renate.nu

I’ve been worrying the last, well, year or so. Two years. Or so. Maybe three. That I’ve stopped being FUN. And when I say “stopped being fun”, I actually mean “stopped going to parties”. Because I have. I don’t know. At one point I didn’t find it at all that entertaining anymore, so I just stopped going. And then I started studying again, so that started taking up all my spare time. But you know what? I can still be fun.

Granted, I only give myself to be fun, in the meaning “going out for drinks” when I’m not home, because then, you know, I have my excuse. I couldn’t study because I wasn’t home. I was out with coworkers. The wine was free. They were all there. And you know, serious studies show that if you socialise with your coworkers, not to mention your boss, you’re more likely to get promoted. So it’s all quite legit, you see.

And I know, that doesn’t sound like fun, does it? It sounds like FORCED fun, but I swear, it wasn’t. It was just pure, crazy fun. Or you know, not too crazy. I didn’t dance on any tables. Or on the floor, for that matter. I didn’t fall over, or down any stairs. I didn’t spill anything on myself, or on others. I didn’t say anything that I regretted later. I didn’t sing. I did:

• Have a few too many drinks.
• Stay up too late.
• Talk to Ian from Aberdeen. Apparently he’s been looking for me.
• Openly talk to one of my coworkers about how I was sort of threatened by her when she first started working with us.
• Talk to my department’s only ph.d. (except the dean, obviously he has a ph.d.) about the master’s thesis I want to do, and how I want to keep my options open for a ph.d. later. He was all for it, and didn’t hate my thesis proposal. Now if only my advisor will be as supporting, this might go places…
• Eventually make it back to my room.
• Get 4 hours of sleep before I had to get back up and endure 6 hours of group sessions, although I spent the first one chugging down water and not talking.
• NOT get too badly hung over. Wow. First time in years.

All in all, a very successful outing, and I really can’t wait to go out again. I’ve made somewhat loose plans with a friend, we just have to find a good time. And we better! ;)

Today was good, work wise. I feel like I’m coming into my own at work lately, and it exhilarates me and makes me want to do more. This has been going on for some time now, much of it spurred on by the facts that 1) I’m my boss’ right hand, so I get to take part in more of the decision making and all that happens before a decision is made, and 2) I’ve been taken off duty when it comes to our daily routine tasks, so that I can devote more time to work on long term projects.

Last week, I was unexpectedly thrown into the big budget meeting, where our budget for 2010 was presented and discussed. I loved it. I love knowing what goes on behind the scenes, how other people from other departments think and work, and above all, knowing that if I want to make my voice heard, I can. I still have a way to go before I will let my voice actually BE heard, as there is so much to learn before I can bring anything to the discussions (except questions, but I try to limit those).

In short: I love my job, more than I ever thought I would. Perhaps not to the extent that I love getting up in the morning (because, well, I’d rather just sleep just TEN MORE MINUTES. Or an hour.), but I don’t dread going into work either.

Time flies when you’re having fun, which is why I haven’t posted in over a week. Yikes. I had this term’s last exam on Monday (administration law), and I think it went well. Since Tuesday I’ve been back at work, with a growing realisation that it doesn’t really feel like work all the time – I quite enjoy being there these days! This is definitely connected to my new and more exciting work assignments. The last couple of days I have (among my other daily tasks) worked on a memo that shows why my group needs to hire one more person, and I also whipped up some nice statistics to support our claim. Fun!

I came across something not so fun when I got back from work yesterday. One of the cats (pretty sure it was Moppe) had thrown up a huge hairball on the living room floor, complete with puddle of slime and goo. Then just for good measure, he’d thrown up another puddle close by, narrowly missing the PS2. Now, at least it didn’t smell like something dead, so it was a quick and painless enough job to mop it up. BUT. When I flushed the hairball down the toilet, the toilet conveniently decided to get clogged up. Now, this will no doubt make me sound like a ditz, which in some cases I am, but I had no idea what to do with this problem, because the previous times when it’s happened, I’ve yelled out for Tor to fix it. Yesterday, however, he wasn’t home and wouldn’t be home for hours, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

And what did I do?

I Googled it, of course!

It is my new philosophy of life, one that has proven itself countless times: When in doubt, Google it.