Life Update

It seems crazy that we are already a fourth of the way into 2020. My half birthday was last Saturday, so in six months, I'll be older and hopefully wiser. So here is an update on my year so far, resolution wise.

#1 Read or Write an hour every day

Success so far! Between audio books for my drives and physical books for my lunch breaks, I always meet that hour goal for reading. I've read 16 out of the 125 books I wanted to read this year. Which is 9 books behind schedule, despite my best efforts. I really need to spend more time reading then watching TV.

I have also been spending a fair amount of time writing, working on my longest and first try at a novel. I believe I started it around the middle of 2012, when I was 16 years old. The original draft is 63 pages in MLA format. I added to it until about 2016, when I was 20. Then I became more focused on editing it, wanting what I had to be perfect and making sure it was continuative.

Earlier this month I actually started a brand new document, same book but rewriting it from the beginning. The few people who have been trusted to read a few parts of the book agree that it's good and intriguing enough to keep people's attention. The 'first' chapter though is way too fast. It'll never end up as a full length book if you start up too fast. The all new first chapter is twelve pages that is the start to a much slower build, that'll still include the good material I have so far, but add to it. So I will continue on, with my now approximately 75 pages that will need a good bit more material between the new and the old. It should end up ideally doubling my page count, bringing it up to about half the length of a real novel. And the story I have is clearly only in the middle as of right now.

#2 Go Back to School

As you already know if you've been a reader from the beginning, I want to go back to school this year. I will be at Purdue this fall going for a degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision (OLS) program that will have a concentration in Environmental Health and Safety. With all the credits I have from my past experiences there, as well as at Ivy Tech, I qualify as a second semester Sophomore.

I was eligible to sign up for classes on the seventh and I had called and made an appointment with my adviser because they are really pushing me to, even though I know which classes I need. Still planning on four classes if I can manage it.

I set up an appointment for Thursday, the 12th. It is not with my actual adviser, apparently he is on some sort of extended break. So I have an appointment with the woman who's getting his emails.

On Wednesday though, Purdue closed the school to avoid the possibility of the Coronavirus spreading. I also figured out how to schedule my classes by myself! The problem was that my degree is no longer available at the Westville campus, but luckily Hammond is only 5 minutes farther from my job, and I only have to actually be on campus one night a week.

I signed up for Elementary Psychology, Gender & Diversity Management, Introduction to Emergency Management, and Technical Report Writing. The three online might be a little difficult, but really, I have a good library just minutes from my house, which has less distractions than home, despite the hundreds of books. It has that perfect volume though, because I have trouble working and studying with no noise, a tv show or music on and I focus on it too much.

#3 Save Money

I have been trying really hard to save money, but life always getting in the way. But I filed our taxes a few days ago and we should hopefully be getting our refund in a few weeks, pay off some bills, and get in a stronger place.

#4 Work on Our Debts

The tax refund should cover about half of our debts. Also we kind of forgot about Ben's health savings account, which apparently we aren't even suppose to have, because of the type of insurance he has through work. So we were told that we have to close the account by the tax deadline in April, so we plan on doing just that and paying off all my smaller doctor bills in the process. Then we just have the bigger bills from my surgery last July, Ben's credit card, and my student loan. But, considering the debt crisis in this country, we are doing pretty well.

#5 Lose the Rest of the Weight

I have lost seven more pounds, which is pretty good. Since I started at the Center, I walk an average of 6-8,000 steps a day. This small increase in activity is enough to help.

In other news...

 I've been talking with the workers compensation from my old company, and my surgery should be pushed through any day now. Then recover, then actual workouts! I can't wait.

Life in general is pretty good. Turns out spending half my work day playing with children and the other half of my day using my anxiety induced, attention to detail, to plan for both Spring Break Camp at the end of this month, as well as the ten week long summer camp that will start before I know it.

I've got a few more details to iron out for spring break before I turn the plan in to my director. Then I just need to finish the rest of summer, which I have about five out of ten weeks fully planned. I have the ideas already, I just have to hear back from a few of them, and nail down the dates. Then the hour-by-hour planning can begin.

Honestly, the hardest part of being the camp director is keeping the work at work. Right now I'm not having much time at work to devote to it. I was subbing on Monday for a staff who had a family member pass. Last week was crazy too. I finally got an hour and a half to work on it today! I'm hoping to talk to my director about the possibility of working on it from home while on medical leave. Two weeks in bed, I might as well be making a few phone calls and filling out forms.

If it doesn't work out though, I can certainly get in a lot of reading and writing time.

So, I've put a lot of this on my Facebook, but like I said above, I should hopefully be having surgery soon. My original injury date was October 15th, 2019. Which is now almost five months ago.

From what I understand they will be shaving down a herniated disc between my L4 and L5? I don't really know because I feel like looking up too much information about a surgery you are about to have is a bad choice. Afterwards, maybe. But before you're just going to end up scaring yourself. Afterwards, I have a recovery time of two weeks, minimum. Six weeks maximum. I am really hoping it will be closer to two. Since I managed to ride to Michigan and party a bachelorette weekend away only days post-op from my Hysterectomy, I certainly can handle driving after two weeks. I do sadly have to wear what I imagine is a very dorky back brace for the entire two weeks, if I am out of bed for more than five minutes. Which I will be, as I walk as much as possible to feel better and stronger.

Life is good right now though. My pain is manageable. My work days are enjoyable and fast pace. I'm having some really fun free time at home with Ben on separate shifts then me, and right now we have one full day off a week together and its very nice to see him.

Thank you for reading. Leave any thoughts or comments down below. Have a great week everyone!