Or at least trying to I should say. I’ve been trying to think of topics for this blog section and think this is a good place to start. Since we’re coming to the end of this year, it now gives me a chance to pause and reflect on everything I’ve done. Honestly, this year was pretty difficult for me, mainly because I had such high expectations for how things would play out. This ranges from adding gear to my bedroom studio to landing new job opportunities to learning dances and other hobbies. The past few months have given me a taste of what adulting is truly like which can be quite bitter when there’s ingredients like bills, health insurance and car maintenance (I just replaced all my tires yesterday). I adopted a budget for this year which is something I’ve never done before, encouraging me to cook at home based on what I spend eating out. Frankly, I’m surprised I made it this far and incredibly grateful for my health. Every time I heat up pork or chicken, I worry I’ll get food poisoning (which may or may not have happened twice this year, I can’t tell).
My car also hit 90,000 miles a while back so I’m learning all the routine maintenance that comes with it. Growing up, I thought all you had to do was get oil changes and tire rotations but there’s parts like brakes and alternators that need to replaced too. It’s really expensive at least to me and makes me wonder if I’m overreacting when getting my car fixed up. Perhaps this stuff doesn’t need to be addressed right away but I want to follow the manual and have the peace of mind since my car gets me to work and I don’t have PTO. It’s showed me the importance of keeping receipts too so I can keep everything on schedule.
I’m shopping for new health insurance options as well but I had no idea all the spam that comes with it. I was on a website which told me it’d show insurance quotes in my area so I typed in my number and have been getting bombarded with calls since Wednesday this past week. For future reference, shop for plans on healthcare.gov or else you’ll end up like me. To these scammers or salesmen, I must be a pretty popular and it’s been a pain blocking every new random call I get.
On the bright side, I think these are lessons one can only learn through experience and it gives me a better foot forward for the new year. I’m going to the gym consistently after work in addition to the occasional ballroom group class or Guitar Center lesson. I’ve been able to establish a nice routine for myself and plan on building off this momentum. Plus, I participated in some dance competitions this year and even placed back in January which is something I’d have never imagined doing. Most recently, I got to rent time on some club standard dj equipment which was a welcomed challenge and learning curve from my mobile setup. I plan on going to more raves and open decks to land some of those gigs. I always liked EDM and it was the reason I got into djing in the first place, so I think this will reignite the passion I once had for it. I’ll try and dive more into these topics at another time but until then, I’m going to go make some late night apple cider or something.
