Taxed

One of the big headlines of today is the announcement from the IRS that transition related surgeries are now tax deductible. Yay! I'm also glad that Rhiannon's battle has finally come to a close. Her fight has cleared the way for so many of us to officially get a tax break on some of the financial burden of transition.

Speaking of taxes, now that my W-2's have come in and I've plugged them into TurboTax, it says I owe both the government and the state of California quite a bit of money. Not so yay!!! Of course, I knew this was going to happen. Most of this is due to the large severance payment I received when I was laid off last year, having to cash out my stock options since I no longer worked for the company, and the 3 months I claimed unemployment checks but had no taxes taken out of them. I'm going to owe a few thousand dollars in total...but most surprising is that I owe more to California than the federal government...go figure.

The new job has been going well, although the commute kinda sucks. I've been through almost all of the training and have been working my way into the ranks of actually doing something. Now that my current 3 month lease is coming to a close (I signed a 3 month lease since I was unsure of the job situation 3 months ago), I've found a new place to move into that is closer to work. It also means I'm leaving behind the area I have called home for the past 8 years. I'm going to miss this part of the Bay Area. Sure, I'm going to relish the 2 hours per day of my life that I will be getting get back by not having a long ass commute, but I will still miss my familiar scenary.

I am only considering the area I am moving to as a temporary stay until I can hopefully find a place to buy. Yes, buy. It's hella expensive here, but I need to finally look at buying a place considering the low interest rates and the fact that I'm not getting any younger. With a 30 year mortgage, I wouldn't finish paying it off until I am 70 years old. Sheesh...I'm getting old. The hard part is figuring out how to keep myself marketable for the next 30 years and hold on to a decent job.