[Super Duper Fantastic] ISFP/INFP. 4w5. World Explorer. Super Hero. Rose-colored Glasses.

We finally had “the talk” at work yesterday. As of the beginning of the next month, I will become a permanent employee!

It is very exciting for me, considering how long I have been waiting. The 3-month trial period turned into 11 months due to jaw surgery and other schedule conflicts, such as various people being out of town.

It’s interesting how on the surface, nothing has changed. I will have the same title, same pay, and continue what I’ve been doing.

However, benefits make all the difference in the world, and thankfully, the company has awesome benefits! Some of them don’t kick in until another 90 days have passed, but I’m not going to complain too much.

I am very excited about saving $150/month [$400+ when not subsidized] on health coverage and actually being paid when I take time off. As a temp, I minimized the time I would take off because any time I wasn’t working, I wasn’t being paid! Talk about annoying when I would have random oral surgeon and orthodontist appointments…

Hooray for stability and 23 PTO days [thankfully, not a downgrade from my previous job]!

On this day last year, I was officially free of my previous job. I still look back on the other company fondly [not that fondly], but I know that it was the right time to look in a different direction. My priorities were evolving as my life and the people around me were changing. I jumped at the interview opportunities that I could get my grubby little hands on [some months were more fruitful than others], but nothing came around until almost six months later.

Now I’m all settling into the job and the house. Everything is falling into place, except the paperwork. My Freedom Filer arrived yesterday, so I will be spending some time setting that up this weekend. RV is out of town, and since I am more inclined to stay indoors when he’s not around, I can probably make it as productive as possible. I have some knitting to catch up on too. I started a scarf for the sister, and I’m not even halfway done. It’s been WEEKS! Aside from that, the inspector is scheduled for next week, so please cross your fingers that everything’s cleared up, and I can move on with my life!

I’m feeling inspired to bring people together. I’m so excited to finally have a place for that. Dinner parties. Cooking parties. Game nights. Movie nights. I just hope people are willing to travel a little ways since we are not centrally located. Plus, there’s also trying to figure out who would even want to come over.

Side note: We just realized that the three Safeways closest to us are open 24 hours. How did I not know this before?! It’s a little overwhelming as it means late night shopping is definitely possible. Three-fold!

I’m not feeling so miserable with my face wired. It’s just annoying not being able to have any real food. I went back to work, and it’s been a balance of figuring out where I’ve left off and how I’m going to eat enough meals during the day while remaining productive. Everyone’s super supportive there. Since it’s been raining like the end of the world, RV’s been shuttling me to work because he has the car more suited for this weather. He’s not a morning person, and so the folks at work have said that I can come in a little later, so that he and I both have enough rest. How nice of them! I mean, yeah, I’m being paid by the hour, so every hour not worked is an hour not paid, but they’re so accommodating! If I have to leave early because I’m exhausted, I can do that too. So far, I haven’t felt too tired to leave before the eight hours are up!

Over the summer and through unemployment, my life cluttered up. I filled my days and nights with activity. There was always something to do and somewhere to be. Now that I am back in the workforce, I am feeling the need to declutter. It doesn’t help that I’m stimulating the economy with the recent boost in income [new bedding, printer, jewelry...], so suddenly my room is full of boxes and things to be sorted.

The job is going well, and I am quite happy with the situation. Sure, the office is small. I don’t interact with many on a daily basis in the office, but it’s still a learning environment for me. I’m not stagnant yet. After my eight-hour day [WOO!], I can do other things too. I’m absolutely loving it so far, which is a relief for me to hear myself say. I won’t be itching to find the next thing just yet.

A clean and organized life will be appreciated when I have to spend most of my day locked up. Surgery was rescheduled for November. A date became available, so the hospital called me up. Fortunately, my mom has some time off, so she’s going to be making sure I am fed while wired shut. RV will also be around to answer my beck and call! I am planning to keep the social aspects down to a minimum while I heal up. Sad, but I am sure the friends will understand…

So yes, I’m trying to slow the pace down and clean up a bit. I want to be able to sit back and enjoy everything.

I seem to have disappeared off the face of the blog. It’s been less than a month, but if I don’t update for a few weeks, I start to feel like I’m forgetting to document everything that’s going on… not that it all has to be documented, but anyway!

The biggest thing is that I have a job! I started on Wednesday of this week, and so far it’s going well. I’m very happy with everything, and at the end of the three month trial period, hopefully I will be converted to a full-time employee. I technically work full-time now, but I’m under the recruiting firm’s payroll, rather than the actual company. They want to see how it works out before committing. The interview process was such an arduous one [I met with them five times!], and their search was essentially to fill the role in the long-term. I guess their last person wasn’t so great, so they’re taking a safer route now.

Before starting work, I spent a week in DC on the #AYCJ pass. I stayed with a friend [Matt] in his corporate housing and spent the days wandering around DC, Arlington, and Alexandria. I was basically all over the place, but I would’ve explored more if I wasn’t there by myself. There are a lot of areas that people advise you not visit, so I would stick to the areas that I was certain about. For the other places, I’ll have to wait for RV to accompany me to DC! Promise I’ll be updating with photos and lists of the places visited soon. They’re just sitting on my camera…

On the Metal Mouth front, I went to the orthodontist for the last time before the surgery! They put the hooks in, so basically when surgery is over, the oral surgeon can just wire me shut on those… I am so not excited about this. My pre-op is coming up next week!

An update on the 101 in 1001:

026 – Pass the CPA exam.
I’m not done yet, but I am one step closer! Checked the results of the last exam I took, and it appears that the advisory score is PASSING. *happy dance* So close, yet so far away. The last exam is the one I’ve been struggling with for some time. I’ve got videos to watch online to help with the studying, but basically I will have to do problems and review concepts over and over… I will settle for just PASSING the exam. I don’t need perfect scores!

028 – Redirect the career path. Find a new job.
Having been laid off, I’m on my way to redirecting the career path. I have been interviewing lately [waiting to hear from them they found someone else :(] and have a few others lined up as well [phone ones and in-person ones]. It’s interesting because all of the positions are related in that my previous position provided the background to do those jobs, but they are all in different industries with very different companies. Most are smaller than the last company because I’d rather move away from being a statistic at a large firm, lost in the numbers.

I really do hope that I find something before unemployment actually kicks in. But just in case, I’ve bought a bunch of stamps from Costco. They’re cheaper there – $0.44 stamps for $0.4375! Only thing is, I had to buy 100 at a time. At least they last forever?

Not having a job is getting tiresome already. I know that I can pick up and go somewhere, but at the same time, there are random things here to take care of. It’s frustrating to be overqualified for some positions and not qualified enough for others. It also does not seem to be a good time to seek a completely new line of work because there are those who are experienced in those fields already who are looking to fill those positions. Why would a company want someone inexperienced over someone dedicating their college studies to that field?

On a side note, I’m working again on my 101 in 1001. I showed up at Bar Method [#17 on the list] earlier this week for a workout. Yikes! My body was soo sore afterwards. I only went once this week, but the plan is to finish up the courses now that I can. My body will be mad at me at the beginning, but I’m sure very appreciative at the end.

In an attempt to sew something [#34 on the list], I signed myself up for a sewing class. It’s going to be tomorrow afternoon! I’ll learn the basics of the sewing machine, so that’ll get me started. I’m a bit inspired to create something cute, but we’ll see if I can even get the machine going first. What I have in mind would require that I learn to work with various types of fabrics, so we’ll see how this goes!

It’s been so beautiful lately.

From Rob Brezny for the week of April 23, 2009:
“Being understood is not the most essential thing in life,” said actress Jodie Foster. While that may be true for her, I bet you won’t turn it down if a flood of appreciation and acknowledgment comes your way in the next few weeks. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you now have the potential to be better understood than maybe you’ve been in a long time. I suggest you take maximum advantage of this good fortune. Make it easy for people to see you for who you really are.

I interviewed for two jobs via a recruiter in the past few weeks. They were scheduled before the lay-off. I guess I had really good timing in terms of getting in touch with them, except I didn’t get offers for either. One, I didn’t appear interested in their company. Two, I was a bit more qualified than they were looking for. Someone else interviewing with one year less caught their eye. Oh well. It’s good practice, and with each interview, it seems that I am getting feedback to work on. I’m also figuring out what I’m looking for and how I want to present myself, at least in a way that truly reflects the matching of my needs and the companies’ needs. While the thought of interviewing still makes me nervous, the actual experience itself hasn’t been so bad, so I’m not dreading it when it happens again next.

The economy is tough though.

Despite no longer having a job, I am not freaking out about it. I think I must have mentally prepared myself over the last month or so, considering the state of the economy and what I knew of firm economics. While slightly sad, I was not surprised. It’s sad because over the last five years, that’s all I did. That’s all I know! To have to throw myself back on the market is strange. It’s like being in a long-term relationship and with the new single status, you’re not sure what to do with yourself.

I’m very fortunate to have worked for a company of such great people though. As soon as I let the news spread that it was my last day, people sent emails of well wishes, as well as job opportunities! At times, it seemed like a lonely place to work because of the nature of each engagement. I was on small teams and spent very little time in the office. It felt like I didn’t know anyone, but now I see that it just gave opportunity to meet more people.

Anyway, I’m moving forward. I’ve not yet decided what my exact plans are, but for now, they involve a few interviews. I know that I could easily take time off to study and travel somewhere new and exciting, but I’d like to at least put my frame of mind back into that mode. At first I might not find what I want, but I’ll not know till I try, right?

Yeah, I’m an optimist.

PS – I’ve told the parents. They didn’t act very surprised or were they very upset. I think I mentally prepared them well in advance.

I can’t sleep very well. Part of it is due to the alcohol consumed last night, but another part is due to what this day has to bring. I think it may be my last day at my job of the last five years. It’s going to be sad, but at the same time, I’ve been expecting. I received an e-mail from HR yesterday afternoon for a “mandatory meeting.” That’s pretty much how I’ve heard that it goes down.

I wonder what’s next! I’ll definitely wrap up on the CPA exams. There’s no better time than now to get all the certification stuff out of the way.

This will definitely put a cramp on the surgery that’s supposed to take place later this year though…