Updates

Wow! Has it been over 2 weeks already since my last post?

Well, we have been quite busy lately. Here’s a short update of the past two weeks.

The new job:
Everything is running pretty smoothly, considering that I’ve had no one to work me in, thus I still feel I’m still wasting a lot of precious time to look for this and that, not to mention learning many new terms, so it’s still very challenging. At least, my superiors are giving me the feeling that I’m doing all I can to help them out and take away unnecessary burden so that they can work more effectively. So that’s good. As a matter of fact, I had been hired on a trial basis of one month, and the week before last (2.5 weeks before the end of my trial), I was asked if I would be willing to stay until end of June. They are still looking for someone on an unlimited time contract, but they want to keep me: a) until they find that person, and b) to work her/him in (lucky her/him!). Anyway, I’m happy to work there. It’s a fine group of people.

CS-Mom:
She’s doing pretty well and she’s at home again. She has a nurse coming in every day to check on her, a caretaker to help her with personal hygiene and do a bit of household cleaning, and family and friends visiting her on a regular basis to either take her to the hospital for check ups, do her groceries, getting her mail at the post office, take out the trash and/or just plain spending a bit of time with her. My Mom absolutely amazes me. She’s still so cheerful and when I hear her talk, it’s like nothing had happened. AND she’s still wearing that halo and her corset.

Amsterdam:
We spent last weekend in Amsterdam to celebrate Pa’s 75th birthday. We had a good drive up (5 ½ hours) to Harry and Brenda’s and arrived around 11:30 pm on Friday evening. We had a good nights’ sleep and on Saturday, we had a small snack for lunch, did a bit of groceries and, since Bren’s knee was hurting, Orange and I decided to do a bit of shopping in Amstelveen. We met up at O-X’s parents late afternoon. We had originally planned to go out for dinner, but Pa hasn’t been too fit lately. Pa’s sister, Anneke, and her husband Jimmy, drove all the way from central France to be there. Later, Harry and Orange-X picked up some food from Pa’s favourite Chinese restaurants. We had a good time at home with the family.

On Sunday morning, Orange-X spent a few hours visiting his daughter and ex-wife, while I enjoyed the sunshine with Harry and Bren in their backyard. Anjella is doing much better and her cancer treatments seems to be helping. Selina, his daughter, is doing very well in school and will graduate from high-school at the end of June. Of course, Papa O-X will be there for the ceremony. He’s so proud of his little girl and I’m so happy they finally got to meet again.

This weekend, except for some cleaning, doing 2 weeks of laundry (!!), the groceries, my tax declaration, (why do I always wait until the last minute??) and catching up on blogs, we’re just relaxing in our sunny back yard. Tonight, we do our first barbecue of the year. Yeah!

Is this fun, or what?!

Well, it’s been quite a week. On Monday, I got a call from the job agency saying I was invited for an interview on the following day. Tuesday, I have the interview and am hired. I come home after the interview and doing the groceries, and call my agent to tell her that I apparently have the job. She tells me that “she missed a call from the HR dept. of the company, tried to call back, but the line was busy". I hang up and get a call from the company telling me that they were not yet able to reach the agent. In the meantime, agent tries to call the company again, but I am talking to her, so the line is busy. Still following me??

Anyway, I started on Wednesday morning and it all worked out. I get there and don’t yet have access to the computer. Hmmpf! Ok, but you have to give them some time, right? But how much time? I call up the IT guys on Thursday and they say they’re working on it. On Friday, I call again and hear (for the first time) that it takes 5 working days to set it up. Ok. It’s a really big company (locally, about 7’500 employees), but they apparently told my supervisor that they’d get it done in less time. Maybe there was a misunderstanding somewhere? Whatever.

Don’t get me wrong, my boss is really good and I love working for her. She’s a tough cookie, but absolutely fair, kind, a good motivator and very understanding. The only thing that really bothers me is that I feel like a race horse that’s being kept behind the starting gate. You know, I need to run, but the stupid gate is not opening, dammit! I have tasks that I can only do with the computer and via the system. It drives me nuts, because I still have no access, and I feel bad because I’m a) not doing (read: can’t do) what I’m supposed to and b) paid to do. Not to mention that my predecessor is on sick leave and we can’t tell how long. I have no one to “show me the ropes”, but that’s okay, it’s not the first time.

Just do the best you can with what you have. You know what? With all that shit happening, I still love it. I knew this would be a challenging job and I’m ready for it. I can't wait to have everything working.

I must love wild rollercoaster rides (YES!) or be a masochist (or both). Same thing? Maybe. What do you think? Am I sick, or what?

Umm. Do I really want to hear your answers? Yeah... Go ahead.