Thoughts for Today 2/16/2024

Posted on 02/16/2024 by chick
  • For the last three weeks or so I have been slaving away at work, not because of any demand from my employer, but for my own purposes. My goal is to free up time so that I can do some other work for them that I want to do. Yes, I literally want to do more work than they pay me for! My plan is to do this work at my leisure, though. No rush. Just fun days of doing work that I enjoy. Funny thing is, I have to be a little tricky about it, because if they ever thought I could work that fast, they’d give me less time, which wouldn’t be fair to me (I had to work unusually hard to get to this point; it’s not a pace I could keep up forever). I know all of this probably sounds bizarre. It is bizarre. Such is my life.
  • When I’m highly motivated at work, it tends to rub off on my personal life. Today, after a long workday that began at 6:45 a.m., I did a slew of tasks around the house, which included dealing with some medical bills. Remember that visit to the doctor to fix my knee? When the bill arrived, it was nearly $3,000!!! Apparently, though I was told that I was just “visiting the doctor’s other location,” that location was a hospital, therefore I was billed as if it were an emergency room visit. Talk about a bait-and-switch! So, I called the billing department. The person that I spoke to was very nice, but she resisted all attempts to let me speak to anyone else or to negotiate until I implied that I might not pay the bill, at which point she suddenly realized that maybe, just maybe, there was a case to be made under the No Surprises Act. She told me that my bill was going back for review, and that someone would call me later, giving me a chance to make my case. Since then, I’ve looked at the No Surprises Act (an awesome thing–thanks to Biden/Harris–though I don’t think it goes far enough), and if I understood it correctly, my case does not apply. But, I called up the No Surprises Act people, and according to them I am entitled to file a claim if I think I’ve been unfairly billed, whether or not my case seems to apply. All of this is good to know. However it turns out, I think I did good work on this today. If there’s anything past history has taught me, it’s that you don’t take unfair bills lying down. You fight them. You may not always win, but you win often enough to make it worth your while.
  • My music composition teacher called me today. He wanted to ask if I had forgotten to pay him. As a matter of fact, I had, which I knew, and which I had intended to rectify at my next lesson. While he had me on the phone, he said, “Do you still feel like you’re struggling? Talk to me.” (OMG, I do so feel like I’m struggling!) I put on a brave face. I’m practically British, you know, when it comes to that kind of thing–stiff upper lip, and all that. But I acknowledge to myself that I’m struggling. What is most difficult, I have come to realize, is being 51 and being bad at something. Most people, by the time they get to my age, know what they’re good and not good at. They stick to the things they’re good at. They don’t mess with the things they’re bad at. Kids, on the other hand, are used to sucking at things. It comes easier to them. I guess that if I’m going to continue my attempts to compose music, I’m going to have to regenerate my patience for failure. If I could do that, it would be useful not just for music composition, but for other things as well, so I’ll keep trying….
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One Response to Thoughts for Today 2/16/2024

  1. Pingback: 2/28/2024 | Blue-Footed Musings

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