Playing the Catch-up (Catsup??) Game

So let’s see . . . where did I leave off?

So . . . I have a job at H&R Block. I was promoted from the “Customer Service Professional” or CSP (Celebrated Sarah Price ;) I am now the District Client Care Specialist. That’s a nice name for someone who calls people all day. I like it actually, because when I do find a person on the other line I have fun talking to them. More often than not I meet really nice people. I have met some people who are angry with H&R for whatever reason, but after talking to them I can see why. It’s kind of like life. I mean if I meet someone from the Ukraine and they are mean, does that mean all Ukrainians are horribly mean? No. Maybe I met that person on a bad day, or for whatever reason they are mean. But, no all Ukrainians aren’t mean. Just like one poor tax professional doesn’t represent all of H&R. They’re actually pretty good, if not very good. Same with men, Mormons, Schizoaffective people, plumbers, government officials . . . you get the point. What?? The Master of Pointless Stories has a point??? Maybe not all my stories are pointless, (Whew! A sigh of relief from yours truly ;)

My District Manager (whom I keep calling my District Leader . . . I guess you can leave the mission, but the mission never leaves you) she called me into a meeting Tuesday and told all the Office Leaders/Managers and even the Regional Manager (I call him the Regional Rep ;) that I was a valuable part of our district and the voice of H&R here in East County. It felt good. She likes the work I’ve been doing and quite frankly I like working in the district office and the people with whom I’m working. We laugh, we joke, and we get a lot of work done, so I look forward to coming into the office. I even got a little pin that says “Rock Star-Responsibility” Doesn’t that mean I have a responsibility to be a rock star?? I choose drums!

I started my ASL 4 class and love it. So far I’ve learned some new vocab. But, I think the main reason I am taking the class is because my dear old friend Vadja is teaching it. I love ASL so much. Honestly. Sometimes I can express myself better in ASL than I can in English. Part of that has to do with the extreme memory loss and the severely crippled vocab in English. I have been working on building my ASL skills with my Deaf friends. And I’ve been meeting people on the bus, as the mall and in restaurants who are Deaf. I ran into some old friends last Saturday in a restaurant and they were so kind to me. If I say Hi with enthusiasm in my voice my friends know all is pretty good. If I run into some random person and say hi with enthusiasm they might wonder where on earth I’m from. If I greet a Deaf person with enthusiasm, more often than not they’re happy to see me too, even if we’ve never met each other before. (okay, so that’s a huge generalization contrary to my first point, but . . . it’s true so far.)

I’m still having problems with my little left foot. It’s even been waking me up in the middle of the night and weird things like that. It’s the top left side. Bizarre. Until you realize that’s where the huge lump was when I hurt the crazy thing in October! But in the same breath I walked about 4 miles this past weekend and enjoyed a nice talk with my friend as we walked around Lake Murray. I was more than surprised because my foot didn’t hurt all that much during or afterwards. We were going at a nice leisurely pace. However when I speed walk to work . . . maybe a mile away (>15 minutes) after three blocks the silly little thing HURTS! And so does the right one . . . when I take a leisurely stroll into work it doesn’t hurt at all.

I was talking to my friend Vadja today and he said that I need a mentor to help me finish my book. I have two mentors, Colleen Whitley and Dean Hughes. Both of whom have helped me immensely!! However I was talking to Vadja and he said that maybe it would be best if I had someone asking me questions about the book or about things that I want to happen and stuff like that on a regular basis and then it will spur me along. My friend from Rick’s is reading it. She is actually reading it and talking to me about it. Other’s who’ve read it say they like it but don’t give me feedback. My mentors have given me a LOT of useful feedback. Unfortunately, I’m just plum burnt out!

I am trying to decide if I'm going to grow out the hair. I enjoy having longer hair, but then again I saw some old pictures of myself and they really were awful! Seriously horrific!

That facebook group has grown! It now has 60 members. “Support for Mormons with Mental Health Concerns” Join up! Pass the word.

Well, I’m off. Look forward to hearing from you. Take care and Happy Belated Valentine’s Day -MOPS