Enter Happiness

I'm a chill'un chillin' on a Friday night.

My dear buddy GayBoy had a job interview today with a building management company. He'd be awesome in that capacity. He's the kind of manly-man gay man who can fix broken sinks, tunes up his scooter and motorbikes, and all that. I'd be pissed 'cos I'd stop getting free coffee beans every week, but I'd be happy for him. He likes to tinker with shit and knows how to schmooze. Talk about a round peg in a round hole. Go, GayBoy.

I'm making butter chicken. Let's hear it for comfort food after a long week.

It's good to be working in a job that uses my problem-solving abilities yet allows my other skills to shine, too. There's a sales aspect to this job -- I need to sell the school and its calibre of programs, sell registrations. And I do, I tell ya. There's a lot of rolling-with-punches in this job because there's so many more factors at play -- weather, parents & their timetables, kids and their issues, health of the public/teachers/kids/management. And when you have hundreds of people to deal with on a daily basis, it gets frenetic.

But it's awesome to be in a public job again. I forgot how GOOD I can be with people! I forgot how quick-witted I can be. I had it intermittently at the last job, but it wasn't a social job -- I sat wearing headphones at tv monitor/computer station -- by myself. For 8 hours on a stretch. No, talking wasn't the order of the day.

Talk is everything now. And I'm getting sharp again. I was a butterknife found in a yard after two years of rain. That's how dull and rusty I was. Now I'm a steakknife I'm so sharp. Soon: Cleaverville, baby. Razor!

And it's fun. I had a PARENT come up to me and tell me that I've made a huge impact -- every staffmember seems to be more relaxed, voices are quieter, faces calmer. That's pretty fucking cool to have a casual outsider repeat the same thing all the STAFF are telling me.

Plus, the sickness has almost entirely subsided. Things are good.

But I'm real fuckin' tired tonight. The school has a half-block long hallway to the preschool that I run up and down a dozen or so times a day, plus a flight of stairs to the upstairs office I run up a dozen or so times a day, probably 20 times, or so. I'm always running around the office, lobby, change room, and dance studio. Keeps me mobile, and my back and neck are doing great. I finally got a chiropractic adjustment on Weds. after more than THREE MONTHS without! I was supposed to get one the day I was being laid off and cancelled, and that was seven weeks ago. I used to have to get adjusted twice a week. The film job was horrible on my back. Now I'm seeing what a difference it makes!

Yep, employed one full month today, and I've already made such an impact, parents can see it. I love it. I decided I had nothing to win by playing it safe. So I came to play, yet haven't ruffled any feathers. Even the last job I had -- and stayed at for seven years and STILL go back for more on weekends, and will continue to do so -- had a very rocky start. This one? Fuck, man. I've never had such a good start, 'cept maybe the bookstore, but you don't become a GOOD bookseller until you've read compulsively on the job for a year or so.

Sigh. Good to finally be getting more fulfilment all the way around in life, you know? Stuck in single, but that might be a good thing. And spring's a heartbeat away. Life's a good thing some days, and I'm enjoying every stitch of it.