Wow, I haven't posted in a while. But I have a good excuse. I've been working a lot, volunteering more, job hunting (with an interview coming up yay!), and writing the novel which I'll be posting chapter 1 once I do massive edits of it. I've been getting a little depressed about my job status right now, not going to lie. So, I decided to put a positive spin on it.
My lease for my apartment is up in May. At that point, financially, it makes no sense to stay here another year. Therefore, I will put my stuff in storage and make the 16 hour trek back home. However, before actually settling at home (it's actually going to be more of a drop the kitties off), I plan on taking a month to travel across the country but just not for travels sake. I plan on every day stopping at a couple animal shelters along the way and learn more about each of them and then meeting one of the animals currently there and getting their story. I would then post the shelter's information and the selected animal's story on a blog each day (or whenever I have internet access since I probably won't stay at a hotel every night).
Why do this? Well, for one, if I don't have a job, it's not like I'll have somewhere to report every day. But to be serious, I believe it'll help raise awareness on why animals at shelters are not there because there is something wrong with them and also to highlight how different shelters around the US function.
With that being said, employers have 6 more months to hire me before I get to have a unique story to share at interviews.
Showing posts with label updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label updates. Show all posts
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
My Ancestors Would Approve
The semester is in full swing now for all college and grad students. For the first time in my life, I am not a part of this. Though working and applying for jobs has kept me very busy, my brain is still in the "I have to learn something because that's what I've been doing for 20 years" mode. Though I have several anthropology and art history books begging to be read, and a kindle with a bunch of free books downloaded on it and waiting for their turn to enlighten me, I have decided to divert some time from that to making my own class for myself. In learning the German language.
Yes, I have decided again to start back on learning German. This time, I'm not alone. My current boss is brushing up on her German and therefore we were planning on practicing together some time at work. I also have a few friends who speak German, and parents who will write random things in German on my facebook.
Why would my ancestors be proud of this? Well, because about half of them spoke German. That's right, I'm about 1/2 German/Swiss and have the last name to prove it (which for those family members reading, it's Swiss in origin according to countless hours on ancestry.com and google searches. And going through the family history book).
So, how do I plan on learning German (and actually sticking with it after stopping 3 times before)?
1. Learning German in the car.
If you haven't seen the VW Passat commercial, watch it here. While I do not make more than 1 roadtrip a year to visit peeps back home, I do spend a good deal of time in the car going to and from places. I've almost memorized one conversation from one of the cds included in my lesson book (bonus: I know the translation too). Doing just the car thing will probably give me just under an hour's worth of practice every day.
2. At home practice.
I also have a lesson book that came with the cds that helps me learn grammar and sentence structure (the hardest thing for me to learn for a new language). Also, my boss let me borrow a children's book she has to learn some German vocabulary. The best part is: it has pictures.
3. Time to practice.
Aside from job-hunting, I actually have free time after work. I plan on trying to dedicate 4 hours a week (1 hour 4 nights a week) to studying. That's not including while driving.
4. Practice makes perfect.
Lucky me knows a few people who speak German, therefore, I can practice with some.
I figure if all else fails, and when I get a real job and have the money, I can always sign up for a weekend German class as well.
Yes, I have decided again to start back on learning German. This time, I'm not alone. My current boss is brushing up on her German and therefore we were planning on practicing together some time at work. I also have a few friends who speak German, and parents who will write random things in German on my facebook.
Why would my ancestors be proud of this? Well, because about half of them spoke German. That's right, I'm about 1/2 German/Swiss and have the last name to prove it (which for those family members reading, it's Swiss in origin according to countless hours on ancestry.com and google searches. And going through the family history book).
So, how do I plan on learning German (and actually sticking with it after stopping 3 times before)?
1. Learning German in the car.
If you haven't seen the VW Passat commercial, watch it here. While I do not make more than 1 roadtrip a year to visit peeps back home, I do spend a good deal of time in the car going to and from places. I've almost memorized one conversation from one of the cds included in my lesson book (bonus: I know the translation too). Doing just the car thing will probably give me just under an hour's worth of practice every day.
2. At home practice.
I also have a lesson book that came with the cds that helps me learn grammar and sentence structure (the hardest thing for me to learn for a new language). Also, my boss let me borrow a children's book she has to learn some German vocabulary. The best part is: it has pictures.
3. Time to practice.
Aside from job-hunting, I actually have free time after work. I plan on trying to dedicate 4 hours a week (1 hour 4 nights a week) to studying. That's not including while driving.
4. Practice makes perfect.
Lucky me knows a few people who speak German, therefore, I can practice with some.
I figure if all else fails, and when I get a real job and have the money, I can always sign up for a weekend German class as well.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Still Here!
I realized that I have not posted in over a week. With me working on a novel and Sascode's blog, I haven't had time to do a new post. Not to mention, today I decided to try a new soup recipe (where I make it from scratch) which was a couple hours of dicing, mixing, cooking, eating...you get the picture.
Some updates:
Loan
After my next payment in a couple days, my undergrad loan should be under $17,000 next month. More would have been placed towards it but, if you recall from a few posts ago, my grad loan kicked into repayment so there is now an $800 mandatory payment towards that now every month.
Job
Still looking for a job. Have a huge potential for one that I'm hoping to hear good news from this coming week (fingers crossed for me please!)
Life
Eh, there's nothing to complain about here. I just had an inspiration for a new painting so Tuesday may turn into an all-day painting event.
I promise I will post by Tuesday the latest (with the new painting if it's not too horrible). I also want to discuss the joys of finding health insurance on your own.
Some updates:
Loan
After my next payment in a couple days, my undergrad loan should be under $17,000 next month. More would have been placed towards it but, if you recall from a few posts ago, my grad loan kicked into repayment so there is now an $800 mandatory payment towards that now every month.
Job
Still looking for a job. Have a huge potential for one that I'm hoping to hear good news from this coming week (fingers crossed for me please!)
Life
Eh, there's nothing to complain about here. I just had an inspiration for a new painting so Tuesday may turn into an all-day painting event.
I promise I will post by Tuesday the latest (with the new painting if it's not too horrible). I also want to discuss the joys of finding health insurance on your own.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Forbear-ness Sake
Loan companies can cause headaches: or at least for me in regards to my one loan company. If you recall here, I had to call the loan company that owns the whale-sized grad school loan about them randomly putting me on deferment because the university decided to tell them I was full-time with zero credit hours being taken. The loan company then had said it would take a month to take me off of it and for my repayments to start back up.
Well, turns out, they lied. It took 3 months to take me off. When I checked my account yesterday to cry over the accrued interest, it no longer said deferment. It said forbearance. Which I didn't know what that meant at the time. I do now though because I wanted to make sure that wouldn't negatively affect me in any way (credit score anyone?). Turns out it doesn't, at least not if I make payments.
Epilogical's definition of forbearance: It is just like deferment, meaning you don't have to make any payments. The only difference is with forbearance, both subsidized and unsubsidized loans accrue interest as opposed to just the one. So in the long run, you pay more in total when all is said and done.
Now, with forbearance, the loan companies don't just hand these out like candy at a parade. With my loan company, you have to actually apply for it. It's usually for if you're having trouble making the minimum payments due to a major financial blow such as losing a job or not being able to find a job. Or having large medical costs due to illness. So apparently, I'm special because I didn't have to apply for this (though they were right in knowing making the minimum $800 monthly payments would have been a little hard the past couple of months). So, I was getting ready to call them and ask what the heck was going on because who knows, maybe they know my main job had ended last month, when I realized something else interesting. I made a small payment for each of the two loans (why they separated them by each year is beyond me, just group them together for crying out loud) in a vain attempt to keep the interest down back at the beginning of June. It said the payment was pending. Pending.... as if my money wasn't good enough for them or something.
I checked my bank records. Yep, the payment was withdrawn from my account. So my call was turning into a "what did you do with the $200 I paid you last month?" Well, they were closed and I would have to wait until morning. For the heck of it, I called the automated line to get my account information. This is what they said in a nutshell for both loans: "Your loan is currently in forbearance status until July 9, 2012 (as in yesterday, the same date as the phone call was occurring by the way). Your last payment of $100 (per loan which is correct) was received on June __, 2012."
So, after putting ice on my head to numb the pain caused by smacking it against my desk, I rechecked my account online. Sure enough, the payment did not say pending anymore. It was applied to the interest. Which I don't know what to make of this situation now. Everything looks good (except for the forbearance ending, I could actually use that right now). And all it took was a phone call to an automated system after a near panic attack and procrastination at posting the payment as occurring.
Moral of the story: when you have a loan, be it student, mortgage, auto, tattoo, whatever it may be, pay attention to what is going on with it. Print any and all confirmation numbers and make sure payments post properly. Also, call if something doesn't look right because chances are, it's not and it's better to get things sorted out immediately than later on.
By the way, the total interest accrued for those who are curious was: $1011.16, making me very close to a total of $70,000 for the 2 years of my life in school full-time.
On a completely different note, I had another centipede visit from the Bug of the Month Club late last night. Unlike the one in the popular 5 Second Girl Dance post, this one started running along the wall when I went to grab a tissue. I found it, knocked it down, and it ran under my couch before I could catch it. I think it's still under there because I said screw it and went back to bed when I didn't see it underneath.
Well, turns out, they lied. It took 3 months to take me off. When I checked my account yesterday to cry over the accrued interest, it no longer said deferment. It said forbearance. Which I didn't know what that meant at the time. I do now though because I wanted to make sure that wouldn't negatively affect me in any way (credit score anyone?). Turns out it doesn't, at least not if I make payments.
Epilogical's definition of forbearance: It is just like deferment, meaning you don't have to make any payments. The only difference is with forbearance, both subsidized and unsubsidized loans accrue interest as opposed to just the one. So in the long run, you pay more in total when all is said and done.
Now, with forbearance, the loan companies don't just hand these out like candy at a parade. With my loan company, you have to actually apply for it. It's usually for if you're having trouble making the minimum payments due to a major financial blow such as losing a job or not being able to find a job. Or having large medical costs due to illness. So apparently, I'm special because I didn't have to apply for this (though they were right in knowing making the minimum $800 monthly payments would have been a little hard the past couple of months). So, I was getting ready to call them and ask what the heck was going on because who knows, maybe they know my main job had ended last month, when I realized something else interesting. I made a small payment for each of the two loans (why they separated them by each year is beyond me, just group them together for crying out loud) in a vain attempt to keep the interest down back at the beginning of June. It said the payment was pending. Pending.... as if my money wasn't good enough for them or something.
I checked my bank records. Yep, the payment was withdrawn from my account. So my call was turning into a "what did you do with the $200 I paid you last month?" Well, they were closed and I would have to wait until morning. For the heck of it, I called the automated line to get my account information. This is what they said in a nutshell for both loans: "Your loan is currently in forbearance status until July 9, 2012 (as in yesterday, the same date as the phone call was occurring by the way). Your last payment of $100 (per loan which is correct) was received on June __, 2012."
So, after putting ice on my head to numb the pain caused by smacking it against my desk, I rechecked my account online. Sure enough, the payment did not say pending anymore. It was applied to the interest. Which I don't know what to make of this situation now. Everything looks good (except for the forbearance ending, I could actually use that right now). And all it took was a phone call to an automated system after a near panic attack and procrastination at posting the payment as occurring.
Moral of the story: when you have a loan, be it student, mortgage, auto, tattoo, whatever it may be, pay attention to what is going on with it. Print any and all confirmation numbers and make sure payments post properly. Also, call if something doesn't look right because chances are, it's not and it's better to get things sorted out immediately than later on.
By the way, the total interest accrued for those who are curious was: $1011.16, making me very close to a total of $70,000 for the 2 years of my life in school full-time.
On a completely different note, I had another centipede visit from the Bug of the Month Club late last night. Unlike the one in the popular 5 Second Girl Dance post, this one started running along the wall when I went to grab a tissue. I found it, knocked it down, and it ran under my couch before I could catch it. I think it's still under there because I said screw it and went back to bed when I didn't see it underneath.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Furkids is Driven for a Cause - Guest Post
Normally, I don't post two entries in a single day but this means a lot to me personally. Furkids (click the yellow word to view their website) is a cage-free, no-kill animal shelter located in Atlanta. They also were the home to both of my cats before I became their mother. Sascode, was there for 4 year since he was about 9 months old and Epa was there from one month of age to right after her first birthday (I literally adopted her a week after she turned one).
Right now they need your help! And all it will take is a few seconds of your time (and is totally free!). They are currently in a vote-based contest called Nalley Driven for a Cause (again you can click the link in yellow) in which the winning organization will win a vehicle. The only catch is that you have to have a facebook account. What you need to do is add the app to vote (by clicking on the link, you go to the main page. To vote you click on the "vote here" button in red). Think that one vote won't make a difference? Wel, here's the great part: you can vote once....every 24 hours! So if you vote starting today you can vote 7 times since the contest ends on June 30th.
Below is a message from Sam, the founder and director of Furkids for more information on how winning this will help Furkids. Please, please, please help Furkids win this!!!! (As with the previous guest post, I have not changed anything written below)
Right now they need your help! And all it will take is a few seconds of your time (and is totally free!). They are currently in a vote-based contest called Nalley Driven for a Cause (again you can click the link in yellow) in which the winning organization will win a vehicle. The only catch is that you have to have a facebook account. What you need to do is add the app to vote (by clicking on the link, you go to the main page. To vote you click on the "vote here" button in red). Think that one vote won't make a difference? Wel, here's the great part: you can vote once....every 24 hours! So if you vote starting today you can vote 7 times since the contest ends on June 30th.
Below is a message from Sam, the founder and director of Furkids for more information on how winning this will help Furkids. Please, please, please help Furkids win this!!!! (As with the previous guest post, I have not changed anything written below)
Furkids is participating in the Nalley Driven for a Cause contest to win a new vehicle!
This has quickly become a very exciting and engaging contest - early vote totals for the top two organizations, both animal related, have already doubled the total of the first winner, and we still have 8 days to go!
What is Furkids and what is at stake? Furkids is Georgia's largest no-kill animal shelter - caring for over 600 cats and dogs on a daily basis - more than any other organization in the state or Southeast. We operate a shelter each for cats and dogs, nine full-time adoption centers with PETCO and PetSmart, a house for FIV+ cats and a network of foster homes. We recently celebrated our 10th anniversary and over 7,000 animals saved. We also operate a successful thrift store to benefit our shelter.
We are participants in a contest and because this contest at the moment is between two animal organizations, we believe this is a important opportunity for animal lovers to cast a vote that will have a measurable impact for MANY Dog Breeds and Cats across our state. There are too many animals, cats especially, being killed every day in our kill shelters. It is our obligation to be their voice and express that Furkids is the vote for the person that wants to see the kill numbers going down for Cats and Dogs.
We need an additional vehicle to transport our dogs and cats to more adoption centers on Saturdays and Sundays so they can meet adopters - allowing us to go and pull more homeless animals out of kill shelters on their last day. We save over 1,000 animals a year. We want to save even more. This vehicle will be used with that mission in mind.
Please cast your vote for the group that will use this vehicle to save more Cats and Dogs. Period. We want to win for the 73 cats killed this week in Rome and the many dogs killed in Murray, and the 100+ cats sitting at Cobb Animal Control waiting to be saved. This is why Furkids is competing in Nalley Driven for a Cause.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
The Art of Deciding Where to Move
The job search is in full force. My resume is out to various places, I've added a new round to the cover letter roulette, and I've been tapping into people I've networked with to keep and open eye (or ear) for openings where they are.
At first, I mainly applied for jobs back home and where I currently live. There are a few reasons why I have focused in these two areas, which I probably don't have to really explain as they apply to almost everyone applying for jobs.
At first, I mainly applied for jobs back home and where I currently live. There are a few reasons why I have focused in these two areas, which I probably don't have to really explain as they apply to almost everyone applying for jobs.
- The areas are familiar to me ie. I know where things are.
- There are people I know in these areas.
- Moving (or not if I stay here) would be easier than moving anywhere else.
- Going to job interviews is a lot easier.
Now, I'm starting to branch out and apply to other places, even some overseas. At first I thought of it as a last resort. However, the more I thought about it, moving to a whole new city or country even, may be easier than I originally thought.
For one thing, I have no family of my own. I don't have anyone who would have to move with me. Therefore, it would just be me (and the cats) moving and we can go wherever I so please. Though if I was to move overseas, \my parents agreed that the cats can bunk with them.
Also, I already gone through the hardest part of relocating when I moved here for school. It was the first time not only to move to a new town, but also the first time moving out of my parent's house. If I move again (especially if it's closer to my hometown), I know it won't be as hard as the first time. Unless it's overseas, but that has it's own difficulties.
With that being said, it would be exciting to move to a whole new area. Especially if the area offers a lot for someone my age like my current city.
I know I'm going to hear about this from my mother after she reads this but there is actually a disadvantage to moving back home if it comes down to a job here or a job back home. I have set up my adult life here. It's my first time not living at home, I have made a decent amount of friends here, this city is the hub for my field (my hometown is on the list of top dying cities and very little in terms of jobs for someone like me), and I have finally been able to have time to explore different areas and attractions in this city.
However, with my current main job ending on Friday, at this point, whichever place hires this awesome candidate is going to have the pleasure of having me for a resident.
For one thing, I have no family of my own. I don't have anyone who would have to move with me. Therefore, it would just be me (and the cats) moving and we can go wherever I so please. Though if I was to move overseas, \my parents agreed that the cats can bunk with them.
Also, I already gone through the hardest part of relocating when I moved here for school. It was the first time not only to move to a new town, but also the first time moving out of my parent's house. If I move again (especially if it's closer to my hometown), I know it won't be as hard as the first time. Unless it's overseas, but that has it's own difficulties.
With that being said, it would be exciting to move to a whole new area. Especially if the area offers a lot for someone my age like my current city.
I know I'm going to hear about this from my mother after she reads this but there is actually a disadvantage to moving back home if it comes down to a job here or a job back home. I have set up my adult life here. It's my first time not living at home, I have made a decent amount of friends here, this city is the hub for my field (my hometown is on the list of top dying cities and very little in terms of jobs for someone like me), and I have finally been able to have time to explore different areas and attractions in this city.
However, with my current main job ending on Friday, at this point, whichever place hires this awesome candidate is going to have the pleasure of having me for a resident.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Updates From the !~Dining Room1` Table
The random characters in the title are the result of my still drugged up cat rolling around on my keyboard as I was typing. I decided to keep them in as a reminder
Update 1 - The Cat
For those who are interested: surgery one of two for this cat came to about $1060. Surgery two's estimate comes in at $800, but her mouth (and my wallet!) have to heal first before we even think about that one.
Update 2 - Research
One of the two major research projects I have to finish this month is really close to being done (as long as there are no surprises lurking between the pages). Therefore, I have started focusing on the second one more to blow through this upcoming week.
Update 3 - Work
I think since the beginning of March I have taken almost two full weeks off from work in order to get major project number 1 completed (and it was worth it though that means I'm taking a big hit in income as a result).
However, since I have no idea when my job is actually going to end (I hate this), I'm making the assumption that I will be out of the job beginning May 1st and am starting to really push to find a new job, between working on the two research projects that is. So, any good thoughts from everyone would be greatly appreciated!
Update 4 - Loans
So, I did a tally of my loans. Remember how I gave an estimate of $80,000? Well, officially, I'm at:
$17,538.35 undergrad
$69,264.44 grad
= $86,802.79 total
Yep, I owe enough that it could buy itself a nice little house in the suburbs.
My personal goal, it to be under $17,000 for the undergrad loan by June 1st, which won't actually be a problem because my kwikpay (yes I signed up for that bad boy) withdraws $217 every month so I just have to throw in another $100 or so on my own. Overall, I would like to be under $86,000 total at the same time which means I'll probably have to throw in at least $1,000 towards my grad loan to 1) null the interest and 2) actually bring the total down or, I could pay the interest on the grad loan and put the rest towards the undergrad loan to drop the overall total. Future interest-wise though, it's smarter to put the money towards the grad loan. So essentially I'll have to pay probably about $1,600 when accounting for interest to drop the overall total below $86,000. Now I'm ready to cry so on to......
Update 5 - New guy!
In the middle of this craziness, I started dating a new guy. The only thing I'll say about him on here is that he's the reptile guy who wrote the guest post last month.
And in terms of The Amazing Loan Race: new month, new start.
Update 1 - The Cat
For those who are interested: surgery one of two for this cat came to about $1060. Surgery two's estimate comes in at $800, but her mouth (and my wallet!) have to heal first before we even think about that one.
Update 2 - Research
One of the two major research projects I have to finish this month is really close to being done (as long as there are no surprises lurking between the pages). Therefore, I have started focusing on the second one more to blow through this upcoming week.
Update 3 - Work
I think since the beginning of March I have taken almost two full weeks off from work in order to get major project number 1 completed (and it was worth it though that means I'm taking a big hit in income as a result).
However, since I have no idea when my job is actually going to end (I hate this), I'm making the assumption that I will be out of the job beginning May 1st and am starting to really push to find a new job, between working on the two research projects that is. So, any good thoughts from everyone would be greatly appreciated!
Update 4 - Loans
So, I did a tally of my loans. Remember how I gave an estimate of $80,000? Well, officially, I'm at:
$17,538.35 undergrad
$69,264.44 grad
= $86,802.79 total
Yep, I owe enough that it could buy itself a nice little house in the suburbs.
My personal goal, it to be under $17,000 for the undergrad loan by June 1st, which won't actually be a problem because my kwikpay (yes I signed up for that bad boy) withdraws $217 every month so I just have to throw in another $100 or so on my own. Overall, I would like to be under $86,000 total at the same time which means I'll probably have to throw in at least $1,000 towards my grad loan to 1) null the interest and 2) actually bring the total down or, I could pay the interest on the grad loan and put the rest towards the undergrad loan to drop the overall total. Future interest-wise though, it's smarter to put the money towards the grad loan. So essentially I'll have to pay probably about $1,600 when accounting for interest to drop the overall total below $86,000. Now I'm ready to cry so on to......
Update 5 - New guy!
In the middle of this craziness, I started dating a new guy. The only thing I'll say about him on here is that he's the reptile guy who wrote the guest post last month.
And in terms of The Amazing Loan Race: new month, new start.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Will be back soon!
Hello readers! Unfortunately, I have been really busy and therefore have not been able to write anything new. But, while I have a few minutes, I'll let you know of the results of month #1 of the Amazing Loan Race. Unfortunately, I had $3000 in unexpected expenses this month and therefore could only put $100 towards my loan this month. Katie, was able to put over $900 this month towards her loan and therefore has won this month (I'll be the one to state this result since she's been sick this week and really hasn't blogged as a result).
So to give you an update about what's going on this month: I'm hopefully not going to have a lot of unexpected expenses this month (outside of Epa's procedure coming up next week) which I already kind of accounted for when making a low payment in for March.
In the meantime, I am also trying to finish two research projects I'm doing (outside of work that is) which both need to be done by late April so that adds a little stress.....Okay more than a little.
Also, my main job's contract is due to end April 30th. What does that mean? Well, there's a chance that it may be extended through June 30th but that's it. If it doesn't get extended, that essentially means that I will lose the majority of my income by not having the job. Therefore, to add to the stress already, I have to find a new job, preferably in Atlanta because I had to decide whether to renew my lease or not (since it's up in 2 months) and decided to just renew it. So if I get a job elsewhere and have to move, I have to notify the leasing office 60 days prior to moving AND get slapped with an extra fee equivalent to 2 months rent. So fingers crossed that I get a job here!
Time to go to work!
So to give you an update about what's going on this month: I'm hopefully not going to have a lot of unexpected expenses this month (outside of Epa's procedure coming up next week) which I already kind of accounted for when making a low payment in for March.
In the meantime, I am also trying to finish two research projects I'm doing (outside of work that is) which both need to be done by late April so that adds a little stress.....Okay more than a little.
Also, my main job's contract is due to end April 30th. What does that mean? Well, there's a chance that it may be extended through June 30th but that's it. If it doesn't get extended, that essentially means that I will lose the majority of my income by not having the job. Therefore, to add to the stress already, I have to find a new job, preferably in Atlanta because I had to decide whether to renew my lease or not (since it's up in 2 months) and decided to just renew it. So if I get a job elsewhere and have to move, I have to notify the leasing office 60 days prior to moving AND get slapped with an extra fee equivalent to 2 months rent. So fingers crossed that I get a job here!
Time to go to work!
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