check in

So I've been at my new job for almost two months now and I figure it's time to let the internets know how I'm doing. The quick answer is: MUCH BETTER. No, ferreals.

I feel like I work nowhere near as hard, and yet I am paid much better. I have more responsibility, and not that fake empowerment my previous job was so fond of bestowing upon people. They expect me to do the work of one person, and pay me well for it. They have also given me keys to the office, I am sometimes the last or first in there. I could steal computers, prescription pads, money and medical records if I wanted to. I mean, I don't... but I could.

I love working with Casey. We grew up across the street from each other in suburbia and now live about 10 blocks from each other in Brooklyn, and yet we rarely saw one another. Now we work together 4 days a week and I oddly miss her on the fifth. The doctors I work for are good, each has their own style and distinct needs. I feel I'm getting to understand the rhythm of the office and am learning to work around my hatred of phones and my bad hearing.

Things are going well. The little germ incubators (ie: the children who come to the office) have gotten me sick, but other than that, all is well. I love having my weekends again. Two days off in a row without haggling with anyone is an indulgent treat that I'm still not over. I love working in SoHo, though the office is nestled between an H&M and a Banana Republic, with Sephora, Anne Taylor and Uniqlo all within eye-shot so I don't think my credit cards will forgive me. Though the damage is nowhere near as bad as I imagine because I'm still not used to a real paycheck. It's taking me some time to adjust. I do not mean to imply that I am now rolling around in money, as I am not, I am just so unused to a full time job at a respectable wage that I am a bit in shock. I haven't been a part of the white-collar world in such a long time.

In other news, I'm half done with my Christmas shopping. I'm really just stuck on the in-laws. Speaking of which, Todd's mother will be spending Christmas with us. I'm excited and stressed at the same time. What has been good enough for my friends to sleep on suddenly seems woefully inadequate for a sweet special-ed teacher from Kentucky. I like to think I keep a tidy house, but now I'm concerned about dust and cat hair (two things I often overlook when it's just Todd and I). And her visit is so short, I worry about how we'll fit the tourist-y things in, as I'm sure her first time in NYC on the holidays she'll expect to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, even if she doesn't say as much. I mean... What else is Christmas in NYC?

Oh, before I forget or don't talk to you personally... Happy Thanksgiving, yo.