This turned into my 2013 reflection post...

I'm still avoiding that post reflecting on 2013 for a variety of reasons.  It was definitely a year of transitions and growing pains.  At the beginning of it, I was very broke, working at a hellhole with some of my very good friends.  I had to get another job to make the amount of money I needed to live and pay loans.  My boss was a shitty human being, not just a shitty boss, but a terrible, evil, vindictive, airhead bitch of a human being.  Between working a full-time and part-time job, I was trying to get into shape.  I succeeded, but I struggled with also giving myself to my relationship.

That was Jan-June.  In June, the restaurant I was working at part-time closed, so I was out of a job.  I ramped up my search for a better full-time job before resigning myself to another few months of bone-tired existence.  One of my best friends made the decision to move to Baltimore, and while I couldn't have been happier for her, I knew I'd miss her like hell.  Completing a boxing bootcamp left me in the best shape of my life, but soon after I had to give up my membership because I couldn't afford it any longer with only one job.

Late July I randomly applied for a job at a super awesome financial institution (one of the biggest and best in the world), expecting not to hear anything.  Got a phone interview.  The lady said I'd have to take a bunch of licensing tests and whatnot, I said okay, again not expecting to get a real interview.  Got a real interview.  Borrowed someone's car, slept over at their place, got up at 6 a.m. for an interview, it was raining.  Six other people were there.  Immediately fell in love with the idea of working there, tried to erase all the good things from my memory so when I got the call back I wouldn't feel as bad.

In August, I found out I got the job!  I was very excited.  In fact, here's a picture of me leaving the hellhole on the last day.

See how sad?

I spent a very long weekend in Syracuse with my beautiful and awesome niece, then I started the new job.  The commute is something I'm still getting used to, it's a little over an hour each day.  But it's on a train so I can do whatever I want - read, email, catch up on sleep - so it's okay.  However, it's still an adjustment.

I spent the next month and a half studying very hard for some licensing exams.  I passed!  Then spent another month in training.  I finally started for real at the end of Thanksgiving.  While talking on the phone all day is more draining than I thought, it's still a thousand times better than most of my other jobs (CHOP excluded).  I'm very excited for my future there.

And that takes us up until 2014.  There's some things I missed, like winning the kickball championships!  I thought I had a brain tumor for awhile, but turns out it was just a thyroid problem.  I had to cancel some trips due to money, but now I'm doing so much better.  It's now been more than a year living with Trent and three years of dating, it's still pretty cool.  And Nelly is still alive and a little skinnier.

So all-in-all a little rough, lots of changes, but coming out better on the back end.

Cheers to 2014.  To running a marathon, doing a pull-up, and loving myself.