Shameless Griping

What can we do except keep on working, keep on keepin’ on. Our time for change is so close I can taste it, but just far enough away that it’s sort of depressing to think about. I find myself letting little hints drop at work. I’ve printed pictures of cactuses and sombreros on my “in and out” sheet at reception, and I do my Spanish class homework in the office kitchen during my lunch hours. And yesterday, when I got some petty cash for some supplies from James, I jokingly told him “now that I have this thirty dollars, I’m going to run away to Mexico”, which is something I’ve always said, but now it’s sorta true and I felt funny after saying it.

I still don’t know when to quit – this part time schedule has completely screwed me up in terms of the savings plan. I think, if I can stand it, I’ll tell them in like February-ish that I’ll be gone on…hmm…May 11? It’s a Friday, and that gives them almost two weeks after tax season to deal with it. I just have to avoid quitting in the middle of tax season. I could, I suppose, quit very close to the ramp-up for tax season, and what would the consequences be? Not much I suppose, although (mostly just out of habit) I’d like to get a letter of reference outta this place when I go.

I guess it depends on the savings. If we're close enough before the start of tax season, I'll quit then and go temping whenever I feel like it. From looking at the calendar, and the level of tax work coming into the office last year, it looks like things start to ramp up in early March. I'd have to leave before things got busy, or else everyone will be mad at me, so if it's before tax season it'll probably be the end of February. The 28th is a Wednesday. It'll do (if the savings are there by then).

That's four months and one day away. The boss is on vacation most of next month (November), and then we have our vacation to Nova Scotia in December, so really there's just January to get through if I give a month's notice (which would be nice), because then I won't have to pretend to care or keep secrets in February after I give notice. Wowee. Then I'd have a relaxing spring, instead of stressing out of my skull during tax season and being expected to "give my all" for the company. Chumps.

It's just hard pretending to be a person that I'm not, and pretending to have career goals that are really completely opposite from my real goals. And I can't cheat and tell anybody here yet, so I have to act out this boring, irritating act week after week. I DID, however, accidentally tell our dog daycare that we take Arlo to, and both of my bosses also take their own dogs there. Woopsie. I asked them not to mention it to my bosses.

Argh. I know I'm a shameless whiner. Deal with it. I'll be annoyingly happy a year from now, and you'll have to deal with that too. This blog will be a communication tool when we go on our trip, but for now it's my therapy. Leave me alone about it, alright??

Hee hee.

we keep on truckin

Well, I'm not sure what Mark's "office science" posts have to do with our upcoming trip, however amusing they may be. OFF TOPIC! PENALTY!! Just kidding.

Just to make THIS post somewhat on-topic, I can say that I've acquired a new pair of perscription glasses that turn into sunglasses in the sun, and back to regular glasses indoors. Um...I guess it'll help when we're strolling around, lost, on some tiny street in some tiny village in rural Mexico.

Mark: "where are we?"

Julie: "I don't know, but man, that sun sure isn't getting in my eyes right now, thanks to my magic glasses!"

...okay, it's a bit of a stretch, I know. But I seriously did get these new magic glasses with the trip in mind. I'm too lazy to tote around those dorky clip-ons that go over my regular perscription glasses. Also, those things just look bad.

The trip is still a bit more than a year away. Man, I don't know if I can make it. But at least we'll be reaching some goals and enacting some lifestyle changes fairly soon into the new year. So...we're almost through October. November we'll just have to put our heads down and keep on truckin. December, we go to NS for Christmas. That'll be really nice. I'm excited about celebrating Christmas with Debbie and Harvey as a family. So I haven't decided if I'm going to quit my job in January/February or after tax season now, since they've cut my hours and that means that our savings schedule, and thus the date at which we would have our savings goal, is all wonky now. I'm leaving my options open for that. But really, soon things will be moving. After we achieve our savings goal, then the next little goal will be to acquire enough money to 'coast' on while we're still living here. As soon as we have enough for rent & living expenses until the departure date (over and above the base savings goal of course) we don't really have to work. It'll be fun.

That's all I got. I'll try to post again soon.