In the days after Christmas, and after the New Year, I've been living life much in a blur.
Christmas came and went. It was mostly very uneventful. On Christmas Eve we had finger foods with the parents, and then drove around a bit to look at lights. We were instructed to be at the family home again by 8:30 the next morning for breakfast, which we were (well, we got there at 8:39).
Daisy's parents, as is customary, gave us a giant quilt.
Daisy generally handles most gifts for her parents and I get them a few little things just from me; this year, for example, I got Dad some socks. This was my gift to him last year too (different socks, though, because I'm not weird). I used to get Dad knives or some other sort of weapon every year until Daisy told me to stop that. We actually got each other knives for a few years running; Daisy and I have been together a decade, so there have been a lot of Christmases.
It was all quiet, very subdued, and very peaceful. When we returned home that evening we opened our own gifts for one another; Daisy got me several books I'd been wanting to read, some CDs, a pack of socks I'd wanted, and a robe (that needed to be returned because it was too small, but I replaced it with one in the correct size). Her big gift for me was the Sega Genesis 2 Mini, which was delayed in shipping from Japan until well after the new year.
I got Daisy an assortment of the usual items -- treats like Cocomels and Clif Bars, and Jolly Ranchers -- as well as some useful things for around the house, like scarf hangers for her side of the closet and her big gift, a bright purple crock pot.
I sent my parents some big canvases with photos of us and their pets on them, and (as that's more of a mom thing), I sent my dad a few comics subscriptions too. I later used the same canvas print site to print a 24"x36" wall canvas of me as Space Jesus for about $30 that is now hanging in our living room. No regrets.
The new year came and went just fine, too, with the exception of one little thing: FSA expiration.
Let me explain.
I don't know how many of you reading this have the option of FSA/HSA for the insurance for your jobs; I know I do, but I've never utilized it because all of my health coverage is through Daisy's job because it's much better, more comprehensive insurance and overall easier/cheaper for her to just cover me than vice versa, or to get separate coverage.
Short aside: I do get accidental death/dismemberment/disability insurance through my job, and I also have an amazing life insurance policy through my workplace that will pay Daisy very well were I to drop dead tomorrow, but that's it.
Anyway, part of Daisy's optional coverage is a FSA plan. We've always done it and dropped a fair amount of money into it because, I mean, why not? We use it to pay for prescriptions, doctor's visits, glasses, etc.
Well, this year we didn't use most of it. And we were reminded a few weeks prior that it expired 12/31, and we wouldn't get that money back afterwards if we didn't use it beforehand.
How much did we actually have left? Just shy of $900.
Do you know how many pairs of glasses, bottles of both pills and liquid cold and allergy medicine, thermometers, heating pads, nasal rinses, glasses wipes, face washes, pain relievers, bandages, TENS machines, balms and creams, antacids, cough drops, vitamins, and various other little odds and ends $900 will buy?
The answer is a lot. Like, likely enough to be put on some sort of watchlist somewhere.
So, in the evening of New Year's Eve, Daisy and I went on a mini shopping spree. It was like a second, more medical Christmas. Today is January 8. There are still things arriving. I'm pretty sure the delivery drivers in our area have us on their shitlist right now. My new glasses, for example, don't arrive until Monday. There are a handful of things that have been delayed, too, so it is what it is.
We used all but $8 of the FSA, by the way.
The one thing the FSA couldn't cover before the end of the year? Ironically, my actual medication.
I wish I were making that up.
On December 27, I called the pharmacy and requested a refill of my Metformin. At the time I had maybe three or four days left, at most. I never heard back from them, nor did the wife (who gets texts saying when our prescriptions have been filled. I called them on New Year's Eve, and spoke to a pharmacist who was like "yeah, we haven't heard back from your doctor yet, but you can try back after the holiday."
This did not fill me with a lot of hope. I ran out of my Metformin -- completely -- and started taking some of Daisy's old ones (which are very likely expired, but will at least keep it in my system).
On Friday, after still nothing, I reached out to my doctor's office directly, asking what the hold up was, because I was out of my pills and yes, they do need to refill them.
We'd be happy to send over new refills for you as soon as you schedule your next follow up appointment with us, they told me.
What the fuck?
These doctors have been super overreactive with me ever since I was diagnosed with diabetes a few years back. My A1Cs are not high -- in fact, I'm very much on the very low end of the diabetic scale, especially now that I'm on Metformin and have continually kept losing weight every year now for five years running. I'm not sitting here eating a loaf of bread and drinking two gallons of full sugar Mountain Dew every day, and despite how much I might like it to be, my blood is not maple syrup or gravy. I'm actually eating far less than ever before and I've been a bit more active than I used to be (more on this later, maybe).
"They can't withhold my medication just because they want me to come in so they can get money," I told Daisy. "It's not like I'm taking these pills recreationally -- they are medically necessary."
I called them and said fine, whatever, let's set up an appointment. I should get my A1C checked again anyhow, and maybe this time it'll tell me I'm nearing the range to where I can reduce my Metformin dose in the hopes of eventually eliminating it completely. So, yeah, whatever.
"What's the soonest first AM -- like 7AM -- appointment?"
"Let me check," the nurse told me as she thumbed through whatever schedules she had in front of her, before finally answering "February 24th."
"That's the soonest one?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "There are only two appointments available before then, and they're 1pm and 1:30pm on [some random, middle-of-the-week day at the end of the month]."
"Okay, lock me in for the 7AM appointment on February 24, then," I said.
"Will you have enough medication to get you through to that time?"
....no, I won't, that's the entire fucking reason I'm doing this, because you're holding my pills hostage.
"No," I said, "I absolutely won't. I'm completely out of Metformin now and I have maybe two or three weeks left of Allopurinol, nowhere near enough to get me through a month and a half before I'm in there. So I need those refilled, sent over to [pharmacy] please. Like, ASAP."
She finally agreed with me that yes, this was important, and sent the refills. And I thanked her and hung up.
Two days later, still no notification from the pharmacy that the refills have been received or filled. I'm still taking the wife's old Metformin to keep it in my system, and if we haven't heard anything from the pharmacy by Monday I'll absolutely be calling either them or the doctor's office again and raising hell. The entire ordeal is ridiculous.
Adding to this, aside from the A1C check, the primary reason I'm going in for this appointment is to get the doctor's office to send my prescriptions over to Amazon Pharmacy, which they told me they'd be able to do more smoothly once they were all updated and done. Okay, whatever.
So I guess I have a doctor's appointment a month and a half from now and I'll take whatever meds I can get until then.
The first week of the new year has been productive in a few ways. We've both returned to work though, much to our chagrin. I won't have another non-PTO day off now until...I think Memorial Day? Christ, that sounds so depressing. I did take off Super Bowl Sunday, because no matter who plays, that extra day off is always a much-needed break. Daisy at least has MLK Jr. Day off. I do not, because the action never stops in telecommunications, apparently.
What I have done in the first week of the new year is a lot of laundry, some mild cleaning, and...well, I guess you can call it prepping for the rest of the year. For example, I already have the photos for next year's Christmas card design already plotted out. Stuff like that.
The wife and I have been reorganizing the house, with more (much, much more) work on that to be done in the coming weeks and months. We're plotting vacation time on a very loose basis. We've been spending a lot of quality time together, something I see continuing a lot more this year than in a long time.
None of these things are really "resolutions" of any sort, they're just things we've fallen into naturally.
I don't really want to make any real resolutions this year -- but I do have things I've been working on, and things I would like to continue to work on. I've gone through my (apparently, continually growing) record collection -- stuff I bought in 2022, either physically or digitally -- and have been listening to all of it, thoroughly enjoying the process. Oftentimes I'll buy an album and it'll just sit on a shelf for months before I stick it into the CD player. Well, from around...September onward, I purchased probably thirty albums total, almost all of them by bands I saw live last year.
Yeah, I do occasionally leave the house. Shocking, I know, right?
I'm having a great deal of enjoyment listening through all of this stuff, especially while I write or do light chores around the house. It's a trend I'd like to continue in 2023 throughout the rest of the year.
Speaking of writing, I have been doing a little of that here and there. I've revised the treatment for the screenplay I've been wanting to write for some time. I've mentioned it here before in the sense that it's a "love letter to the '90s," and it remains such. It's going to take some time to put together (and a refresher read on how to format a screenplay, since I haven't written one in twenty years), but I do think I have a decent shot at finishing it before the end of the year.
Of course, I also said that about my short story collection, and that is...well, it's not really progressed past two stories (out of six total that I'd like to include). I plan to work on that more this year too, if not finish it. It's just going to take time. Everything takes time, and as I'm not independently wealthy, I do still have to work, eat, and sleep.
Let's see, what else is going on?
I have not yet gotten my 40th birthday tattoo. I probably won't end up getting one for some time. There's just not really any good day/time for it unless it's a day both Daisy and I would have off work together at the same time. We only get a handful of days like that together every year, and they're mostly major holidays. I suppose it would be possible to try to do it during Memorial Day week, which I'll likely take off of work because our wedding anniversary falls in the middle of it, but at this point I don't even know.
Our scarfaced cat (as I call her now) is fine; she had the stitches removed the day after Christmas, and while she still has a little scar across her lip, her fur is slowly growing back to re-cover it. She's the same old girl she always was again.
I have not watched any new movies or any of the new, hot TV/streaming series that everyone's talking about. Daisy watched Wednesday and loved it, but I watched roughly two episodes and was in the room with her when she watched most of the rest and I could not really get into it, no matter how I tried. It just wasn't really my thing at all. I appreciate the work that went into it, but yeah...it's just not made for me or my demographic.
We still need to set up the new T-Mobile internet. We got the router in the mail last week, and it's going to take some work and be enough of an undertaking that I need to be able to devote a few hours to setting it up, connecting some devices to it (most important -- my work computer, this computer, and our phones) to see how well it works and/or if it will actually end up working better for us than our current ISP. It's probably going to be much easier to use than I think, but I'm also one of those people who used to be really technologically saavy but isn't anymore, so new electronic things end up being frustrations more often than not. We'll see how it goes.
I will say one thing that's more of a resolution than it isn't -- I'm likely not going to be writing here a lot this year. Surprise there, right? It's not you, it's me. There's a lot I have to do during any given week and there is only so much time for this stuff. If something major happens I'll update everyone here of course, but otherwise...I got burnt out on chronicling every little detail of my life during the pandemic, and I really can't do that anymore.
So that's really about it, all. I'll check in periodically, but happy 2023. I hope you're all as blessed as I am.
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