January 11: Another Work Week, Prescriptions, and Writing About Writing

I am officially an hourly employee again as of today. They made me a salaried employee back in 2019, even though I was already part-time and was not going to change my hours. I remember it was 2019 because it meant I could finally work from home if I had to, an option that would've been useful early in 2018. I didn't generally mind going to the bank to work -- it's less than a mile from my house -- and didn't bother getting set up for remote work until March 2020. My boss set up everyone else newly-qualified for remote work at the same time. We got in just under the wire: the day after we sent the request through, the IT department closed to new requests because their remote-work options were already overtaxed.

Of course, now there's no talk of me showing up at the bank to work. From the perspective of my department, I've been working remotely since the merger with Teenage Bank in 2012. My whole team is in another state, as are the teams of virtually every department I work with. It's not like showing up at the bank changed how I communicated with anyone I was working with.

Anyway, HR wanted me to be hourly again for HR reasons. They demoted my title, too, although I still get the same pay rate so I don't care.

I make almost as much working 7 hours a week now as when I first started in banking in 1997 (without adjusting for inflation). Funny thought. My real wage has gone up substantially over the years. But the money I saved in 1997 is worth much more now than the money I make in 2024.

I still don't need to take a lunch break; that used to be mandatory but I guess the regulation changed or maybe doesn't apply to people who work under a certain number of hours. Either way, I'm just as glad.

This work week was a little dull but fine. Had four Zoom meetings in it, which seems like a lot. But one was only 15 minutes, and the others three were one-on-one and actually productive. (One of me chatting with my boss about work stuff, plus two where co-workers wanted help with queries.) In between meetings, I worked on documentation. Went well enough.

After work, I zooped out to pick up Lut's prescriptions. I have successfully gotten all the prescriptions back to Wal-Mart, yay. Several others had run out and been called back in while I was getting the transferred ones transferred back. I picked up seven today and still have two more waiting to be filled. One of those is out of refills so...I guess we'll see if Wal-Mart can finally break their long-running inability to successfully ask a doctor for more refills. -_- It's not one of the ones Lut needs every day, at least.

I wanted to be sure to pick up everything else today, though, because tonight's forecast is potentially ugly and I didn't want to have to do it tomorrow or Saturday. Although I expect the roads will be fine by Saturday. Tomorrow will be a good day to stay home, though.

After my entry on Tuesday about exercise not giving energy, I was wondering if that was accurate. I was feeling less tired lately. I used to have a regular refrain of "Everything is exhausting and I am exhausted: the L. Rowyn Story" going through my head, but I hadn't thought it recently.

And then today, as I dragged through seven hours of work, it ran through my mind several times. Ohhh. It turns out everything isn't exhausting. Just day jobs. 

Lots of medical appointments and administrivia are also exhausting, but they haven't been adding up to nearly as much time as a day job so it's easily managed.

I tried to work on notes for my next WIP yesterday, with a little success. I still don't feel like I'm getting anywhere but I will persevere. It's bound to add up to progress at some point.

On Monday I ran out of Apothecaria to illustrate so I played some more Apothecaria. I'm out again now! Oh no I'll have to play MOAR.

This is why Apothecaria keeps going even when I'm dragging my feet on everything else. :D It's not just that I have prompts for Apothecaria, but that I'm not worried about pacing and editing and all the hard parts of writing when I'm playing Apothecaria. I write, and if it's long-winded or doesn't lead anywhere: oh well! Better luck next entry! It's a game, and I don't feel obligated to make it As Good As I Possibly Can.

Lyric is increasingly annoyed that (a) Outside is Broken and (b) I have done nothing to fix this despite Lyric's numerous requests. She has now concluded that if she just goes in and out of the house enough times, then one of those times, outside will be working again. Especially if she tries different doors. Just because Outside is broken when she leaves by the kitchen door doesn't mean it's broken if she leaves by the living room door, right?

It's the triumph of hope over experience, again and again. I got her back inside tonight and I'm not letting her back out again, because there's probably gonna be freezing rain or snow or something nasty tonight and I don't want her outside for it. She'd go hide in the garage from it and I'm sure she'd be fine, but also sure she'll be more comfortable indoors.

Okay, gonna finish up the next Apothecaria entry and then maybe a draw a little if I have time before bed.