It Is My Birthday: Financial vs. Physical Health

Probably my favorite birthday episode of The Office is the "Lecture Circuit" episode (S5:E16) where Dwight and Jim have to throw together a belated party for Kelly without the help of the Party Planning Committee.

Jim: Why have you chosen brown and grey balloons?
Dwight: They match the carpet.
Jim: What is that? It is your birthday... period.
Dwight: Just stating a fact.
Jim: Not even an exclamation point?
Dwight: This is more professional. It's not like she discovered a cure for cancer!
Jim: I can't believe how bad this looks.

Although Kelly is slightly horrified at what they come up with, I would tend to agree with Dwight. I'm not big on making a big deal of my birthday, and have been plotting which probably-fake-but-still-semi-plausible age to give if anyone at work somehow found out it was my birthday... and then asked how old I was (I know, it sounds a little silly once I see it spelled out... Renata and I came up with 38, if you're wondering).

I won't get to see anyone's reaction today, however, because I am currently sitting at home sick.

On Nursing a Cold
As I was driving home from work last Thursday night, I could feel my sinuses swelling, and by the time I got home I was all stuffed up. I had a mug of Theraflu before bed, but the congestion seemed to be worse in the morning, so I stayed home Friday. I took it easy over the weekend, and Monday morning I figured I was OK to go to work.

I was apparently not as well as I thought I was when I woke up that morning. My producer insisted that I seemed to be getting worse as the day went on, and in the afternoon finally asked me to go back home to rest.

This morning when I woke up, I felt much better, but still a little stuffy/coughy. So I figured it would be in my best interest to stay home for good measure. This way I could simultaneously fight off any remaining virus while avoiding all birthday-related stress.

On Being Self-Employed
Unfortunately, my illness wasn't the only thing weighing on my decision to go to work vs. staying home. Being a contracted worker means that I don't have any paid holidays, vacation days or, you guessed it, sick days. So any time I am not at work, I am not getting paid.

Also unfortunately, the office was closed the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. A great excuse to go home, but a full week without pay.

And also also unfortunately, I get bored and antsy when I have nothing to do at work, and things have been rather slow lately. Being a contractor, I can essentially make my own hours, assuming I am not flaking out on any actual work. To make a long story short, I haven't worked a full 40-hour week since I came back from vacation, including leaving early last Tuesday.

The Cherry On Top
So after a forced week off, several under-paid weeks by choice, and now 18 additional hours without pay due to illness, here comes the clincher:

Today is tax day!

After not working enough during first half of the year for my income to matter, I ignored the third quarter filing date in September. I crunched a few numbers last month and discovered I would owe enough on my self-employment income that I would likely have to pay a penalty.

Luckily I revisited my documents over the weekend and discovered:
1. I had somehow miscalculated several sources of income, and would actually owe much more than I had originally estimated, and
2. I could avoid paying a penalty if I did one of two things:

• Send my fourth quarter payment postmarked by January 17, 2012
• File and pay my taxes in full by January 31, 2012

And so, at the risk of being nominated for What Not to Wear, I drove to the post office in my sick clothes this morning to mail a big fat check to the IRS.

I tried to be generous anywhere I needed to guess, so hopefully I will be getting some of my money back as a refund. Even so, this was not the best time to have to shell out a bunch of extra cash. Or to take a bunch of time off of work.

Chicken. Egg. Catch-22. Etc. 

In Conclusion
Weighing the pros and cons of finances vs. health vs. whatever, is more complicated than it seems like it should be. Doing your own taxes is rewarding but can get frustrating. And sometimes usually your birthday is just another day on the calendar.

And to be fair, I think this is still better than the year my hair caught on fire while I was blowing out my candles.