Good News

I got the job.

I was at Brakes Plus, doing a bit of mental math (a task I usually avoid) to figure out how long it was going to take Future Jill to pay for a new master cylinder, when I got a call from the county library district HR rep, with good news.

I got the job. I feel like a real adult now. I have an apartment - a rental condo, actually - and a car (it's paid for!), and a full-time job with benefits. Also, I have credit card debt. It's not completely my fault. Mostly my fault, but not completely. Things keep coming up that require money, and I have none. So I've gotten into the habit of letting Future Jill pay for them by putting them on my credit card. It's not that I'm going out to the mall every weekend and spending hundreds of dollars. But there are things I have to have. Brakes on my car, for instance. I actually put off the repair but my mother was rather insistent that I not die, so I went to Brakes Plus. Master cylinder + brake fluid flush + oil change = $361. Thanks, Future Jill!

Anyway. The point is that now I can actually afford to be alive! I can pay off that brake repair in months, not years. I'm kind of excited.

I'd be really excited, except that I'm really tired. I'm working 40 hours a week now, 8-5, and I am not exactly what you would call a "morning person." I have actually growled - growled! - at my mother for attempting to wake me before 10am. I guess that was a few years ago, but still.

So I got the phone call on Tuesday, my day off, and I was told that my new job was supposed to have started the day before, and I had to cram 40 hours in that week. I'd worked 5 on Monday. So I worked 35 hours in 4 days. I don't recommend it. I worked a 9.5-hour day, and when I got home I collapsed on the couch and cried. The thing is, even if the schedule says I'm working 8 hours, I'm at the library for 9, because I'm scheduled an hour for lunch. I don't expect you to weep for me or anything, but keep in mind this means that I am spending nine hours a day at the library. Also, last week I worked twice as many hours in four days as I usually do in seven. I think this mitigates the "crying on the sofa" episode.

On the upside, I have a desk. I was going to post a picture of it but the picture is on my phone and I'm too lazy to get off my duff and find the cable that connects Droid to netbook. It's a pretty nice desk. I need to decorate. So far I have a sticky note cube and one of these things:



Please try to contain your jealousy.

Where was I? Oh, right. So this job thing is pretty good news, really a huge blessing. It's not precisely the blessing I wanted most, but this extra money is just phenomenal. Between the extra hours and the pay raise, I'll be making 3 times what I made before.

I can't even wrap my brain around that kind of money. I've been keeping the thermostat at 82 to cut back on my SRP bill. I can knock it back to 80! I can stop using cheap lotion as a facial moisturizer! I don't have to choose between buying food and buying gasoline! As you can tell by the number of exclamation marks I've just used, I am very happy about my new financial situation. I'll be able to start saving money, too. That's a big one for me.

I don't know if I'll ever adopt a husband. It doesn't look like it, the way things are going. But if I ever do, I want to have enough money saved up that I can be a stay-at-home mom without being destitute. So it'll be nice to be able to save up for one possible future. And if that doesn't pan out, I can use the money to travel. I'm dying to see Sweden, and if you Google Prince Carl Philip, you'll know why.

That is all.