Leap Year!
So we get an extra day this year, and it went pretty well for me. I had my interview with the woman from the BOND program, a program for people on SSDI to keep more of their benefits. I woke up earlier since the woman kept calling. Her previous appointment had canceled, so she was early. I got there about an hour early. I walked partially to the meeting spot, a local Burger King, but then I was feeling so exhausted that I took the bus the rest of the way. I was hot and in nicer clothes than I normally work out in, since it was kinda an interview. I didn't wear a suit, but I wore nice pants and a nice shirt. I made sure that they were comfortable to walk in, of course, but still it's not workout gear. I was hot and sweaty when I got there because it was raining right before I went out, and then the sun came out full force so it was hot and muggy.
The interview went well... I was accepted into the program and I will hear in a couple of days which of the research groups I was put into. There are 3 categories- Control group, regular BOND and Enhanced BOND. Control group you just get your regular SSDI benefits and the only thing that changes is that you get a longer time when you can receive your benefits. BOND is where you can receive more of your check for 5 years, and Enhanced BOND is with a counselor to help you find work and such. I don't want to be in the control group, of course, but they need people for that so I will accept it if I'm chosen for it. I at least get a longer time of having my benefits allowed, even if I don't get the extra money that BOND gives me. How it works is that for every dollar over $1,010 a month I make I get half of it reduced. So if I earned $1,020 a month, I would get my $1,020 plus my full benefit minus $5 (half of the $10 I made over the amount), up until I don't get any more benefits. This continues for 5 years. You could see why I would want to get that instead of just getting my benefits cut off. It seems like a great program to me.
Other than that, my day went pretty well... I spent most of the day in bed again, trying to sleep. I came home tired but wired. I might be a tad hypomanic. I'm still not tired and it's after 9pm here and normally I'm rushing my journal to get to sleep. Today I'm just writing regular. Maybe I did take a nap during the day when I was trying to sleep and I feel better, but there's no way to know. When I nap, they are sneaky and I don't know if I napped or not. I have to have someone watching me to know. For a while I didn't even think I napped at all, till I had a roommate tell me I did nap for a short period of time, she could tell by my breathing. So then I noticed that sometimes that small times disappeared on me, like 20 minutes flew by without me knowing.
Mood today was actually good... besides me eating too much at Burger King and being tired from the walk, I felt pretty good today. I talked to Zee for a while online, which was nice. I don't get to chat much with people, and it was nice to actually converse with someone online. I miss the days when I could have a chat with 4 people at once... people I knew were online and I had a chat room to go to. Those were the days. Now I don't know of any active chat room that I would go to and my friends that I used to have all the time in the world to talk to have their own lives, and I have mine. Friends come and go, I find, and especially online they come and go faster. I'm lucky to have friends with the position I'm in, being stuck for the most part in bed at home. I'm not like my friend Andrea, who is literally stuck in bed at home, but I don't get out much, especially since I don't have a car.
Food today was okay... I was over my calories, but not by much. Not bad considering I had a whole Whopper for lunch. I should have gotten the Whopper Jr. but I got the big one and boy was I full! I had a small fries to go with that, and that was too much for me. I felt sick afterward, but managed to catch a bus right in front of the Burger King and went home and lay down. That was the worst I felt all day. I had to walk home on a super full stomach. I did get home and found out my new phone had come in the mail, which made me happy. I'm transferring over my music to it so I can listen to music on my phone. It has a keyboard, so when all my acrylic nails fall off, I will be able to text and all that with ease. So I hope. I can't wait for my nails to come off any more... I would take them off if I could. But that hurts, so I have to wait for them to want to come off.
The interview went well... I was accepted into the program and I will hear in a couple of days which of the research groups I was put into. There are 3 categories- Control group, regular BOND and Enhanced BOND. Control group you just get your regular SSDI benefits and the only thing that changes is that you get a longer time when you can receive your benefits. BOND is where you can receive more of your check for 5 years, and Enhanced BOND is with a counselor to help you find work and such. I don't want to be in the control group, of course, but they need people for that so I will accept it if I'm chosen for it. I at least get a longer time of having my benefits allowed, even if I don't get the extra money that BOND gives me. How it works is that for every dollar over $1,010 a month I make I get half of it reduced. So if I earned $1,020 a month, I would get my $1,020 plus my full benefit minus $5 (half of the $10 I made over the amount), up until I don't get any more benefits. This continues for 5 years. You could see why I would want to get that instead of just getting my benefits cut off. It seems like a great program to me.
Other than that, my day went pretty well... I spent most of the day in bed again, trying to sleep. I came home tired but wired. I might be a tad hypomanic. I'm still not tired and it's after 9pm here and normally I'm rushing my journal to get to sleep. Today I'm just writing regular. Maybe I did take a nap during the day when I was trying to sleep and I feel better, but there's no way to know. When I nap, they are sneaky and I don't know if I napped or not. I have to have someone watching me to know. For a while I didn't even think I napped at all, till I had a roommate tell me I did nap for a short period of time, she could tell by my breathing. So then I noticed that sometimes that small times disappeared on me, like 20 minutes flew by without me knowing.
Mood today was actually good... besides me eating too much at Burger King and being tired from the walk, I felt pretty good today. I talked to Zee for a while online, which was nice. I don't get to chat much with people, and it was nice to actually converse with someone online. I miss the days when I could have a chat with 4 people at once... people I knew were online and I had a chat room to go to. Those were the days. Now I don't know of any active chat room that I would go to and my friends that I used to have all the time in the world to talk to have their own lives, and I have mine. Friends come and go, I find, and especially online they come and go faster. I'm lucky to have friends with the position I'm in, being stuck for the most part in bed at home. I'm not like my friend Andrea, who is literally stuck in bed at home, but I don't get out much, especially since I don't have a car.
Food today was okay... I was over my calories, but not by much. Not bad considering I had a whole Whopper for lunch. I should have gotten the Whopper Jr. but I got the big one and boy was I full! I had a small fries to go with that, and that was too much for me. I felt sick afterward, but managed to catch a bus right in front of the Burger King and went home and lay down. That was the worst I felt all day. I had to walk home on a super full stomach. I did get home and found out my new phone had come in the mail, which made me happy. I'm transferring over my music to it so I can listen to music on my phone. It has a keyboard, so when all my acrylic nails fall off, I will be able to text and all that with ease. So I hope. I can't wait for my nails to come off any more... I would take them off if I could. But that hurts, so I have to wait for them to want to come off.
Replies
i must of missed something. i dont remeber any bond thing and i must admit i am confused about what you were explaining. were you saying you could earn 1020 and still get your benefits through bond? sorry, my mind isnt working right now. good thing you didnt have to walk after the big lunch in the heat, lucky the bus was right there, it could of made you sick. your phone sounds cool, i just have a regular phone.
The BOND thing is a program through Social Security to help people on disability keep more of their benefits. If you want more info, I can send you a PM or something. It\'s just a good thing in general for me, no matter what group I get put into.