My work flew me out to the company HQ again, this time for a full department meetup and training session. It turned out to be a good thing, as one of our projects going live with an upgrade had a slight hiccup and several of us landed around the same time and were on-site to troubleshoot. Felt nice to be able to triage an issue on the fly like that. :)

Phoenix and Scottsdale were still very warm but not near as bad as in July. I stayed at a different hotel this time, but still really enjoyed the stay. Courtyard was very nice and their staff were terrific! I did miss the Residence Inn’s breakfast bar and may switch back next Visit. They both have the same amenities and great staff. I definitely want to come back and visit!

Our team had lunch and dinners together, plus we went out for drinks courtesy of one of our vendors. Fun was had by all! And I gotta say, this entire Trip did more for me therapy-wise than the last 3 months of sessions! That said, I’ll start seeing a new psychiatrist after the new year. My current one is OK, but I don’t feel a connection and honestly don’t trust him. I simply feel like he’s not listening. I’m still seeing my therapist and adore her. She’s been great and tries to be super helpful, but I need a bit more than she can provide. So hopefully the new shrink will help. I’m also hoping they change my meds. I’m not happy being on the Lexapro.

I’m still struggling with my anxiety; the depression is mostly held at bay, but I’m a long way from being “normal” again. (If I ever WAS “normal” to begin with!) But I’m slowly doing better and better, so I’m optimistic.

Things at work are still super busy, but most of our largest projects are finally starting to wrap up. Many of the smaller 365 environments have been consolidated. We’ve implemented a username standardization across almost all apps used by the entire organization. We still have a Google to 365 migration to do. We’re almost done with our Slack Grid upgrade. We’ve had small hiccups here and there, but for the most part have been able to handle situations as they happen. I love my team! I feel so useful and it’s great being able to help out and learn so many things!

I’m also working on getting certified in several things for work, so hopefully I will be able to concentrate more on that this month and next. We’ve got a new Mimecast feature that a teammate and I will be rolling out org-wide soon, so I am super excited about that! In fact, I got a meeting with my one of our PMs as soon as I get back to schedule out events for it.

I’m at the airport as I’m typing this, hehe.

I gotta tell y’all right now I feel so good. I was super anxious leading up to the flight, worrying about anything and everything. And now I’ve had such a good time that I kind of don’t want to go home … ALMOST! This trip is honestly the best present I could have been given, and I’m super thankful that my boss was able to swing this and get us all together!

Let’s see, what else? The work on my house has pretty much come to a halt due to everything being so high, but I decided for now to forego the deck rebuild because it will cost an arm and leg. Since I don’t really spend a lot of time out there right now I’ve just got my feeders and will leave those out. I’m half tempted to invest in some nicer ones just because they’ll be there for a while and with nothing on the deck now, it won’t get much worse, right? We’ll see.

Oh! One of the feral cats I’ve been feeding brought me a gift a week or so back. I walked out to find a dead field mouse in front of my back door. Poor little thing. Kinda sweet though. I haven’t seen any raccoon or possum tracks in a long time, nor have I seen any rabbits. The squirrels are still aplenty, and I’m seeing so many more birds now! One weekend I was delighted to have a pair of cardinals keep returning to my back door to feed on one of my seed feeders. I’ve had chickadees, tufted titmouses (titmice?), cardinals, warblers, crows, and several others that I have not identified yet.

Love ‘em. :)

Sadly I have not seen any bats for a long time. I don’t think my bat house is getting any use, so I may look at moving it somewhere out closer to some woods. Maybe somewhere around my parents’ house because it’s more rural out their way.

So yeah, other than this trip, I’ve not really been getting out all that much. I mean, I go and run errands when needed, but I don’t go out of my way to go see people unless specifically invited to something. I had started a couple of potential hobbies, but those dropped off when work got crazy and the holidays approached. When everything’s too much, I prefer to withdraw. It’s a defense mechanism that I’m trying not to revert back to, but that’s a process, like everything.

I haven’t dated at all. I’m just kind of done with men right now. There is someone I am interested in, one of my gamer friends, but it’s long distance and he didn’t want to do that. Oh well. His loss I guess?

So anyways, that’s where I am right now. I had meant to re-post my “Thankful” post last month but honestly, I was having a hard time feeling thankful. That’s all on me, and I was not in a good headspace at the time.

Thanksgiving was … disappointing.

There’s a lot to explain, and I may do so in another post. I’m not looking forward to Christmas. I mean, I want to see my family, but I really REALLY don’t want to deal with the drama that will come along with that visit. Oh well, I will deal as best I can, and dive deep into my distractions, and try not to go crazy.

In the meantime, I’m doing better for now. Onwards and upwards as a loved one likes to say. :)

Talk to y’all again soon …