Doing a poor job of staying optimistic.

I can't say that much has happened in the three months since I last posted. Everything is pretty much the same, with the exception that I finally finished my classes at Coyne. I started my externship about a week and a half ago, and for the most part I love it! I'm at a private practice for five cardiologists and one endocrinologist, and they have me doing billing. The down side of billing is definitely the collections calls, and I know exactly what some of the people I call are going through. I'm in the same spot myself, and don't know how I'm going to pay April's rent, let alone make a credit card or cell phone payment. So I have a lot of sympathy for those people. I do enjoy following up on claims and solving problems and feeling like I accomplished something at the end of the day, so billing isn't all bad.

I will admit that I am a little disappointed with the externship in general, because my concentration is coding, and at this practice the doctors do all their own coding, so I am not getting any experience whatsoever. I feel like it's a waste of resources, because I know I'm good at it and I could probably make them a lot more money, but whatever, it's their loss. The other problem I have with it is how far away it is. It's only 13 miles, but I have to drive and it takes about 40 minutes to get there in the morning and an hour and a half to get home at night. Chicago traffic is THE WORST. It's like that every single day, too! The crappy thing is if they were able to offer me a job (which they have already said they regretfully can't) I would take it in a heartbeat because I can't even find anything to apply for here in the city.

In general I'm feeling very pessimistic about finding a job. All of the coding jobs want 3-5 years experience, and I can't find anything for billing. I really hope I don't have to go to a temp agency, because I don't think I could handle a high stress CSR job right now... I feel like I've done my time as a CSR and I shouldn't have to do it ever again, haha.

Overall I love my externship and what I do there, and I love going to work and the people I work with. Another bonus is that drug reps come to the office about 3 times a week and they always bring catered lunches for us! Usually it's just me and the rep in the break room for about half an hour while they wait for a doctor to come by for two minutes to make a sales pitch. Sometimes it's weird because the rep just sits there and watches me eat, and it can be a little uncomfortable, but I have also had some great conversations and met some really great people.

Basically that's my life, because I don't have money to go out. I miss Wine Wednesdays and going out 3 nights a week. Now I shop at Aldi and wash my clothes in the sink. On Fridays I nerd it up with Scott and Ann and watch Battlestar on my couch, but there are only 2 episodes left of the series, so I don't know what we're going to do after it ends. I haven't seen my family since January, and I miss them so freaking much. Actually, I haven't seen Jon or Lauren since Christmas! I would love to take a weekend trip and go to MI, but it seems like something is going on every weekend here, and I can't afford it right now anyway.

Blah. I think I have the winter blahs. I wish it were 80 degrees and I was packing for a week long camping trip with my family...