Dear Diary,
13. Everyone I've talked to about the Bataan Death March marathon tells me that the 'sand pit' is No Big Deal. I'm not buying that shit. I have a firm rule that anything in a race course that merits a nickname is probably a Big Deal.
12. By this week, before I have even been interviewed for the New Job, the other therapists there were already telling me how they were going to divide up the work with me.
11. Guess what is between my home and the New Job? Your choices:.
- A) five miles of paved running trail.
- B) a branch of my bank
- C) a Starbucks
- D) an all-you-can eat China Super Buffet, an Indian curry buffet, a middle-eastern cafe, and a grocery that sells hard to find Indian spices (cheap)
- E) all of the above.
If you picked E, you win. Actually, I win. I am getting ever closer to having the life that guarentees most of the class of 1983 (whoever shows up at the thirty-year reunion) will hate my guts. Yay me.
10. I had TONS of cotton race T-shirts I never wear. I couldn't figure out what to do with them, until I found out that they were needed at New Job because of the indigent population we serve. I feel good about this, though I admit it's startling to see a homeless elderly man with schizophrenia wearing a Tshirt from an Olymic Distance Triathlon. Meanwhile, if you're in Albuquerque and approached by a panhandler wearing a half-iron distance triathlon T-shirt, he's not faking. Give him a quarter.
9. then next thing that happend was that I found out that Women in Training has been moved and will be held a couple miles away from New Job. This is a program I like to volunteer for that gets women ready for their first 5k. The 5k is a women's only race where you get a rose and a piece of chocolate at the end. It used to be fifteen miles away, near my old job. How convenient is that? It's a sign. Yesss. All signs point to the New Job.
8. Wednesday night I slept about 9 hours, skipped my run, then got Up Thursday and went to take the LPCC licensing exam--the National clincial Mental Health Counselor Exam. It was a bitch of a test. When it was over, they printed out the results. The result gave an analysis of each section which broke down each of the sections, all of which had to be passed. I ignored everthing on the page except for the small, block letters in the upper right hand corner:
P A S S
I cried like a big baby in my car for a while, but of course, I am a now big baby with an independent, clinical license, bitches. Then I dried my eyes, reapplied my makeup, got my car washed, and hit the best Super Buffet in town. Dreadpirate said, eat healthy. Uh, sure. Whatever.
Mysteriously or not so mysteriously, the crick in my neck, which has been there for a month, is gone.
AND I have decided that the scarf I was wearing is now my Lucky Scarf.
I have worried and fretted over this since August 2011. I am going to eat a huge candy bar. So there.
7. I talked to my Old Job boss, and told her about New Job. She swore a little, and the next day, said that the CEO wanted to talk to me, about seeing how they can keep me. It's worth a conversation, right? The thing is, they are about the lowest paying agency in town. They hemorrhage talent.
6. SOOOOO, Here's a side by side comparison of the two jobs:
New........................................................Old
They like me..............................................they like me too
They're nice to me......................................they'rer nice to me, too.
The work is interesting...............................the work is interesting.
They pay me.............................................they pay me 50% more.
25 minutes on I40 at breakneck speed.....residential streets for about 15 minutes..
Near a Walmart.........................................near Target, Trader Joes, and the best shopping center in town.
Near a starbucks with a drive through.......somewhat near a starbucks with no drive through
My coworkers are all twenty-somethings.....coworkers are my age with my taste in clothes, politics, and music.
5. Blind kitty is in heat, which is not only pathetic, but a little creepy and weird. I have little experience with this sort of thing, and I'm all, STOP STICKING YOUR BUTT UP AT ME!! And yes, we are going to get her fixed. Soon.
4. So, the conversation with the CEO ended like this: What would you want from us to keep you here full time? I asked her if I could think about it. So, I'm thinking about it. I have to take several things into account. I love the children's hospital, I do. I loved teaching, too, and I left that in 2008.
Sometimes, you have to say farewell. And move on.
I want to help people. There is no reason why I have to be poor to do it. I went to grad school for a reason. I've spent more than ten years in college and worked hard to hone a very specific skill set. If New Job recognizes that and is willing to provide me with good pay, then I'll take it. I have student loans, for goshs’ sake. Unsubsidized ones. The kind that no politicians seem to be in a hurry to forgive.
3. I'm going to do a long run this weekend, to see just how bad a shape I'm in and how much of a cluster fuck my marathon in two weeks is going to be.
2. I turn 47 next week. Fuck, I'm old. er. This is like, mocked by teenagers old. So, I'm going back to being a blonde. If I have to be older, I'm going to be an older blonde. With an 'e'.
1. But I'll be an older blonde with a license, bitches.
...
