Saying goodbye in the summertime

Today was my executive director's last day. And in a month, Tina will move out.

In the fifteen years since I graduated college and moved to SF, my job has been the one constant. And with that, my executive director, Henrietta, has been the same boss (and later, boss's boss) I've had all that time.

After I got through the first interview when I applied for the receptionist position, I then interviewed with her. HR had just moved to the office that was this dinky old medical building, and pretty sad. But her office was the sole corner office with a hint of a view and a pale shade of pink painting coating the walls. Tall, blonde, thin, and dressed to the nines, Henrietta has remained virtually ageless in the decade and a half I've worked with her, while I've gone from a rail-thin twenty-two year old to a husky dad-bod bearing thirty-seven year old. She has always lead with love, an admirable leadership quality because as a subordinate, you want to do well and please someone who supports you and lets you flourish. And after twenty nine years, she certainly deserves this retirement.

They still seem to be deciding on her replacement. It will certainly be an interesting change. Just hard to believe Hen won't be there when I go into work tomorrow.

And when Tina moves out at the end of July, I will once again be on my own. I had only lived solo for a couple of months the last time Hannah moved out. I remember continually going into the other room like I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I lived alone. I can't deny that there's a part of me that's kind of excited about it. I wish that my financial situation was a bit more plush so I could start buying new furniture and turn it into the little bean bag den/cat playground I've envisioned, but it may have to be something I do piecemeal.

Interesting changes afoot. Should make for an interesting rest of 2015.

Tomorrow people, where is your cash

It's happened before, so I should have been prepared when it would happen again: my roommate's moving out. It's been a joy to have Tina in My Own Little Buddhist Monk Temple TM (formerly Casa Fiesta) in no small part because she wasn't around that often, but also because she was a built in buddy, someone familiar to shoot the shiz with and not a stranger I had to acclimate to. She also paid the lionshare of the rent since she had the larger room, so now, daddy has to pony a few extra hundred dollars each month.

And therein lies my problem.

After I'd made a concerted effort a few years back to pay off my credit cards, I, like a fool, went and got a bunch of new ones. With my improved credit, I had larger limits and, in some cases, lower interest rates, not to mention zero percent introductory rates. Sufficiently lured in, I went a bit more buckwild than I should have. Having a roommate has meant I have the means to pay it all off--in time, at least. But I feel I'm past the age where having a roommate is something I want to deal with, especially since tecnically, I don't need to have one. It's just a matter of living a little bit more within my means instead of going into an online ordering frenzy every weekend.

This is, like, severe first world problem bullshit. Especially since around this time ten years ago, I was stranded on Treasure Island (no, this is a not a metaphor in reference to the popular novel) making a little over half of what I make no, living on payday loans and covering the rent for a missing roommate.
I really can't complain by comparison.

But the math don't lie, and I'm not interested in paying interest on credit cards for several years/months. So I made the criminal decision to borrow against my 401(k). Hopefully, I can learn my lesson for a second time around, and I don't hate myself when I'm older. I already hate the fact that my life has seemed to revolve more around money--ahem--credit cards instead of something more meaningful.

Blech.