year in review
Wow, what a year. It began with work upheaval and it's ending with more work upheaval! I began the year knowing that my manager, who I liked very much, was being transferred and someone else I liked was taking her place. The day she actually left, it turned out that the person who was supposed to replace her was quitting. He was gone the same day.
I ended up spending six weeks covering the whole branch by myself about half the time. I was a receptionist capable of doing anything a loan officer could do, but I was not a loan officer. It was incredibly, incredibly stressful. It didn't help that halfway through that time, I ended up sick with the flu for a week. I hate working when I'm sick, but luckily I was able to go in most days and then leave early the last three days I was sick. I was so relieved when the new manager was hired, and she turned out to be wonderful and just as nice as the one that was transferred!
Then came spring. My brother moved twelve hours away, and the whole family went to help him move. I was on the Relay for Life committee, and so much time (and money!) went to fundraising projects. I went on a diet that was successful, but as usual, I couldn't keep up. I lost nearly twenty pounds in two and a half months! It's probably all gained back now, but I can't be sure because my scale is broken (woohoo? Boo? Not sure if that's good or bad).
I spent most of the summer trying to have everything ready to be a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding in Las Vegas! I was on the end of my diet, and work was calming down. Relay for Life was in June, and after that things really settled down for a couple months. In August, I visited my brother for a long weekend and miraculously didn't fight with him once! Driving twelve hours by myself was not the most fun I'd ever had, but it was worth it to see him.
In the fall, I was finalizing the wedding stuff (dress, flight, hotel, packing, etc!), as well as getting used to another new routine at work. With the mortgage rates being rock bottom, the home refinance craze was insane. Our mortgage department was working fourteen and fifteen hour days, which might be normal for some types of work but is definitely not normal for banking. So, since I was part-time and they had, at this point, coverage for me at my job, I went to help them out two days a week. I hate change and new environments, but it was filing and making phone calls to verify information, so I settled in and actually enjoyed it very much. I ended up working there for five months.
Right in the middle of that was the wedding. It's still crazy to me that it's over, because I spent a year and a half planning and looking forward to that trip--a whole week in Las Vegas!--and now it's over. What a trip, though! And a beautiful wedding! I hope one day I'm able to go back. I loved the desert and the city.
And that brings me to the end of the year... wow. All of a sudden, things will be changing! In December, I applied for a position as a loan officer, which I did not get. I was actually relieved about that, because although I can basically do (and have done) that entire job already, it's stressful and constant one-on-one dealing with customers, which is not really what I'm good at. However, the individual who got that job opened up another position as the assistant to our investment department, and that job, I did get. I found out two days after Christmas, and I'll be starting training on Monday. Whew. Talk about stress! It's something completely and entirely new. I will have to start learning from scratch, so it's going to be a tough next few months. I hate change, and I hate stress, so it'll be... well, it will be pretty darn difficult. But I'm confident I will do well! It's also more dealing with paperwork and less dealing with customers, so it will hopefully be a very good job for me.
One thing that has absolutely no downsides about the new job is that I'm finally a full-time employee! Since August, I've been working full-time hours to help cover the mortgage department, but I was still an hour or so under 40 hours and still only part-time. That meant no benefits. I'm really looking forward to my health insurance! For about four or five months, I've been extremely worried about my wrists and hands. I've had issues with wrist pain for years that came and went, but I'd gotten tested for carpal tunnel about a year after it started and that test came back negative. There was no diagnosis. Now... there really needs to be. The pain is almost constant, although it varies by degree, and my fingers won't comfortably lay flat on surfaces. I feel like something is seriously wrong, but... without health insurance, I was too afraid to go to the doctor and find out I'd need surgery or seriously expensive treatments. I'm sure they'll yell at me for not coming earlier, but I can't do anything about that now.
So I guess my goals for the year are to get my hands taken care of, and also... finally to move out on my own. I'm not incredibly happy about where I'll be working now, location wise, because there's nowhere within a twenty minute drive that I would like to live, so I'll have to take that into consideration, plus my savings were completely eaten up by the Vegas trip, so I need to do a lot of saving for a furniture fund! But my goal is that by next winter, to be out on my own. Woohoo!
Here's to 2011!
I ended up spending six weeks covering the whole branch by myself about half the time. I was a receptionist capable of doing anything a loan officer could do, but I was not a loan officer. It was incredibly, incredibly stressful. It didn't help that halfway through that time, I ended up sick with the flu for a week. I hate working when I'm sick, but luckily I was able to go in most days and then leave early the last three days I was sick. I was so relieved when the new manager was hired, and she turned out to be wonderful and just as nice as the one that was transferred!
Then came spring. My brother moved twelve hours away, and the whole family went to help him move. I was on the Relay for Life committee, and so much time (and money!) went to fundraising projects. I went on a diet that was successful, but as usual, I couldn't keep up. I lost nearly twenty pounds in two and a half months! It's probably all gained back now, but I can't be sure because my scale is broken (woohoo? Boo? Not sure if that's good or bad).
I spent most of the summer trying to have everything ready to be a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding in Las Vegas! I was on the end of my diet, and work was calming down. Relay for Life was in June, and after that things really settled down for a couple months. In August, I visited my brother for a long weekend and miraculously didn't fight with him once! Driving twelve hours by myself was not the most fun I'd ever had, but it was worth it to see him.
In the fall, I was finalizing the wedding stuff (dress, flight, hotel, packing, etc!), as well as getting used to another new routine at work. With the mortgage rates being rock bottom, the home refinance craze was insane. Our mortgage department was working fourteen and fifteen hour days, which might be normal for some types of work but is definitely not normal for banking. So, since I was part-time and they had, at this point, coverage for me at my job, I went to help them out two days a week. I hate change and new environments, but it was filing and making phone calls to verify information, so I settled in and actually enjoyed it very much. I ended up working there for five months.
Right in the middle of that was the wedding. It's still crazy to me that it's over, because I spent a year and a half planning and looking forward to that trip--a whole week in Las Vegas!--and now it's over. What a trip, though! And a beautiful wedding! I hope one day I'm able to go back. I loved the desert and the city.
And that brings me to the end of the year... wow. All of a sudden, things will be changing! In December, I applied for a position as a loan officer, which I did not get. I was actually relieved about that, because although I can basically do (and have done) that entire job already, it's stressful and constant one-on-one dealing with customers, which is not really what I'm good at. However, the individual who got that job opened up another position as the assistant to our investment department, and that job, I did get. I found out two days after Christmas, and I'll be starting training on Monday. Whew. Talk about stress! It's something completely and entirely new. I will have to start learning from scratch, so it's going to be a tough next few months. I hate change, and I hate stress, so it'll be... well, it will be pretty darn difficult. But I'm confident I will do well! It's also more dealing with paperwork and less dealing with customers, so it will hopefully be a very good job for me.
One thing that has absolutely no downsides about the new job is that I'm finally a full-time employee! Since August, I've been working full-time hours to help cover the mortgage department, but I was still an hour or so under 40 hours and still only part-time. That meant no benefits. I'm really looking forward to my health insurance! For about four or five months, I've been extremely worried about my wrists and hands. I've had issues with wrist pain for years that came and went, but I'd gotten tested for carpal tunnel about a year after it started and that test came back negative. There was no diagnosis. Now... there really needs to be. The pain is almost constant, although it varies by degree, and my fingers won't comfortably lay flat on surfaces. I feel like something is seriously wrong, but... without health insurance, I was too afraid to go to the doctor and find out I'd need surgery or seriously expensive treatments. I'm sure they'll yell at me for not coming earlier, but I can't do anything about that now.
So I guess my goals for the year are to get my hands taken care of, and also... finally to move out on my own. I'm not incredibly happy about where I'll be working now, location wise, because there's nowhere within a twenty minute drive that I would like to live, so I'll have to take that into consideration, plus my savings were completely eaten up by the Vegas trip, so I need to do a lot of saving for a furniture fund! But my goal is that by next winter, to be out on my own. Woohoo!
Here's to 2011!