a stupid $10 check I fought for and then deposited in Varo. I forgot it has so many restrictions. I'm skeptical of whether it will be cashed and they had me write their name on it.

It would've been easier to just go with a bank that is less scammy, but here we are. I tried to Zelle, but I needed a direct deposit. I actually thought I'd closed the account but apparently I hadn't. You know what, I'm going to close it. It's not all that useful. 

I've been worried about not having anymore unexpired ID with my old name on it. Yikes! So I'm thinking of keeping my passport card. That seems prudent. But that means I have to redo my renewal form that I already printed and made a money order for. I guess that's just what I'll have to do. I have to leave the house tomorrow anyway. Yep, writing it out definitely separates the angst from sense. Phew!

- Oh the other angsty thing....getting food for my neighbor? I might now, especially if its gloomy outside. I might try to call though. I like this plan. 

- oh and my short connection when I fly out...but I rationalized...oh well. I don't want to spend all day at the airport, and ideally they'll probably rebook me, so there's that. 

- That being said I am feeling antsy to go ahead and just get rid of my TD account with old name and rollover my 401k that has an old name. I just want to be rid of those remnants once and for all. 

- So much for taking it easy today...looks like I'll be in things. 

- I guess for now, I'll keep my churner and one brick and mortar account in old name. And I'll stay busy since my playpal is out sick. So that might work. 

- I'll wait for the my other playpal to message me so I don't pester them too much. That was making me anxious as well. 


Alright I guess I'll keep busy from the bed. 

Happiness abounds!

 It's my last free week before my project picks back up! And phew what a wonderful week it is. One of my community members informed me of half priced tickets for the zoo so I'd like to go this weekend. 

It's been fun having my close by neighbor to hang out with. It certainly is the life distraction I needed on days I like these. I get the workday to myself and then hang out with him afterward. I see why people like this.

It's nice and easy!

And our community puts on lots of great events. 

I bought a bike yesterday as part of a wellness credit I was awarded so YaY!! Eventhough it was technically free money, I'll still consider it a good purchase if I get 10 rides out of it. I think that can be achieved. Once the sun peaks today, I plan to take it out.

And for the first time, I have a Valentine this year. That's pretty cool. And he gets so excited, he told me long before! 

I'm even getting chocolates. Nice, right?!

My anxiety is well managed. I haven't had more long-standing thoughts about getting back on Zoloft because my life is distracting enough. So that's good.

I shall still keep it in the background though.

Yeah, money wise. My fixed costs are higher than ever with my pricey apartment, rental furniture, new car loan, and student loan. But auto-payments keeps it out of front of mind. And also, duh, having enough income to cover it. And also having my FIRE cushion. All's good on the money front.

I spend way too much time trying to squeeze dollars out of nickels, but oh well.

My bank bonus churning has come to a complete halt for now because I have way too much other stuff to think about.

I did manage to accumulate 150k AA miles in the last couple months so that was kind of fun. But for some reason opening a savings account is near impossible because they can't verify my identity. Oh well. 

And using their pre-approval tool, I don't think I'll be approved for the other cards I would need to get my Australia lodging for close to free. 

Alright gotta go! 

Jan 26 2024

 Hi, friends!


My anxious feelings continue to be tamped down! yay, me! Yay, medications!

I had a nerve inducing meeting this morning but I got through it by being prepared. Yay.

Work is still going fine. My workload is manageable and that makes me happy.

The weather has swung from being cold and icy to balmy and cool.

In a conversation last night with my neighbor on wishes, I realize in many aspects of my life, I still value freedom.

I don't know why I feel so imprisoned by every day life even though I love structure.

MONEY helps! It really does. I just feel so happy to have enough and KNOW I have enough. Yay!!

Wow, I'm glad I lived to see this. As I write this, I can't say it was worth it. But I'm glad that if I HAD TO LIVE, I got to see my life turn around. This is where I think Zoloft would make a difference, I would WANT to live. Well until I make my mind up on that, I'm happy. 

I planned a random trip to the Carribean and had mixed feelings about it, especially since the weather is going to be nice here while I'm gone! But oh well! I planned some excursions that I'm kind of excited about.

And today I'm going to get sushi at happy hour. And go on a walk with a friend. Yay!

I had one of my overseas relatives hit me up for money a week or so ago. I was going to give it to them anyway, just not for a few months. 

And I got approved for a 3rd card to round off my points needed for Australia! Woot!!!

2023 Financial Update

 I was clicking through my tracker and realized I didn't do a financial update post. I wrote it in my notes, but didn't post. Part of that was because I've been traveling and just outright getting out in these streets!

So here we are:


Income - $91k

Net Paycheck income: ~$91k

Expenses - $55k

Just realized I never did get the official number from my budget app. Really been slacking. I had an estimate at about ~$55k in early December but never went back to officially check.  Well it looks to be right around that. 

Highest category was Travel by far between 15-20k. Don't have the numbers in front of me. 

Savings - $71k

It breaks out to about $29k in 401k contributions from employee only. And about $42k in contributions to my taxable brokerage account. 

Other: 

Nothing really to add here. As of January 16, 2024, I'm near around 720k in assets. I was dreaming about possibly hitting $750k by end of March 2024 after bonuses post. That will be fire!!!