a much-needed update

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated, and I’m way past due. Needless to say, my attempts at NJM were an abject failure – for the second half of the month, at least.

December is flying by, and I don’t know if I’m more excited about the end of the world – or Christmas. Most of my shopping is done – we’ve gotten all of the presents for the family, and most of my shopping for Devon is done as well – I only have to get her stocking stuffers, and I can chalk the year up successfully.

My last few weeks at First Advantage were difficult, but I got through them. My last day was the 30th, and it hit me a lot harder than I had anticipated or planned for. I went in, cleaned out my desk, took my sad little box of eight years of accumulated “stuff” and was gone by 10:30 in the morning. I came home and cried, and couldn’t help but tear up off and on for the rest of the day – the weekend entirely, if I am going to be honest about it. I was at First Advantage for longer than I’ve lived or worked or been in a relationship in my entire life. Of course it was a huge loss, when you think about things that way. I was at my childhood home longer, but I left there in 1998 when I moved to Florida.

I was nervous, anxious and on-edge about my new job, and I jumped right from working at First Advantage to Raymond James. My last day at work was November 30th, and I started in my new position at RJ on Monday, December 3. My first day was mostly orientation, and I’ve now completed almost two weeks of work. I just received my first paycheck today, in fact, and it all feels a bit surreal. I’m making a lot more money that I’m used to. I expected only half of a paycheck for my last weeks’ work, but I got a full two weeks pay direct deposited. I’m not sure how that works, but I’m extremely grateful for it. It puts Devon and I in an awesome position for the coming year.

Last weekend, I received my severance package, my PTO payout, retention bonus AND my last paycheck for hours worked. Devon and I took the weekend and celebrated. We went out to a nice dinner on Friday night, and on Saturday we went to Tampa to visit Ikea. We bought what amounts to a completely new living room. We got a couch, a desk and a coffee table. When we got home, I also bought an Ottoman set and a new computer chair. Everything looks amazing now. We have a few things we want to add as time and budget permits, but I’m hopeful for the future.

The new job itself is great. I’m learning a lot, and it can be a little bit overwhelming when you take everything on at once. As of now, though, I’m able to do two of my daily tasks by myself without any help, and additional tasks are being added every time I get comfortable. For the most part, I love my co-workers. It’s a big adjustment, but I’m confident that I can move forward quickly and acclimate to the different culture and environment.

This weekend is going to be nice. I’ll have some time to myself tomorrow as Devon is going Christmas shopping with Leighann. I plan on wrapping all of the presents that have already been delivered, catching up on some writing projects and setting up the WII I got Devon as a “thank you” present prior to Christmas. I’m excited about all of that – hopefully we can play Saturday evening before we go to her preschool’s christmas party that night. On Sunday we are going over to the Mirror’s house to help her out around the house and with her finances. The mirror has recently been diagnosed with MS – and she’s having a rough time dealing with the physical and emotional symptoms. Since I’m officially an accountant now (at least going by my job title) I’m going to help her go through her medical bills and get things organized. We’re also going to bring her lunch, help her clean up her apartment a bit and do her dishes, etc. It should be a nice afternoon, and I’m looking forward to spending some time with her.

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful Holiday season, and that life has been as blessed for them as it has been for me. Hopefully, it won’t be so long until my next update. I’ve missed writing here, although I have been reading entries semi-regularly.

This work by JMcFarland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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