Careful Kids, This Could Happen to You

Do you think maybe I've read so many Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella books lately that I actually turned into one of their characters? Kinda like when you're little and making nasty faces and someone says your face is going to freeze like that?

Less than two weeks ago, I was just getting into the swing of 2009. I was stoked to not be a student and had finally decided to embrace that I had a job as a freelance writer. When people asked how my job search was going, I told them that I wasn't looking, which was an honest answer. I had just finished my third chick lit read in a row and was pondering the recurring message of a simple life. All the books were about a girl who thought her life would be complete if she just pulled off one more business achievement, only to find that true happiness (and true love, of course, this is chick lit) was often found in the most quaint of places. Now, this was a message I could get behind. I was working, contributing to the household and feeling the fuzzy glow of entrepreneurial success. I was also sleeping late, working in my PJs, being a stay-at-home pet mom, and taking frequent breaks during the day to have coffee with the girls or walk my dog. All in all, not bad.

Then, last Wednesday, I stumbled upon a job opening and sent in a resume on a whim. That night I was called for a phone interview and a few days later spent an entire morning in their office interviewing. Two days later, another interview, and the following morning a job offer, which I accepted this morning. In less than two weeks, I will begin my new job as a Senior Writer and Public Relations Account Executive at a Raleigh-based agency. Um, wow, how did that happen??

In true Rory Gilmore fashion, let's do a pro-con list:

Pro
1. We have just become DINKs (dual income, no kids). This doesn't elevate us to wealthy, but we've certainly achieved comfortable. And since I haven't been there in a long time, I'll take it.
2. New business-woman clothes!!! (Getting the Keyes/Kinsella character connection more now?)
3. This isn't an entry-level position. It even comes with an intern!
4. A job. A career. A reason to leave the house every morning. A company that will accept what I have to offer them and has something to offer me in return. That feels like coming home and makes me want to cry, in the best of ways. I had no idea how much I'd missed that.

Con
1. Man, I'm going to miss my boys. Sure, they drive me nuts sometimes, but I like being with them all the time, laughing at them when they do stupid things and knowing the right time to pick up baby Ben for a hug. I grant that it is rather challenging to get anything done during kitty hyper time.
2. Losing the flexibility and autonomy that comes with working from home will be difficult. I trust that this agency will be less rigid than places I've worked in the past, but I still doubt they'll be cool with mid-morning yoga and People's Court at 4.
3. We've gotten pretty spoiled around here what with me staying at home. Right now, we eat home-cooked meals almost every night and have as much hang out time in the evenings and on weekends as we want. Things are going to get busier, that's for sure.
4. House hunting just got a lot more complicated too. If we move to Durham to be closer to our friends and church as we'd originally planned, we'll both have longer commutes and probably be forced to eat out everyday and pay someone to let the dog out. If we stay in Cary or move to Raleigh, we have to find a new community group and perhaps switch back to the Raleigh church. Sacrifices either way.
5. No use of my Master's degree in sight. Course at the moment I'm still so disgruntled that it's hard to call that a con.

So I guess it's good that we didn't make the decision to accept the job the Rory Gilmore way, as the cons appear to outweigh the pros. I think I probably rolled several pros into one for pro #4 though. This is definitely a weird de ja vu moment for me, what with going back to the same line of work I left to go to school, in the same building even, just one floor up. I anticipate many awkward elevator moments in my future.

Anyway, as Dylan says, "You'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are a changing!" I've still got a solid week and a half of freedom, so until then, it's hamster suits and People's Court breaks for me.

Now with 100% less pictures and 400% more germs!

So Court's been sick for the past three days, which is a real bummer. I kind of sat around and poked her occasionally, if for no other reason than to make sure she still mumbled something incoherent after the pokes. Good times. The good news is, she's feeling much better, which means I can go back to being a lazy slug. Or not.

I have to train people this weekend. Me! Training! Granted, they're high school students, so that has to count for something, I guess. I'm teaching these guys a little bit about programming. It's pretty awesome, it's for the robotics group I mentor. You can learn more about the program at www.usfirst.org, or hang around me for about 10 minutes and mention the word "robotics." It's a pretty awesome gig, and I'm happy to be doing it, but what it really boils down to is the time I'm sitting here typing this entry, I should probably be making pretty slides. For that matter, the hours I just spent on my weekly game session should probably be spent on making slides. Really, when you get down to it, I should be making slides. But I'm obviously not at the moment, so what's that say about me? Oh yeah, that I'm a slacker.

Random shout-out time! So my best friend got engaged tonight, which is pretty spiffy... Being married for all of 3 months, I think I can attest to how awesome it is... Naturally, I can't really swear it'll always be awesome, but since Court has since walked into the room and is watching me type this, I'll do my best. Ahem: It'll always be awesome. (I actually believe that) ^_^

The only other exciting news that actually directly pertains to me that I can think of is our new tv! Well, new to us, anyway. A friend of mine needed some help doing manual labor, and at the same time, he was looking to get rid of his old tv. Being as how I love his old tv, I promptly agreed to do so, and now our poor tiny living room is dominated by a mammoth floor model rear projection tv. And I'm the happiest girl at the dance. ^_^

I think that's about all of the news that's fit to electronically publish, so I'm going to scamper off to do something pseudo-productive. Like floss my nightstand. If anyone needs me, I'll be doing that. Exactly that.

--Ak out