2005-04-03 - 9:32 a.m.
OK, you're settled... Now change!
It’s been two weeks at the new job. Week 3 starts tomorrow. How is it? It’s OK. Is it fabulous, perfect, all I’ve ever wanted? Not exactly. It is excellent and will be challenging and is a fine place to start, and the people are great, so I’m being pragmatic about the whole thing. My goal now is to keep my head up and my eyes open, and in six months or so I can re-assess my career plans.
But yes, the people are great. My boss is a trip. The department is only five people—five women, at that—so it’s its own little clique. The odd thing is that the analyst and the senior analyst are both younger than I am (eek!), but it hasn’t seemed to matter so far. They don’t act like they’re above me or anything, and they’ve done their best to include me, so… not so bad. I’m easing in. As usual, I’m a little cautious in forming relationships there so fast, but I’m getting more comfortable with the group. There are some good-looking guys walking around, but the company is SO HUGE that I haven’t really met any of them. Odd how that is; at my old company, I met everyone in a pretty short period of time. This time, however, I’ve only met a few people outside of my department. Hopefully that will change soon.
So, I’m easing in. Which is great. I have a desk again, and a phone line, and a steady paycheck that is more than twice what my check was at the bookstore. So it’s fine.
Except. (And this isn’t job-related, thank goodness.)
My roommate. My crazy, dim, neurotic roommate. This week has been an experience, to say the least. Let me explain.
She got back from Israel last Sunday. I had had 2 ½ very pleasant weeks while she was gone, and I was half-dreading her return. But she came back, and we were talking about her trip. She had visited a guy she met several months ago, and he cried, she cried, etc. She’s all in love and stuff. So I asked, jokingly, “So, when are you going back?” “June,” she said. Really. Fine. She wanted to take another trip, and maybe move there in September. OK, whatever. I never believe she’ll do anything until the plane tickets are purchased. So she sounds committed to going back, and she sounds like she really wants to be with this guy.
Monday night. She comes in while I’m cooking dinner. She’s talking to someone, I think she’s on the phone. She says hello, I say hello, I’m cooking. Brief conversation. She goes into her room, presumably to relax because she’s so jet-lagged. I go about my business. Her light goes off at about 8 pm. I’m hanging out in the living room. A GUY emerges from her room. I have never seen this person. I didn’t even know he was in the apartment. He’s not Israeli.
Whatever.
The week got weird, presumably because of her jet lag. Then she tells me yesterday that she wants to move to Israel, and she might move out of here in June and go home first and sell her stuff yada yada yada. Um… OK. She wants to live in Israel for three months, and if she likes it maybe longer, and if she doesn’t like it she wants to move in with her parents and finish nursing school. (This from a person who rarely does laundry.) I don’t believe in criticizing people’s life choices, necessarily (not at length, anyway), but all this after ONE WEEK? After only two weeks away? Spontaneity is great and all, but… planning. Come on. I have never seen a huge move work out well when it was executed like that. But hey, not my life. At least she decided to do this when I was employed, right? So now I don’t know what I’m going to do. Do I stay, and get someone else in here? Or do I try to find a studio? Or do I try to find a new share?
Things to think about. I have a couple of months to make up my mind, really, so that’s not so bad. I really, really miss living alone, but I can’t exactly afford it unless I move to Harlem or Washington Heights, and I think that’s a no-no. I could do Red Hook, but no public transportation. So I might just be stuck. But I’ll start looking into things. Of course, all of this looking could be for naught, because she might change her plans or change her mind and I can save up some money for another month or so.
Wish me luck.
