Although not yet, really. That's just one of my favorite U2 songs (out of many!). :D

I turn 40 in a little over a week. Honestly I'd been sort of dreading it. I loved turning 30, especially since I'd gotten my quarter-life crisis out of the way at 25 (I was supposed to be published and a famous writer by then, come on!). But for some reason, 40 felt old.

Oddly, someone on Twitter changed my mind on that, simply by sharing a link to a study that proves people are happiest in their 40s.

Okay, then. Bring it on!

I'm ready for 40. I'm publishing another novel this week, and even though self-publishing (or, as I like to call it, indie publishing, because I do hire some people to do the things I can't do myself) is not yet considered quite as...hrm, legitimate... as traditional publishing, it is actually a great deal more lucrative. My novels are starting to pay for things. Not big things, nothing like a car payment or letting me quit my job. But they're paying for my web hosting, for my email newsletter service. This month, for a Wordpress plugin I use on my website (in very good timing).

I'm in pretty good health. I did a Whole 18 last month (it was supposed to be a Whole 30, but 10 days in I got a wretched ketosis rash and on Day 19 I Couldn't Handle It Anymore and started eating bread again. Thank God for carbs, the rash is almost gone again.) so I've done some diet analysis and have learned that dairy definitely triggers IBS, and high fructose corn syrup is another likely culprit. How lucky for me that high fructose corn syrup is in everything! <end sarcastic voice> As a result, I've started really reading labels and rejecting stuff that isn't naturally sweetened, either with sugar or stevia, or stuff that is completely unsweetened, like black and green tea.

I've been using the Bullet Journal system for my tasks and such since March of 2014, but this summer my BuJo system, in combination with a bump of my Zoloft from 50 to 100, has really made me much more productive, calm, and happy.

I decided to try Project 333 (wear only 33 pieces of clothing for 3 months) this fall, which isn't much of a challenge because I'd Konmaried my clothes over the winter anyway, so my closet and dresser are way emptier than they used to be. But almost every piece of clothing I have brings me joy. Some of them are just necessary because I live in Indiana, and you need to layer in the winter, but most of them please me mightily.

I am still deeply in debt, and that isn't getting much better, thanks to my job paying less than $10. But I still love my job almost every day I'm at it, and I feel fulfilled in a way that no job before every allowed me to feel. I definitely consider that worth the trade-off, even if it means I am juggling credit card balances hoping Sallie Mae keeps granting me forbearances on my crippling student loans.

I'm working my way through Your Best Year 2017 in the hopes that it will help me develop an an actual business and marketing plan for my writing. This, in turn, should alleviate the financial situation somewhat, and will hopefully allow me to quit my second job (which doesn't really suck but a. isn't my passion, and b. takes another day away from writing) and write more.

Anyway. There's a big life dump for you all, since I'm bad at regular posts. I miss LJ the way it used to be. I still read it, but the community isn't what it used to be.

Happy fucking birthday to me.

Wow, the head of HR at my company has reached new lows in classiness. At 9 am ON MY BIRTHDAY he called me to his office and told me they're downgrading my job to part-time. Why? Well, because I've missed so much time this year, and yet the quality of my work hasn't suffered at all. In other words, "You're so efficient, we're demoting you. Congratulations, you're losing your benefits."

And he seriously expects me to work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? Hell fucking no. That's a non-negotiable point. I'll be working three consecutive days if they want me to stay. And that's only IF the Department of Labor tells me that it actually is legal for them to make a full-time benefitted position part-time non-benefitted while the incumbent is on FMLA. I suspect it's a legal gray area, since it might not technically be considered a demotion or punishment, even though in practice, it is.

I'd put the job search on hold while my boss' mother was dying, too. She was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer this summer and only died two weeks ago, and I thought it would be shitty of me to leave while C was dealing with that. Didn't stop C from being in talks with HR and the VP of Finance about all this though, obviously. Bitch.

So now I have to try to figure out what I'm good at and what I really want to do, and I have to do it in a hurry, because I only have benefits through the end of October, and the neurologist still hasn't gotten my migraine meds cocktail right, and I really wanted to ask my primary care physician for a new antidepressant. Though being away from SFS might take some of the pressure off the Zoloft, I guess. :P


I want a job where I can telecommute at least part of the time, wear jeans to work every day, do a lot of research, not talk on the phone much, and travel. With benefits. Anyone know of a job like that? :P

Title: Love Letters
Pairing: Rossi/Prentiss
WC: 200
Rating: G
Warning: Extreme sap

( Happy birthday wifey! )

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO MY WIFEY severity_softly!!!!!

ILU! <3

Happy birthday to _lore!!!!

I hope it was a good one!

Happy birthday to lar_laughs!!!!

I hope it's been a fabulous one, even though I'm a little late in the night wishing you happy!

Happy birthday to my wifey severity_softly!!!!!!!!

I hope it's fantastic, dear!

Happy birthday to delphini_2!!!

Hm, I have a feeling I'm a day late where you live. *sigh* I can never remember how this date thing works...

Since where she is, it is technically the 27th...

Happy birthday to kittehkat!!!!!