Wait, you thought this would be easy?!?!?

I am in the midst of a particularly nasty Comcast issue that has dragged on for weeks and weeks, and yesterday, after my mom and I drove 45 minutes (in DC rush hour traffic-apparently the worst in the US, by the way, with 3 days spent in traffic annually) each way to get to the Comcast service center very far out in Montgomery County, I got to thinking about all of the things they don't tell you about adulthood.

Overall, I have been content with my general easing in to adulthood (not that I proclaim to be there just yet), but there are certain hassles that I was certainly not anticipating. I would be interetsed to hear some other frustrations (as well as victories!) that you have experienced, should you be of the same age bracket as myself. Health insurance. A necessary evil, in my opinion, one of those things that is really useful to have should you get sick, but, let's face it, a pain in the ass otherwise. Some things I love about insurance: only having to pay a $15 copay for a doctor's visit; getting most procedures (including a recent X-ray that ruled out broken bones when I broke my ankle over the summer. Due to a hospital mixup, I received a $282 bill and nearly had a heart attack, but after a quick call to the hospital, got everything sorted out and learned that insurance will pay in full...phew!) covered, if not entirely then at a very high percentage; getting prescriptions for a very reasonable amount of money. Just the simple fact of being insured makes me feel a whole lot better about life, because, if something were to happen, I would be covered. Of course, there are some things that I hate about health insurance. In between graduating college and finding a full-time job, I was on a COBRA plan under my parents' old insurance. During that time, I had regular (and rather pricey) appointments for which I had to file a claim for partial reimbursement. I filed the claim in October, and let's just say that it took me until this past April to see that money, after many phone calls and an incredible amount of confusion over which service (Aetna or Cigna) covered the visits. Claims are not fun, I'll just put it that way. That gave me more than my fair share of headaches, so I was more than happy to close the book on that nightmare.

Another source of frustration has been the leasing office for my new apartment. It took me about a month-and-a-half to get my lease, and that was only after sending the leasing agent, who I had not actually spoken to because she does not return phone calls and is apparently never in the office, an angry email in which I chastised her for handling this unprofessionally, that I got a lease (it was in my inbox not 20 minutes later). I still have an issue that I have been following up with her on, but I'm hoping to get that resolved soon, and, compared to not having a lease to sign, it is a less pressing issue.

The Comcast fiasco has been going on for five or six weeks, and essentially involves problems with equipment that is unaccounted for (mostly because the technician was so moronic that he could not recognize Comcast equipment and because they are charging us- or, more specifically, me- for equipment that I do not believe I was ever in possession of. Needless to say, it has been a frustrating back-and-forth that has involved me calling them nearly every morning before work and wanting to bash my head into a wall because I cannot get a consistent answer from these people. I cannot wait to put this behind me and go back to being my usual cheerful self!!!

Believe it or not, there ARE some positives to being a semi-adult. Financial independence is a huge one for me, particularly considering that, throughout college, I was financially dependent on my parents. Being able to make my own money is such a fulfilling feeling (although, when you consider that much of it goes to taxes and the Metro, you can't help but cringe a little bit). Having free time on the weekends to do whatever I want, as opposed to studying, is wonderful, and is also a major reason why I am postponing going to grad school for at least a couple of years. I like having free time to spend with my friends, family and boyfriend and not feel guilty for having spent that time with them rather than doing homework. And honestly, I try to tell myself, after all of these phone calls and emails with Comcast, my insurance company and the leasing office, that this is just an indoctrination into the world of adults, and that I'm learning life skills in the process.