Updating While Snowed In

There's about two feet of snow on the ground outside, so I figured now would be a good time to update.

I've been working at my new job for exactly four weeks, and I find that I actually kind of like it better than any of the other jobs I've ever had. Over the years, I've figured out that I prefer jobs where I can be "behind the scenes," and don't have to deal with disgruntled customers.

At my new job, that's basically the idea. I'm in the stockroom, pulling parts for the various jobs everyone in the production area does, and management talks to any customers who actually come to the building.

The dress code is good too. I can wear jeans and sneakers, but I also have to wear a static jacket and heel straps to ground me so that electrostatic discharges don't damage the electronic components. So the clothes are comfortable, and the static jacket is actually warmer than it looks, so I can just wear a tee-shirt underneath it and be comfortable, temperature-wise.

My first paycheck was only half of what I'd usually be getting, since I came in at the middle of the pay period. I was really worried at the time, because that meant I'd still be about half-a-month behind on paying my bills. Luckily, around that time, all three of my W-2s from last year's jobs came in, and I was able to file my taxes in the last week of January. I got the state return back ($618) on Friday, January 30th, and my federal return ($655) came early this past week.

I got caught up on the bills that were overdue, and then held the rest for when I got my first full paycheck (plus 2½ hours of overtime, since they'd asked me to stay late last Friday to help finish a project) yesterday.

I wasn't able to completely pay off what's left of my car loan, but going off of the payoff amount posted online, I was able to get about half of what's left paid. I also helped with this month's rent (though I couldn't afford the whole rent, what with knowing I'd have to pay my whole portion in two weeks again), paid my portion of the utilities, and paid all the bills that are due before my next paycheck. I now have about $70 in the bank, and $15.16 in cash (for snacks while I'm at the Haven) until February 19th.

I'm only going to use what's in the bank to fill up my gas tank when I start to run out--I've got half-a-tank still--and then save the rest to go toward bills with my next paycheck. It'll also be used for emergencies, if there are any between now and then.

Tomorrow, Anna and Tim have been planning to have people over for a Superbowl party, but we're not sure if they're actually going to be able to get here, what with the snow and all. Whether they do come or not, it's all good to me. I'm not even going to watch the game (I don't like football), but the three of us are already starting to go a little stir crazy from being stuck inside, so it'll be nice to have some visitors.

I've joined another RPG at the Haven. It's a game called Nobilis. It's totally dice-less, and looks/sounds really interesting. I already created my character, who is completely different from any character I've ever played before.

I usually play characters who are a lot like me (female, relatively good, interested in a lot of the same things I am . . . makes it easier to stay in character that way), but since I know the GM-ing style of the person running the game (I'd been in his Vampire: The Masquerade game for a little while a couple years ago) I decided to try something different. For one thing, my Nobilis character is a guy. For another, he's not all goody-two-shoes at all, but rather devious. It'll be a challenge to play this character, and I'm looking forward to it.

The game itself will have about 30 or so players, but we're not all going to be playing at once. The way the GM is running it, there will be set gaming sessions, and there will also be random, "Okay, who's here from the Nobilis game? Anyone up for a one-off?" sessions. We players just have to participate in only one session every two months, at the least, to be allowed to stay in the game.

Not bad, considering that the weekly Serenity game is pretty much the most regular gaming I can handle. It cuts into my sleep time on Thursday nights, so Fridays are a bit rough, but it's worth it, since the game is so frickin' awesome.

Art and Taxes

I had my first class on Tuesday. It was long and boring, like most first sessions are, but it's looking like it'll get more interesting as the semester goes on. For classwork, we drew still life contour drawings. For homework, we have to do the same, only with three objects in our own house. It's due next Tuesday.

Yesterday, I stopped off at the storage facility to get my tax information from last year. I also had to get a new gate key, because the old one didn't work (it was a company-wide thing, so not my fault). In addition to the tax papers, I also got the sustain pedal and music stand for my keyboard.

When I got home, I went to put the pedal and music stand on the keyboard, but Anna told me she'd taken it to Tim's house! She said she needs it to do her homework for the piano class she's taking, but she didn't even ask to borrow it, much less take it out of the house!

Not to mention, there is at least one other electronic keyboard in the house which is much less expensive (ergo, less worry about Twigg pets and little children breaking it) and works just as well. She could've taken the other keyboard, which is also more portable than mine, and Kayla could've kept mine in her room where we'd put it, since I'm almost certain there's more room there than in the Twiggs' house. It just galls me that she had the nerve to just move my property to a completely different house where I can't keep an eye on it, and didn't even make sure it was okay with me first!

All of the stuff for my plan has arrived at the house, except for the mini-fridge. According to UPS Tracking, that should arrive today. So I can set it all up this weekend, but I won't be able to buy food to put in it until a week from tomorrow.

I finished my taxes last night. I owe $15 to the IRS, and Maryland is giving me $182. I'm filing by mail this year, because I really want that Maryland return as soon as possible, but I can't afford the $19.95 to e-File it. Plus, filing by mail means more time before my check to the IRS clears, so that's a plus. I didn't want to e-File the federal return, because then it would've come out of my account right away, and I didn't want that.

I tried doing the federal by mail and the state by e-File, but again the $19.95 e-File fee through TurboTax, and it wouldn't let me do one by mail and one by e-File anyway.

What the huh?

Anna says I "have to" get a date for her wedding (something about screwing up seating arrangements at the head table or something).

Here are the problems with that pronouncement, in no particular order (except maybe my own head-logic):

• Most, if not all, of my current guy friends already have girlfriends. (If they don't, I don't know it; nor do I know how to find out if the ones whose girlfriends I don't already know or know about are single or not without seeming nosy. I refuse to ruin someone's relationship out of ignorance.)
• Even if they don't have girlfriends already, I haven't known any of them long enough to even consider dating them even just casually.
• I'm going to be meeting new people in my class this semester (which starts--belatedly--tomorrow, provided school doesn't get cancelled due to snow again), but the wedding is only two weeks away, and I won't have known anybody in that class nearly long enough to even consider them friends, much less as possible romantic partners.
• Asking someone to be a date to a wedding is a big deal, and in my opinion, should only be done between couples who have an established relationship. It's simply not a "casual date"-type event, and even if it were, I will never go on a blind date, no matter who is trying to set me up.
• Two weeks does not an established relationship make.
• Finally, and most importantly, all of these reasons add up to: I would not be comfortable so much as asking a guy to come to Anna's wedding as my date, and it's kind of presumptuous of Anna to try and dictate my love life all for the sake of filling a chair. Granted, it is her wedding, but even so, requiring that people bring dates, no matter their current relationship status, is going too far.

I shall now say no more on the matter. On to a different topic:

Last Monday, I had an appointment with the allergist (as opposed to just getting shots), and he gave me some Nasonex and an order for a limited sinus CT scan.

The Nasonex was to help with the stuffiness due to allergies. Even though I thought I had a cold as well, I think it might've just been extremely, severely severe allergic rhinitis, because I've actually been taking the Nasonex as directed every day for a week now, and early this morning, I found myself breathing through my nose as I drifted in and out of sleep!

Dr. M (the allergist) is out of the office this week, but I'll call him next week to get the results of the CT scan. He had me get it because I've had problems with my sense of smell for years now--in other words, I don't smell much of anything. The most common cause of a lack of smell (and by connection, a dulled sense of taste) is an inflamation of the sinuses in the forhead area pinching the olfactory nerve.

So, since I've had this problem for years, and he hasn't had much luck treating it so far, he told me to get the CT scan to make sure it really is a sinus infection, and not some other thing pinching the olfactory nerve.

Last Tuesday, my first class was cancelled due to snow. I was supposed to have Intro. to Business on Wednesday evenings, but that class got cut due to insufficient enrollment. I couldn't choose another section of the same class, since they all clashed with my work schedule, so my only choices were: a) don't go to school this semester, or b) choose a different 3-credit class that I can go to.

I looked in the course catalogue for all the subjects that seemed interesting and also had sections after 5:30 pm on weeknights (none of the courses I looked at had Saturday courses, I think, and I've never had school on Saturdays before so I'm not intending to start now), and came up with an English course and an Art course that looked promising.

The English course (or at least the section I was looking at) was full, but I was lucky enough to get the last seat in the Art class (Drawing I). It meets Tuesday nights from 6-10pm. Sadly, that means that I won't be able to play in the Paranoia game that Matt from the Haven was planning to start, but c'est la vie.

You win some, you lose some, I guess.

I think I have a new show. Yesterday, I hung out in Mom's room for hours, and she was watching The Closer. The 4-6 episodes I saw (they were having a marathon) were pretty good, and I like the characters and stories so far--even though Kyra Sedgewick always looks like she's going to cry for some reason. Maybe once I finish watching my MacGyver DVDs (and have some extra money) I'll get caught up on the series or something.

I have a plan to save money faster so I can get a new computer. I'm going to stop buying lunch at Beans & Bagels (except for on payday, to treat myself) and pack all my lunches from now on.

In order to do this, I have to make sure that there is always bread, lunch meat/cheese, other stuff to put in my lunches, and cereal and milk for breakfast in the house. So I bought myself a mini-fridge from Sears (it's going to be delivered sometime this week) and a bunch of storage drawers from Wal-Mart (also to be delivered this week) so that I can keep my own food and drinks in them.

I have a box I'm going to keep apples, oranges or other whole fruits (not grapes, cherries or strawberries--those are strictly fridge-bound) in, plus a set of plastic drawers for bread, bagels and lunch-size chip bags, and a crate-like-thing for cereal boxes. My new fridge has a place for soda cans to dispense vertically out the bottom, which I think is pretty darn cool. I would've gotten the 6 cu. ft. model, but that was way too expensive.

I don't have any money to put anything in it yet, so I'll just have to set it all up and wait to get paid again. I don't think I'd get a tax return before my next paycheck, even if I filed them today, so I won't hope for that to come first.

Taxes Suck When You're Out on Your Own

Seriously.

I filed my taxes online yesterday, hoping to get at least half the returns I got last year (about $1,100 for federal, and about $200 for state). No dice. It seems that moving out of my parents' house is bad for my tax return.

I have to pay the IRS $8 this year, and the Comptroller of Maryland gets $88 of my hard-earned paycheck this coming weekend. Add to that the $7.77 I had to pay CitizenTax to e-File the Federal return, and that comes to $103.77 total tax costs for me this year.

I was so hoping I could split my returns two or three ways and take a substantial chunk out of my various debts (especially my car payment), but alas, 'tis not to be.

This totally sucks.

Stuck Home Again

Well, Kimba did help me shovel the back walk and the driveway in the back yesterday. But someone plowed the road back there, and now there's a mound of ice-hardened snow where there used to be a perfectly clean end of the driveway. My little VW Bug won't get over that.

I called Kimba (she has a Toyota Rav4, with 4-wheel drive, which is how she was able to get here yesterday), but I'd woken her up. Her back was hurting, and I felt bad enough that she'd shoveled my driveway with her heart condition yesterday, so I told her to go back to sleep.

I called work again and told them that I couldn't get there, so I'm home for another day. Good thing I have enough vacation time for three snow days if I need them. I just hope I don't, because I've got plans for the rest of it--plus the week's worth I should be earning over the rest of the year.

I'm hoping to go to girls' camp this year with the young women in the stake--I miss girls' camp, and I still have yet to go on the fourth-year hike, so if I do go this summer, I'd want to be with the fourth years as a leader-type person.

Plus, I'm hoping to go to SEFF (the Southeastern FoLC Festival) to meet a few of my friends from the Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Boards. Although, it's kind of iffy whether or not there will even be a SEFF this year, since Genine (the person who's organizing the event) is currently having some doubts about her ability to be there.

If there's no SEFF, I hope to be able to go to LAFF, but that's not very likely. SEFF would be in Tennessee, which is get-to-able, but LAFF is in Los Angeles (I almost typed "Lois Angeles!"), and no matter which one I went to, I'd still have to buy a plane ticket, since driving there would take too much time, and I don't have that much paid vacation time!

Not to mention, saving up money for food and souvenirs and the hotel room and such is going to be difficult with my current financial situation. I just hope my income tax returns get deposited soon.