Oops
So...I just checked to see the last time I posted and aside from the newsletter, it was August of 2014. I thought for sure I had made at least one post. LOL
I'll try and remember some of the high points of the year and go from there.
NYE of this past year, mustangcandi graciously drove here directly after a trip to WV and drove me to my oral surgeon. It was my first time being under anesthesia for any reason and my professors had been sending me videos of people and the crazy things they did so I was like, "Oh lord. I'll probably tell everyone I love them." HAHAHAH Turns out, I didn't really do or say anything funny but the surgery went well and I appreciated the bestie being here to look out for me.
Most of the year was normal, just working, going to the orthodontist, etc. I crafted quite a bit and started teaching myself knitting (which is tricky when you're left-handed). I took a position on the staff council at work and helped a friend start a nonprofit. Moina Michael Poppy Project, if you are curious.
Went to NC to spend her birthday with the bestie and made her watch the Terminator movies. HAHAHA My poor bestie. I have made her watch so many things over the years.
For MY birthday -- Best. Present. Evar. Candi took me to see ED SHEERAN. I'll be honest folks, I'm still not over it. I'm still just as excited and pumped up as I was right after the show. I have been to a LOT of shows over the years and live music is like a religious experience for me. If you've never seen him live -- you need to. It's life-changing.
At one point, I had applied for a position in NC. While this would have been an amazing opportunity for me, and one I couldn't pass up applying for, I also struggled a bit because well -- that's a big change for a lot of reasons. I fretted and fretted -- all for naught, as usual. Needless to say, I didn't get the position but I figured everything for a reason. I would feel more likely to move once I was finished with my braces.
So, I settled back into my current job and was content for the most part. Then, out of the blue, the Dean of the law school approached me and told me they had created a position with me in mind and he hoped I would apply for it. Once again...here I go fretting. I cried for three weeks about leaving the professors I worked for but I applied, interviewed and got the position. All of my "cubs" were happy for me and I was happy that I was able to get a friend at the law school to take over my position, which was also a promotion for her.
Life in the new job was a bit jarring. I had spent the last five years not only doing my job and doing it well, but also helping others when they needed it. In this position I was told I was not to give out my work extension so people couldn't find me to ask me for help. I was told, even if the Dean asked me for something I had to ask my supervisor before I could help them. I was not really ok with this but I went along with it and dove in to my new responsibilities. I can honestly say that I didn't mind the work at all and I picked it up really quickly. However, I soon found that the work I was doing was NOT what the Dean had told me I would be doing and was NOT what I thought I was going to be doing. One of the pros of taking the job was that I was supposed to be working with donors and I thought I could use my new skills to help out the nonprofit I started.
It turns out, I was basically just doing things my supervisor didn't want to do (which was her entire job, really) and every time I turned around there were more meetings. I started jotting down all of my meetings on my weekly update of the things I had done that week and was told not to put them on. In my eyes, I wanted to show them that I could have been super productive if I had a chance to, oh I don't know, actually be at my desk. LOL
Needless to say, even though I thought I was hiding it well, I was working my best to stick it out and find the positives about my new role. Then people started telling me they could see it on my face that I was miserable and that was like a punch in the gut. I pride myself on being the upbeat, cheerleader type and here I was needing a cheerleader. LOL Which, I know, that's not a bad place to me but it made me reflect a bit and I could see that I had truly been unhappy for the past four months.
I know this doesn't seem like a big deal -- a lot of people are unhappy at work, etc. But for me, it gnawed at me. Once again I started looking for other jobs and I felt like all I was doing was complaining. I never had nice things to talk about anymore and to top it off my upstairs neighbor was driving me batty and keeping me up.
No worries, the clouds parted and word came to me that one of the assistants in the Dean's office was retiring. IMMEDIATELY when the job was posted, I applied. I interviewed, and on Thanksgiving was told I would be offered the position. WOOHOO!!!! All that to say, though there was the fretting of abandoning my current officemates, I have felt a cloud has been lifted. I started on December 16, training with the woman who was retiring for as much as I could before she left. Her last day was noon on the 23rd and so that afternoon and the next morning I got my desk all set up and did a few things for the Dean on the 24th.
In my new position, I am the assistant to the Associate Dean, so not the main Dean but she's amazing. We go to knit night together and have worked together a bit in the past so I'm really looking forward to this new challenge. I'll be doing a lot of stuff that I didn't do in my former assistant position but it's all stuff I find really interesting. Already I've finished the exam schedule for Spring 2016 and scheduled all of the rooms so that was fun. : )
In other news, I challenged myself to read 10 books this year and so far I'm at 27. I think it's important for me to MAKE the time to read and so I've been doing that and surprisingly, I stuck to it all year. LOL I find myself reading a lot of young adult books: Mortal Instruments, Hunger Games, Mazerunner, I am Number Four, 5th Wave, etc. but I recently read Fault in our Stars (and yes I cried like a baby). If you have any good books recs, I would LOVE to hear them. I'm gearing up for what I'm going to lose myself in this next year. : ) Thanks in advance!
Also in the coming year, I am going to focus a bit more on my health. I know we all say this every year but the fact is, I'm only getting older and my family has a lot of health issues so my genetics are already working against me. I'm finally excited about it so that's a good thing! I'm thinking of either starting a separate journal for this or posting progress, etc here. I haven't decided yet. I'll keep you posted.
In April -- I AM MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is that? Yes, you are right...I. Hate. Moving. However, in the voice of Beorn, I hate living here more. LOL I am literally ON campus and surrounded by students and to be candid, I'm too old for this shit. I just want quiet time and respectful neighbors. So, in April I'm moving across town to a more quiet neighborhood, a bigger apartment where I'll have an office again (YAY), a kitchen I can actually cook in and wait for it...a washer and dryer so I don't have to go to the laundromat anymore!!! I'll also be really close to a Kroger over there and I'm just feeling really good about it. I'll be in an upstairs apartment which sometimes I feel might be a pain but also, it will be good for me to have to go up and down those stairs. : )
So I think that's a pretty good recap of my year and I hope I haven't bored you to tears. I am going to try and see about posting more frequently in the coming year so I'm not making posts like this that span the entire year. LOL
I'm super grateful for all of you who are still here, reading my ramblings and I hope you are all happy and well!
I'll try and remember some of the high points of the year and go from there.
NYE of this past year, mustangcandi graciously drove here directly after a trip to WV and drove me to my oral surgeon. It was my first time being under anesthesia for any reason and my professors had been sending me videos of people and the crazy things they did so I was like, "Oh lord. I'll probably tell everyone I love them." HAHAHAH Turns out, I didn't really do or say anything funny but the surgery went well and I appreciated the bestie being here to look out for me.
Most of the year was normal, just working, going to the orthodontist, etc. I crafted quite a bit and started teaching myself knitting (which is tricky when you're left-handed). I took a position on the staff council at work and helped a friend start a nonprofit. Moina Michael Poppy Project, if you are curious.
Went to NC to spend her birthday with the bestie and made her watch the Terminator movies. HAHAHA My poor bestie. I have made her watch so many things over the years.
For MY birthday -- Best. Present. Evar. Candi took me to see ED SHEERAN. I'll be honest folks, I'm still not over it. I'm still just as excited and pumped up as I was right after the show. I have been to a LOT of shows over the years and live music is like a religious experience for me. If you've never seen him live -- you need to. It's life-changing.
At one point, I had applied for a position in NC. While this would have been an amazing opportunity for me, and one I couldn't pass up applying for, I also struggled a bit because well -- that's a big change for a lot of reasons. I fretted and fretted -- all for naught, as usual. Needless to say, I didn't get the position but I figured everything for a reason. I would feel more likely to move once I was finished with my braces.
So, I settled back into my current job and was content for the most part. Then, out of the blue, the Dean of the law school approached me and told me they had created a position with me in mind and he hoped I would apply for it. Once again...here I go fretting. I cried for three weeks about leaving the professors I worked for but I applied, interviewed and got the position. All of my "cubs" were happy for me and I was happy that I was able to get a friend at the law school to take over my position, which was also a promotion for her.
Life in the new job was a bit jarring. I had spent the last five years not only doing my job and doing it well, but also helping others when they needed it. In this position I was told I was not to give out my work extension so people couldn't find me to ask me for help. I was told, even if the Dean asked me for something I had to ask my supervisor before I could help them. I was not really ok with this but I went along with it and dove in to my new responsibilities. I can honestly say that I didn't mind the work at all and I picked it up really quickly. However, I soon found that the work I was doing was NOT what the Dean had told me I would be doing and was NOT what I thought I was going to be doing. One of the pros of taking the job was that I was supposed to be working with donors and I thought I could use my new skills to help out the nonprofit I started.
It turns out, I was basically just doing things my supervisor didn't want to do (which was her entire job, really) and every time I turned around there were more meetings. I started jotting down all of my meetings on my weekly update of the things I had done that week and was told not to put them on. In my eyes, I wanted to show them that I could have been super productive if I had a chance to, oh I don't know, actually be at my desk. LOL
Needless to say, even though I thought I was hiding it well, I was working my best to stick it out and find the positives about my new role. Then people started telling me they could see it on my face that I was miserable and that was like a punch in the gut. I pride myself on being the upbeat, cheerleader type and here I was needing a cheerleader. LOL Which, I know, that's not a bad place to me but it made me reflect a bit and I could see that I had truly been unhappy for the past four months.
I know this doesn't seem like a big deal -- a lot of people are unhappy at work, etc. But for me, it gnawed at me. Once again I started looking for other jobs and I felt like all I was doing was complaining. I never had nice things to talk about anymore and to top it off my upstairs neighbor was driving me batty and keeping me up.
No worries, the clouds parted and word came to me that one of the assistants in the Dean's office was retiring. IMMEDIATELY when the job was posted, I applied. I interviewed, and on Thanksgiving was told I would be offered the position. WOOHOO!!!! All that to say, though there was the fretting of abandoning my current officemates, I have felt a cloud has been lifted. I started on December 16, training with the woman who was retiring for as much as I could before she left. Her last day was noon on the 23rd and so that afternoon and the next morning I got my desk all set up and did a few things for the Dean on the 24th.
In my new position, I am the assistant to the Associate Dean, so not the main Dean but she's amazing. We go to knit night together and have worked together a bit in the past so I'm really looking forward to this new challenge. I'll be doing a lot of stuff that I didn't do in my former assistant position but it's all stuff I find really interesting. Already I've finished the exam schedule for Spring 2016 and scheduled all of the rooms so that was fun. : )
In other news, I challenged myself to read 10 books this year and so far I'm at 27. I think it's important for me to MAKE the time to read and so I've been doing that and surprisingly, I stuck to it all year. LOL I find myself reading a lot of young adult books: Mortal Instruments, Hunger Games, Mazerunner, I am Number Four, 5th Wave, etc. but I recently read Fault in our Stars (and yes I cried like a baby). If you have any good books recs, I would LOVE to hear them. I'm gearing up for what I'm going to lose myself in this next year. : ) Thanks in advance!
Also in the coming year, I am going to focus a bit more on my health. I know we all say this every year but the fact is, I'm only getting older and my family has a lot of health issues so my genetics are already working against me. I'm finally excited about it so that's a good thing! I'm thinking of either starting a separate journal for this or posting progress, etc here. I haven't decided yet. I'll keep you posted.
In April -- I AM MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is that? Yes, you are right...I. Hate. Moving. However, in the voice of Beorn, I hate living here more. LOL I am literally ON campus and surrounded by students and to be candid, I'm too old for this shit. I just want quiet time and respectful neighbors. So, in April I'm moving across town to a more quiet neighborhood, a bigger apartment where I'll have an office again (YAY), a kitchen I can actually cook in and wait for it...a washer and dryer so I don't have to go to the laundromat anymore!!! I'll also be really close to a Kroger over there and I'm just feeling really good about it. I'll be in an upstairs apartment which sometimes I feel might be a pain but also, it will be good for me to have to go up and down those stairs. : )
So I think that's a pretty good recap of my year and I hope I haven't bored you to tears. I am going to try and see about posting more frequently in the coming year so I'm not making posts like this that span the entire year. LOL
I'm super grateful for all of you who are still here, reading my ramblings and I hope you are all happy and well!