Life is good
Things are going pretty well right now. In fact, I would say that the only aspect of my life that isn't absolutely perfect is my professional career and that isn't in a terrible place right now either. Here's a quick recap of the last couple of months-
I never ended up taking the job with the Stats department and instead elected to stay in my boring, dead-end position at Advancement. It was a tough choice but once I was seriously considering the Stats position I got an offer to move to full-time and receive a raise if I didn't leave. In addition, I was told that a new full-time, permanent position would be available soon and that I would be encouraged to apply for it. I did in fact apply and got the job (and the max possible starting salary for the position) so I'm pretty happy about my decision. While I'd still consider myself underpaid for someone with a Master's degree, I now have long-term stability, excellent benefits, and better opportunities for advancement. Additionally, I can take a free class at the university every semester so I can perhaps develop my language skills and therefore bolster my resume. All in all, this is very good.
It does not change the fact that I don't want to work there forever. It does not change the fact that I am still not positioned in a career track that is not related to my Master's degree. Nonetheless, I am out of the job-hunting wilderness and I don't have to worry about taking a month off without pay. And that is the facet of my life that is in the least positive place right now.
I'm currently loving my apartment. There really is no better feeling than coming home from work and knowing that I won't have to deal with roommates making noise or talking about how much they love Herman Cain. I have my chair and my cat and my computer and my weight bench and my bed and my food. I can have people over if I want or I can retreat into the solitude of my own space. Sometimes it's the simple things that mean the most.
In nerd world, I joined a Starcraft 2 team and was really excited about it at first. SC2 is the most intellectually-taxing game that I've ever played; if you don't know anything about it think of it as non-turn based chess in which you start out with only pawns and build your way up to having knights and queens and etc. The problem with my team is that A) we suck and B) several of my teammates are assholes. This shouldn't have come as a huge surprise but I really expected a higher baseline level of maturity. I mean we have a couple of guys that are 29 years old that regularly pick on and make fun of a 15 year old guy (who is actually more mature than they are). It's still fun to participate and I have gotten better at the game but I've reached the point in my life where I care a lot less about being successful at video games than I used to.
Speaking of which, Diablo 3 came out this week and was pretty underwhelming. It's fun and I'll keep playing it off and on but I just don't have the drive to spend hundreds of hours to get fancy looking armor these days. Not all of my peers agree apparently, as one of my friends from high school had put in over 80 hours into the game in the first five days that it was out. Let me repeat that. EIGHTY HOURS. I think that I had ten to fifteen hours at that point and even that seemed like a lot. Maybe I should just go sit outside and shake my fist at some random kids because apparently I am now too old for this shit.
In the realm of books, I just started to read Brave New World. I've been meaning to get to it for a very long time and am pretty excited since I'm a huge fan of dytopian fiction. I'll probably make a long post when I finish it.
Most importantly of all, I absolutely love my girlfriend. We've been together almost six months and I feel like our relationship continues to grow deeper and stronger. It's incredibly strange to be so absolutely addicted to a person that I didn't even know existed a year ago. We're just so...... alike. We have great communication and we genuinely love to be around each other. I don't know what my life would be like if I hadn't met her but I am convinced that I would not be as happy I am right now.
I might make a post later (or tomorrow) about how much better my life is than it was a year or two ago. Because it is great right now. Also, this post is horribly written but I do not care since I actually put something on the internetz.
I never ended up taking the job with the Stats department and instead elected to stay in my boring, dead-end position at Advancement. It was a tough choice but once I was seriously considering the Stats position I got an offer to move to full-time and receive a raise if I didn't leave. In addition, I was told that a new full-time, permanent position would be available soon and that I would be encouraged to apply for it. I did in fact apply and got the job (and the max possible starting salary for the position) so I'm pretty happy about my decision. While I'd still consider myself underpaid for someone with a Master's degree, I now have long-term stability, excellent benefits, and better opportunities for advancement. Additionally, I can take a free class at the university every semester so I can perhaps develop my language skills and therefore bolster my resume. All in all, this is very good.
It does not change the fact that I don't want to work there forever. It does not change the fact that I am still not positioned in a career track that is not related to my Master's degree. Nonetheless, I am out of the job-hunting wilderness and I don't have to worry about taking a month off without pay. And that is the facet of my life that is in the least positive place right now.
I'm currently loving my apartment. There really is no better feeling than coming home from work and knowing that I won't have to deal with roommates making noise or talking about how much they love Herman Cain. I have my chair and my cat and my computer and my weight bench and my bed and my food. I can have people over if I want or I can retreat into the solitude of my own space. Sometimes it's the simple things that mean the most.
In nerd world, I joined a Starcraft 2 team and was really excited about it at first. SC2 is the most intellectually-taxing game that I've ever played; if you don't know anything about it think of it as non-turn based chess in which you start out with only pawns and build your way up to having knights and queens and etc. The problem with my team is that A) we suck and B) several of my teammates are assholes. This shouldn't have come as a huge surprise but I really expected a higher baseline level of maturity. I mean we have a couple of guys that are 29 years old that regularly pick on and make fun of a 15 year old guy (who is actually more mature than they are). It's still fun to participate and I have gotten better at the game but I've reached the point in my life where I care a lot less about being successful at video games than I used to.
Speaking of which, Diablo 3 came out this week and was pretty underwhelming. It's fun and I'll keep playing it off and on but I just don't have the drive to spend hundreds of hours to get fancy looking armor these days. Not all of my peers agree apparently, as one of my friends from high school had put in over 80 hours into the game in the first five days that it was out. Let me repeat that. EIGHTY HOURS. I think that I had ten to fifteen hours at that point and even that seemed like a lot. Maybe I should just go sit outside and shake my fist at some random kids because apparently I am now too old for this shit.
In the realm of books, I just started to read Brave New World. I've been meaning to get to it for a very long time and am pretty excited since I'm a huge fan of dytopian fiction. I'll probably make a long post when I finish it.
Most importantly of all, I absolutely love my girlfriend. We've been together almost six months and I feel like our relationship continues to grow deeper and stronger. It's incredibly strange to be so absolutely addicted to a person that I didn't even know existed a year ago. We're just so...... alike. We have great communication and we genuinely love to be around each other. I don't know what my life would be like if I hadn't met her but I am convinced that I would not be as happy I am right now.
I might make a post later (or tomorrow) about how much better my life is than it was a year or two ago. Because it is great right now. Also, this post is horribly written but I do not care since I actually put something on the internetz.