Ghosted and generic advice

I think when you get to me my age, you get to nope out of generic advice. I got ghosted by a recruiter and I saw it coming. I was about to send them a nasty gram and then a day later they sent me an invite for a 2nd round of interviews, and then I never heard from them again.

Like a rookie, I followed up with them 3 times. Because the dumb advice I got was ...'you never know.' You do know. After 40 years and 100+ applicants, you do know! There were a couple of one-offs that led me down this path, but I can guarantee you it won't happen again.

Luckily, I had already given myself permission to not engage in these entanglement for awhile. So I can't say I'm too mad about it.

I think work is monitoring our keystroke because I just saw a pop up about performance management being logged. So, back to rodeo.

Just wanted to reflect on generic advice. My Maryland Aunty also said no to an interview after scheduling it. Why put yourself in uncomfortable, emotionally taxing circumstances if you don't have to.

This did linger a bit longer with me than it needed to. But now I know for sure, sure. Because you can AND do know, folks.

Phew. Well with all the scarlet lettering going on at work, I'm sure I'll be back on the interview trail before too long. But such is life.

I'm employable. 

Until then, I've been enjoying some pretty great days. And with only 2 months left of the year, I plan on keeping it up as best as I can. Toodles!  

I love my life!

 Remember when I used to wish one day I'd be able to say that. Yep, I feel that. And it's a Sunday, and it's gloomy outside, and I'm alone! And I have work looming!

But I still love my life right now. I hung out with people almost everyday this week. I went on an adventure to a Native American Museum. 

I ate things. I love having my expanded monthly allowance. I don't have to worry about how much things cost. I can more easily choose convenience.

I was making a shopping list and ordering stuff on Walmart app. And the convenience items were quite a bit more. At first, I tried to figure out how to do it for less. But then I just clicked the single serve things. Cuz my life is fast moving and I want household chores to be as convenient as possible, yes this includes feeing myself.

And the more I talk about reaching my leanFI number, the more confident I become in my projections and ability to care for myself. It's like it makes it more real!

And the realization is affirming. 

It's funny when I was dating and had to answer the question of what you want in a partner... I used to think kindness...and one of the examples was someone who would think to make you a sandwich when you were too busy to ask. My neighbor did that and I was so busy I didn't take him up on it. But next time I will!

So yeah, I found a friend. I won't let him know that of course. Because...human.

Anyway, I love having money and social activities. And I'm even learning to appreciate hanging out with people without having a strong connection or seeing them again. Talk about living in the moment! This is more about me and socializing and less about forming lasting connections.

I'm just out doing the things.

And it's awesome.

On to eat my donuts!

Feeling restless, alone, and in need of some affection

 Work definitely adds to some stress. It increases baseline stress because I'm still learning my job. I've been wanting to contact a boy ghost from the past just to feel some sort of attention or affection.

Grrr. Maybe it's the cozy weather. Maybe it's hanging out with a male friend who shows no romantic interest in me. 

I don't want to go back to that place.

My energy is low.

I don't want to go dance class today. I was right about Mondays. They are tough to get motivated to do anything. But so are weekday evenings. 

4 events a week are fine, but I need to streamline the days. 

I haven't quite adjusted to all the outfits and preparations. 

Sweat through an interview and lived to talk about it and other revelations.

 I just got through an interview and was called out on my resume, but I refuse to change anything. Something still thinks the hiring manager might hire me. But I won't hold my breath...not too long anyway.

But it did bring about the though exercise of what do I do if my job gets eliminated or I have to go into the office. 

There are many different scenarios, but the two basic ones are;

If let go entirely: I already said, I'd look for work for a year and after 1 year without success, consider myself early retired at whatever my account balance is. I already know I can make it on $20k.

Scenario 2:

Remote work is eliminated and I'm required to return to work: I initially thought I'd just move back to the lower cost of living place and buckle down until I reach millionaire status. But now that I have a good thing going and if that continues, I am toying with the idea of going back to Call Center work, if I can get it rather than moving. It depends on how far away I am from full FIRE. 

If it happened say the end of the year, and I had to relocate by Jan 1, I definitely don't want to move. I might try to do a hybrid since I technically could stay with Maryland Aunty. It would definitely be an interesting solve. 

Scenario 3:

I think was returning to Call Center work if I could find it. I would pick Call Center 2. I just don't know how easy that would be to get, but only time will tell, I suppose.

Revelation

But I think the revelation is to try to go the next 12 months (in Newtown, especially) without job applying. I've been saying that for 3 years, and while I haven't gone crazy, I'm still applying and subjecting myself to the emotional rollecoaster of the job hunt. No bueno! 

So since job hunting seems to be on the horizon (timeframe TBD), I think I deserve to give myself a real break from the hunt until it's absolutely necessary. I hope that it doesn't get there, but I tried without the pressure and still couldn't really break into it. 

I think when I do have to look again, I will probably try for both. Call Center and Widget worker. 

Onward to enjoy my life!

Also, friends, I booked my trip to South America. After all the iterations, I decided on Christmas week in South America and in a family friendly hotel...oh well. It's all inclusive and sunny. So I chose a trip outside the US vs Miami. I chose South America vs Dominican Republic. I chose South America vs Europse. I chose 1 week vs 2 weeks. I chose 1 destination vs 2 destinations. I chose 4 days vs 3 days. I even chose to buy separately vs a package so I can easily book a transfer. I chose travel protection vs not. And I chose a family friendly hotel because that was the only option in South America. And I chose South America over adults only.

And given my new workload for the rest of the year, it will be a welcomed vacation.

I also chose a week off right before the week away to do nothing. My schedule is empty. There are no hosted events or structured activities. I hope to stay busy with the hopes of relaxing in South America.

Toodles!

Dragging

 I love a cool morning with nothing to do...but it turns out I have quite a few things to do. I have to figure out a way to not carry around my personal calendar in my head. Once I know I have a ton of things to do, I can't relax. I need a reliable way to be reminded of my events externally. Working on it... 

The sun is out so I'm feeling a burst of energy. Thanks, sun!

With a potential work task looming, I'm feeling quite inspired to book my vacation. From Miami > DR and Panama > Portugal and Spain... now I've settled on 1 week of nothingness + 1 week in Panama for under < $2k. 

It's a good compromise. And I'm tired of thinking about it.

Turns out I need to go register my car. Ideally, I'd be able to pay with my new CC so I could meet the spend bonus, but here we are. 

Off to my errand list!