Mixed bag

In the rush of interviewing, working, having Jay over, and writing two papers, I've somewhat neglected an update here. Oops. I am clearly, clearly awesome.

Anyway, YES, I got the job! I am wicked excited to be working normal, 9-5 hours, not weekends, not with kids, in a much less stressful position. I'm not naive enough to think that it won't be stressful at all - I'll be working in an administrative/IT position for a very large company, which is in and of itself a challenge and a switch. But I'm extremely happy. The position is very open-ended, and when the interviewer is telling you about other opportunities that would be available to you in the company, you have to figure that's a good sign. Nowhere to go but up.

So I gave notice at my current job, and my last day there will be November 14th. Honestly, there's a lot of mixed feelings I have about that. Yes, it's an excellent job, and I've certainly gotten a lot out of it - as well as contributed a lot. But I'm burnt out. I looked back over my personal journal for the past year or so, and since January, I've been regularly posted "Oh my god, I hate my job". That's a bad sign, and I'm glad I'm correcting the situation sooner rather than later.

Still, I will miss it - if only because I can wear more or less whatever I want while I'm working. I know right now I'm excited about high heels, but I know I'll miss my jeans, hardcore.

I also worry about the kids. So many of these kids have lived their lives with the people that say they care about them leaving, and here I go, leaving. I realize that this isn't exactly like I'm completely abandoning them, but still. I don't look forward to having to tell them I'm leaving. I get the impression that tears will be shed, and ugh, I hate crying.

I'm not looking forward to telling the staff I'm leaving, either. If I'm guessing right, there will be lots of mixed reactions - anger, frustration, sadness, among others. I'm pretty sure one of my supervisees will freak out; when she and I had talked two weeks ago, I hadn't even interviewed for anything else, so I told her that I didn't have any definite plans. Suddenly, it's all crystallized, and I'm leaving much sooner than I lead her to believe that I would. It probably won't be pretty.

Still... I'm happy to be leaving. I'm excited about the new opportunities I'll have, and I'm excited to be back in a position where I don't have to be responsible for anyone but myself, as well as a position that draws upon more of my career and educational background.

These next two and a half weeks are going to be supremely interesting.