Distraction

Things were reasonably calm at work this week. I was somewhat social. If I get off my butt today and tomorrow according to the miles I've scheduled, I'll actually have my second week over 30 miles in a row, which is something that hasn't happened since January (while I was still training for the marathon).

This week, I was feeling like I had things relatively under control. But we kept getting these pesky calls from one of my credit card companies.

I finally called back only to have the bizarre experience of being asked why I underpaid the minimum payment. The call-center guy appeared to find my response of "Oh I must have misread it, why don't I pay the rest and next month's payment right now?" a bit odd. I'm guessing many people claim to have mis-read their bills. But I imagine at least some of 'em read the bill just fine but don't have the cash to correct the mistake.

I ordinarily pay my credit cards off in full. But this one is in a zero percent interest period, so I figure I'm better off paying the minimum payment and throwing my disposable income at debt that's actually accruing interest (non-governmentally subsidized school loans, I'm looking at you!).

But, even though I'm letting the principle sit, I always pay the minimum payment. I usually round up.

Apparently, sometime last month, when I paid this bill, I rounded down.

E says his least favorite thing about me being busy at work is how distracted I am. How without warning, I'll just fall out of a conversation with him. I believed him, because I feel distracted when work is crazy.

But, I didn't realize just *how* distracted I've let it make me.

Mis-reading a bill and underpaying the amount due? That's absurd.

So, I'm got some new goals. I'm going to try to be better about leaving work at work. Or at least leaving it for hours I've consciously allocated to work. Now that I've been at the firm for almost 3/4 of a year (has it already been that long?) I'm starting to feel more comfortable. And I'm going to use that comfort to start reclaiming the bits of my life that I unconsciously lost.

Here's to less distraction.