cloud 5

i'm more than half-way to cloud 9...

work is going really well. i love it! i should really stop shying away from "real" paralegal work and just dive in but at the moment, they're being very nice about easing me into the flow so i'm going to milk it for as long as i'm able. i'm going to be in the bocce tournament on thursday night (assuming that i can finish my project before they all leave - i think i'll make it to dinner, if i don't make it to bocce). i'm in the firm's hockey pool with one of my lawyers. i work downtown. i don't fight traffic every morning and every afternoon. i get home by 5. OMG, don't pinch me - i don't want to wake up from this dream!

and then there is my other news... [for those that don't want to hear about my love life, you can stop reading now]


i'm dating someone :) ... someone really nice :) ... someone i didn't meet on the internet :) ... he's the cousin of a friend from school. i met him a couple of months ago at my friend's housewarming but didn't think much of him, except that he was dating this girl i went to highschool with. i met him again a month later at the same friend's wedding shower - sans girlfriend. the wedding was two weeks later and it was pretty apparent, even to me (!) that he was interested. have i mentioned that he's so nice?

i can't say that he's the type i normally go for. let's face it, i love the pretty boys... tall, lanky, blond, blue eyes, suave, sophisticated... blah blah blah. this one does not quite fit the profile. he's tall-ish (probably about 5'11), brownish-blond hair that's greying at the temples, and he's built like a football player (so not what i normally go for!). he's a big goofball that talks a lot and likes football way too much. did i mention he's nice?

ok, i'll stop talking about him because: a) i don't want to jinx anything; and b) i don't want to turn into "one of those girls". :)

why cloud 5? because i think it's only going to get better... (bring on the cheese!)

appreciation

my old boss sent me an e-mail yesterday. all it said was, "boy, do i miss you! i hope they appreciate you at your new place!" my new boss sent me an e-mail on tuesday, after i had sent him some documents i had transcribed, and he said, "thanks for your good work on these. the quality of your work is excellent, despite the fact that it's only your second day." it is hard not to feel smug and self-satisfied when you really are that good. (OMG, someone deflate her head)

i love working downtown. and i like where i work, although i'm pretty sure i'm not going to find any best friends in my office. nonetheless, everyone is nice to me and that's all i can ask for. any doubts i had about leaving my old job quickly went away. while i'm not doing the work i should be doing, i'm happy to just have work to do all day. i feel like i'm finally making a contribution (albeit small) and it's a pretty damn good feeling.

woo hoo!!

you don't know how good it felt to drive away from work yesterday. i had to resist the urge to do cartwheels (not because i thought it would be inappropriate - more that i can't do a cartwheel). it was weird, packing up my stuff, knowing that i'd never work in that basement again. saying goodbye to the families, talking of my plans. very strange, yet very, very liberating. my three lawyers took me to cioppino's in yaletown for lunch - i would've been happy if they had taken me to the cactus club but that shows you how high-end my tastes are. the food was okay - the server was a bit over-the-top (even the other servers rolled their eyes at him behind his back). the chocolate creme brulee was out of this world. i know someone with a creme brulee blow torch (whom I laughed at when she bought it) that might be interested in making it :)

at the same time as the realization that i would not be working for the company in the same capacity as i am now washed over me, a very frightening truth also came hurtling at me: i'm going to a job where i don't know anything. i hate that. i don't know how i'm going to get to the train station on monday (should i drive or should i take the bus?). i don't know what they'll expect from me on my first day...first week. i don't even have anything to wear. this is a disaster. what have i done???

the only comfort that i have is knowing that i left my current job with no regrets. that's gotta count for something, right?

wasted

i was hired to support three lawyers. to date, i've really only done work for two of them. i went to the third one's house today, just to install some files onto her computer. i had never really gotten the opportunity to chat with her before and so the only thing i had ever heard about her was what other people told me - and not all the things said were good. she said something very interesting to me today. she had asked me earlier what the reason i was leaving was and i told her that, basically, i needed a different working environment. i didn't bother getting into how much i didn't enjoy some of the work i did or any of that. a bit later on in our conversation, she said off-handedly that the reason why she never called on me to do any work for her was that the only work she needed done in her home office was her filing. she said that she felt it would be insulting to me, with all my education and how hard i've worked to get it, to ask me to do work that any 12 year old could do. whether she meant it or whether she just said it to make herself look good, i appreciate that she said it. at least someone recognizes that the job they've hired me to do is not one that requires someone that has a similar education as me. i think i can leave my job as i know it with a clear conscience.

moving on, moving up

today was my last day at the waterloo office. i felt really sad all day - almost like i didn't want to talk to anyone or see anyone because i knew it would probably be the last time ever. i know it's strange - i'm a little too sentimental for my own good sometimes. i've only known these people for three months and actually, most of them for a total of 9 days. yet they were all very sociable and inviting - at least once or twice this week i re-thought whether or not my decision to leave the company was a good one. i asked my boss to hold off on sending out the "she's leaving" e-mail until i was back in vancouver - i figured that half of them don't even know who the heck i am so why bother? some of the girls from the department took me out for lunch today, which was very nice of them. i also got another offer for lunch from one of the lawyers, which was very nice of him as well (i turned him down - first to ask, first to be accepted, i say!). then, we all sat outside and ate our free ice-cream from the Dickie Dee man (one of the perks in the summertime from the company). i plan on sending my usual farewell e-mail next friday but only to a select few.

i'm a bit nervous about starting my new job - it's all happened so suddenly, really. last week at this time, i had just accepted the position. now i have a week until i start my new job - i have to figure out whether or not i'm going to take the train into work (with gas prices at 129.5/L, i'm leaning towards yes), fill out all of those stupid forms, buy some clothes to actually wear to work... crazy things are happening in such a short period of time. perhaps, for someone like me who tends to over-think everything, this is a good thing. it doesn't give me a lot of time to question or doubt. i just have enough time to get myself organized.

it's currently 10:15 pm in waterloo and i am sitting in my hotel room with my hair in curlers but no makeup on. why? because one of the lawyers at work (THE lawyer at work) asked me if i wanted to go out with him and his friends tonight. i've barely seen him all week and today, i had basically given up and said to myself, "start getting over it now because it's never going to happen." and then, as i was leaving (one of the last of 3 to leave today), he was in his office on the phone but his door was open (for once). i stood there until he noticed me and then i waved goodbye. he quickly got off the phone and came to the door to say goodbye. it was weird. it was like because no one was around, he was more friendly and more willing to just stand and shoot the shit. he hugged me goodbye and then said, "hey, what are you doing tonight?" he sent me an e-mail about 20 minutes ago, saying that he had just left work (!!!) and that he was pretty sure that his plans were to play poker but he would see if he could change them so his friends would want to go out. i told him to let me know. perhaps it still isn't meant to be. but i live in hope :)