A whole new world

The Bay Area is... RAD.
Yes, rad is pretty much perfect for this place.
I was outside during lunch today and saw a nice looking man wearing jeans that were so tight around his manparts area that it almost looked like he had a cameltoe.
The jeans were white.

I started dating a really super cute dude about a week after I got here. Oh yeah- broke up with my last boyfriend after we went steady for about 2 months. Long term relationships are but a speck in my memory...

So this new guy- 3 dates so far. I'm digging it, but he's kind of young and I'm not counting on it to last very long. But I kinda hope it does. We'll see.

I became a fan of the San Francisco Giants (baseball) last night, on the recommendation of a bartender at a trendy new place in Oakland. He converted me simply by telling me how gorgeous their stadium is. Opening day for the season is today, so I'll have to see about getting tickets for a game soon.

I've been riding public transportation to work and walking a shit ton more than I'm used to. Every morning when I come up from the train station into the city, my heart does a little sparkly backflip.

My first few days here were kind of treacherous with driving. I get lost a lot and didn't know my way around. Ran a red light and got one of those picture tickets in the mail. Bastards. It was totally red though. And I was that asshole trying to figure out which way to go. Dang.

I haven't developed any new bad habits and I've only blacked out from drinking once since I've been here. NOT bad, considering I've been here for 16 days. Haha.

Predictably not awesome

First days at new jobs are usually a drag.

Knowing this, I set my expectations low today. Glad I did. I think I paid $25 to park my car when the machine said it should have been $15. I came in to work and there were piles of stuff in and around my designated work space. Like- even a big blue plastic table where my chair should have been.

The project seems to be on an impossible timeline. That was definitely expected. If everything was fine, they wouldn't have needed me there. It's going to be an intense couple of months.

Yesterday, on my way to my last day at the old job, I hit a bird with my car's windshield. I thought of going back to see if it was rehabilitatable, but the pacific coast highway is a busy, fast road and I was pretty sure it saw a quick death when it collided with me at 60mph.

First night in my new place last night. My dog seems nervous, but he'll chill in a week or so.

Learning a new neighborhood and a new job at once... not awesome. But I'll make it work, a la Tim Gunn.

hoho be jooba

I hear lyrics wrong sometimes. I always thought that, at one point in "The Jeffersons" (a rad show from when I was a kid) theme song, the singer says: Hoho be joba. Which makes no sense, but it didn't stop me from DEMANDING to my friends that this is what she was singing.

Turns out, it was a very intense "movin on up". Not "hoho be joba".

I feel wronged by my childhood, somehow.

At any rate, I am movin on up. Tomorrow. Shit. I haven't packed all of my clothes. SHIT.

I'm moving to Northern California afterall. To the Bay Area. To a house with 2 wild/crazy/awesome ladies who I adore.

I start a new contract job on Thursday. It's going to be a bit different from what I'm used to, but I'm into learning stuff along the way while I pretend to be an expert in what I'm doing.

What a week. I hope my dog reacts well to being in a new place with new people. I mean- he's been there before. He knows the people. He loves the people. He digs hanging out with the other dog in the house.

I hope I react well to being in such a lively environment. What am I saying- I live in a very lively household. Never a dull moment. Not that big of a deal.

Hoho be joba.

shady recruiters

I deal with recruiters frequently, lately. Being an independent consultant is about 92% consulting work with the current client and about 8% securing the next client.

As an example: I just accepted a new contract position yesterday. My recruiter had me scheduled for an interview today with another company, which she cancelled as soon as I said yes to the other position.

This afternoon, I got a call from an internal recruiter at the company my interview was cancelled with today. She says they have this position open that I may be interested in. I told her I just accepted something else, but keep me in mind if anything opens up in a few months.

I know she already heard from MY recruiter this morning. My recruiter told her I had accepted something else and she cancelled my interview.

So the internal recruiter stops my "thank you" mid-sentence and says... well, what if we made it a fulltime employee position? I immediately think she's being shady and just trying to fill a position that someone in her office is hounding her for.

I ask how she came across my resume. She tells me I applied for a different position last year at the company. Which is likely true, but still. This was the same position my recruiter said would only be a 3 month job. So when my recruiter cancelled my interview, the internal recruiter looked into her database for old resumes and found mine. Called me directly, and offered to flip a contract position to an employee position. Which just- it doesn't happen like that usually.

It seems like it's not right. And, as a wise man from Iowa once told me: If it's not right, it's wrong.

I'm totally not freaking out

I was supposed to move to northern California on February 28th. My stuff is all stored nicely in the garage of the home I've shared with great friends for a year in southern California. My bags were packed and I was ready to go.

I'm a consultant and my contract was up on the Friday the 26th of last month. Done and done and ready for something new. But. On Thursday the 25th, I was asked to stay. More like I was told I couldn't leave. And I told my supervisor I'd only stay for a bunch more money. And then she said they'd pay me what I asked for. So I'm still here.

Homeless, kind of. I moved to the guest room in our house and I'm living out of suitcases and it's a great test of my ability to deal with change. All this nonsense. I guess it could be worse. I could be stuck outside in a Kansas corn field during tornado season.

It's funny, the choices I make for myself. Like, I guess I really did want to stay in SoCal if I made the choice. But really, that wasn't what I had counted on for sure. I was supposed to be lazing about the Bay Area right now. Not waiting on yet another (one last) email to come through for the day so I can finish up and drive 2 hours back home.

Kansas. Tornadoes. Okay. It's not that bad. I'm okay. This is great. I'm happy to be able to spend a little more time with my friends and family here before I eventually trek north for good. I’m happy to have a job that I’m good at and that pays well. I’m happy that I have never been swept away by a tornado.

move bitch, get out the way

Everything is pissing me off right now. The way people are talking, the tone of emails, the way this conference call is more like an excuse-generator than a status report. The way the fucking jerk in the cubicle next to me is chewing with her goddamned mouth open.

My mood today reminds me of an old Twighlight Zone episode where this dude kept yelling at people to shut up. Then, everyone did. They all froze in their tracks and dude was alone and he was all creeped out.

Fuck, even I'm pissing myself off today. Like, how annoying is this post anyway? Rrrrg.

Funny haha or funny queer

The week after posting my last blog, someone called me an asshole and told me to suckit.

While this happens frequently, it's generally friends, so no big deal. This was not a friend, and it was completely serious. I had said something insensitive, in jest, and this person flew off the handle. When I saw her message, I was both shocked and incredibly amused. See because of my last post here. The timing was hilarious. The situation itself wasn't.

I, of course, apologized for being an asshole. That doesn't mean I think her response was acceptable or professional (we work together), but I had clearly hurt her feelings.

Isn't timing just funny sometimes?