05.19.04

Today was one of those days. Those days where you realize that this is why I make the long commute to work everyday. Those days where I realize that I like this job. And it�s like when you were back in school, and the teacher hands out the test and you know at a glance that you are going to ace it.

Today I was at the top of my game. It just came to me in one fluid motion. I asked all the right questions, I had all the right answers. When you watch your work fit together like a perfect puzzle right before your eyes.

We all know that I don�t necessarily have a burning passion for this field. But I am getting good at it. I like my coworkers, I love my boss; it�s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

I think that�s the difference between this job and the last; I have a clear vision of what is expected of me and how I fit into the team. I don�t have to guess at what my boss wants me to do. I was so frustrated at the last place; the E.B. even admitted that he didn�t know exactly what he wanted me to do--he wanted me to show him, he said. Well, that�s nice and all, but if I were doing what I wanted to do, I�d be sitting on the beach right now sipping a pina colada. I had never worked in that field before--it wasn�t that I didn�t want to work, it�s that I didn�t know what my work was supposed to be. And if I happened to ask, he made me feel stupid for asking. So in the end, I did nothing. I felt bad about it, but I didn�t know what else to do. No one takes a job planning to fail--it just wasn�t the right fit (boy, is that an understatement).

Hard to believe that was almost two years ago.

My experience here has been completely the opposite. I really feel like I have come into my own. True, it is daunting to me to think of running the whole show down the road. But little by little, I am developing the skills to do it. I can�t believe how much I have learned in the year or so that I have been here.

It�s pretty darn cool.

:::

Current thoughts: I�ll be in D.C. for work all next week. I�m trying to psyche myself up for the jet lag and hotel food. This will be the longest that J and I have spent away from each other since the first Christmas after we started dating. I�m really going to miss him.

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