Scream
More weird dreams. In one, my car had been stolen by these hillbillies who took one of the wheels off. In another I was being robbed on a plane. Theme much?
It was weird yesterday. C was home and has to work today which is backwards. I have to go back to the office tomorrow. I don't know. My brain is all over the place.
Scream
I had the most vivid and strange dream last night. I was on the moon. Living in a domed city. I was getting sushi with Kanye. There's more to it, but that was the overall theme. Very strange.
I worked yesterday and it was odd. Unlike before when I "worked" I actually felt the need to be right here next to my machine. I didn't get anything from anyone important but it was my first week and I wasn't going to be slacking off. But hey, I did it, I survived my first week. Only 519 to go.
Scream.
Made it through my first remote day. I also dealt with a plumbing issue. One thing that I think is going to frustrate me, and this would have been true regardless of job I took, is how much for granted I took being able to do multiple things during the day. Now I have actual people sending me emails. Now I have actual people reaching out to me via teams. For the last year my emails had dried up to one or two a week not an hour. It wasn't quite that bad yesterday, but I definitely felt like I had to be right here more than before. Plus way more meetings. I did sit through a ton of HR videos and stuff yesterday. I also got all my benefits done which kick in officially today. I have insurance again! Including life insurance. The company pays for 2x salary and I added an extra 50k on top of that. If something happens to me, I know C can at least pay off this house. Plus the kid gets enough to help towards her retirement. Oh, speaking of that, I can finally enroll in a 401k! Not a lot, but as long as I enroll, the company auto deposits money for me. Not just a match, but actual contribution! It's like an extra paycheck every year going straight into savings. I will take it!
The plumbing issue is a whole different story. I had them come back out to check the water heater. The problem is not there. Either the kitchen sink or the shower head has a stuck diverter allowing cold water to get into the hot water. Because the shower is more generic, I tackled that one first. Sadly the part I need is not in stock and won't be here until Sunday. I had to take the old one apart, figure out what I needed, order it, then put it all back together. Now I get to do the same thing on Sunday. This is what I mean by not having enough time to do what I want to do. But I will figure it out.
I am so looking forward to this weekend. Hair appointment on Sunday.
Scream
I am back home. Honestly the drive home wasn't too bad until I got 1 mile from my exit. It took me about 45 minutes to get to my exit AND THEN 20 MINUTES to get off the freeway and home. Like WTF? I was fine all the way until that last stretch. I may need to find an alternate route once I get back near home. Regardless, I am happy to be home. I unpacked, set up my new home workstation, and gave my pack big hugs.
I met with 9 more people yesterday. I seriously did more socializing this week than I have in the last six months. I have two more meetings today but then it will calm down a bit. I also got to take a tour of our internal machine tools plant. That was actually really cool. It was a very interesting look at the how things are done.
I also made dinner when I got home. That's going to be the hard part M-W. Working, driving, and taking care of the house. It's going to tire me out. But it will work out. It has to.
Day two of silence. Are we headed for a record? Is it because I am not at home? Is it because I am gainfully employed and doing something for the first time in over a year? Time will tell.
Day 2 was both calmer and yet more exhausting than day one. I met with so many people and took so many notes. I also spent the day trying to get my computer in a state that was usable for me. By that I mean the same kind of stuff I would do with any new computer. Set things the way I want, change layouts, etc BUT as I feared I am limited. For example there are three icons I literally cannot delete off the desktop. I fucking hate that. Like every damn IT department I have ever dealt with, if you're not in IT you must be an idiot. Which is frustrating given that my group has some of the smartest people I have ever met in it. But no, we're too stupid to be allowed admin access to our own machines. Pisses me off. Of course I will grin and bear it because it was day two, but ask me how I feel on day 200. Went to dinner with the friend of C who got me into the company. That was fun.
I miss my pack and I can't wait to go home tonight. I am going to squish their little faces so hard.
Silence.
Well I did it. I made it through my first day. It was a long day. I was up at 4:30, left the house around 6:15 and got there a couple minutes after 7. I feel like I am living back in California and have a standard commute again. Thanks, I hate it. It wasnt bad, just long. But if we do it short term, fine. Regardless, I got there in one piece and stopped first at the grocery store to get some snacks and a drink. Went in to HR around 8:45. I didn't do full HR orientation as they do that on Tuesdays. I will do all that today. I just got my i9 information verfied and got my badge. Around 9, I went over to my building and from there spent the rest of the day with my new boss being given the firehose of information. I am officially part of the "Control Engineering" group. There are roughly 15 of us on this team. I spent the entire day learning more than I ever wanted or needed to know about the business. Honestly so much of what was dumped on me is stuff that really is irrelevant to my actual job but was still interesting to know. It does give me context for things, but it was a lot. See he is out the rest of this week and I think he wanted to just give as much info as he could. I did learn things about him which will help with knowing how to work with him and what his expectations are. I learned he is autistic and that most of the people in our group are neurodivergent. In other words, my kind of people. He did take me to lunch with other folks on the team. He has 4 direct reports including me, one of whom is a manager with 9 direct reports. So right now I am technically 2 down from the top of the chain. He reports into the EVP and I report into him. I don't have any "manager" level in between me and leadership essentially. That makes me happy because it means my voice will be heard by actual decision makers. It also means I am very exposed and have to give my best. Lunch was okay. We went to a mexican place that we also have near us so I knew what to expect. Again, it was okay. I am not a huge fan but it worked. I headed out around 4:30pm and got to the hotel around 4:45. From there I ordered pizza for dinner. I will be bringing some to the office today for lunch. I need to figure out where a fridge is this morning. Today after HR and all day tomorrow, he has scheduled meetings for me with other department heads so I can introduce myself and learn about their needs.
I will say I think I will enjoy it here. It's just the commute that's going to kill me.
Well here it is. My first day back in an office. My head is screaming and I am anxious. But let's do this! I have to shower, load up the car and get rolling. I am axcited and scared all at the same time. I didn't do much of anything yesterday. Just enjoyed my last day off. Let's see how this goes. This is going to be my place of work hopefully for the next 10 years. This is going to change things. A new adventure awaits!
This is it. My last day. My head is back which surprises me a bit to be honest. I was expecting it to stay gone. Interesting.
Did laundry, towels, sheets. Packed for this week. Friend dropped by unplanned ended up staying for dinner. Not much else going on.
Silence.What if all this was job and stress related? What if it goes away now that I am starting this new job? How messed up is that?
Had therapy yesterday. Got to share my happy news. Managed to get a walk in before it started raining. Went to have pizza with a friend to celebrate my new job but sadly the place was packed with a line out the door. Ended up at one of our favorite ramen places instead. Had a good time.
Standard Saturday chores today. With the added bonus of packing for next week. Only two more days!!
Mostly silent. A little residual but nothing unbearable.
Paid all the bills last night. That was it. We would not have made it any longer. I have $1k coming from unemployment to help me on the 8th when I only get a half check, but I need a paycheck coming in. This was down to the wire. But we did it. We didn't argue. We didn't freak out either.
I was just having the weirdest dream. Elevators, schools, being late, cars - all recurring themes in my dreams. Anxiety about starting a new job? Anxiety about everything? Maybe. Desire to change? Probably. Desire to be free? Definitely.
Last three days of being irresponsible. Woo.
