Strange complaining

Today was a strange day.  Honestly, today my heart was filled with complaining.

My job isn't difficult.  It's also through a temp agency, so it's not very secure.  So what have I been doing every day for the past month?  I'm a medical coder for UCLA.  What the heck is that?  I had no idea until I started.  In a nut shell, I audit hundreds of hospital bills a day.  This encompasses researching procedures, diagnosis, physicians, charges, etc etc.  Basically making sure everything is correct so that insurance companies cannot find any excuses to avoid paying the doctors and the hospital.  I haven't met anyone here who really likes their job, and everyone pretty much keeps to him or herself.  As a guy who likes entertainment, I often spice things up by pulling pranks on coworkers...such as something innocent like leaving a huge pile of rubber bands on a co-worker's keyboard. Yes, I'm that guy.

Today I began to ask myself: Why am I here?  Out of everywhere, why the heck am I here? 

The funny thing is that one month ago I was saying wooo hooo, I got a good temp job! 

So, how did I end up here?  I definitely would not have imagined myself to be a medical coder 2 years out of college.

A few of my friends know that during my junior year of college, I avoided joining an investment bank on a full-time basis and decided to dedicate myself to labor rights.  I was set on working at a regular job for 2 years, writing a book, (kinda like Barbara Ehrenreich), then heading off to law school for a career in private public interest or maybe the state department.  Then plans changed, things happened, and I went many different routes. 

So why the complaints today?  It was triggered by me reading about the lunch menu at my friend's company.  Ridiculous eh? 

Thoughts kept entering my mind about how I could go into consulting, investment management, or high tech strategy if I just reach out to the contacts I had established during my college years.  I kept thinking how much $$ I could've had, and how much I should have had I actually gone along with the offers that had come my way in the past.  Then I realized what a fool I was.

On a practical level, I am working here right now because of the long wait and process of becoming a Naval Officer.  And I don't want to have a firm invest heavily into me only to have me leave in a short amount of time.  That would be very selfish, and I wouldn't be able to go through with it (I was actually given an offer a few months ago for a well-paying career job, but declined once I heard about my final selection for Naval Officer School).  On another level, God has me where I am for a reason.  In the past 2 years I've been able to spend most evenings with my parents, witness the spiritual re-birth of my sister, build stronger relationships with close friends, obtain my taekwondo 2nd degree black belt, take the GMAT, truly evaluate whether I want to go to law school, get my motorcycle license + scuba diving certification, discover jiu-jitsu, develop healthy eating habits, learn how I like to dress haha, go through the teach for america process, consciously decide not work for an alphabet agency in my early years, build my public speaking abilities, recognize the importance of church, and greatly strengthen my relationship with God.  God has allowed me to really learn a lot about myself during this time...because I finally had the time to settle down and find out.

And it's funny how what I had wanted my junior year of college actually has happened.  I am at a place where a lot of people are not happy with their job, and I really get to understand the common fight to survive on a budget that so many people experience. 

Dang...God, thank you for training me.  Thank you for allowing me to even notice my complaining attitude today.

Life is funny. ^_^  Take the world seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously.