177. What's going on?

Thought I’d try something new today. Just a check-in, with myself.

How are you doing today?

I’m pretty tired and stressed. Money is the number one thing that stresses me out. I went and got an oil change today and the mechanic told me that I need to replace my timing belt. It’s not a cheap fix and it’s not something I can do on my own. The total quote came to about $950. Ugh. I couldn’t get that off of my mind all afternoon. I calculated things in my head and scenarios on how I could save money over the next few weeks to help keep my debt load low. I think I have it figured out, but it’s still frustrating.

And it was a bit of a hit-and-miss at work today. I had a little bit of time, so I decided to visit a law firm that I hadn’t seen before. We usually have photos of unique offices in the back of our magazine. We didn’t get one for this coming issue, so I thought I should plan ahead to get try and get some photos now. I visited this office and thought it looked pretty cool. There were lots of fish and other cool stuff related to their brand. I asked to speak with someone from marketing and I gave them my pitch about the office photos. I asked if I could maybe be shown around or take some photos. He replied with a firm, “That’s not going to be possible. We’re a patent and trademark firm.” I was kind of surprised by his answer. I thought, “Well, way to waste an opportunity for free advertising.” It annoyed me for the rest of the day.

We also got our proofs for the magazine back. There were more errors in the copy than I would have liked. It was just little things too. Stuff I should have caught. That frustrated me as well.

Money and not living up to the standards of your job. Two things that stress me out.

What else is going on? What’s bringing you joy lately?

The weather has been pretty good, save for last weekend. I’ve been cooking with the farm share food. There’s lots of greens. I love hearty greens like that, but I’m in a bit of a conundrum: I have no salad dressing. This is one of the biggest issues about living alone: You want something, but you’re unable to consume it fast enough before it goes bad. I’m also not a huge fan of salad dressing, but I’ll put it on if the salad is my meal. However, I’m worried if I buy one dressing, I’ll get sick of said dressing. Or, if I buy multiple salad dressings, I’ll feel like I’m obligated to use all of them and I’ll get so sick of them that I won’t want any. Ugh.

Oh well. My knee is better, so I’ve been running again. I’m also finally getting the big purple wall in my living room painted. So, the pad is starting to look like an actual place.