planet not-crazy

I am typing from the lovely lovely new world that I now inhabit, with my huge open window letting in summery sounds (as well as passing cars with thumpy music sounds and students yakking on their cellphones sounds, but that’s okay) and my ceiling fan and my one little flourescent desk light instead of a whole ceiling of them, and BOY is this nice. It’s like a whole different universe. It’s quiet! It’s peaceful! There is a receptionist who answers all the phones and deals with everyone who walks in! It’s… it’s… amazing!!

And right now I really don’t have anything to do. How bizarre is THAT?? This will supposedly come to a screeching halt in a few days when the summer graduates have to be processed, but for now I’m just going to enjoy it. Everyone else seems to be. There’s a whole lot of visiting going on.

Everyone leaves at five. And I do mean AT FIVE. Everyone in fact starts packing up at about a quarter till. This has been a little hard for me to get used to, since I am in the habit of staying till much later. And when everyone gets packed up, they gather in the foyer and stand in front of the door. It’s very weird. It took me a couple of days of standing in the foyer and being my overly polite self (i.e., not asking, okay, why exactly are we standing here in front of the door instead of going OUT of the door??) before I realized that they were waiting until the automated answering machine comes on. Right at five. A red light appears on the receptionist’s phone, and off we all go. It’s kind of strange – and I’ve had a hard time getting everything together BEFORE five, due to my sad past history – but I am adapting quickly. 

The woman I replaced who retired was here till last Friday, so this has been the first week that I’ve really had my OWN space. We were kind of sharing this space, which actually was fine since I had a lot to learn and knew it was only for two weeks. So this week has been really fun, as I figure out where to put my stuff and I move everything around and set the computer up the way I want it and make the space mine.

I seem to have landed in a normal office. A properly staffed office, with reasonable job duties. I may never get over the shock. I had lunch with K and ex-new-person J on Tuesday, and I’m not too sure how K is still on her feet. J’s replacement may start Monday. She’s not real sure. J has been gone since the second week in June. They have yet to interview for my job. I gave them my notice six weeks ago. But…. I’m out!!!!!

Well, I’m home now, probably obviously as I’m not posting this till past ten. I was interrupted by a chatty coworkers. It’s very very strange that everyone is bored. The boredom is temporary, as I am constantly assured, but I’m ALL for bored after the life I’ve led! 

As for other quick updates – Stella is FINALLY home, and has been so happy she can barely stand it. She purred the entire trip home – usually she cries the whole time she’s in the car. She’s actually purred pretty much constantly since she got back. Kim could hardly stand to give her up, and kept offering to keep her any time we ever find ourselves needing a kitty sitter.

Baker B’s mother is doing well after the fall in the garden – but when she finally went to the doctor, she found she has a cracked pelvic bone, of all things. Which they can’t do anything about other than give her pain medicine. She says she’s fine, though, and didn’t even want us to come down last weekend – she said the lawn didn’t need mowing. Her neighbor is taking her food and keeping her company, and is probably a lot more fun for her to have around than we are. Baker B will probably go down this weekend. 

And now I need to get off the computer. Now that I have a shiny new job, I have to be at work on time. Which is not much of a problem since I’m not consumed with dread at the thought of it any more.