A New Name, A Family Fund and other things

I woke up around 7:30am this morning. I know I didn't head upstairs until around 1:30a, so I don't know how much sleep I've been getting this week and last.

I don't feel particularly tired, but I think I ought to get more sleep. I keep waking up with my heart racing. I don't know if it's hunger or something else.

First, the other things

  • After 2 voicemails and 2 emails (unread) from Wespath, I finally sent an email asking them to go ahead with the Direct Deposit tomorrow (Friday).  I really hope they do and I don't have to communicate with them anymore. This will be one less thing on my anxiety banquet.

  • This limbo situation that I'm in - limbo between jobs; limbo between housing; limbo with COVID is slowly driving me crazy.  If you don't know me, I can tell you I don't do well in grey area.  
    • So I've chosen to just give myself 4-day weekends from now on. That means Friday-Monday = do whatever I want...this mostly just means eating some emotionally satisfying foods, watching what I want, doing what I want and not doing what I don't want. Just taking it easier on these days.  I'll save Tues-Thurs for focusing on work and personal, financial, and business decisions. I guess, just saving big decisions for Tues-Thur, Outside of that, I don't have to think about it.
    • Part of this is weighted by the fact that I feel there may not be another time in my life to take advantage of all this free time. So, I just want to take advantage of it and institute these mini-holidays. 

  • Still haven't received my stimulus check.

  • After putting a moratorium on signing up for new bank bonuses, I felt such a strong urge on Tuesday, it was crazy. It was literally the only thing I wanted to do.

  • Call volume is starting to pick up. As I mentioned in another post, I think everyone is itching to get back to their regularly scheduled life. This will be good for me if I leave Call Center 2 because I didn't want to feel like I left a cushy gig behind. 

  • I believe the Big Pharma background check came back with no follow-up required, but this morning when I went to log-in to complete some onboarding, I couldn't. So that automatically made me nervous. 

  • In light of the grey areas surrounding job and the house, I decided just to make decisions based on my preferred outcome - staying in the house.  So ideally, when I ask myself, whether to buy the washer and dryer, I go with yes, because you're staying in the house. Easier said then done.  
    • Part of the reason I want to get this done, now rather than later, is because I've already set the money aside for this task. If I were to commingle it with regular funds, I think I would get confused...

  • I find myself eagerly wanting to check email every morning and every night before bed - knowing I am usually expecting nothing. This is a habit I've been trying to break for awhile now.  I finally deleted the Mail app off my bedside iPad (for the 12th time) to at least make it a little more difficult to scratch that itch. 

  • I read to deal with a verbose talker - to contribute nothing. I think I will do a bit of that, and a bit of just trying to love them anyway. Accept them as they are. I just have to reconfigure their contribution to my life. It's been over a year of trying to navigate these two relationships, and I'm just tired of being frustrated. I've just been so desperate for human interaction, I'll take less than optimal ones.  One thing I am learning in adulthood, is that change is hard to come by and takes longer to take effect, so I have to remember that. 

The New Name
So if I'm choosing my own adventure, the next 1.5 to 2 years will be anchored by my Big Pharma Life.  As such, I decided to choose a new name. I picked out a new name 3 years ago - it was full of hope, and promise, and new beginnings. That life didn't work out the way I envisioned so I've put that name back into the vault.  

To commemorate this actual next stage in my life, though, I still wanted to choose a new name. I wanted it to capture elements of this next stage in my life. So the name I chose is an abridged, abbreviated, pragmatic, easy version of my old name. It's simple. It offers the option of hope, without the overabundance of hope we are all so quick to glom onto. I like that about it. 

So, let's say my name was Susana Johnson- Berenstein. My new name is Ana Joy. Short, brief, still professional, with a just a little shout-out to God.  I don't know how this will work with new job as far as documents, but my plan is to add it as as my preferred name and I hope it's at least reflected in my email. I won't make a big deal out of it; if asked I'll just say it's what I prefer to be called (at work).

Family Fund updated 14May2020
I just realized I forgot to talk about the Family Fund. In honor of my sainted Aunty MERJ, I decided to set aside ~$500/yr to help out family members. This is what I would hope to generate in savings interest if I were to put the $10k death benefit I'm slotted to receive in a high yield savings account. I know savings rates don't reach 5% APR anymore, but at one point they did.  When I became aware of all the people she listed as secondary beneficiaries, it just touched me and I knew I wanted to try do something for our extended family to honor her memory.

I'm not actually telling my family about the death benefit I received because some of them are funny about money.  But I do want to share with them when I do gift the money that it's in honor of Aunty MERJ.

Then my uncle died. I didn't know him very well, but my Aunt did. So I sent the first payment of $375 from the not-yet-established Family Fund overseas to help with funeral expenses.  As a matter of fact, I haven't even received the $10k yet - talk about counting chickens.  I really selected the $375 because that's how much I've made in bank bonuses so far. That's kind of the shell story I'm telling my family. 

10+ Things I Like About My Job

I gripe internally and externally about my job, and since there's a chance I'll be leaving it soon, I don't want to go without saying it has overall been a positive experience.  Here's why.


  • They offered me a job when I was unemployed.
  • They paid me 6 figures (first time, and while I was still in my 30s). 
  • Discretionary PTO (I've taken off at least 10 days within my first 6 months). 
  • Work from home (pre-COVID)
  • Work from home stipend
  • Work from home equipment (I never went through the official channels, but it exists.)
  • For a corporate gig, there are not a lot of meetings or emails. I mean I have one 15-30 min team huddle meeting a week.  I add this because I know this is something people complain about a lot in the corporate world. 
  • 401k matching, health insurance
  • Free leftovers from other people's meetings
  • Onsite cafe and clinic
  • All the other perks from working in an office setting
  • Low call volume the last month or so without a reduction in base salary. 




The gripes have mostly been me trying to make a pretty good gig into a pretty great gig.  That is to say it has always been good-to-great gripe. 

What is making me anxious this Tuesday morning?

It's 7:30am on a Tuesday morning in early April, and my thermostat is on a toasty  and luxurious 72*F. It's been unseasonably cool this spring so far. I don't mind.  I hope it pays off in the summer.

I awoke around 6:30am this morning as opposed to the usual 7:30a it's been the last few days. I just feel my heart racing and my thoughts unsettled. Why? What is on my mind? 


  • Is Wespath ever going to deposit the money. I check my email every morning half-hoping for a direct deposit notice?
  • Ugh, I purposed to go 3 days without sending personal messages, emails, texts or G-chat messages. I did this to settle my mind. Then I got a Skype call yesterday, and was so desperate for human interaction, I took it after just a moment's hesitation. I don't regret it, but I wish I had stuck to my goal. Now of course, the mental replay of the conversation has been added to my unending thoughts.
  • Where is my stimulus check?
  • Where is my Chase card?
  • I want some bacon and fresh baked rolls this morning but I purposed to go 5 days without financial transactions, that includes spending! Do I just enjoy my life and forget about this goal?
  • What if my Big Pharma background check comes back negative? When will I know? Will I get a chance to correct it? Why didn't I just fill it out correctly, more carefully? I really wish I would get the results today, so I can move closer to being excited for this opportunity!
  • I haven't told anybody about the new job. Not even my professional colleague who initially referred me. Why is that?
    • I think I'm waiting for things like the background check; more Coronavirus updates; maybe after I turn in my resignation letter to my current job; maybe after I start; maybe 3 months to 1 year after I start??
  • Should I start packing now for my Big Pharma life? I want to plan out outfits so that it's one less thing to do when I have to start?
  • What exactly am I supposed to be doing right now? 
  • What's my plan if I'm not good at my new job?
  • What if I get fired at my current job? (This thought doesn't even make that much sense.)
  • What happens next? What am I supposed to be doing? 
  • Why does it bug me so much that one of my peers is such an over talker? Why can't I just let her live? Lots of people are talkative, and I'm a lot more forgiving! 
  • Has the doctor's office received my payment? Are they ever going to send me my bill? If I don't respond to that lawyer, is he going to take me to court or will I fall off his to-do list? 
  • Is today my old college roommate's birthday? Why can't I remember? 
  • Will I ever just be able to stretch and/or meditate or should I just wait for retirement? 

Some of my routines are working. And some I've broken....
I've been avoiding cooking with spice - including black pepper. And it's been at least a week or two since I've had recurring throat burn. I did eat around 10pm a couple nights ago, so that led to some nighttime coughing, but my throat wasn't burning and it didn't last into the next day. 

I set an Outlook reminder to "Brush and floss anyway" for 7:45pm everyday. I have so many excuses, and so far after Day 1, it's worked.

Broken my rule the last week or so about internet and TV in the bedroom. I couldn't get into the audiobooks I downloaded, and I slid into my old habit of falling asleep to TV (on the iPad) to distract my racing thoughts. I've been anxiously checking email on the iPad every morning. I don't know why. 

Other news
Something good that happened yesterday, after some haranguing and getting frustrated going in circles, I got confirmation that work is paying out the WFH stipend on this Friday's paycheck. I'm curious to know if I'm the only one getting it - so my haranguing worked- or if everyone is getting it, i.e. it was going to happen anyway so no haranguing was necessary. 

It's rumored to be around $900 to $1k. My colleague put this into perspective that this is very generous. When did I become this ungrateful, entitled monster that I lost sight of that. At Call Center #1, we had to pay for our own equipment and received no such stipend. 

I know this is pretty boring for readers, but it really does help just to dump out my thoughts somewhere. 

Sunday check-in

Great morning! 

This morning I went tote hunting again. In case you're curious what I'm looking for, you can find it here. 

I was pretty confident the internet was lying to me again about it being in stock, but I had nothing else to do this morning, so I went. Plus I told myself I could test out the 2 new credit cards I received. I wanted to test them out because Card #1 was received in April but has refused to work. I spoke to the Fraud team recently, and they were supposed to remove the block and update my account. Well, I could confirm one of those things was still not true.

Credit card dreams
Well, both cards worked. But I still had no tote.  My local Walmart was a a little more stocked than it was last week, but still looked picked over. I found it amusing that every single Mother's Day card display was empty. Every. Single. One.  I had just never seen that before - maybe I haven't gone down the greeting card aisle on Mother's Day? I don't know. 

I usually see seasonal items like months before the actual day and the displays are always full, and I always chuckle to myself like who buys this stuff. The people do, the people. 

This morning I was one of those people. I bought two Mother's Day-themed picture frames.  They just caught my heart. I hung one, but I think I will return the other. I actually tried to return the other before I left the store, but the line was soooo long.  And the store was already busy, I just wanted to go home.

I think the credit cards were having their effect on me because in addition to impulse buying the picture frames ($15), I impulse bought 4 dresses at the first Walmart ($28). I justified the dresses as it would be easy outfits for my new job. These impulse buys are further affirmation that I am not ready for responsible regular credit card use. 

It's so funny because I think I'm pretty budget conscious and have learned my lesson about credit card debt, but just having that credit card on me, and I started to believe all the hopes and dreams and lies! It was amazing. The human mind is amazing. 

Suffice to say, when I got home, I put the 2 cards away and froze the accounts, including the one of the card I have yet to receive. Their intended purpose was to get the sign-up bonuses (~$550) when I bought things for the house, namely washer, dryer, and furniture! 

Family and money
So one of my relatives sent me an email to check-in, re: the pandemic. I was pretty skeptical as the last time I received an email from them, it was followed up with a money ask. I've already budgeted $600 bi-annually to this family, so I'm letting the email go unanswered for now. 

Other things to buy
It may be another effect of having the spending power of 3 credit cards, but I now find myself in the preliminary market for a home security system. I justified it for peace of mind for when I move for my Big Pharma Life.  Two of my neighbors as well as a couple peers have either the doorbell cam or some sort of nanny cam. So it seems like a thing people do. 

I guess the doorbell cam would be more of a deterrent, but I think I am leaning toward installing an indoor camera on the inside of the house.  With some preliminary clicks, I think I do want something motion-sensored; that records video; free storage would be nice; able to view in real time either with an app or on the web (I may need to upgrade my cell phone). A budget one I found in two reviews was: Wyze Cam. 

It boasts free 14 day storage and the reviewers say it gets the job done. I'm not needing anything too fancy, just mostly a pair of eyes on the house, even in case of like some sort of leak or weird maintenance need.  The only thing I would have of value would be my $200 TV from 5 years ago. I'm sure you can get much nicer things for less. But again, criminals aren't necessarily logical. 

Sunday and the week to come
So, once I get off this thing, I am going to attempt to park myself in front of the TV with a hot bowl of beans and rice. I am purposing to do No Financial Transactions this work week (Mon - Fri); this includes spending, paying bills, as well as moving money for bank bonuses. I would like some time to mellow out and just absorb the changes about to come, near and far. Plus, the humans are going to be running loose if the trips to Walmart are any indication, as our state is in Phase 1 of easing Covid restrictions.  So retail stores, except restaurant, are back in business. 

See you next time! 

2 Prayers for my next stage in life

 Once upon a time, I used to document my prayers each year and look back on it at the end of the year and essentially give God a score. It's just the pragmatic teacher in me, I guess.  Well in the last year or two, I just stopped praying for things. My life was more than adequate, and I was borderline ungrateful for the things I did have. Yet, I was always looking for the "more life." And sometimes, it was just difficult to understand how prayer worked (especially when you didn't get exactly what you prayed or hoped for).

Mostly in the last few years, I say to God, usually on my ride to work, thank you for taking care of me.

Because regardless of if my prayers are granted like the wishes I often confuse them for, I am alive and well. God has fulfilled His Promise to take care of me.

But now with the unknown of the coming 6 months, I am praying the following things (abbreviated here).


  • I pray that I reach flow in my new job. I pray that I love it!
  • I pray that I can work completely remotely after 6 months at my new job. 

Today is May 10, 2020. We'll check back and see how it all goes!