Report from the Battlefield

I’m officially reviving the title from my emails last summer – I think by now, you’ve probably all heard a bit about what’s going on in my corner of the world. If you haven’t, then you’ve been living under a rock or perhaps on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic.

I really haven’t posted about work yet? Wow. Well, I guess I’ll start from the beginning.

I started in mid-June with training – nearly two months worth of it. I don’t know about you, but to me that’s a hell of a lot of training, especially if I’m getting paid for it. It was good though, an easy transition from college to work – except we never had ten hours of class in a day on the same topic. Haha. I had fun meeting everyone else in my class though, and overall it was a fun and easy time (except maybe not for the kids who took the tests and homework way too seriously and stayed until 1am every night…). I will say though, if I hadn’t had a background in most of this stuff already, I don’t know if I could’ve kept up. I certainly don’t know how all the English and Poli Sci majors did it.

(Side note: I’m typing this on the Boltbus as I’m coming home this weekend, and we just passed a Mt. Tremblant shuttle. Nice.)

I was possibly more well-informed and up-to-date on current events during training than I ever have been in my life. Also, my crossword skills were honed a bit. We’ll leave it at that. =) Like I said, smooth transition from school – except for the daily 45 minute commute to Jersey part of it.

So after that we had a week’s worth of class to pass a certification exam (though now I’m sort of questioning whether it was necessary at all…I guess we can discuss that one offline). We had a teacher who reminded me of a cross between Fred Flintstone and Lewis Black – pretty funny, but in that angry and bitter sort of way. Maybe it was because he’d been teaching that same standardized test for over 20 years.

Then came a week of training for my specific department, then finally work! I’m all for learning, but I was seriously looking forward to actually doing something after being essentially a human sponge for two months. Started off pretty slow, but then shit hit the fan and you guys know the rest.

In some ways it’s the most ridiculous, irrational, messed up time to be working where I am, and in some ways it’s business as usual. I’m glad to see the feel of the place hasn’t changed – I slipped back into it pretty quickly, and my colleagues impress me every day as much as they ever did. Definitely less pressure though (I guess that’s in my head?), now that it’s a longer term thing and not a mad-cap race to land a job.

Still working hard even though I haven’t ramped up to my ultimate full work load, but part of that is because I’m taking the time to do things carefully now so that I learn them right. I don’t keep track of my hours – in fact, our timesheets are only to track the percentage of time we spend doing things – but if I had to take a stab at it, I’d guess I’m hitting maybe 75 per week right now? Something like that. My weekdays are mostly work, working out (the gym at work has a rock wall! I haven’t tried it yet though), chill out a bit at home, then sleep. I still take the time to do things for myself though – I’m learning now how important that is – and the work gets me going as much as it ever did. For all fourth year did to kill my motivation, work brought it back.

Man, okay, this post is too long already and I still haven’t really addressed the shitshow that is my industry (I just picked up that word, I think it’s really funny). I’ll save that for another time, because I don’t pretend to be an expert on everything yet.

I don’t mind working long hours at all – in fact, I’m not sure how satisfied I’d be if I weren’t right now – but it makes me realize how precious my free time is. When I don’t have my weekends planned out and I just want to plop on the couch and watch TV, I feel terrible! So, I’m trying to instill some sense of order to my free time – I was thinking about cooking classes? Learn a new language? What do you guys think?

I miss talking to you all, especially all the weird and diverse things we liked to debate about at IHOP or the College Inn. Post more often! Erik, I’m calling you out. What the hell have you been up to?

I’m settling in fairly well where I am, but damn if it doesn’t feel good to be coming home right now.

P.S. The Office season premiere last night, anyone? I won’t spoil it for anyone, but I’m just so psyched that it’s back.